I will never stay off site. It is Disney or nothing.

[BrianV]

Stay on property AND rent a car! We love being close by and in the bubble. But there is nothing better than after a long day sitting in a rental car and not having to wait for and stand on a bus.

My true preference is an epcot resort and skip the car or bus for two different parks. Swan and Dolphin.

We thought about staying off site last trip. But by the time we got a deal at AKL it was more, but not much more factoring in parking.

 

[jaklgreen]

Stay on property AND rent a car! We love being close by and in the bubble. But there is nothing better than after a long day sitting in a rental car and not having to wait for and stand on a bus.

My true preference is an epcot resort and skip the car or bus for two different parks. Swan and Dolphin.

We thought about staying off site last trip. But by the time we got a deal at AKL it was more, but not much more factoring in parking.

I see it different. The last thing I want to do after spending a long day at the park is to have to focus on driving, in the dark, in a strange city with a bunch of other tourists who are brain fried. I much rather just get on the next bus and have someone else deal with the other drivers.

 

[Cowboy Steve]

Stay on property AND rent a car! We love being close by and in the bubble. But there is nothing better than after a long day sitting in a rental car and not having to wait for and stand on a bus.

My true preference is an epcot resort and skip the car or bus for two different parks. Swan and Dolphin.

We thought about staying off site last trip. But by the time we got a deal at AKL it was more, but not much more factoring in parking.

We did this last trip so we could spend 3 days at Universal. It was a three day rental. There was a rental place on the property but it was kind of a pain getting there and back (this was before Uber was quite so prominent a few years ago).

 

[epcotisbest]

So I have mentioned before that we always drive so transportation is a non-issue for us. We do enjoy staying on site, and do about once per year. In not being tied to the bubble we have stayed at some incredibly nice hotels and resorts in the area that many people will never even see. I think it is a blessing to have those options.
We stayed at the Hyatt Grand Cypress one time while some friends were staying at the Contemporary. They came by to visit us one day and were just blown away when they saw the place, especially the pools. The look on their faces when we told them what we paid compared to their $500 plus per night, was funny.
They agreed, for the difference they could have done a rental car, paid for parking and had plenty of cash still in the wallet.
"But, we can walk back to our room in about 15 minutes after the fireworks are over."
"We can drive back to our room in about 20 minutes and we are in this room for hundreds less."
"But it is our money"
"Yes, yes it is."

 

[BrianV]

I see it different. The last thing I want to do after spending a long day at the park is to have to focus on driving, in the dark, in a strange city with a bunch of other tourists who are brain fried. I much rather just get on the next bus and have someone else deal with the other drivers.

Used to think I felt this way and even if I had a car, would take the busses. Only this last trip did I realize I could get home twice as fast and have a seat the whole way.

The busses work well if the next bus is going your way and isn't already full. Too often I've had to wait 15-20 minutes for a bus that was going two stopes elsewhere first, and was SRO. I feel differently about the monorail (because it is cool) and very differently about hotels walking distance to the parks.

 

[Takeitforgranite]

We have only stayed onsite. I have looked into offsite and read many threads here trying to talk myself into staying offsite and saving some money, but I just don't want to give up the convenience of the not having to worry about transportation. We love being in the bubble and pretending we aren't on planet earth for a few days.

I am the designated planner, navigator, and decision-maker for any trip I get involved in. It's not my desire, but it always works out that way because nobody else wants to put in the work it takes to make a vacation go smoothly. I don't mind doing the work ahead of time, but when I get somewhere, I love to just relax and let my plan take care of itself. WDW meets that criteria, and the ease of transportation is a big part of that. It also comes becomes a bigger factor when we park hop. Even though we have driven the last couple times, we still don't leave the property.

 

[chrisbarry]

I couldn't imagine staying off property. I want the bubble. I don't want to pierce the bubble. I don't want to drive. I don't want to pump gas, stop at a stoplight, beep a horn at an unruly driver, park a car, etc. I can do all that stuff at home. I don't want to see a Walgreens or a supermarket or an Applebee's. Once again, that's for home. This is Disney World. I won't even watch the news at night. The only time in the past 15 yearly trips that I put a local news channel on was when Hurricane Charley was bearing down on us and I wanted to find out exactly when. I won't even look at a newspaper down there. This what we saved for...to escape. I don't even like going by that McDonalds on the bus ride back from Animal Kingdom. That's why I have no interest whatsoever in Disney Springs. I'm 20 minutes away from every Sephora, Anthropologie, LaCoste and Uniqlo I could ever want here on Long Island. It's the last possible thing on my mind when I'm at Walt Disney World. Planet Hollywood? I can hop the train and be in Times Square in an hour.
The escape is half the pleasure of being there. You can't turn off the outside world too easily anymore. But I certainly can once I pass through those arches. And I do and I'm quite sure I always will. That's what works for us. My whole family agrees.

 

[Susan Savia]

As AP holders since the early 80's our choice has always been to stay offsite. The $ we save allows us to stay for 2 weeks, two or three times a year. We just got back two days ago. Noticed a lot of Disney busses with folks standing. Thats not something I want to do when I'm hot and tired after a long day. We also enjoy dining and shopping outside of Disney property.

 

[jaklgreen]

Used to think I felt this way and even if I had a car, would take the busses. Only this last trip did I realize I could get home twice as fast and have a seat the whole way.

The busses work well if the next bus is going your way and isn't already full. Too often I've had to wait 15-20 minutes for a bus that was going two stopes elsewhere first, and was SRO. I feel differently about the monorail (because it is cool) and very differently about hotels walking distance to the parks.

I guess I am never in that much of a hurry that 15 minutes is a big deal. We are pretty laid back on vacation though. I think way too many people stress over it thinking that they need to pack something into every minute of their trip.

 

[jaklgreen]

I couldn't imagine staying off property. I want the bubble. I don't want to pierce the bubble. I don't want to drive. I don't want to pump gas, stop at a stoplight, beep a horn at an unruly driver, park a car, etc. I can do all that stuff at home. I don't want to see a Walgreens or a supermarket or an Applebee's. Once again, that's for home. This is Disney World. I won't even watch the news at night. The only time in the past 15 yearly trips that I put a local news channel on was when Hurricane Charley was bearing down on us and I wanted to find out exactly when. I won't even look at a newspaper down there. This what we saved for...to escape. I don't even like going by that McDonalds on the bus ride back from Animal Kingdom. That's why I have no interest whatsoever in Disney Springs. I'm 20 minutes away from every Sephora, Anthropologie, LaCoste and Uniqlo I could ever want here on Long Island. It's the last possible thing on my mind when I'm at Walt Disney World. Planet Hollywood? I can hop the train and be in Times Square in an hour.
The escape is half the pleasure of being there. You can't turn off the outside world too easily anymore. But I certainly can once I pass through those arches. And I do and I'm quite sure I always will. That's what works for us. My whole family agrees.

I am exactly like this except for the Disney Springs. I love going down there. We have no World of Disney or Basin or Lego store or Ghirardelli. The city I live in does not have 99% of those stores. So it is truly something different for us.

 

[chrisbarry]

I am exactly like this except for the Disney Springs. I love going down there. We have no World of Disney or Basin or Lego store or Ghirardelli. The city I live in does not have 99% of those stores. So it is truly something different for us.

While I don't have a World of Disney here in NY - How I do miss the 5th Ave store in Manhattan run by Parks and Resorts not run by Disney Store - I do have a Lego store in my local mall and the big one at Rockefeller Plaza. I'm just the opposite of you. I would guess 90% of the Springs stores, not taking into consideration the Disney run stores, can be found somewhere near here, so I have no interest. Honestly, I treat MouseGear at Epcot like its my World of Disney. It's much more civilized and they typically have everything I want.

 

[jaklgreen]

While I don't have a World of Disney here in NY - How I do miss the 5th Ave store in Manhattan run by Parks and Resorts not run by Disney Store - I do have a Lego store in my local mall and the big one at Rockefeller Plaza. I'm just the opposite of you. I would guess 90% of the Springs stores, not taking into consideration the Disney run stores, can be found somewhere near here, so I have no interest. Honestly, I treat MouseGear at Epcot like its my World of Disney. It's much more civilized and they typically have everything I want.

You are very fortunate to have so many options. We got Dunkin Donuts about 3 years ago. The big stores like Macys will not come here. We are just too small. The closets big city is 3 hours away.

 

[21stamps]

You are very fortunate to have so many options. We got Dunkin Donuts about 3 years ago. The big stores like Macys will not come here. We are just too small. The closets big city is 3 hours away.

Most importantly.. Do you have a Starbucks?

 

[21stamps]

While I don't have a World of Disney here in NY - How I do miss the 5th Ave store in Manhattan run by Parks and Resorts not run by Disney Store - I do have a Lego store in my local mall and the big one at Rockefeller Plaza. I'm just the opposite of you. I would guess 90% of the Springs stores, not taking into consideration the Disney run stores, can be found somewhere near here, so I have no interest. Honestly, I treat MouseGear at Epcot like its my World of Disney. It's much more civilized and they typically have everything I want.

Same here. We don't have a Ghiradelli though..that alone is worth heading to Disney springs for.. To me anyway. And the balloon ride, and TRex, and shopping for gifts and Christmas ornaments.. So a few things, but not the common stores.

 

[PrincessRachelT]

We live in north Florida, and a lot of our family lives in south Florida, when we make the trip down, we often wI'll go to Disney to have dinner and some fun, and stay offsite (with the exception of this next trip down, as my husband is treating me to the Grand for the night!). I have no issue with staying offsite since we do have a car when we are there, but when we go to Disney for a specific Disney trip, we always stay onsite. For my husband and I, being in the Disney bubble is worth it, as well as all the transportation options.