On or OFF Property - Which would you pick?

[disney4life2008]

Which would you prefer for my August 2011 trip? 8 full days, 1 adult and 2 teens.

A) Staying at a 5 star off site resort with a 2 bedroom villa (2 baths, jacuzzi in room, full kitchen, free internet, about a 15 drive to WDW property. I would need to rent a car ($350). An off site time share resort will cost me about $400. The benefit a lot of cheaper but would only be able to spend 1 full day at each park.

B) Staying at Disney resort getting all of the amenities of being a WDW resort guest (mainly Extra Magic Hours and 24 hour magic). However, having one room (Values) for 3 people that could run $800? I would still need to rent a car for Universal Orlando and outlet mall shopping. The benefit for me are EMHs and being able to park hop (which of course means a more expensive ticket).

Which would you prefer?? I am so conflicted I do not know what to do???

 

[me_stitch]

disney resort for sure, but that's just me. plus, you'd only have to rent a car for one day if you wanted to go to universal.

 

[disney4life2008]

disney resort for sure, but that's just me. plus, you'd only have to rent a car for one day if you wanted to go to universal.

That is what I am thinking.. but I would need the car for at least 3 days (I want to shop at the outlet mall) and we are going to both Universal theme parks.

 

[DisneyWall-E]

Have you tried to price out renting a cab? That may be an option if you dont need a car the whole time. I would also vote for staying on site. I like the 24/7 "Magic" feeling. Also, DW, DD, and I do the parks all day and only use the resort for sleeping. So, for us there is no need for all those other perks.

 

[jeffk410]

This site will be biased, but there is plus and minuses to each. Just do what you want. Lately I like on site better because I like the atmosphere. The ME and the bus system... goodluck tho because offsite you can stay at some amazing hotels for a little less in price.

 

[SAV]

For this case and what you "need"...Off-Site. It's a No Brainer. Until someone can quantify "Magic", then that is an arbitrary term the people use to make the on-site stay sound better. I like the kind of magic that keeps money in my bank account.

Did you use the Mousesavers.com car rental codes? $350 seems awful high. How about the "Entertainment Book" car rental discounts?

And one flaw I saw in your logic is Park Hopping is listed as a benefit of Disney Resort. You can park hop off-site too. Either place it costs you more $$. The only on-site benefit is the EMH...unless you are doing the DDP. Which is only available to on-site stays.

 

[disney4life2008]

Did you use the Mousesavers.com car rental codes? $350 seems awful high. How about the "Entertainment Book" car rental discounts?

And one flaw I saw in your logic is Park Hopping is listed as a benefit of Disney Resort. You can park hop off-site too. Either place it costs you more $$. The only on-site benefit is the EMH...unless you are doing the DDP. Which is only available to on-site stays.

$350 for car rental is high.. but that is the current price list. I suspect it will drop to about $200 sometime in 2011 with the codes.

Your right about the park hoping. I meant park hoping with EMHs. If we stay off site, we will only be able to do one park per day and the park hopper option would not be worth it. On site, of course you can get more done because of EMHs with the addition of park hopping.

 

[PixarfortheWin]

Think about this....if you are on property you dont need to rent a car, you can use the Mears Shuttle to Universal which is cheaper....much cheaper. You can also use a taxi to the outlet mall which is also cheaper.

You get EMHs, you get access to free transportation, Disney's Magical Express, better environment, etc.

 

[JohnLocke]

I don't think I could ever stay off site anymore, just too easy to get around on Disney property and very little hassle.

Even if you do stay off site, I'd still suggest getting the park hopper, it just gives you more options.

 

[disney4life2008]

Think about this....if you are on property you dont need to rent a car, you can use the Mears Shuttle to Universal which is cheaper....much cheaper. You can also use a taxi to the outlet mall which is also cheaper.

You get EMHs, you get access to free transportation, Disney's Magical Express, better environment, etc.

How much is the Mears shuttle bus for Universal per person?

 

[lisak09]

I have been to Orlando four times and up until the last trip we took in August this year we had always stayed on International Drive for two weeks. This time i decided to do things differently, we stayed on Internatiional Drive for a week and did Universal Studios,IOA, Seaworld, WetnWild and two trips to the outlets. Then we transferred to Pop Century for the second week for WDW. It was fantastic and this is the way i plan to do our trips to WDW from now on. For next year im hoping to book a moderate but if i can,t afford that i would be more than happy to go back to Pop. Staying on-site really does make a big difference!

 

[wm49rs]

Which would you prefer for my August 2011 trip? 8 full days, 1 adult and 2 teens.

A) Staying at a 5 star off site resort with a 2 bedroom villa (2 baths, jacuzzi in room, full kitchen, free internet, about a 15 drive to WDW property. I would need to rent a car ($350). An off site time share resort will cost me about $400. The benefit a lot of cheaper but would only be able to spend 1 full day at each park.

B) Staying at Disney resort getting all of the amenities of being a WDW resort guest (mainly Extra Magic Hours and 24 hour magic). However, having one room (Values) for 3 people that could run $800? I would still need to rent a car for Universal Orlando and outlet mall shopping. The benefit for me are EMHs and being able to park hop (which of course means a more expensive ticket).

Which would you prefer?? I am so conflicted I do not know what to do???

We've done both, although we've always had the advantage of bringing our own vehicle with us (since we live in GA). I actually think you can find a better deal on your rental through a site like Priceline. For 3 people you could find a decent sedan for less than $350. Then take whatever savings you can get and put that towards upgrading your tickets to park hoppers.

Is that $400 per night for the resort? If so, then maybe take a look at some rental condos, which at this point in time will have plenty of openings and perhaps even discounts. VRBO.com is a good site for those, and many are closer than 15 minutes.

 

[Nemo14]

Is that $400 per night for the resort? If so, then maybe take a look at some rental condos, which at this point in time will have plenty of openings and perhaps even discounts. VRBO.com is a good site for those, and many are closer than 15 minutes.

I'm pretty sure he meant $400 total.

We've done both, and I think with 2 teens I'd stay off-site. Just the savings on food, late-night snacks, and drinks would pay for the tickets to be upgraded to park hoppers.

 

[tigsmom]

For YOUR trip? Offsite

For MY trip? Onsite
:lookaroun

No seriously, I have stayed both off and onsite and now only choose onsite.
We only take one vacation per year ( and it's not always at WDW) so we want to relax and not have to worry about fighting traffic, etc.

 

[todai]

On a purely emotional level...
I prefer to stay onsite to get the "Disney" experience. I just feel it's more magical that way.

 

[dizzney]

We always stay at WDW, but we are DVC'ers, that being said with all the offers next year including free dining at times, I would definitely stay onsite.

With Magical express, we dont need to drive like we do every day, so that makes the vacation more magical;

We love being in the atmosphere of WDW 24/7. When we were there in August just DH and I for our anniversary, we had one of our best trips ever.

Check out what free dining might be avaialble to you and use the cabs/mears to go to Universal, stay onsite

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

I would stay offsite and rent a car for the duration of the trip that I will be doing non-Disney things. I would stay onsite for the Disney trip. If it is problem to do it that way, just stay on property. No logical reason to that one. I just like the Disney magic 24/7.

PS - No matter what you do, buy the hopper. It's worth it, especially on short trips. Some parks are very, very, very hard to spend a full day in.

 

[joannecasey]

My family of four always stay off site in a beautiful 4 bedroom home in a gated community. We love having our own private pool at the end of a long day in the park and a full kitchen and laundry room. Best thing is ... from our driveway to the Magic Kingdom parking lot is only 6 minutes ... WITH traffic !! To the other parks it is anywhere from 3-5 minutes longer. We also get great deals on car rentals with Alamo, I literally checked the site every day for about 6 months before we left for our last trip and ended up getting a car rental for $435 U.S. for 16 days !

We still feel the Disney magic even though staying off site ... I still feel it here in Prince Edward Island, Canada !!!

Happy planning !!

 

[wendysue]

I would stay on site at WDW. We rent a car at the car care center and they come get you. It only cost 80.00 for 2 days. Well worth it.

 

[WDWmazprty]

On site.:wave: