On-site vs off-site?

[jmorri26]

Hi all!

I'm planning a trip to DL (have been once a few years ago but it was a day trip driving to the park) and looking at hotels. Like many WDW planners, my eyes bugged out my head when I saw the price of on-site, thought they do look comparable to the Deluxe WDW hotels.

We will have our 1.5 year old with us and I'm wondering if that would justify the cost of staying on-site? My husband wants on site but I see hotels SO much cheaper and it's hard to not look there. It seems so easy to stroll through DTD to the parks and back for naps and things with our son in his stroller than crossing a big road and walking in and out. I don't remember the drive in to the property much from our last visit, but on the maps, the "good neighbor" hotels across the street look to be a fair walk down. (But then the scale compared to WDW could be throwing me off.) How far a walk is it from, say, a hotel across the street to the front gates? We're trying to avoid a car and will probably do all our meals at DTD or quick service in the parks.

Anyone have any recs from experience?

 

[onesandzeros]

I usually stay at the Howard Johnson Plaza. The walk to the parks is about the same as the Disneyland Hotel.
Mousesavers.com has some off-site recommendations and specials.

 

[jmorri26]

I just saw this link in another post:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

It's really informative about hotels as well as the park in general. I think I'm just going to be one of those WDW people who have a hard time swallowing the idea of a not-Disney hotel. But oh man is it cheaper.

 

[Californian Elitist]

The onsite hotels are very expensive. I'll admit I've stayed in two out of the three hotels but that's only because my uncle has been working for Disney for years and he gets a major discount. The offsite hotels are much cheaper and some of them have Disney decor in the rooms. There are some that are directly across the street from the park. If you absolutely MUST stay onsite, I'd pick the cheapest hotel, Paradise Pier, even though the Disneyland Hotel is definitely more "Disney".

 

[jmorri26]

Can someone give me a better idea of the walk to the parks from the closer offsite hotels? Compare to something at WDW?

 

[Californian Elitist]

There are hotels that are literally right across the street from the resort. You walk out of the park and onto the plaza, you walk for maybe 3 minutes out of the resort entrance, cross the street and there's your hotel. A five minute walk. Probably like walking from an attraction to another attraction at Magic Kingdom.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Can someone give me a better idea of the walk to the parks from the closer offsite hotels? Compare to something at WDW?

There are literally a dozen hotels on Harbor Blvd (East of the resort) that are as close or closer to Disneyland/DCA/Downtown Disney than the Contemporary is to MK.