Staying off site? Do u save money?

[Disneydreamer23]

hey everyone I'm currently at Disney at AKL we are between going shorter next year to save cash or stay at universal /off site. We have a new baby coming in October and I'm quitting my job. Can any one give me advice if they have done either? Thank you!!!

 

[ItlngrlBella]

We rented a house with another family who went with us. It was just after we had our second child and I was a new stay at home mom. We went in the off-season (early Jan.), and the house had 4 bedrooms, 2 of them masters and 2 double bedrooms, pool, hot tub, game room, kitchen, 4 baths... $850/wk - which we split with our friends so it was $425 for our family for 7 nights. We saved money because we eat breakfast and some dinners at the house, plus our tickets were though the military. Nothing at WDW could beat that.

Best wishes and congrats on your little one on the way!

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Yes, you do save money when you stay offsite - the amount will vary depending on when you travel, and, the type of accommodation you choose.
Factor into the equation - fuel costs and travelling time, car parking costs and most importantly, whether you'll miss out on the Disney Magic by leaving the area each night. Additionally, no Dining Plan and FP+ at only 30 days.
Financially its worth it, but you lose out on so much more

 

[SAV]

We've done both types of stays and it can save money. But there are things you need to factor into the off-site price. If you fly down, you will need to get a rental car and pay the daily parking costs. You can get away with using shuttles, but the majority of off-site shuttles don't have the amount of trips to and from the parks as on-site does.

We don't use the Dining Plan, so that isn't a "loss" to us. The "magic" thing is not something quantifiable, but the extra money in my pocket is.

In most cases, you will find larger rooms off-site than on-site for the same $$ spent. There will just not be the resort theming that you find on-site.

That being said, I'd rather stay off-site for longer than on-site for less time. More Disney the better.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

Thanks all!!

 

[ItlngrlBella]

True about the car/gas. We pay taxes so we can use my husband's company car (minivan) and drive down - gas is included, so we luck out that way. We usually stay until park closing until we had little ones - then we ended up going back for a nap or making sure they had napped in the stroller so we could catch the nightly magic. Yes pay to park is a b----.

As far as ADR's we had no problem booked out in advance - we would do the earliest dinner and got the 2 we wanted. That was 3 years ago and it was a trio in early Jan.

 

[ItlngrlBella]

PS: if a house isn't your style check for deals on Groupon for "Orlando Hotels."

Some room rates are under $40/night - and may include a light breakfast - but be aware many of the deals expire within 4-6 months so read the fine print and tripadvisor reviews beforehand - here's an example going on now - good for travel through Feb 2016:

http://www.groupon.com/deals/ga-bk-...erral_mih&utm_medium=sms&utm_source=uu6066236

 

[patch553]

theres pros and cons,we travel from the uk each feb and have experimented . we used to find off site was cheaper accomidation but with our up coming trip the prices were pretty close, then u add the free parking and transportation offered at wdw and it makes wdw the better option to us

 

[EngineJoe]

but the majority of off-site shuttles don't have the amount of trips to and from the parks as on-site does.
.

Yeah this is the main thing. Most off site free hotel park shuttles (which are really just private shuttle companies that hotels contract with) leave once or twice in the morning and come back at one or two specific times at night. Or the ones that have shuttles any time you want make you pay a $10-20 fee which kind of negates the point of the shuttle.

The other thing is the times for these shuttles make it so you can't be at the park early or stay late.

So basically if you stay off site then rental car is very important but then you have to calculate in the parking fee at the parks into your cost.

 

[EngineJoe]

In general my preference is Swan/Dolphin because they are off site hotels on the Disney park. They are usually cheaper than the main disney hotels (sometimes the discount disney ones like All Star are cheaper off season) and you can walk or take the boat to Epcot and Hollywod Studios.

 

[Danielli5]

We stayed off site in October last year and I'm currently booking to go back in November. At the moment it's looking about £500 more to stay on property (all-star resort) for two of us however the savings in cab fares (we don't drive) and the inclusion of memory maker (which we would buy anyway) is swaying us to stay onsite. It will cost a little more but with EMH we think it's worth it.

The other factor is by staying off-site we ate a lot of meals off-site which is cheaper whereas on site well do most of our eating in the parks so that will be more exspensive for us.

It does just depend on what matters to you.


(This is for a 15 night stay including flights from the UK)

 

[EngineJoe]

We stayed off site in October last year and I'm currently booking to go back in November. At the moment it's looking about £500 more to stay on property (all-star resort) for two of us however the savings in cab fares (we don't drive) and the inclusion of memory maker (which we would buy anyway) is swaying us to stay onsite. It will cost a little more but with EMH we think it's worth it.

The other factor is by staying off-site we ate a lot of meals off-site which is cheaper whereas on site well do most of our eating in the parks so that will be more exspensive for us.

It does just depend on what matters to you.


(This is for a 15 night stay including flights from the UK)

Is it that much cheaper for the All Star Resort compared to Disney Swan & Dolphin?

 

[thomas998]

hey everyone I'm currently at Disney at AKL we are between going shorter next year to save cash or stay at universal /off site. We have a new baby coming in October and I'm quitting my job. Can any one give me advice if they have done either? Thank you!!!

You can save a lot if you stay off site.... Only real cost you need to factor in if you stay off site is parking, but if you are trying to really save money you can stay at a place that has bus service to Disney and even avoid the parking fee.

In fact some of the trips we take lately we avoid staying at Disney hotels and instead stay at Universals hotels and just drive to Disney. Last few times we found Universal to have some hotels that were much cheaper and had better facilities than Disney so it really made no sense to waste more money just to have a more Disneyfied room. Specifically I would recommend the Cabana Bay Beach Resort at Universal as one to look at. We've found that we can pay the same price as a Disney value resort but get much more room (bedroom and a separate sitting area with TV microwave/fridge and sink... But the best part is that unlike every Disney resort short of a Deluxe the hotel facilities don't require you to walk a half mile to get to.

 

[thomas998]

Yes, you do save money when you stay offsite - the amount will vary depending on when you travel, and, the type of accommodation you choose.
Factor into the equation - fuel costs and travelling time, car parking costs and most importantly, whether you'll miss out on the Disney Magic by leaving the area each night. Additionally, no Dining Plan and FP+ at only 30 days.
Financially its worth it, but you lose out on so much more

FP+ at only 30 days shouldn't be a big deal... Yes you're odds of getting a fast pass for the mine train is about zero but while its a nice ride it would be worth the much higher cost of a staying at a Disney hotel if that's your trying to save money. For those rare ride that are fastpass popular to the nth degree just hit them early at rope drop when the lines wont be extreme.