Staying outside Disney? What Are We Losing?

[NCRedskins]

My wife and I were all set with reservations in Pop Century in November 2015, and then my father reached out to tell me he has a billion timeshare points he never uses. We are now looking at being able to stay in the Sheraton Vistana, Cypress Pointe or other resorts nearby Disney at a lower cost.

That said - how much of the Disney magic are we sacrificing here? I've heard you can still purchase magic bands, which is cool, and we weren't sure about whether we would use a dining plan anyway, but I'm just curious from all of you seasoned Disney vets what we're losing here.

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

No Dining Plan either which is a pretty big savings. I don't feel as immersed in the Disney experience even at Swan/Dolphin.

I want to try the 4 Seasons, but they don't have as frequent of bus transportation, no Dining Plan, and I don't think they have bus service to all the parks.

The dining plan savings is always dependent on how "you" personally eat. It's not a savings at all for us and would have cost us more.

 

[rt06]

Thanks for the feedback everybody. We are driving so the airport thing isn't an issue, nor is dining.

My biggest concern I would say is losing the 60 days on the FP+ selections, and the magic hours. How clutch are these two benefits? Is it within the realm of worldly possibility that I could get, say, Meeting Anna and Elsa via FP+ (by far the biggest interest for my daughters) 60 days out?

Get to MK at 7AM and rope drop it. No stress. The rest of the day will fall into place, and you've saved yourself at least a grand.

 

[bugsbunny]

Ive been staying of property for years now after about 20 stays on property. Now I rent a house at Windsir Hills about a mile from Animal Kingdom.

I guarantee I get home faster when I leave a Park than anyone taking a WDW resort bus. That part I love. The only drawback is having to pay to park...sometimes.

DDP is break even at best, so I don't miss it. Making breakfast at home each morning easily saves $50/day.

I split a 6 bedroom house for a week that had its own inground pool and game room. Master bathrooms with jacuzzi tubs! House was 2700 sq. ft and in a gated community that had water slides, etc. It costs me about what it would have cost to stay ay Pop in one tiny room!!

If you cant do without Disney theming, then expect to be comfortable paying $130/night for Disney's version of a motel.

 

[jaklgreen]

We absolutely always stay offsite and believe me, we don't miss a thing. The room is used for sleeping and a shower. We don't use the new FP system and have ridden and done everything we want, with little to no waits using single rider lines etc. Booking months in advance is crazy. It's a vacation. Relax and enjoy it!

That way of touring is a bit hard when you have 3 small children like the OP. Having gone with small kids I would recommend you stay on site. If one of the little ones is not feeling good one of you can take them back to the room to rest while the others stay. You can not do that off site because you will be driving.

 

[smk]

Staying on site with little ones is to me the best option. Staying off site with teens is a good idea, in my opinion. On site you always have the option of walking to see the kids favorites things, like giant oversized cars, and toys and a pool right outside the door, and food already cooked to your order. Cooking, cleaning and getting kids to sleep in strange bedrooms without a hassle is awful, at least it was for us. In one room, mom and dad are already there, close by and usually just as tired and ready for that 8 o'clock bedtime some nights! Evan works with adjoining rooms at a value, just leave the door open and the TV on low volume. Teens on the other hand, leave them up by the pool, they (can) clean up after themselves and are usually not afraid of the dark anymore!

 

[Computer Magic]

You must be losing your mind...:lookaroun.... I kid of course....well mostly but the Disney experience is better onsite.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Just a question: did you look into exchanging your timeshare for DVC points? If you really want to stay onsite, then this may be a viable option for you. You may have to pay for extra points or grab a discounted reservation at Pop to complete the visit, but if staying onsite is important to you, then certainly look into it.

We never stay off site. My parents are DVC members and all of us are annual passholders. Either we stay using our DVC points or we use an AP discount. My bff and I went just ourselves in January, and with my AP rate, the room only cost $850 for nine nights. She commented on how much easier it was to just hop on a bus rather than drive to the parks, park the car, and go in. We also went to the parks on our first and last day, which her family, since they stayed off site previously, had never done. She commented how much simpler it was, how it gave us an extra two days in the parks, how we were able to stay in the parks later in the evening, and since basically we were crashing there, it made more sense. Airport transportation is also important to us, as is transportation to the parks since we don't rent a car (in the case of me and my BFF, we weren't old enough to rent a car.)

 

[BrianV]

To me it is all about access. If you are at a good location (think deluxe on site) you can get back and forth to parks easily. Monorail for the MK resorts to MK and Epcot, by foot for Epcot resorts to Epcot and Dhs. Otherwise, I would think there is limited advantage being on site. We've done it both ways. It's a toss up for places like wilderness lodge. I love it there, but there is not particularly good access.

Moving forward, we've decided to just bite the bullet and stay in a good location for more money. But each to his or her own. Staying for the first time at the dolphin hotel in the spring. A great location, and I'll see what I think about the hotel.

 

[yensid67]

Hey NCRedskins...

Just found out a cheaper route to go...There is a discount card called MagiCard given FREE by VisitOrlando Visitor's Center(online)...I searched for EACH of my package items(Hotel, Rental Car, Park Tickets, etc) and found that that was even cheaper than doing a package deal through the airline. For example thru the F/H/C package with the airline, the rental car for Alamo was $190+tax=$260.00, but with the MagiCard for the same car it was $160.00 TAX INCLUDED! Hotel deal I got was for a room and buffet breakfast everyday for $543.38 for 2 and the ticket prices were a little cheaper, $10-$20 less than theme park site prices. You may want to check out MagiCard and officialticketcenter.com...they have some great prices with tax included and FREE SHIPPING!

 

[NCRedskins]

Alright, we made the decision and decided to stay at the timeshare outside Disney. Too good a deal to pass up, more money for food/fun in the parks, and frankly whoever raised the point about not having to hide in the bathroom to have an adult conversation while the kids are asleep pretty much nailed it. Thanks for the input everybody!

 

[Spencerrr]

Alright, we made the decision and decided to stay at the timeshare outside Disney. Too good a deal to pass up, more money for food/fun in the parks, and frankly whoever raised the point about not having to hide in the bathroom to have an adult conversation while the kids are asleep pretty much nailed it. Thanks for the input everybody!

You will have a great time no matter what. It is Disney after all

 

[cnfno1]

Look at it this way.....there's a ton of people that visit Disney each day, that stay on-site....and there's a ton of people that visit Disney each day, that stay off-site. If one method was clearly better than the other, then everybody would be doing it!! .....I say decide whats most important to you, and use the option that allows you to do it (i.e. Extra Magic Hours - On-site, Save some money - Off-site). Cheers!!

 

[Dwarful]

We have done both ways on site and off site with the kids. Honestly, I like the extra space. If we can't swing a deluxe next trip or a studio at AoA then I think we will be going off site. If you plan your driving accordingly you can still arrive at Park opening. I would highly recommend checking the EMHs and avoid those parks esp. on the morning EMHs.

You aren't missing much by missing the dining plan.....in my opinion anyway, the last two trips we have skipped the dining plan because it wasn't cost efficient for us.

Go, have fun!!!!!!

 

[loriloughs]

I am a Disney "Nutzi!" We used to stay off-site and never felt like I missed anything. We used to get annual passes so we didn't pay for parking and got 10% off Disney merchandise. In the past few years we have stayed on property and took advantage of free dining. We just got back from Food and Wine Festival and got the Premium Food and Wine Package which we would could not do if we stayed off property. Disney Dining Plan is expensive and you spend more time trying to book sit down dinners that it takes away any spontaneity! After 23 years of traveling to Disney I can tell you that this last trip was the most stressful from all the detailed planning. I really miss the days when you just got up early to be in parks at opening to get on the headliner attractions. With fastpass+ We could only get seven dwarfs mine train at 2:30-3:30. We were forced to stay at Magic Kingdom. We booked fastpasses we didn't want because you have to book 3. When we go back next year to watch our daughter march with her high school band, I think we will stay off-property. You can still have a wonderful vacation off site.

 

[Disvillain63]

I understand that if you are staying on-site, you can pick FP+ at 60 days and if off-site at 30 days. Isn't that only if you already have tickets linked to your MyDisney account? Just wondering since the OP didn't mention that he had tickets. If he gets them from someone other than Disney, will they be able to be linked to his account before he arrives?