When flying in and staying on property you don't have to worry about:
- going to baggage claim
- waiting at a line at the rental counter
- paying for parking
- having a few drinks in the park
- being at the right parking lot after park hopping
- getting gas before returning rental car
- waiting in line at airline check-in counter at airport for trip back home
Of course if you are driving to Disney, you can cross a few of the items above of the list. All comes down to paying for convenience, and if the price difference of staying off-property is really worth it in the long run. Also need to consider if you would use the EMH's....
- We bring hand luggage only and spend first day shopping.
- We're "preferred" rental customers which means we just pick up the car and go.
- Ok, you got me, we're paying an additional $15 or so every day.
- Drinks? This is 'murica, we'll drink and drive thanks ma'am
No, but seriously, we'll get one of the adults to stay of the sauce and shuttle the rest of us, or plan ahead and grab a cab.
- We don't generally park hop, if we did it would be a consideration of course.
- We'll have filled a fair few tanks of gas during our three weeks anyway, so what's one more before returning the car? Although, we generally splurge for the return-empty policy and pay the rental agencies marked up gas price.
- We check in online and drop off the luggage at the designated spot. Not quite as easy as ME, but not far from it.
Sure, this is costing us more in terms of gas, rentals, parking and whatnot than the "free" if we stayed on property. However, divided between all the adults in the group it really isn't that much per day and we're free to do what we want, when we want rather than having to rely on [overcrowded] busses and paying more than triple the money on accommodation (for a similar level of standard villa - which would in some cases be further from the action). Sure, we're further away from MK than some, but we're closer to DTD, DHS and AK than others staying on prop.
So while I agree it's all down to convenience, for some folks it's more convenient to stay off property. We're right at the gate if we want, but similarly we're right on the 400 ready to head for the malls or god forbid US and SW
Also, since we do the keys for the last week before returning back home to freezing temperatures and Christmas Eve we'd need a car either way.
..You Guernsey folk are always bubbling..Ya Big Jessie's..
...Touché ...
