The Bubble Theory..

[real mad hatter]

So here it is...How important is that WDW vacation to you.?..You know you can save big bucks and stay outside the magic circle ( Bubble ).. But would you rather spend those extra bucks to stay on site..Reason I ask is that buddy of mine is planning to go back to WDW after a seven year absence with his new wife ( divorced from last one ) and his little boy ( aged 3 ) but was amazed at the price difference between off site and on site..So how far would you go to save a buck..???..Is spending those extra bucks worth it to be staying inside the bubble..??..

 

[LucyK]

The bubble sucks you in!

I've done both off site and onsite and I can't see myself staying off site again. Even leaving for the second part of our trip was hard and it made me miserable. Disney must put something in the water!

 

[kfergdisney]

The last time I went to Disney was the first time I stayed onsite and I will not stay offsite again, ever. I love being submerged in the Disney bubble. It extends the Disney experience. When I go to WDW, I want to be engrossed with Disney (of course, this next time, my friend wants to do a day at Universal, which is ok).
We've stayed at really nice hotels that had everything in it to please a traveller, but after staying onsite...forget about those other hotels. This hotel was a hop, skip, and a jump away from the gates and it seemed like it took way too long to get to the parks.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Onsite almost exclusively for the past 15 years, once or twice a year.

Staying onsite just seems more relaxing to me, as other posters have mentioned there are many reasons why.

EMH, travel time into and out of the parks, the bubble, ability to drink and relax at the parks, and we actually spend a lot of time at our resort and the neighboring resorts making our time much more relaxing.

The cost is much higher than staying offsite but for my family the cost is justified because we do so much more outside just the parks and using Disney transportation or walking to 1/2 the parks makes it that much more relaxing.

Not having to drive a car for two weeks, dealing with traffic is liberating, more than I every imagined it would. Even with the issues we have regarding Disney's buses, it is still more relaxing than sitting at stoplight after stoplight on I-Drive or other areas.

 

[dicksonthunder]

If I lived close enough to make an annual pass worthwhile (within 300 miles) where I could visit a couple of days every month plus a week-long stay during the year I would stay off-site except for the week long stay. However, since we are now visiting for a week only about every 3 years I say stay in the bubble where you can get the whole experience.

 

[coachwnh]

We have stayed off site a few times, but most recently when we visited other places Florida had to offer. When we did universal, we stayed at universal. When we checked out legoland we found a hotel near there. When we went to see the final shuttle landing(a last minute drive to Florida) we stayed offsite, but still hit WDW! We even did the condo thing twice and enjoyed our stays. But as so many have said, being in a Disney resort is just amazing. Our only stay at the swan just didn't have that Disney feel. For us, it's all about a Disney resort. However, if it's the difference between a trip or not, I'd be able to enjoy a trip to Disney while staying offsite.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I prefer offsite. Particularly staying at the Ritz Carlton. The service blows WDW's hotels out of the water. They have complimentary shuttles to all the parks. The pool has a nice lazy river. There is a delightful spa. And I can get 3 nights for every 1 I can get at a Disney Deluxe.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I prefer offsite. Particularly staying at the Ritz Carlton. The service blows WDW's hotels out of the water. They have complimentary shuttles to all the parks. The pool has a nice lazy river. There is a delightful spa. And I can get 3 nights for every 1 I can get at a Disney Deluxe.

What is the shuttle service like? I've always wanted to stay at a Ritz Carlton, this is intriguing.

 

[jw24]

I prefer offsite. Particularly staying at the Ritz Carlton. The service blows WDW's hotels out of the water. They have complimentary shuttles to all the parks. The pool has a nice lazy river. There is a delightful spa. And I can get 3 nights for every 1 I can get at a Disney Deluxe.

The Ritz Carlton is the Grand Floridan of chain hotels in my view. I can only dream of staying at Ritz Carlton but during a WDW vacation, probably not but that's just me.....

 

[Disneyhead'71]

You can usually get a room at the Ritz for around $250/night.

The shuttle service is great. You make reservations with the concierge 24 hours in advance. They use very nice medium size busses. And they have a set schedule. They have shuttles to all the parks.

 

[IWantMyMagicBand]

The Mrs and I have done Disney on every budget (ranging from collage budget staying at the Red Roof Inn and sharing meals at the park to staying at the GF and every one in between) and we used to have the same debate. Now it comes down to, how much is that time it takes getting in and out of the park worth to you. Are the savings worth getting up earlier, driving to the ticket center (paying for parking) getting on the tram, then getting on the monorail, then getting in the park. Or just hoping on the monorail or bus and being there in a few minutes. To us, especially with a little one, it was a no brainer. I would rather spend the $$$ and save the time. especially at the end of the day with a sleeping child in the stroller. Not having to wake him up, and just sliding him into bed is worth the extra $$$$.

This is my exact reason too, some of you may know my dad has a 3 bed apt at Bahama Bay in Davenport. We all go to Florida but stay at OKW. He gets kind of miffed that he can't stay at his own place but I've said to him that you can't put a price on convenience. He's going there on his own this Saturday just to stay at it. I've said to him if he sets foot on WDW property while there he should remember who will choose his nursing home lol.

And with regard to price, for us it is actually more expensive to stay offsite, even when we stay Deluxe at WDW. I have spreadsheets detailing every penny and cent that would be spent. We love character meals, and with the free dining plan we can do them nearly everyday. We couldn't afford to do it if we had to "pay" for food. Although breakfast isn't included in the package, a $200 gift card is, so we use that to stock our kitchen with breakfast items etc. We got the 35% discount too.
Then there's the cost before you get on the plane. The fuel to the airport, the cost of parking, the inconvenience of driving home after a 9 hour night flight. If you spend over 5k my travel agent takes clients to the airport in a minibus.
And then there's the little things like EMH, having merchandise sent back to the hotel and concierge can give you immediate answers regarding the parks.

But that's not to say it won't change when the kids get a lot older and they meet the height requirements for Uni. We love Disney, but I can't say I'm not excited about going to Uni again. We didn't do it last time as only had 10 days, this time we have 18, and because we only have 14 day Disney tix, we will for the first time ever, do Uni as our first park. I feel like I'm cheating on Walt doing this but I'd rather have MK as the last park we visit.

 

[Pocahontas]

I think there's an extra magic that comes with staying in the bubble. It feels like Disney the whole vacation, from morning till night. Especially for kids.

 

[Tiggertoo56]

I honestly prefer staying onsite. There's just something about letting Disney take care of the transportation, food, and lodging that makes the trip that much easier. I know that you can save a bit of money by staying offsite, but then you have to worry about the traffic into the park, paying for parking, and keeping track of the car.

I guess it really just comes down to how much external planning you want to do.

Agree with this one whole-heartedly. Why stress with transportation/parking etc when you can be looked after in such style.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Agree with this one whole-heartedly. Why stress with transportation/parking etc when you can be looked after in such style.

Since when are overcrowded (with tired grumpy kids) city busses considered "style"?

 

[real mad hatter]

You can usually get a room at the Ritz for around $250/night.

The shuttle service is great. You make reservations with the concierge 24 hours in advance. They use very nice medium size busses. And they have a set schedule. They have shuttles to all the parks.

Wow!..Only $250 per night....That would set my 14 day vacation a bill of $3500... I could get a months vacation at WDW for that price......LOL....

 

[jdnetone]

My wife and I have said many times if we couldn't stay on property we simple wouldn't go. We like being in the Disney magic 24hrs a day. I couldn't stand having to drive to and from the parks. I like letting someone else worry about that. We enjoy the convenience of staying at one of the Disney resorts.

 

[real mad hatter]

My wife and I have said many times if we couldn't stay on property we simple wouldn't go. We like being in the Disney magic 24hrs a day. I couldn't stand having to drive to and from the parks. I like letting someone else worry about that. We enjoy the convenience of staying at one of the Disney resorts.

Totally agree...I ain't going to fly 3000 miles and find out I can't afford to stay inside the bubble..

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Wow!..Only $250 per night....That would set my 14 day vacation a bill of $3500... I could get a months vacation at WDW for that price......LOL....

I was saying this mostly for those paying $630/night@Poly and $730/night@GF. $250/night for far superior accomadations WITH free shuttles to all the parks seems an option for those folks. Particularly if they want to include Uni or SeaWorld without changing hotels or hiring Mears.

 

[real mad hatter]

I was saying this mostly for those paying $630/night@Poly and $730/night@GF. $250/night for far superior accomadations WITH free shuttles to all the parks seems an option for those folks. Particularly if they want to include Uni or SeaWorld without changing hotels or hiring Mears.

Whit!!!...$730 a night at GF..My 14 night bill is now over $10000...That's 2 months at PORS.....LOL..Totally agree about your idea...

 

[ABZDisneyFan]

Having done both, it's got to be "In the bubble".

 

[allgiggles]

My wife and I have said many times if we couldn't stay on property we simple wouldn't go. We like being in the Disney magic 24hrs a day. I couldn't stand having to drive to and from the parks. I like letting someone else worry about that. We enjoy the convenience of staying at one of the Disney resorts.

This. We drive 1,000 miles to get to Disney World and we like to park the car and not worry about driving once we arrive.

We don't go to Disney to "save" money. We know what we want out of our vacation (staying on property and living in the bubble for 7 or 8 days is at the top of the priority list) and we are willing to pay the price for that. I will say that we typically stay at a Value resort because the focus of our time at Disney is to be in the parks as opposed to spending hours in the room and taking advantage of the amenities offered at the Deluxe resorts. If we're taking a vacation simply for the purpose of relaxing, we would be at a spa somewhere and not at Disney World. Those extra amenities are just not important to us when we're at Disney. We also like that as the kids get older (they range in age from 27-8 right now) we're comfortable letting them go off on their own sometimes because we know they are "trapped" in the bubble but can still be independent and do things that the younger kids can't or don't want to do.

We plan our trips to Disney World based on when we have saved up the money we need for the vacation we want. Until DH retires and he and I start spending a few weeks/months in FL each year, we will always stay on property for our Disney vacations even if that means we only go every 2 or 3 years. Vacations are precious to us and we aren't willing to take the risk of ruining our vacation (for us) by trying to save a few $$$ by staying off property. We love the bubble and that's where we choose to spend our money and stay.