Perhaps the poor folk dont consider the over priced hotels value for money purely to gain an extra hour or two in a park bursting with all the other drones taking advantage of EMH. Im led to believe that some non Disney operated hotels in the Orlando area offer Deluxe accommodation that truly complies with the general definition rather than a price band marker.
certainly all hotels off property aren't fleabags. And people pick them for lots of reasons. We own DVC- sometimes we stay DVC Points, sometimes we buy rooms onsite (deluxe, home away from home, value). Sometimes we buy rooms offsite. All depends on what we are looking for at that time.
But without a doubt it is a very rare day when you can get a "better deal" for a disney room then an "offsite" hotel- looking at just the accommodation- (# stars, size of room, amenities etc.).
When the "value" Disney resorts are basically small motel rooms for ~150 a night- there's a lot of people that just can't afford to pay that for a "place to sleep" along with the cost of admission.
Try to find a place for a family of 5 on Disney property- then see what a room (even a suite) for a family of 5 costs "offsite" and there's a big different there too.
Most people that can afford disney world are very lucky and they should realize that. there are folks who just cant afford it at all. And people in between that can't afford to stay onsite.