Why do you stay off site?

[roselindsey]

We stay off site for the money as well. If we had stayed at a value resort for 8 nights plus a 6 day base ticket we would've spent over $4500.
Same deal cost $2100. We drive down and use our van anyway and with 6 of us we could all the savings we can get.

 

[disneyny]

I think if I ever went at one of the busy times of year for just a short trip I may stay offsite. I am a teacher so the only time I have extended time off is in the summer. So if I ever went at another time of year it would be the very busy time and the prices onsite would be hard to handle. I have always wanted to go to MNSSHP so in that case I might stay offsite.

 

[lebeau]

Short answer: Money

Much, much longer answer:

First, I've stayed off site and on. There are definitely advantages and disadvantages to both.

When you stay on-site, you are paying a little (or a lot) more for what is in theory a worry-free vacation. No need to cook or drive. You just let Disney do it all.

We put this to the test on our last trip (which we just returned from). The big problem we encountered was the bus service at Port Orleans. It was woefully inadequate. I quickly found myself wishing I had rented a car.

But once you make the leap into renting a car, suddenly staying off site starts to make a lot of sense. You can save a lot on food just by eating at restaurants off site. If you have even a minimal kitchen (fridge and a microwave) you can save a lot of money by eating a few meals at the hotel. And if you're willing to actually cook a few meals, you can save a fortune.

Obviously, you get more bang for your buck in terms of accomodations when you stay off site. For the price of a moderate, you can get an entire vacation home or a suite somewhere. If you're traveling with more than 4 people, it's hard to fit in those tiny Disney rooms.

So what are you giving up? Convenience? Not really. With a car, I can usually make it to the parks faster when I stay off site than when I stay on property and rely on Disney transportation. And I don't have to stand while juggling a baby, stroller and bags of souveniers/supplies.

When I stay off site, the commute to and from the parks is usually shorter than the wait for a bus. And I never have to worry about buses filling up. Every time we left DHS this trip, we were on a standing-room-only bus. Usually the second or even third bus. And we never stayed for Fantasmic! We left before the park even closed.

One day when we had early reservations at the castle, we watched at least three buses each for DHS, Epcot and AK come and go before a bus showed up for MK.

The driver told us he was actually assigned to DTD but got called in to help with the PO-MK route. Thank goodness for that! We were 10 minutes late for our ressies, but it could have been so much worse. Let me tell you, that was not a stress-free vacation experience!

EMHs? We avoid these like the plague. It's just a guarantee that the park hosting the EMH is going to be uncomfortably packed. I can got to a park without EMH and make better use of my time during normal operating hours.

Admittedly, you give up being immersed in the Disney experience 24/7. I value that. But not everyone does. My wife would much prefer a bigger, nicer room with no theme. After a week on those tiny, uncomfortable PO beds, I'm inclined to agree with her!

Honestly, I'll have a hard time ever justifying staying on property again unless I hear that the bus situation and on-site dining have been greatly improved. As it stands, Disney is giving me every reason to stay off site and very little reason to stay on property.

Seriously Disney, your bus service is costing you money.

 

[yensid67]

Just curious for those people who prefer to stay offsite. I am not concearned about the money aspect because my friend only stays offsite because they want to save money. I want to know what other reasons do you have.

thanks :drevil:

I think I am with the consensus on this one, MONEY! Although staying on property has it benefits and rewards, being on a limited income, staying at an off property hotel is more economical! I usually stay on International Drive since its kind of the middle of the action! The shops on I-Drive are much cheaper as well, and you get the same stuff as those other pricey places on property!(at least i like to think so!)

 

[jacalynsue]

I stay off site for the money and the convenience.

We rent a condo near the entrance and get to have the perks of home: the ability to accommodate different sleep schedules, snoring, light sleepers, a fridge for takeout/leftovers, a microwave to heat those leftovers, a washer/dryer to cut down on the clothes we need to pack, multiple TVs for different entertainment needs, a kitchen so we can eat breakfast in the room and still have a dishwasher to do the dishes, and two bathrooms.

I give up Disney theming, too much togetherness, bus rides, and free parking. We mainly go for Disney, but we do a trip to the coast and another outing for Sea World. This year, if we split up so we can better manage the kids, we can always use a taxi with one group while the other gets the rental car.

If I were traveling solo and money were not an issue, I'd stay on site. But otherwise, I like having different bedrooms. Hubby and I can't share a bedroom at home due to snoring/light sleeper issues. Sharing a motel room with each other and 2 kids would not be a vacation... it would be torture!

I'd rather go less often and have my condo than go more frequently and be miserable the whole time.

 

[trixie21]

Hubby and I can't share a bedroom at home due to snoring/light sleeper issues. Sharing a motel room with each other and 2 kids would not be a vacation... it would be torture!

I'd rather go less often and have my condo than go more frequently and be miserable the whole time.

AMEN!! I love that I am not alone in the snoring/separate room lifestyle
It's unfortunate but much more relaxing I agree.

We will be visiting next month offsite time share for the 1st time and I am so looking forward to the space we will have, kitchen and laundry in the unit.

 

[cinderellafan6]

Well we usually stay onsite if there are good prices available for fl residents or passholders. but this trip druing memorial weekend we are staying at the Sheridan safari resort next to the entrance of Downtown Disney. Were only paying $64 a nite and even Disney couldnt beat that price. Plus the hotel is really nice.

 

[Rooster]

I stay offsite sometimes so I can use travel miles for a longer trip to Orlando and actually cost me less. I travel quite a bit for work and rack up mega points. Here is an example trip I'm taking with my family in June.

1. Marriott Rewards
A.-8 night Stay award w/Platinum upgrade At Marriot Renaissance Sea World Resort -Hospitality Suite and connecting King Bedroom, Cost $0
B. -Parking 8 days - Redeem Marriott rewards for two gift certificates applied to room bill to cover parking Cost $0

2. US Air Preferred Points- Roundtrip Flight to Orlando x 4 seats, cost $0

3. Avis Car Rental w/Avis First level Free Weeked award - Full size 8 days -2 for free weekend = 6 days, Cost $298

4. Chase Disney CC Rewards - 4(2A+2Ch) x WDW 6 day MYW tickets $913-$343.00 Chase Disney Card Rewards, Cost $585

5. Parking WDW 6 days, cost $84

So Grand total for 8 nights Air,Car, Hotel, WDW admission and Parking for four people (Not counting meals etc) $967

You can't touch that at any Disney Resort for that length of stay. I love my points.

 

[woodardfamily]

Since we have family who owns timeshare is always willing to give us a week it seems like a no-brainer to us. It gives us more money to spend at the parks, and more days to be in the parks. I do want to stay on property on our next trip just to see how they stack up ammenity wise. Sheraton gives you an awful lot.

 

[gljvd]

My famiy has two weeks at orange lake. I normaly fly down with them for one week , but my friends and I take the other.

I drive from NJ to Disney , This year it will be $350 but 4 people are in the car so I pay $90 for the trip with tolls.

Gives me alot of money for the vacation itself , tho at 28 two days in a car is getting a tad tiring.

 

[Zip-a-Dee Do Da]

We have always stayed offsite due to the cost of needing a room with a full kitchen. I have severe food allergies so we have to be able to cook most of the meals, but we do eat at Disney as well since they are so accommodating. So basically we get a king bedroom, a bedroom with 2 twins, a jacuzzi, full kitchen, washer/dryer, living roon and dining room, 3 baths, and a screened in porch on a lake, and only 10 minutes from the world. We love it!

 

[Yankeeplex]

I will give you a perfect example of why we stay off grounds now. I am working on my 52nd trip to WDW and have stayed at all the resorts. In March, I was denied access to a cruise ship because my birth certificate was a hospital issued and not a government issued document. To make a long story short, they denied me access and the nine other people in the party would not go without me. Within my 9 person party were 4 kids under the age of 7. Upon settling everyone down, I said the only place we can go to was Disney. I immediately started calling and found 3 rooms at the All-Star Movies for $$$$$$149$$$$$$ per night for each room for 3 nights. using simple math that come to roughly $1,350 for 3 nights in 3 rooms for 10 people. We booked it.

I then thought about this place I stated at, off the grounds, for business 2 years ago. It had 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, kitchen, dining room table, refrigerator, washer and dryer, oven, microwave, plasma tv in each room and a 42" plasma in the den. You get the point. I google them and found there number. Within minutes, I canceled our reservations to the All-Star Movies resort. I booked this room for $215 for the first night and $185 for the next 2 nights. For $585 for 3 nights TOTAL!!!!! That is a savings of $765 for the 3 nights. ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? And it is located less than 10 minutes away right off of 192. That is why we do not stay on the grounds anymore. The savings far outweighed any nostalgia we had at staying on any of the resorts on the grounds. It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever to stay on the grounds anymore with 4 children when all we do is put our heads on a pillow. With the money we saved, we gave the kids the best trip they ever had. And that is worth more thank any character based room.

 

[SamTHorn]

Great input here. Thanks for all your insights.

This really helped us to make our decision.

Cheers.
:sohappy:

 

[RedBaron]

This will be the first time in 20 years that I am staying off property. This is also the first time taking the kids and grandma, so that will mean 5 people in a room. Only a few on site resorts would accommodate 5 people and it would mean all of us sharing 1 bathroom, so it would take forever for all of us to get showered, dressed, and fed in the morning. We have decided to stay at a Marriott resort villa with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, dining room and kitchen (with washer and dryer which will be great since we are driving down and will be gone for 10 days total, and without a washer and dryer we would have to bring a ton of clothes with). Besides saving a bunch of money on the room, we will also save a bunch of time getting ready and grabbing a quick breakfast in the room before heading out. The resort also had an offer for 2 free tickets for 2 days to either WDW, Universal or Sea World, and we are taking advantage of the Universal tickets. Only 27 more days before we leave. :sohappy:

 

[Blufusion]

Here's my reason for staying off site. Please don't get me wrong I would stay onsite and hope to before I kick the bucket.Im new on this site. But have been going to WDW since 1982. Have stayed at The Contemporary and the Dixie Landing and at FW. Also have stayed at many of the hotels at Lake Buena Vista. This last year I had the money to do holiday like I have always wanted. Instead of doing WDW I went and stayed at the Marriott Kolina Resort in Oahu Hawaii. It is the last hotel resort right past Disney's Aulani. I stayed for 8 days had a suite and a rental car for all 8 days plus roundtrip airfare for 2 plus a 45 minute helicopter flight over Oahu for a total cost of $4000.00. Why did I get such a great rate? My partner works for Marriott. We went thru their travel agency and had the best time of our life. The reason I say this . I have always wanted to do WDW and stay at the Contemporary Resort but after looking at their room rates. The room alone would have cost us for what we paid or our whole trip. We go to Orlando we stay at the JW Marriott for a $80.00 a night and we drive to WDW. WDW is fun but they are in my opinion overpriced and not worth it as far as what you get. But thats just my look on life. We will be going in 2014 for a week and more than likely we will stay at Universal Hard Rock Hotel and not staying at Disney. But for our 15th anniversary it will be either a 4 night stay at the Contemporary and a few nights at the JW Marriott. We also can get those rates at The Ritz Carlton as well. Haven't decided yet. Thats in 2016. But if I have my way it will be at the Contemporary Resort Or another trip this time to Maui. But it's a dream of staying at the Contemporary Resort.

 

[Jillybelle]

I've been to Disney 5 times in the last 4 years and always stay offsite. Granted, we don't have kids, so we have the luxury of traveling in the off season and staying mid-week to mid-week. The past 4 times we've gone, I've found flight, hotel and car for less than the price of lodging at value Disney resort, and we stay at pretty decent places for a good amount of time (8+ days).
I've always wanted to have the full Disney experience, and hoped to do so for my honeymoon in November. However, after paying for a wedding, I just couldn't justify the price of a Disney resort vs. the 4 1/2 star Wyndham in Bonnet Creek (less than .5 miles from Disney property, but still felt like it was in the 'compound') that we ended up staying at- it was more than double for a moderate Disney resort.
I'll get there eventually, but right now, we spend far too much time away from our hotel while at WDW to justify the extra expense.

 

[PotteryGal]

This is our first trip back to WDW in four years, and our first trip staying offsite. Mind you, in the past we have stayed close to the MK at various resorts, spending thousands of dollars to be 'immersed in the magic'. And don't get me wrong, we enjoyed our vacations. However, times are different now...money has come to the forefront of our concerns, and our kids are older. For the cost of a preferred room at Pop Century, we are getting a 3 bedroom, 3 bath townhome in Windsor Hills. I even had Disney do a price quote for two standard rooms at Pop for comparison (we need two rooms because our kids need their own beds), plus the cost of MYW tickets, and we are saving at least $500 staying offsite, between townhouse, tickets and parking. We never took the buses when we stayed on property anyway, and the disney dining plan ended up being wasteful because our youngest is uber picky about what he eats. So having a kitchen, as well as a washer/dryer so I don't drag home a ton of dirty laundry, will be undeniably a godsend.

 

[cedardad]

We had our first vacation at in the world this past December and we fell in love. We looked at DVC but passed. After some research we purchased a resale Wyndham timeshare. This will allow us to stay at Bonnet Creek in a 2 or 3 bedroom condo with at least 1200sqft of living area each year! I liked CSR but the rooms are too small for us. Yes we drank the koolade and we love it and we have very nice accomodations at a great price.

 

[eden600]

We stayed off site on our last trip because of value. We stayed at LBV resort and spa and loved it! for the price you cannot find a bigger room to stay in and the kids just loved the pool with the pirate ship.

 

[waldorffandstatler]

We stay at one of the vacation condos 5 minutes away from. At the condo we have 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, full kitchen, dining room, living room, washer/dryer, and a pool. we pull up to the front door. I have never been too fond of waiting 20 minutes to ride on a city bus. I'm not knocking disney transportation at all, but after being at the park all day I don't mind the drive back in peace and quiet. That is as long as the kids are worn out and sleeping.