Is Staying off site cheaper? looking for suggestions.

[GPC0321]

It all depends on what you look for in a Disney vacation. We pay to stay on-property because part of what makes a Disney World vacation unique to us is that immersive experience. I want The Mouse to pick us up at the airport and whisk us off to his World and take care of us until he brings us back to head home (Nooo!!!). I don't want to have to worry about driving anywhere, paying for parking (at parks and possibly resort), or dealing with any other "real world" issues while I'm on a Disney vacation. I like being at the mercy of Mickey for my stay. Somehow, when my biggest problem of the day is that three Animal Kingdom buses have come and I STILL haven't seen an Epcot bus, which is where I want to go....that's sort of a great feeling. I still remember listening to the bus's air brakes and beeping as they opened the accessible back door on the morning we were leaving last spring. I had been nearly asleep and worn out on one of those buses late the night before, hanging onto the handrail with all of my might trying not to bump into the people around me. And I would have given anything that morning to have another exhausting day filled with crowded bus rides. *sigh*

But a lot of people get irritated being held captive by Disney while vacationing there. So, I'm sure to them, the ability to have more independence and save a few bucks on the resort stay is a big deal. We stayed off-site when I was a kid, and we had a blast. I have no idea where we stayed, it was a million years ago, but I'm pretty sure there was Disney stuff in the gift shop, a swimming pool, and some palm trees. To a kid...that's all that matters!

So yeah, you can save some money. I'd look at the Disney Springs hotels, personally. Still technically on Disney property, but not Disney owned and a bit more affordable.

 

[ThistleMae]

It all depends on what you look for in a Disney vacation. We pay to stay on-property because part of what makes a Disney World vacation unique to us is that immersive experience. I want The Mouse to pick us up at the airport and whisk us off to his World and take care of us until he brings us back to head home (Nooo!!!). I don't want to have to worry about driving anywhere, paying for parking (at parks and possibly resort), or dealing with any other "real world" issues while I'm on a Disney vacation. I like being at the mercy of Mickey for my stay. Somehow, when my biggest problem of the day is that three Animal Kingdom buses have come and I STILL haven't seen an Epcot bus, which is where I want to go....that's sort of a great feeling. I still remember listening to the bus's air brakes and beeping as they opened the accessible back door on the morning we were leaving last spring. I had been nearly asleep and worn out on one of those buses late the night before, hanging onto the handrail with all of my might trying not to bump into the people around me. And I would have given anything that morning to have another exhausting day filled with crowded bus rides. *sigh*

But a lot of people get irritated being held captive by Disney while vacationing there. So, I'm sure to them, the ability to have more independence and save a few bucks on the resort stay is a big deal. We stayed off-site when I was a kid, and we had a blast. I have no idea where we stayed, it was a million years ago, but I'm pretty sure there was Disney stuff in the gift shop, a swimming pool, and some palm trees. To a kid...that's all that matters!

So yeah, you can save some money. I'd look at the Disney Springs hotels, personally. Still technically on Disney property, but not Disney owned and a bit more affordable.

I have to agree! I love being a part of everything Disney, and yes, we do pay more for that experience. But....as long as we can afford it, we will stay in one of the Disney resorts.

 

[timmyray79]

Doubt I will ever stay at Disney again...you can stay a week off site in a spacious house for 600-900 total a week...compare that to 2 bedroom Disney villas lol...you save thousands.....we go 2-3 times year...not sure why people are so adamant about a shuttle....if you can't drive then u fly in...rent car for week and you are still saving thousands even paying for preferred parking @ $35 a day which covers every Disney park if u hop...you get magic hours but with young kids they are useless...if you want to get up at 5am to feed children, dress them and rush to parks by 7:30 to get in gate at 8am go for it...you will have a miserable day...and the booking at 60 days in advance to dine is useless...Food is mediocre fair food that is priced like Ruth's Chris steak house...we don't even eating st Disney...bring our own food in or eat offsite...

So yes. Off site is much cheaper and a way better option...we bring our own food in or eat off site..for the money they ask Disney should step up their food quality and hotel offerings...

 

[AdamEfimoff]

The problem with this question is cheaper is that is very generic! It really depends what you mean by accommodation and what accommodation you are comparing to. For instance are you comparing Four Seasons Orlando to Contemporary Resort? Are you comparing the Hilton to All Stars? Are you comparing Best Western to All Stars? For instance do you mean you get more for your money off site?The answer if yes no maybe. Which is as good as it gets. Until we know what hotels you typically stay in . And what ‘value’ for that I mean what you want your money to go on. Answering comes with a whole lot of maybes. It also depends on what travel agent you use/ and if you use one. A much better question would be we have 200 dollars to spend and are used to 3 star accommodation what would be the best accommodation for me and we a considering off and on site!

It would also depend if you are talking about hotels and homes as well.

 

[AdamEfimoff]

So yes. Off site is much cheaper and a way better option...we bring our own food in or eat off site..for the money they ask Disney should step up their food quality and hotel offerings...[/QUOTE]

But it has so many options and offerings . So I am not sure what you mean by that. I doubt they need to step up the food quality of Victoria and Alberts or Jiko or Be Our Guest. And I have been to http://www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50-winners/Arpege, http://www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50-winners/Le-Bernardin. And have a cooking qualification but what would I know

 

[AdamEfimoff]

We have on stayed on site, but I want to try something new. I would like something child friendsly (kids ages 9 and 12) and we will need shuttle to and from wdw. I would like something comparable to the price of staying on site, but nicer and possibly less expensive. Suggestions (mid July)

Also what do you mean by 'nicer'?

 

[nursejackie]

We've stayed both off site and on site, and we can't imagine staying off site as we really love EMH in the mornings. We are early risers and our annual visit in December offers plenty of 7am and 8am EMH's which we take full advantage of. You can get so much done in that hour. We hire a car so their transportation is unimportant to us, it's all about EMH.

 

[AdamEfimoff]

Why did you go in your early years off site and much later on site? I have done the opposite. But alas my off site is the four seasons. I am such a big four seasons fan. So much so I want to work for them.

 

[Klayfish]

Doubt I will ever stay at Disney again...you can stay a week off site in a spacious house for 600-900 total a week...compare that to 2 bedroom Disney villas lol...you save thousands.....we go 2-3 times year...not sure why people are so adamant about a shuttle....if you can't drive then u fly in...rent car for week and you are still saving thousands even paying for preferred parking @ $35 a day which covers every Disney park if u hop...you get magic hours but with young kids they are useless...if you want to get up at 5am to feed children, dress them and rush to parks by 7:30 to get in gate at 8am go for it...you will have a miserable day...and the booking at 60 days in advance to dine is useless...Food is mediocre fair food that is priced like Ruth's Chris steak house...we don't even eating st Disney...bring our own food in or eat offsite...

So yes. Off site is much cheaper and a way better option...we bring our own food in or eat off site..for the money they ask Disney should step up their food quality and hotel offerings...

This is an old thread that got brought back up, but anyway, while I am very much an off site person too, don't think a lot of what you said is quite accurate. Unless something changed recently, you don't need to get preferred parking to cover all Disney parking. Regular parking gives you in and out privileges at all 4 parks. Magic Hours aren't useless with young kids, that's entirely up to the family. We never did them (since we stay off site) and really wouldn't want to...but if we ever did them it actually would have been when the kids were young. When they were younger, they get up at 6am. Now, they'll sleep to 8am or later, so EMH would be less useful to us now that the kids are older. We don't eat at WDW either, we bring our own food, but I totally disagree that it's "mediocre fair food". You can get fair food if you'd like, at any one of dozens of QS places. But many, if not most, if the sit down restaurants are anything but fair food. Pricey? Yes, definitely. Mediocre? No, definitely not.

Like I said, I'm a 100% off site person, but don't think a lot of what you wrote is true.

 

[MrInfinity]

Interesting thread, glad it came back.

I checked out the http://disneyspringshotels.com/ link from @writerguyfl (thanks!) For my dates they came in at...
Best Western $165
B Resort $152
Doubletree $143
And not finding anything cheaper than Disney, so I stopped there.

Disney All-Star $125. Pop $150. CBR $217.

At Choice Hotels you could find them for $60, but you're 12 miles out at a roadside motel. The ones they have on I-Drive are $176 and $110. The Quality Inn is $125. So basically it takes going outside the park to the Quality Inn to get down to the price of a Disney Value. Cheaper than that begets further from I-Drive or more motel-style.

Thus I don't get why people make blanket statements like...

generally off-site is much cheaper

Off site is much cheaper and a way better option

...because it's not. The places people actually recommend (like the Doubletree or the Disney Springs Hotels) cost more. A Doubletree may be nicer than a Value, but it's not cheaper.

There is the cutoff at 4 people for a Disney Value... if you happen to have 5 people in your family, then the cost structure shifts a lot since you can cram 5 or 6 people into an offsite hotel but Disney won't let you do that in a Value. There are also offsite mini-suites which will comfortably sleep 5 or 6 which gets expensive on property.

 

[KristinU]

I'd say the "always cheaper" generalizations should be qualified with "for a similar accommodation" because I think that's what what folks are usually implying.

 

[BigredNole]

The problem with this question is cheaper is that is very generic!

Actually, it is far less generic than you think. When comparing equivalent accommodations (apples-to-apples), offsite is FAR cheaper. Lets take a look at a 2BR condo. At WDW, that will run you $500-$800 a night (yes, for a single night). Equivalent and usually better accommodations will run you $500-$800 for the entire week. Even taking the cheapest Value room, you are still saving money. The Value will be ~$1,000 for the week and the 2BR condo is still $500-$800 for the week.

I am not sure how anyone thinks staying onsite will be the same price offsite for similar accommodations. I guess if they compare a Value studio to the price of Four Seasons, then yes. Although that is not even a fair comparison. But people will use any argument to justify their belief.

 

[Klayfish]

Interesting thread, glad it came back.

I checked out the http://disneyspringshotels.com/ link from @writerguyfl (thanks!) For my dates they came in at...
Best Western $165
B Resort $152
Doubletree $143
And not finding anything cheaper than Disney, so I stopped there.

Disney All-Star $125. Pop $150. CBR $217.

At Choice Hotels you could find them for $60, but you're 12 miles out at a roadside motel. The ones they have on I-Drive are $176 and $110. The Quality Inn is $125. So basically it takes going outside the park to the Quality Inn to get down to the price of a Disney Value. Cheaper than that begets further from I-Drive or more motel-style.

Thus I don't get why people make blanket statements like...


...because it's not. The places people actually recommend (like the Doubletree or the Disney Springs Hotels) cost more. A Doubletree may be nicer than a Value, but it's not cheaper.

There is the cutoff at 4 people for a Disney Value... if you happen to have 5 people in your family, then the cost structure shifts a lot since you can cram 5 or 6 people into an offsite hotel but Disney won't let you do that in a Value. There are also offsite mini-suites which will comfortably sleep 5 or 6 which gets expensive on property.

There's no question about it that it's far cheaper to stay off property. You're looking at hotels. Most who stay off property rent townhouses and villas. I can...and routinely do...get 3 or 4 bedroom apartments or townhouses (about 800-1500sq ft) for $75/night or less. That gives me 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, family room, kitchen, private laundry, pool (either private or community), etc... You're not even going to come close to touching that anywhere on WDW property. As you quoted, the cheapest on property hotel is $125...and I bet that's an "off peak" time. That price gets you the cheapest hotel they have and a small room with a bed. I've got a family of 5...one hotel room isn't going to work, and WDW wouldn't let us do it anyway.

All of the places we stay are about 10 minutes or less from WDW. We've got a 17 night stay coming up this summer. We're renting a single family home (ranch style with a carport, about 1100sq ft) with 3 bed/2.5 bath, gated community, all amenities of home for a grand total of $1200...including all fees. Good luck finding that, or even a basic hotel room, on WDW property.

So yeah, very easy to make a blanket statement that off property is cheaper, because it is. Unquestionably. If you WANT to find a more expensive hotel off property, sure, you can. But you can find very nice accommodations with a ton of room and features, within 10 minutes drive, for at most 1/2 of the cheapest thing WDW has going.

 

[MrInfinity]

Actually, it is far less generic than you think. When comparing equivalent accommodations (apples-to-apples), offsite is FAR cheaper. Lets take a look at a 2BR condo. At WDW, that will run you $500-$800 a night (yes, for a single night). Equivalent and usually better accommodations will run you $500-$800 for the entire week. Even taking the cheapest Value room, you are still saving money. The Value will be ~$1,000 for the week and the 2BR condo is still $500-$800 for the week.

I am not sure how anyone thinks staying onsite will be the same price offsite for similar accommodations. I guess if they compare a Value studio to the price of Four Seasons, then yes. Although that is not even a fair comparison. But people will use any argument to justify their belief.

You say to compare equivalent accommodations but then you compare things completely not equivalent. How can you compare a 2-bedroom suite in BLT to a condo that's a 20-min drive to get to property? You're comparing exactly what you say not to. The #1 value determiner in real estate is location and you've got opposite ends of the spectrum here -- 1 is the closest possible proximity to the MK with all perks in a Deluxe Monorail resort, and the other is the farthest possible from the MK requiring paying for parking or having an AP, no DME, no early entry, no FP60 and taking at least 2 forms of transportation (car/uber plus ttc) to the park. You're comparing exactly what you say not to so of course in this case it will point to the primo location being 10x the cost of the least convenient possible location.

 

[MrInfinity]

There's no question about it that it's far cheaper to stay off property. You're looking at hotels. Most who stay off property rent townhouses and villas. I can...and routinely do...get 3 or 4 bedroom apartments (about 800-1500sq ft) for $75/night or less. That gives me 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, family room, kitchen, private laundry, pool (either private or community), etc... You're not even going to come close to touching that anywhere on WDW property. As you quoted, the cheapest on property hotel is $125...and I bet that's an "off peak" time. That price gets you the cheapest hotel they have and a small room with a bed. I've got a family of 5...one hotel room isn't going to work, and WDW wouldn't let us do it anyway.

So yeah, very easy to make a blanket statement that off property is cheaper, because it is. Unquestionably. If you WANT to find a more expensive hotel off property, sure, you can. But you can find very nice accommodations within 10 minutes drive for 1/2 of the cheapest thing WDW has going.

I was going w the the ones that people here recommended...

"Staying offsite is cheaper".
"Oh? Cool. Where do you recommend?"
"Here, here, or here. They are just like Disney hotels and right on property but cheaper".
"But they're not. They're more expensive."
"Oh right. You can stay at a motel and drive in. Or rent someone's apartment".
"But those aren't cheaper for the same thing".
"I guess not. It's totally different."

I bet that's an "off peak" time.

That was summer / June. I said I pulled up the dates of my trip, which is listed in my sig...

I've got a family of 5

We're 6. It gets even harder then! I already said once you hit a family of 5 things change. Offsite becomes more appealing. But for up to 4 it's really hard to beat All-Stars / Pop in anything even remotely close to an equivalent location / function.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

You say to compare equivalent accommodations but then you compare things completely not equivalent. How can you compare a 2-bedroom suite in BLT to a condo that's a 20-min drive to get to property? You're comparing exactly what you say not to. The #1 value determiner in real estate is location and you've got opposite ends of the spectrum here -- 1 is the closest possible proximity to the MK with all perks and the other is the farthest possible from the MK requiring paying for parking or having an AP, no DME, no early entry, no FP60 and taking at least 2 forms of transportation (car/uber plus disney transport from ttc) to the park. You're comparing exactly what you say not to so of course in this case it will point to the primo location being 10x the cost of the least convenient possible location.

Well then, compare BLT to WBC (which is just down the road from CBR), and add a premium for location of BLT, DME and FP+ at 60 days and free parking, and you're still looking at saving an arm and a leg by staying at WBC.

 

[MrInfinity]

Well then, compare BLT to WBC (which is just down the road from CBR), and add a premium for location of BLT, DME and FP+ at 60 days and free parking, and you're still looking at saving an arm and a leg by staying at WBC.

Is your position then, that "it's possible to find stays cheaper than BLT"? Of course. And I don't think anyone's ever contested that. CR/BLT is one of the most expensive places in Disney World. I've never stayed at WBC, but for kicks I checked and it was $313/nt.

 

[mshanson3121]

We've stayed both off site and on site, and we can't imagine staying off site as we really love EMH in the mornings. We are early risers and our annual visit in December offers plenty of 7am and 8am EMH's which we take full advantage of. You can get so much done in that hour. We hire a car so their transportation is unimportant to us, it's all about EMH.

Just as an FYI, you can book a throw away room, and stay off site and get better accomodations, save money, and still get to enjoy EMH.

 

[mshanson3121]

Interesting thread, glad it came back.

I checked out the http://disneyspringshotels.com/ link from @writerguyfl (thanks!) For my dates they came in at...
Best Western $165
B Resort $152
Doubletree $143
And not finding anything cheaper than Disney, so I stopped there.

Disney All-Star $125. Pop $150. CBR $217.

At Choice Hotels you could find them for $60, but you're 12 miles out at a roadside motel. The ones they have on I-Drive are $176 and $110. The Quality Inn is $125. So basically it takes going outside the park to the Quality Inn to get down to the price of a Disney Value. Cheaper than that begets further from I-Drive or more motel-style.

Thus I don't get why people make blanket statements like...


...because it's not. The places people actually recommend (like the Doubletree or the Disney Springs Hotels) cost more. A Doubletree may be nicer than a Value, but it's not cheaper.

There is the cutoff at 4 people for a Disney Value... if you happen to have 5 people in your family, then the cost structure shifts a lot since you can cram 5 or 6 people into an offsite hotel but Disney won't let you do that in a Value. There are also offsite mini-suites which will comfortably sleep 5 or 6 which gets expensive on property.

Because it is when you price the right places We just know where to look. Start comparing rental homes and condos, that's where you save your money.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Is your position then, that "it's possible to find stays cheaper than BLT"? Of course. And I don't think anyone's ever contested that. CR/BLT is one of the most expensive places in Disney World. I've never stayed at WBC, but for kicks I checked and it was $313/nt.

$313 a night is renting directly from Wyndham. I got a 2 bedroom in late August, 2016 for $85 a night. Definitely willing to put up with the "hassles" of paying for parking, driving 10 minutes to the park, 30 days for FP+ and no DME for the savings. YMMV