Why do you stay offsite?

[serene56]

Looking to weigh the pros and cons of an offsite hotel when booking our disney trip.

I am finding the hotels to be comparable with costs staying onsite-- then renting a car.

So looking for opinions on why you stay offsite instead of on property.

 

[PrincessDadx2]

If you want a cheap hotel then it is better to stay on site. Disney Value resorts will give you much better service for only a few dollars more than offsite roach motels.

If you want a 3bd house or nice 2bd condo then offsite is 50-90% cheaper than a Disney deluxe or suite accomodation.

Most people stay offsite because they want more space, more dining options, or are doing other things besides Disney.

If you usually rent a car anyway then the only difference is the parking fee if you are not an annual passholder. If you do not rent a car then it is cheaper to take ME and use Disney transportation.

Transportation to the resorts is about the same for every park except for MK. For MK offsite guests have an extra step from the TTC to the park. Onsite guests get bussed right to the park.

 

[sympatico]

We stay off site because I like having a pool home and renting a car. If it was only for a couple of nights then a hotel room would do but for a week or two then I want a home with a private pool. We would rent a car whether we stayed at Disney or not. I like having the freedom to come and go as I please.

 

[Tirapapas]

My case.

Family Size/Budget: We are a family of five (children 10, 8 and 4) wanting to stay on a Value Resort, and they all have occupancy of four, except suites (in All Star Music), but this were way overpriced. Moderates were even cheaper than those suites, but still way out of our budget. We wanted someting in the $100 range (+/- $30) and off-site you can find much more space and bedding in that price range. The alternative in the Value Resort might have been two connecting rooms, but we were not offered that by Disney, probably because we are going in June or probably because we were late in our reservations (some three months before trip; no one-year in advanced planning).

Universal: We decided we'll be going to both Universal's theme parks, and the transportation issue basically made us rent a car. Not going to Universal was not an option on this particular trip.

Dining: I feel that dining outside of DWD gives you more "bang for your buck". The difference might be considerable.

Kitchen: Having a kitchen, even a kitchenette give you flexibility, and might end up saving some meals.

Extra Bathroom: The truth is that we ended up reserving on a hotel with one bathroom, but I had made a reservation (later cancelled) in a hotel with two bathrooms. This helps you a lot when dealing with five to ten showers a day. We ended up changing hotels to a more kid-friendly one, but the options of two bathrooms is great in my mind. Connecting rooms in Value Resort might do the trick, too.

The main cons for my upcoming trip involves the car, parking, not having the Disney Transportation, ease of payment. I don't care for EMH.

 

[deedeetoo]

We own DVC and love staying on-site in a 2 BR villa for our family of 5, but we are taking a second trip this year (which we don't have enough DVC points for) and decided to stay offsite for it. Here's why.

First, it is a lot cheaper to stay off site. We got a 1 bedroom suite that sleeps 6 with a kitchenette and free full breakfast and rented a car for less than a moderate would cost. Having the car also gives us options for food that are much less expensive than staying on Disney Property. Finally, since we go so often, it isn't a big deal to be "outside the magic" for a trip. If we went less frequently I think it would be more important to be onsite.

 

[Fabinva]

For us because we need more space, more than one bathroom and having a private pool is great.

 

[Brian Noble]

If you want a cheap hotel then it is better to stay on site. Disney Value resorts will give you much better service for only a few dollars more than offsite roach motels.

If you want a 3bd house or nice 2bd condo then offsite is 50-90% cheaper than a Disney deluxe or suite accomodation.

Bingo.

In our specific case, sharing a single hotel room between the four of us simply is not vacation. I can do that for one night, maybe two. Anything longer requires separate sleeping spaces for adults and kids---at a minimum two hotel rooms or a 1BR suite. But we strongly prefer 2BR and kitchen facilities.

We are normally late February visitors, during Peak Season for Disney resorts. The absolute cheapest way to meet our minimum requirements onsite is two Value-class resort rooms. Some years are better than others, but a typical year will see discounts of about 15%. For 2009, that works out to about $1,700 for a week's stay. If we were to rent a 2BR OKW unit from a Member, it would be about $3,000 at $10/pt for the same week.

For less than $1,000 (usually, much less) we can get a 2BR offsite that is furnished comparably to that DVC unit. Even if you account for rental car and parking, that brings me to $1,300, give or take.

We do stay onsite, but only when we can get a timeshare exchange into DVC. We've done that several times now, and the cost is about a wash compared to staying offsite. At that point, staying onsite is great, because it doesn't cost us anything more. We even took a 1BR OKW villa once, but it wasn't as nice as we recall the offsite 2-3BR units being, and I don't think we'd do that again.

At the end of the day, for us, the benefits of being onsite were tangible, but not exceptional. We mostly have our own car, and take the bus only a few times each trip. We didn't make much use of EMH. Package delivery has been hit-or-miss in terms of timeliness and convenience. Room charging makes no difference to me. Service and amenities are comparable to the better offsite resorts.

Our next trip is going to be this summer at Wyndham Bonnet Creek, so we'll be offsite for the first time in a couple of years after several DVC stays. It will be interested to revisit the comparison and see how it feels to us.

 

[HeatherC]

We are a family of five and try to get to Orlando every year for at least 10-12 days. Would not want to stay in a tiny hotel room for that amount of time with 3 kids.

Plus we love all the resorts in the Orlando area and are able to rent multi-bedroom units for far less than we would pay at Disney.

As an example, we stayed at Bonnet Creek this past Feb. for something like $120 a night including taxes. That was for a 2 bedroom unit with jacuzzi tub, full kitchen and washer and dryer...and multiple tvs for the end of the day!

Makes it so much more affordable for large families.

In short, we can spread out more and stay longer for a lot less money.

 

[ruthfamilyvacationer]

I am somewhat of a "hotel snob". I hate to admit it but if I was to stay onsite I would have to stay at a deluxe resort. I kind of dont get how the Contrmporary is $500 a night in late Ocotober/November and the Ritz is $279 or with breakfast for 2 and free daily valet for $309.

We are a family of five with two small kids (1 1/2 and 2 1/2) who dont do well with sharing a room with others (last vacay we were up by 5:30 am everyday, not much of a vacay). So we would have to get two rooms at a deluxe resort or a 2 bedroom villa which would cost us an arm and a leg.

I am sure as the kids get older we will def. stay in Disney but at that time one room would be okay b/c we could just tell the kids to "go back to bed" (toddlers arent so good about that).

When we go in October/November we are staying @ Marriot Grand villas. I dont care about the kitchen. . I dont cook on vacation but the space is what is most important. We are getting a 3 bedroom villa so my oldest DD and my 2 1/2 DD can share a room and my little guy can have his own room.

 

[serene56]

We are 4 families - ALL adults except for 1 4 1/2 year old.

I dont think that spending that kind of time with everyone in a home/room will work for me- Its bad enough being all day in the parks.

I wonder if a 3 bedroom house will be good too.

(who woulda ever thought that this much "thought" goes into a disney vacation

 

[savannahcat]

The biggest reason we stay offsite is the extra space. It is so nice to put the kids to bed and still have the freedom watch tv, read, etc. The second reason involves having a washer and dryer right in the unit. It means we can pack a lot lighter and sometimes only travel with carry on luggage. I also love having a full size refrigerator for drinks and snacks. Taking drinks into the parks saves us so much money!

 

[MiaSRN62]

removed

 

[captnJacksmommy]

We stay off site. I love having more room. We are going June 13-20 and are staying at the westgate lake resort and spas. We only paid $350 dollars for the room. We have a studio, that can fit 2 adults and 1 child. It has a king size bed and a full sizesleeper sofa. The only thing is we have to do a 90 min tour. I can spare 90 min of my time to save $$$.

 

[Tiffa]

We stay off-site for the room and the pool and the 3 bathrooms and washer dryer. Renting a house is great for us, but I guess it's all in what you want, it's definatly more bang for our buck and the kids love to swim whenever they want.

 

[MiaSRN62]

removed

 

[Brian Noble]

I don't think Tiffa is talking about pool hours so much as "pool convenience." Somehow, it's just easier to have a pool right in your backyard, just off the living room, than it is to have to go to "the resort pool"---even in compact resorts.

That's one thing I miss now that I've switched from pool home rentals to timeshares---the backyard pool.

 

[floydfamily4]

To answer the OP's question: we are staying off site because we cannot and will not pay what it costs to stay in deluxe resorts at WDW. We are going on cash and will not spend more than we have planned and while it would be great to have tons of money to spend on a deluxe monorail resort we just don't and won't. I am traveling with my DMIL, DH, and twins who will be almost 5. We are staying in a 3bdr. townhouse with 3 baths. We recently took a 4 day trip to San Antonio and stayed in 1 room with the 4 of us and it just confirmed for me that a week in a value resort, even the ASM suites would not be fun I will make our magic for the kids with the wonderful items I will bring but to spend $200+ per night is just not magical to me I think everyone makes the best decision for their family but I just won't spend that kind of money when even with a car and parking I can do accommodations for $1000 for the week. And my kids and DMIL will have their own room to boot! Good luck!

 

[canadianjovigirl]

Same reason as most others, a family of 5 and we could stay at the resort for a week or get a home and car and stay for 3, so we are going in Nov. for almost the whole month!!!!

We love having bedrooms, a kitchen for snacks, breakfast and supper as we get tired of eating out after a few days!, our own pool, close to everything as we are seeing more than WDW and lots and lots of space for everyone!!!

 

[dyna]

We are staying offsite our June visit 1st time in many many years we will be offsite. I found us a townhouse 2 bed 2 bath for less than 550.00 for the week including taxes an everything. We are traveling on a harley so need washer an dryer in our unit. I will put my stuff in the 2nd bedroom an shower in 2nd bath which allows dh an I both to get ready at the same time an I tend to stay up later than DH an wake earlier so I'll have a place to be awake to read or whatever without disturbing DH.

We don't do EMH as a rule disney transportation has went down hill the past couple of years. With the harley there is motorcycle parking closer to the gate than what disney transportation drops us off at the bus stop in the parks. We have annual pass so FREE PARKING

I'll be cooking breakfast for us each morning an gettin us off to a good start inside disney we just eat cold cereal. I'm gonna fry up sausage the day we arrive an reheat that along with our eggs in the mornings an prolly have biscuits or waffles with the eggs an sausage. That should allow us to eat a lupper aboout 4 pm then maybe a snack in the evening an save us buying a meal a day....If we want I can cook more meals at the condo or we can have sandwich stuff or salad fixings etc.

 

[themousetrap]

The years I stayed offsite were for space. Money really wasn't a huge factor considering the cost of renting a car and it's fuel came very close to what we were paying to stay onsite anyway (group of four men, we were NOT renting a compact vehicle!). I have an insane fear of flying so my costs are a whole lot different than you guys (700 miles both ways), but offsite definitely is more spacious for cost and gives more freedom of choice when it comes to meals.

However, with my wife and son, onsite is an absolute must due to the convenience alone. Getting our stuff delivered to our room is incredibly beneficial especially for a kid (and wife) who wants to stop and shop in every building that has a cash register. Good to know that you won't have to fight sleep after a long day of touring trying to drive back to your offsite. My kid is the type that if he's sleepy, you have a 20-30 minute window to get his cranky head on a pillow. After that, it's just restless crankiness (we'd get back to the offsite resort then he'd be wide awake), so a 10 minute trip back to an onsite is good for that.

For me, cost means more than just what comes out of your wallet. If I were to save a couple of hundred bucks staying offsite, but had to deal with the frustrations of getting from A to B, then that couple of hundred is simply not worth it. I'd much rather spend 200 more dollars and move in comfort than to be hot and bothered all day thinking "at least I saved 200 dollars this way".

But, we're just a party of 3. If you travel with any more than 4 or 5 people that includes older people and children, you'd be insane not to stay offsite. The last thing you want after fighting crowds of thousands of people is coming to a 300 square foot room and still feeling crowded.

So, my reason was definitely space.