coming to disney staying off property

[Bill Schultz]

Wow thank you for the all the information and tips! My hats off to you all who this Disney World thing often. I suppose after 28 times it gets easier but what stress!

Does the tiered system for soarin and test track mean you can only get a fast pass for 1 of them a day?

I will have to look into the rider switch. Not sure what it is but "opportunities" sounds good.

We will be in Orlando December 2nd thru the 9th. Minus the travel days its really the 3rd thru 8th for doing things.

Thank you Leebee for not making me feel like we have to get there early. Though I think we might try, I wont feel as stressed about it if we dont. We are from small town Wisconsin. Just being in Orlando is more stress then I need!

 

[itchin2go]

Wow thank you for the all the information and tips! My hats off to you all who this Disney World thing often. I suppose after 28 times it gets easier but what stress!

Does the tiered system for soarin and test track mean you can only get a fast pass for 1 of them a day?

I will have to look into the rider switch. Not sure what it is but "opportunities" sounds good.

We will be in Orlando December 2nd thru the 9th. Minus the travel days its really the 3rd thru 8th for doing things.

Thank you Leebee for not making me feel like we have to get there early. Though I think we might try, I wont feel as stressed about it if we dont. We are from small town Wisconsin. Just being in Orlando is more stress then I need!

You can book 3 advance fastpasses. You can't choose both Soarin and Test Track as advance fastpasses. You can only choose 1 of these two per day.

After you use your first 3 advance fastpasses, you can book a 4th, and then tiering is out the window. IF Soarin or Test Track is available, you would be free to book either. I don't know whether they're typically available as 4th FPs, though.

If you have more than one day at Epcot (we always do, but we love World Showcase), you can book Soarin as an advance FP on one day, and Test Track on the other.

We almost always rope drop Epcot, so we FP one of them and ride the other standby at rope drop. Works pretty flawlessly unless Test Track is down (which happens quite a bit).

I know rope drop is not for everyone, but for us it actually *lessens* the stress of the trip. We get so much done in the morning when everyone else is sleeping, that we can take it easy later on. To each their own, but it's something to consider.

 

[goofyernmost]

I'm curious to know what you think is incorrect. I'm not seeing any misinformation, but maybe I missed something.

No you probably didn't. The one huge piece of the reservations system that I never use is the Dining ADR's. I didn't think that offsite could be made 180 days in advance, but, like I said that is a part of my touring plan that I don't use and if it do it is done whenever I know for sure I'm going and that isn't usually 180 days out or even 60 for that matter.

Also the Dining reservations, everyone can make them 180 days in advance. But if you stay onsite, it's 180+10 days, meaning you could make ADRs for your entire trip when your arrival date is 180 days. That can be an advantage of you're trying to get a reservation someplace very popular.

That is the part that I am confused about, but, mostly the 180+10 as I have never heard of it. However, that is why I asked @Robo because I have never had a reason to need it.

 

[itchin2go]

No you probably didn't. The one huge piece of the reservations system that I never use is the Dining ADR's. I didn't think that offsite could be made 180 days in advance, but, like I said that is a part of my touring plan that I don't use and if it do it is done whenever I know for sure I'm going and that isn't usually 180 days out or even 60 for that matter.

That is the part that I am confused about, but, mostly the 180+10 as I have never heard of it. However, that is why I asked @Robo because I have never had a reason to need it.

Everyone can reserve ADRs at 180 days out ... from each day of their trip.

Onsite folks get an advantage. At 180 days from the FIRST day of their trip, they can make ADRs for the first day of their trip PLUS up to an additional 10 days of their trip. So, most onsite folks can make ADRs for their whole trip at 180 days from their first day.

Note that the last time I did it, it was 180 + length of stay ... up to 10 days. It used to be 180 + 10 regardless of how many days you were staying.

It's not a huge advantage, but it IS a difference between staying offsite vs. on.

 

[goofyernmost]

Everyone can reserve ADRs at 180 days out ... from each day of their trip.

Onsite folks get an advantage. At 180 days from the FIRST day of their trip, they can make ADRs for the first day of their trip PLUS up to an additional 10 days of their trip. So, most onsite folks can make ADRs for their whole trip at 180 days from their first day.

Note that the last time I did it, it was 180 + length of stay ... up to 10 days. It used to be 180 + 10 regardless of how many days you were staying.

It's not a huge advantage, but it IS a difference between staying offsite vs. on.

Alright, I was thinking that it meant 190 days out (180+10), but, that does make sense. If you are booked for 10 days then they know you are going to be there for 10 days. Offsite, they really don't know for sure.

 

[chris1212]

We have 2 little ones and have always stayed off site so far. I don't feel like we are at a disadvantage. With little kids we would rent a car anyways, like the freedom to go shopping and get groceries and check out other things than being tied to Disney transportation. We have been twice with FP+ and both trips were able to get all the "hard to get" FP's like A&E and SDMT. It took a bit of time and work checking the site, but I was able to get multiple FP's for difficult attractions. ADR's, with little kids we don't want to have a tonne of dining reservations, but that said one of our last trips I was able to get all the difficult ADR's well after 180 days (CRT, CM, Akershus, BOG). When our kids are older at some point we will try staying on site, but right now we are really enjoying staying in a larger place with 2 bedrooms and full kitchen and more space for the kids.

 

[Kathryn777]

Does the tiered system for soarin and test track mean you can only get a fast pass for 1 of them a day?

I will have to look into the rider switch. Not sure what it is but "opportunities" sounds good.

That is a perfect example of the opportunities you get with rider swap. You can get 1 fp for an adult for test track, and get a rider swap pass when you go to enter the line. Then the other adult and your six year old can ride. Then you do 2 fp for soarin, get the swap pass when you go to enter the line, and the 6 year old can ride again with the 2nd adult waiting. If you have a 2nd child tall enough it still works, 3 people can ride again on the rider swap pass. Epcot is great in that there is so many little (easily supervised) activity areas around the rides. The end of Test track has a fantastic area where the kids can do different activities, and you can go right into that area without riding. So meeting up after the ride isn't stressful at all

 

[caroline1851]

Rope Drop, Rope Drop, Rope Drop.....
Even when we went during slower months, it was always worth it. Avoid crowds. I couldn't believe how many miserable looking little kids and parents there were this week when we were there waiting in LONG lines for rides that completely could've been avoided with securing FP+ and getting to parks early.

 

[tlmadden73]

Staying off-site is not really a disadvantage
You can't make your fast pass reservations at 60 days .. only 30 .. not the biggest of deals as long as you don't have this regimented itinerary you hope to accomplish.

It just depends what type of vacation you are looking at
Looking at going to the theme parks every day from morning til night? Staying off-site is perfect.
Looking at a relaxing vacation for a week where you don't need a car .. can go to a park half a day and lounge by the pools in the afternoon and then try out somewhere special for dinner onsite? Then on-site vacation is for you. Some people simply like the ambiance of a on-site hotel.

I have done both on and off-site vacations and both types are great.

My last WDW trip was with a 2 year old and we stayed offsite. It worked out fine. We had no issues getting up .. driving to the parks (early, but not when the gates opened) .. spending the day there and then heading home before it got too late after a long day. We had no issues making Fast Passes (especially for toddler rides) at 30 days out. We made no dinner reservations to keep our plans loose (because of the toddler). We even park-hopped one day .. which was quick and easy with our own car.

Honestly, sometimes driving up to the gates and parking and then taking a tram to the transportation center .. then taking the monorail (or boat) is part of the magic (especially for young kids).

 

[Mikie]

Wow thank you for the all the information and tips! My hats off to you all who this Disney World thing often. I suppose after 28 times it gets easier but what stress!

Does the tiered system for soarin and test track mean you can only get a fast pass for 1 of them a day?

I will have to look into the rider switch. Not sure what it is but "opportunities" sounds good.

We will be in Orlando December 2nd thru the 9th. Minus the travel days its really the 3rd thru 8th for doing things.

Thank you Leebee for not making me feel like we have to get there early. Though I think we might try, I wont feel as stressed about it if we dont. We are from small town Wisconsin. Just being in Orlando is more stress then I need!

To piggyback off a prior poster who mentioned this and the play areas at Epcot. Rider Swap (or Rider Switch) is offered at any ride that has a height requirement, so that the adults can take turns waiting with the small child while only going through the standby line once, or only using one FP. It is useful in all the parks, but especially if you want to use it as described in a tiered park (Epcot and Hollywood Studios) to get a FP for two Tier One rides.

The little areas in Epcot are great to familiarize yourself with just to let your small ones enjoy or as a waiting spot if you split up to ride certain rides. There are cool "dancing fountains" outside of the Figment and EO attractions that little kids love; a play area at the exit/wait from Mission:space (this is sufficiently close to Test Track too) the area after Test Track isn't specifically a kiddie area, but they do like some of the activities there.

I am a "near rope drop" person - meaning I do not arrive 30-45 min early and wait with the crowd for the gates to open. I arrive 10-15 min after official opening (many times the parks open a few minutes early, so by this time I may be 20-25 min behind the first entrants). I find it's a reasonable time for my family, avoids the initial crush (which I hate) and still gets me that valuable morning time with low waits.

 

[aquahollic]

I hope the OP will pardon my tagging along with another question but I'm hoping this is a good thread in which to pose it. I have a question about dining reservations and tickets. I understand the 180 days for off site and 180+10 for on site. We are planning a large family trip for February 2016 and will be staying off site. We only want to book one character meal for our group (undecided on which one at this point) but we may not have park tickets in hand by our 180 day mark. Will we be able to do online ADRs for our group without park tickets attached to our MDE accounts? I know we'll need them before we can do FP+ reservations but am not clear with the dining reservations. Can anyone that can clear this up for me?

 

[goofyernmost]

I am not sure of the answer, but, I think that you have to have the tickets attached to your MDE to make reservations in the parks. Without tickets there is no connection if you stay offsite. If you have booked a reservation at an onsite Disney resort, then you might be able to do it for those that are not within a park.

Perhaps someone that has a better knowledge of this will jump in here and correct me if I am wrong.

 

[LoveThatMouse!]

When our children were the ages of yours, (we are also a family of 5), we found it easier to stay off property in a home just off property with lots of bedrooms, a kitchen and a pool. The ease of sleeping and eating in a home was a huge bonus for us and the cost was so much better than booking 2 rooms.(Back in our day, Disney was not so friendly to families of 5.)

We LOVE being on property, but when our kids were small, there was no question...we had to have a house.(always found a 5 bedroom on VRBO for much less than being on site)

 

[aquahollic]

When our children were the ages of yours, (we are also a family of 5), we found it easier to stay off property in a home just off property with lots of bedrooms, a kitchen and a pool. The ease of sleeping and eating in a home was a huge bonus for us and the cost was so much better than booking 2 rooms.(Back in our day, Disney was not so friendly to families of 5.)

We LOVE being on property, but when our kids were small, there was no question...we had to have a house.(always found a 5 bedroom on VRBO for much less than being on site)

We have a group of 16 including grandparents, little ones and teens so the easiest and most cost effective way to go was an off site rental home. If it were just DW and I, we would stay on site bc it adds to the magic! This time though, trying to get that many people to agree on a resort, let alone getting rooms near each other, just sounds like too much of a headache. I stopped panicking long enough to figure out, I could answer my dining question using our MDE account. I was able to make a reservation for a date 180 days from now and then went back and cancelled it. So, it turns out, you don't need park tickets attached for simple dining reservations.

 

[sunflare]

Will we be able to do online ADRs for our group without park tickets attached to our MDE accounts? I know we'll need them before we can do FP+ reservations but am not clear with the dining reservations. Can anyone that can clear this up for me?

Yes, you can make dining reservations without having park tickets - though if you book something in a park you eventually will need to have those tickets There are plenty of character meals both inside and outside the parks.

 

[Planogirl]

We usually stay offsite and I don't think that we lose much. You might have trouble getting FP+ for Anna and Elsa and the Dwarfs Mine Train but we've had no trouble getting anything else. Be sure and book your ADR's at the 180 day mark if you decide that a particular restaurant is important. And be prepared for daily parking fees. Those can add up. I take en envelope with the right cash for just those.

 

[amym2]

When our kids were little, we always stayed offsite and had a great time. Our kids could not stay up late, so renting a house allowed DH and I some down time in the evenings. We never found the drive to the parks to be any longer than using most Disney transport (except maybe MK or if we were staying on the monorail).

Fast forward to now and the kids are 13 and 11 and stay up later than I do at WDW. We joined DVC in 2011 and now always stay on site. We sometimes still have a car and choose to eat off property to save money and because we like some nearby restaurants.

On site or off site it's still a magical vacation!

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

OP, you will have a GREAT time, don't sweat it. 30 days should be sufficient to get some good FPs and dining you can make pretty far out in advance. We live in a villa rental community and plenty of families stay off sight and love it. Obviously as locals, we never stay on property and we have a great time all the time. We even watch the fireworks from home on our balcony every night if we want to. This whole area is an awesome family oriented region. You will have a great trip if you plan your FPs right and plan for weather best you can.

 

[Alesia]

I hope the OP will pardon my tagging along with another question but I'm hoping this is a good thread in which to pose it. I have a question about dining reservations and tickets. I understand the 180 days for off site and 180+10 for on site. We are planning a large family trip for February 2016 and will be staying off site. We only want to book one character meal for our group (undecided on which one at this point) but we may not have park tickets in hand by our 180 day mark. Will we be able to do online ADRs for our group without park tickets attached to our MDE accounts? I know we'll need them before we can do FP+ reservations but am not clear with the dining reservations. Can anyone that can clear this up for me?

You DO NOT need park tickets to make ADRs.