Off Property

[grapefruitjellybean]

Hello,
My family and I are doing 12 days at Disney this February and I'm starting to regret staying off property. When we started planning the trip we looked at all the on site options for 3 adults and 3 kids and wow, so expensive; especially with the USD to CAD exchange. We booked a spacious 3 bedroom suite at a lovely resort close to the parks.
Now I'm starting to feel worried and a little fomo because we won't be on property. I'm concerned we won't be able to snag ILLS for Rise and other popular rides because they will be gone by 9:00am or whenever the parks open. Another concern that I'm seeing right now is that I can't book any restaurant reservations. I'm up every morning trying to get a character breakfast or Oga's and there are no available times.
Does anyone have any tips or tricks or general advice? Has anyone stayed off property and managed to ride all the rides?
Thanks in advance!

 

[GBRforWDW]

Hello,
My family and I are doing 12 days at Disney this February and I'm starting to regret staying off property. When we started planning the trip we looked at all the on site options for 3 adults and 3 kids and wow, so expensive; especially with the USD to CAD exchange. We booked a spacious 3 bedroom suite at a lovely resort close to the parks.
Now I'm starting to feel worried and a little fomo because we won't be on property. I'm concerned we won't be able to snag ILLS for Rise and other popular rides because they will be gone by 9:00am or whenever the parks open. Another concern that I'm seeing right now is that I can't book any restaurant reservations. I'm up every morning trying to get a character breakfast or Oga's and there are no available times.
Does anyone have any tips or tricks or general advice? Has anyone stayed off property and managed to ride all the rides?
Thanks in advance!

We're staying off-site in a couple weeks. We didn't plan a trip until within 60 days, so didn't really get a chance for reservations right away, but have been able to score some good ones and got lucky with others like Story Book opening reservations last week as well as space 220 lounge.

I'd recommend utilizing the free tool from Touring Plans to alert you of openings. I got a Topolinos breakfast on Christmas morning with this alert. Also got a couple alerts for Oga's but was too slow.

I know we won't be doing all the rides this time, but excited for Christmas and shows we didn't get to see on our last trip when we did ride nearly all the rides thanks to very low crowds. There has been a couple times where rise lasted just past 9am including at least 1 day this weekend, Sunday if I remember correctly, so there's still hope.

 

[NavyDad]

For every decision in life there are trade-off's. Staying on property you are going to pay more but generally it makes your trip more convenient in regards to location and other perks that Disney gives to on-site guests. Staying off site you can get larger and sometimes nicer accommodations at lower cost but you miss out on some of the perks. That's just the way the cookie crumbles.

From your post it sounds like you have almost 2 weeks at WDW so probably plenty of park days. The number 1 tip is don't try to do everything at a park in one day. If you can go to each park at least two separate days you can break it up and if something is just not able to happen, there is always another day. A lot of this depends on how busy the parks are when you go but if you are there for 12 days in February there should hopefully be at least some slower days.

Here is a good tip for restaurant reservations: look at some places at the Deluxe resorts. Some of the best meals and best experiences we have had with meals at WDW were at other resorts - even if we were not staying at that resort. When we are at MK especially, we like to leave in the middle of the day for a break and eat lunch or dinner at any of the MK resorts that can be reached by monorail or water taxi. Often it is easier to snag a reservation at one of those places than at a place inside the park.

I have not kept up on what dining locations have re-opened since COVID but here are some of the places our family have enjoyed eating that are on WDW property but not in a park:

Grand Floridian - We did a character brunch at 1900 Park Fare that was awesome. The family met Alice, Mad Hatter and I believe some characters from Pooh.

Contemporary - our kids loved meeting the Big Five at Chef Mickey's

Beach Club - we have enjoyed our meals at Cape May Cafe and getting ice cream from the little soda shop around the corner.

Animal Kingdom Lodge - nice place to have lunch or dinner and see animals in a relaxing atmosphere.

If you are not able to get everything you want in the parks, I suggest keep looking every day because people cancel all of the time and also expand your search to the resorts. Also don't be afraid to try to walk up to a place at a strange time like 10:30 in the morning or 3:30 in the afternoon and ask very nicely if they have openings. Sometimes they will tell you it's just not possible, but other times we have been able to walk right into places that were booked solid for months and showing zero availability.

 

[M SH]

I totally agree with you that onsite stay is way more expensive than off site. for less than a value resort, we get a multi bedroom suite at 4 star resorts nearby. given the only advantage for onsite today is the 30 min EPE, it's hands down not worth it. Busses today at Disney are very frustrating and are more of a hassle than a plus, so getting a car rental or uber is much more convenient.

February is not overly busy, so i would not worry too much about missing opportunity for ILL reservations for Rise.
you should try right at 9 though, because shortly after they will be gone.
The other option there is to do Rise late in the day. go there 10-20 mins before park close and it will be close to a walk on.

for ADRs, you will not find anything that is hard to get at 60 days. BUT check a week or 2 before (and keep checking). I was able to snag space 220 dinner for next week when im going, just last week. you can also setup alerts using mouse dining (google it)
I never had a problem getting any ADR with some alerts setup and persistent looking a week or so before my trip.

have a great time!

 

[Ninja Mom]

Having stayed off site during my trip at the end of October/beginning of November I can tell you that you are getting way more value for your dollars. and more than likely better accommodations, with fewer problems, than you would experience on site at WDW.

I always compare my off site stay with my friends who are going at the same time and are staying at the same resort that I would have stayed at. They feel that they are paying way too much money and experiencing too many problems at Disney Resorts these days.

At one time Disney was the place to stay for many reasons and perks. All of that is disappearing and being replaced with high prices and resorts that make their problems your problem.

Off-site means you can afford much better accommodations at a lower price point. You can still experience Disney while you are in the parks, albeit with reduced offerings and short staffing levels.

You definitely made the right choice by staying off site. Hopefully, the executives who run the resorts and parks will come to their senses and return to the Disney quality that we experienced in the past. Unfortunately, now is not that time.

If they should be able to turn things around, then staying on site as an option can be in your future. As for your up-coming trip, I feel that you have definitely made the right choice.

~NM

 

[CanadaSCM]

We stayed off site a few weeks ago and rode every ride we wanted in every park in 1 day each (weekdays, no hopping, and ROTR $ILL sold out before we could purchase). Full days for sure but I would not even be slightly concerned about missing ROTR without $ILL (or any other ride) if you have 12 park days. With hopefully normal Feb crowds you should easily be able to get in line with a wait of less than 60 minutes. Towards the last 30 minutes of the park closing it should be almost a walk on. It would have been nice to have 30 minute early entry every day but it wasn’t necessary and for the price we actually didn’t even consider staying on site.

We never do ADR’s so can’t help you there unfortunately.

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

We're staying off-site in a couple weeks. We didn't plan a trip until within 60 days, so didn't really get a chance for reservations right away, but have been able to score some good ones and got lucky with others like Story Book opening reservations last week as well as space 220 lounge.

I'd recommend utilizing the free tool from Touring Plans to alert you of openings. I got a Topolinos breakfast on Christmas morning with this alert. Also got a couple alerts for Oga's but was too slow.

I know we won't be doing all the rides this time, but excited for Christmas and shows we didn't get to see on our last trip when we did ride nearly all the rides thanks to very low crowds. There has been a couple times where rise lasted just past 9am including at least 1 day this weekend, Sunday if I remember correctly, so there's still hope.

Topolino's Breakfast on Christmas! You lucked out my friend. Topolino's and Chef Mickey's are the two I am most excited about, followed by Oga's. I signed up with Touring Plans and Mouse Dining so wish me luck.

 

[katyjeka]

We have done both over the years and our favorite trip(we have visited over 30 times)was a stay at Bonnet Creek. You can have a VERY successful trip staying offsite as long as you plan. You could look into buying Genie with the money you are saving. We love WDW but our biggest complaint has always been the cost of rooms for a larger family. We need 2 rooms at a deluxe or a 2 bedroom which adds up quick on a two week trip. We've spend more on a room at Disney than we did on our balcony room on the big island of Hawaii, crazy!!! Renting points is another option that can save you a lot of money. Have a great trip.

 

[Faithful Raider]

I am currently working on my ADR's for our late Jan / early Feb trip. We are staying off-site as well (Waldorf) and like you have been frustrated with the lack of ADR's available, even at 6am EST 60 days out. But with a lot of work and persistence, we have been able to get nearly every ADR that we want. While we still don't have CRT and Topolino's breakfast, we have so many other great ones.

For character meals, we have Chef Mickey's breakfast, Hollywood & Vine breakfast and lunch (different characters so we wanted do to both), Tusker House breakfast, Be Our Guest dinner, and Artist Point Story Book dinner. Other ADR's we have include Topolino's dinner, Oga's, Homecomin' Sunday brunch, Sci-Fi, Beaches & Cream, California Grill dinner, Coral Reef, Teppen Edo, Yak & Yeti, Bull and Bear (Saturday night), T-REX, and a bunch of easier to get ones like 50's Prime Time, Brown Derby, Liberty Tree, etc. This was all done without having the 60+10 access, and only 1 (Artist Point) was booked right at 6am EST 60 days out. Also haven't gotten a single notification from any of our alerts. It did require us moving some things around, but right now our plans are nearly finalized and we are at the point where we have to consider dropping some, as we might have too many ADR's to realistically do.

What helped me was a paper planner where I could write down all the ADR's I have and the times, where I can see them all on one page at a glance. Then on my PC I have each day pulled up and I would go though and search all the days and see what pops up. Using the breakfast/lunch/dinner search option doesn't work well for me so I make sure I search using the hours. And over the course of the week we filled in spots, moved ADR's to better times as we found them, and are almost closing in on being finished. Any spare time or while watching TV I'll likely have my phone in my hand glancing through days I know need ADR's because you never know.... Got Topolino's dinner just today out of the blue like that, and got Yak and Yeti while waiting to pick up my daughter from school a few days ago. At first I felt a little bad and didn't want to grab an ADR unless I was sure it worked out for our plans. After 2 days of not getting what I want, I started grabbing whatever I saw whenever I saw it, grabbing back up times for ones I already had, and certainly a "book first and ask questions later" mentality. Fortune favors the bold in the ADR race. I figured those 60+10'ers are grabbing them all up, why shouldn't I do the same?

Has it been a hassle? Sure. Am I bummed we haven't gotten everything we want, when we want it? A little. Are we gonna have awesome dining experiences still while saving all that money by staying off-property? HECK YEAH!!

We decided this week after seeing what a mess the ADR situation was, that we would budget for G+ and ILL$. Looking at ADR's for our trip vs early January, it looks like it is going to be VERY busy while we are at WDW. With all the dining we want to do, we are going to have to pay for G+ and maybe ILL$ for sure to get our rides in. ROTR ILL$ is the only one that is truly hard to get, and if we can't, we have already planned to rope drop for it one day. We have several days to try for Remy via virtual queue, and enough chances at AK to do FOP without ILL$ if that is what we decide. But I don't anticipate ride access being an issue for us with 9-10 park days.

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

I am currently working on my ADR's for our late Jan / early Feb trip. We are staying off-site as well (Waldorf) and like you have been frustrated with the lack of ADR's available, even at 6am EST 60 days out. But with a lot of work and persistence, we have been able to get nearly every ADR that we want. While we still don't have CRT and Topolino's breakfast, we have so many other great ones.

For character meals, we have Chef Mickey's breakfast, Hollywood & Vine breakfast and lunch (different characters so we wanted do to both), Tusker House breakfast, Be Our Guest dinner, and Artist Point Story Book dinner. Other ADR's we have include Topolino's dinner, Oga's, Homecomin' Sunday brunch, Sci-Fi, Beaches & Cream, California Grill dinner, Coral Reef, Teppen Edo, Yak & Yeti, Bull and Bear (Saturday night), T-REX, and a bunch of easier to get ones like 50's Prime Time, Brown Derby, Liberty Tree, etc. This was all done without having the 60+10 access, and only 1 (Artist Point) was booked right at 6am EST 60 days out. Also haven't gotten a single notification from any of our alerts. It did require us moving some things around, but right now our plans are nearly finalized and we are at the point where we have to consider dropping some, as we might have too many ADR's to realistically do.

What helped me was a paper planner where I could write down all the ADR's I have and the times, where I can see them all on one page at a glance. Then on my PC I have each day pulled up and I would go though and search all the days and see what pops up. Using the breakfast/lunch/dinner search option doesn't work well for me so I make sure I search using the hours. And over the course of the week we filled in spots, moved ADR's to better times as we found them, and are almost closing in on being finished. Any spare time or while watching TV I'll likely have my phone in my hand glancing through days I know need ADR's because you never know.... Got Topolino's dinner just today out of the blue like that, and got Yak and Yeti while waiting to pick up my daughter from school a few days ago. At first I felt a little bad and didn't want to grab an ADR unless I was sure it worked out for our plans. After 2 days of not getting what I want, I started grabbing whatever I saw whenever I saw it, grabbing back up times for ones I already had, and certainly a "book first and ask questions later" mentality. Fortune favors the bold in the ADR race. I figured those 60+10'ers are grabbing them all up, why shouldn't I do the same?

Has it been a hassle? Sure. Am I bummed we haven't gotten everything we want, when we want it? A little. Are we gonna have awesome dining experiences still while saving all that money by staying off-property? HECK YEAH!!

We decided this week after seeing what a mess the ADR situation was, that we would budget for G+ and ILL$. Looking at ADR's for our trip vs early January, it looks like it is going to be VERY busy while we are at WDW. With all the dining we want to do, we are going to have to pay for G+ and maybe ILL$ for sure to get our rides in. ROTR ILL$ is the only one that is truly hard to get, and if we can't, we have already planned to rope drop for it one day. We have several days to try for Remy via virtual queue, and enough chances at AK to do FOP without ILL$ if that is what we decide. But I don't anticipate ride access being an issue for us with 9-10 park days.

This.... is a lot. I'm happy it worked out for you and your persistence paid off. But ooof, all this planning is not helping my stress/anxiety. The last time I went to Disney was in 2013 with my partner. We had nothing planned and we didn't know anything about anything. We went on all the rides and had so much fun. It was so much easier back then.
I should hire you to get me organized. All I want is to do breakfast at Topolino's or Chef Mickey's, and have all the drinks at Oga's. I don't really care about dinner's because I want to try American fast food that we don't have here, like Sonic.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Topolino's Breakfast on Christmas! You lucked out my friend. Topolino's and Chef Mickey's are the two I am most excited about, followed by Oga's. I signed up with Touring Plans and Mouse Dining so wish me luck.

Yes I did! We were going to do a partial day at animal kingdom because that's our fly home day, but decided to move AK earlier in the week once I got that. We ate there in January and loved it, so really excited to be going back for Christmas.

Also, that's the power of the reservation finders. I mentioned one and someone else mentioned one. If you use both of them for the free alerts, you can get 4 notifications set up. You do have to pounce quick because anyone else looking at that time can grab it first.

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

Yes I did! We were going to do a partial day at animal kingdom because that's our fly home day, but decided to move AK earlier in the week once I got that. We ate there in January and loved it, so really excited to be going back for Christmas.

Also, that's the power of the reservation finders. I mentioned one and someone else mentioned one. If you use both of them for the free alerts, you can get 4 notifications set up. You do have to pounce quick because anyone else looking at that time can grab it first.

Trust me, my phone is always on me and I will drop everything to pounce on those reservations.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Trust me, my phone is always on me and I will drop everything to pounce on those reservations.

I know the feeling haha. Even quick fingers miss out, tho, so be prepared for that. I missed 2 Oga's because I wasn't quick enough or someone else was already searching when the alert went out.

With touring plans, you do have to go back in and turn on the alert if you miss out as they only send one notification per alert.

 

[Wildcard]

We are here currently and staying offsite. I knew there would be downsides, but we couldn't pass up the rate on a 2br onsite condo. We took what ADRs we could, even if they weren't out usual favorites. And good news, we found a new favorite!

Also, we had knew the Star Wars ILL likely wouldn't happen, and just planned to do standby for 2 hrs on one of our two HS days. But as it turned out this past Saturday, they still had late night availability at park open, so I leapt on it asap at 9am and scored some. So even now during the holidays there is a chance, albeit slim.

 

[disneymouse16]

I am currently working on my ADR's for our late Jan / early Feb trip. We are staying off-site as well (Waldorf) and like you have been frustrated with the lack of ADR's available, even at 6am EST 60 days out. But with a lot of work and persistence, we have been able to get nearly every ADR that we want. While we still don't have CRT and Topolino's breakfast, we have so many other great ones.

For character meals, we have Chef Mickey's breakfast, Hollywood & Vine breakfast and lunch (different characters so we wanted do to both), Tusker House breakfast, Be Our Guest dinner, and Artist Point Story Book dinner. Other ADR's we have include Topolino's dinner, Oga's, Homecomin' Sunday brunch, Sci-Fi, Beaches & Cream, California Grill dinner, Coral Reef, Teppen Edo, Yak & Yeti, Bull and Bear (Saturday night), T-REX, and a bunch of easier to get ones like 50's Prime Time, Brown Derby, Liberty Tree, etc. This was all done without having the 60+10 access, and only 1 (Artist Point) was booked right at 6am EST 60 days out. Also haven't gotten a single notification from any of our alerts. It did require us moving some things around, but right now our plans are nearly finalized and we are at the point where we have to consider dropping some, as we might have too many ADR's to realistically do.

What helped me was a paper planner where I could write down all the ADR's I have and the times, where I can see them all on one page at a glance. Then on my PC I have each day pulled up and I would go though and search all the days and see what pops up. Using the breakfast/lunch/dinner search option doesn't work well for me so I make sure I search using the hours. And over the course of the week we filled in spots, moved ADR's to better times as we found them, and are almost closing in on being finished. Any spare time or while watching TV I'll likely have my phone in my hand glancing through days I know need ADR's because you never know.... Got Topolino's dinner just today out of the blue like that, and got Yak and Yeti while waiting to pick up my daughter from school a few days ago. At first I felt a little bad and didn't want to grab an ADR unless I was sure it worked out for our plans. After 2 days of not getting what I want, I started grabbing whatever I saw whenever I saw it, grabbing back up times for ones I already had, and certainly a "book first and ask questions later" mentality. Fortune favors the bold in the ADR race. I figured those 60+10'ers are grabbing them all up, why shouldn't I do the same?

Has it been a hassle? Sure. Am I bummed we haven't gotten everything we want, when we want it? A little. Are we gonna have awesome dining experiences still while saving all that money by staying off-property? HECK YEAH!!

We decided this week after seeing what a mess the ADR situation was, that we would budget for G+ and ILL$. Looking at ADR's for our trip vs early January, it looks like it is going to be VERY busy while we are at WDW. With all the dining we want to do, we are going to have to pay for G+ and maybe ILL$ for sure to get our rides in. ROTR ILL$ is the only one that is truly hard to get, and if we can't, we have already planned to rope drop for it one day. We have several days to try for Remy via virtual queue, and enough chances at AK to do FOP without ILL$ if that is what we decide. But I don't anticipate ride access being an issue for us with 9-10 park days.

Can I ask how many people you are booking for? We are going with a group of 14. I'm guessing booking for that many isn't going to work so I'm wanting to split the group and get a couple of others to help me book. I'm just not sure how many is too many for a reservation.

 

[KLK622]

I would look at a paid reservation finder for dinning. I use the free touring plans one and a paid one (I think I paid $9 for a month) and I am getting a few alerts for Oga's each week from the paid one, it seems to find the reservations before touring plans does.

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

I would look at a paid reservation finder for dinning. I use the free touring plans one and a paid one (I think I paid $9 for a month) and I am getting a few alerts for Oga's each week from the paid one, it seems to find the reservations before touring plans does.

Which app/site is the one you pay for? I’m using Touring Plans and Mouse Dining and so far I haven’t received any alerts.

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

Hahaha I just found a spot for Oga’s at 9:30am. Can you serve alcohol that early? I guess we’re getting lit for breakfast.

 

[KLK622]

Which app/site is the one you pay for? I’m using Touring Plans and Mouse Dining and so far I haven’t received any alerts.

I am using the paid Mouse Dinning. Make sure you go into settings and verify for your phone number for text alerts (this isn't available on the free version).

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

We are here currently and staying offsite. I knew there would be downsides, but we couldn't pass up the rate on a 2br onsite condo. We took what ADRs we could, even if they weren't out usual favorites. And good news, we found a new favorite!

Also, we had knew the Star Wars ILL likely wouldn't happen, and just planned to do standby for 2 hrs on one of our two HS days. But as it turned out this past Saturday, they still had late night availability at park open, so I leapt on it asap at 9am and scored some. So even now during the holidays there is a chance, albeit slim.

You have given me much hope!