What will push you offsite?

NJlauren

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 6, 2014
I have always been an onsite person, I love the perks and the convenience, especially when I can walk to a park. However with all the cuts to perks I’m debating becoming an offsite person!

For my August trip I would save almost $1500 if I move offsite... I’m really debating it...

Having two kids, and one still in a car seat it’s a hard sell, but I’m still thinking about it.

If you're an onsite person will something push you to move offsite? If so what?
 
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In a word - cost and $1500 is a lot of money. I have been going every year with the exception of one since 1994. Always onsite. However, like you said the perks are going south. Can't even park for free at your resort. So, last year I stayed offsite .. but it was only a 3-night trip. It's really gotten a bit crazy if you ask me so to me it's a matter of cost. I'm going this year to the 20 years party and staying on-site .. but unless I can get a good discount - I see a lot of offsite in my future. You can stay close by or even at Disney Springs or Bonnet Creek area. very very close. Just stay away from the Celebration/Old Town area of 192. Think of what you could do with that $1500. Even use it on your trip - think of the things you could do... that's my 2 cents.
 
As long as we can afford to stay on site (we stay deluxe) we will continue to do so. The convenience of a 10 minute boat/monorail ride to the resort, or walking out the IG trumps everything for us. We are late nighters and trekking to the parking lot for a drive off site... or using Uber/Lyft is not appealing late at night.
 
I always thought once my kids got older we might stay offsite so we could book a large suite for reasonable cost. However, my kids are now almost age 16 and we still love being in one room. Granted, we only have 2 kids and we ensure we have a room with a daybed so each kid can have their own bed. So about the only way we'd stay offsite is if we wanted to do other things in Orlando area besides just Disney. Then again, we'd probably do a split trip with half at a Universal resort and half at a Disney resort. I agree the cost of Disney has skyrocketed over the years (we've been going to Disney a few times a year for the last 16 years). That factor combined with my kids' busy schedules has caused us to have shorter stays in Disney. Our average normal stay lately has been 5 nights, rather than the 8-10 nights we used to stay when the kids were younger, not as busy, and costs weren't quite as crazy. Offsite still does intrigue me, but right now we're still making Disney trips work by reducing our number of nights there.
 


Transportation - if magical express isn't free, or resort busses are cut/charged... If I have to pay to get there, anyway, I am going to pay to park from an offsite location. If I have to pay to get to my resort, I am just going to pay to get a rental car/Mears.
 
I always thought once my kids got older we might stay offsite so we could book a large suite for reasonable cost. However, my kids are now almost age 16 and we still love being in one room. Granted, we only have 2 kids and we ensure we have a room with a daybed so each kid can have their own bed. So about the only way we'd stay offsite is if we wanted to do other things in Orlando area besides just Disney. Then again, we'd probably do a split trip with half at a Universal resort and half at a Disney resort. I agree the cost of Disney has skyrocketed over the years (we've been going to Disney a few times a year for the last 16 years). That factor combined with my kids' busy schedules has caused us to have shorter stays in Disney. Our average normal stay lately has been 5 nights, rather than the 8-10 nights we used to stay when the kids were younger, not as busy, and costs weren't quite as crazy. Offsite still does intrigue me, but right now we're still making Disney trips work by reducing our number of nights there.

Us, too. 15/12 years old and everyone still loves crowding into a room at Pop. We have cut from 12 days/trip to 5 days or so. Still get just as much out of it.
 
When we were a family of 6, we stayed off site as it was substantially cheaper, as a family of 6 we stayed onsite 1 of the 4 times we traveled together, now we are empty nesters so we can stay on site with no issues, perks, for me the main perk is we are not far from anything and usually do get nice discounts on either the tickets or rooms and or both......Family vacations are expensive and one does have to watch the budget closely as we did, so I can say the $$ dictates where we stay.......
 


i don't think there's anything that would keep me from staying onsite. i love the convenience of it, plus you get the disney touch 24/7. even if i couldn't afford to stay onsite, i probably wouldn't go anymore cause i doubt i would be able to afford offsite then anyway. can i ask what hotel onsite you're looking at? value resorts are so cheap it's hard to imagine there's a 1500 dollar cost difference.
 
i don't think there's anything that would keep me from staying onsite. i love the convenience of it, plus you get the disney touch 24/7. even if i couldn't afford to stay onsite, i probably wouldn't go anymore cause i doubt i would be able to afford offsite then anyway. can i ask what hotel onsite you're looking at? value resorts are so cheap it's hard to imagine there's a 1500 dollar cost difference.

We are staying 1 night value 7 nights deluxe, and I really only need 6 nights but to change my dates the price goes up, since the discount has been removed. So the offsite price is 7 nights instead of 8 but even if I reduce the onsite extra night to make it comparable it saves almost 1200.

We almost always stay deluxe, but even staying deluxe some offsite hotels are nicer for less money.
 
Nothing.

If the time ever comes where we are financially unable to stay on-site when visiting WDW, we won't vacation there anymore.
not unable, but unwilling for my family. Next April will a trip with my DD,DSIL and 2 DGDs to celebrate my retirement. This will probably be the last trip for us; prices are out of control IMO.
We live a little over an hour from Six Flags New England and that will likely become our go to place to go.
Also considering an NCL cruise out of Boston as that eliminates the airline tickets.
 
Not quite sure what, I suppose it would just come down to cost in the end but if we can't afford to stay onsite, then we probably really shouldn't be taking a vacation to Disney or anywhere for that matter. We have done onsite pretty much 1 out of every 5 trips. Offsite was only because we met up with family on our trip so it was easier to be offsite. Yes, it's usually cheaper to stay offsite but depending on how you vacation that will dictate the decision. We are a family of 4 that drives down to Disney so we could easily drive to and from the parks while there but for us, our trips are about not having to drive and worry about transportation. We like the minnie vans and we enjoy the bus/boat transportation. And in the end, we're all about the bubble, we stay onsite for the theming, the convenience and our overall enjoyment.
 
Its not a simple answer. There are multiple factors. We don't go every year due to airfare and other costs; hotel, food, tickets. While there are some resorts that offer the same 60 day FastPass window, I would rule out other locations that don't offer it. Once I compare my time getting to/from the parks the additional cost to stay on Disney becomes a bit more reasonable. So for us its easier to justify going every few years and paying the onsite resort rates.
 
I think we are there too. We also do deluxe and rent a car each trip. Without a great deluxe rate hard to justify the cost of a moderate compared to some off-site options. I think we'll probably go "off-site lite" and do swan/Dolphin or explore Bonnett Creek to get a kitchen.
 
If Swan/Dolphin is considered "offsite", we've already been pushed there. We don't use DME and don't need the 180+10 perk as we are done with the harder-to-get ADR's. I'm Marriott silver elite (heading to gold), so the perks of staying at Swan/Dolphin outweigh staying at a WDW resort. It also comes, typically, at a far cheaper price point than WDW deluxes and some great restaurants.
 
I have always been an onsite person, I love the perks and the convenience, especially when I can walk to a park. However with all the cuts to perks I’m debating becoming an offsite person!

For my August trip I would save almost $1500 if I move offsite... I’m really debating it...

Having two kids, and one still in a car seat it’s a hard sell, but I’m still thinking about it.

If you're an onsite person will something push you to move offsite? If so what?
we almost always stay at values. So I don’t find more than say 1-200 dollar saving staying at a decent resort off property. Then factoring in parking fees and all. It’s not worth it. Where do you normally stay on site to save 1500.00? We don’t even have that much cost staying On property. With codes. The values are about 800-900 for 7 days.
 
we almost always stay at values. So I don’t find more than say 1-200 dollar saving staying at a decent resort off property. Then factoring in parking fees and all. It’s not worth it. Where do you normally stay on site to save 1500.00? We don’t even have that much cost staying On property. With codes. The values are about 800-900 for 7 days.

Not everyone can stay in a Value.
 
we almost always stay at values. So I don’t find more than say 1-200 dollar saving staying at a decent resort off property. Then factoring in parking fees and all. It’s not worth it. Where do you normally stay on site to save 1500.00? We don’t even have that much cost staying On property. With codes. The values are about 800-900 for 7 days.

Currently booked at the Yatch club with a discount for 7 nights. If I move to the doubletree at Disney springs I save almost $1500.

I agree if I was staying value I would not be saving much. If anything at all.
 

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