Considering Offsite, Worried About Losing the 'Magic'

[BigredNole]

1. Try finding a private owner that rents. That will be the best/cheapest route. Great ones will even do the book/rebook at the 60-day mark to get you a better discount since it is half the points and free room upgrade. The upgrade is the next step up from what they are renting. If they are renting a 2BR Dlx and a 3BR Dlx is in inventory, they get the 3BR Dlx for the price of the 2BR Dlx. But, if the only available inventory is a 4BR Presidential, they will get that as a free upgrade.
2. Children will count to the number of people in a room. However, there is plenty of space and WBC will not police it. Does this make it "legal"? No. Occupancy numbers are based off Fire Marshall safety.
   
3. For me, because I do not need the luxury, Deluxe is perfectly fine. It is still excellent. I would not spend for the Presidential, but wouldn't turn down a free upgrade either.

A little more advice since your dates are open. I HIGHLY recommend looking at the WBC points chart to determine when to go. Value season is 50% of the points as Prime season. That will determine how much you pay as well. One of the people I rent through charges $384 for 7-nights in a 2BR Deluxe in Value season with the book/rebook deal. On top of that, there is usually inventory for great upgrades as well. Basically, his rate is $6.85 per 1,000 points before the 60-day window. However, there is a huge risk in the book/rebook path as well. The risk is usually low and up to you. If there is inventory, there is ZERO risk. If there is no inventory, that is where the risk is. They have to take the reservation, cancel it (put it back in inventory), and rebook. There is an extremely slim window of time that someone else could snatch that room up before they can rebook. If there is no inventory, they will call the owner number to get a custom service person to do it over the phone so the unit doesn't go back to inventory. They will also call you to tell you the situation and whether you want to risk it or just pay the higher rate. The odds of losing the room is extremely small. They also don't have to do it exactly at 60-days. They can wait and watch for inventory to do it. It is not much work on their end.

The guy I use rents half his points which will cover all of his points maintenance fees. He basically gets 17-20 weeks of free vacation lodging a year. For people with a lot of money, it is a great deal for them in retirement.

 

[mom25kiddos]

We have five children and have stayed onsite (both value and GF, never a mod weirdly enough) and off site. While the GF was beautiful and we felt spoiled, we love the convenience of an off site stay. Having a kitchen to feed all the kids (we do a grocery run or order them to be delivered) is critical, not just from a cost perspective but to ensure they don't get hangry and we have healthy snack options. When we stayed in the 'bubble' I found the kids meal options pretty limited (how many times could they eat those bags of grapes as their fruit). We are not health nuts by any means, but dh and I both said at the end of that on site trip if we saw one more hot dog or chicken nugget we would lose it. For a large family we found getting TS reservations at a busy time of year was tougher and we didn't love how we were locked into ADRs. We liked being able to leave the park and go to a restaurant in the area without having to have a specific dinner time book so far ahead.

 

[Momtoapug]

We made our first family trip to WDW in 2015 and we all LOVED it! We rented DVC points and stayed at AKL in a two bedroom villa as we were a group of nine. For that trip, we brought my MIL and three of my DH's siblings.

For our next trip, we will likely not bring extras, but we are still a large group as we have five kiddos, currently ranging from nine to soon-to-be born I am starting to price out different options and would REALLY prefer not to spend $4k on accommodations alone. Right now I am hoping to do a nine night stay the week after Thanksgiving.

First, we are looking for a resort experience. Is this possible with a group of our size? And by resort experience, I am referring to great pools, onsite dining options and activities, and housekeeping services (although the last is not needed, but would be a nice bonus).

Secondly, for those that have done both on and off site, my DD9 still talks about waking up and seeing giraffes right outside our room. Which offsite resort offers a similar wow factor for your family? I know AKL is a unique experience, but would love to find another fun and exciting place to stay.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!!

We went back and forth as well; ultimately we wanted more space and couldn’t afford it at Disney so we went through Costco and got a good deal at Sheraton Vistana villages. We also looked on Expedia, Travelocity, etc, but for whatever reason I felt better about using Costco and i think we got a nice deal- 2BR villa with full kitchen plus base tickets for three people for six days for $2850. We really wanted theming of art of animation, for example, but it was $2000 for the week for a little mermaid single room...with no food and only four days of tickets and four nights.
My plan is to bring Disney touches and surprises from home and place around the room for our five year old. That might be fun in itself I also figure I can splurge on more magic and even shopping with the money I’m saving. We are not doing a meal Plan. Last year we stayed at gfv and did not do meal plan and we did not regret it.

 

[DisneyMom85]

We have stayed both on property and off. When we are traveling with the entire family (5 adults and 4 kids) our stay at Hilton Tuscany is our go to. It’s about 5 minuets from Disney Springs, Outlet store right next door, Publix across the street.
They have a nice poolside bar wher you can order food from as well. We stay in a 3 bedroom 3 bathroom lock off villa. Full kitchen and washer and dryer. Plenty of room for adults and kids. We are frequent Disney visitors so we keep an Owner’s Locker and keep all of our “magic” there. Ears, stuffed animals, T-shirt’s, DVD’s, bubble makers, etc. I’ve priced out staying onsite and the cost is outrageous considering the number of people we have. Even when adding TS meal oop we still come out ahead. Parking isn’t an issue since we are AP holders. I make breakfast in the am and we venture out for lunch and dinner. When we grocery shop we buy snacks and such so we don’t buy in the park. The only thing I miss about not staying on property is the bus transport. It is very convenient in those park hopping days and late nights.

 

[Bete]

I have a different thought. We often go the week after Thanksgiving. You may be able to catch the Disney free dining promo at that time. If it works like other years the Sunday after Thanksgiving is when the free dining offer will be made. You do have to upgrade to park hopper tickets and pay regular room rate for the room but it's well worth it. At the value resorts you would be entitled to quick service meals. You can upgrade to get the regular dining plan which will include a table service meal which would get you some character dining experiences.

Anyway, you would have to get two value rooms for your group. There are some adjoining rooms available. You would have two bathrooms. Of course, one adult should be in each room to watch over the kiddos. POP Century just went through room renovations; so, you would have newer rooms there. Nothing should be beat up; since, it's just been done. There are pictures available to see the rooms. You can get two, queen beds in each room.

This way you would still be onsite and have double the room with two rooms. This would be budget friendly especially with the free dining if it's offered at the same time. The huge icon props at POP makes every kid smile.

After being onsite at such a great resort as AKL it would be a big letdown for me to stay offsite. We have done both on and offsite many times with over 50 trips in our lifetime and you would have to ween yourself offsite by first going to a lesser resort onsite in my opinion. Going cold turkey would impact your feelings in my opinion.

We stay at the parks most of our day and we find the value resorts to be just fine for sleeping and the pools are okay. The food courts are good; basically, the resort food courts are all about the same.

We really like extra magic hours and Disney transportation to and from the parks. We like getting fastpasses 60 days out. There are some good neighbor offsite resorts offering the same perks now, but I still prefer onsite for the shuttles.

If you use a car back and forth to the Disney parks and stay offsite you have to pay Disney parking everyday which is $20/day. Many forget this is another cost for staying offsite; unless, you are an annual pass holder.

One final thought I would not want to cook on a Disney vacation and having an offsite home always makes me feel like I should cook since there's a kitchen. Park time is precious and I want to be in the Disney parks not in a kitchen.

 

[amie416]

We were planning on staying on-site for about half of our 3 week vacation, and off-site at a timeshare that was gifted to us for the rest. When the timeshare dates fell through (long story, but the owner would have to be present to check in), we ended up cancelling most of our on-site nights and booking offsite at the Sheraton Vistana Resort instead to save a bit of money. We have annual passes, so parking isn’t an issue.

It turns out we love it here at SVR, so much that I will probably cancel our Fall/Winter stay at Pop and stay here instead. The pools are gorgeous and less crowded than the Disney resorts, our villa is twice the size of the condo we live in back home, and all the staff have been super-friendly. We’ve particularly enjoyed the whirlpool spa that is the size of a DCL pool and the lovely sauna and steam room facilities.

We don’t really cook on vacation either, but we did pick up some frozen flatbreads, pre-made salads and wraps from Trader Joes. It’s been nice to be able to make a quick snack or meal during our mid-day break, or a late night snack after getting back from the parks.

Also, this is our first vacation together since I started working the early shift. Because of my weekday hours, I have a really hard time sleeping in. Our first few days on-site were a bit uncomfortable for me in the mornings because there’s really nothing to do in a dark hotel room when you wake up at 4am and can’t fall back asleep. In the villa there’s a nice living room and a screened-in lanai where I can spend my mornings reading and drinking coffee before everyone else wakes up. I think a villa or suite may be a vacation requirement for us from now on... at least as long as I’m on early shift.