On park vs off park

[disland7]

I am planning a trip in Oct 2019. I am traveling with my DH, 5 kids, and my parents (9 guests total). My BIL is also coming with his family (7 guests). We don't have to stay all together but we are thinking of renting a house outside the park. It is so much cheaper to split that than to stay on park and it would be fun for us all to be together. I typically stay on park at DL though (grand cali/dvc). I'm nervous that I'll regret not staying on park, even though it's a big savings. Opinions?? TIA

 

[Spunky946]

How will you get from your house to the parks? Will the cost of renting cars offset the savings? Are you ok with not having your own space?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would either rent a house off-property (factoring rental car and parking costs) or look into getting a DVC grand villa for your family and your parents and a 2-bedroom villa for your BIL's family so you would at least have a living room to all hang out in. You can price villas out through WDW or looking into renting points from a reputable DVC rental agency. If you have children under 3 in both of the family groups, you could also look into doing 2 family suites plus a standard room at either AoA or ASMu, but you would get a much bigger bang for your buck renting a house offsite than going the value resort route.

 

[Klayfish]

This topic is pretty hotly debated, and the answer will come down to what your personal preference is. You couldn't pay me to stay on property...seriously. No way. We love having all the conveniences of home while we're on vacation. It's fabulous to have in house laundry, a full kitchen, every kid has their own bedroom, a family room, etc... When we come "home" from a day in the parks, it makes it easy to relax and chill. But that's just what works for us.

 

[tzolkin]

It really just comes down to personal preference.

Some people are more comfortable staying in a house offsite for all the reasons Klayfish mentioned.

I think if the purpose of your trip is to visit the parks and are a family who will spend the day at a park and then go "home" in the evening, I could see where offsite would be the way to go (especially for the cost savings for your group). I know that's the way many (most?) people vacation at Disney.

On the other hand, my family honestly wouldn't go if we didn't stay onsite. But for us that's almost a bigger part of the vacation than the parks. We enjoy the resorts and the transportation is a huge part of the Disney experience for us. My kids are now older (teens and adult) so we will often do different things, but even when they were little we didn't always stay together 100% of the trip and we always went back to the resort for several hours every afternoon. We have never once stayed at one park for a whole day. (We also wouldn't go to Disney without park hoppers, but I know a lot of people find them to be a complete waste.)

The biggest consideration for you may be transportation. I'm assuming you would need to have three vehicles for your group. If that's the case, offsite may be doable with a mixed group. If your group were small enough that you could rent one van, I would be really hesitant to do so because I would worry that someone would feel "stuck" in the parks who may want to go back to the house or that some may be resentful of leaving earlier than they wanted because that's when others wanted/needed to leave.

 

[disland7]

When we visit DL, we never stay in the park all day. We go back and have lunch and rest and nap and go back out for more rides and the evening entertainment. The Grand Californian is very close and we can easily walk. I hear no hotel at DW is that close and it isn’t really convenient to get back to your hotel no matter where you stay. Is it feasible to get back in your car and drive back to your rental and later come back? How is the traffic getting to the park each day and how does parking work? It’s our 1st time going to DW and I don’t know anything.

 

[Julylady]

We almost always stay on-property. But a few years ago, we rented a 6-bedroom vacation home in Emerald Island for a trip of adults mixed with older teens and early 20 somethings. It was the right choice! The "kids" were used to having their own space and weren't too keen to squeeze into standard hotel rooms. As others have said, our biggest issue was transportation. We had rented two cars, both of which held 6 people. One car left the house each morning at 8am for the "rope droppers." The other car followed 1-2 hours later for those who wanted to sleep in. Repeat for evening. We would usually meet back at the house about 6pm for dinner. Then some took a car back to a park to stay until closing. Other than that, we all kept to mostly the same schedule as to the parks and where we were going to meet for lunch (quick serve). We also "assigned" meal prep at the beginning of the week. Overall, it was a great trip!

 

[Spunky946]

When we visit DL, we never stay in the park all day. We go back and have lunch and rest and nap and go back out for more rides and the evening entertainment. The Grand Californian is very close and we can easily walk. I hear no hotel at DW is that close and it isn’t really convenient to get back to your hotel no matter where you stay. Is it feasible to get back in your car and drive back to your rental and later come back? How is the traffic getting to the park each day and how does parking work? It’s our 1st time going to DW and I don’t know anything.

There are a few deluxe resorts that you can walk to and from certain parks. The contemporary is walking distance to magic kingdom. The Polynesian and grand Floridian are on the monorail and close to mk too. Wilderness lodge is a boat ride to magic kingdom.

The yacht club, beach club and boardwalk are walking distance or boat to both Hollywood and Epcot. There are busses for all of the other resorts to parks and they aren’t bad.

If you are off property it depends on how far away you are as how long it takes. Each park as it’s own parking lot. For magic kingdom you park at the ttc and take the ferry or monorail over. That takes extra time and early mornings are popular. If you are on property and take the bus, then the bus drops you off at the gates for magic kingdom and all other parks.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I am planning a trip in Oct 2019. I am traveling with my DH, 5 kids, and my parents (9 guests total). My BIL is also coming with his family (7 guests). We don't have to stay all together but we are thinking of renting a house outside the park. It is so much cheaper to split that than to stay on park and it would be fun for us all to be together. I typically stay on park at DL though (grand cali/dvc). I'm nervous that I'll regret not staying on park, even though it's a big savings. Opinions?? TIA

No need to be nervous. It would just be a new experience to layer on to existing ones.
Were I to visit WDW with that many people I'd certainly look into an off-site property. As you noted you'll be able to save a ton of money perhaps enough to fund another trip w/ your immediate family on room cost alone. You'll also be able to better control food costs and have a large space to congregate as a family during downtime. Since WDW now charges parking fees for resort guests but not park users you'll save on that cost as well assuming yer "all American" and feel lost w/o a car.

 

[disland7]

Does the traffic get really bad getting in? Does parking take up lots of time?

 

[Jeff O]

I vote for "stay in the park". You'll have the extra magic hours, Disney's Magical Express (if you fly), My Disney Experience for travel planning, etc. There are a lot of offsite hotels that are very nice too, but for us staying on property just makes things a lot easier if we are doing mostly Disney parks.

Jeff
Twitter.com/MouseMadePlace

 

[Klayfish]

Does the traffic get really bad getting in? Does parking take up lots of time?

No, not at all...from the time you pass the toll plaza, it may take 5 minutes to get to a parking space.

No, not at all. MK takes the longest simply because you have to go from the parking lot to the TTC, then use the ferry/monorail.

This past summer, we actually timed how long it took us to get from the front door of our rental condo all the way to actually stepping foot on Main Street in MK. This included driving from the condo, parking in MK, tram to TTC, security bag check, monorail, tap in at front gate. It took a total of 52 minutes. The other parks take less, simply because you don't need the monorail/ferry...or maybe even the tram.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

Does the traffic get really bad getting in? Does parking take up lots of time?

We always stay off site. We have never encountered bad traffic or difficulty parking. We do have annual passes so our parking is free. If you are not AP holders then you will need to anticipate the cost of parking, which can add up.

I love off site. We stay in much nicer condos than we would be willing to pay for onsite. We'll be at WBC in Sept for $75/night, cheaper than any all star and many more amenities (including individual toiletries, no wall mounted petri dish!)

 

[QueenIsabella]

Our family definitely prefers off-site, but it's a very personal decision. If possible, I recommend trying both at least once to form your own decision.

Onsite is better if:

You're a family of 4 or less
You go rope-drop to fireworks
You do well as a group in a fairly small area
You like to utilize Disney Dining (either the DDP or just enjoy the restaurants)
You use the room basically to sleep and shower
You don't mind sharing a bathroom with the entire group
It can be better if you fly and use DME/Disney transportation

Offsite is better if:

You like space
You value out-of-park time
You want to visit other venues (Universal, Seaworld, Gatorland, etc.)
You have a group of 5 or more
You drive to WDW (and therefore, already have a car)
Don't mind buying or preparing simple meals

We're a family of 6, so there's definite cost savings with off-site, but it's more than that for us. We value our space. We like the multiple bathrooms, the private pool, the fridge full of snacks. OTOH, on-site gives you the Disney bubble--all Disney, all the time, that some people really appreciate.

Where you have a total of 16 guests, it might be worthwhile to rent 2 houses--if you look around, you can probably get two adjacent ones. Or a really big one, like the 6BR a PP mentioned.

It's also worthwhile for you to look at a DVC rental (again, you'd need more than one unit), or possibly Bonnet Creek (same). I've never stayed at Bonnet Creek, but I've heard good things, and the resort looks lovely.

 

[disland7]

We always stay off site. We have never encountered bad traffic or difficulty parking. We do have annual passes so our parking is free. If you are not AP holders then you will need to anticipate the cost of parking, which can add up.

I love off site. We stay in much nicer condos than we would be willing to pay for onsite. We'll be at WBC in Sept for $75/night, cheaper than any all star and many more amenities (including individual toiletries, no wall mounted petri dish!)

What is WBC? Bonnet Creek?

 

[disland7]

No, not at all...from the time you pass the toll plaza, it may take 5 minutes to get to a parking space.

No, not at all. MK takes the longest simply because you have to go from the parking lot to the TTC, then use the ferry/monorail.

This past summer, we actually timed how long it took us to get from the front door of our rental condo all the way to actually stepping foot on Main Street in MK. This included driving from the condo, parking in MK, tram to TTC, security bag check, monorail, tap in at front gate. It took a total of 52 minutes. The other parks take less, simply because you don't need the monorail/ferry...or maybe even the tram.

How does that compare with the buses/monorails? I want to make sure I’m factoring that into my comparisons. At DL I don’t have to get in any sort of transportation- I just walk from the Grand to both parks. So this is new time to have to factor.

 

[Klayfish]

How does that compare with the buses/monorails? I want to make sure I’m factoring that into my comparisons. At DL I don’t have to get in any sort of transportation- I just walk from the Grand to both parks. So this is new time to have to factor.

That I couldn't tell you. We never stay on site and in all my trips to WDW, I've never been on one of their buses (except Christmas morning when they used them for getting from the TTC to MK). From what I've heard, it can take a while to get around by bus. They only come every so often. If you're going to a water park, my understanding is you need to transfer buses, so that takes a while.

The monorail only goes from MK to three resorts...Contemporary, Poly and GF. So if you're not staying in one of those, you only use the monorail to get from the TTC to MK. There's a monorail connecting Epcot to MK, which I find fun. It's a 6 or 7 minute ride.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

This topic is pretty hotly debated, and the answer will come down to what your personal preference is. You couldn't pay me to stay on property...seriously. No way. We love having all the conveniences of home while we're on vacation. It's fabulous to have in house laundry, a full kitchen, every kid has their own bedroom, a family room, etc... When we come "home" from a day in the parks, it makes it easy to relax and chill. But that's just what works for us.

And we are just the opposite. I don't know that someone could pay me enough to stay off site.

I don't want to cook. We have quick grab and go breakfasts, and maybe so snacks in the room. So I don't need a kitchen and I don't want one, it would guilt me into making meals. There are only two or three of us, so we don't need multiple rooms. And because of a disability, we rely on the Disney bus system.

There are so many ways to vacation at Disney. Everyone can do what works for them.

@Klayfish can vacation their way, we can do it our way. No one is wrong, everyone is right. It is a win/win.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

What is WBC? Bonnet Creek?

Yes, Wyndham Bonnet Creek

 

[jameyh]

My family of 4 is going in January 2019. For us it came down to the price and space, so we chose offsite in a 3bd condo for $730 for the week. We need separate beds for our boys and somewhere to chill after a day in the parks. We are flying and renting an intermediate suv for $225 + $150ish for parking and tolls.
I would price out both options and then as a group make the best decision for the family. Another thing to note is that most offsite condos and houses do have laundry available which means less packing.