Staying Offsite vs Onsite Guide

[BostonEd]

Here are MY thoughts or suggestions: You say if you go in 2018 you may not go again for another 2 years. So here is what I suggest.

We are not 2 year people for budgetary reasons, but due to school vacation scheduling.

Not that budget is irrelevant, and your comments are still helpful! If budget were irrelevant, I'd be inviting you to visit us in our BLT grand villa!

 

[robinb]

Studios do not have a kitchenette at DVC resorts. You have a microwave and small fridge. No way to prepare meals yourself. You will be stuck eating out all the time. Have to upgrade to those insanely priced 1BR units for a kitchen. Yes, toasted and micromeals are possible. However, I prefer slapping that raw red meat on a 500* grill or bbq chicken.

I get what you are saying. Going once in a while, it makes sense. My next trip we will probably be staying onsite renting DVC points. On that trip, we only have room expenses and meals. The DVC sides do have charcoal grills that would let me grill out. It was so nice at BWV. I threw down 2 giant ribeyes over the hot coals. People at the little pool and community center were extremely envious. People right outside our room by the grill area were also salivating. Meal cost me about $25-$30 to do myself. That same meal on property would have been over $200 and not nearly as good. We benefited from the grill being right outside the patio. I grilled while the girls were showering.

We own DVC and find the studios to be perfectly fine for most of the meals we cook. We usually will only eat breakfast in our villa we do just fine with a microwave and toaster. We *might* scramble eggs if we had a cook-top but that's about it. In 20 years I think I have used an oven on vacation once or twice (that includes the number of times we stayed offsite). We also enjoy using the grills at DVC (some are gas grills so you don't have to buy charcoal) and we'll cook our sides in the microwave. There are tons of ready to nuke veggies, potatoes and rice on the market now that I really don't miss having a full kitchen.

BTW, many other timeshares will have gas grills for your use as will homes for rent. I saw some at the Wyndham Cypress Palms last summer and we had one in the pool home we rented years ago.

 

[Sabathamk]

As for the people that "I don't do laundry on vacation", so be it. I am going in the Summer where we will go through 3 sets of clothes in a day. We are going for 2 weeks. I do not plan on renting a semi to haul my luggage. We simply put a load of clothes when we get in at night, then turn the dryer on when we wake up. Bam!!! 1 day of clothes cleaned without any effort. Washer and dryer are ready for the next day. Oh, simple. We need to do towels. Toss them in the morning and then the dryer when we return to go to the pool. Done again with no effort.

As for cooking, I am all for people spending $50+ for a tiny piece of low grade food. Me? I have no issue tossing that 16oz prime angus ribeye on the grill, cook it medium rare, drink a beverage while others are swimming. I now have a Disney $150 meal for $20. When we finish eating, it is about time to head back to the parks. My 15 minute drive (at most) sure beats that 45 minutes of waiting, cramming for a Disney bus.

I use to drink the Disney Kool-aid. It wasn't until I stayed offsite did I learn how much I was losing. The extremely few benefits of staying onsite were far outweighed by saving $1,000s staying offsite. On our 1-week trips, we save $200 a day between accommodations and dining. If I were to compare accommodations apple-to-apples, it would be closer to $600 per day savings.

I have never done laundry on vacation, but I really want to this next time. I HATE packing all the clothes for a week for 4 kids! Ugh! I want to have the option of being able to wash my laundry this time. Our first Disney trip we won and were offsite, and it was relaxing. We had our own kitchen, the day we didn't go to the parks was one of my favorites, our kids were 1 and 2 and they were in their own room so me and hubs could stay up later (at the one resort. We had to pay for the extension we took and we did something that was $50/night but it had free breakfast which was SO nice for me). I loved going to other restaurants. And we tried the offsite shuttle ONE day and I hated it. Our last trip was in 2013, and we stayed onsite as we got a fantastic deal for our family of 5. It was fun, but I told my husband that I wanted to go again to Orlando and see what else there was, not just Disney. I really want to find a nice place we can stay as a family of 6 as WDW property is EXPENSIVE!

I'm in the VERY early stages of planning a week in April 2018. I'm only just thinking about where to stay, and I've been waffling about whether to stay on or off property.

Family of four: kids will be 7 and 5.

We are not a "WDW-every-year" family, so I am leaning towards staying on property. After 2018, we probably won't head back until 2020 or even later.

If we visited more frequently, I would absolutely stay off property. The amount of space and features you get for the money at Windsor Hills or WBC, compared to a Disney resort, is INSANE. For more frequent visits, I would have no requirements to be inside the "bubble".

HOWEVER, there is certainly a different feel staying on property, and some benefits too, so since we won't be back for a while, maybe I should cough up the extra dough to do so. If we stay onsite, it would probably be at WL or AKL. If we wanted the kitchenette, we would rent points for a DVC studio. At any rate, a balcony would be a requirement, for evening glasses of wine with the kids... I mean the wife!

If we stay offsite, it would most likely be at WBC or Windsor Hills. POSSIBLY Vistana, but I'm not as wowed by it for some reason. I'll look at a couple other places, too, but would want to be really close.

Finally, I would have a car either way, so the whole "if you’re on property, you don’t need a car" doesn’t apply. We’ll be going to Legoland one day, so we’ll appreciate the car for that, anyway.

Thoughts? Have I succeeded in differentiating this post a bit?

I also want to see LEGOLAND on our next trip. Even if staying on property, I would drive if having a car. I found that even on the 'not busy' time we stayed on property, we spent a LOT of time on the busses or waiting for the busses. Having a car frees you up on that SO much. Although, for me the biggest stress was in trying to load our stroller and whatnot. We'll still need one regardless, but you will probably be fine without. So nice to NOT need a stroller with the transportation there.

I am highly wanting offsite after reading all this and remembering the two trips we took... one onsite, one offsite. With a family of 6, the budget part is a no-brainer for me. My husband on the other hand, still wants to fly. I want to drive (even though it is 30hours one way... I hate airports so much, and being on a plane with the stress of making sure my kids don't annoy any other passengers is just too much for me. DH is so laid back he just naps the whole time. I cannot do that). I love the 'down days' where we are not in the parks as well. Our offsite trip was much more relaxing even with the hotel switch partway through than the onsite trip, and we spent the same number of days in the park, but less time travelling back and forth. Plus, you can go to Walmart. We got most of our souvenirs there.

 

[bankr63]

@Sabathamk, the drive is doable, but with 6 it might take a bit of planning. Our drive is 24 hours, and we have accomplished that a few times. Take a look over on the Canadian board for several good threads on the pros and cons of the long drive - there are many "crazy Canucks" who make that trek. Some love it, some hate it. I will say that savings can be substantial over flying with 6. I drive a large 8 passenger SUV and my gas costs are well under $400 round trip. You will probably need to add a hotel stay each way though - 30 hours straight is pretty brutal.

 

[arminnie]

I've changed over the years - I've been on both sides of the equation.

I used to stay offsite a lot. Now that we have a ton of DVC points we stay on site. Sometimes in a studio, but most often in a 1 BR. Sometimes we cook a little - sometimes not. We don't eat at WDW that much. We have some favorite places to go eat offsite.

I used to never use the buses. I thought it was dumb to go stand and wait for a bus when I could hop in my car. Now that I use an ECV I like the convenience of not having to transport the ECV by car to a park. But as I was born in Southern California I still have to have a car to get around in general. I like being able to go to restaurants off property and to the grocery store - as I do not need my ECV to do those things.

I love being able to do laundry in the room - which I can in a DVC 1 BR. Sometimes we have split stays. We have stayed at the Swan, some Marriott properties, and at the Ritz Carlton when DVC was not available for our entire stay.

One time pre DVC I used Hotwire to try several 3* hotels in the Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs) area. All were acceptable.

 

[Sabathamk]

@Sabathamk, the drive is doable, but with 6 it might take a bit of planning. Our drive is 24 hours, and we have accomplished that a few times. Take a look over on the Canadian board for several good threads on the pros and cons of the long drive - there are many "crazy Canucks" who make that trek. Some love it, some hate it. I will say that savings can be substantial over flying with 6. I drive a large 8 passenger SUV and my gas costs are well under $400 round trip. You will probably need to add a hotel stay each way though - 30 hours straight is pretty brutal.

Yes, I don't think we'll drive straight through... make more of a 'roadtrip' of it. I don't think I want to drive much more than 10hrs a day, so we'd need to add nights at hotels and the kids would love that for the 'swimming pools' (I would just want breakfasts). We used to drive south of the border more often (before the Cdn dollar tanked) and would drive 5 or 6 hours easily straight through if my husband had a say (he is very 'point A-point B' person, while I like to stop and smell the roses). Usually, though, we stop for a meal and walk midway before continuing. We haven't gone down in over a year now. I refuse to do the drive if we only have one day off in between before another 'point a to point b' travel day home. Ugh.

 

[Vijoge]

I seem to be answering posts on MY EXPERIENCE ONLY quite often. I figured I would post some things that may help people decide staying onsite vs offsite. I will note a few Pros and Cons (to me).

Caveat: I have only been offsite on one visit. We will most likely never stay on property again unless a massive deal presents itself.

8. Depending on the resort, your kids may fight going back to the park and just want to stay at the resort..

Number 8 made me laugh . I have heard of that phenomenon but never experienced it myself. My kids always want to be in the park.

We could barely get our DGD's to leave AKL. It was a fight every day. And once in the parks, they were still begging to go back to the resort.

 

[BostonEd]

I have never done laundry on vacation, but I really want to this next time.
...
Even if staying on property, I would drive if having a car.

If I had a laundry in my unit, I have no problem doing laundry on vacation. Like someone said, throw some clothes in, do something else for a while, come back and throw 'em in the dryer... you're basically done at that point. I would draw the line at doing laundry in a common space where you have to schlep your clothes. No thanks. But in my room? Sure. Of course if you plan to be out and about every day, with no relaxing resort days, then it becomes harder to do.

A lot of people like taking the buses on property. They drive all the time at home and don't want to think about it. I totally get that. But I'm the opposite. I take public transit every freakin' day, and for me driving around is actually a nice change.

 

[Sabathamk]

A lot of people like taking the buses on property. They drive all the time at home and don't want to think about it. I totally get that. But I'm the opposite. I take public transit every freakin' day, and for me driving around is actually a nice change.

Yup like driving. For me, I rarely leave home because then it is me by myself with 4 kids, and I don't want to get them all packed in the vehicle to go grocery shopping by myself, haha. But with DH, I don't mind. I like driving. I would just drive aimlessly for hours if fuel didn't cost so much!

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

A lot of people like taking the buses on property. They drive all the time at home and don't want to think about it. I totally get that. But I'm the opposite. I take public transit every freakin' day, and for me driving around is actually a nice change.

We drive to Disney. Seven to eight hours on the road. And there is no real public transportation in our town. So if you want to go somewhere, you drive. I haven't been on public transportation in probably 15 years.

My husband likes that he can pull into the resort and park. We generally only drive if we are there over Saturday and Sunday. If that is the case, we drive to church. I Otherwise our car doesn't move until after we check out.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

We own DVC and find the studios to be perfectly fine for most of the meals we cook. We usually will only eat breakfast in our villa we do just fine with a microwave and toaster. We *might* scramble eggs if we had a cook-top but that's about it. In 20 years I think I have used an oven on vacation once or twice (that includes the number of times we stayed offsite). We also enjoy using the grills at DVC (some are gas grills so you don't have to buy charcoal) and we'll cook our sides in the microwave. There are tons of ready to nuke veggies, potatoes and rice on the market now that I really don't miss having a full kitchen.

BTW, many other timeshares will have gas grills for your use as will homes for rent. I saw some at the Wyndham Cypress Palms last summer and we had one in the pool home we rented years ago.

I own another timeshare (not DVC). I got a small covered electric skillet to use just for cooking in studio units. It really adds to what I can do in a studio.

 

[robinb]

I own another timeshare (not DVC). I got a small covered electric skillet to use just for cooking in studio units. It really adds to what I can do in a studio.

Thanks for the idea! I'll look into that for our next studio stay.

 

[kdawg8762]

We have always been an onsite family, but we will be a family of 5 this next time. We are unique, we aren't going on a small budget so we will make the ADRs like we usually do and fortunately for us, most of our picks aren't overly booked up usually. Where we eat actually dictates our parks as we will do 7 days but are open to where we go and when...plus we are park hoppers so that helps. The key for us is 2 fold.

1) We want to be comfortable when we sleep, while we aren't on a small budget, I also don't want to spend 8-10 k to get what we need/want. A king bed is a must.
2) We want to be able to chill out after the kids go to sleep and that is solved at Windsor Hills or WBC.

I know we will miss being on site and we were close to doing AOA suite, but still a good bit more than Windsor options and WBC options, and the queen bed was a killer.

 

[BigredNole]

The other thing is comparing it to AoA. WBC or WH compares to DVC, not a Value resort. You will save at least $1,000 if not more for comparable accommodations.

I don't mind cooking as long as clean up is easy. DW asked if we could go out for steak and I asked her if she wanted to go out or just wanted steak. She said she just wanted steak. Picked up 2x 1.5Lb t-bones ($22), plopped them on the grill, and dinner was ready in 15 minutes. The only "mess" I had were the tongs that took me 1 minute to clean. Everything else was throwaway. At the restaurant, it would have been an $80 dinner. At Disney, it would have been a $200 dinner. I guess the recession and the hope for retirement has me thinking more about my own money.