Another aspect to staying offsite which is worth consideration are meals. Honestly, we save SO much more money by eating offsite most of the time & quite frankly, we've found the food quality to be far superior with few exceptions. When staying onsite, many guests are pretty much "trapped" into paying those inflated food prices.
I so much agree with this! This is what bugs me more than anything else when I say onsite.
I'm usually an offsite visitor. For week long stays I'm really keen on timeshare resort rentals -- often rent these on TUG2.net and Redweek.com // Sheraton Vistana Resort (two bedroom/two bath) and Cypress Point (three bedroom/three bath) are the resorts I've rented most often. There are tons of good ones. Usually with a full week stay and a condo I rent a car too.
For my mini trip next March (just two of us, just four nights/three days) and only one day at Disney of those three, I'm getting a studio at the newly remodeled Residence Inn SeaWorld and doing lyft or uber to get everywhere. Doing the math, I think the rental car plus gas and parking fees would come out a little cheaper, but not by that much and I don't feel like driving. Uber/Lyft is super fast and easy in Orlando. Buses are cheaper, but slower and I don't want to spend the extra time waiting on an already short vacation.
Both these options have no resort or parking fees at the resort. The first with a rental car would have parking fees at the parks.
For a family wedding trip with a party of 12, I'll probably rent a six bedroom pool home at Windsor Hills. A really nice house over spring break with pool heat will be under $300 a night, not bad when you split that among 12 people.
There are so many great options in Orlando, so it's all what appeals to you.
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I personally feel that Disney lodging is overpriced for what it offers (sometime a value stay can be pretty cheap though) and I don't get that Disney Magic thing. But as a Disney stockholder I love it that so many love to stay onsite and help fill those 40,000 rooms. I've had a few freebie Disney Deluxe stays at the Contemporary when DH had a convention there and his company was paying. I especially liked the time we got a high tower room (great view) and really great to walk to the MK (pricey though and too rich for my blood if it was my own money). Usually Orlando is more of a budget trip for me, so I am looking for value in lodging.