Ask It: On Site or Off Site for Walt Disney World?

13 thoughts on “Ask It: On Site or Off Site for Walt Disney World?”

• Our last trip to WDW we stayed in Coronado Springs. I know it is hard for my mom to be places on time, so the reason I picked to stay on site was to use the bus system. Otherwise if we had stayed off site, I could not have made it to rope drop on time. For any solo trips or trips with friends in the future, I will stay off site (because I’m extremely budget oriented).

• When traveling with just DS and myself staying onsite works great. On our last trip with another family of 4 the offsite house was a perfect fit. I think with a group being offsite is easier with more room and space.

• Our last trip was onsite at French Quarter with a military discount. We have stayed at Shades of Green and other onsite Disney resorts in the past. With the military discount on rooms and the convince the onsite rooms can’t be beat.
  We have stayed offsite using my Dad’s condo but that is not always an option for us but when it is it is the best price-free!

• Pop Century is our go to. Nice and compact, efficient bus service, decent food court and pool. Perfect for a 3 year old

• Last time we stayed in the Disney Springs area at the Hilton DoubleTree. Used points for the entire stay and are doing the same thing this summer. There is no way we would be able to afford ever going without getting to stay for this cheap at the resort. So thankful there are hotels in the area that you can use reward points for!

• Staying at the Dolphin for 6 nights in June.

  Using the SPG points offer now of buying points for 35% off.

  Doing this gets the cost of the room down to $221.08. That’s all-in. Paying for the points, taxes, resort fees. Everything.

  If you don’t want to buy points, you can book rooms for $310.92 all-in for the first week in June.

  We are flying into Tampa to go to the Clearwater Aquarium, so the lack of the Magical Express, or “Disney Bus” as my daughters called it in their youth, doesn’t matter.

  Even with the rental car fee for two one way trips, you can’t beat the cost of the Dolphin when you consider its location and being able to walk to EPCOT & Hollywood Studios. And also being able to make FastPass+ reservations 60 days out.

  To stay onsite in the same area at the same time, Boardwalk would $499.05 per night all-in, and the Yacht Club would be $493.80 all-in.

  So absent a honking discount on the Yacht Club or Boardwalk, it is the Dolphin for us.

• We’ve stayed on site with and without a car, and rented a house off property as well. Each option has distinct pros and cons, but personally my least favorite trip was being on property for a week without a car. I felt very trapped (it was before Uber and Lyft) and spent way too much money. We spent the cost of a rental car on Mears taxis alone. We’re currently trying to decide which option to choose for our next trip.

• One of our main reasons for staying on site is that we would otherwise be renting, and driving a car. We would much rather wait ten minutes for a bus than try to navigate the local roads at night.

  However, when we have traveled in a large multi-family group, we tend to stay offsite. Renting more than 2 rooms at a time onsite is simply too cost prohibitive for us.

• We went for 2 weeks – stayed in a villa off site – but stayed in a Disney Resort for the last two nights. It just costs too much to pay for 14 nights at a Disney resort – which doesn’t just include paying for the room but also the food which is so expensive in the Disney bubble! We usually like to book most of our holiday accommodation off site but have one or two nights in the bubble.

• We’ve stayed offsite and on, but we prefer vacation rentals (i.e. fully equipped condos/townhomes with washer/dryer, full kitchen, dishwasher, etc.). As annual passholders (and with the kids pretty much all grown up at this point), it’s much easier on our budget, we essentially get the same thing as staying at a DVC villa at a deluxe resort for less than 1/3rd of the cost. Parks are typically only a $10 Uber ride away. Love the magic, etc., of onsite, but staying offsite allows us to go more often and that’s worth the tradeoff for us.

  • We always stay off-site for all the reasons mentioned above. No way it is in any way worth it for us to stay on-site.

  • We prefer an off site villa. Our kids are too big to squeeze us all in one room. Our 4 bdrm villa saved us enough money to pay for the tickets and the kids each have their own room. We can only do so much togetherness. Lol

• I’ve stayed on site one time in five trips. Last trip we stayed at the Westgate Towne Center and are staying there again this summer. There are trade offs for sure but it works better for us having a family of 5.

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