Hello, I am helping my boss plan her family’s trip to WDW on somewhat short notice (she is going in September). They are staying off-site and I have never stayed off-site myself so I am looking for advice/tips/things to know so I don’t inadvertently mess things up!
They are staying at a condo, not one of the good neighbor hotels. They are also looking to do things as budget friendly as possible. So, for those who stay off-site, any “must know” tips would be greatly appreciated!!
I stay off site all the time.
I encourage everyone to rope drop and as an off-site guest we are often still the first at the tapstiles.
They should consider also booking a campsite or value for one night. This will afford them two days of booking FPP ahead of time and also get them magic bands ( which are not necessary, but very pleasant to use ).
Do you know where the condo is?
We like to stock our condo with fast breakfasts, and some things that make good snacks going into and out of the parks.
Do they have children? How large is their travel party? Are they renting a vehicle or are they going to use Uber?
Family of 4, kids are 2 and 4. I don’t know the exact location of the condo but she said “it’s not too far” from WDW. Luckily their girls are early risers so I don’t think rope drop won’t be an issue.
That was actually one thing I was wondering - if they don’t book a campsite then the only way they can get magic bands is if they purchase them, right?
I know there was talk about leading reservations, throw away reservations…etc. a while back and I kind of blocked it all out since I didn’t have the need for the info. If they book an on-site campsite reservation they will be able to make FP+ for their entire stay (including the off site portion) or only for the onsite dates?
No. They will only be able to book for the days of arrival and departure - so two consecutive days. But it would also include free parking for each of those days ($50 value) and Magic Bands.
The free parking is if they book a campsite. If they book a value that wouldn’t be a perk.
OK, that helps clarify things. Thank you 
One more question - if you are off-site, can you still do a PPO breakfast, even if it is during EMH?
So, EMH at MK is from 7:00 am to 8:00 am and there is a CRT reservation available at 7:15 am, they would still be able to go to that, right?
Yes, you can book an early breakfast during EMH even if staying offsite.
I am at an offsite condo with my extended family right now. While not going to the parks we are at the Wide World of Sports every day. The Celebration area is way more convenient to the parks than I would have expected.
PPO breakfasts during EMH or on non-EMH days can be great but also expensive so I would use them wisely to combine with chatacter meet priorities etc.
Everything else is doable with Rope Drop. They need to leave 15 minutes before they think they do to RD to consider traffic, parking etc. For money saving do QS at parks and meals at condo or offsite near condo.
They don’t have to have magic bands. One is nice for RFID photos, but otherwise the cards work just fine!
Good point that some people might not realize. If they get memory maker and want their ride photos, many rides allow you to tap a park ticket after the ride, but there are a couple that don’t.
Thank you everyone for the info!! I worked up some basic plans for her last night and will continue to refine them over the next couple of days. They are buying magic bands so that is taken care of.
Hopefully they will still be able to get decent FP at 30 days out. But she didn’t know you can get more after the first three so she was excited by that
Another Question about PPO breakfast. Let’s say they can get a 7:00 PPO for either CRT or BOG and let’s say they finished eating at 7:30 (if they do BOG). Would they be able to ride any rides between 7:30 and park opening at 8 since they are off site?
I don’t think there will be breakfast reservations until 8am.
During the Christmas week, for example, they extend MK hours to 7am EMH, but there are never reservations at that time.
I was able to see availability for CRT at 7:00 and 7:15 for September 13th when I checked last night
Wow, that’s great! They’ve obviously decided to open up some restaurants for the special EMH period.
Some good advice. One thing I would note is that they should NOT judge driving time to the parks based on what was advertised by whatever condo they are renting from. We have yet to find a condo rental who has been entirely honest about the drive time. They seem to always pick the time to Disney Property itself on the best possible traffic day. In reality, it can take considerably longer. So, when they plan their time to leave for the parks, they should plug in the final destination to Google Maps (for example) to get actual estimated travel time, then add additional time for things like Tram and monorail rides, etc.
We stayed in a condo not too long ago that advertised itself to be 10 minutes from Disney, and it would take us upwards of 30 minutes in reality.
oh wow, that is good to know, I will make sure to allow extra time in my plans for them
