I don’t know. But I doubt I’d use it. I like certainty, and flexibility. And I like dealing with Disney direct.
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I agree with the car vs no car thing. If you have a car it doesn’t matter so much. We stayed in the Treehouse with renting points simply because we were so many and it was the cheapest option. But we rented a suburban and then it was no biggie being farther out. So I can see this applying to offsite as well. But I really love walking to the parks and with the Epcot resorts you get two parks so that’ll prolly be my go to for WDW. I agree with the Grand Californian statements. I tried Disneyland hotel and there is such a big difference with the private entrance to DCA and the shorter walk to the main park I will find a way to stay there if I can.
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Flexibility, certainty, and Disney direct is nice. But so is a lagoon-view at Yacht Club for $264 a night. And @JJT’s blogs take a vast majority of the guess work out of it
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YES! If someone isn’t going to take advantage of the Disney transportation system, then why spend the extra money to stay onsite? There are even fewer advantages now do so (no 60 day FP+ window, no extra magic hours), so save some money by staying offsite and use Uber to get to the parks.
We have never stayed in the parks as a family. We have either driven the 1200 miles to get there or flown and rented a car. Even with parking fees we are saving money, especially when we can eat at least one meal a day in our condo.
I know there are people out there who love being in the Disney bubble 24/7, and one responder said they were willing to pay extra to be within walking distance of the parks, but there are many other offsite, less expensive, but every bit as luxurious options off Disney Property.
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It’s all about convenience for us. As someone else mentioned, it’s worth it for us traveling with kids to be close to the parks to come back to our room to take naps and rest. And going back out at night, it’s so worth it to have a short walk or monorail ride back to the hotel with sleepy kids and a grumpy tired husband. But I also don’t get why people buy mickey ears or spend money on other things. Granted those are not comparable to the price of a deluxe room but my point is different things are worth it for different people to spend money on.
Complex math equation based on your income and the number or people in your party and priorities/length of trip.
Party of 2-3 for a 5 day trip is going to make different decisions than party of 8 for 10 days.
The Swan/Dolphin was always the sweet spot for our group/income/location preferences. Happy with Pop with just 1 other person but I’d be miserable there if that room was full of 4 people.
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Agreed - for us, with a family of four, we still wanted the space of an apartment, full kitchen, laundry etc. - so Wyndham Bonnet Creek i.e. WBC (the timeshare, not the hotel) worked out great for us. Location-wise, it’s practically on-site (it’s even modeled in the Disney maps), just that there is no Disney transportation. Not as much of a problem if you are renting a car or use ride-sharing services.
To give you an idea of costs, for our recent 11-night Thanksgiving week trip, we paid $1100 for a 2 BR WBC room (last-minute rental from Wyndham points owners). Full-size car rental was $550 for 11 days. Parking at WBC is free; parking at the parks was “about” $200 ($25 x 8 days we went in to the parks; I say “about” because after the first MK day at TTC, for our subsequent MK days, we decided to eat at The Wave and walk over instead 
). Gas and tolls to/from MCO - say $30.
We justify the cost because we have little kids and proximity to parks makes our vacation so much easier (just purchased DVC for this reason). If it was just me & DH or we had older kids maybe we wouldn’t prioritize it as much. Waiting for a bus and then sitting on it forever with a 4 year old and 1 year old is not my idea of a fun time on vacation.
Lots of good points on both sides, and I’m pretty squarely in the middle on this. I am cheap, but also appreciate convenience. Finding that optimal point that gets the best of both worlds is the challenge. With just DW and me, I quickly realized the Swan was the perfect solution, and if we make that a regular thing, I’d have no problem always staying at Swan for that price, but if all 5 of us are there, it’s a tougher decision among offsite, 2 value rooms, 1 deluxe room with a good sized daybed, or some split-stay combo and pricing all those and deciding what is really worth it for everyone, while also considering our dining priorities.
The other way to look at it, is if we can commit to multiple trips down the road, and not just the next one, we can alternate “full onsite experience” with “offsite bare bones” where I would be content with our average spending between the two, rather than trying to hit the sweet spot within each individual trip.
ETA: Though I could see the “offsite bare bones” just turning into non-Disney trips so that we’re only doing the full experience, just not as often.
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Well we bought in to DVC for a few reasons. One of the pluses is of course staying at the Deluxe resorts. But the same reasons would probably apply to why we chose to stay at the Beach Club for our first onsite stay.
Convenience - when we had gone before we stayed at Orange Lake. DH is the only driver, so it meant we all had to be ready to leave in the morning and as soon as one person started flagging (usually either DH or the youngest who was then 6), we all had to leave.
We realised we could stay onsite and be free to come and go as we wanted. That first stay, eldest was 14. There was one day he just didn’t want to come to DHS, turned out he was sickening for a couple of days. But we could leave him, with his key to the world card and a limit set on it so he could get something to eat. DH popped back early afternoon to check on him and then returned in time to see youngest doing the Jedi Training.
Now with DVC we all just do as much or as little as we want. Some days one of the boys might just chill. DH rarely does more than 3-4 hours in a park.
Best of all DH gets a proper vacation, not acting as a chauffeur all the time. Which means he’s more relaxed, can drink a beer or two in the parks and is not tired and grumpy.
Lounges - we like chilling in the evening at a lounge. If we’re heading back to a park it might just be for one drink, but some nights we’ll be there for longer.
Location, location, location - says it all, whether walking to parks or DS, or animals outside your window.
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I usually end up starting to book at a moderate with every intention to stay there but end up talking myself into a deluxe using a discount (MVT, AP, pin code). We have done 2 values (Pop and AOA - We really disliked Pop but that was before the renovation). Early on, we did CBR, POR and POFQ but none really wowed us. When we dipped into deluxe with AKL we were hooked. Loved the animals, the pools, the theming. Since then, we’ve tried CR, BLT, GF, BC, YC and BW. We anticipated being blown away by GF, but it wasn’t for us!
YC and BC are favorites. I love the look and feel of the resorts, we spend a lot of time at the pool and Stormalong Bay is amazing. And with a cranky DH who complains about transportation, being able to walk to 2 parks helps my peace of mind. And in non-COVID times, I love walking around the lake and enjoying everything the Boardwalk has to offer with a short walk. For these reasons, I am willing to pay (but only at a discounted rate!).
All that being said, DS and I have done GDT twice. When DH isn’t with us, it’s now my go to resort! We LOVED the rooms and the pool. It had the first affordable club level which was amazing. I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there (without transportation having DH).
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Like others have said, it’s really about what’s important to you with regards to justifying cost.
Personally, I won’t do moderate or value resorts. I HATE outdoor hallways. It feels cheap like a motel 6, but it costs waay more. They also tend to be noisy. I also don’t like the seperate buildings. I spent one night at Coronado, and the walk to and from the main building where the drinks, shops, and restaurants were was super annoying when it was raining.
Also my daily life is very simple and economic, so when I vacation, I want splurge and some degree of luxury. It’s the only time I enjoy it, so why not?
For those reasons, deluxe resorts are worth the cost for me. But I also never, ever pay rack rate. I schedule my trips around discounts.
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I agree with this. Give me an elevator and a tower rather than a motel. A motel without my car parked nearby is even worse.
I’m not a fan of buses either. I’m not a travel snob and I’ve ridden buses with more farm animals than people. But, maybe that is it. Deep down I think I’m waiting on someone with a hen or a goat to get on every bus.
Right now, I don’t understand staying onsite at all since you don’t get any perks. Prices are double their offsite comparables. The price difference easily buys Uber/Lyft rides, and even airport transportation. A private car picking up just you beats any transportation that you have to wait in a line to use. Walking to MK is a worthwhile perk, though.
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As someone who has been lucky to stay in some really nice hotels, it does make me very annoyed to pay $600 for the Yacht Club to get a room and service that is a fraction of what you would get literally anywhere in the world for that price.
I do it anyway though because on my precious, only a week-long vacation, I would rather save time than money and we will spend a lot of time in HS (thanks to Galaxy’s Edge) and EP. I also really enjoyed the flexibility to go eat in Epcot. We generally hit the parks after opening and return to the hotel in the afternoon for a break. We really enjoyed (in the past) grabbing dinner in Epcot or just going to Epcot to ride a ride late at night.
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For me, it’s about convenience. I like to stay at one of the Epcot resorts (Boardwalk or Beach Club). It’s super easy to walk to Epcot. HS is walkable, or a short boat ride. We’ll often do a part for several hours, then I need to crash for a bit. And staying in that area we have a ton of dining options between Epcot, the Boardwalk, and the three resorts. Last February we noshed at the Festival of the Arts, then walked to the front and caught the monorail to MK for the fireworks.
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I can’t. I drive but stay on property for the other benefits. I usually do All Stars and drive to the parks first thing in the morning. I have stayed at Poly, Contemporary, and Riverside and love the larger rooms, dining options and better landscaping but unless I win a giant lottery a hotel room is a hotel room. If I didn’t drive I would use Uber in the morning. Later in the day busses are fine.
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