For our family of Star Wars fans, ROTR is a bucket list item, however we just can’t wait potentially 2+ hours in standby with a significant risk of it going down and our efforts wasted. It would exhaust us physically and mentally. We didn’t go on it last 2 trips for this reason. Solution for next trip is to get a dummy All Star Movies room for 1 night to qualify for the onsite $ILL. This may sound expensive but it’s a lot cheaper than staying onsite the entire trip.
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I’m all for finding the combination that works the best. We had two partial days at HS and flew through our day one goals (yay Merlock!). I think we waited 75 mins. I’d have to look at my TR. We had only a few waits our whole trip…
I did pay for a second time through GOTG. And it’s probably good they have a limit because I’m sure I would have paid for another ride. 
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The dummy campsite is cheaper yet
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When is your next trip?
Last week of June 2022, we were at WDW. The kid and friend rope dropped every park. At MK they were held til 8:30.
At HS they arrived at tapstyles at 7:45. Guests were already in the park. And in the Lands. The kids got to RotR at 7:57 and got in line.
They were off Rise, on to Millennium Falcon and off it by 8:45.
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Between Xmas and New Years. DW and DD are not early risers, and if I tried to force them to be at the park too early it’d be like a scene out of The Walking Dead. 
Thanks. I did consider the FW dummy campsite, but staying at a hotel gives us a place to take a nap in the late afternoon/early evening before going back to the park. Also, I came across a discussion on another site where several FW guests asked that people not book dummy campsites, b/c it made it hard for them to book camping stays there. I feel FW is unique among WDW resorts and one of the remaining pieces of Walt’s original vision, so I will leave it to the campers. 
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This is definitely a thing to be considerate about in winter.
Summer - not so much. There’s probably no availability tho few actually occupied sites.
I’ve camped in Death Valley in summer. We had no neighbors. 
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You can also save a tish by doing them separately. TP has a ticket finder that calculates the cheapest 3rd party tickets. Since their list includes only reliable sellers you don’t have to worry. It also seems that to make any changes to a package you have to call an agent (and wait on hold for forever). But some ticket and hotel changes can be made online.
With a tent site, everyone on the reservation can park in the parks for free. You don’t have to go to the campsite, although you can if you want to. Do you still have questions about the logistics of booking a throwaway campsite? I don’t want to push it if you aren’t interested.
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"them separately. TP has a ticket finder that calculates the cheapest 3rd party tickets. "
The above from @Sophia818 is what I do. I like the flexibility of having my park tickets separated from my lodging. Makes changing plans so much easier.
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Yup.
Dessert parties 
MVMCP
Daily signature dining
New MB for each trip
Does the suggest you aren’t adding them this time?
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They are all things that I routinely did before Chapek and now do not do at all.
I could add that in 2019 I stayed at CSR, which I absolutely love. But I doubt I ever will again. Too rich for my blood. My next two trips aren’t even at Pop, my staple. I’m an All-Stars boy now.
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My All Star bed was amazingly soft
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From what I can tell ASMo and ASMu are Pop without the Skyliner.
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We had an enjoyable stay at ASMo our last trip. Not sure if we will stay onsite again though. But no trip planned to WDW anytime in the near future, so that’s up in the air.
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Definitely agree it depends on your touring style. We go with two adults, no children. I must get a rest and/or nap in the afternoon or I’m going to be miserable. Staying on property, especially in the EPCOT area, let’s me easily go back to the room for a break while my husband goes on rides that I can’t tolerate.
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I wonder if more experienced people could create a checklist for people deciding on or off property based on the touring style.
Something like,
-
Will part of your group and only park want to a midday break?
On-site preferred since you can use Disney transport.
Off-site could work if the group leaving for the break was willing to drive themselves to and from. -
Will there be more than 4 people older than toddlers?
On-site you will need more than one reservation and therefore much more money. Off-site you can likely stay in the same place and still have elbow room.
-
Will you have a car, regardless?
If you won’t have a car, and stay off-site, you will have the added expense/bother of renting a car.
If you will have one anyway, off-site has a slight edge since it is easy to find someplace with free parking. Disney will charge you for parking one way or another. -
If you are thinking of having a car, how does the primary driver feel about driving while on vacation?
If the driver would rather not, then on-site has the advantage since you can use Disney transport.
If the driver would rather drive than passenger, then off-site has the advantage. Driving yourself is almost always quicker (see table in TP book)
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An addition is do you have teens (non drivers) who can/want to tour beyond what the bulk of the group will tour.
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I’ll be doing both on-site and off-site my upcoming trip.
For large groups - I have only done off-property as the timeshares are larger (and cheaper!) so they hold more people.
For on-site I have only done with one other person.
On-site - I don’t rent a car (but will for upcoming mixed trip as we are staying at DVC, so parking is included, and we’ll need it for second half)
Off-site - I have no issue with driving. (Also have AP so free theme park parking)
I’m a rope dropper - so I love early theme park entry. I still rope drop when off-site, but which ride we hit first changes.
For both on and off - I take afternoon breaks.
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I can see this check list as being more of a flow chart kind of thing.
It begins with how much money is in your budget - per person per day?
If X go to On Site and proceed to next question
If x go to Off Site and proceed to next question
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2020 was the first time in 20 years staying off property-
And to be honest I think at this point unless it’s a phenomenal bargain I just don’t see the perks of staying on-site right now. The half hour early entry isn’t worth it for us, and unless we are staying in our DVC I am not paying for deluxe pricing.
Just found out we may be stopping in for a weekend in August on the
to Tampa
It’s a no brainer for us Hilton signa bonnet creek is cheaper than all stars- nicer room, better pool great restaurant choices- the $60 difference covers genie+
The onsite advantages are IMO gone - no fast pass advantage paying to park at resorts
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