coming to disney staying off property

[Bill Schultz]

Hello

My family and I are going to Florida early December! We are staying at a non disney resort since I already need to take out a loan for this trip.. How much of a disadvantage are we at by not staying at a disney owned property? I saw something about folks staying there getting to make reservations for dining earlier than us. What else might we miss out on? Will be coming with 3 small children. We wont be the ones there when it opens running to the best attractions, but we dont sit and eat for 2 hours or waste time. We keep moving and try to do all we can with small kids. So keep in mind we dont get up super early and and it will take us a bit to drive in. Any other tips for doing this with a 6,3 and 1 year old would be great! Thank you!

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

A few things, one you will definitely need a car as you won't be able to take advantage of the Disney bus transportation system. Also no extra hours but for me that wasn't a huge deal anyway. This will be my fourth straight trip off site (I always rent a car anyway as I hate being dependent on when the next bus will come and if I wiill make it on before it fills up. Like the freedom of being able to come and go as I please. Also I go to Universal so that makes it a must.

 

[Drusilla99]

It's not the dining reservations that will effect you, anyone can make those 6 months out, it's the fp+ that are only 30 days out for off site guests, 60 days for on site guests. I wouldn't worry too much about that. As far as the magic hours, plan to start at parks each day that didn't startling magic hours, each day is different,my hat way you don't feel you're at a disadvantage. It'll all be fine & you'll have a great time!

 

[ronnie2hotty]

As the poster above stated, having a car is almost a must. Several hotels in the area run shuttles back and forth between the hotels and the parks, but I've heard from friends who did this and said it was a bit of a pain.

Depending on how your children are with their sleeping habits, I wouldn't worry too much about missing out on EMH. The morning ones might be too early to get everyone up and out the door and the evening ones might be too late for your little ones to stay up.

There are some really good advantages to staying offsite. For one, you don't always have to eat at the expensive Disney restaurants. You now have to ability to go pretty much anywhere to eat or even buy groceries and eat in the hotel. It is also advantageous because if you need something (or forgot to pack something) that you need, you can run to a Walmart or Target and buy it cheaper than in the parks or the hotel gift shop.

From what I've experienced personally offsite vs. onsite boils down to this: having a "Disney vacation" vs. having a vacation where you went to Disney. Both can be great. Both can be extremely fun. Neither one is better or worse than the other. It's whichever you and your family will enjoy more.

 

[Lucius Best]

Staying off-site doesn't have to be a huge disadvantage. Driving to WDW parks by car, you're paying $17 per day to park if not staying on-site. It's definitely advantageous to have a car instead of relying on buses. Most guides recommend avoiding the Extra Magic Hours for people staying on-site anyway, so that isn't anything you are missing out on.

Dining reservations, everyone can make them 180 days in advance. But if you stay onsite, it's 180+10 days, meaning you could make ADRs for your entire trip when your arrival date is 180 days. That can be an advantage of you're trying to get a reservation someplace very popular.

FPs, like someone else said, is 60 days if staying on-site, 30 days off-site. Supposedly Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Anna & Elsa are the only attractions that sometimes fill up 30 days out. But if you are going early December, crowds are usually low, should be okay.

We wont be the ones there when it opens running to the best attractions, but we dont sit and eat for 2 hours or waste time. We keep moving and try to do all we can with small kids. So keep in mind we dont get up super early and and it will take us a bit to drive in.

This is the huge disadvantage, regardless of where you are staying, crowds are the lightest the first hour that the park is open, and you can get a lot of rides done before 11am. Take a look at some of easywdw's cheat sheets, you can see the dramatic increase in ride wait times from 9:30am to 11am.

http://www.easywdw.com/cheatsheets/mk_cheatsheet_v3.pdf

 

[Bill Schultz]

I will be getting a car. We do like that freedom.

I think we have a better chance of staying late then getting there at park open.

Are fast passes typically scooped up by onsite guests or will be ok getting them? There are alot of things my kids are to little or scared to to. We wont be doing space mountain or splash mountain or things like that. We will want to do test track and soarin and Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

[Kathryn777]

You'll be fine to get them if you stay flexible on dates & times . Anna & Elsa, 7dmt are the 2 tough ones if you aren't onsite and get the 60 day window. I have a friend going down today who booked her fp yesterday (I was freaking out for her!!) . She got all she wanted except those 2, for 2 groups of 3 people. And this is not a slow time of year.

We don't do table service meals ever, making my kids sit through quick service meals is enough of a challenge.

We've done both, I don't think you're at a disservice at all staying offsite. But renting a car and paying for parking makes the price of offsite higher sometimes for us. We usually drive down when we stay offsite

 

[Kathryn777]

You'll be able to use rider swap to get both TT & soarin it is the one place that it really helps because the fp are tiered, so make sure you know how that works

 

[Bill Schultz]

Thanks everyone! I feel a bit better now about our choice.

Crazy how much planning goes into a Florida/Disney trip! I will end up with more grey hair when this is done.

 

[2Gma]

We've stayed offsite 3 times and it has been an amazing trip each time! For us, with young kids, we felt having extra space and cooking most of our own meals made for a more relaxed trip.
As previous posts mentioned you can still book dining reservations 180 days out. I totally recommend a character meal for the ages of your kids. A great way to cool off in the a/c and meet 5 characters without waiting in long lines to do so. These book up fast so don't wait too long to book! Fast passes are 30 days out (instead of 60 days for onsite guests) but since you are going during a "lower crowd" time it shouldn't be that big of a deal to get what you want especially since you are not doing the "big" popular rides. We went in May and at my 30 day window I got everything we wanted except Anna & Elsa FP. In Dec, Christmas decor will be in full swing with special activities. Have you looked into Mickey's Very Magical Christmas party? This of course requires special tickets but since you are planning to stay in the evening it might be something unique to try.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

As the poster above stated, having a car is almost a must. Several hotels in the area run shuttles back and forth between the hotels and the parks, but I've heard from friends who did this and said it was a bit of a pain.

Depending on how your children are with their sleeping habits, I wouldn't worry too much about missing out on EMH. The morning ones might be too early to get everyone up and out the door and the evening ones might be too late for your little ones to stay up.

There are some really good advantages to staying offsite. For one, you don't always have to eat at the expensive Disney restaurants. You now have to ability to go pretty much anywhere to eat or even buy groceries and eat in the hotel. It is also advantageous because if you need something (or forgot to pack something) that you need, you can run to a Walmart or Target and buy it cheaper than in the parks or the hotel gift shop.

From what I've experienced personally offsite vs. onsite boils down to this: having a "Disney vacation" vs. having a vacation where you went to Disney. Both can be great. Both can be extremely fun. Neither one is better or worse than the other. It's whichever you and your family will enjoy more.

I was planning on doing the shuttle at the one off site hotel (I stay with friends now) but found the first (and only) shuttle left at noon. For me I wouldn't even bother.

 

[ammag]

Our first trip was offsite and was completely magical. Chek. Out the websites and see the basic trying plans so you're not running around and missing out of attractions you want. We pick an area or a oath through the park based on attraction times and whatever is easiest.

I suggest you pick the thigns you MUST do (you will go home sad if you don't get a chance) and consider everything else a bonus.

Also if you park and you will have a stroller and kid/baby items, you will unload from the car then get ona. Tram, then a boat or monorail. (MK) then the bag check. We made the mistake our first day of settling all of our stuff into the stroller then having to unpack it all again for security. We took a big ikea bag the next day, out everythig in and didn't set our stuff up (like drinks in holders, diapers underneath etc)until we got past security. Made it a little easier.

Definitely eat offsite when you can there are a ton of restaurants, drive thurs and good deals or be had. We loved sweet tomatoes buffet!

Try to get to the parks as early as possible, it's the most imprtant thing to do to avoid lines.

 

[leebee]

Hi Bill! Welcome to the DIS! My family and I have been to WDW 26 or 27 times, maybe more, and I think 20 of those trips were offsite. Honestly, we don't see much difference in staying onsite vs. offsite. We always rent a car, regardless of where we stay, so one of the differences is that you'll have to pay to park at WDW. The good news here is that once you pay in the morning, your parking pass is good all day, so if you hop to a second park or go offsite for a break or a meal and then return for evening shows, you don't have to pay when you park again that day. If you choose to do table service meals (sit-down restaurants), you can make your 'reservations' (ADRs, not really reservations, but necessary) 180 days in advance, and all restaurants are open to everyone, onsite, offsite, and even folks who just want to have dinner at a restaurant they like. If you are eating in a theme park, you have to have admission to the park for that day, but you can also dine at any of Disney's resort hotel restaurants with no problem (don't have to be a guest or onsite to eat in the hotel restaurants- and these are our favorites!) However, it's also 100% possible to have amazing meals at WDW eating solely at quick-service (counter service/take out) places. Some of our favorite places to eat are actually counter service, especially at Epcot.

In all our trips, even when my daughter and nieces were very young, we have never been to rope drop or early magic hours, so don't think that you HAVE to be at the parks at the crack of dawn. We are much happier as a family when we sleep in for a bit and then stay late at the parks. I try to be out the door of the hotel room at 10am. We have also never been to BBB, rarely shop at WDW or buy souvenirs, never done a Pirate's League, dessert party, Jedi Academy Training, have only eaten in Cinderella's castle once (waaaaayyyy back when you paid for your meal, not a package), used PhotoPass or Memory Maker, etc., and you know what? Every single one of our trips has been magical and amazing (except possibly the day on our last trip when I had the flu and spent the day in the hotel instead of in Epcot)!!!

I think the best piece of advice I have for you is to acknowledge that there is WAY too much to do at WDW to be able to do it all in one trip. Immerse yourselves in the magic and revel at the joy of what you do, rather than fret and lament about what you missed. Love what you are doing, love watching your kids do what they are doing, and suck in all the magic and pixie dust that you can!!

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

There are definite advantages to staying off site. Sometimes you need a break from "Disney" and also the freedom having a car provides.

 

[mckennarose]

Is this your first WDW trip? If so, there will be so much to do and see that you won't feel you're missing out on anything.
We've stayed offsite for our trips and the most recent trip in May, we got everything we wanted for FP+ at 30 days out. The only FP+ that weren't available were A&E and Wishes. (We got SDMT for both our MK days with no problems.)

If you had to, you could always pick a day or two to do rope drop to get those rides that you couldn't get a FP for. Take an afternoon break and head back to the park later. Once you pay for parking for a day, you don't have to pay again at any park. Keep the receipt and just show the attendant as you pull in.

As for the parking fees, we save so much on staying offsite, the $17 per day is not anywhere near justifying staying onsite. For us with (usually) a 5 day ticket, we're spending $85 for the week for parking which is much less than the cost of one TS meal for us.

If Pirates is a priority, you shouldn't have an issue getting a FP for it. Soarin and TT are on a tiered system, so if you have two EPCOT days it shouldn't be an issue either. I would recommend a FP for Peter Pan, too.

As mentioned, easywdw has great information! There is also a thread on here about FP+ priorities. I do think its important to get an ideas of what fills up fast, where things are, etc.

You'll have a great time!

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

I stay with friends so other than a nice gift card or night out for dinner, I will gladly pay $17 vs. $100 a night or more for room (I stayed at the All Star resorts when I stayed onsite, would rather spend money at/on the parks then where I just sleep but that is just me).

 

[ariane37]

As 2Gma mentioned, Mickey Very Merry Xmas Party is going on in Dec. on certain nights in the MK. You didn't say exactly what days your trip is, but since you plan to be in the parks more evenings than mornings take a look at park hours on easywdw (if you haven't already ) The parties are Sun., Tues. Thurs. and Fri. nights in Dec. On those nights the MK will close to you at 7pm unless you have party tickets. So, you may want to plan on arriving a little earlier if you're doing MK on a party day, or just plan MK on a Mon., Wed., or Sat.
Usually MK is less crowded on party days as many guests don't like the early close and choose to spend those days at another park. This is one advantage of MK on a party day; you just need to make sure you have enough hours there to suit your family.

 

[goofyernmost]

@Robo, I think you should join in here because I think I see a lot of misleading information, but, since I mostly always wing my trips, I do not have enough confidence in the procedures to feel that I am giving proper information.

 

[cakebaker]

I will be getting a car. We do like that freedom.

I think we have a better chance of staying late then getting there at park open.

Are fast passes typically scooped up by onsite guests or will be ok getting them? There are alot of things my kids are to little or scared to to. We wont be doing space mountain or splash mountain or things like that. We will want to do test track and soarin and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Another thing is with your children's ages, you can make use of the rider switch pass for anything that any of your children are not tall enough to ride- it really opens up a lot of ride opportunities!

 

[Alesia]

@Robo, I think you should join in here because I think I see a lot of misleading information, but, since I mostly always wing my trips, I do not have enough confidence in the procedures to feel that I am giving proper information.

I'm curious to know what you think is incorrect. I'm not seeing any misinformation, but maybe I missed something.