How do I convince someone to stay off site?

We stayed offsite a few times and rented a car. Never again. Park hopping generally took MUCH longer than the Disney transportation. The time it took to walk out of the park, wait for a parking shuttle, go to our car, drive to next park, wait for parking shuttle, then enter 2nd park was almost always longer than the Disney buses. When done with 2nd park we now need to reverse the process to get back to 1st park to get our car and then drive back to hotel.

Park and resort hopping during the day we found much easier using Disney transportation. Having to keep moving our car was a pain.
We have had a few times where bus waits were a bit long but never like the OP's experience with over an hour multiple times.

The expense of rental cars and parking also must be figured in.
 
We stayed offsite a few times and rented a car. Never again. Park hopping generally took MUCH longer than the Disney transportation. The time it took to walk out of the park, wait for a parking shuttle, go to our car, drive to next park, wait for parking shuttle, then enter 2nd park was almost always longer than the Disney buses. When done with 2nd park we now need to reverse the process to get back to 1st park to get our car and then drive back to hotel.

Park and resort hopping during the day we found much easier using Disney transportation. Having to keep moving our car was a pain.
We have had a few times where bus waits were a bit long but never like the OP's experience with over an hour multiple times.

The expense of rental cars and parking also must be figured in.

If nobody in your group has mobility issues, it's usually a matter of minutes to just walk to your car rather than wait for a parking shuttle.
 
If nobody in your group has mobility issues, it's usually a matter of minutes to just walk to your car rather than wait for a parking shuttle.

Depends on how far from gate you were able to park. Furthest areas of lots are 1/2 to 3/4 mile from gate. None the less, been there done that. Having our own car doesn't work for us as we are park and resort hoppers. We'll almost always visit 2 parks each day, possibly a 3rd or a resort depending on where we eat dinner or catch an evening show. It was a pain to keep moving the car or returning to 1st park at end of night. There is no right or wrong here. What works for some doesn't for others. I also enjoyed using DME and not having to take luggage to/from airport nor pay parking fees.
 
As above, its each to their own. What works wonders for one, is hell on earth for another lol......

As my Nan would always say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."
 


We have attended three Marriott Timeshare promos to learn the latest details of the club while enjoying great accommodations while attending and have had no problems. We covered our bases with Hilton saving all the paperwork which specifies our responsibility of attending the timeshare. No one will bully us to spend any time over the two hours and try to hold us captive on saying that they will charge us the fair market rental value for the nights spent. We know better!We are Hilton Honors Members use Hilton frequently and it is as simple as protesting our Visa charge if they tried it, not worried in the least!

What papers do you get and need to save? How do you leave at the time limit if they keep talking?

Is it as simple as setting your phone’s timer to two hours at the start, and telling them you will be walking out of there at that time?

I could probably never convince DH to sit through one of these due to horror stories of 2-hour presentations going on for 5 or 6 hours!
 
In response to the OP's title question: You couldn't convince me to stay off-site, so if the person you're trying to convince enjoys staying on-site as much as I do, stop trying. You'll never convince them. Unless I absolutely could not afford to stay at a WDW resort, I would never stay off-site. And I know all the advantages of off-site, but as appealing as some of them are, none of those advantages is as appealing as being at a WDW resort. To me. And, I'm guessing, to the person you can't convince!
 
What papers do you get and need to save? How do you leave at the time limit if they keep talking?

Is it as simple as setting your phone’s timer to two hours at the start, and telling them you will be walking out of there at that time?

I could probably never convince DH to sit through one of these due to horror stories of 2-hour presentations going on for 5 or 6 hours!
If you are staying on an extremely cheap rate or free with the requirement to attend a meeting, there is absolutely NO GUARANTEE of how long you have to stay. You have to stay until they sign you off to leave to keep the rate. Many, if not all, will revert the room fee to the rack rate if you do not go through the sign offs. Its that little print in the contract for that rate. The only one I went to started off as lunch. The time at lunch does not count towards the time. Once they have everyone, they go through the spiel, try to be your best friend, and try to sell you on the joys of spending $20k - $100k for vacations.

For this one time, we were the most intelligent in the room. They tried throwing little jokes/activities to see how smart people are. They tried to be cute and get everyone to like them. Believe me, it works for those that are not educated. The one thing the guy said at the beginning is 1-in-5 buy into it by the end of the presentation. There were 5 groups there and he asked which it would be. I responded back that it wasn't us, at least he laughed. After the 60 minute spiel, they haul the group off to look at the most prestigious room in the timeshare. It was a 4BR Presidential. Everyone in splendor and they say it is easy to stay in it for a week every year. We were quickly separated from the group so as not to influence their "No" decisions. We get back to the main building to start going through the Hard Sell. Before he started, I asked him to provide the annual MF for the room we had for the week. It was a 1BR for 7-nights. I do not recall the points, but it was something like 120,000 with the VIP discount who we rented from. The Hard Sale Guy said it was about $1,000. Because I rented from a Platinum VIP owner with their discounts, inside 45 days, and who else knows what other discount they had, I paid $450 for that week. I wrote the ~$1,000 cost down on his paper. Then I asked him about WBC for a week we had stayed. He pulled it up and gave the price. We did this for 2 other rentals as well. I handed him back his paper, handed him the first receipt. He couldn't believe it. I did the same for all 4. I handed him back his calculator, had him total each set of numbers, and then tell me how much I saved vs just paying MFs. He went into the but, but, but routine, and I shut that down quickly. I told him I would buy 1M for $0.50 and annual MFs on that 1M point would be $100/month. Obviously he was not happy with me. He goes and gets Hard Sale Guy #2. I showed him the paper and what I was offering to purchase. No agreement. I said thank you, asked to be signed out, and he did. We were only there 75 minutes. They did not want me to infect the other 4.

The morale of this is if you are spending money to buy a timeshare, you have just thrown that money away. Seriously, you have thrown it away. If you can get it free through the dozens of resale places and the MFs are less than what you can rent from someone, then that may be viable for you. I have never rented a timeshare place that was above the cost of the MFs.
 


I would sit through a timeshare again. We did it in this trip to get universal money. We did the breakfast which was aweful. It was suppose to be 90 me mutes after breakfast. It was about 2 1/2 hours total including breakfast but still worth the 200 universal money. I just kept saying no very firmly and stated I had to pick people up from the airport. They weren’t happy but I didn’t care. We left with our 200 and on our way at 1030 in the morning. It was a day we didn’t have much planned.
 
The family togetherness thing is I think one of the biggest offsite sells.

"It would be wonderful to stay all together in the same condo or house, and we can get such great accommodations for such a reasonable price." "Could we try that together, as I think that would be so much fun?" Talking up the living room area where all can hang out together, the big balcony for hanging out together can be a big sell (family togetherness) / show pictures of the timeshare condo resort (rental - no timeshare presentation involved) or house (maybe one from Windsor Hills) you want to rent. Pictures and your having spent a whole bunch of time finding the perfect place is a great sell (maybe your dad likes a water view and you found a great house with that). If you really like resort amenities, I think the timeshare condos are better than an house, but rent from an owner and don't do any resort tours which are timeshare presentations, etc. or that would get me right back onsite. I often rent the condos from TUG2.net or Redweek.com. Houses if you are looking for one are plentiful on VRBO or tons of other places. And that might be nice if you have more people than can fit in a two or three bedroom condo and all want to stay together. There are tons of house available from three to six bedrooms, with private pool/hot tub etc. (be sure to get pool heat too - extra charge, but we find we really need that to enjoy this). Talk up a great kitchen and laundry facilities -- because I get tired of having to eat all my meals out/want to eat healthier (how nice it is not have snack even if you are eating out and how nice it is to eat breakfast in). Talk up how you prefer to pack light and with the condo or hour you know you'll be OK and can do laundry (just a load or so if I didn't bring enough clothes so easily). // Other sells -- SeaWorld is such a great park for the whole family to go to, but being onsite it seems like we are wasting money to go. Offsite, I would feel justified in going, and I have heard that's it's the best parks in Orlando for a multigenerational group to have fun together. You just really want to add that park to the itinerary.

Usually for offsite a rental car is super convenient to have. But if no one wants to drive, I think uber/lyft in Orlando are game changers. Although pricier than a rental car, they are so fast and convenient. Getting someone who doesn't want to have a car comfortable with these might we a way to wean them off of Disney transportation. You get picked up in no time flat. You can get dropped off at the Contemporary walkway and just walk over to the MK or take that monorail -- easy / peasy. You can even have one take you to a grocery store and another one pick you up. With all the money you are saving my being offsite you can do uber and lyft for all kinds of stuff, and you aren't paying for parking.

If a condo or house is too big a stretch, maybe something like the Marriott Residence Inn -- I'm doing the Marriott Residence Inn SeaWorld on my next trip. You don't have your own balcony or washer and dryer there, though (and those are awfully nice amenities). You do have a breakfast included, maid service, kitchen, two bedroom/two bath places (pricier than good rental deals from owners), and this place was just remodeled and looks super cute. It has a nice pool and hot tub with palm trees (pretty setting). I'm just mentioning this place, as it just happens to be where I'm staying on my next Orlando trip which is only four nights / three days. I usually do a condo resort for seven night stays (better deal / nicer amenities, but felt like overkill for a short stay).

All that said - I really do love Disney Deluxe, but it's way too rich for my blood, and I have only done that when DS had a seminar at the Contemporary and his company was paying (one time we got a tower view room which I loved). When it's my dime, though, I go offsite every time for the great value and to stay in budget (get to do one full week vacation and one or two other mini vacations for the year with my annual vacation budget). Disney deluxe would eat up that money so fast and be my only trip and a short one.
 
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Why do you want your dad to save money? Is there something you would rather him pay for? are you /or him in financial debt? is there anything gong on?

If you answer this question. It will help me formulate an answer.
 
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If you talk him into staying off site and he's not happy then is it worth it?

I know that the convenience of staying on site, for us outweighs the cost plus DH drives alot for work, so not driving while on vacation is always an important factor that we add in. NO dealing with traffic, which is so bad around the parks in general then dealing with the all the I-4 construction is not fun and a total waste of time. For some folks it's that Disney bubble, that feeling you get when you wake up and see all the Disney touches everywhere.
 
Ugh. At the end of the night the last thing I want to do is to hike out to my car. Please shuttle me!!
At the end of the night, the last thing I want to do is wait 1-2 hours for a bus. While you are waiting on that bus, packed in like cattle, everyone sweating on you, knocking into you, I am already at my offsite resort (30 minutes or less in total), cocktail in hand, lounging on the balcony or down at the pool.

I have proven it on every trip and just 4 weeks ago as well. It is faster to get to my car and drive to my resort than even the monorail resorts, unless walking from MK to CR. I am truly glad many people think your way. Means better deals for me.
 
At the end of the night, the last thing I want to do is wait 1-2 hours for a bus. While you are waiting on that bus, packed in like cattle, everyone sweating on you, knocking into you, I am already at my offsite resort (30 minutes or less in total), cocktail in hand, lounging on the balcony or down at the pool.

I have proven it on every trip and just 4 weeks ago as well. It is faster to get to my car and drive to my resort than even the monorail resorts, unless walking from MK to CR. I am truly glad many people think your way. Means better deals for me.

I think PP was referring to using the parking lot trams instead of walking back to the car. Honestly, we do the same. In the morning, we may walk from our car depending on where we parked. But if we're there late at night, we'll usually use the tram even if walking would be quicker.
 
I thought the word shuttle was in reference to the parking lot shuttles not the Disney buses.
 
.........

On another note for the OP.... our family members who own DVC think we're crazy for staying offsite so much. They are self proclaimed Disney snobs (yes, this is exactly how they describe themselves) who would refuse to even look at offsite UNTIL..... one time some of them had to stay with us one night at the Marriott Sabal before their reservation started at OKW and they were blown away with the amount of space in a huge condo, the pools, the full tropical vacation vibe they felt. The pool and bar at the World Center alone convinced one hard core on-siter. Sometimes people just don't know how beautiful the other resorts are until they see them.

I'm posting a quick follow up to my previous post about my self proclaimed Disney snob family and staying offsite. Two of them have booked an offsite resort for October and another is looking at future dates offsite. These are people who refused to ever look at anything offsite and have only ever stayed onsite for the past 20 years! One owns DVC but is out of points for the year and doesn't want to rent from anyone or borrow points from next year. Another one wants to "get her money's worth" from her annual pass but can't afford another stay at a Disney resort. She's also not happy with the onsite parking fees and wants something bigger than a standard hotel room.

On another note, we just booked a stay at the Sheraton Vistana for September. We stayed here in May for the first time and really liked it.
 

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