We will be going to DLP in November for the first time (even though we are DVC owners and very familiar with WDW). This will also be our first holiday with our daughter who will turn one while we're at DLP. We will be there for 3 nights (Sunday - Wednesday) and plan on going to the parks on Monday and Tuesday (Nov. 25/26). I don't think this would be a particular crowded week given that lack of school holidays (other than US Thanksgiving) and we've booked an apartment in Val d'Europe. This works out to be about 40% cheaper than booking the cheapest DLP package. Would you think that we need to pay the extra and stay onsite? It seems like EMH is the main perk for onsite. We are about a 5-6 hour train ride away from DLP, so this is likely to be a first trip of many more trips in the future. Anything else worth considering between on-site vs. off-site apartment? We just think that we'll get so much more room in an apartment and the ability to cook a simple dinner for the family also seems nice - so we don't have to deal with a potentially tired one-year-old in a restaurant.
When you refer to a "DLP Package", which country's site did you look at ? When we booked our DLP package, the US site by far had the most expensive packages. European country sites had much less expensive options The UK site (prices quoted in Pounds) and the Irish site (prices quoted in Euros) are easy to navigate for English speakers. You can change the country easily by clicking on the flag in the upper corner on the page. When we were booking our trip that we took last month, I booked from the Swiss site.
We agree that staying on site is worth it. Otherwise, it is impossible to rope drop WDS, or Fantasyland and Discoveryland in DLP since the EMT happens every day.