Poll:How many are looking to stay off site and why

[Ninja Mom]

This isn't a debate. This is a post that is asking who is considering staying off site and why.

PLEASE resist then urge to correct someone's opinion.

Please also resist the urge to argue as to why it's better to stay ON site.

This is a post for people to talk about WHY they are THINKING ABOUT or are STAYING OFF SITE.

I'm sorry I had to spell it out like that but these are the Dis Boards and posts like this tend to get hijacked by the true believers and defenders of all that is Disney. I'd like this to be a thread where people who are thinking of staying elsewhere can share their thoughts.

Please keep your replies very respectful and no arguing. These are people's opinions and experiences and, as such, are not subject to correction or pontificating by others. If you don't like what you are reading then just move along please, move along...


~NM

 

[terri33inne]

I'm also considering off-site due to lack of availability for my travel dates, or dates around it. I'm going at an off-peak time (if such a thing exists anymore), and have been checking for a couple months for a Pop or PO room to open, and nothing... No value or moderates are showing any availability.

 

[bigbabyblues]

You may get more replies on the Orlando Hotels and Attractions board.

We have always been onsite people, but we are looking at renting a townhouse at Windsor Hills for our next trip instead of our usual moderate resort room. Our kids will be 18 (still in high school) and 14 at the time of our trip, and there just isn't enough room in a single hotel room for 8-10 days anymore. We are looking at a 3-bedroom townhouse for about $145/night. We drive to FL, so we always have our car and prefer driving to taking the bus except to MK anyway. We will have a full kitchen, and we probably won't cook much, but we will have breakfast at the house in the mornings and maybe some lunches if we go back to swim, or a dinner here and there. I do think it will be nice to have a place to spread out and relax after a day at the parks.

 

[LYSE]

While we have always been on site people we are now looking at some off site options, the new DND policy has pushed us over the edge for the amount of money the Deluxe resorts are asking for.

We are staying at the dolphin on points, it's been reserved for some time but if it works out we'll start paying cash for this.
We are also thinking of trying out the Four Seasons, it seems to start at about monorail resort pricing except it's genuinely luxurious and not disney "luxurious"

 

[Shanti]

This isn't a debate. This is a post that is asking who is considering staying off site and why.

PLEASE resist then urge to correct someone's opinion.

Please also resist the urge to argue as to why it's better to stay ON site.

This is a post for people to talk about WHY they are THINKING ABOUT or are STAYING OFF SITE.

I'm sorry I had to spell it out like that but these are the Dis Boards and posts like this tend to get hijacked by the true believers and defenders of all that is Disney. I'd like this to be a thread where people who are thinking of staying elsewhere can share their thoughts.

Please keep your replies very respectful and no arguing. These are people's opinions and experiences and, as such, are not subject to correction or pontificating by others. If you don't like what you are reading then just move along please, move along...


~NM

Here are a few things that could possibly be added to your list:

• The new dog policy.
• FP+ at 60 days being offered to some offsite resorts.
• Fewer Extra Magic Hours

 

[buzznina]

Here are a few things that could possibly be added to your list:

• The new dog policy.
• FP+ at 60 days being offered to some offsite resorts.
• Fewer Extra Magic Hours

That is what I was thinking. Now that the perks for staying onsite has diminished again and DS now gets EMH and FP+ 60, I will, for the first time, be pricing DS offsite hotels when we plan another trip.

 

[Sue M]

I voted for ever increasing prices AND the increasing resort prices and getting less. We did discuss the Disney Springs area, and that option is there for me if I get priced out of staying onsite.

That would be the only area I’d consider (and Swolfin) because it’s still on WDW property and they have very good bus service, running every 30 min, which is better than the WDW bus service I experienced last month.
As for longer walks from bus drop off, half the time the WDW resort busses dropped us off in the off site bus drop off.
Housekeeping re-stocking our supplies were a hit or miss.

This was the first trip I really experienced a decline of service with transportation and resort. Very disappointing.

I stayed once in the DTD Doubletree when I decided to arrive a day early. It was really nice, huge 1 bedroom, no resort fee, and free breakfast thru a mousesavers code for the same price as a value room. For families needing a 1 bedroom staying here is a no brainer, comparing what a 1 bdrm DVC costs.

 

[porschegrl]

I'm not looking to stay offsite, at least not in the immediate future. But I voted in the poll because it was the only way I could see the results.

 

[Ninja Mom]

You may get more replies on the Orlando Hotels and Attractions board.

We have always been onsite people, but we are looking at renting a townhouse at Windsor Hills for our next trip instead of our usual moderate resort room. Our kids will be 18 (still in high school) and 14 at the time of our trip, and there just isn't enough room in a single hotel room for 8-10 days anymore. We are looking at a 3-bedroom townhouse for about $145/night. We drive to FL, so we always have our car and prefer driving to taking the bus except to MK anyway. We will have a full kitchen, and we probably won't cook much, but we will have breakfast at the house in the mornings and maybe some lunches if we go back to swim, or a dinner here and there. I do think it will be nice to have a place to spread out and relax after a day at the parks.

I see what you are saying but the thinking here is that I'm wondering what people who traditionally stay at a Disney resorts are thinking of, if they are ready to make a change. The other board already has people who have already made the decision to move off site. I'm wondering what people who traditionally have always stayed at a Disney resort are thinking.

True, you will find each type on each thread, but I recently had to make a decision and I finally had enough and decided to stay off site because I've had it with the escalating prices and the degradation of services and amenities. In my opinion when they decided to skimp on housekeeping and not clean the floors properly in the renovated Pop Century rooms, I have had enough. I paid full price for that room and in my opinion it wasn't worth it because of problems like that and the ones I've included in the poll.

The bus service is also going down hill rapidly. This was the first trip where I repeatedly heard bus drivers THREATEN in less than polite terms that they weren't leaving the stop until more people crowded on a an uncomfortably full bus. There is a shortage of housekeepers and bus drivers at Disney and Disney's response is to allow the guest to be consistently inconvenienced while demanding that they pay inflated prices.

The stock price has taken precedence over everything and it shows. They say vote with your wallet and my wallet is dancing off property where less money will be extracted for better lodgings and amenities.

Here are a few things that could possibly be added to your list:

• The new dog policy.
• FP+ at 60 days being offered to some offsite resorts.
• Fewer Extra Magic Hours

I could only add the dog situation and then the poll maxed out. All of your suggestions were great though...

~NM

 

[zebrastreyepz]

If housekeeping is already so awful, how are they going to staff all the new hotels they're building?

 

[Jennasis]

We do an off-site trip every other year. We own DVC and squeeze in one last cash trip in a cheap off-site room before our AP's expire.

 

[OneinThree]

Having just returned from a stay at an on-site deluxe, we feel obligated to at least test the waters at some of the off-site resorts which offer more for less. For example, I can book an executive suite at the Hyatt Grand Cypress for what I paid per night for a standard garden deluxe. Admittedly, there's no substitute for the themeing and proximity of jewels like Poly or GF, I just wish the these came with a more competitive price tag.

 

[Ninja Mom]

If housekeeping is already so awful, how are they going to staff all the new hotels they're building?

Also: If I'm not getting dependable housekeeping at $137 dollars per night at a Disney resort then I'd much rather stay at a suite resort without daily housekeeping that has:
a full kitchen,
a free breakfast every morning,
a nice pool that doesn't look like a cement pond with no palm trees (Pop Computer pool I'm looking at you!)
and free parking and Wifi
:all for 92.50 per night minus the taxes.:

That's $45 dollars a day cheaper than Pop Century. Do the math on that one....
Yes you have to add in a car but the situations with the Disney Buses drive you to either a car rental or using Lyft for your transportation needs. Having the kitchen takes the sting out of Disney dining prices and the free breakfast every morning makes up for that and more, so the car rental is discounted.

EMH are disappearing and with my AP I get 30 day fast passes no matter where I stay.

It's the paying for stuff that you are not getting or paying for stuff that is priced way to high for all the aggravation that you have to put up with that made the decision to stay off site a no brainer.

~NM

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We have always been die hard in-site guest but the last straw may have been the offering of EMH and 60 day FP for off site guests. We have taken 25 Disney trips in the last 15 years and sadly have seen the prices go up and service go down. We have a BB free dining at CBR this August otherwise I would definitely be looking at Disney Springs resorts!

 

[ncc1701]

Does Vegas, San Diego or Charlestown/ Savannah in October count ? If we aren't staying on property we would go elsewhere unless a family wedding or work is involved.

 

[Ninja Mom]

Does Vegas, San Diego or Charlestown/ Savannah in October count ? If we aren't staying on property we would go elsewhere unless a family wedding or work is involved.

That question would appear in the poll entitled "If you stopped going to Walt Disney World where in the world would you go?
1) San Diego
2) Sin City
3) Beachy Bliss
4) Monotonous Mountains
5) Relative Torture
6) Staycation City

~NM

 

[ncc1701]

That question would appear in the poll entitled "If you stopped going to Walt Disney World where in the world would you go?
1) San Diego
2) Sin City
3) Beachy Bliss
4) Monotonous Mountains
5) Relative Torture
6) Staycation

 

[Ninja Mom]

PS I love your screen name. Live long and prosper!
~NM

 

[ncc1701]

Thanks changed my reply.
Live Long and Prosper !

 

[SG131]

We went down with my mother who will only stay at a deluxe and honestly felt ripped off. The housekeeping used to go above and beyond to make the trip special, now you’re lucky if the room is truly clean. The transportation was also poor.

I have NEVER stayed offsite before but am seriously considering it because I would be able to afford an offsite trip a lot sooner and now that offsite guests can also get 60+ fastpass the benifits of on-site are really dwindling. It just doesn’t have the same Disney magic it used to.