Here are the Top 10Â Reasons To Stay at Off-Site Walt Disney World Resorts:
1. It cost less to stay off-site. Disney’s rates range from $154 to $3000 depending on where you want to stay.
2. Hotel rooms are bigger giving you more bang for your buck.
3. If you have rewards points, you can redeem them at hotels around Disney World to save more on your overall trip cost.
4. If you find a resort with a continental breakfast, that is one less meal you have to pay for.
5. If you have a timeshare (other than Disney Vacation Club), you can redeem it at hotels around Disney.
6. If you have a large group, it’s definitely going to be a huge price break to stay off site. There are many houses with private pools that you can rent giving you added space and privacy (check out Global Resort Homes).
7. If all you need a hotel room is sleep, staying off site might be the best idea for your family. (This means that you stay at the park from sun up to midnight.)
8. If you are planning on going to Sea World and Universal, staying off site will be an economical choice for your family.
9. If you need certain amenities and benefits (especially for business travelers), off-site hotels might be better equipped to fit your needs.
10. You can earn cash back, points and more by staying off-site and booking through discount websites.
11. If you have a pet that you travel with, you can find a pet friendly hotel. Only a few of the Disney Resorts are dog friendly.
12. The majority of the hotels within a 15 mile radius of Disney offer free airport pickup and free shuttle to the parks. Be sure to verify the one that you choose participates!
Ask the readers: Why did you choose to stay off site?
Check out the top 10 reasons to stay on-site at Walt Disney World.Â
Learn more about the Walt Disney World Resorts and contact Destinations in Florida to help you book your perfect resort.
We are planning a New Years 2015 trip, we are a group of adults and will be staying at Bahama Bay Resort which is about 10 min away from the parks. We’ve stayed once before and loved it as it was a very nice condo with laundry, pools, kitchen, and restaurant/bar on site. I would love to stay on Disney property again, but they should be more aware of people visiting who aren’t families. But I am definitely OK spending $1000 for a week divided among five people to be able to spend more on all things Disney!
I love staying off-site because, as much as I love WDW, sometimes I need a break from all things Disney. Going to the parks is intense; the walking, the crowds, the lines, the heat… We usually stay in a rented house or condo in Kissimmee just off 192. We go to a park every other day and enjoy swimming & sleeping in on our off days. I don’t need to have The Mouse and his friends dictate my vacation experience 24/7.
Why did you choose to stay off site? We have a Marriott timeshare which we trade our efficiency lock-off for a full 2 bedroom suite at the Marriott Palms. Our suite had a full kitchen, living room, enclosed patio, 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. It was perfect for our family of four adults to visit Disney world with plenty of room and privacy. We could have had 2 more adults or kids with the pull out sofa in the living room. This Marriott is 1 mile from Magic Kingdom.We didn’t pay for parking because we parked at downtown Disney and caught the buses to the parks. Because it has a full kitchen, we went to the publix that was about 2 miles from our place and bought groceries. We ate breakfast in and made reservations for the latest time possible for lunch, so we didn’t have to pay full dinner prices but have an early dinner. Our favorite places being Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom, Sci-Fi diner at Hollywood studios and Chef De France in Epcot. We brought our own water in and snacks. Because we had a late lunch/early dinner we would have a snack for dinner in the parkts. It saves a lot of money to be able to cook a meal in and have snacks to take into the parks and available when you get back in. Even though we have to pay for the maintenance fees for our timeshare (it is paid off) we still get at least 3 weeks worth of vacations. I think 333.00 + 99.00 for a weeks stay at a resort hotel/timeshare is well worth it. The Marriott Palms has a very nice pool, full size basketball court, shuffle board, exercise room etc..we love our timeshare! We have stayed a couple of days at some of the resort hotels on property, but then we move to our timeshare for a week. It makes for a very affordable visit to Disney world.
We stayed off-park once…when I was three years old LOL. My parents said they would never do that again. Now I’m 32 and have been at least 10-12 more times, and I have always stayed in the park. But there was one trip that was a group of friends instead of family, and we decided to go to Universal one day. Well, easier said than done. It was like we could easily get anywhere on the property, but if we wanted to leave the property, we were trapped!! We ended up having the front desk call a cab and we spent a fortune on a cab ride to and from Universal. I guess that’s just a good business plan on Disney’s part, though :-)
We stayed outside Disney because we brought our 2 dogs!(I am crazy but I love them!) They are part of our family! We loved it because we could come and go as we please, go to Disney or wherever for a bit go back to the house check on the pups and head back! We also got our fast passes and then went back! My kids were very overwhelmed at the whole experience (1st time there for them) so it was nice to take a day off from the parks and hang out at the house!!
We usually stay offsite at someplace like Springhill Suites for several reasons:
1. Separate bedrooms – here is a separate bedroom for me and my husband, and the kids sleep on the fold-out couch in the living room. This way, if they wake up very early, they can watch TV or play quietly w/o waking us (ME!) up. And at night we can put them to sleep and then go into the bedroom and watch TV or read w/o waking them up!
2. Free HOT breakfast. Saves lots of $$. Also, you can usually take fruit and muffins back to the room for free snacks later in the day.
3. Free internet
4. Kitchen in the room lets us have cold drinks in the room, and other things that need refrigerating.
Don’t Kill me for saying this but we never stay on site. The only On-Site hotels my family will stay at are at Universal (Our Favorite of the theme parks) . I have also noticed they are by far so much cheaper than WDW. Personally, our family feels more relaxed at Universal after just going back to WDW this year after having a HORRIBLE experience about 5 years ago. That being said, unless we book a Universal hotel we usually stay at a Marriot (Cheap and Comfy) or a Hilton (Again Cheap and Comfy). For those who say time-shares are so much better, my family would rather be out at a park not listening to a person talk…
We usually stay on-site, as I LOVE the Disney magic of staying “right there!” but this was our first trip with the kids (3 & 5) and we needed the extra space. Both kids are light sleepers and need their own bedrooms. That was our #1 reason for looking off-site. Turned out great! We rented a villa in Emerald Island (from http://www.mydisneyhouses.com) and even though space was our inital reason we also enjoyed:
-Gated community!
-Private pool
-Kitchen for meals at “home”
-10-15 minute drive to the parks
-Conviences (groceries, dining) 1 mile away
-No waiting for buses with two sleepy/sleeping children at the end of the night
-Personal washer & dryer
-COST! We got a 4br/2bath house and paid less than 1/2 what we would have for a Family Suite at ASMu.
I am the owner of the Emerald Island homes called MyDisneyHouses
I had to change my website name to MYMAGICALHOMES.COM
Disney did not like me using their name to promote my homes.
If anyone is interested in renting from me, please contact me!!
Windsor Hills is amazing. I doubt we will ever stay anywhere else- and you can literally be in the parking lot at AK in 5 minutes.
Why do we stay offsite? On this trip, our eldest son is joining us, he is 21. That’s 3 adults, 1 junior, 1 child. We are staying for 7 nights. When we priced it out, and yes we did snag a one day deal for our offsite hotel, the entire 7 nights were less than one night at a moderate in WDW. ONE NIGHT. its a no brainer. Even if we were offered free dining it wouldn’t be less.
I have stayed at many timeshares and at all level resorts on Disney property. Having done both I will say that I only stay on Disney property now. The service you receive on property is amazing and part of the Disney magic. The convenience of the internal bus system and food courts at your resort save you time, gas, have more economical food choices in counter servcie, and parking fees. Port Orleans has gone through major resort updates and I stayed there the beginning of the year. It was clean and well maintained. With many level resorts you can find a level that is right for your budget. Disney has been offering many packages and free dining. The free dining can save you major amounts of money. No one should assume that they cannot find an affordable package at Disney until you check out the details and look for specials.
Unfortunately they only updated the French Quarter, and are just now starting on Riverside. We also missed the “magic” we were supposed to have while there. Honestly, I really felt like it lacked ANY. My 11 year old noticed it first. :(
There’s nothing free at Disney. You may feel you getting free dining. But you’re not. Look at the final bill closely and you will see the difference. I will admit though. The Dining Plan is good! Not worth me paying hundreds of dollars. Also the Magic Hours are not worth it. Unless you go during January and/or February.
We rented a 2 bedroom condo in Kissimee in Windsor Hills from Homeaway. It was $550 for 7 nights. The kids had their own room, we had a laundry room and a kitchen. We ate breakfast there every morning and dinner there some nights! For us it was nice to go to the parks and then come back and relax in a great atmosphere! It only took us 10 minutes to get into the parks. Simple and easy!
My family has stayed on site and off site. We honestly just find it easier to stay on site now. With the transportation taken care of and the extra magic hours, it works well for us.
What are the extra magic hours?
We have stayed off-site for 11 trips, until this past week…stayed at POR due to free dining. We were VERY unimpressed with the resort (dirty, small, spread out…) but really enjoyed the free dining (over $1200 when I added it up!).
We did decide it was a once in a lifetime for us though, as we will return to our old favorite hotel for future trips. So much more room, continental breakfast, close to Walgreens and other stores, and just plain NICER! I’m glad we tried it once, but it just wasn’t for my family of 5.
I just noticed the comments on families of 5 and Disney hotels….we could only stay at Port Orleans Riverside (moderate, and cheaper than the Values even) b/c they have a trundle bed on the floor that could accommodate one more person. Once again, NOT ideal and I wouldn’t do it again. I felt bad for the kid that had to sleep on the “floor” each night!
Where do you stay off site? We’ve always stayed on property but I’m curious where everyone stays
We usually stay at Royale Parc Suites. It has been great most years, but we did have a few issues last year. I’m sure we will be back again though. ;)
We rented a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house with a private pool 10-15 minutes from Disney on vrbo.com for $1,000/week during the holidays. Not only did we save $1,000 over what we would have paid for an on-site resort, but we had plenty of room to spread out and didn’t feel like we were on top of each other (cramming a family of four into one room at a hotel for a week is no fun!) The house was nice and decorated in Disney. The drive in to the parks and home each day was no problem. Highly recommend!
There are alot of timeshares in the area, you can almost always find a good deal if you’re willing to listen to their presentation for a couple of hours one day. It’s always a plus when you have a kitchen, saves alot of money on food. My family used to do this before I moved to Orlando.
I live in Kissimmee, the closest town to Disney World and wanted to share this very very valuable tip. DO NOT stay at any cheap hotel on US 192. The Seralago resort is ok but any of the cheap motels on 192 are not places you want to take your family to.
very true….Kissimmee isn’t what it used to be. With hotels, you get what you pay for. My husband worked as a detective in the I-Drive area and the hotels you would get the most cases out of were the cheap ones.
Yea I completely agree, stay away from hotels on 192 anywhere east of 429, Lots and lots of homeless people living in those hotels. There are some nice hotels just a couple exits away, stay around 535, or go further down to Highway 27. I also agree about finding a house to rent, there are thousands of rental homes in the Disney Area. Just google vacation rental homes Disney and there be a lot that pop up.
You left out the number one reason my family stays off site – If you have 5 people in your family Disney doesn’t make it easy to stay on site. They limit most rooms in the hotels to only 4 people. There is a huge price jump to get a room for 5. You wold think a family oriented place like Disney would let you have a roll away, but nooooo they want you to book 2 rooms.
Does that mean if you have 3 kids and one is a baby you have to book 2 rooms?
You only have to book a second room if that baby is over 3. You are right they do make it hard for a family over 4 and I have a family of 6 with 2 teenagers.
I thought that it did state that most of the moderate rooms you can have a 5th person stay on a rolll away, but not sure how much that changes the cost. We always travel with my parents so we always have to get two rooms. We are looking into a place by sea world, cannot think of the name right now, But it is a 2 bedroom suite with 2 baths and it was running I think about 198/night for off season. But only reason we are thinking of staying off site is becuase we are not going to visit WDW (gasp!) This trip is for uiversal, Sea World, Legoland and Bush Gardens.
But we love staying on site. So nice to be so close and get in the parks early some days and stay late others. We never use the transportation, too crowded and not fun while trying to tote a stroller. They have free parking for resort guests so I we don’t mind, and give us the freesdon of leaving whenever we want. Last time we went we waited over 45 minutes for a bud (Mom and Dad took the baby back to the hotel with the car and the rest of us stayed for fantasmic) I would say that the value resorts are just as cheap as some of the ones you can find off site.
The value resorts are still overpriced
You are so right with the three kid thing… It really hikes the price up. I guess I will keep my son though… He’s worth the extra expense. Last time we went to Port Orleans Riverside and he got the trundle. He was 8 at the time so it was not such a big deal… You don’t want a child much older than that on the small trundle…
Homeaway and VRBO are a couple I looked through. Be prepared to look for many hours! I got carried away looking. The person I rented from basically just added her houses to all of these websites, like most of the leasing agents do to get exposure. So, I did not book directly through these websites but through the owner’s website.
Where is a good site to look for renting timeshares or houses off site? We are planning a trip for next April/May.
We use http://www.aplusvacationhomes.com/index.cfm…we try to stay at Emerald Island Resort! It’s super nice and gated!
There are other options besides a hotel also. We just rented a nice house for an entire week for less than $800 in the Formosa Gardens area. The house had 3 bedrooms, a pool, and a hot tub. Don’t forget the kitchen! Although we only have a baby and toddler in this large space, it was great to have a room just for the baby so she could nap by herself. By the way, where can you stay for $8500 a night at WDW? Wow!!
LOL I totally made that up. Looks like the most expensive room is $3,000.
http://miceage.micechat.com/kevinyee/ky042611a.htm
LOL! Wow that room is nice. I’m surprised for the cost guests don’t get their own personal elephant or giraffe outside their window. ;)
I agree…you really should get a Noah’s Ark type supply of animals with that room and personal photos with each one (and shouldn’t mousekeeping leave something better?)!! I really think Mickey should STAY in the room with you too. ;)
Who really rents that room???? And, more importantly…WHY???
that room was AWSOME!!!!
I have a DVC membership with home resort as Animal Kingdom (but we stay everywhere like Saratoga Springs this past week). We stated in the value studio at Jambo House- (cheapest points) and we saw PLENTY of animals at different times of the day. Also, the public viewing areas are GREAT. Even if you aren’t staying on site go to the resort and check out the animals. We don’t even go to Animal Kingdom Park anymore. With the resort’s viewing areas, we have bathrooms, access to shade and it’s different animals depending on which side you are viewing it from!
We drive so didn’t need the free airport transport. My MIL was coming with us so we needed another bathroom and the price of the Timeshare we rented for very nice 2 bedroom/2ba was less than a value resort. We aren’t big eaters so not into the dining plan. Husband hates buses, and likes to drive and have car at parks. Offsite works for us and we save a bundle! Still magical vacations!