Yes or no Disney on site or off

[Wazza]

Always on site for us. Just find it more relaxing as there’s less driving etc involved

[2point]

We do both. Have DVC so use that for onsite. I'd never pay to stay onsite, way too expensive.

When we stay offsite we either go cheap and cheerful as it's usually a multi year visit or if a single visit we'll stay in a villa/condo with plenty of space/facilities.

Always have a car and eat offsite 90% of the time, much better variety and vastly cheaper.

[cornishfrogboy]

Like Mick, I sometimes feel a fraud, being on this site.

I don’t get Disney, Pixie dust or any of that and have not entered a Disney park on any of our last 5 visits to Orlando.

I only stayed on site on our very first, 2005 visit and absolutely hated it.

As time has passed, we have spent more and more time away from Orlando and even Florida as we have spread our wings to 21 US States so far. Even Theme Parks have had progressively less importance as our vacations have evolved.

I remain on the DIBB as I simply find the breadth of knowledge available to me as a resource, absolutely invaluable in planning future excursions.

An interesting question would be ‘how many DIBBERS are regular contributors, but have no interest in WDW?’.

[Buzz n' Piglet]

I will do onsite but not for any longer than 2 weeks since they removed the 21 day ticket. Not paying the ridiculous prices without having park tickets

[megaflyer]

Stayed onsite at The Grand Floridian a few times and loved it - great as a family with a suite for the interconnecting rooms, views and park access. Also stayed in a villa. I am done with Orlando (and Florida) now - If I was to return it would be a villa and only if someone else booked and paid for it. I would stay but for a few days in Paris or California only )hated the one in Japan and HK) then would be same hotel every time (and for So Cal it was be for a few days while staying elsewhere rest of the time )


I love Universal in So Cal much more but do need a Disney fix sometimes - Disneyland has the magic of being original that the others just cant have however much they try they fail

[Claudette]

We always have and always will stay onsite, primarily because we don’t want to drive. However, I am going to see if fastpasses come back before we go in September, if they don’t we have decided to do a Universal and Seaworld trip and we will stay onsite at a Universal hotel.

[PABBY]

Staying onsite was just so convenient when the kids were younger. DME from the airport and free buses/boats to all the Disney parks, with taxis utilised when an off-site trip was required.

Now it's just me and the better half who travel to Florida, so we probably won't stay onsite again - there's just too much to see and do besides the parks.

And even though we've experienced several trips outside the bubble, I wouldn't swap those 4 onsite stays for anything.

[mick]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

Like Mick, I sometimes feel a fraud, being on this site.

I don’t get Disney, Pixie dust or any of that and have not entered a Disney park on any of our last 5 visits to Orlando.

I only stayed on site on our very first, 2005 visit and absolutely hated it.

As time has passed, we have spent more and more time away from Orlando and even Florida as we have spread our wings to 21 US States so far. Even Theme Parks have had progressively less importance as our vacations have evolved.

I remain on the DIBB as I simply find the breadth of knowledge available to me as a resource, absolutely invaluable in planning future excursions.

An interesting question would be ‘how many DIBBERS are regular contributors, but have no interest in WDW?’.

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CFB

We can't turn the clock back but I do wish we had discovered the USA before 1990 when we were both 44 but the other side of my coin says we're very lucky to have visited around 37 times but not to your extent. Done the west side - bits of California, Vegas and the Grand Canyon and the north east (NYC, Boston and around). One holiday actually involved taking off or landing at nine different airports.

We don't actually come into the "no WDW interest" group either. Once or twice every holiday we'll park up at DS and do a tour of the resorts.

Don't want to sound morbid. I'm now 7 years past an average 5 year survival rate after my op in 2009 so I greet each morning optimistically but I do realise that it's impossible to sample every new ride and attraction but just to be extremely thankful for what we have done.

Keep safe and happy - every new dawn brings a new promise.

Mick

[Scaramouche]

We had friends who judged us for what we paid in 2016 - and we got a bargain because we were prepared to hotel hop to get the best of everything (in our eyes!).

Premier inn north terminal Gatwick - 1 night
Virgin flights (economy)
Sapphire falls - 1 night (we weren’t due in until 5pm so only wanted to go to city walk that night, no need to pay for a deluxe for the express pass. As it was we were delayed at Gatwick for hours so we didn’t get to the hotel until 10pm)
Hard rock hotel - 1 night (express passes)
All star movies - 1 night, less than 12 hours as we just used it to get the bus to Port Canaveral the next day.
Disney cruise - 3 nights, deluxe verandah cabin
Animal Kingdom Lodge Club Level - 1 night, DVC thanks to a very kind Dibber
Caribbean Beach - 10 nights (you can tell this was the original booking and everything else was added on &#128514
Discovery cove dolphin swim
MNNSHP
Wild Africa Trek
Free Dining
Jet ski on the Seven Seas Lagoon

We paid around £5k. Our friends told us we were stupid, they had a villa for 5 of them for £2k for two weeks, then just flights and car hire. But the amount they spent on tickets, food, parking charges, etc they spent more than we did in total (just the two of them, they weren’t paying for the other 3). They lost loads of time staying off site as well.

On-site is always our preference, we love being in the middle of it. Free dining isn’t the end of the world for us, we’ve always said we would pay for it as long as for us, it meets our needs and I know for many it doesn’t, but for us it really does. We don’t drive on holiday so we don’t have to factor that in.

[cartoonp]

Hi all many thanks for all comments and different takes on Florida. I will add my own option. I been very lucky and been 10 times first 2 times we stayed DAYS INN and all we did was catch the free shuttle and went to Disney as we did the welcome thing that try and flog you tickets what you already brought 😆 the first one was at US which is really a lie as the first one we did was splendid China 😆. Thought next few trips we stayed off site LBV the nex few years we stayed on site all star movies and pop. The last time we went for a conplete change as we stayed cerebration suites and to be honest was one of the best. We never done Disney dineing plan for us not worth it and I don’t say it not worth it for everybody because for a lot it is. We don’t do the DDP because we don’t where we be or what we be doing as we do not plan never have done. If we near US then we eat on I drive If we on the 192 let’s say Walmart then we eat on the 192. We only eaten in a few places on Disney but try to avoid.