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View Poll Results: Where do you stay
Onsite Disney 409 43.28%
Onsite universal 31 3.28%
I drive hotel 64 6.77%
Villa 331 35.03%
Other 110 11.64%
Voters: 945. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2 Nov 18, 06:50 PM  
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#31
Tinkerbell
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Actually I don’t think staying onsite is being in the Disney bubble. There are resorts very not a bubble as there are also lots of fabulous restaurants that are not Disney bubble. We rarely eat table service in the parks, and like to try the different resort hotels. This year, as we have the munchkin, we will be eating lunch in parks a few more times.

I have done the Villa, but unless going as a large group not really our thing. I Drive far to busy for us, having said that I’ve not been to I drive for over ten years didn’t like it then

As Bozza said, it’s horses for courses. If I ever go back. It will still be disney but maybe split with US that looks fun.

Equally it’s about finances as well. I Drive is definitely cheaper, well it used to be, so I can see the appeal there and if it wasn’t for DDP I may have a different view point
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Old 2 Nov 18, 07:02 PM  
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#32
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Originally Posted by Bozza View Post
If you have always stayed on I-Drive, how do you know you "don’t like being stuck in the Disney bubble"?

We always stay on site, generally in a Deluxe or a 1-bed at OKW at WDW and either the Hard Rock, Portofino Bay or Royal Pacific at Universal.

When my parents first took me to Orlando, around 30 years ago, we stayed in a Holiday Inn on I-Drive and I still remember telling my parents that it was like Blackpool but warmer.

We headed down I-Drive looking for somewhere to eat last year, whilst we were staying at the Royal Pacific at Universal, and I'm not sure my view on it would change very much now. I can certainly see the appeal for some - there's a fair bit of choice for food - all easily walkable, and it's significantly cheaper than on-site.

it's not for us though, but the world would be boring if we were all the same.
Read that, laughed and then cried, took my daughter, (who I’m going with next year along with my grandson ) thirty years ago when she was 8 and my youngest 6). Made me feel old,
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Old 2 Nov 18, 07:21 PM  
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#33
Rac20
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Originally Posted by Burgmeister View Post
I've voted "other" as we usually do a split onsite/off-site trip
Me too👍🏻

For our next trip we are planning a few days at a universal hotel at the beginning of our holiday and a few days at the beach at the end and a villa stay for the majority.
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Old 2 Nov 18, 07:55 PM  
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#34
ROBBOTOO
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We’re villa people as we now just love all the space with a villa and our own proper pool on chill days.

Even just on our own with the two of us it’s villa for us.
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Old 2 Nov 18, 10:16 PM  
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Originally Posted by vampiress88 View Post
Suppose I wouldn’t really know it’s just what I imagine really that I would feel to confined in the Disney bubble

Apart from the fact that it’s probably more expensive on site I like I drive as that will mean that we can catch the i trolley and go to loads of cheap restaurants without using the car. If we were in a Disney hotel it would mean driving out every night to get food or eating onsite.
Also if we got the free dining then that would mean we would eat in the bubble and not leave as often.
I love Disney but it would be too much for me to be onsite. Would possibly look at doing a few days but wouldn’t be able to do the three weeks.

Some people will love the Disney bubble and that’s great for them but I just couldn’t do it.

Seems like most are either onsite Disney or villa.
That probably why there are lots more onsite reports then.

I thought I drive was popular.
I disagree with almost every word you've written but, as above, we all like different things.

"The Disney bubble" is so vast and much of it is not Disney-fied in the slightest, certainly in terms of what many would consider Disney theming. Fantastic levels of service, care and attention do pervade across property however.

Our favourite hotels, of the ones we've stayed at, are the Beach Club, Wilderness Lodge and OKW. There is very little Disneyfication (I've just made that word up) across those resorts.

The range of restaurants is so vast, both in the parks, at Disney Springs, and in the resorts themselves that we rarely feel the need to leave property. We also tend not to have a car for much of our stay at WDW - we use Disney transport and Ubers to get around - we like to have a few drinks.

We've been fortunate enough to have visited quite a few times so we mix things up a bit. Last time that was a house down in Port St Lucie for 10 days, before 4 or 5 days at the Royal Pacific. We then intended to head down to the Gulf Coast for our final week but had a change of heart booking Beach Club on our last night at Universal, so checking in to the Beach Club the very next day.

As much as the house in PSL was great and our time at Universal was also, it did genuinely feel like arriving home when we got to the Beach Club.
Being able to walk to Epcot in less than 5 minutes is fantastic.
Being able to get "home" less than 10 minutes after Illumination was fab. Being able to take a break from the parks to chill in the pool before heading back out in the evening was great.
Taking a quick Uber to our favouritest restaurant California Grill for dinner was bliss.

"The Disney bubble" gives us so much that we love, I almost certainly wouldn't visit Orlando without it.

Next year we have 10 nights booked in a 1-bed at OKW and then intend to get a house on the Gulf Coast for the following 11 nights. With 14-day Disney tickets in-hand though, I am fully expecting us to end up staying another 3 or 4 days at WDW before heading off elsewhere!
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Old 3 Nov 18, 11:19 AM  
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#36
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Originally Posted by Bozza View Post
I disagree with almost every word you've written but, as above, we all like different things.

"The Disney bubble" is so vast and much of it is not Disney-fied in the slightest, certainly in terms of what many would consider Disney theming. Fantastic levels of service, care and attention do pervade across property however.

Our favourite hotels, of the ones we've stayed at, are the Beach Club, Wilderness Lodge and OKW. There is very little Disneyfication (I've just made that word up) across those resorts.

The range of restaurants is so vast, both in the parks, at Disney Springs, and in the resorts themselves that we rarely feel the need to leave property. We also tend not to have a car for much of our stay at WDW - we use Disney transport and Ubers to get around - we like to have a few drinks.

We've been fortunate enough to have visited quite a few times so we mix things up a bit. Last time that was a house down in Port St Lucie for 10 days, before 4 or 5 days at the Royal Pacific. We then intended to head down to the Gulf Coast for our final week but had a change of heart booking Beach Club on our last night at Universal, so checking in to the Beach Club the very next day.

As much as the house in PSL was great and our time at Universal was also, it did genuinely feel like arriving home when we got to the Beach Club.
Being able to walk to Epcot in less than 5 minutes is fantastic.
Being able to get "home" less than 10 minutes after Illumination was fab. Being able to take a break from the parks to chill in the pool before heading back out in the evening was great.
Taking a quick Uber to our favouritest restaurant California Grill for dinner was bliss.

"The Disney bubble" gives us so much that we love, I almost certainly wouldn't visit Orlando without it.

Next year we have 10 nights booked in a 1-bed at OKW and then intend to get a house on the Gulf Coast for the following 11 nights. With 14-day Disney tickets in-hand though, I am fully expecting us to end up staying another 3 or 4 days at WDW before heading off elsewhere!
I can see that lots of people like the Disney bubble but even if I wanted to there is no way I could afford Disney hotel anyways.

I’ve paid £3948 for virgin direct flights with v room,hotel including breakfast and car hire. Will cost me $225 in parking.

If I go with Disney then it’s £4782 for virgin flights and all star hotel.
Would be another £80 for v room. No idea what it would cost to travel to I drive for wonderworks/icon that we want to do.

Used Disney buses years ago and I didn’t find them brilliant.

So it would mean that I pay an extra £500ish to stay at Disney hotel with no car will mean I am stuck. Yes I will be able to go to the lovely Disney restaurant but they aren’t exactly cheap.

So for me apart from the price I would feel stuck.

Like what would I do on my rest days if I was in a Disney hotel ? Ok so the Disney hotel is better than mine at I drive and it’s got a better pool so I’d be in that but if I had no car and was trying to keep to a budget what else would I do in a Disney resort?
For some it’s great but I just don’t know what we would do with ourselves. Don’t want to be in a park every day. Two days max then a day off and with two under 5 going then it’s not like I can just lounge all day like I would if they weren’t here. And I don’t think they will stay in the pool for a long time. We are just back from a break away in uk and it was an indoor pool we managed 45mins each time.
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Old 3 Nov 18, 12:18 PM  
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this disney bubble thing is laughable

you can leave disney if you are staying onsite, hire a car, Lyft, Uber, A Taxi

we love OKW and its the least in your face disney resort imho, but if you need that disney service, it springs into action

we stayed at AKV kidani a trip ago, now we were closer to MK in our off-site marriott vactaion club resort than at AKV
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Old 3 Nov 18, 01:03 PM  
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#38
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We always stay onsite, were lucky enough to buy into DVC many years ago when the £ was still strong and points costs were sensible, so that's given us years of amazing holidays in WDW for a much lesser outlay.

We've also stayed in villas for all or part of our last 2 trips and whilst we loved the villas, it's just not the same, for us it's all about being onsite, being able to walk to parks / use the boat or bus transport, the Disney service & quality, very little compares to it imo.

We always have a car for at least part of our trip so we can travel off site (we do spend probably more time in Universal parks) for other parks and to eat offsite, we'll often spend a day in a WDW park then go offsite for lunch or dinner, then back to a park later maybe, we find we have far more time and flexibility than we find in a villa, especially if in an Epcot or MK resort so transfer time is minimal.
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Old 3 Nov 18, 11:37 PM  
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#39
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I stayed in hotels- not Disney- on two trips (many ) years ago, pre-kids. Since we've had kids we've had 3 villa trips and our next trip is in a villa too. I like various aspects of a villa holiday but the real deciding factor is that our youngest child cannot eat solid food (he is disabled) so we need facilities to cook and puree food for him. We also take hot pureed meals on days out in a flask. We'd love to experience the Disney bubble but, for the reasons above, a hotel room wouldn't work for us and I suspect an onsite villa would be out of our budget.. I've never actually checked the prices but expect they'd be waaay more than offsite. I can totally understand the appeal though (although, and I hope this doesn't make me sound too tragic, I love the ability to keep on top of laundrty).
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Old 4 Nov 18, 11:34 AM  
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#40
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I know that it’s not a popular opinion on here but I have to agree with the op about the “trapped in the Disney bubble” feeling! Our very first holiday to Orlando (back in 1998) was spent onsite and this is exactly how we felt - so much so that it took 7 years to get DH to even consider a return visit and then only on the condition that we stayed offsite.

We are non drivers in the US (DH by choice and me because I can’t drive) and I think that this exacerbated the situation. We also did very little planning (pre-Dibb) and arrived with just WDW tickets, purchased as part of an extortionately priced package through a travel agent, naively assuming that we’d be easily able to buy tickets for other attractions and get advice on transport once we were there. We found the staff at WDW (understandably) reluctant to help! With no independent transport and no one to ask we were literally trapped within WDW for the entire holiday.

We also felt that the food was very over priced for what it was and had no option to eat off site.

I have learnt from my mistakes and if I was embarking on this trip now I would be much better prepared but despite several years of reading trip reports I have seen nothing that would inspire me to repeat it. Hard as it might be for some people to believe we genuinely prefer being based on I-Drive!

Edited at 11:36 AM.
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