Disney World - Do You REALLY Need to Stay on Property?

I was just at Disney a little over a week ago with my family(20 people) and we rented two 5 bedroom houses with all the amenities and it was great. It was the best thing we could've done. It felt so much more comfortable than being in a hotel room and much more affordable than staying at Disney(we looked into it also). We would eat breakfast and dinners at the house so it saved us so much money. And when we had down time we would get in the pool at the house. So as you can see my vote is for the condo.

I would stay in the condo. When we would come for vacation we had always rented homes here it was more relaxing then staying in the Disney hotels.

Plus there is lots of other stuff to do in this area.

One of the things you'll need to consider is driving time and parking costs.

I think if you have access to a really nice condo, then take advantage of it.

I have done it both ways and prefer to stay on the property. Since this is
your first time I would definitely stay on property. The Value hotels (Pop
Century my favorite) are a great price, especially in October. The condo sounds nice but I just keep thinking drive to park, park car, get on tram
to entrance. You did not say how old your kids are, but if they get
tired in the afternoon, reverse getting back to condo. We actually used the
dining plan in the past (it was free if you stayed on property). You cannot
beat it. Even if you have to buy the dining plan I feel it is a good deal.
Some folks say make sandwiches, bring drinks, cart around cooler. When
I am on vacation, I am on VACATION. You did not mention how old the kids
are and how long you would be there. So enjoy your visit. My husband and I are the biggest Disney people. Love it there. If you have any questions,
PM me.

I'd vote to stay at the condo, too! It's so close that you'd have the best of both worlds. I just returned from Disney (was staying about 15 minutes away) and had a wonderful time. Hope that you have a blast!

How old are your kids? In my opinion the only time it's better to shell out for a disney property is if you have really little kids and expect to have to leave and come back throughout the day to accommodate naps, diaper blowouts, meltdowns, etc.
Condos are more spacious and feel more relaxed. Plus you can save big $ on not having to eat out every meal.

Personally, I would rather stay at a condo like you've mentioned. I found the food at Disney world to be very repetitive (i.e. all the restaurants pretty much serve the same thing) and it's really hard to eat healthy there...all the food is high fat and their salads are really lame. I even wrote them to complain about the low quality food there. The only thing about staying off-site is you'll have to pack a cooler because you won't be able to go back to your room during the day...but that's not a big deal.

We have taken our kids to Disney several times, and we always stay on property, and we are always tightly budgeted for the whole thing. That's actually WHY we stay on property.
When you stay on proprty, you get a Key to the World card, and that card allows you access to each and every resort in the entire "kingdom". This may not seem like a big deal, but it really is. With this access, we can stay at the value resorts and "visit" the high end resorts any time we want. Some of the fancy ones can takes hours to walk the grounds, visit the pool (Although you aren't technically supposed to swim at the other resorts' pools, the only one that actually checks your room assignment is the pool at the Beach and Yacht clubs.) They have walking access to the parks (some), and some have FANTASTIC viewing spots for the fireworks at the parks. One of our favorite things to do is pack a picnic lunch, take it over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, walk around the safari animals, picnic out there in the shade, and then swim for the afternoon! It's wonderful! We have also stayed at the Yacht Club, and were able to take a 5 minute stroll along the Boardwalk and view Epcot's fireworks show from the bridge over the lake. It was beautiful! You can't really get on property easily if you aren't staying on property. Parking is free at all resorts and parks if you stay on property too.
There's also a little know character meet that's FREE! If you go to the Wilderness Camp grounds, and take a quick bus trip (inside the camp grounds, that's how they travel in there), and there's a free campfire singalong and movie every night and Chip and Dale come out every night and greet every guest! Its really fun and laid back, and not all that corwded. We've done this twice, and both times was easy and fun, but would have been cumbersome and such if we were off-property and trying to just get on property for that.
Trust me, its worth it.

I've done both. While I am a Disney fanatic I prefer to stay off property right now. I have two very young kids and staying at a place that has seperate bedrooms, a kitchen, laundry is awesome and totally worth it to be off property. This way you can spread out and not be all on top of each other at a Disney hotel. The place we stay at also has several restaurants in case I don't want to cook. It's great to be able to get up in the morning and feed the kids right away and not have to shower, get dressed and everyone out the door to go find breakfast. When my kids get a bit older we will stay on property one year to have the full effect.

Definitely stay in the condo!!!!!

We are going in 3 weeks. It is our first time too. We opted to stay on property since we want to get the full affect of what Disney is all about.

We recently stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge which is pricey and it was very pretty but we still had to get on a bus! I thought we'd be able to walk to the Animal Kingdom but nope. So unless you're talking on property and can easily walk back or get on the monorail, I'm not sure the extra cost is worth it. I think it depends how much time you have too. If you're there awhile, off property seems fine to me. You don't need to spend 24/7 there. We were only at the park for 2 days so that was part of our decision. The parks were much further away from each other than I expected so it doesn't seem like any hotel will give you walking access to all the parks...

Hope you have a wonderful trip to WDW- your boys will have a blast. There are some pros and cons to staying on WDW property or getting an off property condo. Disney does have a timeshare program -Disney Vacation Club which has condo's on the Disney property. Some times some of the units are available to non-DVC members. There are only 3 hotels on the monorail lines: the Contemporary, The Polynesian, and the Grand Floridian and only the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT are on the monorail line. You would need to take bus transportation to the rest of the resorts and theme parks. Occasionally Disney has free dining plans with the price of the room.
If you stay off property you will need to pay for parking and drive. (sometimes in a very crowded area--bring your GPS with you. It is confusing to get around the area sometime. If you are getting reservations to eat within the park, you will need an admission ticket to the park. If you make a reservation at one of the hotels, you do not need to pay for park admission (unless you go into the park. If you have extra days you are not planning to go to the park then enjoying the amenities at the condo would be a good idea.

We've done it both ways.
It depends on what you want from your vacation.
When I go on vacation - I don't cook.
I like being waited on so I enjoy eating out.
Some other family members love to rent a place, but what kind of a vacation is it if you have to make the beds and do most of the things you do at home anyway?
Last time we went (and it's been awhile, we'll be going again sometime soon) we stayed on property (the Polynesian) and really loved it.
It's great if the kids get tired and you can come back to the room for a break/nap, then refresh and head back out again.
On site transportation is great, and so is not worrying about finding a spot in the parking lots (which are massive).
Next time we're going, we're staying on site.

We stayed on property because:
1) it was our first visit
2) with a family of 6, renting a mini van and parking costs each day did not make sense (we flew into orlando)
3) they were offering free dining when we went and that more than made up for the cost of the hotel

I don't regret it ONE bit. There is no way I would leave to have a meal and come back....too much hassle and time wasted.

If you decide to stay onsite, do your research (disboards.com) and find resort that have smaller lines to wait in, less stops to parks, that kind of thing so you are not wasting all the time waiting for a bus.

I think you should go with your condo idea. We didn't stay on the property and we were just fine!! There were lots of things to do, and it didn't take very long to get anywhere. And the dining plan food is disgusting, so I'd rather make my own, or go somewhere else. Sounds like you will have a more relaxing and fun trip if you do the condo.

I would say stay on property when we went once we got there we did not want to leave. It's so worth it. I have known people that stayed off and they didn't get the same experence as we did staying. You don't have to get the meal plan but for us it was great!!!! You need to figure out how much you will save. And if that amount is worth a little more travil and can be stress as well. Either way will have a blast!!

We've never stayed ON property, and have always had a great time. If there is a large cost differential, then I'd vote to stay at the cheaper locale. The costs savings will make you enjoy it more (if you're like me and can't afford to just blow a couple hundred for no reason). Sure it might be "nicER" on property, but not so much more so that it would be worth a huge additional expense.
In my opinion anyway.

For me, all Disney all the time for a week is more than I want.

stay off grounds. the last couple times we have went we rented a condo just off the grounds. so nice to leave the hustle and bustle at the end of the day. or in the middle to go and nap / swim etc and then back for the fireworks etc later in the evening.

It just depends on what you want, everybody is different.

We've been several times and we always stayed at the Polynesian. We would not consider another spot to stay because we love that place. We never did dining plans either. We prefer to do our own thing.

We never needed a car, we had a cab to/from airport, and it was just always a great relaxing time for us with no worries or driving to get somewhere, catching extra buses, etc. We were right there on the monorail line and the buses for parks out of the way were right there at our hotel for pick up. Easy peasy.

I am sure you will enjoy your trip, whatever choice you make! It is fun!

We went last year and stayed in a time-share condo a mile from WDW. We had a great time! We're going back this summer and will be staying at another off property time-share condo, this time with a splash park on site, so we won't have to do water parks. .

That being said, it depends on the experience you want to have.

For the three of us, having room to spread out and the ability to prepare our own food is worth the drive.

Also, we LIKED being able to get away from Disney and not feel like we had some RELAXING vacation time as well as Disney time.

My son does not do well with waiting (unavoidable at Disney of course) so driving ourselves too and from the airport and to the parks each day actually helps us enjoy the time more. Buying tickets through AAA gets free parking so that's a wash with staying on site.

HTH
T.

I would not stay anywhere else but on property-its just part of the magic if you ask me. Of course you will still have fun if you stay off and your kids will never know the difference.

we stayed off WDW and loved it and it gave us the chance to do seaworld and busch gardens- a 50 min drive to busch gardens but no lines and worth it

We took my older two 4 years ago and stayed on property. We are going back this October and are staying off property - to have our own pool, kitchen and some space to unwind in. Being cramped in a hotel room for a week is no fun!

October is a great time to go! Lines are shorter, weather is great and prices are more reasonable since it is off peak season!

Have a great time! :)

We have never stayed on. We stay at the Marriott World Resort about 5 minutes away. It's perfect.