Why stay off-site?

[maizey05]

I've notice something lately. It seems that when you go to the WDW resort discussion board, everyone is raving about staying onsite. When I vist this thread, many say they are booking offsite hotels. It seems there is more buzz about offsite in DL than onsite. Why is that?

[2Epcot]

Unlike WDW which is spread out over a very large area ... The Disneyland resort takes up much less space. People stay onsite at WDW for two reasons. One, to stay surrounded by the WDW magic, and two, for the convienence of being close to the parks.

At Disneyland, many of the off-site hotels are within a short walking distance of Disneyland, so you can do that without paying the expense of staying onsite. Of course there are three great onsite hotels, if you do want to stay at a Disney hotel. Since many of the non-Disney hotels are so close, you don't sacrafice as much staying off-site at Disneyland, as you do WDW.

[NotaGeek]

The onsite Disney hotels are wonderful, but with a price tag that starts at $159 a night (Paradise Pier Hotel mid-week off season), they are priced out of many people budget. Off site hotels are many times closer to the front gates of Disneyland and it's not unheard of to find GREAT deals starting at $79 per night including Breakfast (Best Western Park Place Inn and Ramada Inn Anaheim Maingate!) ... but the theming doesn't have the Disney Magic!

There are LOTS of hotels on Harbor Drive right by the Entrance to Disneyland, so there's a lot to choose from for the frugal Park Guest!

[Dakota Rose]

Not only are the off-site hotels less expensive, making them an attractive alternative for many visitors, but a lot of folks who visit DLR are also visiting other attractions in the area. So this kind of makes the off-site hotels a little more convenient. Plus they are often next door to regular franchise restaurants which are obviously less expensive than DLR restaurants. And, the biggest factor in my book is that since the monorail stop is no longer at a DLR hotel, the walk is just as far from an on-property hotel as an off. Of course that statement excludes the Grand Californian.