Am I making a mistake ?

[Laughin' place]

I have been to DL 3 or 4 times, but not since 2001 or so. My darling new wife has never been.
I had planned a trip for this Nov, just before Thanksgiving. I wanted her to see the Small World and Haunted Mansion overlays; we were excited to see World of Color; and I really, really wanted to stay at the Disneyland Hotel before the Rainbow Falls and other old school details were gone.
Business has been slow, and Im thinking that the trip I had imagined isnt economically feasible right now. Needless to say, I am really down at the thought of scrubbing this trip.
Of course, DL will be there in the future, but there was so much about going this Nov that was important to me.
The one way I could salvage the trip would be to stay off property. I have never stayed off property in my many trips to WDW, and i consider it virtual heresy.
Should I wait til next fall, or bite the bullet and price an "off property" trip?
Your thoughts are appreciated.
Not what I had in mind for my 300th post:(

[jodijo]

I am so sorry to hear that you might have to scrub your trip. However, I understand where you are coming from.

Our last trip to DL we stayed off site and it was nothing like we dreamed it would be. Transportation from the hotel to DL and back was awful. We ended up walking far every time because the transportation we paid for never showed up. Although we were at a nice hotel, we only stayed one night instead of the planned 3. We were so disappointed and upset that we left early and drove home.

So, speaking from experience, I would save my money and go when you can take the trip you really want.

[NewDVCowner]

So many of the hotels offsite are just as close, if not closer, than the Disneyland hotels. If you really want to go this November I say to price out the offproperty hotels. There are several good ones within easy walking distance of the parks. You can easily walk to the Disney properties to take a look at them, too.

[EeyoresBestFriend]

I think it depends on what is most important for you when it comes to your wifes first impression of DL.

If you want it to be a truly magical impression of Disney immersion, I would say wait and go later.

If it is more just the being there together in the park, then explore the outside option.

IMHO, I would wait and save for it, but I have grown to like complete immersion away from the "real" world. :cloud9:

Good Luck! :mickey:

[frozman]

I'd certainly stay off site. Granted someone did say that they weren't happy with their off site trip, but that's probably based off of one hotel. For my previous trip to Disneyland (and the ones next month) I am actually in Orange County on business and am able to allow a couple extra days for DL, therefore my planning does NOT revolve around a room right by DL. With that said if you look at my sig I can tell you I paid about $80 a night at the hotel I stayed at in my last trip. Nice hotel, good sized rooms and about 2 miles from DL. They run a free shuttle to DL and back every hour. No stops, no transfers, no walking and it takes about 5 minutes each way. There's a lot of hotels like this so if you sit down and do your homework you'll have options abound. Let me note that the ART system (the bus system that exists mostly to serve many off site hotel guests use) isn't really as good in the off season, the busses run far less frequently (I don't think they run on a set schedule like OCTA) and some of them cover 2 routes, so you'd certainly have transportation issues there like someone else mentioned they had.
Also, line 43 of OCTA bus stops right in front of the park, and that's a frequent set schedule bus and I think it only costs $1.50. So you may look into a room on that line.

Bottom line, pick your favorite hotel brand, or one you trust and look into options based on what I said above, you can make this work.

[Disney4us2]

On the times we stayed overnight it was off site. The hotel was the Park Vue Inn, which is directly across the street from the DLR entrance on Harbor Blvd. They had reasonable rates and it was nice and clean. Doesn't have the Disney feel to it, but is a less expensive alternative. I have also stayed at the Tropicana, just a few hotels down from Park Vue Inn. It was nice, but I liked Park Vue better.

If you have your heart set on staying on site, I would just wait. Just to entice.... we were there last Saturday and Haunted Mansion Holiday was just fantastic;)

Good luck on your decision:mickey:

[Laughin' place]

Thanks to everyone for very thoughtful and helpful input. Still mulling...Ill post either way. Thanks again