Offsite: what am I in for?

[LisaP]

We are staying offsite at the Marriott Grande Vista (vac club resort), and will be renting a car.

First visit offsite with a rental car. Uggghhhh. I'm not even sure how far out this Marriott is ... so I'm wondering how much TIME it will take to get to the parks, traffic, etc ...

If anyone can offer some insight (and maybe encouragement lol) I'd surely appreciate it :hug:

[mgmnut]

Your Resort is North of WDW, close to Sea World. You are looking at 13 miles or a 15 to 20 min drive to WDW. Staying offsite has it's Pros and Cons just like staying on site. We did offsite a few trips back, 10 of us rented a 4 BR house. This was one of the best trips to date. The Grand Vista looks like a very nice Resort. With the rental car you get to come and go as you please with no need to wait for a bus.

Have a great trip :thumbsup:

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

You will be fine, and will have a great trip.

Although we prefer to stay on-site, we have done off-site trips and had just as great a time. You do need to plan for a bit more travel time, but it really wasn't a problem in the least.

We also found on our off-site trips that we explored other places as well, not just Disney, which was a lot of fun.

So, don't worry at all, and enjoy :thumbsup:

[NJGIRL]

We stay offsite the majority of the ten days that we are in FL. We like it better. First it is cheaper for us, even with a rental car. Driving to Disney is so easy. There are signs everywhere and it's hard to get lost. We have sooooooooo much more room for our money than in a Disney hotel. Everyone is not on top of each other and relaxing is so much easier. Not everyone has to go to bed or get up at the same time. We have two bathrooms so getting ready in the morning is quicker. We also have a kitchen, that saves us getting breakfast out and a washer & dryer , which lets us pack very light (saving luggage charges).

We have friends that stay on-site and we meet them everyday in the parks. We leave at the same time and we always get to the parks before them. A five minute ride from the parks in a car takes five minutes, in a Disney bus it takes??????

There are so many off property sites near the Disney gates. Our drive has never been more than ten minutes, but most times it has been less than five minutes.

One note: just because you stay off property doesn't mean you have to pay for parking. If anyone in your party has an annual pass, then parking is free.

I think that the Disney hotels have cool themes and for us it's fun to stay a few days, but after that we have enough and need our bigger accomodations. I don't feel we are missing any magic because of where we are sleeping that night.

It is really a personal choice, but I think it is important to let people know that if you don't stay on site that doesn't mean your vacation will be a hassle or a complete disaster.


****This was my reply from another thread. We do stay in a timeshare.
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[BrerSchultzy]

My biggest piece of advice for staying offsite is to try and arrive in the parking lot at least 30 minutes before the park opens. You'll get the up close parking spaces, and you beat a majority of the off-siters. Traffic is minimal at those times, both at the parking gates and at the ticket gates.

[andreallybadeggs]

Have posted many times that, while our preference is on property, we have had MANY off site visits that were truly great vacations. Focus on the positives:
a) If you've done Disney many times before but haven't seen other parts of Orlando you might enjoy that. Check out some O-town tourism sites before your arrival.
b) Stopping at a Publix or WalMart for snacks, drinks, breakfast items, sunscreen etc... at reasonable prices always makes me happy.
c) Not sure if you are staying in one of their villas but if so, looks like you may have washer/dryer in the unit. Doing a load of laundry without having to hike is a big plus.
d) More room to spread out if/when you need a little "me" time and space.
My 3 suggestions:
a) Unless you have park hoppers, make certain you avoid the Extra Magic Hours Park(s)
b) If you can, make an ADR for breakfast in one of the parks before opening time.
c) Plan on mid afternoon breaks for hot days. If not too far to drive, return to your resort. Otherwise, resort hop at WDW, have a cool drink in a nice lobby somewhere and people watch. We like the monorail resorts for our breaks but we've also just hopped on whatever bus came first.
Your resort looks lovely-- enjoy! :thumbsup:

[LisaP]

Thanks everyone for all the GREAT tips! My munchkins are early risers so we will be hitting the parks as early as possible. Will also do early breakfasts again.

We have been to Disney a few times with the kids in tow, so I am looking forward to checking out the other theme parks in the area.

Fav part for me will probably be the pit stop for necessities! Woo hoo! :cart:

[brivers222]

you will beat most traffic out and probably beat most people to their hotel rooms that stay on property...

It wasn't all that bad really... but i much prefer staying on site.


the two big issues is that you always see the BUCKLE UP sign each night you leave (depressing cause that usually means your trip is over lol) and the 2nd is that staying offsite i have found that the offsite hotels seem to have a lot less of the disney magic.

[micky95]

just got back from an off site trip and we had a wonderful time.we usually stay on site but we have AP's so to get the more trips for our money(we live 5.5 hrs away) we stayed on 192 in kissimee.with AP's we didnt have to pay 14.00 for parking each day.we got there early each day so parking wasnt bad but we did park hop so later in the day we were a little ways from the park entrances.later we decide which park we wanted to see last and parked at that one and took transportation to another ,then we would go back to the one we parked at .a little more effort but worth it. all the roads are well marked so driving each day was easy plus we have a map from one of our resort stays .it was the map they gave you to show where you were staying and where to park.on the back was a map of the entire disney world complex.they no longer print the back but its :mickey:easy to get around.

[Melanie]

We've stayed at the Marriott Grande Vista twice, and all in all, it's a nice resort. Travel time I'd estimate to be around 15-20 minutes to leaving hotel and getting situated in a parking lot at one of the parks.

When it comes down to it, EXCEPT for Magic Kingdom, I love having our car and find it much more convenient than dealing with the Disney transport. Just our opinion. Now MK can be a bit more time consuming because of having to park at the TTC, so add about 30 minutes on there.

There is a great Publix right down the road from the resort. We used it all the time! You are also close to the outlets.

[Mogie]

Noooooo! DON'T DO IT!

I mean if youre doing to save some money or to stay with friends/family or something i understand completely.

But if youre going for a Disney vacation, i think you'll be missing half the magic and half the fun. It's not all about the parks. Even getting behind the wheel of a car and driving around disney parking etc sounds awful.

[LisaP]

We've stayed at the Marriott Grande Vista twice, and all in all, it's a nice resort. Travel time I'd estimate to be around 15-20 minutes to leaving hotel and getting situated in a parking lot at one of the parks.

When it comes down to it, EXCEPT for Magic Kingdom, I love having our car and find it much more convenient than dealing with the Disney transport. Just our opinion. Now MK can be a bit more time consuming because of having to park at the TTC, so add about 30 minutes on there.

There is a great Publix right down the road from the resort. We used it all the time! You are also close to the outlets.

Thank you Melanie! This makes me feel better. And now I learned something new today ... did not know that I had to park at TTC for MK. Is there a parking fee at TTC as well? Thanks!

[LisaP]

Noooooo! DON'T DO IT!

I mean if youre doing to save some money or to stay with friends/family or something i understand completely.

But if youre going for a Disney vacation, i think you'll be missing half the magic and half the fun. It's not all about the parks. Even getting behind the wheel of a car and driving around disney parking etc sounds awful.

I know, I knowwwwwww ... normally I wouldn't even consider staying offsite. I truly believe in the Disney magic :pixie:

But our hotel stay is free. And DS5 has been begging to go to Sea World, which I wouldn't even consider when inside my Disney bubble :cool:

Believe me, DH doesn't know the half of it ... aside from being the designated driver wait til he is carrying two car seats along with our luggage to the car rental counter :blush:

I am sure this will be a one and done decision :D

[epceddie]

We've stayed off-site at a couple of hotels way past Seaworld and making that long drive late at night on International Drive can be tough at times. Especially when crowds of people are out and about. There are a lot of red lights to deal with and people are constantly trying to cross the street in front of you. You have to be on your toes when you're behind the wheel and that can be tough after a long, hard day in the parks.
All in all, we'd much rather stay onsite with the freedown that a rental car gives us.

[NJGIRL]

Even getting behind the wheel of a car and driving around disney parking etc sounds awful.


It's not. It's very easy and not stressful at all.

[NJGIRL]

he is carrying two car seats along with our luggage to the car rental counter :blush:

I am sure this will be a one and done decision :D

You might be surprised.


The elevators are located right near the baggage pick up area. You go down one floor and they open up to the rental car counters. He should not have a hard time since everything is right there. Plus there are carts at the baggage claim that can hold a ton of stuff if no one can help him.

[brivers222]

I love having my car down there onsite/offsite.... but alas i hate the 19 hours it takes to get there! And flying + rental car/gas is 10x more expensive than driving/gas.

So we fly and rely on disney to guide us around the world!