Staying off-site for more time in the Magic (plus can bring the dog?)?

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Trying to decide between getting an airbnb vs staying on-site. If I got an airbnb, I could bring my dog with me on the trip. I could also afford to go longer. As of right now, I have Deluxe accommodations booked (WL and AKL) for 8 days. If I do an airbnb, I could go for 15 days, rent a car for the entire time, as well as board my dog daily for my time spent at the parks for less than the cost of staying on-site ($1000+ less actually!). I have an AP so I won't have to pay to park at the parks either.

I've never stayed off-site before, and while I LOVE staying "in" the magic, it would be really nice to go for that long and actually "save" money, plus it would kind of feel like I was living like a local for a little while, which would be a fun change! Also, the airbnb I'm looking at is less than 3 miles from WDW (it's right next to Celebration).

Tell me... will I miss out on being in the magic? Or do you think the perks of staying off site (getting to go longer, getting to bring my dog, saving $1000 even though I'd get to go twice as long, etc) make up for it? I think I'm just needing a nudge in either direction right now. :secret::mickey:

[Arielfan98]

I've never stayed offsite, but it does sound like you would have nice time if you did so. Also by the looks of it, you've had plenty of Disney experience, so it's not like you'd be completely missing out on something since you've done it before. It really depends on staying in a Disney room is more valuable to you. My family always goes when free dining is offered, so for us it would never make sense to stay off-site.
You could also look into other options like seeing if you could stay at a more affordable Disney hotel like the All Stars or look into finding cheaper dog care such as a neighbor. I've had other neighbors ask me to dog-sit for them and they paid us a fair amount (but way less than at an actual dog boarding place) to come to their house and play, feed, and walk the dogs. My family has done the same and paid a neighborhood girl $10 per day to walk, feed and play with our pup 2x a day.

[1DisneyNut]

Go for it! We stay offsite more than we stay on lately. We found that we can get excellent accommodations offsite for a fraction of the cost of onsite. We also found that we can typically drive in, park and get to the gate in less time than we typically waited for and rode on a bus at most resorts. I have never used airbnb, but we use Homeaway/VRBO for various vacations and there are also a plethora of excellent resorts and hotels within a few miles of WDW to choose from.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

For me, it's not really a financial thing about the dog, but more that if I go 8 days I'd be cool with leaving him at home with someone, but any more than that, I'd want to bring him. So I thought going for a longer trip and staying off-site would be mainly appealing to me because I could bring him and put him in the care of the on-site Best Friends facility there, yet have him with me any time I'm not at the Parks. :blush: