But last November, the opportunity arose for us to take an unplanned (and therefore un-budgeted for) trip to Orlando, including a couple days at Disney World. But we would rent a condo and share it with friends to keep the cost of the trip down as much as possible. I was a little nervous. I’ve gotten a bit spoiled by all the ways Disney makes your trip so magical when you stay at one of their hotels! But, who would ever turn down a trip to Disney?!? Certainly not me! It was a far different experience than our previous trips, but it was still magical and we surely don’t regret it. Here are my pros and cons to staying “off property” in the Orlando area.
Pro: It is so much cheaper! Just doing a quick run of the numbers for you for 2019 prices. There were ten of us, so we would need two rooms at a moderate hotel to fit ten people and it was Thanksgiving week. To stay at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort for seven nights in two rooms would cost $4,800 the week of Thanksgiving. And that is just two rooms. Four queen sized beds, two bathrooms, and two fold down beds for smaller people. On the flip side, renting a condo in the Orlando area is affordable. In fact, the very condo we rented last year is available in 2019 for $1,100 for seven nights the week of Thanksgiving. That is enough space for ten people, plus a full kitchen, a living room, three bathrooms, a washer and dryer, and access to a community center.
Pro: And that brings me to the next pro, which is that staying off property is almost always a better bet for larger groups. Our condo had two bedrooms with queen sized beds, two bedrooms with two twin beds, a fold out sofa bed in the living room, and a futon in the “game room”, which was really an open area at the top of the stairs. People could get up and go to sleep on their own schedules without really disturbing anyone else. That is for sure not the case when ten people are crammed into two hotel rooms!
Con: TRAFFIC! When you stay on Disney property, you never have to drive yourself anywhere. There is a way to get from every place to every other place. Sometimes that involved taking a bus and a monorail, or a boat and then a bus. But you don’t have to drive yourself around and deal with traffic on Disney property. But when you stay off property, you have to deal with traffic–not just Disney traffic, but Orlando traffic. Our rental house was practically within sight of the gate to Disney World but it took us well over half an hour each day to get on property and to the correct park. And then we had to find a parking spot, get all of our stuff and hike all the way to the park entrance–and at Magic Kingdom this is a LONG hike! On the other hand, if you stay at a Disney hotel and are headed to Magic Kingdom, you either take the monorail (from certain hotels), or a Disney bus (from most hotels) and they both drop you off practically in the park. This was the biggest con for us all week.
Pro: Having a kitchen means you don’t have to eat out every meal. Personally, I get horrible stomachaches if I eat too much take out food, or Disney food, etc. Having a kitchen makes a world of difference because I could eat plenty of fruit and yogurt and other things that are gentle on my tummy! It’s also a lot cheaper than eating all your meals on Disney property. And if you have food allergies, well, having a kitchen of your own is huge for the peace of mind alone!
Con: The parking lot at Magic Kingdom is unlike anything you’ve likely experienced anywhere in the world. I already mentioned how easy it is to access the parks from Disney transportation. But if you drive yourself to Magic Kingdom (and you’ll have to if you aren’t staying on property!), you will park in the biggest parking lot in the world. That may be an exaggeration but it doesn’t feel like one. Then you have to walk and walk and walk. Listen, we did an early morning special event so we arrived 2.5 hours before the park opened to the general public. We parked in the FIRST ROW of the parking lot at Magic Kingdom. And it was still a HIKE to the next part of the journey. Because when your hike is over, you next have to decide if you’d like to wait for the monorail or wait for the ferry. Then take either one of those across the lake and then walk up to the park entrance. And in the morning, that is OK. Because you are rested and excited for your day. But at 11pm, when you are exhausted, the fireworks have wrecked you emotionally (just me?), and your feet feel like they very well might fall off, you have to do that all backwards. Walk to the monorail. Wait in line for up to an hour. Get off the monorail and either decide to hike back to your car (which we did since we were in the first row) or wait in line AGAIN for a tram to take you to the rough area where your car is parked. Holy moly, I literally had tears pouring down my face at that point of our day. Granted, it was our third straight park day and my feet had had ENOUGH. But I have never felt so hopeless as I did trying to get back to the car that night! HUGE CON! And did I mention that since you aren’t staying at a Disney hotel, you are paying somewhere around $20 for this horrible experience?!?!?
Pro: You don’t feel committed to JUST doing Disney. When you stay on Disney property, you are pretty locked in. Especially if you don’t rent a car, and fully rely on Disney transportation. Short of Uber, Disney owns you. Since we stayed off property, we felt we had far more flexibility, and so we also visited Legoland and Kennedy Space Center. It was incredible to try new things while we were down there.
Con: You can’t take midday breaks. Well, I mean, you CAN. Be my guest. But keep in mind what I said about the Magic Kingdom parking lot. We were parked in the FIRST ROW and it was that much of an ordeal to get back to the car. You know what would happen if we left to go back to the condo? We’d lose that front row spot and end up much, MUCH further back. Not to mention how much time it would take just to get back to the car to then drive through Orlando traffic to get to the condo and then turn around and go back. NOPE. Not happening. And quite frankly, that was the one aspect of our off property experience that made me really not want to do it again. We like our midday naps, swimming, and rest in the air conditioning! Staying in the park from open to close was brutal (granted, we did go 2.5 hours early to attend Early Morning Magic, which you can read about here).
Pro: You can pack lighter. When we fly to Orlando and stay on Disney property, I pack obsessively. I bring everything possible for every situation. But when we stayed off property, we were about half a mile from Walmart. And we stopped there three times in a week to pick up items we needed! I didn’t have to worry so much about packing everything because I knew I could get things at a reasonable price. For example, I normally would pack three kinds of stomach medicine for every possible tummy issue (Tums, Immodium, Gas-X) but since we were so close to Walmart, I just brought some Tums and we could hit Walmart if there was an emergency (and there was. There always is!).
So which is the better choice, on property or off? Really, it’s up to you. There are good and bad for both. Your travel party size, your needs, and your plans will factor into the right decision for you. Just know that you can still absolutely have a magical time at Walt Disney World if you stay off property–as long as you know what to expect while you are there!
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