Disney World Questions
 

My husband and I are planning to take our children and grandchildren to Disney World November 9 thru 15. Everyone wants to stay off site so that we can all be together during the evening hours. Staying on-site appears to be about double the price we have on renting a house.

Questions: Without purchasing the park hopper pass, can you enter one park, leave the park during the day and return to the same park a couple of hours later? For example, to go home and rest or eat lunch then return.

Are you allowed to carry in drinks and snacks to the parks? We have two diabetics and will need crackers and such. Also, need snacks for the grandchildren. Buying snacks at the parks will be too expensive.

Is Nov 9 - 15 a fairly good time to visit? The calendar on the WDW site lissted this as one of the best weeks.

Yes, a park pass is good for the whole day so you can come and go to the same park on the same day.

Snacks and drinks are allowed. However, no glass bottles and no alcohol. I was there over Christmas break and other guests in line openly brought food in with them. Gate security examines all bags but they don't care if food is brought in.

They say no time is really a down time in DW anymore. However, I think your timeframe is prolly one of the better ones.

Have a magical trip - enjoy-la!

Officially it is actually not allowed to bring in any outside food, but as is often the case with Disney, what they say and what they do are two different things. Actual operational policy does seem to be "no glass, no coolers", but I would check Disboards, Mousesavers, etc. for any updates. I have a theory that they publish policies that they don't actually enforce (this is only one) so that they have it in reserve if they feel a need.

I had to empty a glass bottle and leave it with the front.

http://www.mousesavers.com is an awesome website about all sorts of great tips!

Hi- we have been to DisneyWorld about 6 times with our children and grandchildren. The times that we stayed on-site were definitely better. If some of the family needed some downtime it was much easier to head back to the hotel for a couple of hours and then meet up with everyone. Check out the prices on all the hotels - November(before thanksgiving break) should offer some deals.

Some onsite resorts (Saratoga Springs)have two and three bedroom villas with kitchens and laundry facilities. And the Wilderness Lodge has cabins.

Off site will be less expensive, but it can be quite a bit farther to get back and forth from WDW.

Your dates should not be too crowded. My best tip is to get to the parks before they open. And if you are staying offsite, do not go to the extra morning hour park for Onsite guests. It will already be crowded when you get there.

Happy planning! And have a great weekend!

I forgot, we were there two weeks ago and we brought in food and drinks. Just what I had in my back pack.

That is a great time to go to WDW. Since we do not have kids, during weeks like that - before holidays/school recesses. Your wait time will be minimal.

I agree with the other poster, if you can afford to sty on site, I would recommend you do so. People think driving off WDW property to a rented house is a short drive...it is not. Keep in mind you also have to park the car(s) then get to the actual park. You will be losing tons of time going back and forth for lunch, it is also exhausting. By the time you get to your park of choice, you will be leaving to get to your car, drive to your house, eat lunch, rest then drive back, find another space to park then walk all the way back into the park?? It is not as simple as go home, rest, eat lunch and return. The transportation system in WDW is excellent from the resorts to the parks. You will be getting tons more WDW time. Also you will not need a car, Magical express will take you from the airport to your resort and back again. Once you are at WDW, you do not need a car, so that will save money if you plan on renting, plus you will not have to pay for parking.

You are allowed to bring back packs into the parks, but they are a real pain when you want to go on a ride. There are plenty of inexpensive food choices in the parks/resorts so you don;t have to schlep a ton of stuff to the parks and haul it around for hours....that gets tiring.

If you go to www.mousesavers.com you can get resort codes which will save you a lot of money on your resort. Also for great info go here www.disboards.com There is a "budget board" which people exchange money saving ideas.

I took a medium backpack a couple years ago and had no trouble taking it on any of the rides at WDW, including the roller coasters and the water rides. Space Mountain was the only ride where I really had to squeeze the thing to get it in the car with me.

Check the park hours for the days you plan to visit, the hours vary widely among the parks. If Animal Kingdom closes at 5pm, I doubt you'd be able to leave, return to your off-site hotel, and come back before closing.

That's a good time of year to go. Excellent.

Staying off site will be harder on the people (diabetics) that need to eat exact times, and all kinds of other logistics than staying onsite, IMHO.

There are all kinds of deals on mousesavers and other combos, that would put you into housing en group, on site and now just the ones that are commonly listed.

ALso, by staying off site, you will miss out on Extra Magic Hours, which are for resort guests only. Since you are not doing park hoppers, you will be missing out on 3 extra hours of park time, in addition to the commuting time.

You should check out the Swan and Dolphin. They are on Disney property and have all the advantages of WDW resorts.

You will have an easier time being together if you stay onsite. Not everyone will want to leave during the day for lunch or rest. The parades and fireworks in the evenings may also cause some to want to stay at the parks in the evenings. You will consume a lot of time getting back and forth if you stay offsite.

I am a huge WDW fan. My family has been going there from Maine at least once a year for 6 years now. I love the place. However, I think the Disney transportation, (except the monorail) is a pain in the ***. Especially if you are leaving the parks at closing time. You could knit a sweater waiting for a bus leaving Disney Studios after Fantasmic. 10 or 20 years ago, the buses were fun. This is not true anymore. In most cases, taking your own car, and using the trams to get from your car to the gate, beats dealing with the buses

Also, even though we usually stay at the Polynesian, I have learned to avoid the parks with the alleged "Extra Magic" hours. They are usually the most crowded park for that day. There are so many onsite rooms, that the park usually fills up pretty quickly during your extra magic time. And they don't walk around dragging offsite people out of the park that is open late. The reason I stay at the Poly is that I like it. The monorail resorts do make it easier to get to 2 of the parks. But I just like the view and feeling at the Poly. It is sort of expensive though. I can usually find a very conveniently located 2 BEdroom-2 bathroom condo for less that the cost of one room at the Poly.

Yes you can re-enter the same park on the same day. Park hoppers are alot of extra money. We found that most of the time, we didn't use that feature. I have stopped buying it. You'll be there long enough to have one day for each of the parks. Think about buying the pluses instead.

Alot of people advocate a midday break and leaving the park. Even when our kids were little, we found that pacing yourself through the day worked better for us. Leaving the park, and coming back does take a lot of time and effort. If we are there for more than 4 days though, we take a "down-day' in the middle of the trip. We don't neccessarily take the whole day off. We just sleep late, and get a slow start.

That should be a great time to visit. Crowds are lighter, and usually the temps are comfortable.

Get to the parks at opening. THe best hour of the day is the first one. Make reservations for sit down meals as soon as you can. The onsite restaurants can be impossible to get into, even at the slower times. You can call 407-WDW-DINE 180 days before the date you want. You'll have a great time.

I think making a wide sweep statement upon the entire WDW bus system is your opinion, but not very accurate.

Different places within the system have excellent accessment and others don't.

For instance everything you said about waiting and timespan is absolutely true for Animal Kingdom Lodge, but it is not true for any of the hotels or lodgings behind EPCOT, like Yacht Club and Boardwalk locations. In fact, there are 2 or 3 ways to access from there, by boat, etc. as well.

I have done it with group off and in WDW and there is just no comparison. Way too much of the day and contention occurs with going up and back at differing persons rates. If you are en group, even for part of the day, you are virtually and realistically only going at the pace of the slowest member or shortest window of time person's schedule.

There are huge trailers and other group living arrangements in Disney Institute, or changing all the time opportunities for much cheaper than posted apartment living IN Disney, if you want a deal. One is near the Wilderness and Whoopdido Review area. They are priced less than the Dixie Landings or Carib. Beach level too, I think. Or they were.

But do not assume at all that outside lodging will be cheaper, just because it seems so with a quote. You can get mousesaver deals with the ticket combos and group pricing that will make a one condo or one trailer place within Disney more than comparable.

Since they are going "off peak" the parks will not be as crowded, however it is very improtant to know the park hours. The parks close much earlier at this time than the high peak time of year. I would think that this family would lose at least 3 hours in the middle of the day (leaving the park, getting to the car, driving off property, eating & resting at home, driving back, finding another parking spot and getting back to the park).

Since they are chosing not to do park hoppers, and stay off site, and going during the time of year when parks close early, they are really limiting their time at WDW.

The transportation system at WDW can be inconvenient at busy times of the year due to larger crowds, but they are going at a slow time and it should be fine.

like the above posters said, do some research, go to www.mousesavers.com and get prices with codes. It's a matter of penny wise and pound foolish. After 50 trips to WDW, I have found 1 thing to be true time = money at WDW. There are so many things you will want to see and a lot of ground to cover, 5 days will not be enough time for you. At least consider doing park hoppers.

My wide sweep statement upon the entire WDW bus system can be true even if you are at one of the WDW resorts with better bus access. One of my more inconvenient times with the WDW buses came when I was going from one of the parks to Downtown Disney. A 50 minute wait in between Disney buses caused us to be 15 minutes late for Cirque Du Soleil. However, there are plenty of people who love the buses.

Also, Disney will usually guarantee connecting rooms so you would still be together at back at the room if you choose to stay at a WDW resort. If you think you may want to stay at WDW, book your rooms now. If you find a discount code later on, they will apply it to your reservation. AAA discounts should already be available for that time. If they come up with good enough annual passholder discounts, it can be worth buying one AP to book the rooms. The reservations can be cancelled later on if you decide against WDW. Disney resorts often fill up, even at slower times.

You've gotten some great input and advice about staying on-site vs. off-site. We've done both, so I'll try to fairly summarize the pros and cons of each.

- How old are the grandchildren ?
- Will you take a mid-day break ?
- Will you go back to the parks after the break ?
- Do you travel 'as a pack' or individually ?
- Will you have 1 car for all or separate vehicles ?
- Do you want to rent a car ?

Here are my thoughts:

We've stayed offsite in the past and *loved* it ! For those that say it adds tremendous time to your trip, that is correct and incorrect. We have stayed near the 'back entrance' of Disney near AK. We've been there in less time than if we were at the other end of the property. For MK, yes, it took longer... If you get lucky with the buses, you are golden! If you don't, you may wait for a very long time. With a car, you control your own destiny. Even when we stayed on-site, we rented a car so we weren't reliant upon transportation (and I've heard great stories and horror stories, so they both exist).

We had little ones and would leave the parks around 1ish and head back to our house. We would swim in the nice heated pool that was attached :) and then feed the kids and put them to bed. (7:30). We would then get takeout for adult dinner. However, that is our kids schedule and I don't like to deviate too much while on vacation (they are MORE tired and need the sleep even more!). We've typically gone in February and while we could swim in our heated pool, the resort pools were simply too cold (and took too long to get kids from pool to dry clothes, whereas at our house, they could be in a hot bath w/in seconds).

I recommend tourguidemike.com. It is a paid website (about $20) and we use it instead of a book. Don't bother with the personalized stuff, but go directly to the 'sample park tours'. His advice is well worth the $20! Even though it is a less busy time, there still will be crowds.

I agree with the PP about avoiding EMH parks. Even if you stay on-site, they just get too crowded.

If you like to eat all meals in restaurants, then on-site may work better. We liked the flexibility of getting basic meals in our house. Also added some 'consistency' to our vacation by knowing the kids ate well (and not always chicken fingers).

Now, when we stayed on-site, we stayed at the Contemporary - and had a view of MK. While we loved seeing the park, it was a bit crowded for the family. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of going to bed at 8pm. We did stay up a few nights and watch the fireworks from our balcony as a treat! We also loved being able to walk to MK in the morning - once again, we felt like we controlled our own destiny (do you sense a theme here ?)

check out the disboards.com and go to 'Orlando hotels'. There will be postings of specific houses that people have rented.

Don't overdo it ! It will always be there ... and you can come back. We've always believed that we'd rather leave wanting more and wanting to come back than be miserable and resentful that we pushed too hard.

there. did I say enough ?!?

I just had another thought if you do decide to stay offsite. You do not have to completely leave WDW to take a break. If you are at MK or Epcot, you could take the monorail to one of the resorts and have a late lunch (Kona Cafe) and just relax at the resort for awhile. They have sofas and quiet corners in the lobby to have coffee and relax. Or maybe go to Animal Kingdom resort and have lunch and relax there. Just an idea.

I would at least make your ADR for at least one sit down meal a day.

Also, just so you have an idea about park hours this should be pretty close: MK 9-7(8?) AK 9-5 MGM (now Hollywood Studios) 9-7 Epcot 9-9

Happy planning! Have a great week!

Luv2plan, that is a great idea. You could also go to Captain Cooks at the Poly. That is their take out type restaurant. Take your food out to the sandy area next to the lake. You have a view of Cinderellas castle. The kids can play in the sand and the adults can relax in the beach chairs. As Disney goes, its also fairly inexpensive.

This is travelwish. I am so sorry that I have not responded to the great responses but I could not get in to post a reply. I finally had to register again under a new name.


There will be 8 adults and 5 children (ages 3 thru 12) going to Disney World. I am the only one that wanted to stay at the park. All the rest want the rental house. They want to take a day off from the parks and just hang out at the house and enjoy the pool, play cards and simply spend time together as a family.

I really appreciate the time you all took to respond and knowing we can take some drinks and snacks in and leave and re-enter the same park during a day really helps.

Now I just have to wait for November to get here. I am getting excited and I am a 58 year woman. The grandkids overheard their parents talking about it and they are on pins and needles. Hopefully they will not drive us all nuts with "how much longer before we go to Disney?"