How about some special offsite tips?

[Sher]

I'm leaving in 10 days and staying offsite for the first time. Does anyone have any tips that would be especially appropriate for those of us staying offsite? I'm thinking of travel to and from the parks, when to arrive at opening, parking, managing the crowds at park closing time etc.... We are staying at the Hampton Inn Maingate West the week before Easter. This is also our first time for a holiday visit. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Sher

 

[jmminarik]

Just some stream of consciousness thoughts from tips I've seen here and elsewhere:

Arrive 1 hour before official park opening.
If you reserved a package through AAA, check into a black diamond parking pass.
Bring 'disney' music to listen to in the car if you have a cd or cassette player in it.
Use a cooler and hotel ice to keep breakfast stuff cold...eat in room.
'Decorate' your room with your Disney souveniers...assuming you trust the housekeeping.

I don't have a park closing tip...other than don't be too envious of the people hoping on a boat right to their hotel.

Hope this helps,
Joe

 

[Sher]

C'mon guys, what should I know about having a great trip while staying offsite?

If I am going to one park in the morning and another in the afternoon should I drive from park to park or take the Disney transportation and end up where I started?

On my arrival day, can I park at downtown disney, take the bus to the TTC and then ride the monorail around just to get in the mood?

Help me out...

Sher

 

[PhotobearSam]

On your arrival day go for drinks at the Contemporary and then ride the Monorail from there.

Eat at places you have never tried before.(no McD's)

Do not go to the Biggest McDonald's in the World in Orlando. It is really gross and dirty.

Eat in your room for breakfast to save time and money.

We never parked at the TTC and usually ended up at Epcot for closing so that is where we parked for both MK and Epcot.

Drive from park to park if doing AK or MGM, it saves time.

 

[crusoe2]

I've posted this tip before but it's worth repeating. If you are coming from off-site and doing a character breakfast at the MK before official park opening time be sure to allow plenty of time to get from the parking lot to the actual park gates. The tram drivers won't make a run up to the TTC until they have a certain number of people on board. (Depending on where you are parked it could be quicker to just walk.) You will probably have to hunt for a CM at the TTC to let you through the gate to the monorail and you will have to show your PS number. The only monorail running will be the one for the resorts so it will make stops at the Polynesian and GF before it gets to the MK. Then you have to go through the security check and, finally, show another CM that you have a PS so that they will let you on through the turnstiles. All of this can be pretty time consuming so be sure to allow extra time so that you don't miss your PS (like we did ).

 

[StilesMom]

crusoe2,

Thank you so much for the warning. We are staying offsite and have an 8:15 PS for Cinderella's breakfast. Any advice on when to be at the TTC?? I'm planning on having my group there at 7:30 - which means leaving the condo by 7:10. What time was your PS?? Did you miss it completely??

 

[crusoe2]

Hi StilesMom, yes we completely missed our PS. It was for 8:00 or 8:10 (can't remember for sure now). We allowed about 20 or 25 minutes to get from the car to the restaurant but this was not nearly enough. I think you are on the right track to allow about 45 minutes. Hopefully by getting to the parking lot by 7:30 you will get a close enough parking spot to be able to just walk over to the TTC rather than having to wait for the tram to take you up. Also, if you are just a few minutes late go ahead and show up - I believe they do hold your table for about 15 minutes. We were nearly 30 minutes late for ours so we did not bother. We still might have been able to get our table (this was last Oct. and crowds were very low) but our plan had been to finish with our breakfast in time to get back downstairs for rope drop. By the time we got to the castle there was no way we could do both. Hope everything works out well for you.

 

[QuickGold]

If your driving and paying the toll, Id say drive yourself around as you allready paid for the toll for that day. Here are some other good off-site tips(Im the off-site king )

1. US192 - Although I refer to it as the "Highway of Death"(As you might die if you tried crossing it), there are bargains galore there. Pick up everything and anything you can get outside WDW. Food, presents, film, women(Just kidding ), etc.

2. Eat at Buffets - Pick up one of those countless coupon books for the off-site area. You can usually get 10% off coupons for allready cheap buffets. Breakfast buffets run around $3-5 while lunch and dinner should be below $10. Its a great way to save money and stay nice and full.

3. ALways give yourself plenty of time to get from your hotel to WDW. Figure what time you want to be at the park, then give yourself at least 1/2 hour to get there. And the 1/2 begins when you get in your car. Its not so much traffic as it is getting around to the gate.