We live in nearby Daytona Beach and have been going to the parks since 2007 when the kids were pre-teens. They've grown-up Disney. Since they are older now they only want to go with their friends, not their parents. We have one annual and three seasonal passes so we don't have to pay for parking. Over the years, on the occasions when we stayed for the weekend in the Disney area, we've stayed off site all but one time. I even kept a spreadsheet of the places we've stayed with comments and prices.
Every family has their own preferences and needs. For us, staying off-site is WAY better. We stay at Hotels/Resorts within walking distance (or a short drive) to great and reasonably priced restaurants like Carrabba's , Outback, Olive Garden and so on. We could spend a morning and afternoon at one park, go have a great dinner for the right price without a reservation, and go back to a different park for the evening. Or we could leave the park and let the kids spend time at the hotel/resort pool. We could have the free breakfast before we went to the parks the next day, buy subs or something from Subway or Publix or Winn-Dixie on the way (also within walking distance for those late night cravings), and leave them in our cooler or park locker. Then have lunch in the park or out on a blanket by the water watching boats. Traffic was never an issue unless you're leaving when the park closes. It was always faster to walk to the car than wait for a Disney bus or boat or tram. We were back to our hotel in short time every time. If you stay till the park closes, sit and relax and let people run for the exit. Enjoy the beauty and quietness of an empty Disney park.
As GusMan suggested, with a look at the park hours and the parks with the Extra Magic Hours, and a little planning, you could miss the major crowds. Use the FastPass+ system a month or so early to reserve the popular rides for later. Get there early for the less popular rides and there will be little if any wait. You could even ride the popular rides early, then ride them again later with your FastPass. Or skip FastPass and enjoy the freedom of not having a plan at all.
The only advantages we saw to staying on property were....
#1, We could use Extra Magic Hours, which tended to make the day a little longer than we could stand anyway.(Keep in mind we went there often. It was no issue to leave after only part of the day. We didn't feel the need to cram every second of the day into being at the park, we live here, we'll be back. We also avoided the parks with Extra Magic Hour morning when staying off property)
#2, I could leave my truck parked and use free Disney Transportation, which always took longer.
The cost benefit to staying off site outweighed those advantages. The on-site resort rooms were absolutely no better than the off-site rooms. In fact we got bigger beds off-site.
I think you'll be thankful you rented a car and chose to stay off-site in your resort with a kitchen.
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