Fewer Orlando hotels guests worry local tourism industry

They might have titled this piece "Increasing Time Share Usage is Hurting Hotels."

Time shares, rental homes and on-property resorts are all not included in the numbers.

Guess where those double-digit losses are going?

Hey, my hometown rag is *getting* some press....

I think where the PARKS are happy is what Gonch is getting at....on-site hotels are PACKING them in... ;)

Last time we were down there we rented a very nice 4 bedroom house with a pool, multiple TVs, DVD players, video games and room to run. The kids loved it and so did us older folks.We cooked a couple meals here and there and everyone seemed happier than being crammed together in a hotel.

The only downside was having to drive to the parks but we always have done that to some extent anyway. We've only stayed onsite at any of the Disney properties once and it seemed like you were waiting in line at the hotel as much as you were in the parks.

Is occupancy down or moving? I mean, Disney doesn't seem to want to quit building rooms.

I stay on site for the convience and the early entry privileges. We dont spend much time in the room so we arent cramped and I dont find cooking to be worth the effort while on vacation. So I much perfer staying on site to take advantages of the perks/transportation.

I'm with Bob O. Staying onsite also means using Disney buses, monorails and boats to commute between the parks and your hotel versus paying rental car fees, dealing with traffic etc and the relatively new Magic Express allows you the luxary of not needing to drag your luggage anywhere..it just appears in your room. Besides the early entry perks, there's also late night extra riding time and since you're in the park earlier in the AM, you can be first in line to snag a Fastpass for whatever great ride wasn't open early. Staying off site,,,well you just lose the Disney magic once you depart. Who wants to cook on vacation?