We (DH and I) were like skipro and we went in about 1985 and camped in a tent at Ft Wilderness with a friend and our young son. We enjoyed it and our friend, who was raised overseas and had never been to an amusement park had a blast. We got one-day tickets by going on a time share tour. They found out we were camping and told us we didn't have to do the tour!!
Fastforward to a few years ago - my DDs have wanted to go since the oldest was about 2, we decided to take them. I did some research and we decided that it was cheaper to fly, stay on-site in a hotel (yuck, hate doing that), rent a car and do a dining package for 5 nights. We had a really good time, but we then went to Universal for 3 days. Again, we stayed on-site at Universal, rode their transportation, but did not have a dining package. We had a blast! We will go back to Universal, but we will probably never go back to Disney.
Don't get me wrong, we did enjoy Disney, but it was just too crowded, too expensive, too much walking, just too much.....
We thoroughly enjoyed Universal and will plan to return in a few years if our daughters ever get time. They swim on the area swim team, just started marching in the marching band, etc.