Is Disney World’s On-Site Advantage Disappearing or Reappearing?!
For years, there were big benefits to staying at Walt Disney World owned resorts: free transportation, better line-skipping options, extra hours, and more that justified the higher cost. In this post, we’ll take a new look at how perks have changed and whether on-site hotels are still worth the premium pricing. (Updated September 17, 2023.)
I’ll preface this by saying that we have been advocates of staying in the Walt Disney World “bubble” and are definitely biased towards that. In our On-Site v. Off-Site at Walt Disney World article we attempt to be balanced, but concede that we’re drawn to being inside the Walt Disney World “bubble,” which offers advantages in terms of location, convenience, and the feeling of an all-encompassing vacation destination.
However, that started to change even pre-closure. We still love a lot of Walt Disney World hotels and do on-site stays, but no longer strongly recommend them for everyone. Accordingly, what we are going to do is ask and attempt to answer an important question: what if the selling points of staying on-site are no longer as valuable as conventional WDW planning wisdom suggests?
This is a question we originally posed a few years ago as Walt Disney World hotel prices began to soar and the advantages offered by on-site perks were less noteworthy. Since reopening, we’ve revisited this topic a couple of times for different reasons. That started with the end of Extra Magic Hours and free FastPass, as well as the suspension of the Disney Dining Plan.
For our Late 2023 update that looks forward to planning your 2024 Walt Disney World vacation, we’re revisiting this from a positive perspective. There have been a few positive developments last year and this year, and we’re also granting greater weight to various considerations that we previously glossed over. This has us asking ourselves: is Walt Disney World’s on-site advantage starting to reappear?
Let’s start with the Disney Dining Plan as that is finally returning in early 2024. For many planners, being able to purchase the Disney Dining Plan is very important from a budgeting and convenience perspective. While we’ve been skeptical of this for years, but it’s nevertheless true that guests find themselves surprised by food costs more than anything else at Walt Disney World (see the fascinating survey data about halfway down this article).
So the Disney Dining Plan reappearing is definitely a big plus for a lot of Walt Disney World guests who stay on-site. In our view, that probably overstates the degree to which this is an actual advantage. The reality is that the overwhelming majority guests will come out ahead from a budgeting or convenience perspective by pre-purchasing discount Disney gift cards and using those to pay-as-they-go for food.
Even in the past, the Disney Dining Plan offered the illusion of convenience and budgeting. That’ll be doubly true with the 2024 Disney Dining Plan due to price increases–unless you have more than 2 children or do the Quick-Service Disney Dining Plan. Of course, there are exceptions to this–families of big carnivores or those willing to “hack” the Disney Dining Plan did come out ahead. But for the most part, the house always wins. We look forward to the Disney Dining Plan returning, but it wasn’t the benefit that some cracked it up to be.
There’s also the Genie+ line-skipping system, which replaced the free FastPass ride reservation program. (See our Guide to Lightning Lane and Genie+ at Walt Disney World for full details, recommendations, and everything you need to know for making most of that line-skipping system.)
There are two components to this: Genie+ Lightning Lanes and Individual Lightning Lanes. The latter offers on-site guests the “benefit” of being able to purchase Individual Lightning Lane access at 7 am instead of park opening time, which is when everyone else can buy access. Certain Individual Lightning Lanes do sell out prior to park opening time, so that window is beneficial for headliner attractions–but even that is seasonal. If you’re visiting during busy holiday travel dates, it matters. If you’re going in May or September, not so much.
It would be beneficial if on-site guests could book Genie+ ride selections early, but that is not how this works. Everyone is able to book Genie+ Lightning Lane reservations starting at 7 am. That could always change down the road, but for now, that’s how the system works.
There’s no sugar-coating this one. Losing free FastPass+ was a colossal blow to all visitors of Walt Disney World, but especially on-site guests. One of the very best on-site advantages at Walt Disney World was the expanded FastPass+ booking window; that was a significant headstart and allowed on-site guests to scoop up most of the best ride reservations before their trip.
However, that could change once again in 2024, with another much more significant shift in the off-site vs. on-site calculus as advance ride reservations are coming to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World in 2024. As compared to the return of the Disney Dining Plan, this has flown relatively under the radar, but we view this as a much bigger deal.
The reason advance booking of Genie+ Lightning Lanes has been “under-discussed” is because Walt Disney World hasn’t really said anything aside from “it’s happening.” There are absolutely no details about how it’ll work, whether it’ll cost more, or even if there will be an on-site advantage to Genie+ advance booking.
We’ve heard a range of rumors over the last few months, and honestly, none of those have done anything to reassure us. It sounds like this was a mandate from on high in response to negative guest feedback, and the announcement came before the details were worked out. If what we’ve heard is accurate, some specifics are still up in the air. (Suffice to say, you shouldn’t be surprised if Genie+ advance booking does not launch right away in January 2024.)
One thing that does seem reasonably likely is that there will be an on-site advantage with advance booking of Lightning Lanes. For one thing, because there was in the past with FastPass+ and what we’ve heard suggests this will replicate some of that system (except costing money). For another thing, because hotel occupancy is starting to decrease, so restoring this perk–even at a cost–would help resolve that. So consider this one a tentative on-site advantage that’ll arrive at some point in 2024.
Next, let’s turn to Walt Disney World’s two replacements for Extra Magic Hours: Early Entry and Extended Evening Hours. Early Theme Park Entry allows all on-site resort guests and those staying at select third party hotels to enjoy 30-minute access to any Walt Disney World theme park, every day before normal operating hours begin.
Early Entry means that Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios (for example) open daily at 8:30 am and 8 am, respectively, to resort guests, and 30 minutes later to off-site guests. The logical criticism here is that morning Extra Magic Hours was an hour long, so this is half the time, and thus, half as good.
We have done Early Entry over one-dozen times (literally), and that has not been our experience at 3 of the 4 parks. Crucially, Extra Magic Hours occurred on select days of the week and only at one park on each occasion. This mean consolidating all on-site guests at a single park. Early Entry occurs daily at all 4 parks, and better spreads out the crowd as a result.
In practice, we’ve found Early Entry to be far less busy than EMH. At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom, it essentially offers a 2-3 ride headstart for on-site guests and is actually a pretty significant. (Most days, it is not as good at Magic Kingdom.)
We’ve used Early Entry to accomplish both Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Slinky Dog Dash at DHS, all three headliners at EPCOT, and pretty much everything in Animal Kingdom. Early Entry is a huge perk, and it’s doubly beneficial to be able to use it every single day at whichever park you want. Do not underestimate its value and skip Early Entry because it’s “only” 30 minutes. (In case you can’t tell, we are huge fans of Early Entry–it’s bigger than many fans think.) Learn more strategy in our Guide to Early Entry at Walt Disney World.
Next, there’s Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. This benefit is exclusively for guests staying at Deluxe Resorts, Deluxe Villas (Disney Vacation Club units), or other select hotels (currently Swan & Dolphin and Shades of Green). Guests staying at Value or Moderate Resorts are not eligible for Extended Evening Hours.
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours occur only two nights per week in total–typically Mondays at Epcot and Wednesdays at Magic Kingdom. This runs for two hours each night, but this is only a perk for those who book more expensive hotels (or the Swan & Dolphin, which are often priced on par with Value or Moderate Resorts). This makes Extended Evening Hours a double-edged sword, with its quality hinging on resort status.
For those who are eligible, Extended Evening Hours is huge. Crowds are virtually non-existent, as are lines for most attractions. It’s way better than Evening Extra Magic Hours, which had become overcrowded due to expanded eligibility during its last few years. (In fact, the crowds during Evening EMH are one of the reasons we first wrote this post, in the first place–Evening EMH had become almost useless due to overcrowding.)
Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of Value and Moderate Resort guests who, as noted above, cannot take advantage of Extended Evening Hours. So if you’re a Deluxe or DVC guest, this perk is fantastic. If you’re staying at a Moderate or below, it’s awful/nonexistent. See our Guide to Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for more rules, eligibility, strategy, etc.
Two of the most recent changes concern transportation. At the beginning of last year, the Disney’s Magical Express airport shuttle service ended. Now, visitors arriving to Orlando International Airport will need to rent a car, use Uber/Lyft, or arrange for an alternative shuttle service in order to get to their resort. This was a huge loss for many Walt Disney World visitors.
Disney’s Magical Express’ closest paid replacement is Mears Connect Driven by Sunshine. See our Guide to Airport Transportation for Walt Disney World for other options. There’s no one-size-fits-all perfect solution; it depends on your party size, budget, and other factors.
We’ve used Mears Connect many times, and have found it to be virtually identical to Disney’s Magical Express in speed, quality, and service. The biggest downside is that there’s a fee, and that since these are third parties, there’s not always seamless integration between the resorts and the shuttles in the event that an issue arises. (Some fans will cite the lack of luggage handling, but that disappeared from DME prior to this, so it’s hard to tie that to this particular change.)
At the start of this year, Walt Disney World brought back free overnight self-parking to guests staying at Walt Disney World Resort hotels. Complimentary parking was an on-site perk until a few years ago, and it was another prompt for this post in the first place.
We hated the charge for parking, and thought it was a bad decision that diminished the differentiation between Disney and its real-world counterparts. We were not alone. At the time, the introduction of the parking fee was the most controversial change we had ever seen made by Walt Disney World.
Not only did our post garner over 300 angry comments, but Walt Disney World got hit hard by negative reviews on crowdsourced travel sites like TripAdvisor and Google. I had never seen fans so mad–although backlash to the subsequent elimination of free FastPass and Disney’s Magical Express did exceed that response.
In addition to this, Walt Disney World resort hotel guests also continue to receive complimentary standard parking at Walt Disney World theme parks, which is another plus. In tandem, these two things take some of the sting out of the elimination of Disney’s Magical Express–at least for the guests who opt to rent a car while staying on-site. (That number will only grow, as Universal Orlando continues to expand and turn itself into an equally-compelling theme park destination.)
Sticking with the topic of transportation, this is another on-site advantage offered by Walt Disney World…and one that has arguably improved by quite a bit. Let’s start with the neutral components: the monorails and boats are more or less the same.
Given that the monorails continue to age and one boat route has been cut, the argument could be made that these have gotten slightly worse. Anecdotally, I’m not sure I agree–monorail maintenance has decreased downtime and the one boat route is used by a small minority of guests. Speaking of things used by a small minority of guests, we are fans of the Grand Floridian walkway to Magic Kingdom–our favorite form of transportation is “feet” and we wish Walt Disney World made itself more walkable. (Which would ease the burden on existing transportation.)
As a whole, we view Walt Disney World transportation as better today than it was 5 years ago. The big thing here is the Skyliner, which we view as the best transportation option at Walt Disney World. When there is a line, it’s constantly moving and usually a short wait. Since the opening couple of months, the Skyliner gondola system has been incredibly reliable.
We’re huge fans and strongly favor the Skyliner resorts now. It’s especially a game-changer for Pop Century; given all of the perks and transportation advantages of that one resort, we can easily justify the premium pricing there.
Also helping with past transportation woes is bus wait times, which show up both on digital boards at the bus stops and in the My Disney Experience app. There’s still room for improvement here, and there have been hotel stays when we’ve noticed overcrowded and inconsistent bus service. (In particular, Coronado Springs is a big offender.)
Walt Disney World has also addressed its bus driver shortage, which actually predated the closure, by bringing in a third party to assist with routes. All things considered, we’ve been more pleased by bus service and found it to be more efficient last year and in 2023 than it was in 2017-2019. With that said, few things are as hit-or-miss as WDW bus service. Someone could have a superlative experience, and someone else an awful one–despite staying at the same resort during the same dates–simply by virtue of luck and timing.
I won’t include Minnie Vans as a transportation “improvement” since there’s a pricey surcharge for those, and we don’t generally recommend them. Plus, if you’re willing to use Disney’s Minnie Vans, you might as well be willing to use Lyft or Uber, which have become ubiquitous in Central Florida. The ease of Lyft and Uber is definitely an improvement for guests, but it’s neither here nor there from an “advantage” perspective since it isn’t a change made by Disney.
Turning back to dining, there is an on-site advantage when it comes to booking Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs). Currently, everyone can book table service restaurants 60 days prior to the date on which they’d like to eat. In addition, Walt Disney World resort hotel guests can make Advance Dining Reservations for their length of stay (up to a 10-day stay) up to 60 days in advance of their check-in date.
As discussed in our Top 10 Tips for Booking Difficult Advance Dining Reservations, this “60+10” window can be incredibly advantageous for popular table service restaurants or larger parties, especially during busier travel dates. If character dining or highly themed restaurants are important to you, this is huge. Even at the 60 day mark, Story Book Dining at Artist Point, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, Cinderella’s Royal Table, Space 220, Topolino’s Terrace, ‘Ohana, and others can be scarce.
The good news is that ADRs have gotten easier over the course of this year, to the point that the 60+10 window is not really necessary for most parties or travel dates. (We’ve done very well 1-2 days ahead of time throughout 2023, but we’re also a party of 2 and are flexible.) The bad news is that the return of the Disney Dining Plan means ADRs will almost certainly become much more competitive in 2024, making this a bona fide on-site advantage once more.
We view dining as a big component of the Walt Disney World experience, so this is a big deal to us. However, it doesn’t matter to everyone, so your mileage may vary. Also, there are tricks (see that tips post) for scoring last minute availability–but they don’t work as well as booking during the 60+10 window.
Then there’s the biggest consideration, which is cost. This has always been the primary selling point for staying off-site. It’s worth reiterating here because the cost difference between off-site and on-site accommodations has become much more pronounced in the last few years.
As discussed in How Much Does a Walt Disney World Vacation Cost in 2023?, the average total price of a trip this year versus a comparable vacation in 2019 is up by thousands of dollars. On a positive note, that has already improved since publication, as over a dozen different discounts have been released for 2023 and 2024.
As a result of the special offers–which include room discounts of up to 35% off and free dining gift cards of up to $200 per night–the effective price of accommodations at Walt Disney World is actually down considerably in 2023. That’s because many of the same dates in 2021-2022 had no discounts whatsoever for the general public. As pent-up demand continues to exhaust itself, we anticipate even better deals in 2024 as compared to this year.
In other words, this one comes down to your frame of reference. If you visited in 2019 or earlier, a 2024 Walt Disney World vacation is still going to cost a lot more and you’re going to get less. However, the same is true pretty of much everything and everywhere–inflation, shrinkflation, and skimpflation have hit American consumers hard. By contrast, if you visited Walt Disney World in the last two years and are planning a trip in 2024, things are starting to look much better. As with so much, it’s all relative!
If you can afford on-site hotels at Walt Disney World, it’s definitely still nice to stay in a resort with an immersive design, attention to details, and various Disney touches. It’s also nice to be able to walk to the parks, or be part of the Disney bubble.
For many people, it’s impossible to overstate the importance of this. There’s a certain x-factor that the Disney resorts offer that elevates the overall experience into something more special. This is true for us, and even with all of the complaints here, we still prefer staying on-site in Disney-owned properties.
To their credit, Walt Disney World’s resorts are still meticulously themed, with a ton of charm, detail, and transportive environments you mostly won’t find off-site. This has long been a big selling point, as your resort stay feels like an extension of the theme parks.
This applies mostly to the exterior grounds and interior common areas. With certain recent room refurbishments, the sense of theme inside Walt Disney World’s hotel rooms has been diminished. We’ve been highly critical of this because themed environments are what defines Disney, and are in the wheelhouse of Imagineers.
Many of the new rooms seem to be striving more towards crowd-pleasing styles, with generic modern designs, clean and crisp aesthetics, and generally elegant luxury (the last one only applies to Deluxe Resorts). In general, the rooms are less fun and have traded unique and colorful designs for more bland and basic ones.
On a positive note, Disney seems to be turning the corner on this. The new rooms at the Grand Floridian are an unequivocal upgrade over their predecessor in both theme and luxury, and just one recent example of a shift in this regard. It would seem that the worst of this occurred between 2016 and 2019, with the rooms in the last 2-3 years striking the balance much better. Hopefully this is the start of a positive trend and shifts into the ‘on-site advantage’ column over time.
The problem with the previous move towards modern and nondescript rooms is that Disney went from a realm with almost no real competition (ornately themed designs) to placing itself in direct competition with real-world hotel brands by mimicking their style.
This not only makes for an easier head-to-head comparison in terms of guest rooms, but it’s also a comparison that’s often not favorable to Disney. I love a lot of things about Walt Disney World, but do not view it as one of the world’s great operators of hotels.
Actual luxury hoteliers such as Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Waldorf Astoria, and Four Seasons have high end properties near Walt Disney World, and they generally surpass even Walt Disney World’s flagship hotel on a luxury front. It’s arguable that even the Marriott, Hilton, and Wyndham hotels give Deluxe Resorts at Walt Disney World a run for their money–and those are often priced below Moderate levels!
When it comes to alternatives to staying on-site, we think that the real sweet spot is on-site third party hotels like the Swan & Dolphin, Four Seasons Orlando, and Bonnet Creek Resorts. (See our List of the Best Third Party Hotels Near Walt Disney World.)
Several of these have locations that are as good or better than Disney-owned and operated hotels, and are less expensive. Many also offer the same perks as Disney hotels. Swan & Dolphin, for example, offer Extended Evening Hours whereas Disney Value and Moderate Resorts won’t have access to those.
You also might consider renting a vacation home, both for the sake of privacy and isolation. (See our Best Vacation Home Rentals Near Walt Disney World.) These are especially great for larger parties, and you can literally rent an entire house for the cost of a mid-tier Walt Disney World hotel room. Some of these contain themed kids rooms, in-home theaters, game rooms, private pools, plus everything else you’d expect from a house.
Another great option right now is staying at Universal Orlando, which still does offer most of its on-site advantages and its own sense of immersion and being inside of a “Universal bubble” (albeit to a lesser extent).
If you want to go all-out with Universal’s nicest hotels that are in walking distance of the parks and include unlimited line-skipping at attractions via Express Pass, see our Hard Rock Hotel Review and Portofino Bay Hotel Review. Even though these are Universal Orlando’s more expensive hotels, they’re still priced about on par with Moderate Resorts at Walt Disney World.
Our Universal Orlando Hotel Rankings & Reviews covers the pros & cons of all those resorts, many of which we love for their locations, theme, on-site perks, and value for money. Additionally, refer to Universal Orlando v. Walt Disney World Resorts for a comparison between Disney’s and Universal’s hotels to see what each does better.
Ultimately, that describes our dilemma with accommodations at and around Walt Disney World. The rational side of my mind knows that staying off-site provides significantly better value for money and that the some of the perks we receive from Walt Disney World hotels aren’t as valuable as they once were.
We do now have a lower price ceiling for most Walt Disney World resorts (except Pop Century, Caribbean Beach, and All Star Movies, which are all a bit higher for us now), which can be a challenge given that room rates have been increasing. However, there are still ways to find good discounts, and failing that we can either use or rent DVC points or look at the on-site third party options like Swan & Dolphin, Disney Springs, and Bonnet Creek.
There’s also Universal Orlando, and we absolutely love several of those hotels. Universal can hold its own with many of Walt Disney World’s hotels from a thematic perspective, and many of the amenities at Universal are actually superior to Disney. Plus, the perks of staying on-site are far superior and nightly room rates are far lower.
Beyond that, there’s a burgeoning vacation home rental industry, cheap Airbnbs, and robust slate of new off-site hotels near the parks. We should be further investigating all of that, as some great deals abound. The Central Florida accommodations market is incredibly competitive outside the Disney bubble, and that’s reflected in pricing and amenities.
With all of that said, there’s the emotional side. We have nostalgic attachments to certain resorts at Walt Disney World, and enjoy their lush grounds, dining, and amenities. We love being able to stay late in the parks, even if they’re crowded and all we’re doing is wandering around. We enjoy the seamless experience of going from the parks to our resort, feeling a temporary reprieve from the real world.
It’s difficult to put a price on all of that. While we “value” it below the cost difference between comparable third party hotels, we often jump through hoops to find ways to justify staying at Walt Disney World hotels. I’m not suggesting this is the right (or wrong) approach. I know part of this is Disney’s emotional power, and we fall for it hook, line, and sinker a lot. I’m not making a judgment either way–it simply is what it is. However, we find it happening less and less with Walt Disney World continuing to raise prices and cut offerings–that makes staying off-site a much easier decision!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What do you think…are the perks of staying on-site as valuable to you as they once were, or are you getting less value for your money staying at Walt Disney World hotels? Will you continue to stay on-site despite this all? Have you already moved off-site? Other thoughts on this? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We are going to WDW in 3 weeks and am astounded by the changes since our 2019 trip. Truly going to miss perks like Magical Express, FastPass+, and free Magicbands. Now I have to pay extra to make ride reservations on some rides and even more for other popular ones if the regular line is too long (i.e. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, my kids favorite). You can order reduced price magic bands but only if you don’t care about wearing ones for girls – hardly anything is available for boys. No dining plans and reduced reservations all mean meals will be a stressor too. Who wants to spend their vacation searching for cancelled reservations? Or eating quick service the entire time? Ugh. We tried for DVC rentals but was too late for the good ones. If we come back again we’ll look at that option but honestly, the magic is evaporating for me.
Agree with you. We were going down for Christmas and New Year and once we figured how much we needed to spend, decided to stay home and save our money for another trip. So disappointing. We have been Disney visitors for years and now will use our money for other places.
Hi Annette: On-site hotels are no bargain. I would say that they really stopped being a bargain when they stopped using the length of stay pass you could get for staying in a hotel. That’s dating myself because it ended in the early 90’s…. But with AirBNB and nicer hotels in the area the Disney hotels have fallen off the quality list. Consider that you can stay at a Hilton for less than the lowest cost Disney resort. The rooms are bigger and nicer. Most importantly they accommodate a family far better. If you drive a car, you can get to the parks quicker and even with the parking fees, you still will pay less. Consider what you are going to do. With the exception of the day in and possibly part of the day out, the resort was just a bed. We rarely used the pool or any other amenities at the resort. The service and quality of food at the Disney resorts has been so poor for many years and there’s no sign it will ever get better. There’s no money in it. Many of the hotels around Disney Springs can offer tickets that allow you to enter the parks as if you were staying in a Disney resort. Take a look, we found the Hilton to be a great choice across from Disney Springs. But so many options are available.
“But wait, there’s less”
The perks of staying on property are definitely disappearing, but this is why we’ll still on property and not consider off property resorts:
1. Every time I’ve priced the Swan & Dolphin hotels, I’ve found them to be ridiculously expensive. Sure, it looks nice when you first see the daily room rate, but that rate goes significantly higher once all the hidden fees are added in, the cost for what you get is ridiculous. Pricing for our stay in October gave us (once fees were added, but without parking) $500 a night for members for a total of $3,503. That’s way above a moderate stay! Instead, we’re renting a Deluxe Villa at Animal Kingdom Lodge for a total of $2,200 (which includes parking).
2. Renting DVC points gives us a Deluxe Villa for the cost of a moderate and includes Disney transportation to the parks and Disney Springs. We don’t need to rent a car or pay the added cost of Uber or Lyft. That saves us over $200 a stay, making the cost of the on site property more competitive.
3. Refillable mugs. Laugh if you must, but for $19.99 + tax we get a mug that can be refilled as many times as we want for our entire stay. That comes out to about $2.85 a day for a 7-day stay. That’s less than the cost of one soda ($3.99+ tax) or one cup of coffee ($3.49 + tax). Even on a park day, we’ll grab more than one drink a day, so more money is saved there.
4. Microwaves. When we rent points, we get a microwave in our studio villa. That may seem negligible, but it can really save some money. We can’t eat a whole pizza, and with a microwave, we don’t have to throw away what didn’t get eaten. We can store it in the fridge & heat it up later like we do at home. Same with other meals that are too huge to eat in one sitting, which Disney is notorious for serving. That microwave saves us money on food since we won’t have to pay for as many over-priced Disney restaurant meals.
4. The swimming pools! The majority of off site resorts don’t offer swimming pools that come close to the pools at the deluxe (or even moderate) resorts. My kiddo could easily & happily spend more time at the pool than in the parks, so we come back to the resort midday to get some pool time in while the parks are overcrowded. Kiddo has a say in which resort we stay at, and she’ll pay closer attention to the pool than anything else when deciding her choice of resort.
5. The ambience. We’re not into the Disney bubble thing, so we don’t mind if there’s no Disney theming at the resort. But I haven’t seen a resort yet that can beat Animal Kingdom Lodge or Wilderness Lodge for a relaxing and encompassing theming. Greatest part of our trip in December was being able to sit on the porch and watch the animals.
So while I agree that Disney is losing a lot of its incentives for staying on property, if you don’t rent a car (like we don’t) and add in all the other hidden costs of staying off property, it’s still a great option, especially if you rent DVC points.
My dad, daughter, and I stayed at Pop Century during Spring Break 2018 and really enjoyed it. We had a remodeled room in the 90s section and it was clean and quiet. I am planning a trip to Disney World with my husband, daughter, and her friend for this spring break 2022, but decided to stay at a moderate resort instead after reading recent negative reviews about cleanliness at Pop Century. I was going to book rooms at Pop Century and try to stay by the bowling pin pool, but not this time. Hopefully Disney can turn this around because we thought Pop Century was a very fun resort with good food options. We stayed just over a week pre-Skyliner in 2018 and found it really easy to use the bus system and park hop from park to resort to pool or water park to resort then to park.
My daughter, now-husband, and I went to Disney World during Christmas in 2020 and stayed off site at the Hampton Inn Orlando/Lake Buena Vista because there were no extra benefits to staying on site. I’d stay there again because it was very clean, convenient, and the staff was amazing there, but we want to do a Disney Resort stay to get the lightning lane selection at 7 AM, the early entry, and utilize Disney resort transportation if we can. We missed out on Rise of the Resistance in 2020 because I wasn’t fast enough to snag a boarding group. I did direct friends to your site and they were able to use your strategies to get on the rides. We are hoping to get a LL for ROTR this time.
We do have a car because we are doing Universal Studios first, so if transportation is terrible we can drive although hopefully we can just use resort transportation and not deal with driving.
I’ve been using your advice since 2017 when I started planning our 2018 trip for both Disney World and Disneyland. I appreciate your analytical point of view, so thanks!
Ok lol I love reading everyone’s great posts! Thank you Tom , keep up the great work! Tom could you please start posting more on Universal Studios. I think every Disney fan is feeling the same way… sad … frustrated…. Disappointed! No Disney plans on the horizon for my family…. Sad, but going to Universal in May! I say lol I think Universal is going to have record year with crowds and it will be interesting to see if Disney crowd numbers decrease?
I’ve been to disney at least 30 times and thought I would always go there. That’s changed. I’m going to Universal in May. I’m very bitter about all the things disney has taken away plus the way the prices keep going. Higher prices and less benefits. My whole family feels the same way. If I ever go back, I’d rather not stay on the grounds I just have a totally different feel about disney. No longer magical.
IM at WDW right now. I had a change in plans with my origional itinerary at the beach so I decided to experience WDW with a room onsite for the first time. I came in 2018 and stayed at the Swan and had an incredible time. I loved the flexibility of spontaneous park hopping, the after hours experience, the ability to take a boat to one of the parks. Fast forward to present day, I’m wondering WTH is the purpose of me having spent close to 400 each night for the Port Orleans Riverside for a hotel room that is on par with a Motel 6 and absolutely not one single benefit available to me. I made reservation for a park hopper ticket for the first day, things happened and i didn’t arrive until late and asked if I could transfer it to the next day since none of it was used and understood that MK was unavailable so I went ahead and paid ofr the after hours from 9pto 1a for an extra 250 bucks. They told me no that was not possible to just switch to the available parks and that i had waited to long to call. Now, mind you I had called that day to make the reservations and then spent two hours of being on hold to try and talk to someone as I was speaking to a guest service agent that said they were unable to handle something like that. the hotel has what i am to believe is the better quality food restaurant closed. The only option available was the food hall, where overworked, frazzled but very nice cast members were doing their best to serve the mediocre bland fare. It took me half an hour after I ordered my entree to stand and watch the poor young lady to be pulled in five different ways. The paths are extremely confusing in the dark without sinage being visible as you try and navigate from the food hall to yoru buildings. My plate of food didn’t makeit due to the plate and the lid not really meant to hold food for that long and being carried to a room. Epcot was slammed with people, it was worse than the middle of the summer in 2018 which i had been told was one of the busiest days of the year. I don’t understand wtf the reservation system is doing besides increasing the difficulty of enjoying your trip. After reading this post, if i ever come back to the area, I’m going to go check out Universal. Disneyworld has lost one of its biggest fans!
Totally agree with all of this.
But wanted to point out there is SLIGHT dining advantage to onsite. For onsite, you can book your whole trip’s dining at 60 days prior to check in. Whereas offsite, you have to do it 60 days prior to each day. Which makes getting character meals initially pretty much impossible. Of course, if you pay for a cancellation service or just check the app constantly, you can usually snag a cancellation closer to your trip!
@Ed Marks.. I have to disagree with you. I don’t think you will see crowds decreasing at Disney anytime soon no matter what they do. People will still go. The parks are crazy busy right now. I was there yesterday and the day before and it was mobbed. They would have to have a huge drop in attendance for this to happen and I just don’t see it. For everyone that will not pay there are 10 more who will. DIsney will come out on top no matter what.
How long will it take Disney to realize that they made a mistake by getting rid of free fast passes & then charging people to skip the lines? I don’t think this will last long because the crowds will decrease because of this.
@Heather
They also have a huge medium term issue. That is, while we love those quaint “simple” rides like IASW, POTC and PPF mainly because of our association with the park’s early days and of course the classic films. Millennials and beyond aren’t interested. They want the modern stuff. So Disney will at some point need to either expand the footprint or remove these. Huge cost and huge impacts on pricing. People won’t continue to pay for rides like POC and the odd 60 second Tron coaster with a 2hr queue won’t cut it.
@Heather I LOVE your entire comment. I’m a Boomer myself, and I keep re-reading your point about Disney’s strongest, oldest fan base. We all grew up with Disney, didn’t we? And now they’re losing us. So sad.
@Caitlin We are in exactly the same position, after our March 2020 trip was cancelled. I always imagined that when we returned, we would stay on-site. But after reading this post, I started to search for vacation rentals, and was astonished by what I found. For $500 less than our stay at Caribbean Beach, we booked a 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom house in a Four Corners resort, with a private pool and a game room in the garage. Even with the cost of renting a car, we will come out ahead, since we can prepare all of our meals in the full kitchen. It’s a total game changer for a family that never gets enough sleep crammed into a standard hotel room. I don’t know why I ever considered a Disney hotel worth it, but especially not with the loss of FP+ and other on-site perks.
Man, we bought into DVC August of 2019 (staying at Caribbean Beach at the time,) and we have only traveled to WDW during the pandemic as owners! Crazy. We have done the parks/tickets twice and a resort-only stay once, and once with a split stay at Universal Portofino club level for the Express Pass, which is TOTALLY worth it, IMO.
IDK. I hope Disney is b*&ch slapped into reality when the inevitable recession hits, the 50th is over, and pent-up domestic travel burns itself out. We’re not “over” Disney, but for sure a lot of the lure/charm is gone right now.
Disney was built during Boomers’ explosive population growth and benefited from it. Now, the Boomers are hitting peak retirement years. They have a lot of money to treat kids and grandchildren and nostalgia for all things Disney, but in another decade, they’ll all be in their 70s and 80s and not necessarily dropping thousands willingly on the parks.
I really think this next decade is going to be very telling as they kill off goodwill and their strongest, oldest fan base loses interest/financial capabilities to drop thousands of dollars on these exhausting trips.
My husband and I are Gen X with young kids late in life, so we still can rationalize WDW trips with the kiddos, but we do DVC to have groceries and alcohol delivered, use Owners Lockers to store our Camelback backpacks full of water for all of us, pack snacks, and eat at quick service locations between meals back at our villas. We don’t rent cars, rarely use Ubers/Lyfts (unless trapped in rain at end of the night,) and do split stays at DVC but going to UO.
We paid for Boo Bash; one and done for us.
We may pay for a holiday party or candlelight processional to try it once, but even with lodging “paid for,” off-peak timed airfare, homemade food, drinks, and missed time from work cost a bundle — trying to be cheap!
I doubt we’ll use the Lightning Lanes, and luckily we were able to bridge our day tickets to the DVC Sorcerer pass — and that still cost an additional $2,000 to get the four sets of tickets upgraded. We are “saving” $600 dollars doing it for our next trip, but APs at WDW are steep. After this trip in 2022, we’re going to be banking points or else doing resort-only vacations for a while.
Rambling, I guess, but I think 99% of people who go to Disney are budgeting for these trips to the nth degree, but at a certain point, even upper/middle income folks are getting priced out. It’s one thing if it’s just a single person buying tickets and food and spirit jerseys, but for a family of four or more — thousands of dollars for a crowded amusement park where you’re lucky to hit 3-4 rides in the blistering sun a day to eat kinda crappy food? I really hope crowds are “thinned out” from the price hikes and UO spanks Disney’s butt with Epic Universe.
Instead of yearly weekly trips, it will be every 2-3 years for maybe 10 days, with time spent at UO and at the resort, versus in the parks. The parks may become 4 days of day tickets in that 10-day period, as that’s what we can afford.
Grateful our DVC is paid for, but can’t believe after, basically, a year of ownership, thinking about selling in another decade versus saving our contracts to pass down to the kids. I remember reading most people own for a decade and sell. I thought to myself, well, that’s what everyone ELSE does, not us!
Well, eating crow here. Considering it!
Why sell the DVC points? Try renting them out to make some money off of them. That way you can still have it to pass on to your children or grandchildren. There are reputable companies that do the hard work for you. We never go to Disney without renting DVC points because it’s a cheaper stay for us than paying Disney for a deluxe resort room. We use the DVC Rental Store. Another reputable one is David’s Vacation Club Rentals.
We were getting fed up with Disney’s nickel and diming us to death and were going to move over to Universal Studios, too. But when we went to plan the trip, even with the awesome military discount they give, it just wasn’t as appealing. There’s only two parks compared to four at Disney. And unless you’re into Harry Potter & gigantic roller coasters (which we’re not) or have little ones still reading Dr. Seuss, there’s not much appeal. And they have a lot of outdated things as Disney does, as well. Most people have no idea who Dudley Doo Right is. Many won’t even know Woody Woodpecker or ET (a ride I remember going on back in 1997). Their animatronics aren’t as sophisticated as Disney’s, either. So we opted to just bite it and go back to staying at Disney.
@Caitlin I am at the world now and this time we stayed at the Marriott Bonvoy in Lake Buena Vista. We used our suit nights to upgrade. They even have a special rate for Annual passholders. It’s 5 minutes away from Downtown Disney. It’s a great hotel and we booked to come back in a few weeks for the 50th.
I have been dreaming daily about our next Disney vacation for three years, even before we were forced to cancel our March 2020 trip. I NEVER thought I would consider staying offsite, but the hotel prices + announcement to charge more for the genie plus + end of free magic express was the final straw for me. After my initial anger wore off I checked out your post on staying offsite and I’m starting to get excited about the potential for a Disney vacation again and not feel like I’m getting taken advantage of. Thank you for all of your hard work and research Tom!
Tom, I’m curious, you say there is no longer a dining reservation advantage to staying on site, but I read that staying on site allows you to book dining for up to 10 days of your stay at once. Have they opened up this benefit to everyone now?
i live in Florida and feel we have lost so much in the parks. The cost of the parties around the holidays have gone crazy. This year we are heading to Disney California for a old fashion Christmas. For the price alone of the party we were able to buy our plane tickets. We went in 2019 and were so spoiled by being in the old way Disney was. We have decided if we go this is the way we will. Since we live here we will go to universal now instead of Disneyworld. I truly feel there is nothing anymore for the money.
Excellent piece, Tom. I must say that if we had not bought into DVC several years back, with the rapid loss of advantages to do so, we would not be staying on property at all. If we get abused on annual pass renewal, we may be using points to stay at Disney hotels so we can spend time in the parks at Universal and Sea World. Your analysis is very insightful, but so depressing.
Having been a Disney Fanatic for over 50 years, I , too have been very disappointed in the direction the past few years. So before I book my 2022 vacation, I tried to crunch some numbers. This is for a seven night stay for my family – 2 adults and 2 kids – March 19 through March 26, 2022.
At a Disney Moderate resort, specifically, the Cabins at Fort Wilderness. Stayed here before, good size room, full kitchen, lots of quiet privacy.
Includes 6 day park hopper tickets – transportation to parks can be spotty and long waits possible. Does NOT include ground transportation from MCO, parking, any meals, Genie +, individual Lightning Lane access, and other perks that have been removed.
$6,850.
At Universal Orlando Resort, stay at the premier Loews Royal Pacific Resort, upgrade to Club Level to include daily breakfast and afternoon wine and beer. Includes Universal Express Unlimited pass ( this is front-of-the-line access to all rides as many times as you wish) , annual pass for 2 park access for a calendar year (this was cheaper that buying length of stay daily park tickets). Transportation to parks. Does not include ground transportation from MCO or parking.
$5,200.
And how’s this – stay at a 4-star hotel in Times Square, New York City. Includes breakfast and ground transportation from the airport. Add three Broadway shows with $200 seats.
$4,400.
We live in Hawaii, so airfare to MCO or New York are about the same. I am a D23 gold member, subscribe to Disney+, and this is the first time in over 12 years that I’m looking at non-Disney vacation destinations. Being able to take a vacation is a win, but who is the loser here?
Mary Anne, you should really consider going to Disneyland. Airport is 10 min away and you can stay nearby in many different hotels and walk into the parks. Nice for nap time /pool time. We loved taking our little ones there for many years. Disney world is a lot more work.