60 Day Window for non-Disney hotels, for example DS hotels

[lanejudy]

Probably showing my age...but I remember having to show a WDW resort card to board the buses. And when you were pretty much guaranteed an ADR if you called from your onsite resort room that morning. Perks change. You weigh the pros and cons, decide what fits your budget and your needs. Nobody is requiring you to stay onsite. We like to stay onsite at moderate or value; however, others like deluxe for a variety of reasons. Again, look at what each offers, balance that with your budget, and decide what works best for you. If 60-day FP+ is your only reason for staying onsite, then an offsite hotel may be a good option for you to save money.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[siren0119]

Someone staying at the Grand Floridian is potentially paying like 8 times the amount per night as someone at an All Star Resort. When you stay at a Disney resort you’re not just paying more for a longer FP window. That’s way too black and white.

At the same time, if you feel like that’s the only thing you’re paying for staying there, it absolutely makes sense to go Good Neighbour or whatever the proper category is called.

This. If the argument that paying more should = exclusivity to FP's holds water, then the folks paying to stay at Value resorts should be given less of an advantage for FP than people paying to stay at deluxe resorts, which is a WHOLE other conversation that could potentially get the thread shut down LOL. Nevermind that it'd be an overly complicated tier system to maintain and way more work than it would be worth. The 30-60-90 day system in place now is about as complicated as I expect it to get.

 

[RamblingMad]

Probably showing my age...but I remember having to show a WDW resort card to board the buses. And when you were pretty much guaranteed an ADR if you called from your onsite resort room that morning. Perks change. You weigh the pros and cons, decide what fits your budget and your needs. Nobody is requiring you to stay onsite. We like to stay onsite at moderate or value; however, others like deluxe for a variety of reasons. Again, look at what each offers, balance that with your budget, and decide what works best for you. If 60-day FP+ is your only reason for staying onsite, then an offsite hotel may be a good option for you to save money.

Enjoy your vacation!

That’s where my head is at. I just skip WDW and go to DL. I didn’t want to pay up for a WDW hotel to get FPs. I find the value and moderates to be equivalent to Motel 6. They’re just not that nice.

With these alternatives, I can get the FPs and not pay up for them. This is ideal.

 

[RamblingMad]

This. If the argument that paying more should = exclusivity to FP's holds water, then the folks paying to stay at Value resorts should be given less of an advantage for FP than people paying to stay at deluxe resorts, which is a WHOLE other conversation that could potentially get the thread shut down LOL. Nevermind that it'd be an overly complicated tier system to maintain and way more work than it would be worth. The 30-60-90 day system in place now is about as complicated as I expect it to get.

You get better than that if you go VIP. I know a few people that have booked VIP tours. But you’re definitely paying up.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

That’s where my head is at. I just skip WDW and go to DL. I didn’t want to pay up for a WDW hotel to get FPs. I find the value and moderates to be equivalent to Motel 6. They’re just not that nice.

With these alternatives, I can get the FPs and not pay up for them. This is ideal.

As someone who stayed at a Motel 6 for one night on the way down, calling at the very least the moderates an equivalent is a disservice to those moderates

 

[siren0119]

You get better than that if you go VIP. I know a few people that have booked VIP tours. But you’re definitely paying up.

For sure, they won't change the booking tiers but they'll sure find ways that you can Pay to Play. DAH and EMM are other ways they get you to pay up to get better access to the rides.

 

[RamblingMad]

As someone who stayed at a Motel 6 for one night on the way down, calling at the very least the moderates an equivalent is a disservice to those moderates

Has Disney upgraded the beds and sheets to something better? My moderate experience was a Motel 6 one.

 

[RamblingMad]

For sure, they won't change the booking tiers but they'll sure find ways that you can Pay to Play. DAH and EMM are other ways they get you to pay up to get better access to the rides.

Lots of uncharges these days. Super frustrating.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

Has Disney upgraded the beds and sheets to something better? My moderate experience was a Motel 6 one.

I don't know. My experience was the beds at both POR (Feb 2019) & CSR (Dec 2019) were both very comfortable whereas Motel 6 felt like they only put on a box spring.

 

[RamblingMad]

I don't know. My experience was the beds at both POR (Feb 2019) & CSR (Dec 2019) were both very comfortable whereas Motel 6 felt like they only put on a box spring.

I remember requesting a topper, walking into a room that smelled like Frebreeze, and finding a qtip in my comforter. It was not a good experience. It was CBR. And I’ve stayed offsite at either the Hyatt or a Universal hotel ever since. Both which had cleaner rooms and nicer beds.

That’s why I was excited to read about these FP 60 day hotels offsite. I’m hoping for a better experience.

 

[Good&Plenty]

siren0119 makes excellent points all around. We like renting a car and being able to use our Hilton points for a completely free stay and free breakfast, plus w/the 60-Day FP+ perks, made it perfect for us. We stayed at the DT DS in 2018 and are returning there next week for another week-long stay. We wouldn't have used the shuttle from the airport, and our kids (elementary school age) didn't know any better (about the "bubble") and were thrilled with the hotel.

 

[curlymom]

We've stayed at the Dolphin and then at the Hilton Buena Vista Place several times, and we've stayed on property. We book the Hilton with hotel points, you can book the Swan/Dolphin with Marriott points - or some other travel points, which is useful. Dolphin uses Disney buses, which is nice, they drop off with the other MK buses.

The Disney Springs hotels that get the 60 day fastpass - the buses are shared with 3 resorts and then they generally take you to 2 parks. They start running later than Disney buses, like an hour before park open officially, but we've had to uber not to miss rope drop b/c the bus was late. They claim to run every 30 minutes, but they don't always. The bus to MK drops at the TTC, not the bus loop - so you have to ferry or monorail into MK and it takes more time. Their bus stops are not covered, which mid-day summer, sucks, also sucks in the rain. The Magic Express doesn't service them, but honestly, I don't see this as a loss b/c lyft/uber is much faster and worth not losing time to me. You also don't get magic bands free. I budget some uber money when we stay at the Disney springs hotels, and they charge resort fees.

We stay at the Disney Springs hotels w/ 60 day fast pass or moderate/deluxe on property, the values are not worth it to me.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

People have different reasons for booking what they book. If access to FP+ were the only criteria, heck, sure, just book DS hotels or values. But, based on occupancy rates, it appears many, many guests have other criteria when booking a hotel for a WDW vacation. For us, it's proximity to parks. We've stayed offsite, we've stayed at values and even at mods and I, personally, don't have the patience for WDW transportation. The faster I can get to the parks, the better and that plays a huge part in our decision making process. It also means we pay far more than we would if we simply booked DS hotels for FP+ 60 day access. I really couldn't care less that they extended that perk to those hotels. There are still plenty of other perks that weren't extended that are worth it to me to pay an upcharge for.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

I remember requesting a topper, walking into a room that smelled like Frebreeze, and finding a qtip in my comforter. It was not a good experience. It was CBR. And I’ve stayed offsite at either the Hyatt or a Universal hotel ever since. Both which had cleaner rooms and nicer beds.

That’s why I was excited to read about these FP 60 day hotels offsite. I’m hoping for a better experience.

Was this before or after the CBR renovations?

 

[RamblingMad]

Was this before or after the CBR renovations?

Before. There was a shower curtain separating the bathroom from the room. It was gaudy.

I was put off by the bad experience. Then the prices went up. And I didn’t want to risk another bad experience. I was even told on the phone that all of the WDW hotels used the same mattress.

Now, before this experience, we stayed at the DL Hotel, and the bed was great. We expected the same mattress and were disappointed.

 

[DrummerBoy523]

Probably showing my age...but I remember having to show a WDW resort card to board the buses. And when you were pretty much guaranteed an ADR if you called from your onsite resort room that morning. Perks change. You weigh the pros and cons, decide what fits your budget and your needs. Nobody is requiring you to stay onsite. We like to stay onsite at moderate or value; however, others like deluxe for a variety of reasons. Again, look at what each offers, balance that with your budget, and decide what works best for you. If 60-day FP+ is your only reason for staying onsite, then an offsite hotel may be a good option for you to save money.

Enjoy your vacation!

of course nobody is requiring me to stay onsite. nobody is requiring me to go, period. That isn't the point and really makes no sense in this discussion. I think you are missing my point.

 

[DrummerBoy523]

Your question implies that the FP window is the only reason to reserve an on-site hotel.

I don't think it does. My question was pretty straightforward. I'm not trying to stir up crap. Disney makes a huge deal about staying onsite and those who stay onsite get the FP+ window and now they are giving it to those who don't. I am honestly trying to figure out what are the other "benefits" to staying onsite.

You mention some good ideas.

 

[RamblingMad]

I don't think it does. My question was pretty straightforward. I'm not trying to stir up crap. Disney makes a huge deal about staying onsite and those who stay onsite get the FP+ window and now they are giving it to those who don't. I am honestly trying to figure out what are the other "benefits" to staying onsite.

You mention some good ideas.

I do like the idea of being able to walk to the hotel because I really hate Disney transportation.

 

[DrummerBoy523]

Someone staying at the Grand Floridian is potentially paying like 8 times the amount per night as someone at an All Star Resort. When you stay at a Disney resort you’re not just paying more for a longer FP window. That’s way too black and white.

At the same time, if you feel like that’s the only thing you’re paying for staying there, it absolutely makes sense to go Good Neighbour or whatever the proper category is called.

Sure, I see your point...they are also getting a much nicer resort, room, amenities and are closer to the park. But Disney advertises that you get all these benefits for staying onsite. I'm just not sure what they are. They have bus service at the Disney Springs resorts, they get the 60 day FP window, hell, they even get Mickey Waffles lol!!

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

Before. There was a shower curtain separating the bathroom from the room. It was gaudy.

I was put off by the bad experience. Then the prices went up. And I didn’t want to risk another bad experience. I was even told on the phone that all of the WDW hotels used the same mattress.

Now, before this experience, we stayed at the DL Hotel, and the bed was great. We expected the same mattress and were disappointed.

I understand being put off by a bad experience, but I can assure you the mattresses currently at CSR and POR (and now most likely CBR after reno) are not the same ones and cleanliness was great. Still, if the price point doesn't work for you and the bad experience isn't something you want to risk, I can get behind not wanting to feel like you wasted money on it.