Non-Disney Off-Site Resorts Are Now Part of Disney's Reservation System And Entitled to On-Site Resort benefits Such as Early Park Entry.

[drusba]

Maybe I was just asleep and did not notice this before and just recently I noticed it. Go to MyDisneyExperience and open "Places to Stay" at the top, and then start opening what is listed under "More Great Accomodations." What you will learn is that many nearby off-site hotels and resorts not owned by Disney are now in the Disney systems and guests can use the Disney reservation system to make reservations for those hotels and resorts. Also, guests from those hotels/resorts are getting benefits previously reserved to on-site WDW guests such as early park entry, see disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/early-entry/.

Have not yet looked for more possible changes, e.g., are those hotel/resort guests going to be able to get any after-hour park entries? If this was something known before, can someone provide when it was first announced. Moreover, it would be nice to know what deal was cut between the off-site hotels/resorts and Disney to have this happen,

 

[Brian Noble]

many nearby off-site hotels and resorts not owned by Disney are now in the Disney systems and guests can use the Disney reservation system to make reservations for those hotels and resorts

I think the ability to book directly is new, but I am not sure.

guests from those hotels/resorts are getting benefits previously reserved to on-site WDW guests such as early park entry, see disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/early-entry/.

This part is not new, and has been true for a while. There have been at least a handful of non-Disney resorts that had some (but not all) of the onsite privileges. Shades of Green and the Swolphin trio have pretty much always been in that list, as have one or two of the upper-end Downtown Disney-area hotels (I remember a Hilton in that set back in the mid-aughts, but don't quote me). It looks as though the current set are all either the Disney Springs-area resorts (presumably wthin the CFTOD and paying some form of rent to WDW), and the Bonnet Creek resorts not named Wyndham (which is persona non grata).

I don't know the details of the relationship, but almost certainly money is flowing from the eligible non-Disney resorts to WDW in one form or another.

are those hotel/resort guests going to be able to get any after-hour park entries?

A small subset do: the Swolphin trio and Shades. Again, these (previously three, now four) have been eligible for these sorts of perks as long as I can remember.

Details here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/extended-evening/

 

[JackosinDIS]

I did not know these hotels were part of the reservation system. But they have been entitled to early entry (and some of them to extended evening hours) for a while now.

 

[drusba]

I knew of Swan/Dolphin and Shades of Green long ago. S/D have been treated much like Disney resorts from their beginning when they became resorts in1990 via a 100-year lease with Disney. Shades of Green is similar although it was originally a Disney resort called the Golf Resort, and then later the Disney Inn (at which we stayed once), and then was transferred via a 100-year lease to the government in 1994 to become an Armed Forces Recreation Center. For each of those, Disney remains the owner that has leased the property to others, and those have always technically been considered as on-site resorts. I assume the same is true for Four Seasons which is another that is actually onsite via a lease from Disney. The others that are now part of Disney's reservation system were, as far as I am aware, built by non-Disney companies on off-site land not owned by Disney.

And JackosinDIs], do you know of posts, announcements, or documents that indicates when non-Disney resorts, other than S/D and Shades, first became entitled to early entry and after-hours entries?

 

[Brian Noble]

Per the Wayback Machine's copy of MouseSavers, the Downtown Disney Hilton had access since at least 2012. I'm pretty sure it goes back quite a bit earlier than that.

http://web.archive.org/web/20120805...-world-area-preferred-hotel-discounts/#expand

 

[drusba]

Per the Wayback Machine's copy of MouseSavers, the Downtown Disney Hilton had access since at least 2012. I'm pretty sure it goes back quite a bit earlier than that.

http://web.archive.org/web/20120805...-world-area-preferred-hotel-discounts/#expand

I am learning new things I never knew before, and probably did not pay attention to because they were not onsite Disney resorts. I always had the impression that early entry was limited only to on-site resorts. I would really like to know the undoubtedly never-to-be-revealed negotiations and the agreement reached that led to Disney's adding offsite resorts to the Disney reservation system -- and when you read descriptions about those resorts contained in the Disney resort section, you get the impression they are good resorts comparable to Disney resorts, except for probably being less expensive.

 

[CarolynFH]

I thought that the land along Hotel Plaza Blvd. was owned by Disney and leased to the hotels there, which received certain privileges for that reason. There used to be a large WDW welcome sign across Hotel Plaza Blvd. near the intersection with 535, which I thought signified we were entering WDW when we crossed it in past years. So I don’t think it’s new for the DS hotels to have ETPE. But being able to book them via the WDW website is new to me.

 

[aam808]

Here's a list,
Early entry....
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/early-entry/

Extended hours...
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/extended-evening/

 

[JackosinDIS]

And JackosinDIs], do you know of posts, announcements, or documents that indicates when non-Disney resorts, other than S/D and Shades, first became entitled to early entry and after-hours entries?

I don’t know when they first became entitled, but I stayed at the Waldorf in 2022 and we got early entry then. It was not entitled to extended evening hours (and still isn’t as far as I know)

 

[Chuck S]

I'm kind of surprised the Four Season isn;t on the list for extended hours.

 

[GrumpyInPhilly]

I'm kind of surprised the Four Season isn;t on the list for extended hours.

I agree but maybe they figure people staying there just do the VIP tour.

 

[Brian Noble]

Here's what I assume: WDW offers the program to some set of area hotels based on some criteria. Hotels that take WDW up on the offer have to pay some fee for the privilege, probably based on either the total rooms in the property, or the booked guest-nights. (I'd wager the former, as the latter is pretty sensitive information that one might not want to reveal to a competitor.) It is probalby not reuqired that a hotel participate once offered, even if they are within the boundaries of CFTOD.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Do these hotels (I know swolphin does) give you the 7 day early LLMP + length of trip reservation benefit?