On-site benefits?

[JakeAZ]

Are there any? Aside from convenience?

As we head into a better (hopefully) 2021, I am hopeful Disney does something to make staying on site more attractive.

Paying 5 star prices for 3 star (at best) accommodations, was always "justified" by the added perks you got (60 day FP / early entry mostly). But then all the nearby hotels got the same benefits, so those became watered down. Now that neither of those exist, you can stay off-site and use the savings to add in a couple Universal days or extra Disney days (with none of the lodging budget going to Disney).

I get it, some prefer to "stay in the magic" and I absolutely understand that. But for a lot people, money will do the talking next year.

Hopefully Disney will address this.

 

[Robo]

Disney's Magical Express to and from the airport.

 

[hereforthechurros]

They’re doing character visits at the resorts if that does anything for you/your family.

 

[JenBush]

Transportation is really the only benefit right now. Disney likes when guests stay on site and spend all their vacation money with them rather than somewhere offsite. I think they’ll start adding benefits back when capacity increases and they need to fill more rooms.

 

[Aimeedyan]

If you're an AP, it's a pretty big benefit right now because of how park reservations are being handled.

 

[JakeAZ]

DME and characters are nice, but do they justify the added expense? I guess it all depends on what you value.

Here's somethings they can offer. Stay X number of nights or more at a deluxe and get:

a set time for RotR?
an early window for dining reservations?
true park hopping?

Charging the same, for less....will only work for so long. The diehards will go, but I think people are going to be much more cogocnizant of where they spend money and more importantly, how much they spend on vacations.

There is going to be a ton of competition from vacation destinations in 2021 / 2022. They all want / need our money. Disney has the name and they will always get those "once a lifetime trips", but what about the family that goes every year? Maybe they want to spend that money on a great deal they found for an all-inclusive tropical island trip? Or, maybe they will go, but just rent a house nearby.

Time will tell.

 

[loves to dive]

For me it's always been about location and the WDW transportation. We have been going since 1983 and only stayed off site once, swore we would never do it again because I hated driving to the parks. We always have a car with us but park it and never get in it again until we leave. We didn't use any of the other benefits except free MBs. We never book FPs or ADRs early, usually day of , sometime FPs day before. We do sometimes use the EMHs but it's not a big deal for us.

 

[gatorlisa]

From my viewpoint, there is no benefit to on site at the moment. I'm an AP who lives a 7 hour drive away, and who has only long weekend trips planned for the remainder of my pass. On site I pay more for a smaller room and I have to pay for parking at the hotel. Off site I pay less for a larger room with free hotel parking. I get free parking at the parks regardless. No FPs right now, no EMH right now, I prefer not to use mass transportation so would be driving myself from hotel to park even if on site. From my perspective, there's just no benefit. I'm able to book my 3 days of park reservations for my 3 full days there and I'm willing to roll the dice as to whether I'll be able to get a park reservation for our last partial day after our first day is comple. We did a 4 night, 3.5 park day trip in mid October staying at a nearby Homewood Suites in a one bedroom suite for $74 a night. Had no trouble getting a reservation for AK on our departure day after our first park day was complete.

 

[JakeAZ]

From my viewpoint, there is no benefit to on site at the moment. I'm an AP who lives a 7 hour drive away, and who has only long weekend trips planned for the remainder of my pass. On site I pay more for a smaller room and I have to pay for parking at the hotel. Off site I pay less for a larger room with free hotel parking. I get free parking at the parks regardless. No FPs right now, no EMH right now, I prefer not to use mass transportation so would be driving myself from hotel to park even if on site. From my perspective, there's just no benefit. I'm able to book my 3 days of park reservations for my 3 full days there and I'm willing to roll the dice as to whether I'll be able to get a park reservation for our last partial day after our first day is comple. We did a 4 night, 3.5 park day trip in mid October staying at a nearby Homewood Suites in a one bedroom suite for $74 a night. Had no trouble getting a reservation for AK on our departure day after our first park day was complete.

And there it is. Money that would have normally made its way into Disney's bank account, is going elsewhere. I'm sure they still got you for food and extras, but lodging is a huge part of their revenue stream.

I've been checking a few weeks in 2021 we're considering for our 2020 rebook and the pricing makes no sense based on all the question marks. $650 a night for a garden view at Contemporary? A one or two bedroom suite, off-site, for half the price is looking better and better. We'll probably be able to sleep in longer if we use Lyft vs waking up to the lines for buses!

If we end up staying on property, we will most likely rent DVC points. More bang for your buck, but again, that's lost revenue for Disney.

I know they know this, so hopefully things will come back around.

If there is one thing Disney knows...it's how to get people to spend money with them!

I've taught my two sons the reason it's called the "Magic Kingdom" is because you walk in with a full wallet and when you leave, it's empty! Magic!

 

[gharter]

the benefits are definitely less than in past years.
DME, on site transportation, enjoying the theme of a Disney resort .
For us, onsite is still worth it, YMMV.

 

[WawaCoffee]

Staying in the bubble is priceless, IMO. Especially the monorail resorts.

On vacation, the last thing I want to do is deal with Orlando traffic... or driving in general. The ability to hop on a bus, monorail, boat, or Skyliner and be back in your room in just a few minutes is part of the experience.

 

[JakeAZ]

For us, onsite is still worth it, YMMV.

On vacation, the last thing I want to do is deal with Orlando traffic... or driving in general. The ability to hop on a bus, monorail, boat, or Skyliner is part of the experience.

Totally get it.

 

[gharter]

The ability to hop on a bus, monorail, boat, or Skyliner and be back in your room in just a few minutes is part of the experience.

Its part of what we love. An entire week of not driving anywhere - priceless.

 

[wilbret]

We are weekend warriors like the poster above. We will stay onsite until our DVC points are used up, and the only way I will stay onsite other than that is if I find a killer...and I mean killer...deal. I have only found a price I'm willing to pay (for a family of 5) twice... I can't justify spending per night what I can get somewhere else (and often 2 rooms, free breakast, points, etc) for the same price for an entire weekend.

When they opened Galaxy's edge... the 6am park entry was AMAZING, but they have really chipped away at EMH overall (not including pandemic hours).

Universal is a different story. Walking to the parks and to City Walk? Yep. Free Unlimited Express Passes? Yep. I think it's worth the cost, at least for the days you are going to the parks.

 

[Johnnyd]

At the moment my opinion is that offsite options are the best value with only a little inconvenience. I just bought a vacation condo within 15 minutes of any parking lot in any park. My drive to AK averages 8 minutes. I can park there and use the buses otherwise. Renters are generally paying under $100 per night all in for 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, and a water view screened balcony. I even think I’ll catch a glimpse of the HS fireworks when those shows return. I have zero buyer’s remorse.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

We weighed the pros (not many) and cons of staying on property next August. Since we feel more comfortable driving ourselves to the parks during this time, that crossed off the only "pro" on the list. Hotels and resorts all around Disney are offering some fantastic rates, so we are taking advantage of that and staying off property close to DS. We have a two bedroom suite for $107/night, splitting the cost with my parents. Even with the resort fees we are saving tons of money, and considering that the economy is still quite precarious, a cheaper vacation, in our eyes, is kind of wise. We also now have a full kitchen for breakfasts and dinners, which is great because our park days will be shorter anyway with our toddler daughter in tow.

 

[JakeAZ]

Universal is a different story. Walking to the parks and to City Walk? Yep. Free Unlimited Express Passes? Yep. I think it's worth the cost, at least for the days you are going to the parks.

100%
Plus they still offer early admission for resort guests.

 

[kylenne]

It's funny, you say all these things that are perfectly logical, and reasonable, and I hear what everyone is saying, and yet...it doesn't matter to me. If a hotel was just a place for me to sleep and shower between hitting the parks then sure, I'd be on Team Offsite right now. Transportation is really the only practical argument for staying on site now imo. But that's never been the case for me, even pre-pandemic. Since I started going more frequently as an AP, the resort is even more important to me, as much as the parks. And I always valued the Bubble, but I think I might value it even more nowadays.

After such a terrible year, all I want is to be back on property in a Disney resort. I want to get an overpriced refill mug and have the resort TV on while I shower (though I will have to bring up poor Stacy on my laptop I guess). I want to walk downstairs and watch the sun come up on Seven Seas Lagoon from the beach. Sit on my balcony with a cup of tea and watch the world go by on the Boardwalk. Just put the magic in my veins, lol. And there is nothing less magical to me than fighting traffic coming out of MK and slogging down Orlando roads back to a chain hotel/timeshare resort. Last time offsite was 2016 and I swore never again as long as I held the purse strings (I didn't on that trip). I just didn't enjoy myself as much and it didn't work well with my preferred touring style of frequent resort breaks.

Of course it's pretty easy for me to say that, since I'm a dreaded Childless Millennial and I'm either solo or with my partner. And that's not to say I'm happy with the cuts...RAC in particular is something that spoiled me and I took for granted. I really hope they start restoring the benefits or coming up with new ones. (Heck when I was a kid EMH didn't exist, you just got to go an hour earlier and stay an hour later at all parks daily)

But now more than ever, even without the extra perks, I want to stay on property.

 

[cjlong88]

We stayed offsite for the first time back in August and we will stay offsite again in February.

The sole reason we made this decision is because we chose to rent a car. Driving ourselves to the parks is safer than taking public transport, we also have a little bit more control on when we arrive to the parks.

While I have to pay for parking, the money I’m saving on the hotel alone far outweighs a parking fee at WDW each day. Even when you factor in the car rental, gas, tolls, etc. I still come ahead in price.

With no FP or EMH and with transportation lines getting long due to social distancing, it was a no-brainer for us to stay offsite on our last visit and our upcoming visit.

Now, would I prefer to stay on property? ABSOLUTELY. I love the feeling you get when onsite. It’s so magical and really feels special. The convenience of it all is terrific. But right now we can save so much more money that it’s allowing us to visit more frequently. And those conveniences aren’t feeling so convenient to us when we want our own mode of transport for the time being.

 

[Juventus]

I don't consider transportation much of a perk; other than MK, I prefer driving (I'm usually staying 7-8 minutes away). I rope drop so I usually have a good parking spot (no trams).

But for MK, I prefer on site transportation.