Onsite Stay perks

[disneymayz]

I was going to send Disney an email but I knew I would get the generic response so what's the point. What really is the advantage of staying onsite?
Now have to pay to park
Now have many "offsite" hotels able to book FP at 60 days making it harder to get FP

Really the only thing I can think of, is the extra magic hour.

Can you think of anything else?

 

[crvetter]

Well to the “offsite” hotels that currently have access to 60 day FastPasses is the Disney Springs hotel. Rumor is (though not confirmed yet) is the Hilton Bonnet Creek and Waldorf Astoria will get the 60 days. All these hotels are technically on Disney property. Also Shades of Green has access.

As for Magic Hours all the hotels above have access to them.

As for staying on site you have proximity and transportation and no resort fee (those hotels, except Shades of Green, charge a daily resort fee). Those would be the biggest perks in my opinion. You also pay to park at the resort but not at the Park. The hotels mentioned above have to pay at both.

Also the Swan and Dolphin share a special relationship with Disney and has most of the perks aside from magical express and room charging. It does have access Disney provides transportation to the parks.

 

[Toolulu22]

I was going to send Disney an email but I knew I would get the generic response so what's the point. What really is the advantage of staying onsite?
Now have to pay to park
Now have many "offsite" hotels able to book FP at 60 days making it harder to get FP

Really the only thing I can think of, is the extra magic hour.

Can you think of anything else?

If you can’t come up with any other advantages to staying onsite then don’t try to convince yourself to do so. Save yourself a heap of cash and stay offsite.

Everyone has their own list of pros and cons and makes their decisions based on their own situation. Sprinkle in some pixy dust and ....

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Note that you'll pay theme park parking staying off-site, which tends to be pricier than the parking for the Disney hotel. Be sure also to include the parking fees for the off-site hotel as well. It may still be cheaper if you stay off-site, but you do need to factor both costs in.

 

[cincystamper]

Staying onsite means you can charge back to your room and have packages delivered from the parks to the resort, too.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

A lot of the offsite hotels charge parking and/or resort fees too. The number 1 perk to staying onsite IMO is park proximity and use of their transportation system so I don’t have to drive. We never stayed onsite during any of the several trips pre-kid, but pretty much always do now. He has a very low amount of park tolerance. 4 or 5 hours usually. Being able to hop back on a boat or bus for a nice resort break and feel like we’re still immersed in Disney is worth it for us.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

For us, in terms of cost:
CBR (with military discount) =(or at least close enough) off site hotel (equitable facility or better) + rental car + parking + tolls + gas

By staying on site, we get 60 day FP, DME, not having to drive while on vacation, EMH (maybe, often doesn't work for us because of how limited they are)

If we were to drive to FL, we would stay offsite most likely

 

[Tigger's ally]

Biggest perk for me is I can park my car in the lot and never get back into it until it is time to head back home in Illinois. And when we fly, magical express is the biggest perk because I hate renting vehicles.

 

[MousetersInc]

What if the hotel in question were somewhere completely different—say the Grand Canyon? I think the important question would be whether you'd say, "As long as we're going to the Grand Canyon, we can stay in this hotel that's an attraction in itself!" or whether you'd prefer to save money or use the money in other ways by staying at a cheaper place. A heavily-themed resort like WL can be seen as part of the vacation. Now, is it worth it? If the money you save could be turned into an additional day of park, is that better? Those are questions everybody answers differently. But ultimately the best justification of Disney hotels is whether it's a hotel you would pick for its own qualities even if it wasn't at Disney World.

 

[nkereina]

I think these are the objective perks exclusive to staying on-site:

• Magical Express / Luggage handling from airport
• Resort Airline Check-In
  
• Dining Plan
• 180+10 ADRs
• Free Magic Bands
• Charging privileges via magic band
• Sending purchases back to your resort
• 60 Day FP+ (also available at Good Neighbor Hotels)
• Extra Magic Hours (also available at Good Neighbor Hotels)

The subjective perks to staying on-site, IMO are:

• Disney transportation - anyone can use it, but its far more convenient using it when you can just walk out of your hotel room and hop on the bus, boat, or monorail to the park.
• Easy and quick to take mid-day breaks which makes everything more tolerable and relaxed.
  
• Disney theming and immersive experience - "the bubble".
• Can be a mostly all-inclusive style of vacation - we rarely leave property and usually get a dining plan, so our biggest expenses are paid for in advance.
• Escape reality - its the best way for us to escape life for a while, not having to worry about real world things like traffic, commutes, grocery shopping... random things that go along with day to day life are avoided.

That's everything that comes to mind at the moment. The subjective perks will vary greatly by family, vacation style, and budget. Its up to you to determine if the objective perks are worth any value to you.

 

[disneymayz]

Thanks for all your inputs. As you can see from my signature I stay onsite close to 100% of the time. It just seems that the "perks" are getting less and less. The biggest one that gets my blood boiling is the parking at the resort. Thanks again!!!

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I was going to send Disney an email but I knew I would get the generic response so what's the point. What really is the advantage of staying onsite?
Now have to pay to park
Now have many "offsite" hotels able to book FP at 60 days making it harder to get FP

Really the only thing I can think of, is the extra magic hour.

Can you think of anything else?

Transportation to the parks, free parking at the parks (I sometimes drive when I want the convenience of not wanting to wait for buses), and those off-site hotels are affiliated with Disney, so in my opinion, not a big deal.

 

[k5xs]

We always stay on property

1. It’s part of the Disney experience. You’re AT Walt Disney World 24x7. This is more than just theming, it’s leaving the world out THERE and being HERE.

2. Transportation to the parks. If you aren’t driving, you’ll be relying on bus transportation, and the bus drop-off for off-property hotels seem more remote than those for WDW resorts. This is really visible at Epcot.

3. Package delivery to your room.

4. Using your magic band to conveniently charge food, beverage, and merchandise at the resort.

5. Being there.

 

[georgina]

I think these are the objective perks exclusive to staying on-site:

• Extra Magic Hour
• Magical Express / Luggage handling from airport
• Resort Airline Check-In
  
• Dining Plan
  
• Free Magic Bands
• Charging privileges via magic band
• Sending purchases back to your resort

The subjective perks to staying on-site, IMO are:

• Disney transportation - anyone can use it, but its far more convenient using it when you can just walk out of your hotel room and hop on the bus, boat, or monorail to the park.
• Easy and quick to take mid-day breaks which makes everything more tolerable and relaxed.
  
• Disney theming and immersive experience - "the bubble".
• Can be a mostly all-inclusive style of vacation - we rarely leave property and usually get a dining plan, so our biggest expenses are paid for in advance.
• Escape reality - its the best way for us to escape life for a while, not having to worry about real world things like traffic, commutes, grocery shopping... random things that go along with day to day life are avoided.

That's everything that comes to mind at the moment. The subjective perks will vary greatly by family, vacation style, and budget. Its up to you to determine if the objective perks are worth any value to you.

I think this is a good summary! There are so many variables. I have been staying offsite more. I will really only miss EMH. I have several magic bands. Just booked one of the Marriott hotels at Flamingo Crossing for October for $125/nt plus tax. Free parking, free breakfast, easy access to the parks from Western Way. I will probably visit Disney parks 3 days including the Halloween party, and Universal parks 3 days. Driving to the parks does not bother me and I usually use a Disney GC to pay for meals and parking.

We stayed offsite for our February trip (for free using Marriott points) and I was able to get FP for everything except SDD. It was easy to take mid-day breaks also, the last weekend in Feb was very hot! I love the Boardwalk for easy Epcot access, but it is way too pricy to me for a solo trip or non-special occasion. I have stayed at Pop which is fine if I am only doing Disney, but the bus service when the parks close is not good.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We were die-hard onsite people for 10 trips and I said I'd never stay offsite. Since we drive down, Magical Express, Luggage handling, and RAC weren't a perk at all. After they added the resort parking fee, we were down to EMH (which we had NEVER used and didn't plan to), free magic bands, charging to the room and sending purchases back to the resort.

Those weren't enough, so we stayed offsite in a condo at Windsor Palms and loved it. Yes, we paid for our magic bands and paid to park daily (at that time, it was either $1/day more or less than parking at a moderate resort, so it was basically a wash). We used Apple Pay for everything, which was almost as easy as charging to a magic band, and we shopped as we were leaving the parks.

Everyone has their limit, you just have to decide what yours is. If onsite is still worth it for what you get, then it works. If not, there are other (cheaper) options. Something for everyone.

 

[rosiebean]

I like to take midday breaks at my hotel when at WDW, so proximity to my room from parks (deluxe resorts) or not having to drive/park multiple times per day by using WDW buses (mods/deluxes) make onsite stays worth it to me. I like not having to drive at all when I’m on vacation, so being able to hop on a bus, boat, monorail to go to get back to my room or go to dinner is lovely. I also like the theming at most WDW resorts compared to those offsite.

I have stayed offsite before and I found the parking/driving tedious and very tiring, felt compelled to stay at the parks all day to avoid driving back and forth, and didn’t enjoy hanging out at the hotels (which felt like they could be anywhere). Basically, the savings offsite weren’t so great that they made up for the parts I didn’t enjoy.

 

[Searc]

I think these are the objective perks exclusive to staying on-site:

• Extra Magic Hour
• Magical Express / Luggage handling from airport
• Resort Airline Check-In
  
• Dining Plan
  
• Free Magic Bands
• Charging privileges via magic band
• Sending purchases back to your resort

The subjective perks to staying on-site, IMO are:

• Disney transportation - anyone can use it, but its far more convenient using it when you can just walk out of your hotel room and hop on the bus, boat, or monorail to the park.
• Easy and quick to take mid-day breaks which makes everything more tolerable and relaxed.
  
• Disney theming and immersive experience - "the bubble".
• Can be a mostly all-inclusive style of vacation - we rarely leave property and usually get a dining plan, so our biggest expenses are paid for in advance.
• Escape reality - its the best way for us to escape life for a while, not having to worry about real world things like traffic, commutes, grocery shopping... random things that go along with day to day life are avoided.

That's everything that comes to mind at the moment. The subjective perks will vary greatly by family, vacation style, and budget. Its up to you to determine if the objective perks are worth any value to you.

Most of the DS hotels get EMH, too.

 

[MarkinNM]

The biggest one that gets my blood boiling is the parking at the resort. Thanks again!!!

Meh, dont get all caught up in that as this is happening EVERYWHERE! We were in Las Vegas 2 mths ago and EVERY PLACE charges a parking fee, seems to be the going thing, just like the silly "baggage fee" airlines do now...........just like taxes, pay and move on....

 

[nkereina]

Most of the DS hotels get EMH, too.

Yes, but those hotels don't receive the other benefits I listed. And EMH is still a perk of an onsite resort, even if the good neighbor hotels get it as well.

 

[epcotobsessed]

For me it's being able to walk to Epcot (and to a much lesser extent, Hollywood Studios, which has gone down in appeal for me over the years but that's a different story). Magical Express, magic bands charging, 60 day FPs - these are all nice but are outweighed by the many perks of my favorite offsite resort. However, nothing beats being a 3 minute walk to Epcot, speaking for my family, so we will always do at least a partial stay at BC or YC.