To Resort or Not to Resort?

[Hudmaster]

As a long time Disney Parks visitor, I've always enjoyed staying onsite at one of the many Disney World Resorts for a variety of reasons. However, as of late, many of those reasons are becoming extinct. Loss of Magical Express, Paying for Resort Parking, Loss of 60 day out Fast Pass. I would love to hear your stance on Disney Resorts vs. Offsite Hotels. Really feeling like the Dis Resorts no longer have enough to offer for their price.

 

[loves to dive]

The bubble. I use Disney transportation, worth it for me not to have to drive my car.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

On-site resorts that I consider "worth it":

• Animal Kingdom Lodge standard view
• Art of Animation
• Caribbean Beach
• Contemporary garden wing
• Coronado Springs Gran Destino Tower
• Fort Wilderness cabins
• Fort Wilderness campground
• Old Key West
• Port Orleans French Quarter
• Port Orleans Riverside
• Saratoga Springs
• Wilderness Lodge

On-site resorts that I don't consider "worth it":

• All-Star Movies
• All-Star Music
• All-Star Sports
• Animal Kingdom Lodge savanna view
• Beach Club
• Boardwalk
• Contemporary tower
• Coronado Springs standard rooms
• Grand Floridian
• Polynesian
• Pop Century
• Riviera
• Yacht Club

All of this assumes minimum 25% discount off of rack rate, and each resort operating at full pre-COVID capacity, including restaurants and daily housekeeping.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Its all about your needs and likes. To us staying at a Disney resort is part of the vacation even without those perks. To others they may just want to be in the parks dusk 'till dawn, so resorts don't make sense for them. Just have to know what you're really after. If we DIDNT love the resorts the way we do we'd get a VRBO house for $300 a night with a private pool 10 minutes away or stay at the Hilton or Hyatt!

 

[Disney.Dreamin.Dee]

Whether onsite or offsite is better is up to the individual and they need to make the best choice for their own situation.

I stayed offsite MANY times. Then I stayed onsite MANY times. Then I stayed offsite because it was an extended family trip so renting a large house and driving was the best option.
What I learned from that trip was I do not like staying offsite anymore.

If we ever drove there again and wanted to go to other attractions etc I'd stay offsite for part of the trip but stay onsite for the Disney portion.

But usually I fly and I only go to Disney.
To me the convenience of not having to "think" about anything once I arrive at the airport is great.
Sure Magical Express will be no more but Mears Connect will essentially be paid DME.
Once onsite you just pick your mode of transport and it takes you where yhou want to go.
Since I don't rent a car I don't pay for parking fees.
FP+ is gone for everyone not just resort guests so that does not make a difference to me.
I do appreciate the new early entry since it does not make one park more crowded on any given day and you don't have to plan your trip around your EMH preferences (We always liked the morning EMH but depending on the days of the week we went we may have had to miss it for a certain park because it just didn't line up with our schedule etc).

I think if I were to stay offsite it would be a Swan/Dolphin so its still very much like being onsite.

 

[Selket]

If you're traveling with older kids or adults who split up from you and want to come and go - onsite is way easier. Otherwise you need to have more than one car, pay more than one parking fee, etc. I also rent an ECV and staying onsite means I don't have to rent a portable one and take it back and forth to the parks. I was looking at staying off-site and in the end it wasn't much cheaper than my onsite value room and I'd still have to drag the ECV back and forth plus deal with other family members who all want to go their own way at different times (late sleepers, early risers, nappers, etc.).

If you're driving or have multiple family members driving down and meeting up... having to pay parking anyway at a resort ... YMMV of course!

 

[BrotherCraig]

We are staying onsite in a couple of weeks but this might be the last time. We stayed offsite late trip and loved it - not a single negative about it. Offsite - we had better rooms, better amenities, better pool, better restaurants around us and onsite, and it was about 1/3 of the cost. This trip coming up - $370 a night for CBR so smaller rooms and less amenities. Onsite has its positives for sure but I prefer offsite. If we can get DVC rental points, we might consider that next trip and just weigh everything out... pros and cons.

 

[wfjny]

Done Disney basically every way possible. From All Starts, to Concierge at the Poly. From a variety of Hilton Brand Hotels, and even rented a house once (before AirBNB). When we were younger, we stayed with a friend’s mom up by the villages.

It is all about what you want.

We own at BLT, so, yeah, we do like staying on property, with the ability to walk to the MK. And with DVC and AP, we do not pay for parking. We drive to the world, so, we do have a vehicle with us.

As someone else stated, yes, if your party is going to split up, staying on property is much easier. And while ME may be gone, you can always uber to and from the airport. Trust me, it is quicker. However, if you are all together, staying off-site can be much cheaper.

Since we have our car, and parking is included, yeah it is easy and cheaper to stay off-site. We tend to do our annual week-long trip staying on property. We tend to take 4-6 long weekend trips and stay off-site.

With the ability to work from home all the time now, the one thing we have not yet done is rent a house for a month. Thinking that may be pretty kool to try. Let friends/family visit as they want. Do Disney like a local. Head to Paris for Dinner, or quite frankly, up to space...

 

[CBMom01]

I'll caveat this by saying I've never stayed offsite.

I adored staying at the Contemporary but there's no way I'm paying $600-800 a night for a standard room there. I'd like to stay at Poly but doubt I could ever be talked into paying for it.

As for the value resorts: I hated at Pop (particularly after leaving Universal Cabana Bay earlier in the week at *less* per night than Pop). I stayed at Allstars after that only because I was with a group and that's what they chose. I disliked that that less than Pop but still don't think it was worth the cost. To me, the values seem like paying extra to stay at a motel with small rooms and take long bus rides every day. I realize the Skyliner changed the math at Pop and AoA a little but I still don't see it.

I've never stayed at a moderate other than the FtW cabins, and though I absolutely loved them I didn't like the travel time involved.

At the same time, I have zero desire to stay offsite and deal with driving plus parking, or uber, or even longer hotel shuttles so I think that means this might be my last trip for a while.

 

[georgina]

We've done it both ways, with more offsite lately. I have no problem driving around the area and we often have a car even when we are onsite. Just stayed at the Swan on Marriott free night certs, would consider staying there again. I have rented DVC points a few times, which is a nice way to stay for less. We have stayed at a some timeshare places which have been fine, and several stays at Flamingo Crossing Marriott properties for much less, with free parking and breakfast. (I almost always stay at Universal resorts with my AP rates the value is much better and I don't need a car there at all because everything is so close.)

 

[happiestpoe]

I like being in the bubble. It's not the most financially sound choice for sure, and as you say, OP, the perks aren't what they used to be. But I want to be ensconced in the WDW bubble and I suppose that makes it 'worth it' for me.

 

[HeatherC]

We are definitely offsite people. We also like to go for at least 10 days and make the resort part of the vacation. Since we have been so many times we no longer feel the need to go commando style all day every day. We love pool days and shopping days and just exploring days. We are also a family of five so we love having a multi bedroom villa with all the extra space. To have that on Disney property would be cost prohibitive to us. Plus the money we save on lodging we would rather spend on eating out or shopping or more days, etc.. Just a personal preference for us.

 

[Lzegar]

We love being in the Disney bubble

 

[colleen.jeanne88]

We just booked to stay on site for the ease. To me, I didnt want to deal with the hassle of commuting on and off property, especially for a first trip for me kids. We booked a split stay between the Poly and AKL and while its pricey, I would rather be in the bubble for their 1st stay. Return trips I would probably be more willing to explore other options- like renting an AirBnB nearby.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

We just booked to stay on site for the ease. To me, I didnt want to deal with the hassle of commuting on and off property, especially for a first trip for me kids. We booked a split stay between the Poly and AKL and while its pricey, I would rather be in the bubble for their 1st stay. Return trips I would probably be more willing to explore other options- like renting an AirBnB nearby.

A split stay on-site at Poly and AKL sounds awesome for the kids. You'll have the MK/EPCOT monorail options part of the trip, and the uniqueness of the AKL for part. Our kids absolutely love AKL - the 2 pools, and of course the animals. Enjoy this trip and see what future trips bring later!

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

As a long time Disney Parks visitor, I've always enjoyed staying onsite at one of the many Disney World Resorts for a variety of reasons. However, as of late, many of those reasons are becoming extinct. Loss of Magical Express, Paying for Resort Parking, Loss of 60 day out Fast Pass. I would love to hear your stance on Disney Resorts vs. Offsite Hotels. Really feeling like the Dis Resorts no longer have enough to offer for their price.

I'm always thinking of this too.
Take into account : a lot of off properties charge a resort fee, possibly a parking fee, you will pay to park at WDW and the trams are not running at this time so get ready to walk. My next vacation I will have to do a financial spreadsheet to see if it's really worth saving a few extra dollars.

 

[kathy884]

You now get to go into the parks a 1/2 hour before regular guests for being onsite. I'm bummed (because I'm choosing to stay offsite that I will no longer have the rope drop advantage as an offsite visitor). For me personally, the premium to stay onsite for me is just too much. I will say that that is a perk that I think keeps you ahead of the crowds. And those Genie and lightening lane reservations at 7 instead of when the park opens could be quite helpful if you want to make sure to hit all the hottest rides.

Past onsite experiences:
-- A lot of stays at Fort Wilderness in my family's motorhome growing up (if you have teens/tweens it's so cool that with the Disney transportation that they can do some going off on their own) // I have to admit that I truly loved our stays there.
-- Two stays at Contemporary hotel (one in side building - one in high tower room) -- both were for four nights when DH had a conference there (his company paid for three of our nights and we did a one day early fourth night at a convention rate). I wasn't overly enamored with the side building. I will say that I absolutely loved the high tower building with the balcony and watching the little water parade from there each night -- my favorite place to stay ever. (Liked it so much that I looked at what it would cost to stay there again on our next Spring Break trip -- It was a budget buster for sure and I said - -Oh I sure loved it, but I would never pay for that on my own).
-- A freebie stay at Port Orleans Riverside (overflow for conference at Contemporary for DH). It was a perfectly nice place, but I was very happy to leave and check into my offsite timeshare rental condo for the remaining part of my stay -- amenities at offsite condo were better (love the extra space and balcony to sit out on too), and I preferred easier access to grocery stores and reasonably priced food (wasn't crazy about the food court on Disney property and found it difficult to get in anywhere for dinner without long waits -- I didn't do advanced dining reservations and it felt like a long way to go to drive offsite). I thought I'd be golden taking the riverboat to downtown Disney and choosing from nice dining places there -- WRONG -- two hour waits or more for dinner everywhere. I was stuck with the food court at the hotel for eating.

Where I mostly stay these days:
-- For week long trips, I often rent offsite condos from timeshare owners on TUG2.net classifed ads section or Redweek.com. In March I am staying for example at a two bedroom at the Sheraton Vistana Resort, not that far from downtown Disney. It's a nice place. (With an owner rental a two bedroom condo here is per night about the same price as a room at the POP).
-- For shorter stays or just two or three people vs. a whole bunch and extended family, my go to these days is the Marriott Residence Inn SeaWorld. (When I have priced it a little less than the All Star Movie value places). I like it that a good breakfast is included and that they have food we like we can buy for dinner (We like to chill at the hotel after a busy theme park day -- hot tub, pool, and have dinner in the common area or in our room). And we like the kichen for snacks, but don't do a big grocery store run or much cooking for a short mini trip.
-- Do note that I do other things than Disney when I am in Orlando and have relatives in the area which means I rent a car too. (next trip I have two Disney theme park days, one theme park day at SeaWorld, two relative visiting days (relative in Orlando on one and relative in Tampa on the other), and one resort day.
-- If not staying onsite Disney or at Disney Springs, budget for uber or rent a car for sure for the convenience. I actually like having a car or using uber more than waiting for Disney shuttles and buses for the convenience. But if you are just doing Disney onsite and Disney Springs would mean you wouldn't need a car and that's another nice perk (not to have to bother with a car or uber/lyft). Although neither is that much of a hassle.

 

[jtopp]

Onsite all the way. For the last 2 years, we have had a short getaway to do the christmas party. We were unable to secure onsite accommodations, so we went offsite on hotel blvd. Both times were less than stellar, with the disney cost without the disney magic.

 

[Celesdragon]

Honestly, I'm seriously considering off-site for the next few years. I think the final straw is the whole 'yes, but now you pay for it outright' with Magical Express/Mears. The resort prices didn't go back down when they cut out airport transportation, so I'm still paying Disney for a perk that I'm now paying someone else as well. All of the perk cuts & price increases have been adding up, as have the resort cost increases in general. A Value room on the resorts is almost the same cost as a moderate/deluxe level equivalent at several off-site resorts. I love the Disney bubble, but until they rebuild some of the magic back into it, I'm heavily weighing my options.

 

[jtopp]

Celesdragon makes a good point. Disney needs to step up with perks and make the experience worth the cost.