What incentives are left to stay on-site?

[FutureDisneyEventPlanner]

So I am staying Moderate next year, but I usually stay Value. I was thinking about a quick trip this year though, staying at a Disney Springs hotel, and it's way better. I get ADRs at 180 days, FPs at 60, Queen beds instead of the awful Doubles at All-Stars and I can walk to Disney Springs...and it's cheaper! I still have to pay for parking, but even then it's only $8 a night.

 

[dansdad]

So I am staying Moderate next year, but I usually stay Value. I was thinking about a quick trip this year though, staying at a Disney Springs hotel, and it's way better. I get ADRs at 180 days, FPs at 60, Queen beds instead of the awful Doubles at All-Stars and I can walk to Disney Springs...and it's cheaper! I still have to pay for parking, but even then it's only $8 a night.

For accuracy purposes only, all 3 of the All Stars will have queens by next year.

 

[FutureDisneyEventPlanner]

For accuracy purposes only, all 3 of the All Stars will have queens by next year.

Yeah I know. Unfortunately they're Murphy beds, which I am not a fan of...even though I know they work for some people.

 

[DisneyArkie]

I’m starting to think I’m reading an anti-Disney website.

 

[dansdad]

Yeah I know. Unfortunately they're Murphy beds, which I am not a fan of...even though I know they work for some people.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Honestly, I have no reason to stay onsite if I have my own vehicle.

If we fly in we will continue to stay onsite. Transportation/location being the main reason.

 

[DISNEY1975]

A shuttle that runs how many times a day? That carries what?

Ive stayed at the Best Western on Hotel Blvd (to go to other Orlando attractions before checking into a Disney hotel) Their buses run every 30 minutes. They are buses, and they carry people. Most, if not all, hotels on hotel blvd are also within walking distance to Disney Springs where you can also gt on a bus. Yes, the buses share parks :00 and :30 go to MK and Epcot, :15 and :45 go to HS and AK. The run for 2 hours after park closing and 1 hour before park closing.

My perk is the hotels themselves. I don't want to stay in an ordinary hotel for a Disney vacation.

Hotels in Bonnet Creek and Hotel Blvd also have Disney gift shops inside, as well as Disney CMs for tickets/reservations etc....

From what Ive seen, all new renovations at the Disney prooperties have seemingly turned them into ordinary hotels.

Yacht Club Before.....

In between...

Yacht Club After....

Poly before...

Poly After...

Pop Century Before...

Pop Century After...

Grand Floridian Before...

Grand Floridian After....

 

[Farro]

Ive stayed at the Best Western on Hotel Blvd (to go to other Orlando attractions before checking into a Disney hotel) Their buses run every 30 minutes. They are buses, and they carry people. Most, if not all, hotels on hotel blvd are also within walking distance to Disney Springs where you can also gt on a bus. Yes, the buses share parks :00 and :30 go to MK and Epcot, :15 and :45 go to HS and AK. The run for 2 hours after park closing and 1 hour before park closing.

Hotels in Bonnet Creek and Hotel Blvd also have Disney gift shops inside, as well as Disney CMs for tickets/reservations etc....

From what Ive seen, all new renovations at the Disney prooperties have seemingly turned them into ordinary hotels.

Yacht Club Before.....

In between...

Yacht Club After....

Poly before...

Poly After...

Pop Century Before...

Pop Century After...

Grand Floridian Before...

Grand Floridian After....

Actually I love the room renovations! We stayed at Poly last October, room decor was great - kitschy Polynesian and really looking forward to Yacht Club and and the new floors - looks quite nautical.

None of the on-site hotels look ordinary to me. Perhaps maybe the values, but they have their own charms.

And it's not just the decor in the room I'm speaking of when I say total immersion, it's all of it. The lobby, the building itself, the cast members (almost all are wonderful), the restaurants, the shops, the music piped in everywhere, the sounds of the boats, fireworks, the noise from the Boardwalk, looking around and just feeling like "aahh, I'm back" ..all of it.

When you walk from the front doors/drop off for Beach Club and head through the sliding doors, you can walk directly across lobby and out the other sliding doors, see the Boardwalk, look towards Epcot and it's like walking into your vacation!
Same with Polynesian - in from front drive out the other side to the water and the castle in the distance. These are my perks.

I realize I sound like a lunatic - but I do have have a grip on reality -
Again, WDW is the only destination that gets these allowances - going to D.C later this year and got a great deal!!!

 

[DisneyArkie]

Yacht Club Reno’s look really nice. I stayed there during the in between pics.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

They look like any other nice hotel room. I see no "Disney" in any of them. Even offsite hotels have some nice Disney themes in the rooms.

 

[yaya74]

I love the look of renovated rooms much better!
My family does not go to Disney often. Our first one as a family was 2016. This upcoming trip is our second one. Our next trip probably won't be until 2022.. We drive instead of flying so we can stay onsite, for the Disney bubble.

 

[DISNEY1975]

None of the on-site hotels look ordinary to me. Perhaps maybe the values, but they have their own charms.

!

Yacht Club Reno’s look really nice. I stayed there during the in between pics.

I love the look of renovated rooms much better!

Im not saying the rooms arent nice, they just dont scream Disney the way they used to. All themes /beds are basically the same. White linen with a different colored throw draped across depending on resort. They are quite ordinary. No difference between these and, say, Hilton Bonnet Creek.....

Same distance as most other mods and values, same bus shuttles to the parks, same Disney gift shops, pool and lazy river better than any other Disney resorts pool area and......about the same price as a value, less than a mod and MUCH less than a deluxe.

 

[Farro]

Im not saying the rooms arent nice, they just dont scream Disney the way they used to. All themes /beds are basically the same. White linen with a different colored throw draped across depending on resort. They are quite ordinary. No difference between these and, say, Hilton Bonnet Creek.....

Same distance as most other mods and values, same bus shuttles to the parks, smae Disney gift shops, pool and lazy river better than any other Disney resorts pool area and......about the same price as a value, less than a mod and MUCH less than a deluxe.

I don't think you understand what I'm saying when I'm describing what the perks/immersion thing means to me, I probably can't post it as well as I think it.

It's okay though, we all like what we like and everything is good.

 

[MemphisVanessa]

The perks for me are:

1. One stop shop for everything we need for the trip. I get to pick our hotel, our ticket package, dining plan, DME, 180+10 ADRs, 60 Day Fastpasses and Magic Bands with ability to charge.
2. I can set up this entire package and make payments on it throughout the year.
3. The dining plan is a biggie for me. Since I pay for our meals months and months ahead of time, I don't get receipt shock during the trip and we can relax and enjoy the moment. I never worry about how much money I'm spending on the meals because it's already been paid.
4. Location is definitely a nice perk. Once DME deposits us at our resort we never leave the bubble. I really enjoy it!
5. Ambience in the resorts themselves. There's a lot of magic in them! POR was such a delight! So much detail in the rooms. The grounds are really beautiful there! POFQ is almost like its own tiny city and I loved walking down the "streets" there. AKL is our favorite resort and you definitely can't get that experience offsite. That place is absolutely amazing and I can't get enough of it!

For us, the perks abound. But, everyone has their own preferences and ideas of what will make them the happiest. Plan your vacation your own way and pick exactly what you want. There are definitely a lot of choices out there.

 

[MemphisVanessa]

Can I just say that the refurbished POP rooms are a million times nicer that they were! The older rooms scare the crap out of me. LOL! I considered doing part of our stay there this year but I'm waiting until all the rooms are finished. They really did a great job with the new design.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

My preferred offsite offsite (not DS) hotel has 2 times to the park and 2 times back. I guess it can work if you're flexible and don't mind losing the first few and last few hours of park time.

Ive stayed at the Best Western on Hotel Blvd (to go to other Orlando attractions before checking into a Disney hotel) Their buses run every 30 minutes. They are buses, and they carry people. Most, if not all, hotels on hotel blvd are also within walking distance to Disney Springs where you can also gt on a bus. Yes, the buses share parks :00 and :30 go to MK and Epcot, :15 and :45 go to HS and AK. The run for 2 hours after park closing and 1 hour before park closing.

Hotels in Bonnet Creek and Hotel Blvd also have Disney gift shops inside, as well as Disney CMs for tickets/reservations etc....

Do those locations also allow scooters on the bus, without having to disassemble it?

 

[bigbabyblues]

We couldn't find a compelling reason to stay onsite this coming trip, and we probably won't again for a long time. We mostly stayed at the moderate resorts, values before that. The main reason we booked offsite to start with is because our kids won't share a bed and we don't want to be crammed into one room (privacy). We cannot afford a DVC unit and would not rent points.

Magical Express - great perk, but only if you fly. We don't.
Disney transportation - We will miss this if our kids want to go back to the resort before we do. However, now that our oldest is 17 and drives, they can take the car back and we can Uber.
Magic bands - we have some from last trip, and they are only $12 online. Nice, but not a big benefit.
180 ADRs - We booked our trip at 102 days and only made 2 ADRs anyway.
Room charging - We will miss this
Dining plan - hasn't made financial sense for the last six trips, so we don't use it
Free parking at the parks ($22/day) - we used this, but it would have been basically a wash since we would have to pay $19/day to park at a moderate resort.
60-day FP - This will be the worst part for us, I think. We are staying at WH, so it is 30 days for us. However, we have 9 park days, so I'm hopeful that it will work out.

 

[DISNEY1975]

Do those locations also allow scooters on the bus, without having to disassemble it?

Not sure. I wasnt paying attention and never took the park shuttles. I was there for 4 nights while visiting Discovery Cove (Fantastic park), Sea World and Aquatica (both free with Discover Cove ticket)

Is your scooter allowed on the Disney bus?

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Not sure. I wasnt paying attention and never took the park shuttles. I was there for 4 nights while visiting Discovery Cove (Fantastic park), Sea World and Aquatica (both free with Discover Cove ticket)

Is your scooter allowed on the Disney bus?

Yes. I pull right on, park and pull off.

Park transportation is at the top of the list of perks for us.

 

[Lexx1214]

For us the perks include:

1. One stop shop. Love being able to book the entire package and pre pay months in advance. Saves a lot of worry and planning. Everything is done and all on MDE.
2. Dinning Plans. While many argue it doesn’t save money, it does for us and we get the DxDP. We book Signature Dining and DH and I always tend to go for the most expensive dishes. I’ve done the cost comparison and it works - for us. Though if paying out of pocket I highly doubt we would book signature, add appetizers or desserts and we would probably be more cost conscious in our choices of entrees. Having the DxDP purchased and paid for in advance gives us the freedom to eat what we want (on vacation of course). And we love the convenience of it all being pre paid and not even having to think about the cost while on vacation because we’ve already gone through the sticker shock.
3. Transportation. I love the Disney transportation system. Great after a long day in the parks when no feels like driving. Great when you go out for a grown up evening and you’ve both had a drink or two (we never get drunk, but neither of us while drive if we’ve had a drink). Sure we could cab or Uber but that would be another cost we’d have to budget.
4. Immersion. Not so much for DH, but I love being in the World from start to finish. I find it really takes me out of my day-to-day and lets me live in a different place if even for a few days
5. Disney Quality. Ok this is debatable. There are a ton of hotels that have incredible service and quality. DH has unfortunately not had that experience when staying off site as his ex did not put the research into it and they ended up at some really shoddy places (I’ve always stayed on site). I’m sure I could find a great hotel but I know that the quality I’ll get is always going to be amazing - even at a dated Value resort. I’ll take that confidence in service and quality over doing the extra leg work.

DH and I are going in September and staying at POP (can’t wait to see the newly renovated rooms). We booked last October so we won’t be paying parking this trip. Flying is not an option for us as DH doesn’t fly and since we are Canadian we have about a 24 hour drive - this also means our trip costs a lot more with the exchange. We’re already looking at the next trip and the extra parking fees are hard to swallow. We will still stay at Disney but it may mean we down grade to DDP or we skip the Memory Maker.