I am going to echo something that a few people here already aluded to, where are the perks for the resort guests. Universal did it the right way. If you stay at one of the parks you get unlimited front line access to the rides with your room key. While Disney definately couldnt get away with that as there are a heck of a lot more resort guests, they could give some bonus like the ability to hold one or two extra fast passes at any given time.
I stayed in the resorts once and relied on the Disney transportation system and hated it. For me, there is no compelling reason to stay on Disney property. Everytime I go down to Florida now, I rent a car and if I am going to Disney, I just drive on the property and park somewhere. Next year I am actually considering staying at the Portofino and getting the Universal bonuses and hit Disney from there. Pretty sad when you can get better treatment from a non-Disney hotel....