Onsite worth the extra 30 minutes?

[EllenMurphy]

Sorry, I am posting a lot but I am a Disney newbie so a lot is confusing to me. Is it worth staying onsite for the 30 minutes. I am still learning towards Bonnet Creek because I love the extra space of a suite and everything offered but is not having those 30 minutes staying onsite going to mess up our Disney travelling?

 

[lovethesun12]

Doesn't Bonnet Creek guests receive the 30 minutes as well?

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/guest-services/early-entry/

 

[Average Joes]

I believe that you have to stay on the Hilton part of Bonnet Creek to get the 30 minutes. Not the larger timeshare part.

When do you go? Get Genie + and a good touring plan. Touringplans has some articles about what the 30 minutes gets you.

 

[lovethesun12]

I believe that you have to stay on the Hilton part of Bonnet Creek to get the 30 minutes. Not the larger timeshare part.

When do you go? Get Genie + and a good touring plan. Touringplans has some articles about what the 30 minutes gets you.

I would agree in that case. Doesn't seem like much point for just 30 minutes if you are getting genie+.

 

[EllenMurphy]

I believe that you have to stay on the Hilton part of Bonnet Creek to get the 30 minutes. Not the larger timeshare part.

When do you go? Get Genie + and a good touring plan. Touringplans has some articles about what the 30 minutes gets you.

We go November but haven't picked when. Not around any of the American holidays.

 

[BingoJoe]

They extended the 30 mins to an hour recently. But nah, on its own it isn't worth it. The deluxe extra opening time at night is great though.

 

[EllenMurphy]

They extended the 30 mins to an hour recently. But nah, on its own it isn't worth it. The deluxe extra opening time at night is great though.

I wish I could afford deluxe but our Disney onsite budget is value. I prefer to NOT share a room with my kids as they wake me up but I didn't know if staying offsite would make disney days more difficult. I have never been. We will have a car.

 

[wildpony]

I stayed off site in November. We used the savings for individual lightning lanes and Genie+. We still did rope drops though and found this to be best way to maximize time. At MK the onsite guests start earlier but only on the right side of the park. If you are there for park opening go left and you get to be first for Frontierland and Adventureland.
Park closing is also a great way to avoid lines.

 

[Donald - my hero]

You've answered the question yourself! Those value resort rooms are TINY for 2 people never mind a family, I don't care how much time it might save, you will be on top of each other, ALL.THE.TIME!! There's no way that your kids won't keep you awake or wake you up, same goes for when anyone flushes one of the jet propelled toilets or goes in and out of their rooms. If your sleep is easily disturbed staying on site isn't worth ANY benefit you will gain. Since you've never been before you have the advantage of not having previous experiences to compare to and won't know what you *might* be missing. Truthfully, I don't think 30 minutes would be a huge advantage if you are relying on Disney transportation (most do when staying on site) because you're at the mercy of buses. I think you'd be happier staying off-site, realizing that the Bonnet Creek might as well be ONSITE, take a look at Google Earth and see where it is in comparison to some of the value resorts.

You will have a great trip but if you're tired from your kids bothering your sleep you won't enjoy it quite as much. Not ideal to come home from a holiday needing time off to recover!

 

[PetePanMan]

I believe in addition to early entry, Disney resort guests can also book their first lightening lane attraction (under G+) at 7am rather than park opening time.

 

[romanr27]

I believe in addition to early entry, Disney resort guests can also book their first lightening lane attraction (under G+) at 7am rather than park opening time.

I believe everyone can book their first Lightning Lane but only on-site guests can purchase the ILL at 7am vs. park opening.

 

[FreddyDiser]

Imo staying on site isn't worth it anymore , unless you feel very strongly about having the full disney experience and no car. There are resorts off property that are nearly as close with park shuttles.

 

[_19disnA]

Staying off-site is generally a LOT cheaper and often has more space. You can also rent a local house that provides much more room. We have done both over the years and enjoyed all of them. Disney is almost always crowded so no amount of advance planning is going to change that. An extra 30 minutes is no big deal when most of the popular ride lines are significantly longer then that. Having a car also provides more flexibility on doing things outside of Disney. Meals will be cheaper if you eat off the property and there are lots of good choices.

 

[hdrolfe]

When we went in October we stayed on-site, that was a week after genie started. We purchased a few ILL$ but did not get genie+. We only York advantage of the 30 minutes once on time (at HS), it was so early to get up and get there. We almost made it once to MK but were well behind the majority. We almost made it to AK as well, ended up buying FOP. We still got to ride Everest 10 times with no waits.

So other than transportation, the only benefit was really getting Rise at a decent time and I am not sure if that is still an issue. Everything else we could have gotten, and we did purchase 7 dwarves at 830pm for a 9pm close. If you are rope drop people, I guess it would be worth it, for us it's only the transportation, I don't want to drive.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Sorry, I am posting a lot but I am a Disney newbie so a lot is confusing to me. Is it worth staying onsite for the 30 minutes. I am still learning towards Bonnet Creek because I love the extra space of a suite and everything offered but is not having those 30 minutes staying onsite going to mess up our Disney travelling?

We just went Christmas week and so they did 1 hr early entry for resort guests. It was so worth it, we were able to accomplish so much in the first 2 hrs, we were constantly ahead of the crowds. On our AK day, we were walking around empty park on Christmas Eve until 8:30 am, early entry was 7 am. It was amazing. So at times it’s worth it IF you will get up and use it. We normally don’t even rope drop but I convinced my husband to do it on this trip and it worked so well when the crowds were 10 out of 10 level. If you are going slower time of the year might not make as much of a difference.

 

[kimmy07]

We stayed offsite at club wyndham bonnet creek last December and the location is great. We drive down a little over 6hrs. Parking at the resort is free we did uber a few times which was great. We are booked for a week this December 2 bedroom i love the fact of having the extra space and not being in the same room with our kids.

 

[loves to dive]

Worth it is subjective. In going for over 40 years, I've stayed off site once and swore to never do it again. I always drive down so always have a car. I park it at the resort and don't get in it again until we leave. The biggest perk for us has always been Disney transportation. People love to complain about it but frankly the idea of having to get in my car and navigate the Disney traffic is just not fun. I still get lost on property much less off property. Yes, there are signs, no they are not always clear. Hopping on a bus and letting someone else deal with it, that's for me.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

As others have noted, the benefit of staying onsite depends on two things:
1) Will you and your party get up and out the door early enough on vacation to get to the park for that early entry?
2) How important are the big-name ILL rides to you?
I'm taking a massive OG SW fan to DHS for MTFBWY. So yeah, we're staying onsite so I can smash my phone at 7:00:00am to get RotR ILL because I will lose my mind if I, the travel agent and tour director for my friend who has never been to WDW, can't get her on that ride. Totally worth it for us.

 

[deedubb]

I would highly recommend renting DVC points.

1) Stay at BLT or Poly and walk to MK or stay at Boardwalk/Beach Club and walk to EPCOT and DHS. Total game changer.
2) Get early entry
3) Get extra evening hours
4) Get free parking at the resort if you have a car

Option 2:
Stay at Swan/Dolphin. Walk to EPCOT/DHS and get extra evening hours. I assume you get early entry as well but not 100% positive.

 

[CanucksRock]

Are you a morning or evening person? As using Genie+ .. while one person had to get up at 7 am to get the first ride (I’m up anyways…) we hit most of the rides in the evening by stacking LLs. (DHS & MK only, AK & EP we did ILL for FOP & Frozen) The only lines we stood in were ROTR, MMRR, & Remy.

I’m normally an off-site person - as we stay at non-DVC timeshares. I have stayed on-property once - during pandemic w/no Perks. My next trip is 4 nights at Riverside.