Perks of staying onsite

snowpack

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 19, 2017
With fast passes and early entry gone and having to pay for magic bands, is transportation the only perk left of staying onsite?
 
Pretty much. They do allow on site guests to book 60+10 dining ADRs, where offsite has to book each day’s dining separately at 60 days from the actual dining date. That’s the only major perk left. Deluxe and DVC guests are getting some after hours time, but most people who book offsite do so for budget reasons and would be less likely to stay deluxe anyway. Many off site hotels do have transportation to the parks, although it’s not as often so not as convenient. But it does mean that even those without a car can stay offsite if they choose.

Basically, the only reason to stay on property is if you just want to. There are no longer any good incentives to do so.
 
With fast passes and early entry gone and having to pay for magic bands, is transportation the only perk left of staying onsite?
Beginning Oct. 1, onsite guests and guests of selected offsite hotels will have 30 minutes of early access in every park, every day. That's about the only perk that I can think of for all onsite guests and even that is not limited to only Disney Resort guests.
 


Starting Oct. 1 onsite guests will get a 30 minute early entry each morning to all 4 parks. Although it's only 30 minutes the fact that all parks will be open early will spread out the rope droppers therefore allowing you to do probably as much as the previous EMH which was for 1 hour but only one park per day.
 
My opinion is a bit biased as my wife is a cast memeber and we usually get 60% off of our on-site stays. She has been there over 15 years and we have seen and done all the parks have to offer. We love knowing that once we get to our resort and park the car we don't have to get back in it until we head home. Heading to Disney Springs for dinner but spent the afternoon at the pool drinking margaritas? The bus driver can drive us no issues. There is just always something special about being in the bubble.

Our last stay at BWI the bartender at LHL asked us what our plans were for the day. We told him we were hanging out with him all afternoon and then heading to DS for a 7:00pm ADR at RR. His response cracked us up as he said "this is where the real fun of Disney is for adults". Great pool, great drinks and just spending time together as a family.
 
For some (looking at you, AP holders) it allows you to make all your park reservations for your length of stay....rather than being limited to 3 days.
 


I think the Disney Resorts have ALWAYS been mainly for Bubble People like us who ADORE never leaving the "Disney Feel".

Even with AM EMH,PM EMH,etc. that was not enough of a "draw" for us to pay more for a Disney Resort than we could off-property-it was the Disney Bubble that we paid for then and pay for now.

If we weren't so "enamored" with the Disney Bubble,NO WAY would we pay the on-property prices.

But it is what it is for us-we would cut down on the number of our trips before staying off-property. :)
 
I think the Disney Resorts have ALWAYS been mainly for Bubble People like us who ADORE never leaving the "Disney Feel".

Even with AM EMH,PM EMH,etc. that was not enough of a "draw" for us to pay more for a Disney Resort than we could off-property-it was the Disney Bubble that we paid for then and pay for now.

If we weren't so "enamored" with the Disney Bubble,NO WAY would we pay the on-property prices.

But it is what it is for us-we would cut down on the number of our trips before staying off-property. :)

Same for us! We love the feel of being in the Disney Bubble :)
 
You get the extra bonus of paying for parking. Plus waiting a long time for a bus at various hotels.

I agree, even before covid, it was mostly a matter to us of how much 'value' we consider staying at Disney vs. nearby. Over the years we have done both and enjoyed all of them. Apparently some are far more enamored about staying on-site then we have been. You pay a LOT more to stay at a Disney hotel. If you are ONLY going to do MK, for example, then staying at one of the monorail hotels would make travel more convenient, how many $$$ that translates to you/your family is a subjective matter of personal preference. There are also a lot of people on this forum who stay on-site and then complain about how slow/inconvenient the bus transportation is.
 
We stay in the bubble to feel part of the Disney community. If we don’t want to go to the park and just hit the hotel bars, boardwalk or the pool, we can. If I want to step out of the YC/BC and walk to HS or Epcot we can. I don’t need to wait for any transportation to take me anywhere. So major convenient, is why we stay at Disney
 
It does seem that Disney is doing everything they can to discourage people from staying on site.

Traveling from California - and an AP holder - I have always enjoyed the Disney Bubble and how easy an on-site stay is compared to traveling anywhere else. But now, there is no compelling reason to stay on site.
 
We stay in the bubble to feel part of the Disney community. If we don’t want to go to the park and just hit the hotel bars, boardwalk or the pool, we can. If I want to step out of the YC/BC and walk to HS or Epcot we can. I don’t need to wait for any transportation to take me anywhere. So major convenient, is why we stay at Disney
We do enjoy relaxing at the resort, but we also used to love when we could get our annual pass AND could park hop as we desired. Right now , not so much! Fingers crossed Disney will allow this again someday. I really don't mind planning ahead , but all these restrictions and removal of perks does make it harder to enjoy the bubble!
 
We tried the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress this trip, OMG it was awesome. The pool was great, a hop, skip and jump from the Disney gate. Huge room and bathroom, Balcony to watch fireworks. All for the cost of $125.00 a night plus tax and resort fee. So worth it. My husband said, why do we stay in Disney for more money and a smaller room? We found our new place.
 
Staying onsite allows one to experience the wonders of a home equity loan?
LOL !!! Thats so true....... They keep taking things away and raising the prices and a lot of people are good with that.... Really dont understand Get less Pay more !!!
 
We tried the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress this trip, OMG it was awesome. The pool was great, a hop, skip and jump from the Disney gate. Huge room and bathroom, Balcony to watch fireworks. All for the cost of $125.00 a night plus tax and resort fee. So worth it. My husband said, why do we stay in Disney for more money and a smaller room? We found our new place.

Do they provide shuttle services to the parks or do you have to do your own transportation?
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!











facebook twitter
Top