For years, there have been large advantages to staying at Walt Disney World owned resorts: free transportation, higher line-skipping choices, further hours, and extra that justified the upper value. In this submit, we’ll take a brand new take a look at how perks have modified and whether or not on-site motels are nonetheless definitely worth the premium pricing. (Updated February 3, 2023.)
I’ll preface this by saying that we’ve been advocates of staying within the Walt Disney World “bubble.” In our On-Site v. Off-Site at Walt Disney World article we try to be balanced, however concede that we’re drawn to being contained in the Walt Disney World “bubble,” which gives benefits when it comes to location, comfort, and the sensation of an all-encompassing trip vacation spot.
However, that began to alter even pre-closure. We nonetheless love quite a lot of Walt Disney World motels and do on-site stays, however now not strongly advocate them for everybody. Accordingly, what we’re going to do is ask and try to reply an essential query: what if the promoting factors of staying on-site are now not as helpful as typical WDW planning knowledge suggests?
This is a query we initially posed a couple of years in the past as Walt Disney World resort costs started to soar and the benefits supplied by on-site perks have been much less noteworthy. Since reopening, we’ve revisited this matter a few occasions for various causes. That began with the tip of Extra Magic Hours and free QuickPass, in addition to the still-temporary suspension of the Disney Dining Plan.
For our 2023 replace, we’re revisiting this for the primary time from a constructive perspective. There have been a couple of constructive developments final yr and this yr, and we’re additionally granting better weight to numerous concerns that we beforehand glossed over. This has us asking ourselves: is Walt Disney World’s on-site benefit beginning to reappear?
Let’s undergo the professionals & cons, level by level, beginning with the Disney Dining Plan. This remains to be on non permanent hiatus, however we’re nonetheless anticipating Walt Disney World to carry it again someday in 2023, as coated in When Will the Disney Dining Plan Return? However, we’ve been anxiously anticipating its return for over a yr–in spite of everything, Disney did promise it might be again quickly a couple of yr and a half in the past.
For many planners, having the ability to buy the Disney Dining Plan was crucial from a budgeting and comfort perspective. While we’ve been skeptical of this for years, but it surely’s however true that visitors discover themselves shocked by meals prices greater than the rest at Walt Disney World (see the fascinating survey knowledge about midway down this text).
Nevertheless, contemplating the suspension of the Disney Dining Plan an on-site benefit that has “disappeared” overstates the problem. The actuality is that the overwhelming majority visitors will come out forward from a budgeting or comfort perspective by pre-purchasing low cost Disney reward playing cards and utilizing these to pay-as-they-go for meals.
For most, the Disney Dining Plan gives the phantasm of comfort and budgeting; there’s much more flexibility and financial savings in paying out of pocket for meals and snacks. Of course, there are exceptions to this–households of massive carnivores or these keen to “hack” the Disney Dining Plan did come out forward. But for essentially the most half, the home at all times wins. We stay up for the Disney Dining Plan returning, but it surely wasn’t the profit that some cracked it as much as be. (Conversely, it’s additionally not as dangerous as a few of its detractors make it out to be.)
Next, let’s flip to Walt Disney World’s two replacements for Extra Magic Hours: Early Entry and Extended Evening Hours. Early Theme Park Entry permits all on-site resort visitors and people staying at choose third occasion motels to get pleasure from 30-minute entry to any Walt Disney World theme park, day by day earlier than regular working hours start.
Early Entry signifies that Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios (for instance) open each day at 8:30 am and eight am, respectively, to resort visitors, and half-hour later to off-site visitors. The logical criticism right here is that morning Extra Magic Hours was an hour lengthy, so that is half the time, and thus, half pretty much as good.
We have accomplished Early Entry over one-dozen occasions (actually), and that has not been our expertise at 3 of the 4 parks. Crucially, Extra Magic Hours occurred on choose days of the week and solely at one park on every event. This imply consolidating all on-site visitors at a single park. Early Entry happens each day in any respect 4 parks, and higher spreads out the group in consequence.
In observe, we’ve discovered Early Entry to be far much less busy than EMH. At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom, it basically gives a 2-3 trip headstart for on-site visitors and is definitely a fairly important. (Most days, it’s not pretty much as good at Magic Kingdom.)
We’ve used Early Entry to perform each Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Slinky Dog Dash at DHS, all three headliners at EPCOT, and just about every little thing in Animal Kingdom. Early Entry is a large perk, and it’s doubly useful to have the ability to use it each single day at whichever park you need. Do not underestimate its worth and skip Early Entry as a result of it’s “only” half-hour. (In case you’ll be able to’t inform, we’re large followers of Early Entry–it’s larger than many followers assume.) Learn extra technique in our Guide to Early Entry at Walt Disney World.
Next, there’s Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. This profit is solely for visitors staying at Deluxe Resorts, Deluxe Villas (Disney Vacation Club items), or different choose motels (at the moment Swan & Dolphin and Shades of Green). Guests staying at Value or Moderate Resorts aren’t eligible for Extended Evening Hours.
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours happen solely two nights per week in complete–sometimes Mondays at Epcot and Wednesdays at Magic Kingdom. This runs for 2 hours every night time, however that is solely a perk for many who ebook dearer motels (or the Swan & Dolphin, which are sometimes priced on par with Value or Moderate Resorts). This makes Extended Evening Hours a double-edged sword, with its high quality hinging on resort standing.
For those that are eligible, Extended Evening Hours is large. Crowds are just about non-existent, as are strains for many points of interest. It’s method higher than Evening Extra Magic Hours, which had grow to be overcrowded as a result of expanded eligibility throughout its previous couple of years. (In truth, the crowds throughout Evening EMH are one of many causes we first wrote this submit, within the first place–Evening EMH had grow to be nearly ineffective as a result of overcrowding.)
Unfortunately, this comes on the expense of Value and Moderate Resort visitors who, as famous above, can not reap the benefits of Extended Evening Hours. So if you happen to’re a Deluxe or DVC visitor, this perk is unbelievable. If you’re staying at a Moderate or under, it’s terrible/nonexistent. See our Guide to Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for extra guidelines, eligibility, technique, and so forth.
There’s additionally the brand new Genie+ line-skipping system, which changed the free QuickPass trip reservation program. (See our Guide to Lightning Lane and Genie+ at Walt Disney World for full particulars, suggestions, and every little thing you might want to know for making most of that line-skipping system.)
There are two elements to this: Genie+ Lightning Lanes and Individual Lightning Lanes. The latter gives on-site visitors the “benefit” of having the ability to buy Individual Lightning Lane entry at 7 am as a substitute of park opening time, which is when everybody else should purchase entry. Certain Individual Lightning Lanes do promote out previous to park opening time, in order that window is useful for headliner points of interest–however even that’s seasonal. If you’re visiting throughout busy vacation journey dates, it issues. If you’re stepping into May or September, not a lot.
It could be useful if on-site visitors might ebook Genie+ trip picks early, however that’s not how this works. Everyone is ready to ebook Genie+ Lightning Lane reservations beginning at 7 am. That might at all times change down the street, however for now, that’s how the system works.
There’s no sugar-coating this one. Losing free QuickPass+ was a colossal blow to all guests of Walt Disney World, however particularly on-site visitors. One of the perfect on-site benefits at Walt Disney World was the expanded QuickPass+ reserving window; that was a big headstart and allowed on-site visitors to scoop up a lot of the greatest trip reservations earlier than their journey.
Two of the newest modifications concern transportation. At the start of final yr, the Disney’s Magical Express airport shuttle service ended. Now, guests arriving to Orlando International Airport might want to lease a automotive, use Uber/Lyft, or organize for an alternate shuttle service in an effort to get to their resort. This was an enormous loss for a lot of Walt Disney World guests.
Disney’s Magical Express’ closest paid replacements are Mears Connect and the Sunshine Flyer. See our Guide to Airport Transportation for Walt Disney World for different choices. There’s no one-size-fits-all excellent resolution; it depends upon your occasion dimension, finances, and different elements.
We’ve used each Mears Connect and Sunshine Flyer, and have discovered them to be just about similar to Disney’s Magical Express in pace, high quality, and repair. The greatest draw back is that there’s a charge, and that since these are third events, there’s not seamless integration between the resorts and the shuttles within the occasion that a problem arises. (Some followers will cite the dearth of baggage dealing with, however that disappeared from DME previous to this, so it’s onerous to tie that to this explicit change.)
Then in the beginning of 2023, Walt Disney World introduced again free in a single day self-parking to visitors staying at Walt Disney World Resort motels. Complimentary parking was an on-site perk till a couple of years in the past, and it was one other immediate for this submit within the first place.
We hated the cost for parking, and thought it was a foul resolution that diminished the differentiation between Disney and its real-world counterparts. We weren’t alone. At the time, the introduction of the parking charge was essentially the most controversial change we had ever seen made by Walt Disney World. Not solely did our submit garner over 300 indignant feedback, however Walt Disney World received hit onerous by adverse critiques on crowdsourced journey websites like TripAdvisor and Google. I had by no means seen followers so mad–though backlash to the next elimination of free QuickPass and Disney’s Magical Express did exceed that response.
In addition to this, Walt Disney World resort resort visitors additionally proceed to obtain complimentary commonplace parking at Walt Disney World theme parks, which is one other plus. In tandem, these two issues take a few of the sting out of the elimination of Disney’s Magical Express–no less than for the visitors who choose to lease a automotive whereas staying on-site. (That quantity will solely develop, as Universal Orlando continues to increase and switch itself into an equally-compelling theme park vacation spot.)
Sticking with the subject of transportation, that is one other on-site benefit supplied by Walt Disney World…and one which has arguably improved by fairly a bit. Let’s begin with the impartial elements: the monorails and boats are roughly the identical.
Given that the monorails proceed to age and one boat route has been reduce, the argument might be made that these have gotten barely worse. Anecdotally, I’m unsure I agree–monorail upkeep has decreased downtime and the one boat route is utilized by a small minority of visitors. Speaking of issues utilized by a small minority of visitors, we’re followers of the Grand Floridian walkway to Magic Kingdom–our favourite type of transportation is “feet” and we want Walt Disney World made itself extra walkable. (Which would ease the burden on current transportation.)
As a complete, we view Walt Disney World transportation as higher right this moment than it was 5 years in the past. The large factor right here is the Skyliner, which we view as the most effective transportation choice at Walt Disney World. When there’s a line, it’s always transferring and often a brief wait. Since the opening couple of months, the Skyliner gondola system has been extremely dependable.
We’re large followers and strongly favor the Skyliner resorts now. It’s particularly a game-changer for Pop Century; given all the perks and transportation benefits of that one resort, we will simply justify the premium pricing there.
Also serving to with previous transportation woes is bus wait occasions, which present up each on digital boards on the bus stops and within the My Disney Experience app. There’s nonetheless room for enchancment right here, and there have been resort stays once we’ve observed overcrowded and inconsistent bus service. (In explicit, Coronado Springs is a giant offender.)
Walt Disney World has additionally addressed its bus driver scarcity, which truly predated the closure, by bringing in a 3rd occasion to help with routes. All issues thought of, we’ve been extra happy by bus service and located it to be extra environment friendly final yr and in early 2023 than it was in 2017-2019. With that mentioned, few issues are as hit-or-miss as WDW bus service. Someone might have a superlative expertise, and another person an terrible one–regardless of staying on the identical resort throughout the identical dates–just by advantage of luck and timing.
I gained’t embrace Minnie Vans as a transportation “improvement” since there’s a dear surcharge for these, and we don’t typically advocate them. Plus, if you happen to’re keen to make use of Disney’s Minnie Vans, you would possibly as properly be keen to make use of Lyft or Uber, which have grow to be ubiquitous in Central Florida. The ease of Lyft and Uber is certainly an enchancment for visitors, but it surely’s neither right here nor there from an “advantage” perspective because it isn’t a change made by Disney.
Turning again to eating, there may be an on-site benefit in terms of reserving Advance Dining Reservations. Currently, everybody can ebook desk service eating places 60 days previous to the date on which they’d wish to eat. In addition, Walt Disney World resort resort visitors could make Advance Dining Reservations for his or her size of keep (as much as a 10-day keep) as much as 60 days prematurely of their check-in date.
As mentioned in our Top 10 Tips for Booking Difficult Advance Dining Reservations, this “60+10” window could be extremely advantageous for common desk service eating places or bigger events, particularly throughout busier journey dates. If character eating or extremely themed eating places are essential to you, that is large.
Even on the 60 day mark, Chef Mickey’s, Story Book Dining at Artist Point, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, Cinderella’s Royal Table, Space 220, Topolino’s Terrace, Be Our Guest Restaurant, ‘Ohana, and others can be scarce. We view dining as a big component of the Walt Disney World experience, so this is a big advantage to us. However, it doesn’t matter to everybody, so your mileage might fluctuate. Also, there are tips (see that ideas submit) for scoring final minute availability–however they don’t work in addition to reserving in the course of the 60+10 window.
It’s positively nonetheless good to remain in a resort with an immersive design, consideration to particulars, and varied Disney touches. It’s additionally good to have the ability to stroll to the parks, or be a part of the Disney bubble.
For many individuals, it’s unimaginable to overstate the significance of this. There’s a sure x-factor that the Disney resorts provide that elevates the general expertise into one thing extra particular. This is true for us, and even with all the complaints right here, we nonetheless favor staying on-site in Disney-owned properties.
To their credit score, Walt Disney World’s resorts are nonetheless meticulously themed, with a ton of allure, element, and transportive environments you largely gained’t discover off-site. This has lengthy been a giant promoting level, as your resort keep looks like an extension of the theme parks.
This applies largely to the outside grounds and inside frequent areas. With sure latest room refurbishments, the sense of theme inside Walt Disney World’s resort rooms has been diminished. We’ve been extremely vital of this as a result of themed environments are what defines Disney, and are within the wheelhouse of Imagineers.
Many of the brand new rooms appear to be striving extra in direction of crowd-pleasing types, with generic trendy designs, clear and crisp aesthetics, and usually elegant luxurious (the final one solely applies to Deluxe Resorts). In basic, the rooms are much less enjoyable and have traded distinctive and colourful designs for extra bland and fundamental ones.
On a constructive observe, Disney appears to be turning the nook on this. The new rooms on the Grand Floridian are an unequivocal improve over their predecessor in each theme and luxurious, and only one latest instance of a shift on this regard. It would appear that the worst of this occurred between 2016 and 2019, with the rooms within the final 2-3 years placing the steadiness a lot better. Hopefully that is the beginning of a constructive development and shifts into the ‘on-site advantage’ column over time.
The drawback with the earlier transfer in direction of trendy and nondescript rooms is that Disney went from a realm with nearly no actual competitors (ornately themed designs) to inserting itself in direct competitors with real-world resort manufacturers by mimicking their type. This not solely makes for a neater head-to-head comparability when it comes to visitor rooms, but it surely’s additionally a comparability that’s typically not favorable to Disney. I like quite a lot of issues about Walt Disney World, however don’t view it as one of many world’s nice operators of motels.
Actual luxurious hoteliers reminiscent of Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Waldorf Astoria, and Four Seasons have excessive finish properties close to Walt Disney World, they usually typically surpass even Walt Disney World’s flagship resort on a luxurious entrance. It’s controversial that even the Marriott, Hilton, and Wyndham motels give Deluxe Resorts at Walt Disney World a run for his or her cash–and people are sometimes priced under Moderate ranges!
This brings us to the ultimate consideration, which is value. This has at all times been the first promoting level for staying off-site. It’s value reiterating right here as a result of the price distinction between off-site and on-site lodging has grow to be rather more pronounced in the previous few years.
As mentioned in How Much Does a Walt Disney World Vacation Cost in 2023?, the common complete worth of a visit this yr versus a comparable trip in 2019 is up by hundreds of {dollars}. On a constructive observe, that has already improved since publication, as roughly 8 totally different reductions have been launched for 2023. It’s doubtless extra are coming as pent-up demand is slowing, too.
Nevertheless, if you happen to final weighed the professionals and cons of staying off-site and on-site a number of years in the past, and decided on-site was a greater match for you, there’s an honest likelihood you’ve grow to be habituated to staying on-site. You’ve felt the rise in costs through the years, however the pull to remain on-site at Walt Disney World is powerful. Perhaps you not have reweighed these professionals and cons–particularly the rising value disparity.
In our view, the actual candy spot is on-site third occasion motels just like the Swan & Dolphin, Four Seasons Orlando, and Bonnet Creek Resorts. (See our List of the Best Third Party Hotels Near Walt Disney World.)
Several of those have places which are pretty much as good or higher than Disney-owned and operated motels, and are cheaper. Many additionally provide the identical perks as Disney motels. Swan & Dolphin, for instance, provide Extended Evening Hours whereas Disney Value and Moderate Resorts gained’t have entry to these.
You additionally would possibly take into account renting a trip house, each for the sake of privateness and isolation. (See our Best Vacation Home Rentals Near Walt Disney World.) These are particularly nice for bigger events, and you’ll actually lease a complete home for the price of a mid-tier Walt Disney World resort room. Some of those comprise themed children rooms, in-home theaters, recreation rooms, personal swimming pools, plus every little thing else you’d count on from a home.
Another nice choice proper now could be staying at Universal Orlando, which nonetheless does provide most of its on-site benefits and its personal sense of immersion and being inside a “Universal bubble” (albeit to a lesser extent).
If you wish to go all-out with Universal’s nicest motels which are in strolling distance of the parks and embrace limitless line-skipping at points of interest by way of Express Pass, see our Hard Rock Hotel Review and Portofino Bay Hotel Review. Even although these are Universal Orlando’s dearer motels, they’re nonetheless priced about on par with Moderate Resorts at Walt Disney World.
Our Universal Orlando Hotel Rankings & Reviews covers the professionals & cons of all these resorts, a lot of which we love for his or her places, theme, on-site perks, and worth for cash. Additionally, seek advice from Universal Orlando v. Walt Disney World Resorts for a comparability between Disney’s and Universal’s motels to see what every does higher.
Ultimately, that describes our dilemma with lodging at and round Walt Disney World. The rational aspect of my thoughts is aware of that staying off-site gives considerably higher worth for cash and that the a few of the perks we obtain from Walt Disney World motels aren’t as helpful as they as soon as have been.
We do now have a lower cost ceiling for many Walt Disney World resorts (besides Pop Century, Caribbean Beach, and All Star Movies, that are all a bit greater for us now), which could be a problem provided that room charges have been rising. However, there are nonetheless methods to search out good reductions, and failing that we will both use or lease DVC factors or take a look at the on-site third occasion choices like Swan & Dolphin, Disney Springs, and Bonnet Creek.
There’s additionally Universal Orlando, and we completely love a number of of these motels. Universal can maintain its personal with a lot of Walt Disney World’s motels from a thematic perspective, and lots of the facilities at Universal are literally superior to Disney. Plus, the perks of staying on-site are far superior and nightly room charges are far decrease.
Beyond that, there’s a burgeoning trip house rental trade, low cost Airbnbs, and sturdy slate of recent off-site motels close to the parks. We ought to be additional investigating all of that, as some nice offers abound. The Central Florida lodging market is extremely aggressive outdoors the Disney bubble, and that’s mirrored in pricing and facilities.
With all of that mentioned, there’s the emotional aspect. We have nostalgic attachments to sure resorts at Walt Disney World, and luxuriate in their lush grounds, eating, and facilities. We love having the ability to keep late within the parks, even when they’re crowded and all we’re doing is wandering round. We benefit from the seamless expertise of going from the parks to our resort, feeling a brief reprieve from the actual world.
It’s troublesome to place a worth on all of that. While we “value” it under the price distinction between comparable third occasion motels, we regularly bounce by means of hoops to search out methods to justify staying at Walt Disney World motels. I’m not suggesting that is the best (or improper) strategy. I do know a part of that is Disney’s emotional energy, and we fall for it hook, line, and sinker so much. I’m not making a judgment both method–it merely is what it’s. However, we discover it taking place much less and fewer with Walt Disney World persevering with to lift costs and reduce choices–that makes staying off-site a a lot simpler resolution!
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about motels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To get monetary savings on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips submit takes a singular take a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the most effective place to start out is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for every little thing you might want to know!
Your Thoughts
What do you assume…are the perks of staying on-site as helpful to you as they as soon as have been, or are you getting much less worth to your cash staying at Walt Disney World motels? Will you proceed to remain on-site regardless of this all? Have you already moved off-site? Other ideas on this? Any questions we may also help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!