For years, there have been massive advantages to staying at Walt Disney World owned resorts: free transportation, higher line-skipping choices, additional hours, and extra that justified the upper price. On this put up, we’ll take a brand new take a look at how perks have modified and whether or not on-site resorts are nonetheless well worth the premium pricing. (Up to date July 28, 2024.)
I’ll preface this by saying that we’ve been advocates of staying within the Walt Disney World “bubble” and are positively biased in the direction of that. In our On-Website v. Off-Website at Walt Disney World article we try and be balanced, however concede that we’re drawn to being contained in the Walt Disney World “bubble,” which affords benefits when it comes to location, comfort, and the sensation of an all-encompassing trip vacation spot.
Nonetheless, that began to alter even pre-closure. We nonetheless love lots of Walt Disney World resorts and do on-site stays, however not strongly advocate them for everybody. Accordingly, what we’re going to do is ask and try and reply an necessary query: what if the promoting factors of staying on-site are not as useful as typical WDW planning knowledge suggests?
This can be 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 instances for various causes. That began with the top of Additional Magic Hours and free FastPass, in addition to the suspension of the Disney Eating Plan.
For our mid-2024 replace, we’re revisiting this from a optimistic perspective. For these retaining rating at house, that is now the third title tweak to this put up, with earlier entries being “Is Disney World’s On-Website Benefit Disappearing?” and “Is Disney World’s On-Website Benefit Disappearing…or Reappearing?”
Tweak is the fallacious phrase. The reply to the primary title was an apparent sure, and the reply to the subsequent incarnation was “it relies upon.” At this level, the query mark has been dropped and it’s an announcement–that issues are getting higher. The that means is just about the alternative of what it was once we first printed this put up.
With that stated, your perspective will very a lot depend on your body of reference. In case you’re evaluating the on-site expertise at Walt Disney World of 2025 to 2021, issues are completely getting higher. Nonetheless, if you happen to’re evaluating the on-site expertise in the present day to the one in 2019, it’s nonetheless a lot worse. Watch the commercial beneath you’re within the temper for delicate despair. Significantly, don’t say I didn’t warn you:
In any case, there have been a couple of optimistic developments final 12 months and this 12 months, so it’s pretty plain that the trajectory for on-site perks at Walt Disney World is optimistic. On-site benefits are persevering with to reappear relatively than persevering with to vanish, as we’ll talk about right here.
Let’s begin with Lightning Lane Multi-Cross, which changed the Genie+ system in mid-2024, which changed the free FastPass journey reservation program. In a nutshell, Lightning Lane Multi Cross is paid FastPass. We’re not going to get into the nuts and bolts of it right here–see our Information to Lightning Lane Multi Cross at Walt Disney World for that–however the backside line is that the brand new line-skipping service is very much like FastPass+ with the massive distinction being that it prices cash.
Most notably, visitors staying at an on-site Walt Disney World Resort resort are capable of plan Lightning Lane passes as much as 7 days prematurely, for his or her complete keep–as much as 14 days. Off-site visitors can plan as much as 3 days prematurely. That is enormous.
It’s nonetheless early, however right here’s a partial listing of sights which have restricted availability beginning 4 days prematurely:
- Tiana’s Bayou Journey (no time slots or dates out there)
- Haunted Mansion (no morning time slots)
- Pirates of the Caribbean (no morning time slots)
- Jungle Cruise (restricted morning time slots)
- Slinky Canine Sprint (no time slots or dates out there)
- Remy’s Ratatouille Journey (restricted morning time slots)
- Frozen Ever After (restricted morning time slots)
- Tower of Terror (restricted morning time slots)
- Toy Story Mania (restricted morning time slots)
- Na’vi River Journey (restricted morning time slots)
Once more, this might all change–and journey reservation refills are a factor–however that is precisely what we noticed play out with the FastPass+ service, so it’s solely more likely to worsen. Which means that if you wish to skip the traces at the most well-liked sights, you’ll virtually want to be staying on-site. Availability shall be utterly or practically gone as soon as the 3-day mark rolls round.
One other factor that’s again is the Disney Eating Plan. For a lot of planners, with the ability to buy the Disney Eating Plan is essential from a budgeting and comfort perspective. Whereas we’ve been skeptical of this for years, however it’s nonetheless true that visitors discover themselves shocked by meals prices greater than anything at Walt Disney World.
So the Disney Eating Plan reappearing is unquestionably a giant plus for lots of Walt Disney World visitors who keep on-site. In our view, that in all probability overstates the diploma to which that is an precise benefit. The fact is that the overwhelming majority visitors will come out forward from a budgeting or comfort perspective by pre-purchasing low cost Disney present playing cards and utilizing these to pay-as-they-go for meals.
Even previously, the Disney Eating Plan supplied the phantasm of comfort and budgeting. That’ll be doubly true with the 2024 Disney Eating Plan as a consequence of worth will increase–except you might have greater than 2 kids or do the Fast-Service Disney Eating Plan. After all, there are exceptions to this–households of massive carnivores or these keen to “hack” the Disney Eating Plan did come out forward. However for probably the most half, the home all the time wins.
Subsequent, let’s flip to Walt Disney World’s two replacements for Additional Magic Hours: Early Entry and Prolonged Night Hours. Early Theme Park Entry permits all on-site resort visitors and people staying at choose third occasion resorts to take pleasure in 30-minute entry to any Walt Disney World theme park, on daily basis earlier than regular working hours start.
We’ve finished Early Entry dozens of instances (actually), and our experiences are largely optimistic at 3 of the 4 parks. Crucially, Additional 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 every day in any respect 4 parks, and higher spreads out the group because of this.
In apply, we’ve discovered Early Entry to be far much less busy than EMH. At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom, it primarily affords a 2-3 journey headstart for on-site visitors and is definitely a reasonably vital. (Most days, it’s not nearly as good at Magic 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. Don’t underestimate its worth and skip Early Entry as a result of it’s “solely” half-hour. Study technique in our Information to Early Entry at Walt Disney World.
Subsequent, there’s Prolonged Night Theme Park Hours, which happen solely two nights per week in complete–for 2 hours every night time. This profit is completely for visitors staying at Deluxe Resorts, Deluxe Villas (Disney Trip Membership), or different choose resorts (presently Swan & Dolphin and Shades of Inexperienced). Friends staying at Worth or Reasonable Resorts will not be eligible for Prolonged Night Hours.
This makes Prolonged Night Hours a double-edged sword, with its high quality hinging on resort standing. For individuals who are eligible, Prolonged Night Hours is enormous. Crowds are nearly non-existent, as are traces for many sights. It’s manner higher than Night Additional Magic Hours, which had change into overcrowded as a consequence of expanded eligibility throughout its previous couple of years. (The truth is, the crowds throughout Night EMH are one of many causes we first wrote this put up, within the first place–Night EMH had change into virtually ineffective as a consequence of overcrowding.)
Sadly, this comes on the expense of Worth and Reasonable Resort visitors who, as famous above, can not benefit from Prolonged Night Hours. So if you happen to’re a Deluxe or DVC visitor, this perk is implausible. In case you’re staying at a Reasonable or beneath, it’s terrible/nonexistent. See our Information to Prolonged Night Hours at Walt Disney World for extra guidelines, eligibility, technique, and many others.
Two of the latest modifications concern transportation. As you’re possible conscious, Disney’s Magical Categorical airport shuttle service ended. Now, guests arriving to Orlando Worldwide Airport might want to hire a automobile, use Uber/Lyft, or prepare for another shuttle service with a purpose to get to their resort. This was an enormous loss for a lot of Walt Disney World guests.
Disney’s Magical Categorical’ closest paid alternative is Mears Join Pushed by Sunshine. See our Information to Airport Transportation for Walt Disney World for different choices. There’s no one-size-fits-all good answer; it depends upon your occasion dimension, price range, and different elements.
We’ve used Mears Join many instances, and have discovered it to be nearly an identical to Disney’s Magical Categorical in pace, high quality, and repair. The largest draw back is that there’s a charge, and that since these are third events, there’s not all the time seamless integration between the resorts and the shuttles within the occasion that a problem arises. (Some followers will cite the shortage of baggage dealing with, however that disappeared from DME previous to this, so it’s onerous to tie that to this specific change.)
On a optimistic transportation notice, Walt Disney World introduced again free in a single day self-parking to visitors staying at Walt Disney World Resort resorts. Complimentary parking was an on-site perk till a couple of years in the past, and it was one other immediate for this put up within the first place.
We hated the cost for parking, and thought it was a nasty resolution that diminished the differentiation between Disney and its real-world counterparts. We weren’t alone. On the time, the introduction of the parking charge was probably the most controversial change we had ever seen made by Walt Disney World.
Not solely did our put up garner over 300 offended feedback, however Walt Disney World obtained hit onerous by unfavorable evaluations 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 FastPass and Disney’s Magical Categorical did exceed that response.
Along with 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 Categorical–at the very least for the visitors who decide to hire a automobile whereas staying on-site. (That quantity will solely develop, as Common 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 parts: the monorails and boats are roughly the identical.
On condition that the monorails proceed to age and one boat route has been reduce, the argument may very well 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. Talking 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 “toes” and we want Walt Disney World made itself extra walkable. (Which might ease the burden on present transportation.)
As a complete, we view Walt Disney World transportation as higher in the present day than it was ~5 years in the past. The large factor is the Skyliner, which we view as the perfect transportation possibility at Walt Disney World. When there’s a line, it’s consistently shifting and normally a brief wait. For the reason that opening couple of months, the Skyliner gondola system has been extremely dependable.
We’re enormous followers and strongly favor the Skyliner resorts now. It’s particularly a game-changer for Pop Century; given the entire perks and transportation benefits of that one resort, we will simply justify the premium pricing there.
Additionally serving to with previous transportation woes is bus wait instances, which present up each on digital boards on the bus stops and within the My Disney Expertise app. There’s nonetheless room for enchancment right here, and there have been resort stays once we’ve seen overcrowded and inconsistent bus service. (Specifically, Coronado Springs is a giant offender.)
Walt Disney World has additionally addressed its bus driver scarcity, which really 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 now than it was in 2017-2019. With that stated, few issues are as hit-or-miss as WDW bus service. Somebody may 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 received’t embrace Minnie Vans as a transportation “enchancment” since there’s an expensive surcharge for these, and we don’t usually advocate them. Plus, if you happen to’re keen to make use of Disney’s Minnie Vans, you would possibly as nicely be keen to make use of Lyft or Uber, which have change into ubiquitous in Central Florida. The benefit of Lyft and Uber is unquestionably an enchancment for visitors, however it’s neither right here nor there from an “benefit” perspective because it isn’t a change made by Disney.
Turning again to eating, there may be an on-site benefit on the subject of reserving Advance Eating Reservations (ADRs). At present, everybody can e-book desk service eating places 60 days previous to the date on which they’d wish to eat. As well as, Walt Disney World resort resort visitors could make Advance Eating 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 Prime 10 Suggestions for Reserving Troublesome Advance Eating Reservations, this “60+10” window might be extremely advantageous for fashionable desk service eating places or bigger events, particularly throughout busier journey dates. If character eating or extremely themed eating places are necessary to you, that is enormous. Even on the 60 day mark, Story E book Eating at Artist Level, Akershus Royal Banquet Corridor, Cinderella’s Royal Desk, Area 220, Topolino’s Terrace, ‘Ohana, and others might be scarce if you happen to’re a bigger occasion.
The excellent news is that ADRs have gotten simpler over the course of this 12 months, to the purpose that the 60+10 window is just not actually needed for many events or journey dates. We e-book lots of final minute ADRs as a celebration of 1-3, they usually’re not practically as tough as a couple of years in the past. Nonetheless, if you happen to’re a celebration of greater than 4 folks, the 60+10 window might be advantageous.
Then there’s the most important consideration, which is price. This has all the time been the first promoting level for staying off-site. It’s price reiterating right here as a result of the price distinction between off-site and on-site lodging has change into far more pronounced in the previous couple of years.
As mentioned in How A lot Does a Walt Disney World Trip Value in 2024?, the common complete worth of a visit this 12 months versus a comparable trip in 2019 is up by hundreds of {dollars}. On a optimistic notice, that has already improved since publication, as over a dozen completely different reductions have been launched for 2024.
Because of the particular affords–which embrace room reductions of as much as 35% off and free eating present playing cards of as much as $200 per night time–the efficient worth of lodging at Walt Disney World is definitely down significantly in 2024. That’s as a result of lots of the identical dates in 2021-2022 had no reductions in any way for most of the people. As pent-up demand continues to exhaust itself, we anticipate even higher offers in 2024 as in comparison with this 12 months.
In different phrases, this one comes all the way down to your body of reference. In case you visited in 2019 or earlier, a 2024 Walt Disney World trip continues to be going to price much more and also you’re going to get much less. Nonetheless, the identical is true fairly of a lot every part and in all places–inflation, shrinkflation, and skimpflation have hit American shoppers onerous. Against this, if you happen to visited Walt Disney World within the final two years and are planning a visit in 2024, issues are beginning to look significantly better. As with a lot, it’s all relative!
In case you can afford on-site resorts at Walt Disney World, 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. That is true for us, and even with the entire complaints right here, we nonetheless desire staying on-site in Disney-owned properties.
To their credit score, Walt Disney World’s resorts are nonetheless meticulously themed, with a ton of appeal, element, and transportive environments you principally received’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 is applicable principally to the outside grounds and inside widespread areas. With sure latest room refurbishments, the sense of theme inside Walt Disney World’s resort rooms has been diminished. We’ve been crucial of this as a result of themed environments are what defines Disney, and are within the wheelhouse of Imagineers.
Most of the new rooms appear to be striving extra in the direction of crowd-pleasing kinds, with generic fashionable designs, clear and crisp aesthetics, and usually elegant luxurious (the final one solely applies to Deluxe Resorts). Typically, the rooms are much less enjoyable and have traded distinctive and colourful designs for extra bland and fundamental ones.
On a optimistic notice, Disney appears to be turning the nook on this. The brand 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 could appear that the worst of this occurred between 2016 and 2019, with the rooms within the final 2-3 years placing the stability significantly better. Hopefully that is the beginning of a optimistic development and shifts into the ‘on-site benefit’ column over time.
The issue with the earlier transfer in the direction of fashionable and nondescript rooms is that Disney went from a realm with virtually no actual competitors (ornately themed designs) to inserting itself in direct competitors with real-world resort manufacturers by mimicking their model.
This not solely makes for a better head-to-head comparability when it comes to visitor rooms, however it’s additionally a comparability that’s typically not favorable to Disney. I really like lots of issues about Walt Disney World, however don’t view it as one of many world’s nice operators of resorts.
Precise luxurious hoteliers equivalent to Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Waldorf Astoria, and 4 Seasons have excessive finish properties close to Walt Disney World, they usually usually surpass even Walt Disney World’s flagship resort on a luxurious entrance. It’s debatable that even the Marriott, Hilton, and Wyndham resorts give Deluxe Resorts at Walt Disney World a run for his or her cash–and people are sometimes priced beneath Reasonable ranges!
On the subject of options to staying on-site, we expect that the true candy spot is on-site third occasion resorts just like the Swan & Dolphin, 4 Seasons Orlando, and Bonnet Creek Resorts. (See our Record of the Greatest Third Occasion Inns Close to Walt Disney World.)
A number of of those have places which can be nearly as good or higher than Disney-owned and operated resorts, and are inexpensive. Many additionally provide the identical perks as Disney resorts. Swan & Dolphin, for instance, provide Prolonged Night Hours whereas Disney Worth and Reasonable Resorts received’t have entry to these.
You additionally would possibly contemplate renting a trip house, each for the sake of privateness and isolation. (See our Greatest Trip House Leases Close to Walt Disney World.) These are particularly nice for bigger events, and you may actually hire a whole home for the price of a mid-tier Walt Disney World resort room. A few of these include themed children rooms, in-home theaters, recreation rooms, personal swimming pools, plus every part else you’d count on from a home.
One other nice possibility proper now could be staying at Common Orlando, which nonetheless does provide most of its on-site benefits and its personal sense of immersion and being inside a “Common bubble” (albeit to a lesser extent).
If you wish to go all-out with Common’s nicest resorts which can be in strolling distance of the parks and embrace limitless line-skipping at sights by way of Categorical Cross, see our Laborious Rock Lodge Overview and Portofino Bay Lodge Overview. Though these are Common Orlando’s costlier resorts, they’re nonetheless priced about on par with Reasonable Resorts at Walt Disney World.
Our Common Orlando Lodge Rankings & Evaluations 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. Moreover, seek advice from Common Orlando v. Walt Disney World Resorts for a comparability between Disney’s and Common’s resorts to see what every does higher.
Finally, that describes our dilemma with lodging at and round Walt Disney World. The rational facet of my thoughts is aware of that staying off-site offers considerably higher worth for cash and that the a few of the perks we obtain from Walt Disney World resorts aren’t as useful 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 Seashore, and All Star Films, that are all a bit larger for us now), which is usually a problem on condition that room charges have been growing. Nonetheless, there are nonetheless methods to search out good reductions, and failing that we will both use or hire DVC factors or take a look at the on-site third occasion choices like Swan & Dolphin, Disney Springs, and Bonnet Creek.
There’s additionally Common Orlando, and we completely love a number of of these resorts. Common can maintain its personal with a lot of Walt Disney World’s resorts from a thematic perspective, and lots of the facilities at Common are literally superior to Disney. Plus, the perks of staying on-site are far superior and nightly room charges are far decrease.
With all of that stated, there’s the emotional facet of staying on-site. Now we have nostalgic attachments to sure resorts at Walt Disney World, and luxuriate in their lush grounds, eating, and facilities. We love with 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 short lived reprieve from the true world.
It’s tough to place a worth on all of that. Whereas we “worth” it beneath the price distinction between comparable third occasion resorts, we frequently soar by way of hoops to search out methods to justify staying at Walt Disney World resorts. I’m not suggesting that is the correct (or fallacious) strategy. I do know a part of that is Disney’s emotional energy, and we fall for it hook, line, and sinker rather a lot. I’m not making a judgment both manner–it merely is what it’s. Nonetheless, we discover it taking place much less and fewer with Walt Disney World persevering with to boost costs and reduce choices–that makes staying off-site a a lot simpler resolution!
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Find out about resorts on our Walt Disney World Inns Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To save cash on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets put up. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys put up takes a singular take a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Experience Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the perfect place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for every part that you must know!
Your Ideas
What do you assume…are the perks of staying on-site as useful to you as they as soon as have been, or are you getting much less worth on your cash staying at Walt Disney World resorts? Will you proceed to remain on-site regardless of this all? Have you ever already moved off-site? Different ideas on this? Any questions we can assist you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
