First time ever staying onsite

[Ellelledee]

Not sure if this is the right forum but it didn’t appear to fall under any of the planning forums?
Last night DH said he has been thinking since our trip this year is cancelled and it was for his 60th plus it’s our first time away as just a couple in 25 years - why don’t we make it September 2021 and make it different and stay onsite both ends! So after a little chatting over pros and cons - it’s booked!
1 week HRH hotel and 1 week Disney’s Caribbean Beach. He did originally want San and Dolphin so he could walk every day to the food and wine but it’s not available yet and I think he wanted to strike while the iron was hot!
So we’ve never stayed onsite before. What are our perks - I watch lots of bloggers and I see about magic bands extra magic hours etc resort cups - do we get those if we are staying onsite or is it only if we book direct with Disney etc?
Felt a bit in limbo because we had no idea what was happening with our September trip so I want to start thinking about the little differences - we have been pretty much every year and stayed offsite at the same hotel for about 15 years.

[Guest]

It is hard to know what the advantages of being onsite at Disney will be next year as everything has changed and no way of knowing when or if it will return to as it once was.

In the past, the onsite advantages included:

- fastpass booking at 60 days
- ADR booking at 180days for first 10 days
- Extra magical hours
- magic bands for all with charging to room facility
- resort cups if you have a dining package (doesn’t matter how you book, but you will need a dining package).

Of those I think the chargeable magic bands is the only onsite perk at the moment. There aren’t even any dining plans so the resort mug would need to be bought, I think even the drinks machines are operating differently at the moment.

I think Universal onsite perks are working as normal, the best perk is the express pass.

[Ellelledee]

Originally Posted by Claudette

It is hard to know what the advantages of being onsite at Disney will be next year as everything has changed and no way of knowing when or if it will return to as it once was.

In the past, the onsite advantages included:

- fastpass booking at 60 days
- ADR booking at 180days for first 10 days
- Extra magical hours
- magic bands for all with charging to room facility
- resort cups if you have a dining package (doesn’t matter how you book, but you will need a dining package).

Of those I think the chargeable magic bands is the only onsite perk at the moment. There aren’t even any dining plans so the resort mug would need to be bought, I think even the drinks machines are operating differently at the moment.

I think Universal onsite perks are working as normal, the best perk is the express pass.

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Thanks for your reply. Yes I forgot about the longer FP window - if FP will be a thing then?
So do they notify you about the magic bands and stuff? Do you pick them? Or are they there when you arrive?
We won’t be doing the DDP or anything.
The extra magic hours - how do you know when they are? As soon as we booked last night DH made me start making park reservations - which was easy but then I said some parks will have EMH so we may need to re-jig.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Ellelledee

Thanks for your reply. Yes I forgot about the longer FP window - if FP will be a thing then?
So do they notify you about the magic bands and stuff? Do you pick them? Or are they there when you arrive?
We won’t be doing the DDP or anything.
The extra magic hours - how do you know when they are? As soon as we booked last night DH made me start making park reservations - which was easy but then I said some parks will have EMH so we may need to re-jig.

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You won’t be notified specifically about magic bands, they are given to everybody. You can pick which one you want through your account. I get mine when I check in.

You will have to wait and see when / if EMH are reintroduced and announced. They normally fall on regular days though. I am doing this through memory but it is usually:

MK Friday morning and Wednesday evening
AK Saturday and Monday mornings
Epcot Tuesday evening and Thursday morning
HS - Sunday could be either morning or evening.

[RockTheDots]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Disney announced recently they were stopping free magic bands for resort guests from Jan 2021 - although you will still be able to buy them. I think if you booked a 2021 hotel stay before the announcement you may still get them.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by RockTheDots

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Disney announced recently they were stopping free magic bands for resort guests from Jan 2021 - although you will still be able to buy them. I think if you booked a 2021 hotel stay before the announcement you may still get them.

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Yes I think you are correct, sorry for my error above OP.

In which case, I would be inclined to say there is literally no advantage to staying onsite at WDW for the foreseeable future. Unless of course you don’t drive (we don’t like to) and hence it is a bit easier.

[Ellelledee]

Thanks for replies. Tbh as I said we have never stayed onsite - I’ve always liked being just that bit outside the Disney bubble - going to the parks but leaving it behind at the end of the day and we stop at LBV so I like the access to “normal” shops and bars.
The downside is we don’t drive in the US and so we rely on the hotel shuttles and end up using a lot it taxis.
The pain last year being our hotel shuttle dropped us at TTC and so when leaving parks to go back to the shuttle it’s negotiating how to get there - I messed up and we ended up getting on a bus and 2 monorails and missed the shuttle 🙈. After a long day that’s the last thing you need.
Also it’s having to book the shuttle the night before and knowing what time you have to be up.
So the onsite transport is one of the things that made us decide to try onsite for a change.
We have stayed the odd night at Universal in the past and have liked being able to stay at the parks and walk back to the hotel rather than have to get a bus or taxi back to LBV.
I just wondered if there were any little quirks that I could be thinking about.
Thanks for your replies.

[RachaelC]

I have to say that I’d stay at CBR again just for the Skyliner, even without any additional onsite “perks”. We loved how easy it was to get to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

[levtweeney]

You missed being in the Disney bubble as a positive. This is my brothers top reason for staying onsite. He has a disability and loves the transport, the fantastic staff and the general amazing feeling he gets from being in the bubble. I can’t fault him for thinking this as it is pretty special.

[Ellelledee]

Originally Posted by levtweeney

You missed being in the Disney bubble as a positive. This is my brothers top reason for staying onsite. He has a disability and loves the transport, the fantastic staff and the general amazing feeling he gets from being in the bubble. I can’t fault him for thinking this as it is pretty special.

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I’ve always liked that when we go to Disney as we leave the parks we are away from it. The shops and restaurants aren’t Disney ones. Normal steak houses, outlet shops etc. Also I like that the hotel is quite quiet because people are generally at the parks and like on pool days it can literally be me round the pool - which I like - I have grown up children but even when my kids were younger I worked in childcare and so I never wanted to be going to a hotel that’s like a Super Family holiday - I liked to be able to have like a peaceful day round the pool. This is actually something I’m a little bothered about re our stay at Caribbean beach but I’ve watched vlogs and I’ve seen there are quieter pools etc.
But I am looking forward to this - it will probably be a one off and probably we will go back to our usual hotel, but I think especially for our first trip without any of the kids it will be nice to do something completely different.