Disney on-site - worth it any more

[POFQfan]

This is such a difficult one for us. I completely agree that on a price basis, it just doesn't make sense. We are at POFQ over Easter with no additional gift card benefit and having lost nearly all the perks of our last visit. I have priced up alternative accommodation a number of times and know we could save about 1.5k taking into account car hire and offsite eating etc.

But...we have been going to the Port Orleans since 1995 for our honeymoon. There are years of family memories and strong feelings of nostalgia tied up with almost every part of the resort and there is no other place in the world that makes me feel so content and happy to be there. So, for us, that's what we are paying for on top of the early entry, use of transportation etc. Sadly I am completely addicted

[Mizza40]

Can I just ask where you found 17 nights at the Seralago for £317 as that is amazing! 🤣🤣

[Shani]

I've just re-looked at all the costings for our August stay. Only flights booked so far.

As much as we love Old Key West, it'd cost us (if it was available, it's not at the moment) £5150 for 7 nights in a 2 bed at the end of our 16 night stay. Even renting points for that would be £4k, which is just too risky right now anyway as I haven't found insurance to cover it.

Compare that to staying those 7 nights where we're starting our holiday - 2 x suite (so the extra bedroom) at Endless Summer costing £1500, and onsite Disney is just too much. Even staying at a value (6 of us and we'd need 3 rooms) is double the cost of staying at Endless Summer.

I'm afraid to say that OKW and Disney as a whole has totally priced themselves out of our budget. That's not to say we couldn't pay it - I just don't see the value in paying those prices.

[mason1]

We’ve just come back, and our view on holidays has changed. We’ve always had villas, as we like the space, the pool, games room etc. However, this time, we found the traffic going anywhere to be horrendous, and the kids are getting older and want more freedom and flexibility etc. DH didn’t want to drive, so I did all the driving. We did 1 night on site, and all agreed that we could cope with being in a hotel room, as the pros outweigh the cons:

No car required or parking fees
Ability to come and go as we want (either together or separately)
More freedom for the kids
Proximity to the parks

The one thing I will miss is the laundry - I know there are facilities at the hotels, but it’s not the same as having your own washer/dryer.

[Shinealight]

For us (2 x Adults) it's simply not worth it anymore. No more DME, no more free DDP, no more free parking at the Hotel, majorly reduced Mousekeeping. We simply couldn't justify the cost so this time we are staying off-site with free parking (and free breakfast) for literally a third of the cost. We've still bought the 14 day tickets because it works out cheaper for what we want form he parks but we have greatly reduced the number of days we'd normally spend on Disney property (which will result in reduced spend $ wise). So this holiday will be different in many ways (in a good way!).

It's a shame as Disney had us a loyal customer and probably would have for many years to come but hey-ho. For every person who draws the line as I have done I'm sure there are three others who are willing to replace me and I'm sure this is what Disney wants, fresh meat.

The days of Disney's great customer service are well and truly gone.

[baggers]

We are hoping to change our hotel in May for onsite instead of off site. My husband had a stroke a few weeks ago and we feel this will give us better flexibility and won’t impact the day for our 9 year old as my husband can join us later or leave us earlier.
Everyone has different opinions and circumstances

[Mizza40]

Where are you staying? We are looking at off property options at the moment

[Yvemc]

Having stayed onsite with Disney for many, many years (I am a huge fan of the Disney bubble), the prices and lack of benefits means we've now chosen to stay off site for the first time in 16 years (and first time ever for the kids.) We had booked to stay at Universal for three nights and then 14 nights at BC July 2020 ... then pandemic. We moved it to May 2021, couldn't justify the exorbitant hike in BC rise along with the removal of DDP, so went for the Swan. That trip was also cancelled so we have made the decision when we finally get to go in July (everything crossed!) to stay off site. We've chosen the Hilton Lake Buena Vista Palace as we stayed there many moons ago when it was the Wyndham and it's a great location, and with the money we're saving we've booked a five night stay at a club room at Portofino Bay. Disney used to be really magical for us and the onsite benefits were fantastic, but ultimately their hotel rooms are pretty much the same as any other hotel room and if they remove the benefits, there isn;t really that much of a pull to stay with them.

[kk20]

worth is a very subjective term. We decided that I didnt want to drive this time, im the key driver, I always drive and this time I didnt want to. This pretty much nailed it to either onsite or an Idrive hotel, villas were a little too far to have to uber everywhere. We have had an Idrive hotel before. We had a covid TA voucher so we decided to stay onsite, we didnt have enough annual leave to split the voucher in time so all of it has paid for the holiday.

Car hire was through the roof anyway, even the TA was struggling so between looking at a reasonable "close" hotel and onsite hotel there wasnt a major difference. No dining plan but a "dining credit" took a bit of the sting out of it.

The benefits for us will be the resort and location. Negatives will be extra cost and perhaps a difficulty with just "popping to the shops" (although without a car this could be argued as a point everywhere).

From a pure cost issue though no, not "worth" it.

[loldis]

Originally Posted by Yvemc

Having stayed onsite with Disney for many, many years (I am a huge fan of the Disney bubble), the prices and lack of benefits means we've now chosen to stay off site for the first time in 16 years (and first time ever for the kids.) We had booked to stay at Universal for three nights and then 14 nights at BC July 2020 ... then pandemic. We moved it to May 2021, couldn't justify the exorbitant hike in BC rise along with the removal of DDP, so went for the Swan. That trip was also cancelled so we have made the decision when we finally get to go in July (everything crossed!) to stay off site. We've chosen the Hilton Lake Buena Vista Palace as we stayed there many moons ago when it was the Wyndham and it's a great location, and with the money we're saving we've booked a five night stay at a club room at Portofino Bay. Disney used to be really magical for us and the onsite benefits were fantastic, but ultimately their hotel rooms are pretty much the same as any other hotel room and if they remove the benefits, there isn;t really that much of a pull to stay with them.

See more...

Good choice, Hilton LBV still has all the benefits of an onsite moderate anyway since it's a partner resort. So the only thing you're losing from BC is the evening hours.