Benefits of staying on property

[Vickyvoo]

We have had two holidays cancelled, both staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We curently have a reservation for 2022 staying at the Carribbean Beach.

With changes to free dining and now fast passes and Magic Bands, I am really struggling now to justify the extra cost of staying on property...

I do get the magic of staying in the Disney bubble, but are there any other tangible benefits that I should take into account when deciding on future trips... what do you think?

[Shooby doo]

Vicky I think it really depends on how much that "bubble" feeling is worth to you? So benefits :
Free park parking, offset of course by the fact that you have to pay a nightly parking charge at resort.
You get to book genie plus early, of course you also have to be up 2 hours earlier to do it
Free transport but then in reality anyone can use the transport although the logistics are that if park bound you have to get to a resort first
Deluxe are going to get the equivalent of EMH (evening) but I'm expecting this to be rammed with guests that don't want to pay for Genie+

Not sure if I've missed anything, after all it's a very short list, especially when you can expect to pay the best part of £300/night to stay at a Mod IYKWIM
SD

[Claudette]

We have always stayed onsite, one of our reasons is that we do not wish to hire a car and it was more convenient, so we still have that benefit. Other than that, the only benefit left really is the half an hour early opening and the extra evening hours in Magic Kingdom and Epcot once a week.

The cost of a moderate would be acceptable for us, the extra cost versus offsite (considering all the taxis we would need if offsite) is not that much and would be something we are prepared to pay for the convenience and the few benefits.

On the other hand we have a booking in the Contemporary for September next year and it is £700 per night. We have nearly always stayed in deluxes before as we like them, but £700 with virtually no benefits is just silly and we will definitely be cancelling this. So the removal of benefits has meant we are priced out of deluxe hotels going forward. Animal Kingdom is possibly the exception as it does tend to be priced much lower than the other deluxe hotels.

[lfc_sarah]

We just cancelled our Disney booking and booked a villa instead.
Very few perks for the price we were going to pay.

Never stayed off site before so it will be interesting.

[kikimouse]

I do love being in the bubble. Everything js done just so and I know that if I need help, the customer service in the resorts is amazing.

We don’t use DME because we always have a hire car. Magic bands? Still have the old ones plus we’ll probably use our mobiles more. The only big loss of perk for me is the free parking in the resort; i’ll probably use the giftcard to offset that.

Free DDP was a nice perk and the current dining credit offer is nowhere near its value. If paid DDP is coming back as rumoured, we’ll purchase the QSDP and use the dining credits for some table service and snacks.

Although saying that, I can’t do two whole weeks onsite. A split stay suits us fine. We’ll get our fill of Disney in the first week and then do other things week 2 with dibs into Disney at a leisurely pace

[loldis]

I like the bubble for convenience, however the rates they're currently charging for the resorts aren't justified given the quality of the rooms and the limited perks. Deluxe priced itself above what I'm willing to pay a few years ago now, and moderates have now gone the same way. Therefore I've downgraded to a value for my next trip. With the dining offer credits taken into account, the room works out at around £100/night. That's an acceptable rate for the convenience IMO.

The dining and fastpass changes don't bother me TBH, but £600+ a night for the deluxes now is ridiculous for what they are. You can get Four Seasons or the Waldorf for less than that, and they are true 5* resorts.

[disney332]

There are NO tangible benefits.

Disney332

[Jakey Neverland]

The benefits are not there anymore imo, we wont be staying onsite again.

[pritch]

Over a 4 day stay, the savings staying offsite for food and drink are considerable , plus the huge savings on a bed for the night, and even with an hire car we are still quids in, on our plan for next year, we have costed a saving of over £1500 staying off site, after everything, which basically pays for the tickets.

[themeparksandy]

Staying at Disney really only been 2 reasons:
1) Free Dinning plan
2) Can pop back to hotel for a rest and refresh.

Now I got a fussy eater with my daughter who only eats food with batter on and if it tastes funny or looks different she won’t eat it and would eat a big pack of lays crisps instead. Now on the free dinning plan it wasn’t a problem but as she will be 11 when we go again I have to pay adult prices for her and won’t be happy to pay roughly $15 just for her to pick at it.
So if the free dinning plan does return in 2023/24 I will book a Disney World hotel but if it isn’t will be looking at a LBV hotel with breakfast included and regular free transfers to the parks.