Would you visit Disney without free DDP?

[SteveyJ]

Option 1 for us.

Just being on site and not having to drive in from wherever we'd stay instead is enough of a perk.

[princessnicki]

Im not sure, if there were DVC points available to rent then i may stay at Disney and buy the dining plan, and then do the other half of the holiday at Universal and eat offsite

[lcm23]

We were planning to stay onsite for our next visit in may2022 as its hubby's 40th and sisters 50th and me and hubby have never stayed onsite before. Dining plan not an issue as never had it before so don't know what we're missing but at the moment, I'm failing to see the perk of staying onsite other than the transport and not having to drive. It seems all of the onsite perks have gone and no news when/if they will be back so it seems a very expensive holiday just for the benefit of free transport around the bubble. We love the fireworks, shows and parades and the earlier fastpass window would be a big benefit but all of these things have been removed and there's no indication of if/when they will return. We will probably book flights as soon as they come out for May 22 and hold the onsite accommodation but cancel and rebook offsite if some of the other perks don't return. I'd maybe be tempted to delay altogether until 2023 if there was chance then of getting the full disney onsite experience as I don't want to spend such a lot on a holiday and feel we're not getting the full deal.

[Taffy1959]

Option 1 for us but we would probably only be onsite for 4/5 nights and it would be because we liked the convenience of staying onsite
We’ve only stayed on site 3 times twice without the dining plan and both were only 2/3 nights.
We stayed for 6 nights in 2019 with QSDP and it was too much food for us and we ended up eating just to use the credits up and we used a lot of snack credits on sweets which we brought home with us.

[Guest]

Option 1, we have booked All Stars.

Normally though I would spend more and stay at a different resort but I am failing to see the benefit of spending extra to stay at one of my favourite resorts.

So if free DDP comes back I’ll upgrade my hotel, if not the money I’m not spending on a preferred hotel I’ll spend on food.

[LizzyBear]

Leaning towards 2, however if the onsite offering was more beneficial than it is currently, ie priority fast passes or similar, I would consider a short stay of maybe 5 nights within our 3 week holiday.

[Disney Smiths]

With you 100%

The pricing is becoming absolutely ridiculous. Love Disney but we have to ask whether the price we pay is value for money for two weeks ... NO!

[Evenstar120]

Originally Posted by Disney Smiths

With you 100%

The pricing is becoming absolutely ridiculous. Love Disney but we have to ask whether the price we pay is value for money for two weeks ... NO!

See more...

I totally agree with you. I love Disney but I cannot justify the expense of an onsite stay with no incentives. No dining plan / gift cards.
No fast pass/ no magical express / no complimentary magic bands / no extra magic hours or parades / fireworks. Really not a real Disney experience at all if all of those things are gone. Not worth the ridiculous prices anymore.

[DisneyYoda]

Originally Posted by Evenstar120

I totally agree with you. I love Disney but I cannot justify the expense of an onsite stay with no incentives. No dining plan / gift cards.
No fast pass/ no magical express / no complimentary magic bands / no extra magic hours or parades / fireworks. Really not a real Disney experience at all if all of those things are gone. Not worth the ridiculous prices anymore.

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That’s quite a list. And you can add no free car parking. 🙁

I also understand they make you clean your room on the way out. And if it’s not up to standard they take your luggage and get a big mouse to throw you off property. 😂

[sky13]

Option 1 for me...

I've done many WDW trips and I've never had free DDP, mainly because I solo tripped most of these and the cost/benefit of free DDP isn't worth it for solo travellers. Instead, I usually get a decent discount on my WDW hotel room through offers on the Disney USA website (sometimes with AP discount, sometimes just the regular Spring/Summer/etc discount). Basically the options tend to usually be either free DDP or discounted hotel rooms and for me in the past it has always been more worth it to get the discounted hotel room.

I did try one trip with add on DDP but with the way I eat it's not necessarily worth it to have the DDP - I like snacking, don't always need to eat full meals, and like occasional signature dining experiences (usually do a couple of these per trip).

I've been too spoiled by the ease of being on-site to consider doing an off-site stay, especially as I will not drive in the USA (I don't even drive in daily life these days so can't even imagine trying to drive in a foreign country on the different side of the road).