What incentives are left to stay on-site?

[DISNEY1975]

Sure, but if I'm staying offsite I have to find my own way to the parks. To me the biggest perk of staying onsite is walking out of my hotel room and onto a Disney bus, monorail or boat.

Practically all off site hotels offer bus/shuttle transporation to the parks. Unless youre staying at a Days Inn for $29/night, you should be able to take the hotel shuttle.

Location is not a perk. Many offsite hotels are the same distance, some even closer then the values at Disney.
EMH and FP is not a perk, also offered to many offsites
Im guessing 180+10 and receiving a magic band would be the only remaining perks. The 180+10 is a good deal, but if it came down to only the MB, then Id pay the $12 for my own ans save thousands staying 10 feet away from a Disney property. If that 4pm BOG dinner or 9:30pm Ohana meal is worth thousands to you, then go fo it!

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Practically all off site hotels offer bus/shuttle transporation to the parks. Unless youre staying at a Days Inn for $29/night, you should be able to take the hotel shuttle.

A shuttle that runs how many times a day? That carries what?

The shuttles that I have seen are effectively minivans. And the few buses that I have seen don't run even every hour.

Just because it might not be a perk to you, doesn't mean that it isn't a perk for anyone.

 

[married2mm]

RAC? Or are there non-Disney hotels that offer this, too?

What is RAC?

 

[bffdisney]

For us, there is really nothing. We are doing our last onsite trip. We are squeezing into Pop and making the teen boy sleep with grandma which neither really wants to do. We really need 3 sleeping places at least and for that you have to go Deluxe or 2 rooms. That is not in our budget at all. This last fee is the straw for us. We will rent a condo or look for a suite and pay a lot less money.

Moderate? Some have a pull down bed. I know it's small but it's another space to sleep. Or a family suite at All Star Music. (movies?)

 

[VAfamily1998]

Being able to charge via your magic band for those who don't want to carry cards or large amounts of cash. I always bring some cash with me in case MB don't work but love charging to the room and only carrying less than $40 on me.

That is a perk for my family, because we have older kids and when they go off on their own, I'd rather they not carry a ton of cash on them. It makes it easier that they can just charge a meal or snack to their band.

DME is convenient for us too--We live far enough that we usually fly, and I prefer to not rent a car (especially now that they will charge for parking!)

But other than those two things---there's not much left for my family. We don't find the meal plan works well with the way we eat. We do qualify for Shades of Green, and now that Disney is giving Shades the 60 day fast pass, and seem to have decreased the resort military discount availability (at least, for the times we have checked), we will probably stay at SOG from now on.

 

[nkereina]

As mentioned, resort locations, resort themes (Disney), Magical Express, 180+10 ADRs, Magic Bands, dining plans, being able to charge back to your room, resort airline check-in, and sending in-park purchases back to your room are all the amenities I can think of that are exclusive to WDW properties. Everyone values these differently so its a very personal decision as to what is important to your family.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

EMH

 

[Farro]

My perk is the hotels themselves. I don't want to stay in an ordinary hotel for a Disney vacation. I definitely don't want to stay in a rental house - on any vacation.

At Disney I want TOTAL IMMERSION!

I don't care who else gets EMH, I don't care if other hotels have bigger rooms, I don't care about free breakfasts - none of that matters to me at Disney. We don't go to Disney to see Orlando, we go to see Disney, end of story. And we will save for as long as takes for us to stay on-site. So we don't go but every few years, that's fine, plenty of places to visit in between, each vacation destination is great in itself.

Oh, and walking to/from Epcot is pretty awesome also.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Moderate? Some have a pull down bed. I know it's small but it's another space to sleep. Or a family suite at All Star Music. (movies?)

We tried that last summer. Booked POR and requested AB section. We did not receive it so again he had to share a bed. The family suites cost just as much as a deluxe and there is only 1 real bed which is not ok as I travel with my mom and we are not a couple who wants to share! It was bad enough sharing with my niece but I can manage that.

 

[tobikaye]

What is RAC?

Resort or Remote Airline Check-in.

EMH

This is now available to non-WDW hotels that are part of the Disney Springs resorts. (http://disneyspringshotels.com/)

For me personally, each trip going forward I will have to weigh the pros and cons of staying onsite versus offsite. I did this before the changes to DS resorts getting FP and EMH access and before the parking charge was announced. I will just continue to do this going forward, now there will just be some more things to consider.

 

[loves to dive]

My perk is the hotels themselves. I don't want to stay in an ordinary hotel for a Disney vacation. I definitely don't want to stay in a rental house - on any vacation.

At Disney I want TOTAL IMMERSION!

I don't care who else gets EMH, I don't care if other hotels have bigger rooms, I don't care about free breakfasts - none of that matters to me at Disney. We don't go to Disney to see Orlando, we go to see Disney, end of story. And we will save for as long as takes for us to stay on-site. So we don't go but every few years, that's fine, plenty of places to visit in between, each vacation destination is great in itself.

Oh, and walking to/from Epcot is pretty awesome also.

This is us as well. We rarely do EMH, we don't charge to MBs, we don't book ADRs or FPs any further in advance than the day before. We drive down so will have to pay for parking now but we will still stay on site. We never use our car, we actually like Disney transportation. We tend to stay mostly in Epcot resorts, lately Swan/Dolphin so we have been paying for parking anyway. We like being able to safely walk to two parks. We like getting up when we want to get up and a bus taking us to a park, usually within 20 minutes so we don't have to be on a shuttle schedule. We like going back to our resort, spending time at the pool then back to a park without having to worry about driving and parking our car or working around a shuttle schedule. We like having a refreshing adult beverage and not having to worry about driving.

 

[OneinThree]

Perks left?

Hold on a second, I'll be back in a minute -promise.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

Magical Express, Transportation, Magic Bands, 180+ 10 ADRs

As I see it, there are two categories of perks --

1. "Free" stuff that I can still buy if I stay offsite. This include DME (Uber/Lyft/Mears), MagicBands, and Transportation (Uber/Lyft/Mears/Rental)
2. Stuff I can only get with an onsite (or now DS Hotel) reservation. This is the big one - 60+10 FastPass window - as well as 180+10 ADR Window, EMH, and Location

For category 1 (DME and MBs), if you need those things, subtract them from the room rate and compare. For category 2, it comes down to how much you really want it.

For me, the 60+10 FastPass window and Location (only applies to a handful of deluxes) are really the only perks that matter. If Disney ever does away with the 60+10 FastPass window, I will likely never stay onsite again.

A shuttle that runs how many times a day? That carries what?

The shuttles that I have seen are effectively minivans. And the few buses that I have seen don't run even every hour.

Just because it might not be a perk to you, doesn't mean that it isn't a perk for anyone.

My preferred offsite offsite (not DS) hotel has 2 times to the park and 2 times back. I guess it can work if you're flexible and don't mind losing the first few and last few hours of park time.

 

[nkereina]

As I see it, there are two categories of perks --

1. "Free" stuff that I can still buy if I stay offsite. This include DME (Uber/Lyft/Mears), MagicBands, and Transportation (Uber/Lyft/Mears/Rental)
2. Stuff I can only get with an onsite (or now DS Hotel) reservation. This is the big one - 60+10 FastPass window - as well as 180+10 ADR Window, EMH, and Location

For category 1 (DME and MBs), if you need those things, subtract them from the room rate and compare. For category 2, it comes down to how much you really want it.

For me, the 60+10 FastPass window and Location (only applies to a handful of deluxes) are really the only perks that matter. If Disney ever does away with the 60+10 FastPass window, I will likely never stay onsite again.

For category 2, you should add the Disney theme and immersion (aka "bubble") that people who choose to stay on-site are striving for. Its hard to attach a monetary value to that but some people, myself included, still find it enticing enough to stay onsite. No matter how fabulous an off-site hotel is, they can never compete with that which some of us want when we travel there.

 

[2kidsForMe]

For us, it’s theming, resort transportation (including magical express), and resort dining. That being said, we have let our annual passes go. We have a trip planned for this summer, but it’s more to say goodbye for now. It’s time.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

My perk is the hotels themselves. I don't want to stay in an ordinary hotel for a Disney vacation. I definitely don't want to stay in a rental house - on any vacation.

At Disney I want TOTAL IMMERSION!

I don't care who else gets EMH, I don't care if other hotels have bigger rooms, I don't care about free breakfasts - none of that matters to me at Disney. We don't go to Disney to see Orlando, we go to see Disney, end of story.

Same.

The Disney resort experience is the draw for us. We stayed onsite long before anything like EMH, FP booking windows, Magical Express, etc. existed. We enjoy the theming, top notch customer service, location, transportation options and feeling all Disney all the time.

We love Disney hotels including the ones in other destinations. We’ve stayed at Aulani, Vero Beach and Hilton Head. No park perks there - just the Disney resort experience that we love.

We are DVC now so obviously always on site, but if we were not we would still only go if we could stay on site. It really is a huge part of the trip for us.

ETA: I did my college program at a deluxe. After staying in Disney resorts and falling in love with them growing up, during my CP I worked with so many CMs who really loved their jobs and were committed to the guest experience. This reinforced my love for Disney resorts.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

For us, there is really nothing. We are doing our last onsite trip. We are squeezing into Pop and making the teen boy sleep with grandma which neither really wants to do. We really need 3 sleeping places at least and for that you have to go Deluxe or 2 rooms. That is not in our budget at all. This last fee is the straw for us. We will rent a condo or look for a suite and pay a lot less money.

Have you thought about bringing (if you can) an air mattress? I've heard several families do that with kids that won't sleep together. Still not ideal but could be a better option for the teenager and grandma.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

My perk is the hotels themselves. I don't want to stay in an ordinary hotel for a Disney vacation. I definitely don't want to stay in a rental house - on any vacation.

At Disney I want TOTAL IMMERSION!

I don't care who else gets EMH, I don't care if other hotels have bigger rooms, I don't care about free breakfasts - none of that matters to me at Disney. We don't go to Disney to see Orlando, we go to see Disney, end of story. And we will save for as long as takes for us to stay on-site. So we don't go but every few years, that's fine, plenty of places to visit in between, each vacation destination is great in itself.

Oh, and walking to/from Epcot is pretty awesome also.

^^^^^All of this. We all have our definition of "perks" and these are what our perks are for our family. I don't want to stay at the same hotel I can stay at down the street from where I live, I want the theming, total Disney experience and ease (convenience). We've stayed offsite before and it's not enjoyable for us. We did the Gaylord Palms which is a nice resort but at the end of the day, we didn't like staying offsite. As great as the trip was, it felt different staying off property.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I have never had issues with the frequency of Disney transport. It is similar in scope and timing to big city public transit.

For those who are used to driving everywhere on demand, they may find the shared busing and timing terrible, but that is context.

 

[DSLRuser]

We have done a few Off Sites the last 30 years here and there. But On Site for us is the draw. We normally drive 16 hours from St. Louis, but some times fly. in ether case, the last thing i want to do while on vacation is get in the car and drive. We park our car for the duration of the stay, or use magic express.

Being able to walk to many places, or a short bus ride is the draw. I believe the buss system is incredibly efficient and have zero complaints. a 5-20 minute wait for a bus is worth it to not have to drive. And even when they get "packed" with people. it's 5-10 minutes where i don't have to drive.

60 day FP+ is a draw. and there are not that many partners who are in on this. Sorry, when i stayed off site, the partner hotels were not where we stayed.

Overall, the disney service is still there. And yes it is pricey. but I still get value for what i spend and even with all the nickel and dimes disney is trying to get from me, the value for what i spend is still there.