What incentives are left to stay on-site?

[Kevin355]

Bingo. Disney just picks and chooses what suits their bottom line when it comes to "industry standards."

Bad news...not happening. But you are absolutely, 100% correct. I was all about the bubble before WDW became more about the wallet.

 

[nkereina]

Sure I do. But I have young kids so I’m not getting plowed or anything. I’ll get a single mixed drink while walking around or something. My husband and also switch off - I’ll drive if he wants a beer, he’ll drive if I want something. If neither of us could drive for some reason I’d get a ride share. I’d hate a bus even more if I’d been drinking.

Like I said, no benefit for me.

Fair enough. Just simply stating that this is a benefit that is often overlooked. The last thing I want to do on vacation is worry about sticking to one drink or not drinking at all so we can drive.

 

[Dashzap]

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.

But I am bringing my phone with me for MyDisneyExperience, and I use google/android pay.

 

[goofyintoronto]

But then I have to take them back to the room, from the park. By picking up at the resort, I can take it straight to the room, without having to travel with it. Now that's no biggie.


Allergy ones? Because most hotels can offer me yogurt and fruit. If I am lucky, scrambled eggs. Waffles? Never.

Yes exactly.

I just wanted to point out what a pain it must be to pick up your package at the front of the park when you're offsite and park hopping. The beauty of staying onsite is having them deliver it to your resort...you literally dont have to worry about the package at all until the following day (when youre suppose to pick them up). Ive been to disney a million times, I dont need souveniers. But guess what? I always find something to buy at disney. There's always a cute mug i dont have, a tshirt i have to have, a glass or knick knack that a family member would love etc. There's always something. So being able to send things to my resort is huge for me. I dont drive in disney, i rely on disney transport. So its not like i can shove items in my car then go back to the park either.

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 me too! When i go to disney, im there for disney. Not Orlando, not Universal. I literally want to immerse myself in disney. Staying offsite would depress me because it doesnt scream "disney". I dont want to stay at a typical boring hotel. I want mickey pics, mickey cartoons, mickey bars, I want to see mickey in my sleep. Yes i realise you can get bigger rooms with a separate living room area at an offsite hotel. Thats cool, but i dont care. I'd rather be cramped in a value resort and be on disney property. But hey, thats just me. If i had a dozen kids, I might be singing a different tune. Different strokes right. Usually its just me on solo trips, or my son and I.

 

[jbhodj]

For my family it used to be all about staying on sight and all the perks mentioned already. Key word “used” to be.

I’m all for the total immersion aspect but when it comes to saving thousands of dollars staying off site vs onsite it’s a no brainer for me. Disney seems content on cutting benefits and getting my wallet open than creating or keeping value staying on sight.

Will not be staying onsite again for future trips. I work to hard for my money only to have Disney nickel and dime me out of it for no benefit to me

 

[Tink-osophy]

Bad news...not happening. But you are absolutely, 100% correct. I was all about the bubble before WDW became more about the wallet.

This makes me think that at the Disney table they're really missing the point that - in a unique way - people used to notice the wallet part less on Disney trips (though it was certainly happening!), because the bubble was so fantastic they couldn't look away. IYSWIM

Now, they're reducing/bursting the bubble and the wallet part is front and center and there's no hiding that you get to pay much more money, but for much less Disney!

 

[pkpope]

I would say location and feeling like you’re in the “disney bubble”. I’ve stayed at every resort on property except for some of the springs resorts and the four seasons, and even as an adult it still feels much more magical to be on property than somewhere else, or even in bonnet creek or disney springs

 

[Silvermist999]

We might consider doing split stays where we start the trip off at an off site resort for a 2-3 days. We just love being onsite too much to give it up altogether.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Allergy ones? Because most hotels can offer me yogurt and fruit. If I am lucky, scrambled eggs. Waffles? Never.

It depends on where you stay. I have no clue what type of allergy you deal with, but can tell you that I am gluten free and have had an offsite hotel make waffles & pancakes for me. You would of course, need to speak with the chef similar to speaking to the chef at an onsite hotel.

 

[Kevin355]

It depends on where you stay. I have no clue what type of allergy you deal with, but can tell you that I am gluten free and have had an offsite hotel make waffles & pancakes for me. You would of course, need to speak with the chef similar to speaking to the chef at an onsite hotel.

My wife has the same allergies...gluten, soy, and dairy. WDW did an excellent job in making meals for her, but so do off-site restaurants.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Off-site hotels do have shuttle buses, but they're not as good as disney. They dont run as often, they arent as clean, and theyre always packed. No thanks.

And someone nailed it above....the perk to staying onsite is not only DME, but also the disney bubble. Its a big deal for me. Im going to orlando because of disney. I want to stay in the disney bubble. I like the disney resorts, yes even the values. It screams disney, its in your face. I love it. Lastly, I really do enjoy the transportation around disney. Im one of the weirdos that actually prefer it over driving/renting a car. Hey, to each their own.

I agree and as I go solo I prefer being on site I don’t need to hire a car. The
last time I hired a car it stayed in the car park all but two days so I would rather Uber to universal, I stopped going to sea world years ago and why pay for a water park when Disney has two?

 

[Kellykins1218]

Now that WDW will get you for parking at either resorts (overnight) or parks, 60d FP+ and EMH have been extended to several non-Disney-owned properties, are there any remaining incentives to stay on-site?
We have to be able to find something, right?

 

[disneydreamer781]

Well, the 60 day FP is still available. For me that is a pretty good perk even though I'm still not able to get the early FOP FP. I'm wondering if Disney may throw Disney resort guests a perk like having that 180 ADR period exclusivity and having offsite guests at 150-160 days. Just a thought really that they may do something like that to placate onsite guests.

 

[WDW_Ding]

Can I offer an unpopular opinion?

I don't think the decision to stay on-site or off-site should be a question of perks.

Why should you stay on-site, at Animal Kingdom Lodge, just as an example?

The answer is because the Animal Kingdom Lodge is a great resort!

What I mean by that is that the general quality of the resort is high. The rooms, the service, the lobby, the activities, the dining options, the general atmosphere...these are the things you should be paying attention to. Not the perks!

 

[goofyintoronto]

I agree and as I go solo I prefer being on site I don’t need to hire a car. The
last time I hired a car it stayed in the car park all but two days so I would rather Uber to universal, I stopped going to sea world years ago and why pay for a water park when Disney has two?

Im with you. I rented a car once and honestly, it was a waste. I much prefer to take the buses. They're great! Plus the bonus is, i can have a couple of drinks while at F&W and not worry about driving. Although I dont drink much at all, its nice to not have that worry. And i do go to F&W every day of my trip. Its the reason i go to disney in the fall.

 

[Momof2Singers]

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.

We brought a nice twin size taller air mattress our last trip, and our teenage daughter slept on it to avoid sleeping with her sister LOL...it worked fine.

 

[FSU Girl]

Can I offer an unpopular opinion?

I don't think the decision to stay on-site or off-site should be a question of perks.

Why should you stay on-site, at Animal Kingdom Lodge, just as an example?

The answer is because the Animal Kingdom Lodge is a great resort!

What I mean by that is that the general quality of the resort is high. The rooms, the service, the lobby, the activities, the dining options, the general atmosphere...these are the things you should be paying attention to. Not the perks!

Maybe if their pricing was on par with other hotels. But it's not. I stayed in a suite when I went to Vegas for $300 a night. When I went to Disneyland right after in the same trip it was $700 a night for a room I couldn't guarantee a king and was half the size. I love Animal Kingdom Lodge. I just stayed there last weekend, but I think the pricing of Disney hotels is outrageously expensive and just because I can see animals outside my room doesn't make up for it. Normally when you pay that much you get some perks with staying, and Disney is slowly taking all those perks away. I wish they did a reward program like many hotels do, I'd have a high status. But they've made it not worth staying on site anymore, at least for me. I always drive and I can stay over at the Four Seasons for way less than the room I currently have booked at Bay Lake Tower.

 

[Momof2Singers]

I don't really understand the logic of this, I'm sorry. If I spill something myself, I clean it right away. The other stuff, that's something to be concerned about but seriously, leaving spilled drink like that can attract bugs, gets sticky, very gross.

I think it was a small thing, she was just waiting to see if they cleaned properly. If this was the case, I would just take the credit for no housekeeping and do it myself which I feel I am better at anyway. Our rooms at POR in the past few visits have really not been clean after they left and we work hard every morning before we leave to leave it picked up so they are able to clean. Overall housekeeping has gone way down hill compared to other vacation spots. I think that may be what she is referring to. In the years when my daughters were younger this was not the case. The room was spotless and the little towel animals left made my daughters so happy. We have not had an animal since 2010. And they are extremely uncomfortable leaving some of their things in the room, we have had to bring a locked extra suitcase since we drive and we had never really felt like that before. Bigger kids, bigger and more expensive electronics. One day on our last trip, we just ask for things and told her she did not have to clean the room, but our housekeeper could not speak English and we had to go to her cart and pick out those things we needed ourselves. Its just a different place than even 10 years ago, still nice, just different. I can only comment on POR, we have not stayed anywhere else except once at Beach Club. I think because we have had those great experiences in the past, it is more noticeable when they seem to disappear.

 

[WDW_Ding]

Maybe if their pricing was on par with other hotels. But it's not. I stayed in a suite when I went to Vegas for $300 a night. When I went to Disneyland right after in the same trip it was $700 a night for a room I couldn't guarantee a king and was half the size. I love Animal Kingdom Lodge. I just stayed there last weekend, but I think the pricing of Disney hotels is outrageously expensive and just because I can see animals outside my room doesn't make up for it. Normally when you pay that much you get some perks with staying, and Disney is slowly taking all those perks away. I wish they did a reward program like many hotels do, I'd have a high status. But they've made it not worth staying on site anymore, at least for me. I always drive and I can stay over at the Four Seasons for way less than the room I currently have booked at Bay Lake Tower.

If you feel you can get more for less by staying off property, then you should do it.

I just feel that often times people don't place enough value on the quality of the resort itself. Some think that all rooms with king sized beds are the same and that a hotel is the same thing as a resort.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

It depends on where you stay. I have no clue what type of allergy you deal with, but can tell you that I am gluten free and have had an offsite hotel make waffles & pancakes for me. You would of course, need to speak with the chef similar to speaking to the chef at an onsite hotel.

My wife has the same allergies...gluten, soy, and dairy. WDW did an excellent job in making meals for her, but so do off-site restaurants.

I've had the worst luck off site.

I actually had a waitress laugh at me when I asked about gluten free. We just sucked it up and waited until we were onsite to eat.

On site, I've not had a problem.