Why stay on property?

[DVCSunDevil]

Unfortunately it doesn't seem worth it to stay onsite anymore.... Being a DVC owner this is upsetting... I personally will always stay on site, but there seems to be fewer and fewer reasons too. Plus they just keep raising prices and taking away stuff.... Parks don't even mean much to us anymore... Sad

Well, here is something to consider as a DVC owner. We are staying at Beach Club over the week of Easter. Our cost per night is $210 as DVC members. That was calculated adding the initial purchase cost (spread out over the life of the contract) and 2021 maintenance fees and then dividing that by the number of points in our contract in order to come up with a 2021 price per point. Then multiply that by the amount of points required for the reservation. That is why we bought into DVC...to be able to stay at deluxe hotels on WDW property. Nothing more, nothing less. Perks come and go so you can't plan on those. We don't use DME and we don't buy APs. DVC definitely makes sense, IMO, for those that love staying in the WDW bubble.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

I agree that you are losing perks every year for staying on property. But, at least for us, these are still the most important reasons we do and will for now:
- Never leaving the Disney bubble.
- The resorts are unique and themed. Great pools, lobby's and restaurants, not to mention transportation via Monorail, boat or bus.
- Location, location, location.
- Location, bubble, location, bubble

Honestly, we priced up this years trip at one or two of the Disney Springs area hotels. They start in the $150-170 range, but buy the time you add taxes, resort fees, parking fees etc., you may as well just stay at a Disney moderate.

Disney Springs Hotels are jacked up because of the EMH and bus benefits.
So not a fair representation.

If you look over in the West Irlo Bronson area 1 minute south of Animal Kingdom,
the Lake Buena Vista area above Disney Springs
and the I Drive area

the hotels are much cheaper and most don't have parking or resort fees.

Heck I'm staying at Homewood Suites Lake Buena Vista for $67 ($75 with tax)
and the Embassy Suites I drive $64 ($71 with tax)
Both have free breakfast (Embassy usually has bacon, though the buffet is suspended right now)
next month.

 

[Mazz519]

Well, here is something to consider as a DVC owner. We are staying at Beach Club over the week of Easter. Our cost per night is $210 as DVC members. That was calculated adding the initial purchase cost (spread out over the life of the contract) and 2021 maintenance fees and then dividing that by the number of points in our contract in order to come up with a 2021 price per point. Then multiply that by the amount of points required for that reservation. That is why we bought into DVC...to be able to stay at deluxe hotels on WDW property. Nothing more, nothing less. Perks come and go so you can't plan on those. We don't use DME and we don't buy APs. DVC definitely makes sense, IMO, for those that love staying in the WDW bubble.

So true we don't use DME, Annual passes or even the Dining plan...if your a DVC member yes it pays in the long runto keep coming and staying on property... If your a family who stays at Value or Moderate resorts, the whole Disney thing has lost a ton of appeal...

 

[GADisneyDad14]

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed/appreciated about WDW is that there are options for everyone. On-site, off-site, budget, luxury, large, small, rentals, hotels, condos, free transportation, paid transportation, etc - you name it and you can pretty much find it at WDW and/or the general Orlando area. It’s one of the most diverse vacation destinations in the U.S. in that regard.

I’ll never understand why the tone on this topic can sometimes be so critical or argumentative, or maybe that’s just the way it can come across in the written word on forums such as this. What works for me might not work for the next person, and that’s great. The diversity of perspectives on the many “ways to do Disney” is one of the reasons I enjoy coming around places like the DIS - it helps me be a more informed/aware traveler.

As for us, we’re pretty committed ‘bubble people’ I guess. We haven’t used DME since 2013 and always avoided the parks with EMH anyway, so I can’t say either impact us personally (although I can certainly understand why it does for so many). The on-site resorts provide exactly what we want when going to WDW - location, convenience, often unique accommodations and amenities, consistent pool activities for the kids, escape, seeing CMs we have gotten to know over the years, and the comfort of knowing what we are getting for our vacation dollar (that last part is particularly important to me). Others will find no value in any of those attributes, and that’s OK. WDW (and sites like this) would be pretty boring if we all did Disney the same way.

 

[Edna K. Mode]

Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts, I agree with all the various opinions shared! I really love the immersive experience at the resorts and yet struggling with paying the same for substantially less. I think in the end my family will be choosing vacation destinations other than WDW, which we have visited annually for a decade. I look forward to following The Dis and boards for updates. Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts!

 

[kylenne]

So true we don't use DME, Annual passes or even the Dining plan...if your a DVC member yes it pays in the long runto keep coming and staying on property... If your a family who stays at Value or Moderate resorts, the whole Disney thing has lost a ton of appeal...

I did some admittedly very cursory research on DVC and the only reason I hesitate is I don't like the idea of locking myself into an annual WDW trip...I like to travel elsewhere enough that I don't think it would be a good deal for me. If that was all I did, I think it would make more sense.

 

[Newbie500]

Many good posts here with lots of information and cost figures to consider. When my kids and I go to Disney it's a vacation (from CT) not a short trip or drive down for the day or weekend. I save money in advance of each trip by watching where and when I spend on necessities at home. I consider vacation a luxury so I loosen my wallet a bit more. Spending the extra money to stay on property is definitely part of the luxury of the vacation. We are fortunate to be able to do so, and we choose to do so. IMHO, and having done both in the past, on property is better because we are immersed in all things Disney (bubble) and not reminded every day of where we must return (home) when the vacation is over. The resorts, the cast members, the other guests, and not having to leave the scenery every evening to go outside of the bubble are all a part of the experience on property. It's difficult to describe because it's more of a feeling and less of a concrete, specific thing like having or not having a ride from the airport or saving money on a hotel or dining off property.

 

[bakerworld]

Vacations should be different from daily life which driving to and from is Daily Life. Some could say this was a $$ issue but for us it's a choice of creating a higher enjoyment of a fairly $$$$ vacation. We have been enjoying WDW since '77 and have never stayed off property. We have considered it a few times, creating extensive pricing notes. There are ways around hotel costs: eliminating weekends, September/May travel, shorted vacations, shortened tickets, eating in the room (PB&J = no fridge required), and one souvenir per kid. For us, all this was worth eliminating driving around in Lake Buena Vista traffic.

I have a BIL who took his kids twice to WDW. They hated it. One of the reasons they hated it was the drive from Orange Lake Timeshare and the other was because once they were on property they felt trapped by the need to not endure two RT's to Orange Lake - or more. For us, by 2p we were leaving the parks to swim, relax and gear up for evening. If some need to return to the room for down time, splitting up is not an issue as transportation is readily provided. The off property relatives didn't experience that. Years later the same BIL now loves Disney but he no longer is trying to save $$ by staying off property. Time is $$ and every minute in a car is diminishing the savings.

 

[rotlex]

Disney Springs Hotels are jacked up because of the EMH and bus benefits.
So not a fair representation.

If you look over in the West Irlo Bronson area 1 minute south of Animal Kingdom,
the Lake Buena Vista area above Disney Springs
and the I Drive area

the hotels are much cheaper and most don't have parking or resort fees.

Heck I'm staying at Homewood Suites Lake Buena Vista for $67 ($75 with tax)
and the Embassy Suites I drive $64 ($71 with tax)
Both have free breakfast (Embassy usually has bacon, though the buffet is suspended right now)
next month.

I do realize this but they become more and more "hotel Like". Our favorite places to stay when traveling are Hampton Inn's. We stay often at the one in Lake Buena Vista which is very close to Disney Springs for under $100 per night. Get free breakfast etc. My problem is, at that point, it just doesn't "feel" like a Disney vacation to us.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

Many good posts here with lots of information and cost figures to consider. When my kids and I go to Disney it's a vacation (from CT) not a short trip or drive down for the day or weekend. I save money in advance of each trip by watching where and when I spend on necessities at home. I consider vacation a luxury so I loosen my wallet a bit more. Spending the extra money to stay on property is definitely part of the luxury of the vacation. We are fortunate to be able to do so, and we choose to do so. IMHO, and having done both in the past, on property is better because we are immersed in all things Disney (bubble) and not reminded every day of where we must return (home) when the vacation is over. The resorts, the cast members, the other guests, and not having to leave the scenery every evening to go outside of the bubble are all a part of the experience on property. It's difficult to describe because it's more of a feeling and less of a concrete, specific thing like having or not having a ride from the airport or saving money on a hotel or dining off property.

I think when you are a kid or have young kids then the immersive bubble can mean alot more.
For example coming back late (when they had EMH, etc) from MK or Epcot and going to the All Star Resort cafeteria teaming with kids and activity has that field trip, summer camp atmosphere that you simply can't get offsite (with maybe the exception of Rosen Lake Buena Vista).

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

I have always stayed on site. We are value people, with the exception of the Fort Wilderness Campground.

We have decided that, since we do not spend much time at the resort, we would prefer to spend less on the room to be able to afford additional park days and the dining experiences. (YMMV)

With the cuts to services and ever-increasing WDW resort prices, I have started to price hotels (and campgrounds) in the area. How are some of you getting significantly lower rates for off-site hotels? It seems to me that they are nearly as much as the WDW resort value hotels when you add in the resort fee + parking fee. One reviewer noted that their family vehicle had been broken into at an off-site resort. I've never had that happen at WDW. (Not to say it never has, but it has me wondering if WDW has better security.)

To those of you staying off-site and keeping a tighter budget, how are you making it work?

Be sure and check out the "Vacation Resorts" in the area, too. I stayed off-site at the Vistiana Villages in October (It's a Marriot property) and it was $88/night for a small 1-bedroom (king bed, fold out sofa, washer/dryer, full-sized fridge, stovetop) and their 2 bedrooms were around $145/night.

On that trip, I drove. And because I'm a passholder, I had free parking at the theme parks. The resort had no parking fees. I liked having a full kitchenette for coffee/breakfast/dinner/snack. And I really liked having a washer and dryer since it was warm so I went home with mostly clean clothes.

 

[MudQueen22]

Be sure and check out the "Vacation Resorts" in the area, too. I stayed off-site at the Vistiana Villages in October (It's a Marriot property) and it was $88/night for a small 1-bedroom (king bed, fold out sofa, washer/dryer, full-sized fridge, stovetop) and their 2 bedrooms were around $145/night.

On that trip, I drove. And because I'm a passholder, I had free parking at the theme parks. The resort had no parking fees. I liked having a full kitchenette for coffee/breakfast/dinner/snack. And I really liked having a washer and dryer since it was warm so I went home with mostly clean clothes.

That might actually work for us! Thank you!

 

[dd316]

I hope somebody at Disney is hearing all this.

 

[StageTek]

So interesting reading everyone's replies.

For those who do not use the perks like DME and EMH their loss isn't an issue. But for those of us who use them and love them, their loss will be felt. Having gone in September I already felt the loss of the luggage perks. A small thing to most, but it was big thing to me; making both to and from the resort a hassle-free experience. Losing that AND the easy, magical transportation to and from will make a difference.

I'm staying off-site for my April trip - even including car rental I will save $350 Value Resort stay. I'll be in The World again this September - very much hoping POFQ will be open. But my dollars will be better spent off-site in 2022. And after... I'm sad to say WDW will not be my go-to destination on a regular basis.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

So interesting reading everyone's replies.

For those who do not use the perks like DME and EMH their loss isn't an issue. But for those of us who use them and love them, their loss will be felt. Having gone in September I already felt the loss of the luggage perks. A small thing to most, but it was big thing to me; making both to and from the resort a hassle-free experience. Losing that AND the easy, magical transportation to and from will make a difference.

I'm staying off-site for my April trip - even including car rental I will save $350 Value Resort stay. I'll be in The World again this September - very much hoping POFQ will be open. But my dollars will be better spent off-site in 2022. And after... I'm sad to say WDW will not be my go-to destination on a regular basis.

This is really the only way for the current Disney Inc regime to get the message.

 

[5th gate dreamers]

Following the metaphor of Walt Disney world being the size of San francisco...we stay at Walt Disney world when we go to Walt Disney world because we went to Walt Disney world. Just like when you stop at an exit to sleep while on a road trip and there is $49 rooms, $99 rooms, and $300 rooms. Just like when you go out to eat and there is $5.99 value meals, $13 take out, and $30 sit down. When we go to Walt Disney world, we fight through i4 and downtown once, park once, and Disney transports us the rest of our stay. We go downstairs in our night clothes to get breakfast. We wake up one hour before we want to be in a park instead of 3 to account for traffic and parking. To a large portion of on property stayers going forward, regardless of how much "magic" they strip, we will always choose on property for these reasons (amongst others).

 

[Sakiki]

As non drivers when we visit from the UK we love to stay on property. Yes some of the perks may have gone but we will still get Disney transport taking us to all the parks and Disney Springs and can stay out and about late, until it stops running, without having to worry about taxi fares, full shuttle services etc. It's peace of mind and so when we do return next year it will absolutely still be on property.

And we’re completely the opposite! We’ve visited Florida from the UK six times now (1997, 1999, 2001, 2016, 2018 & 2019) and only stayed onsite once (AKL/JH, on our most recent trip in December 2019). We always hire a car - we couldn’t envisage being without our own transport, partly because we always go over to Kennedy Space Centre, as well as doing some mall shopping and at least one day on an airboat trip on one of the lakes, and DW enjoys driving in the US (she and 3 friends drove from New York to LA and back in 1979, but that’s another story ). Other than that its a villa - private pool, no worries about random people walking in and disturbing us, room to sprawl if we want a rest day, and as DW is a UK ‘blue badge’ (disability placard) holder we like knowing that we can park right outside (which isn’t the case at any hotel, even the onsite ones - at AKL the lower end of the disability parking lot is a long way from the lobby, let alone the rooms, and we often found the lot was full anyway).

Of course we’re probably weird () in that we think Florida is a great deal more than WDW. We’ve driven down to Dolphins Stadium in Miami for a Monday night game, over to Tampa, St. Petersburg and Busch Gardens, across to Kissimmee, up and across to Daytona and up to Homosassa Springs and the Crystal River. The most unlikely place we’ve been was Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales - beautiful and fascinating in equal measure. We never come over for less than 3 weeks and rarely spend more than 7 or 8 days at WDW (including visiting some of the resort hotels for a meal and the sights - AKL/JH is still my favourite lobby across the whole of WDW and Boma is (was ) my favourite breakfast).

But to get back to the actual question - why stay onsite indeed? The whole WDW experience is so impaired at the moment, and the restrictions and requirements for international travel (face masks, social distancing etc etc) are so unpleasant/annoying - and unlikely to change any time this year - that we’ve now decided to move our December 2021 trip back to December 2022, or if our agent can’t do that we’ll cancel and rebook when we think its become worthwhile again...

 

[DLgal]

The one thing that will keep is onsite is the ability to drink and be able to either walk or take Disney transportation back to our resort.

 

[GoofyDad_4427]

Good thread. The only thing i don't understand or agree with is the people stating they stay onsite for the quality of the service/hotel. We have found that you can find a substantially better hotel (better rooms, better amenities, cleaner, better technology, better pool, etc) offsite for prices that generally are less than the Disney moderates, let alone the deluxes.

We used to stay onsite but havent for several years. Now we mostly stay at the Swolphin for the location and superior pool complex, but on occasion when a good deal can be had at the Waldorf Astoria or Four Seasons we have stayed there when they had the good neighbor benefits.

When we are not on vacation i view my time as extremely valuable, and its even more so when on vacation. I would voluntarily pay for an Uber rather than using DME because we get to the destination much faster. For most of the parks, Uber from the park to the hotel entrance is much quicker than walking. We have never had trouble getting an Uber in central Florida in less than 5 minutes regardless of the time of day.

 

[5th gate dreamers]

And we’re completely the opposite! We’ve visited Florida from the UK six times now (1997, 1999, 2001, 2016, 2018 & 2019) and only stayed onsite once (AKL/JH, on our most recent trip in December 2019). We always hire a car - we couldn’t envisage being without our own transport, partly because we always go over to Kennedy Space Centre, as well as doing some mall shopping and at least one day on an airboat trip on one of the lakes, and DW enjoys driving in the US (she and 3 friends drove from New York to LA and back in 1979, but that’s another story ). Other than that its a villa - private pool, no worries about random people walking in and disturbing us, room to sprawl if we want a rest day, and as DW is a UK ‘blue badge’ (disability placard) holder we like knowing that we can park right outside (which isn’t the case at any hotel, even the onsite ones - at AKL the lower end of the disability parking lot is a long way from the lobby, let alone the rooms, and we often found the lot was full anyway).

Of course we’re probably weird () in that we think Florida is a great deal more than WDW. We’ve driven down to Dolphins Stadium in Miami for a Monday night game, over to Tampa, St. Petersburg and Busch Gardens, across to Kissimmee, up and across to Daytona and up to Homosassa Springs and the Crystal River. The most unlikely place we’ve been was Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales - beautiful and fascinating in equal measure. We never come over for less than 3 weeks and rarely spend more than 7 or 8 days at WDW (including visiting some of the resort hotels for a meal and the sights - AKL/JH is still my favourite lobby across the whole of WDW and Boma is (was ) my favourite breakfast).

But to get back to the actual question - why stay onsite indeed? The whole WDW experience is so impaired at the moment, and the restrictions and requirements for international travel (face masks, social distancing etc etc) are so unpleasant/annoying - and unlikely to change any time this year - that we’ve now decided to move our December 2021 trip back to December 2022, or if our agent can’t do that we’ll cancel and rebook when we think its become worthwhile again...

yes yes...if you are "going to florida", you can find value staying where its cheaper and having a car, etc. if you are "going to disney world", there are myriad reasons to stay on property. i feel like people are looking for reasons to stay off property instead of staying on property. if you are going to san franciso for vacation, you dont stay in pleasanton because "why would you pay san franciso prices", right?