If you visited Walt Disney World 30 years ago and again in the past few years, you might have been a little surprised by how much has changed, especially when it comes to the Walt Disney World hotels.
Some things are new, while some older aspects of staying on-site have gone by the wayside. These changes have led families to question, “Is it still worth it to stay at a Walt Disney World hotel?”
The answer isn’t all that simple because whether or not it’s worth it depends on your family’s needs. Let’s break down when it’s still a good idea to stay on Disney property.
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When Is It Worth It to Stay on Walt Disney World Property?
1. When You Don’t Want to Drive
Hands down, the most significant benefit to staying at Walt Disney World’s hotels is your access to the theme park’s transportation system.
Beyond the bus system that generally takes you to all the on-site hotels, theme parks, water parks, and shopping and dining complex Disney Springs, some hotels also have access to the monorail, which takes you to Magic Kingdom or EPCOT; the Skyliner, which takes you to Disney’s Hollywood Studios or EPCOT; or the ferry, which takes you to Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or EPCOT.
Driving and parking at Walt Disney World can be not only a hassle but also expensive. For standard parking at the theme parks, you’re looking at an additional $30 per day.
2. When You Expect to Need to Go Back and Forth from Park to Hotel
If you have young kids who still need a nap in the middle of the day, staying at a Walt Disney World hotel can be a real boon to your trip. If you’re staying on-site, you can hop on a bus or another form of Walt Disney World transportation, like the ferry or monorail, to get back to your hotel in the middle of the day. From there, your little one can rest up, and you can get right back on Disney’s transportation to spend the rest of the day at the park.
If you stay off-site, leaving the park can be more of a hassle. If you paid to park at one of the Walt Disney World parks, your parking pass is valid for the whole day, so you can leave and come back. But you can’t guarantee you’ll find good parking again. Especially if you arrived early and got a prime spot, you might be hesitant to leave and give that up.
The other benefit to staying on-site is that it’s easier to split up and find each other again later. If you stayed in a Walt Disney World hotel with multiple kids, some needing naps while others don’t, you can take the younger kids back to the hotel while your partner stays with the older kids in the park. You might be more hesitant to split up if you have to drive a long way away from Walt Disney World to get to your hotel.
3. When You Want to Open and Close the Parks
On the other end of the spectrum, if you don’t plan on leaving the parks until closing, staying on property can be a good idea. If you want to spend every day opening and closing the parks, the last thing you want to do at the end of a long day is drive back to a hotel.
Keep in mind that Walt Disney World covers 47 square miles. Even if you stay relatively near the theme parks at an off-site hotel, you’ll still likely need to drive a little way away, which you will probably not want to have to deal with when you’re exhausted and your feet are sore from walking around 20,000 steps!
When Should You Consider an Off-Site Hotel?
1. When You Want to Just Spend a Few Days at the Parks
There are a lot of things to do in Orlando beyond Walt Disney World. In addition to other theme parks, like Universal Orlando, there are also other nearby attractions, like the Kennedy Space Center.
If you plan to just spend a handful of days at Walt Disney World and fill the rest of your days adventuring around the Orlando area, staying off Disney property will likely be your best bet. With Walt Disney World being so massive, you don’t want to have to spend time navigating Disney property every day to get out to the greater Orlando area.
2. When You’re More Interested in Universal Orlando
When I was growing up, we typically spent about a week at a time in Orlando for our vacation, spending four full days at the Walt Disney World parks and one full day at Universal Orlando. Because we spent more days at Walt Disney World, it just made sense to stay at a Disney hotel and work out transportation for that one day at Universal Orlando.
But for your family, the opposite may be true. Especially with Universal’s third non-water park theme park, Epic Universe, spending several days at Universal Orlando will be easier than ever.
You might find that you’d rather spend four days at Universal and just one day at Walt Disney World instead, in which case staying on Disney property might not make much sense. Universal also has its own on-property hotels, which come with their own set of perks.
Things to Know About Staying on Walt Disney World Property
1. You Can Book Dining Reservations 60 Days Out from Your Trip
Whether you’re staying on or off Disney property, you can make Advanced Dining Reservations starting at 6 am EST, 60 days before your trip. And you’re going to want to take advantage of this opportunity. I can’t stress enough how important it is to be up by 6 am EST if you want a very in-demand restaurant like Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom.
However, there is one difference between staying on or off Disney property when it comes to Advanced Dining Reservations. If you’re on-site, you can book reservations for your whole trip if the first day of your trip is 60 days away.
If you’re off-site, you can only book for one day at a time. You’ll have to wait for the following day to get reservations for the second day of your trip, and so on. If you’re on the West Coast, like I am, being up at 3 am PST seven days in a row is not exactly fun.
2. The Magical Express is No More
When you’re going to Walt Disney World from the Orlando International Airport, you used to be able to ride a free bus service from the airport to your hotel, called the Magical Express (though it was frequently referred to as the Tragical Express when you were going the other direction). That service is no more, and there is now a paid service in its place.
While you can still take a cab or a ridesharing service to get to your hotel, you can also hop on the Sunshine Flyer. It’s still Mears, the same company that offered the Magical Express, but now it costs $13 per child and $16 per adult.
3. FastPass is No More
FastPass has lived a lot of lives at Walt Disney World. When I was little, I remember high-tailing it across the park to secure a paper FastPass ticket to redeem later in the day, but Walt Disney World switched it so that you could get three digital FastPasses every day of your trip. Walt Disney World hotel guests could book these FastPasses 60 days in advance, while off-site guests could book 30 days out.
FastPass, or FastPass+ as it became when it went digital, no longer exists. In its place are actually multiple systems. The first is Genie+, which functions similarly to FastPass. You have to purchase the service the day you intend to use it and can only book Lightning Lanes, as “FastPasses” on Genie+ are called, every two hours or when the Lightning Lane is used.
Not all rides are available on Genie+. The newest and most in-demand rides use Individual Lightning Lanes, where you can purchase a pass to bypass the standby line for just that ride.
The cost of Genie+ varies by park and by demand, and Individual Lightning Lanes also vary in price by how high the demand is. However, you can purchase Individual Lightning Lanes even if you haven’t purchased Genie+ for that day.
4. Extra Magic Hours is No More
Extra Magic Hours used to be a perk for on-site guests, allowing visitors to stay an additional two hours at a select Disney theme park on a select day after the park has closed to other guests. But there is still a version of Extra Magic Hours.
Early Theme Park Entry is available to on-site guests and guests of some affiliated hotels every day, allowing visitors to get into the parks a half hour early. There are also Extended Evening Hours, which are only available on select nights and at select parks.
Like Extra Magic Hours, Extended Evening Hours run for two hours. However, only those staying in Deluxe Resorts, Deluxe Villa Resorts, and a handful of other hotels get this perk.
