This is in response to questions on the "offsite hotels, dining shopping" Forum about why people would ever stay offsite.
With the recent changes (and some longer term changes) to "guest experience" at WDW Resorts I am having trouble understanding who still wants to stay onsite. Here are my top 10 reasons against staying onsite at WDW:
I'm planning my first WDW trip in 3 years. In 2019 I got married in the Philippines, so my wife and I took our honeymoon in Japan and I used my DVC points at Disneyland Tokyo. Then with COVID in 2020 and 2021 there was no travel. The US boarder is finally opening to Canadian residents in a couple of weeks and we have applied for a visitors visa for my wife.
But for a little perspective, I bought into DVC in 2000 and would go once or twice a year with a good buddy up until 2018.
#1 Cost: still probably the highest factor. Especially for larger families. You can stay at an offsite condo with a private movie theater and pool for less than half of a DVC room/rental. Regular hotels are less than 1/3 what Disney charges. Staying offsite gives us thousands more dollars to spend at parks/experiences or just keep the money.
I have DVC, so the cost really isn't a big factor.
#2 No Magical Express- the "Disney Bubble" no longer starts at the airport.
I made great use of Magical Express while it was available. But I bought into DVC long before ME was around. We either rented a car or hired a towncar. While I'm disappointed ME is going away, it's not a deal-breaker by any means.
#3 Severely reduced Extra Magic Hours, or whatever they call them now. Really, what will you get done in 1/2 hour early entrance unless you can sprint from attraction to attraction. Offsite guests will still be able to make early morning dining reservations and get into parks early to strategically position themselves for rides
Honestly, I never managed to get up in time for early morning EMH. We did take advantage of evening EMHs when it fit our plans. I suspect that this is something that will change again over the next year.
#4 Genie+ vs. Fastpass plus- resort and non-resort guests can now book at the exact time (vs. Fastpass plus 60 vs 30 days) (*there is an advantage for onsite guests for individual LL of 7am vs park opening)
When I bought DVC, there was only the original paper-ticket Fastpass system. So while I don't want to pay more for Genie+, I'm stuck with regardless of where I stay.
#5 Waiting for resort buses- getting to and from offsite resorts is really only a disadvantage at the MK when you have to take a tram + monorail/boat. Even then, you get through security at the TTA and can walk right into the park when you arrive.
I have stayed off-site a couple of times and driven to the parks. Frankly, I always found Disney buses from the on-site resorts to be as fast or faster than driving myself, taking the tram (and trying to remember where the ^&%#@ I parked). And I don't need to worry about navigating around the roadways outside WDW late at night when I'm exhausted from a long day in the parks.
#6 No more free Magic Bands
We had paper tickets and plastic room guys when I started with DVC. While I liked the Magic Bands, losing them isn't sending me running for the hills. Plus I can still use my existing bands from previous trips.
#7 Resort food: if you stay "in the bubble" and must rely on your resort or Disney buses, you are missing out on great food all over the Orlando/Kissimmee area and must eat at the glorified cafeterias of the resorts or pay exorbitant prices at sit-down restaurants
I actually like eating at many of Disney's table service restaurants. And there are generally better restaurants at the Disney hotels than general hotel restaurants I tried the handful of times I stayed off-site. There are some other restaurants off-site that I like, and I'll take advantage of them if I rent a car to run to Universal for a day or go visit friends in the area.
#8 No free parking: Even if you rent a car to get to a resort from the airport, now you have to pay for it- while some offsite places do this as well, it is no longer a bonus for staying at a WDW resort
I'll probably go back to using a towncar service and just rent a car for the one or two days I want to go offsite, so not a big issue.
#9 "Disney Bubble" - the cost of this experience continues to grow- we loved the "bubble" and did it exclusively for 15 years. But staying at a nearby resort (non-WDW) is still pretty fun if it is themed at all. Our youngest kids didn't really even notice the difference- you are still in the Kissimmee area with all the Disney/Uni Billboards and resorts galore.
Well I guess some hotels must have up their game. I stayed at several hotels along Hotel Boulevard over the years as well as a couple further away and none of them came close to matching the Disney hotels I usually stay at. Who has theming even close to what Disney offers other than the Universal Hotels?
#10 WDW decline- Looking at the overall decline of WDW guest experience (see the numerous posts on wdwmagic). People post on this site and others that they want to do something about the state of WDW and the guest experience- they still love Disney and hope it will change and aren't ready to abandon WDW all together. Wouldn't one way to vote with your dollars be to stay offsite?
If you prefer to stay off property, that's fine. I just know that from my experience over the last two decades, I would rather stay on-site. Of course, with DVC, most of my Disney stays are already pre-paid, but I would still make the same decision with a cash stay. Now, I do sometimes have a cash stay at either the Swan or Dolphin, which aren't Disney-owned but still have the advantage of being on-site, so I guess that is a compromise position.
FP+ and EMH were both big drivers to getting my family to stay on property. We liked the value resorts (Pop usually) and then started camping at the Fort, so the cost difference was as minimal as possible. The transition went like this:
