One of the most commonly asked questions is whether the benefits of staying at a Disney World resort or hotel outweigh the financial costs of staying on Disney World property. As each vacation is different it is always best to research what will be beneficial for your party.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of staying at a Disney World Resort Hotel.
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Complimentary Transport to all Disney Parks and Resorts
Although this is available to any guest at Disney – day guests included, this really benefits to those staying onsite at a Disney World resort. Disney offer a variety of free transport to get you to any of the six parks, Disney Springs, all the Disney hotels and most areas on property really. Depending on your resort there will be a different types of complementary transportation available from buses to boats you will be spoilt for choice.
Disney World Buses
At the resorts buses will run to each park (you may need to change to get to some depending on the season, for example there is no direct bus from a Disney resort to Blizzard Beach in the winter months – you will need to get a bus to Animal Kingdom then onto the Blizzard Beach bus from there) on average every 10-20 minutes and sometimes more frequently depending on the crowd levels.
Disney offers a constantly updated electronic display board at each stop at the resorts to show current wait times for the different buses. As the buses have separate bus lanes as they get closer to the parks there is often very little time stuck in traffic, they arrive closer than any of the car parks shortening the walk to the park entrance and you even get to bypass the ticket and transportation centre at Magic Kingdom.
Disney World Boats
Boats are another complimentary transportation that Disney offers between resorts and parks. From some resorts such as The Yacht and Beach Club “friendship” boats run to and from the resorts to Epcot and Hollywood studios. Again these can be used by any guest at Disney to get to different parks and hotels all free of charge and a nice way to spend a few moments enjoying the views and resting your feet! There are also boats used to cross World Showcase Lagoon at Epcot.
The Monorail
Around Magic Kingdom and Epcot another choice is the Monorail. If you are at a resort that is on the Monorail loop such as The Contemporary or Grand Floridian then you can use this to get to the Magic Kingdom or change to get to the ticket and transport center in order to get to Epcot.
The Disney Skyliner
Disney’s newest transportation is the Skyliner that will link this new transport option between Epcot and Hollywood Studios with stations at the Riviera Resort, Caribbean Beach Resort, Art of Animation and Pop Century.
How Often Can You Use the Free Disney Transportation?
There is no limit to the amount of times you can use them or the type so try to experience as many as you can. Most transport will run an hour before and after the park closes.
The complimentary unlimited transportation that Disney offers is a great benefit to all guests but in particular to onsite guests. You can easily get from resort to the parks or park hop without having to sit behind the wheel at all. Enjoy the journey, check out your plans on the MyDisneyExperience app, chat to your family or catch a few winks.
Here’s our 10 Disney World Transportation Tips.
Free Car Parking at the Parks.
A big expense to factor in when taking a trip to Disney World is the cost of car parking at the parks. Now costing $25 a day or a whopping $50 a day for preferred parking it soon adds up! Disney does not charge for parking at the water parks or at Disney Springs.
Where there is paid parking at the parks Disney resort guests get standard parking for free. If you are renting or taking a car to Orlando and will be spending all of your trip or most of it visiting the Disney parks then this can be a big benefit saving $250 for a 10 day vacation.
The Disney Dining Plan
Staying onsite at a Disney World resort means that you are able to get the benefits of the Disney dining plan. If you are lucky and book at the right time this may even be offered for free. Whether you pay for this as an add-on to your vacation or manage to get it for free the dining plan has many advantages.
Having the dining plan means that most of your food is paid for in advance. All of your meal credits are loaded onto your magic band giving you total control and flexibility of where, when and how you use them. You can easily see how many credits you have left and can manage the whole party’s credits which is great for families.
There are three tiers of the dining plan. The first option is the quick service dining plan that offers counter service or self-service meals (although breakfast and lunch at Be Our Guest in the Magic Kingdom is a sit down meal but uses a quick service credit). For this you each get 2 counter services meals, 1 drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic), 2 snacks and a refillable mug (which can only be refilled at your resort) per night.
The second option is the Disney dining plan, here you get the benefit of both a quick service meal and a credit for a sit down/table service meal. Per person, per night you will get 1 counter service, 1 table service, 1 drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) per meal, 2 snacks and a refillable mug. The final option is the deluxe dining plan, per person per night you will get 3 table service or self-service credits, 1 drink per meal (alcoholic or non-alcoholic), 2 snacks and the refillable mug.
The dining plan is a great way to budget for your trip, having most of your food and drink paid for up front, it allows for flexibility your credits are yours to be used as and when you like there is no limit to the amount you can use on one day and can be used up to midnight the night of your check out, and great to help with the planning as you can book table service meals at 180 days before your trip.
You can find more information on the Disney Dining Plan here.
Early Access to the Parks
Another one of the benefits of staying at a Disney World Resort in the form of early entry each day into all of the Disney World parks.. Each day, resort guests with valid park admission and who are staying in any of the Disney resorts and other participating hotels such as Walt Disney World Swan Hotel, Shades of Green etc have the unique opportunity to get into the parks 30 minutes before guests staying off property.
This opportunity to have access to the parks when the crowds can be lower is a great advantage to staying onsite. You can ride those most popular attractions with very little wait and can help to ensure that you get the most out of your vacation as possible.
Resort Package Delivery
You will always find that you tend to buy something from one of the Disney shops in the parks or at Disney Springs be it a small item, clothing, artwork or one of the many soft toys on sale and can end up carrying it around with you all day.
As a Disney resort guest you will be able to take advantage of the free resort package delivery service that most of the shops offer. Once you have made your purchase(s) the cast members will arrange for your item(s) to be safely delivered to the front desk at your hotel where you can collect them at your convenience. You will need at least 24 hours left of your stay at the resort for this to happen.
Although Disney does offer for any purchases made by resort and day guests to be available for collection at guest services at the entrance to the parks this ensures that you don’t need to collect it from here especially useful if you are park hopping or the item is fragile or needs extra care to transport it.
The Benefits of Staying at a Disney World Resort Hotel
Staying onsite at Walt Disney World is an amazing, fully immersive experience that has many advantages and it’s not just the fact that you are staying in the Disney “bubble”. The continued theming and guest services you experience can really make your vacation.
There are so many more benefits to staying at a Disney World resort such as the unique theming of all the hotels, priority entrance to the parks through most of the phases of park capacity closure and being in such close proximity to all of the parks and attractions.
Staying onsite is not for everyone and the “perks” that come with it need to be weighed up to see if they are beneficial to your party and for your vacation and if they are worth the additional financial outlay that it comes with.
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See you real soon.
Claire
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