Staying on Site at Disney

Before planning a trip to Disney World (or anywhere), the first question is often “where should we stay?” I want to tell you about my recent trip to Disney, so I’ll start by answering this question. And of course, like with anything, the answer is usually “it depends”. It depends on your family, your needs and interests, and what type of trip you’re looking for. With Disney, it’s not just about how nice the hotel is. It’s also about the convenience to the parks and restaurants that you’re most interested in, how much time you want to spend at the hotel and the pool vs out exploring Disney, and of course the price. Disney comes with a big price tag no matter what, and the hotel can really make or break affordability. 

But first, let’s talk about if you should stay on or off site. For me, the answer here is almost always on. There are SO MANY perks to staying on site, and it can really make your trip more fun, less stressful, and overall better if you take advantage of some or all of these perks. These perks are designed to save you both money and TIME, which is critical when you’re trying to fit in all that Disney has to offer. 

Your on site perks begin before you even arrive at Disney. If you stay on site, you can book your fastpasses FOR YOUR ENTIRE TRIP at 7 am 60 days before the day you check in. So 60 days before your trip, you can book every fastpass for every day of your trip. If you stay off site, on the other hand, you can book your fastpasses for each individual day, 30 days before THAT DAY. So if you are going for five days, you’ll want to get up by 7 am each day (or find a travel agent to do it for you ;-)) to book one day at a time for five days. Not only is this inconvenient and annoying, but you are also much less likely to get a fastpass for some of the headliner rides, adding a lot of line waiting time to your trip if you want/need to ride these rides. (Think: Avatar Flight of Passage, Navi River Journey, Slinky Dog Dash, Tower of Terror, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Soarin’, Test Track, Frozen Ever After, etc.) 

Here we are enjoying some of these rides without waiting in line, because, Fastpass:

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Once you’ve booked all of these fastpasses, they will be automatically linked to your Magic Band to scan in to each ride when you arrive. Magic Bands? Oh yeah, another perk. If you stay on site you get a free Magic Band for every guest in your party. If you stay off site, these are $15 per person or more, depending on the design, which can add up quickly for a large group. You also cannot have your name printed on a purchased Magic Band. The magic band is also used as your park ticket, room key, dining plan (more on that below), photopass (Memory Maker), Magical Express ticket (see below), and credit card for room charges. And even if you buy your own magic band, you cannot use it for resort room charges if you stay off site. So basically what I’m saying here is that I left my room each day with my phone in my pocket and my Magic Band on my wrist and absolutely NOTHING. ELSE.

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Okay, so you’ve got your fastpasses, you’ve got your magic bands, and you’ve arrived at Disney. If you’re staying on site, you can use Disney’s airport transport service, Magical Express. Sure, many other resorts will provide you with airport transportation with your stay. But Magical Express is not just a transportation service. It is also a luggage delivery service. They’ll send you luggage tags before your stay that list your hotel name on them, and when you arrive at the airport you can bypass baggage claim and go straight to the buses. Disney will then pick up your luggage and deliver it to your room within three hours of your arrival. On the way back to the airport on your departure day, you can check into your flight and check your bags at your hotel. Then you can get on the bus without dealing with lugging everything to the airport, or even go enjoy some final Disney magic before heading home and without worrying about bags or checkout. Magical Express saves you both money AND time. Bonus: They also have some Disney trivia, tips, and shows playing for your ride.

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Speaking of transportation, Disney resort guests also receive complimentary transportation to and from all of the parks and Disney Springs. Prefer not to take the bus? That’s fine, you can drive, because parking at the parks is free for Disney guests. (Note: Hotel parking is NOT free, so don’t let this perk make or break your decision to rent a car.) Also, many off site hotels will provide bus service to the parks, but you will not get the convenience of the boats, monorail, or the brand new skyliner off site, all quicker and easier than shuttle busses. I don’t have pictures of boats or buses because those are not new or exciting, so I didn’t think about it, or the monorail because I didn’t ride it this trip, but here’s the new skyliner! People are scared of this mode of transportation, but let me remind you that Disney did not reinvent the wheel here. This is a ski gondola, with the only difference being the lack of space for skis and snowboards on the outside. It is perfectly safe AND the quickest, easiest way around.

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Another great perk for on site guests is the ability to add the dining plan to your package. This can save you money depending on where you eat, and especially if you want to do character meals. It is also just super easy and convenient. I’m not going to go into detail on this now (look out for a dining post coming soon for a lot more information), but in the meantime, here’s some spoiler pictures of food we didn’t “pay for” (aka prepaid for) and characters we met because of our dining plan.

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Now that you have your dining plan, you’ll definitely need your dining reservations (reach out to your friendly neighborhood travel agent for help with this). Every guest can book their dining 180 days in advance, but like fastpasses, if you’re staying on site you can book for your entire stay rather than getting up each day to do it. And dining opens at 6am, not 7am like fastpasses, so this is a plus. But mostly, it’s an advantage for those hard to get reservations if you put them at the end of your trip, as these dates haven’t opened up yet for off site guests. Here’s the view and the food at California Grill, one of the hardest to get reservations at Disney.

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If you’re staying on site, you can also utilize Extra Magic Hours. This means that one park will either open early or stay open late each day, but only Disney resort guests will be allowed in the park during these hours. This helps with getting on some of the big rides without the super long lines.

And finally, let’s say you’re in the parks and you see a souvenir that you MUST have. Well guess what – you can buy it and say goodbye to it instead of carrying it around all day, because on site guests receive hotel package delivery for all in park purchases. 

So, needless to say, we chose to stay on site for our recent trip, and we chose the Yacht Club as our resort. Stay tuned for my next post – a detailed review of the Yacht club, what we liked and didn’t like, and whether or not we’d stay there again.