As I have said many times before, the magic of Disney lives on property – all over the property; and you can only experience the magic 24/7 if you are staying at an on-property resort. I know that if you are planning your very first visit you might be thinking that you will have to stay off property in order to be able to afford the trip. I want to talk today about all the free extras that make Disney resorts worth looking into.
Aside from the sheer joy and happiness that comes from being at Walt Disney World, staying at one of the themed-resorts on Disney property affords you some very special perks:
Outstanding Service
There is an extra special feeling you get from cast members who love working at the Disney resorts – it is the feeling of being welcomed and wanted. I am not saying that every cast member working at the Disney resorts is walking around with birds flying overhead and the singing voice of an angel but, for me, there is a much better attitude of employees at Disney resorts than I have found at offsite hotels where I’ve stayed.
Themed-pools
The pools at the Disney resorts all follow the theme of the hotel. The value resorts usually have two pools and the designs are awesome. For instance, you can find a guitar-shaped pool at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort or a pool in the shape of a baseball diamond at the All-Star Sports Resort.
The moderate hotels usually have a number of pools: one themed pool and several quiet pools. One example is Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort which has 6 heated pools located throughout the island villages. The main pool complex at Old Port Royale is a swashbuckling aquatic adventure any pirate would be proud of with 2 water slides and an 82-foot slide that zips through the inside of the castle fort. The detail spent on keeping everything with the theme of each resort is awesome and what kid would not want to go home and tell their friends they rode down a serpent’s tongue into the pool?
Special wake-up calls
Mickey, is that you? Nothing starts my day off right like the sound of Mickey Mouse in my wake-up call. His sweet little voice tells me, “Hello, time to get up for a magical day,” although during this last trip Stitch had hijacked Mickey’s system. Of course, Mickey saved the day and wished us a happy day. I just love waking up to Mickey. Now, if I could just convince my hubby to imitate him every morning I would be all set!
Free room delivery
One of the Disney resort perks I really take advantage of during my visits is free delivery for purchases made in the parks or at Downtown Disney. If something catches your eye in one of the gift shops in the parks or if you decide to buy kitchen items from the kitchen store at Downtown Disney, you don’t have to worry about carry anything around with you. The store will deliver your purchased items to the gift shop at your Disney resort free of charge. Then, anytime after the designated delivery time, you just take your receipt for proof of purchase and head down to the gift shop to pick them up. This is very handy for a Disney lover like me.
Free transportation
I really dislike driving. In fact, my husband does all the driving and although he really doesn’t mind it at all, I like for him to get a vacation from driving too, once we’re at “The World.” So, he gets to ride just like us on the free Disney transportation: monorail, busses and boats. We leave the driving to them and some of the cast members who drive those busses are so much fun they can really make your stay even better.
Disney TV Channel
In your Disney resort guest room there are tv channels available to keep you informed and provide a little more magic. One is the Radio Disney / Bedtime Stories channel. The other is the “Top Seven Must Sees at Walt Disney World Resort” channel that gives you information on rides and attractions at of each of the four main parks as well as Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, etc. It plays continuously all day long so you end up catching all the information on the attractions.
I hope that you will at least look into staying on property. I have stayed both onsite and offsite and the difference is worth a million to me. Who knows, if you are traveling during the value season you might even end up going deluxe.
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Brenda is a native Texan born and raised on the Gulf Coast. She visited Disney World twice as a teenager and always dreamed of growing her family Disney. She took her first-timer husband and their three children to Disney World in 2000 and they now spend every Thanksgiving there. Brenda writes with a comedic twist on various Disney topics. She will be sharing tips she has learned during her travels and also hopes to enlighten people on little-known freebies that Disney has to offer. She wishes she could have met Walt Disney and considers herself to be a student of Walt. In parallel to his dream it is her wish that everyone would take at least one trip to Disney World in order to share in its magic with their families.
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I’ve weighed the onsite/offsite issue many times over the years and bottom line always comes out to be staying on site is more valuable to me. Having done it both ways, I can offer the following insight.
Parking fee is now $12.00 a day if you drive, so just add that to the cost of your offsite hotel. If you try the shuttle service many offer, be prepared to be limited to a couple of pickups/dropoffs per day at some far off, in the parking lot point. After a long day in the park with no break, its a killer walk.
While you can save by eating off site, I find eating is an attraction in itself at many on site venues. When you subtract the time away from the park from the actual per hour ticket price, you lose some value by leaving the property for meals. Divide your per person, per day ticket cost by the number of open hours that day. If you leave you lose that much per hour in value.
Anytime I have had a problem, Disney goes out of its way to help, Off site hotels just don’t offer that kind of service in my experience. Its security for me. I know if something comes up, Disney has my back.
Call it fuzzy math if you like, but the value of being on propeerty 24/7 outweighs any savings staying off site for us.