Is Staying Onsite Worth It in Disney?

If you’re planning a trip to Disney World this year or anytime in the coming years, you have a big decision as far as whether or not to stay onsite in one of the branded hotels. 

In some ways, staying onsite can be an obvious choice because it makes your trip so much more convenient and easier. For example, Orlando traffic can be dangerous and time-consuming. There are a lot of accidents, constant road work, and it takes a long time to get from point to point in many cases, especially during rush hour. 

You also don’t have to plan time to park when you stay onsite. 

The downside of an onsite hotel is that you’re going to pay a premium for the convenience, and sometimes, it’s going to be significantly more expensive than an offsite option. There are also fewer perks that come with staying onsite since the pandemic. 

The following are some of the specific things you should think about as you’re making a decision.

Offsite is Less Expensive

Disney World resorts, even the ones that are marketed as a value hotel, are pricey. There are a lot more options for off-site hotels for any preference or budget. For example, you can opt for resorts, traditional hotels, or you can rent entire condos or homes. There are so many options in tourist-friendly Orlando that there is inevitably going to be something to match your budget. 

Of course, you’ll have to think about those additional expenses like parking, which can be anywhere from $25 to $50 at Disney, and the cost of a rental car if you’re flying in. 

Some hotels will have a free shuttle to the Disney World parks, which can seem like an optimal option, as long as you understand how often they run and whether or not it’s going to match up with your schedule. 

If you’re going with a big group, renting a house might be more comfortable and give you all space to spread out, plus you’ll have amenities like a kitchen. 

Splitting the cost of even a luxury hotel might financially work out better for you than staying onsite. 

Offsite Makes Dining Reservations a Challenge

Disney World now has a reservation system for the theme parks, which was started with COVID-19. Guests have to buy their theme park tickets and then, in addition to that, make a reservation for each day they’re planning to visit parks. 

There are three categories for reservations. There are reservations for Disney World resort guests, which would be your category if you stay onsite. There are annual pass holder reservations and then a theme park ticket group. 

You’d need to make sure you could even get theme park reservations if you were staying offsite. 

Along with general park reservations, when you stay on-site, you can make dining reservations before any offsite guests. The reservation window opens up 60 days prior to your vacation, so you can plan all of your trip ahead of time. 

If you’re staying offsite, you can only make your reservations a day at a time.

Park Hours

If you opt for an onsite resort, you have access to a theme park entry program. You can go into the theme park 30 minutes before the regular entry time, and there are extended hours in the evening at different parks on varying nights. 

Genie+ Access

If you are a Disney World resort guest and you purchase Disney Genie+, you can make selections for the Lightning Lane at 7 am, but so can regular guests. 

If you haven’t heard of it, Genie+ is a paid feature that lets you skip the lines at most of the attractions. It’s $15 per ticket per day. The Lightning Lane was previously called the FastPass line. You skip the lines ad get to ride faster, and once you’ve been on one ride, you can make your reservation for the next. 

Previously, before the pandemic, you had access to three FastPasses, and you could book in advance of your trip. 

When the park reopened in the summer of 2020, it did so without the fast passes. They weren’t really needed then because lines were much shorter than usual, but crowds built back up pretty fast since then. 

As you can see, beyond convenience, the way things are now at Disney World, there are very few actual perks to staying onsite unless you just prefer it or want to take park transportation easily. Many of the advantages have been done away with in the past two years.