5 Reasons to Stay On Site at Walt Disney World

At Fairytale Holidays, we're conflicted when it comes to our Walt Disney World favourites. From the Royal Rooms at Riverside and Animal Kingdom Lodge, to Coronado Springs and Pop Century. We haven’t had any bad stays, and each resort has its own magical charm.

But hey, where in Disney doesn’t?

If you need a hand deciding where would be best to stay when it comes to your own magical holiday, then we're happy to help. To get started, fill in our Walt Disney World request a quote form, and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

One of the benefits of booking with Fairytale Holidays is that we're also pros at organising split stays, and sometimes it works out cheaper if that’s your thing. If you know that you’ll be having a lot of resort time, you might want to splash out more on the resort. The more expensive resorts offer more amenities. Then, for another part of your trip, you might be barely in your room, so it makes sense to move. Sometimes you just want different experiences? And that's okay too! The Value resorts are a lot of fun and super kid-friendly; they feel the most Disney. And what’s great about doing a split stay at Disney is that they make the move from one resort to the other so simple, they even deliver your luggage to your new room! But why should you stay on-site at Walt Disney World? It’s already a big holiday without paying extra for a room you might barely be in. You do get great offers by booking a package, especially from here in the UK. But in case that isn’t enough, here are 5 more reasons to stay on-site at Walt Disney World.

They Take the Best Care of You

In the US, The Walt Disney Company wants to be top of its game when it comes to customer service and satisfaction. Which means they go out of their way to make their resorts the best. They take such good care of you. From helping with bags to catching big bugs, they really do go above and beyond!

Booking Benefits

If you were someone who visited Walt Disney World pre-pandemic, you’ll be aware that the booking benefits were 180 days out for dining, and 60 days out for onsite fast passes. Once the parks started to re-open, there was less availability at restaurants. Because of this, the booking window for dining was reduced to 60 days. Disney also retired their FastPass program and introduced in its place, Lightning Lane. While they don’t offer the same pre-booking window terms as the old system, there are still plenty of benefits to staying at a Disney resort when it comes to both dining and attractions.

Dining

Advance Dining Reservations (or ADRs) can now be made up to 60 days before arrival. This is for everyone, not just Disney resort guests. So you might be wondering what the benefit is here? If you are a Disney resort guest, this is 60 days from your arrival, and you can make them for multiple days at once. However, be aware that this perk is only up to 10 days. So if you’re staying for 2 weeks, you can only make reservations for the first 10 days of your trip, then you’ll have to do the final four individually. If you are staying off-site, you’ll have to reserve each day individually, which is time-consuming. If you want to eat at some of the most popular restaurants, such as Cinderella’s Royal Table, Be Our Guest, Toppolinos, and The Boathouse, making your reservations as soon as possible is imperative, and getting those extra days is a great incentive to stay on-site at Walt Disney World.

Top Tip: for the most in-demand reservations, try at the end of your holidays, as fewer people will have had access to these days.

Genie+ and Lightning Lane

In comparison to the old Fastpass system, Lightning Lane is hard to get your head around, and it does require a lot of time on your phone. There aren’t as many perks for staying on-site when it comes to this. LL isn’t included in any resort packages, so it is an extra expense. However, one perk that you can get when staying onsite is the early access to daily Lightning Lanes. Resort guests can purchase two individual Lightning Lane attractions starting at 7:00 a.m. EST on the day of their park visit. While guests staying offsite will have to wait until the park opens.

Free Disney Transport

For us, free Disney transport is a huge perk. By staying on site, you're able to use all the free transport at your disposal, making getting around the parks and to other resorts easy.

While the free Disney transport is open to any guest visiting Walt Disney World, it’s very beneficial to those staying on-site.

Extra Park Hours

Yes, the extra park hours perk has changed since the pandemic, much like with the ADRs and Fastpass.

Early Theme Park Entry perk now offers guests staying onsite an extra 30 minutes of access to all four of the theme parks. While this might not seem like much, we do love that it’s at all four of the parks at the same time. It gives you time to get through security and be scanned, and then you can head off towards your chosen attraction. In the past, you would get two hours at one specific park, but because this is at all four parks, it spreads everyone around a bit more. Guests at all Disney properties and some off-site properties are entitled to this perk. However, there is another extra park time perk, this one that is exclusively for guests staying at a Deluxe Resort or a Deluxe Villas Resort. The Extended Evening Hours perk gives guests staying at these resorts an extra two hours at either Magic Kingdom or Epcot. At the moment, it appears the extended evening hours for Epcot are a Monday nights and the extended evening hours for Magic Kingdom are a Wednesday nights. The parks are significantly quieter on these evenings, so it’s a great perk when staying at a Deluxe.

Themed Resorts Add to the Disney Experience

From the minute you arrive at your Disney resort, you’re in the bubble and it’s magical! The way they treat you, the way they speak to you, your room, the pools, the shop... everything. Without a doubt, it just adds to your Walt Disney World holiday. And as a Walt Disney World trip is typically two or sometimes up to three weeks long, you do have periods of downtime, and by staying onsite, you can easily return to your room to split up your day.

If you'd like to receive a quote for a Walt Disney World Resort hotel as part of your visit, simply get in touch here.