Staying On Property vs. Off Property at Disney World: Is It Worth It?

One of the questions I get asked a lot is whether it's worth paying more to stay at a Disney Resort instead of a hotel or condo nearby.

The honest answer is...it depends on your budget.

There are plenty of really nice hotels and vacation rentals just outside Disney that can save you quite a bit of money. But before you make that decision, it's worth understanding what you're getting when you stay on property.

Disney Resort guests get some great benefits, including:

• Early Theme Park Entry every day.

• Free Disney transportation around Walt Disney World.

• The ability to book Lightning Lanes for your entire trip 7 days before you arrive.

• The ability to make dining reservations for your entire vacation on the first day your booking window opens.

  
  

Those are all great perks.

But the biggest reason I recommend staying on property isn't actually any of those.

It's because of something that happened to my family years ago.

We were visiting my father-in-law in Orlando for Thanksgiving  and staying at a really nice timeshare condo we had traded into. It wasn't very far from Disney, and it even offered free shuttle service to the parks.

At first, that sounded perfect.

Then we found out the shuttle only ran twice a day—once in the morning and once at night.

If you wanted to go to a different park, you often had to ride to Magic Kingdom or EPCOT first and then use Disney transportation from there. It wasn't impossible, but it definitely meant planning your day around the shuttle schedule instead of what your family wanted to do.

We still had a great trip.

The day I remember most was our day at Magic Kingdom.

That night we watched the Main Street Electrical Parade, but when it ended, we had to leave.

Not because we were tired.

Not because the girls were ready to go.

But because if we missed our shuttle, we weren't getting back to the resort.

I remember telling my daughters we didn't have time to stay for the fireworks.

The hotel shuttle didn't pick up where all the Disney buses were.

We had to walk out to a pickup area in the parking lot marked with a light pole for our hotel.

It was November, and it was getting chilly.

The shuttle was running late.

I remember standing there trying to block the wind for my daughters while, off in the distance, we watched bursts of fireworks lighting up the sky over Magic Kingdom.

We couldn't see Cinderella Castle.

We couldn't hear the music.

We just stood there in a parking lot watching the fireworks from a distance while everyone else inside the park was experiencing the show.

To this day, my daughters still give me a hard time about the time Dad made them stand in a parking lot during the fireworks.

Looking back, that's when I realized staying at a Disney Resort isn't just about the themed hotels or the extra perks.

It's about convenience.

It's about not having to plan your way into the Disney bubble every morning and your way back out every night.

You can stay for one more ride.

You can decide at the last minute to watch the fireworks.

You can head back to your resort for a break and return later without worrying about missing the last shuttle.

If your budget allows it, I really do think staying at a Disney Resort is the best way to experience Walt Disney World.

Can you have an amazing vacation staying off property?

Absolutely.

But after standing in that parking lot years ago, listening to shivering daughters complain about the cold and  watching fireworks from a distance, I learned that sometimes convenience is worth paying a little extra for.