deciding whether to stay on-site or off-site is an age-old debate and probably the most
important consideration when planning your next trip to walt disney world whilst you cannot
replicate being in the middle of the magic it comes at a price and this price unfortunately
doesn't account for limitations resulting from the pandemic hi i'm the frugal britain for this video
i'm going to cover the reasons as to why you may or may not want to stay on site for your next trip
to walt disney world specifically during the covet 19 pandemic so fingers crossed that this video
loses all relevance as soon as possible before we get into it don't forget to subscribe and hit
the bell so you don't miss out on all the latest news reviews and other orlando vacation content
what i love most about staying on site is the theming the landscaping and how it all blends in
perfectly with the parks while staying within the disney bubble the resorts also evoke a great deal
of nostalgia for a lot of people especially for those original monorail loop resorts
one advantage which generally doesn't get spoken of as much is that it's a lot more comfortable
to stay late in the parks when you're staying on site as you don't have the same stress in
terms of transportation of course if you're staying on site you also have the ability
to head back to your hotel room during the busiest time of the day allowing you to get
some rest before heading back out to the parks in the evening when the crowds have died down
a big advantage for those staying at either disney's caribbean beach resort pop century
art of animation or the riviera resort is the skyliner transportation which was introduced in
2019 this connects you via aerial gondola to epcot and hollywood studios and has been a fantastic
addition to walt disney world's transportation and even during the pandemic the lions move fairly
quickly and of course you have the world famous monorail transportation for those staying within
the magic kingdom monorail loop if you want to learn more about disney world transportation
check out my idiot's guide to disney world here which has time stamps in the description
a new advantage to staying at a disney world resort is that you get better access to the
disney park past reservation system with much better availability to annual pass holders
so this will allow you to make more than three reservations far in advance but of course this is
only relevant if you are a annual pass holder in the past arguably the biggest appeal to staying on
site at walt disney world has been the ability to spend extra time in one of the theme parks either
before it opens or after it closes so guests can enjoy select attractions and experiences
in addition to that you would also be able to access the 60-day fastpass plus window instead
of the 30-day window for non-resort guests but as you may have heard these have not been available
during the pandemic uh so that's two pretty significant incentives that have been taken away
and one other thing worth noting here is that in recent years walt disney world did start offering
both extra magic hours and the 60-day fast plus plus window to third-party hotels such as the
best western which you can book for rates as low as 70 per night many disney world veterans
will tell you that the benefits of extra magic hours have diminished substantially
over the past decade to the point that many avoid heading to certain parks on those days
altogether the main problem here is that more and more hotels have become eligible for this perk
and the hours were reduced from three hours to two hours another big blow for an on-site vacation is
the suspension of the disney dining plan which is a huge issue for a lot of people especially
for those that budget their vacation around disney dining plan deals transportation at walt
disney world has taken a huge hit as a result of the pandemic as you'd expect in all fairness
whilst both the express and resort monorails for the magic kingdom began operating on july 11th
the epcot monorail is yet to open meaning that guests staying within the magic kingdom monorail
loop will need to use bus transportation for travelling over to epcot unfortunately
the efficiency of the bus transportation has been below par during the pandemic furthermore
friendship boats and the sassagula river crews are currently not in operation
so it has to be said the effect on disney world transportation does make an on-site
vacation slightly less appealing during the pandemic to the point where even if you have
booked a state at disney world it is recommended that you consider hiring a car to get around
or consider using lyft and uber for much more comfortable transportation
one thing i should mention about staying on site which is a bit of a sore point for guests of the
moderate and luxury resorts is that the luxury of the resort does not really extend to your room
for example disney world's flagship floridian resort is surpassed by the likes of the marriott
hilton and wyndham hotels which are often priced below disney world's moderate resorts
due to the ever-increasing difference in cost more and more people it seems we'll be exploring
whether or not staying off site is the smarter choice especially given the rise of the home
rental market so in conclusion you can't deny that there are some very compelling arguments as to why
staying off site is the better choice during the pandemic that being said the immersive design
and attention to detail that you get inside the disney bubble elevates your vacation experience
into something that cannot be replicated and is difficult to put a price on even if it is
compromised for the time being that's it for this video thank you for watching i hope you found it
useful if you are planning a vacation do check out my hotel reviews and my restaurant ranking
guides and lastly if you're interested in future orlando vacation content don't forget to subscribe