While we personally are fans of staying off-site, we agree that there are plenty of perks of staying at a Walt Disney World hotel. Disney offers several exclusive benefits to entice guests to stay at an “on property” resort, and they are constantly tweaking them. Case in point… Disney recently announced a new perk for 2025: free admission to a Disney water park on your check-in day.
In honor of this newly added extra, we thought it would be fun to rank the various perks that Disney guests receive when they stay on property! We even included the new water park bonus in our rankings.
But First… a Disclaimer
Disney can and does alter their perks at any time. So before you rely exclusively on this list, please check the Walt Disney World Resort website for the latest information on their current offerings.
Now without further ado, here are our rankings!
#10: Charging Purchases to Your Room
Disney gives you the ability to pay for pretty much anything at Walt Disney World to your room tab. Just scan your MagicBand, enter your PIN, done!
However, there really isn’t that much benefit to charging purchases to your room versus just putting it on your credit card directly. I suppose it means that you don’t have to carry around your credit card, but I would do that anyway as a backup form of payment. You might also enjoy the convenience of seeing all of the charges itemized on your room folio, but again, that doesn’t really move the needle to me. The other perks just feel more valuable than this one.
#9: Access to the Dining Plan
Only guests staying on property have the ability to add the Dining Plan to their vacation package. Off property guests have no choice but to pay a la carte.
While you certainly can come out ahead with the Dining Plan in some situations, for the vast majority of people, it makes more financial sense to just pay as you go. Therefore, this might actually be a money loser for some. I did rate it higher than charging purchases to the room because it could be a nice convenience to have that feeling of “all-inclusivity”. There is some value in that, I admit.
#8: MagicBand Discount
If you are staying on property, you can pre-purchase discounted MagicBands for your party in advance of your trip. Currently, the discount is around $10 per MagicBand. If you purchase far enough in advance, you can have them shipped to your home, so you can be ready to go when you arrive!
This is a nice tangible savings for those who plan on purchasing MagicBands anyway. That’s why I ranked it above the Dining Plan. However, it is still a relative small savings for those who take advantage of it, which is why it isn’t ranked higher. Plus, if you don’t plan on using a MagicBand, because you already have one from a previous trip or you just want to save money, this benefit doesn’t have any value!
#7: Extended Evening Hours
This benefit is only available to Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resort guests. On select evenings for select parks, eligible guests can stay in the parks an extra two hours after the official closing and can continue to ride the rides. As of the time of writing this article, Extended Evening Hours are available at EPCOT on Monday’s and Magic Kingdom on Wednesday’s.
This is an amazing perk for those who are eligible for it. Because it is only available to select guests, wait times for rides are so much less than during the normal park day. You can really get a lot done during this time!
[Note that only select shopping and dining will be open, so be sure to take care of your food and souvenir needs before the official park closing!]
Even though there is a lot to love about this perk, it got dinged in the rankings because of the fact that it is only available to Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resort guests. These generally are the most expensive resorts, so this perk may be out of reach of some families.
#6: Free Water Park Entry on Day of Arrival (Coming in 2025)
This is where the new free water park perk slots in. I really like this perk because it gives traveling families something fun to do on their arrival day without having to burn a park ticket for a partial day. Normally, a water park ticket can run around $70 per person, so it is also a really good value… potentially more valuable than the MagicBand discount!
So why is this only ranked #6?
This is another perk that not everyone may be able to use. If you are arriving late in the day, or you arrive on a day when the weather is bad (not an uncommon occurrence in Central Florida), or if you just aren’t a water park person, a free water park day isn’t going to have much value to you. That’s why it could be less valuable than some of the other perks above it in the rankings.
#5: Free Theme Park Parking
Another nice perk of staying on property is that you don’t have to pay for standard parking at the theme parks. This perk can have a value of $30 per day at the time of this writing.
Of course, if you are staying on property and using Disney transportation, this perk might not have much value to you!
It was actually a close call between this perk and the free water park benefit. I tried to judge the potential dollar value of each benefit, as well as how likely someone would use it. In the end, I figured that maybe more people would use the water park benefit. However, for those using the free parking benefit, it has the potential to be more valuable in dollar terms… $30/day can add up over time! That said, I could probably be convinced to flip-flop them; it is that close!
#4: Individual Lightning Lane Booking Advantage
Now we are getting into the really valuable perks that probably apply to most people. First up is the ILL booking advantage. On property guests are able to book Individual Lightning Lane booking times at 7am on the day of their visit. Off property guests have to wait until the park opens to book them. This gives on property guests up to two hours of additional time to reserve their ILL. It isn’t uncommon during busy times of year for ILL’s to sell out before park opening. That effectively shuts out off property guests for getting them.
Remember that ILL’s are currently available for Tron LightCycle Run (MK), Seven Dwarves Mine Train (MK), Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (EP), Flight of Passage (AK), and Rise of the Resistance (HS). In other words, the most popular rides at WDW!
Unlike some of the perks lower down the list, this one is potentially beneficial to wider number of people, and the benefit of getting an ILL is substantial. It can mean the difference between a 10 minute wait time and a 120 minute wait time! This perk is especially valuable for Tron and Cosmic Rewind. Since they are still running a Virtual Queue, if you get shut out of a VQ return time, an ILL is your only other option.
#3: Early Park Entry
Now we are getting into the rarified air of the Top Three!
Early Entry gives on property guests the ability to enter the parks 30 minutes before the general public. 30 minutes might not sound like a huge head start. However, if you play your cards right, you can usually ride one or two of the most popular rides during this time. If you can take advantage of this perk, you potentially can save quite a bit of time.
The only “downside” of this perk is that you need to wake up extra early. Some people aren’t willing to set an early alarm for themselves, especially on vacation. I get it! That’s the main reason why this perk, although super valuable, didn’t crack the Top Two.
#2: Disney Transportation
While some off property hotels have their own shuttle buses, they don’t hold a candle to the frequency and efficiency of Disney transportation. You can easily get around property without a car, only relying on Disney’s network. While there are times you might have to wait a little bit, you can usually get from point A to point B in under an hour.
Some of the transportation options are attractions in and of themselves! Yes, you have your standard buses. But you also have boats, the Skyliner gondola system, and of course, the iconic monorail!
Another added bonus is that if you travel by Disney bus to the Magic Kingdom, you get dropped off right at the front gate, bypassing the transfer at the Transportation and Ticket Center.
There is no denying that Disney transportation is one of the most common reasons people cite when deciding whether or not to stay on property. However, there is still one perk that I feel is even more valuable…
#1: Dining and Experience Booking Advantage
To me, this is the number one perk of staying on site. Normally, when you are booking a reservation for dining or other special experience, you can do so up to 60 days before the date for which you are booking. However, if you are staying on property, you can book reservations for your entire trip (up to 10 days) starting 60 days from your check-in day. That gives you the ability to book more than 60 days out, which means you have earlier access to reservations than off property guests. This can be huge when trying to book the most popular reservations at the most popular times.
Here is a quick example:
Let’s say you are visiting WDW from June 1st through 10th. If you are staying off property, you can book reservations for June 1st starting on April 2nd (60 days prior). You can book reservations for June 2nd starting on April 3rd. And so forth.
On the other hand, if you are staying on property from June 1st through 10th, you can book reservations for every day of your trip starting on April 2nd. That means that you have access to June 2nd through 10th before off property guests!
You might ask why I rated this above Disney Transportation and Early Entry. Good question!
There are certain experiences which are nearly impossible to reserve without this perk: Bippity Boppity Boutique, Topolino’s Character Breakfast, EPCOT Fireworks Dining Packages, etc (although the list changes over time). This makes this perk indispensable. With the other perks, they are a “nice to have”. Yes, they make your trip easier, but you can still do everything without them. With this perk, there literally are some things you may not be able to experience with it. That is what elevated it to the top of my list.
Wrap Up
Obviously, this is my ranking. Depending upon your personal situation, you might find certain perks to be more or less valuable. That’s okay. All rankings are based upon everyone individual criteria.
If you think I messed up somewhere with my rankings, feel free to leave a comment, so we can keep the discussion going!
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