Disney has (or plans to) remove just about every on property perk we cared about

[Masonmj84]

Things we liked/valued:
1) Magical Express (including airport to resort luggage transfer)
2) Advanced ADR booking for your whole resort stay (180+10)
3) Complimentary Magic Bands
4) 60 day Advanced Fast Pass+ booking
5) Dining plans (we didn't always use these but it was nice to have the option)
6) Complimentary luggage transfer between resorts (for split stays)

Right now, the only one of these that seems to have survived Disney's post-pandemic changes is luggage transfer between resorts and I seriously wonder how long that will continue.

Things we didn't use or care about:
1) Extra Magic Hours (EMH)

The main reason we didn't use EMH is because we loved the strategy of doing a pre-park opening character breakfast and then touring that park from rope drop to early afternoon. Under that strategy, it was advantageous to pick a non-morning EMH park so other resort guests wouldn't get a jump on popular attractions while we were at breakfast (we'd typically visit our first few attractions standby while saving our fast passes for later). And because the strategy required early to bed/early to rise, we almost never took advantage of evening EMH.

Disney's recent/proposed changes massively discourage that strategy going forward, especially since now, instead of getting ready to head to a character breakfast at 7 am, I'm supposed to be on my phone frantically trying to reserve fast passes. And going forward, since every park will have early opening for resort guests every day, a pre-park opening character breakfast will be relatively disadvantageous (whereas before, it got us into the park ahead of the crowds). Then, to add insult to injury, the cost of the fast passes will probably end up being more than the cost of the character breakfast.

The perks Disney is removing were previously our main motivators for being willing to pay the substantial premium to stay on property at WDW. While we still love many Disney resorts, it just isn't worth it for us to go to WDW if we can't do it our preferred way. Because of this, we've decided to spend our vacation dollars elsewhere.

 

[jimmymc]

They still have location and free transportation between resorts, and all immersive theming that you rarely find anywhere else. Magical Express is the only perk they've taken away that I really miss, since it saves a good bit of money.

But I agree that if you're someone who usually stays at value resorts, or if you drive to property, then the value is gone. Staying at the edge of property and 30 minutes in the morning is not worth the extra cost of staying in a value resort.

 

[macraven]

When you have gone to a place for years that you have loved, change is very hard

eventually you can adapt to the new set up and enjoy Disney in a different way

It was not my way to doing parks and rides when the system changed with pre set ups, but I got used to it

new guidelines and rules became easier to accept for me as I love Disney

 

[Disneylover99]

I think dining plans will eventually come back in some form. They're popular with many and they keep people on site.

 

[Dakota731]

The only perk I really care about is transportation from resort to parks. With car seats, ubers aren’t practical, and I hate dealing with traffic when renting a car.
I guess if enough people start saying offsite that it affects their bottom line, then they will return some perks. But if people continue to book onsite hotels, then I guess they have their answer about whether those changes are deal breakers for people.

 

[DizKids2]

They are taking away luggage transfers for split stays? I hadn’t seen that I formation.

I agree that many of these things make onsite less appealing for the cost and we may be venturing offsite for future stays. We will have to decide how much we are willing to pay to use Disney busses vs our own car.

 

[_19disnA]

eventually you can adapt to the new set up and enjoy Disney in a different way

Or just drop Disney off our list of places to vacation. We hadn't gone in probably 10 yrs when we last went in 2019 and found it was too crowded & too expensive compare to prior visits.. It now takes about 2 days to do what we used to be able to do in 1 day at a park. Park capacity is the key issue. They let far too many into the park for the typical ride capacity meaning ride lines are too long. That new Star Wars ride requires you win one of their daily lotteries to even get a chance to ride. A Disney vacation is roughly 2x as expensive as other places we like to vacation. With prices going higher & higher while perks keep being reduced, we likely will never go back again.

 

[The Mayor]

Get used to it. The pandemic has given Disney a whole new reset button to look over all their practices and perks. I believe they are also cheating out on maintenance given the amount of break downs and mechanical failures since they reopened.

The whole thing reminds me of the movie Animal House and the science in the military frat house where the pledge was bent over and getting hit with a paddle. Yes sir may I have another.

 

[a1tinkfans]

OP ur last line says it all. We ve decided to spend our vacation dollars elsewhere as well.

Cancelled another large family trip and several other smaller ones we typically take during the year. No more APs, no more quick visits, no more extended trips and no more recommended trips to family or friends.

Personally it was always more costly than I thought it was worth in a purely Value sense. BUT, grew up on it, that continued with my own family as well as extended family and friend trips Until …
the GREED feeling started to feel pervasive, the UPcharging for more and more and the MAGICAL memory making times feelings
( created by DISNEY marketing) has truly been missing and now for me/us gone.

While we Can afford it… the feeling of … family, magic times and more of being Pushed aside ( like dvc and ap holders who allegedly don’t spend enough.. Disney. How WRONG u were/are)
it caused me/us to Re-evaluate our dollars in this INcreasing economy where … why bother spending at Disney when the “ special feels” are gone. so… more room for others and I’m OK with that. Enjoy all and StaySafe

 

[StageTek]

Yep! A WDW vacation used to be exceptional. Now it's industry standard.

 

[hes122]

They are taking away luggage transfers for split stays? I hadn’t seen that I formation.

It was still offered when I used it in March.

 

[DizKids2]

It was still offered when I used it in March.

It was also there when we just used it in late June. Maybe the OP was referring to the fact that they will not transfer refrigerated items anymore?

 

[Suzabella]

I think dining plans will eventually come back in some form. They're popular with many and they keep people on site.

That's what I thought about DME also. Got people to their on property resorts and they didn't need a car. They were a captive audience. I guess they didn't feel that was as profitable as the DP.

 

[hes122]

It was also there when we just used it in late June. Maybe the OP was referring to the fact that they will not transfer refrigerated items anymore?

Is that new? We had some refrigerated things that we sent over in March.

 

[Suzabella]

Is that new? We had some refrigerated things that we sent over in March.

Yes. Changed in the last month.

 

[JimmyBean42]

Don't forget the free resort parking for guests that is now gone. Yes at most it's only $25/night at the deluxe resorts, but still a pretty good perk that was removed for on-site guests.

 

[jimmymc]

Don't forget the free resort parking for guests that is now gone. Yes at most it's only $25/night at the deluxe resorts, but still a pretty good perk that was removed for on-site guests.

That was always a huge perk for staying on-property if you drove, and also in my opinion purely a money grab. Disney isn't downtown in a city, they are surrounded by undeveloped land.

 

[The Mayor]

OP ur last line says it all. We ve decided to spend our vacation dollars elsewhere as well.

Cancelled another large family trip and several other smaller ones we typically take during the year. No more APs, no more quick visits, no more extended trips and no more recommended trips to family or friends.

Personally it was always more costly than I thought it was worth in a purely Value sense. BUT, grew up on it, that continued with my own family as well as extended family and friend trips Until …
the GREED feeling started to feel pervasive, the UPcharging for more and more and the MAGICAL memory making times feelings
( created by DISNEY marketing) has truly been missing and now for me/us gone.

While we Can afford it… the feeling of … family, magic times and more of being Pushed aside ( like dvc and ap holders who allegedly don’t spend enough.. Disney. How WRONG u were/are)
it caused me/us to Re-evaluate our dollars in this INcreasing economy where … why bother spending at Disney when the “ special feels” are gone. so… more room for others and I’m OK with that. Enjoy all and StaySafe

AMEN

 

[Elisabeth H Wagers]

The evening hours for deluxe guests was an interesting turn of events too. On one hand, it's only one evening at MK and one evening at EPCOT. So it has limited appeal. But giving special privileges to those who can only spend the "most" to stay on property rubs the wrong way a bit for me.

 

[Elisabeth H Wagers]

And I did chat with a cast member who said whether you're checking "in" or "out," either one qualifies for a deluxe resort extended evening perk.