Disney World Resort Hotels
Disney World Resort Hotels
Disney World Resort hotels are hotels that are owned and operated by Disney. These hotels are often referred to as "on-site".
Staying on-site at a Disney owned hotel comes with additional benefits and perks:
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Ability to make FastPass+ selections up to 60 days before arrival (30 days out for non-resort guests)
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Ability to add the Disney Dinning Plan to your stay
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Complementary Magic Bands
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Complementary transportation to the Parks from your hotel
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Extra Magic Hours in the parks on select nights
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Complimentary motorcoach transportation to and from the Orlando International Airport on Disney’s Magical Express and complimentary luggage delivery
Disney classifies their hotels into 3 categories Value, Moderate and Deluxe. With all 3 categories you still get all of the perks listed above. The differences come into location, space, amenities, and price.
Value hotels are the most affordably priced of the 3 categories.
The value resort hotels are more basic in there landscaping, and building architecture, however they feature more bright colors and fun Disney theming than the other two categories.
These hotels offer the least amount of amenities, and also have the smallest hotel rooms.
Value hotels have a Quick-Service dining location but no Table-Service restaurant.
Value Resort Hotels
Moderate hotels are the middle category.
These resort properties typically feature a larger layout with beautiful landscaping and buildings with great architectural details. The theming and details of the moderate resorts really set them apart from the values.
Moderate hotels have a Table-Service restaurant as well as a Quick- Service dining location.
The moderate resorts also feature a water slide at their main pool as well as a hot tub unlike the value hotels.
The hotel rooms are a little larger than the values.
Moderate Resort Hotels
Deluxe Resort Hotels and Villas
The Deluxe category includes Disney Resort hotels as well as the Disney Villas.
Deluxe hotels are usually closest to one of the theme parks and often have special benefits or amenities such as taking the monorail from your hotel to the Magic Kingdom or waking up to giraffes outside your hotel room balcony.
These are the most expensive and most luxurious of the three categories. They also feature some of the best pools and usually have more than one Table- Service restaurant.
The Disney Villas offer the most space. They have a full kitchen and multiple bedrooms and bathrooms making them a great choice for larger families or for sharing a space with extended family.
How to Decide?
With over 30 onsite options how will you decide where to stay?
The main deciding factor for many will be based on budget. Your budget is going to dictate if you need to choose from the value category or if you have the freedom to select from any of the three categories.
Currently the pricing for the categories is as follows though it does increase depending on the time of year:
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Value Resort hotels from $99/Night
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Moderate Resort hotels from $198/Night
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Deluxe Resort hotels from $ 363/Night
Another deciding factor for some will be "resort time", how much time you plan on spending at your hotel during the course of your trip. Some people plan "rest" days where they do not go into the theme parks but instead hang around their hotel and enjoy the pool and resort amenities. Others plan no rest days and hit the parks from open to close, never getting to experience much of their resort hotel. The amount of time you plan on having to experience your Disney Resort hotel and amenities may play a factor on which category you select.
Once you have figured out which category works best for your needs and budget you can research each of the hotels offered in that category. Each hotel will have it's own theme and style. A great way to get a feel for each of the hotels and what they offer is to research them on a trip review site or watch some YouTube video tours of the resorts.