Hi Rowena! Welcome to planDisney!
There is nothing quite like staying at a
Disney Resort Collection hotel! Each hotel is themed perfectly, and it puts you right in the middle of the action! My family tries to stay at a different one every visit to try all the wonderful amenities that each has to offer. I’ve even been known to plan a resort-only stay at times. The perfect hotels for this type of stay are
Disney’s Yacht Club or
Beach Club Resorts! You are within walking distance of many amazing restaurants and fun activities. Also, the
Stormalong Bay Pool is out of this world. You can spend an entire day there either relaxing with a drink in hand, floating in the lazy river, or riding the pirate ship-themed water slide over and over.
The
Walt Disney World Resort does not offer discounted tickets to Disney Resort Collection Guests, but there are plenty of perks that come with staying onsite. Once you arrive at your resort, you will have complimentary transportation service to all the theme parks, water parks, and Disney Springs. This can be in the form of a bus, boat, the
Disney Skyliner, or the monorail. I love all the options that Disney provides, and it makes the experience that much more fun just getting to your destination.
You will also have
Early Theme Park Entry to the parks each day of your visit. This will allow you to beat some of the crowds and ride attractions before the standby queue gets too long. I’ve worked this into my strategy when planning my park day and it has helped me have more experiences by adding more time. If you are staying at a Deluxe Resort hotel or the Deluxe Villas, you can also take advantage of the
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours at select parks throughout the week. Make sure to check the schedule for updated dates and times.
With the addition of
Disney Genie+ and
Individual Lightning Lane attractions, staying onsite will give you an advantage here as well. There are a few rides at each theme park that, for an additional fee, you can reserve a time slot to ride this attraction during the day. If you are a Disney Resort Guest, you will be able to make these reservations starting at 7:00 AM on the day of your park visit. All other Guests will need to wait until the official park opening to purchase their Individual Lightning Lane.
I did want to mention that
U.S. Military Members have access to Specially Priced Theme Park Tickets. If this applies to you in any way, I would suggest looking into this option.
Rowena, I hope this information is helpful in your upcoming stay! Have a magical time!
See ya real soon!
Greg