by: guide4wdw – Collin

Why Staying On Disney Property Is Our Only Recommendation!  

Nearly two weeks ago I came up with this topic for an article and honestly I wanted to put something out that was going to be that “click baity” 5 Reasons I Always Tell Guests to Stay On Property type of article and then I realized that that’s not what anybody really cares about. Truth be told, there’s more articles like that out there that there ever really should be. Instead, I want to be real with people and that’s ultimately my goal today. I’m not going to tell you to stay on property because it could theoretically save you money in the long run (even though it probably could) or that could improve your vacation ten fold. Instead I’m going to tell you the real world reasons I have always preferred staying on property through a story that I personally find helpful.

Truthfully, some of my affiliates may not be thrilled with this post and I know I’m not going to be making any friends with the fine folks who run the off property hotels, but to me that’s not what really matters. I told myself really early on in this content sharing journey that I was going to tell people the un sugar-coated real world realties of everything I witnessed and experienced at Walt Disney World. I wanted to create a site that wasn’t on the market and something that wasn’t overly negative but I didn’t want portray every single thing I reviewed as “perfect” and as the exact thing that advertisers or even Disney themselves wanted me to share. In the big picture, what really matters and what’s actually going to be helpful to you as a prospective or returning guest to the parks is the reality of every situation. I’m not going to be that person that bashes a restaurant three weeks after it opens for a bad meal or anything of the sort, because being negative doesn’t do anyone any good. Instead, I share what I do enjoy and what genuinely means something to me. In the long run, that’s what you all want to hear anyway. We can argue about stuff all day but in the end none of that even matters.

As a bit of side note, I’m a person that believes that positivity can change the world. I’m no where near the perfect example of a person that’s positive all the time but I can’t help but wonder if we all turned off our TV’s for a week or we changed the local news to a place that only shared positivity how our world would change.

But, in getting back to today’s topic, I prefaced this article in this seemingly odd way because I don’t want this to be a list. I want this to be real world info and real world stuff that nobody else tells you when you’re booking a Disney vacation. When it’s all said in done, I stay at almost exclusively Disney resorts when I travel to Orlando for one thing and one thing only, the experience. I know that’s a hopelessly vague description but bear with me. When I say experience, I’m not talking about the included transportation, the cast members, the perfect resort room, or even that perfect view you’ve always dreamed of peering out over the Seven Seas Lagoon from a Polynesian Bungalow. Instead, when I say “experience” I’m talking about the little things that the on property resorts help to create. It’s a multifaceted experience but ultimately when it comes down to it the resort is only a vehicle for the memories the overlying place helps create.

I’ve said it time and time again, but there is no perfect resort, there is no perfect way to tour the parks, and ultimately there is not ideal way to do anything at Walt Dinsey World, no matter how hard I try to share my top tips and tricks to help you better your vacation.

The point of it all is that the story you and your family create is the ONLY THING that truly matters when you’re at Walt Disney World. If you get nothing else from this article, just understand that concept. You can be staying at the crappiest hotel on International Drive and you may have a better experience that someone staying Club Level at the Grand Floridian! It sounds insane but more often that not the people who are experiencing their only trip that they scraped together every penny they could possibly save to visit WDW are the same people that make the most of every single solitary minute of their Disney vacation. Their story from their trip isn’t this grand and glamorous story that Disney will likely put on their next marketing campaign, but all that truly matters are those memories they created that they’ll never forget.

So, at this point you’re probably asking, why do you bother with staying on property??? I stay on property because the memories the on property resorts generate for me and my family are unparalleled when compared to the trips where we’ve stayed off property. It’s not because of the reasons you’d expect. I can go on and on about how much I love deluxe resort theming and at some point I probably will here on the site, but the things that make a difference to me and my family are the things that you truly never expect but that happen more often that not when we’re staying on property.

It’s not unusual for a narrative to develop when we’re staying at a Disney resort. It’s not one particular element of the experience that makes a solitary swaying difference, but at some point there will be one little thing that sticks with us that we wouldn’t have otherwise experienced staying off property. Perhaps the greatest example of this is from my own personal memories. I can vividly remember a night with my sister Caitlin walking around Wilderness Lodge nearly two hours after the parks closed for the night in the summer (so that tells you how late this was) taking pictures around the resort when nobody else was around. I can never explain in words what the feeling is like but in that moment you realize that there’s something about the experience that will stick in your mind for years. I do not think I’ll ever forget wandering the resort that night with my sister.

It seems so incredibly simple but I look back on that night and I don’t think about the crap that was falling apart in the world around us or even in our personal lives but rather I remember those real world conversations we had. Again, it’s not something I can convey in words, but there’s an inherent difference to simply being there that opens up an entirely different realm of memories. Part of that is undoubtedly the nostalgia we feel on vacation and the recounting of memories from previous vacations but so much of that is just this surreal escapism that you can experience at WDW and I hope that I’m fully conveying that here and if nothing else that it makes sense to even one person reading this.

In the end this is the stuff that really matters to me and the articles that I truly believe can make a difference in some way or another. I hope that the message is conveyed in some way shape or form, but more that that I hope that Disney and possibly booking your next Dinsey vacation gives you an outlook on life and a perspective change that no other place truly can. So often we get caught up in the next big thing that we forget that our true vacation experience and life in general is more about the people and the pursuit of happiness that anything else. Stay positive every day and make the most of each day you’re given. Today isn’t perfect, tomorrow won’t be perfect, but there’s something to be said for making the most of every minute and chasing a dream no matter how outlandish and ridiculous it may seem. Be good to people, be authentic, be the best version of you you can be, and the results may surprise you.

As I wrap up, I just want to say thatks to each every person reading this. I hope the non-click bait realness of this means something to somebody some where and that somehow some way it helps you out or helps you relive a WDW story or memory. I don’t tell you all how much I genuinely appreciate you reading what I post enough and always know that every click, every comment, and every like genuinely means something to me in this content sharing journey and I see your support every single day. If you have questions, comments, or anything I can do to help you, never hesitate to ask.