Extra Magic Hours

Image: DisneySimilarly, Extra Magic Hours are a benefit whose value is in the eye of the beholder. Do you enjoy waking up at the break of dawn to get an early start at Walt Disney World? Do you wish that one of the parks stayed open later on a given night? If either or both of these assertions is/are true, Extra Magic Hours is a huge value.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, Disney either opens one of their parks an hour earlier or closes it an hour (or two) later on a given day. The only people admitted to this park are guests of Disney resorts. The current setup requires a guest to show their Magic Band to verify admittance to an attraction, and I should note that not all attractions are open during Extra Magic Hours, with the evening version generally offering more options than the morning.

Image: DisneyIn my experience, I can generally ride four or five shorter attractions (ones that only take three of four minutes) during an Extra Magic Hour. Since Disney projects that the average guest will ride nine attractions during a given park visit, tremendous value is available to people willing to get up earlier or stay later. The catch is that you have to alter your morning/late evening plans to utilize Extra Magic Hours. Also, tardiness will undo a lot of the good. A person who misses 30 minutes of an early morning session will not get much value, and if you’re anything like my family, it’s easy to run a half-hour late, especially first thing in the morning.

So, the utility of Extra Magic Hours depends on how disciplined you are in using them. Anyone who does will maximize their park time each day, which means they have tremendous value for purposeful guests. To some theme park tourists, Extra Magic Hours offer no tangible benefits. To others, it’s the most valuable advantage of staying onsite.

Location location location

Image: DisneyThe final advantages of a stay onsite are ones that apply to everyone. While Disney does allow third party hotels onsite or near enough that the distinction doesn’t matter, their properties are closest to the action. All of the Tripadvisor-favored properties above are within three miles of a Disney theme park. Each of them claims a transportation time of 15 minutes or less. That’s not significantly worse than Disney’s transportation amenities. Still, differences exist.

For example, Villas of Grand Cypress Orlando does offer transportation to and from the various Disney theme parks. A paying guest must book a reservation for their bus ride, though, and their service isn’t constant the way that Disney is. Even the Four Seasons only offers transportation to Magic Kingdom each half hour, and that statement’s still a bit misleading. The bus takes guests to the Ticket & Transportation Center, where a person must ride the monorail to the park. Buses to the other three parks are only hourly, although once someone arrives at Disney, they can rely on internal Disney transportation for the rest.

Image: DisneyThe issue here is obvious. Someone staying offsite is pot-committed to spending huge swaths of time inside the parks during each visit. For many travelers, that’s fine. For those who visit Walt Disney World a lot, the art of moving in and out of the parks is what elevates the vacation. Not having to stay in the crowds is a huge benefit. Similarly, any time spent away from Disney transportation is generally a positive due to the mercurial nature of that process. So, if folks would prefer to avoid Disney’s bus and boat options as much as possible, what does that say about the outside solutions from third party hotels?

Most important, Disney offers the most tangible benefit of all with its closest lodgings, many of which are in the Deluxe Resort category. These properties are oftentimes either within walking distance of a theme park or, in the case of Disney’s most famous hotels, a monorail ride away from the action. This reduction in transportation stress has a value beyond measure to a lot of guests, me included.

Image: DisneyI will note that a new factor has changed this calculus a bit. Uber and Lyft, popular ride-sharing services, empower tourists to save time, money, and aggravation by taking greater control of the travel process. Now, a person can enter and leave a park on their schedule, which reduces the value of the average Disney resort’s transportation and proximity advantages. Still, Disney knows that their quicker, easier routes are a huge advantage in keeping their occupancy rates high. That’s why that amazing, shocking gondola rumor makes too much sense to dismiss. 

In weighing all the advantages above relative to the average savings of a non-Disney resort, which seems to be about $25 a night for a similar property, I skew strongly toward Disney. Whether you agree largely depends on three factors. The first is whether you’d use the Disney Dining Plan if it were an option. The second is how much you’d capitalize on Extra Magic Hours when they’re available. The third and most important one is how much weight you give to location and travel convenience.

Image: Disney

I guess there’s technically a fourth option, which is whether $25 per night or $150 over the course of a week has a huge impact on your travel budget. Remember all the considerations above the next time you book a trip and please remember to weigh in with your thoughts once you’ve confirmed your room. I’d love to know which factors mattered the most to you.