Disney World is known for many things!
It has incredible attractions, tasty food, amazing live entertainment, and several hotels to keep you immersed in the magic. While staying on property does come with some perks, I think it’s time to address the fact that those perks aren’t quite what they used to be.
Listen, I love Disney World, but when you love something, it’s okay to want better for it! That’s why I’m here to be honest and say I am no longer falling for it. I know these Disney perks used to be better! Starting off with the one I miss the most, the Magical Express.
The Magical Express was a Disney-operated bus system that brought you to and from Orlando International Airport to your Disney World hotel. They would handle your luggage and even deliver it to your room for you. They played Disney cartoons, and it was just a really lovely way to start your vacation.
It also meant that you could avoid paying any fees to get to your Disney hotel, which was a huge perk. While there are options like the Mears Connect Service, which can be inexpensive, it’s honestly just annoying that we have to pay anything at all. This was a perk we will never forget, Disney!
Next up, I personally miss the major perk of free Magic Bands! Yes, there was once a time when staying on Disney property came with a totally free MagicBand. That feels almost like a daydream now.
Before your trip, you got to select your MagicBand colors, and they would add your name to the back and ship them to your house. It was the ultimate sign that your vacation was getting close, and it was the original magic mail.
Now, if you’re staying on property, you can get your MagicBands at a discounted rate, but seriously, nothing is going to beat free. I still have my original 2013 MagicBand (which was a very gorgeous pink color) because it came with our room! Now, when I stay on property, I almost never purchase one out of principle.
Speaking of free, remember when we didn’t have to pay to skip the lines in Disney World? Ah, Fast Pass, I remember you like it was yesterday. You were paper; my mom had to race to the kiosks to get good return times, and it was a genuine perk of being at Disney World.
Fast Pass went through a few changes before it became Genie+ (which has most recently become Disney’s Lightning Lane System), but the most important fact about it is that it was free. Even once it became FastPass+ and the service became digital, you could still get at least 3 line skips for free.
Now I have enjoyed the new Lightning Lane system as it does operate much more like FastPass than Genie+ did, but… it isn’t free! (Can you hear my frustration here?) The main thing about this article is that I am still bitter about the free perks we’ve lost, if you can’t tell.
Another thing we’ve lost is Extra Magic Hours! Extra Magic Hours was a program that let hotel guests go to different Disney theme parks for an entire hour before the park opened. Yes, you read that right — an entire hour.
Now we do get Early Entry, but it’s only for 30 minutes. There was a time when I could frolic through the theme parks at 7 AM before it opened at 8 AM, and I am feeling robbed of these opportunities. Luckily, this perk didn’t disappear entirely, per se. We now have Extended Evening Hours, which do give resort guests extra time in the parks after they close on select evenings.
I am grateful we still have this extra hotel perk, however, I won’t act like it’s better than it was before. Why not both, ya know? Us early birds need some extra time too! Another thing I’m unwilling to forget is Disney’s package delivery service.
Before 2020, there was a time when you could be strolling through the parks, make an insanely large and inconvenient purchase, and have Disney deliver it directly to your hotel room. It was like magic, dang it! Now, post-pandemic, Disney, for some reason, has refused to bring this service back.
I understand that there are certain limitations when it comes to park operations, but this was truly such an underrated perk that I noticed when on my Disney vacations. There are several items I’ve skipped out on buying for the sole purpose of not lugging them around the parks.
Another thing I genuinely notice now that it’s gone is the lack of room service. There was a time when select Disney rooms like those at the Grand Floridian offered the luxury of room service, but that is no more! While I love dining in the Disney parks, sometimes it just sounds so nice to be able to have our food delivered right to our door.
Disney has really changed their dining perks over the past few years. Another major change that we’ve seen is the options for the Disney Dining Plan! Previously, the DDP had 4 different plan options. There was the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan, the Basic Disney Dining Plan, the Disney Dining Plan Plus, and the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan.
Now there are two options for the dining plan: the Standard Plan and the Quick Service Dining Plan. While both of these options operate well, I miss the option of having variety. The Standard Dining Plan includes:
- 1 Table Service Meal
- 1 Quick Service Meal
- 1 Snack
- 1 Resort Mug Per Person
The Quick Service Dining Plan Includes:
- 2 Quick-Service Meals
- Quick-Service Meals include one Quick-Service Meal, including an Entrée OR Combo meal with a Non-alcoholic Beverage
- 1 Snacks or Non-Alcoholic Drinks
- 1 Resort-Refillable Mug
Luckily, Disney has been working on improving the dining plan by including Kids Dine for Free in 2026. (However, I would still like a few more options if that’s okay.)
Finally, I will never forget the Tables in Wonderland perk that is still MIA! This was a dining discount program for eligible Florida Residents, Disney Vacation Club members, and Annual Passholders 21 and older. It was good for 20% off food and beverages at a number of Walt Disney World Resort hotels, theme park restaurants, and lounges.
As someone who is at Disney World constantly, Tables in Wonderland would be a major perk to go with my Annual Pass. Luckily, Annual Passes do come with several discounts, however, they fluctuate pretty consistently and are often only offered for 10% off.
As time goes on, Disney has added a handful of perks (new and returning) over the last year. If you’re staying at a Disney resort, you do get free water park entry on the day of your check-in. If you have an early flight, this is a huge perk and can make a really fun Disney day for no extra cash.
It has added to the crowds in the water parks, but I wanted free perks, and Disney gave us free perks! Disney is also in the process of bringing back the airline check-in perk that was around several years ago.
If you’re flying Southwest, you can now bring your checked bags to the luggage services at the value resorts, so you no longer have to drag your heavy luggage through the airport! If you’re checked in on your flight and flying out of MCO, this free perk can be such a time saver.
A little tip to make the process even quicker and easier is to leave your inbound Southwest Airlines tags on your bags. There is a required drop-off time, so you’d want to make sure you know when that is. If you are flying before 1:00 PM, make sure to drop your bags off by 1:00 AM the night before your flight. If you are flying at or after 1:00 PM, make sure to drop your bags off at least four hours before departure or no later than 1:00 PM — whichever of the two comes first.
So while, yes, there are still perks, I won’t pretend they are better than what we used to have! Are any of these perks going to return? Sadly, most will not! Beggars can’t be choosers, I guess so for now, I’ll take what I can get. As always, be sure to keep following AllEars for our Disney tips and tricks.
FULL LIST of Disney World Hotel Perks for 2026
What hotel perk do you miss the most? Tell us in the comments.
Miss it all! The high cost of Disney was justified with the service you got. No other place would start your vacation at home with luggage tags, magic bands, even a special map of the parks. Now everything is high priced with no perks. Want perks? That’ll be another $100 per person. Reminds me of the musical Les Mis “Master of the House” charging for every little detail
My family and I stayed on property for over 40 years untill the perks went away. The Contemporary was $50/night the first time we stayed there. Now we stay at a resort on International Dr about 3 time/year. We like it a lot better. It’s really a shame that Disney management has lost sight of Walt’s dream and puts quarterly profits over customer service.
we never took advantage of room service but i agree with 100% of what was said here. it would be nice if they could bring some of them back. i’d like to mention 1 i think was missed. resort delivery service. man do we miss that.
I’m looking at the picture for this piece. For my attention was drawn to the man and young boy going down the steps on the left side of the picture. I simply have come to the only logical conclusion that Emma and Quincy have to be very special people. Disney royalty as it were. For the man and boy are passing Emma and Quincy with their heads bowed in reverence as they pass them.😊.
Luggage service was great. You would get a tag to attach to your bag at home, then check your bag, and it would be delivered to your resort room. Then on departure you would , as you point out, drop off your bag at bell services and pick it up at your home airport. That now is just on departure from Disney and only with Southwest, which now charges for checked bags.
What made this great was all you needed to be concerned with was your kids and you really felt you were on vacation. That it wasn’t work to go to Disney.
Then the pandemic hit and Disney took it all away. Then after the pandemic ended, Disney didn’t return to making sure families could relax and enjoy themselves. On top of that, long lines for rides and,instead of enjoying the sights and sounds of WDW and the joy and excitement of your kids, you have to spend that time looking at your cell phone instead to manage your day.
What bothered me most was I used to look at a WDW vacation as Disney’s focus on their guests, making sure the magic started at home and continued every minute all the way until you returned home. Anything that didn’t go the way it should, Disney would make right. I called it all ‘The Disney Way’. Now? Disney has decided to settle and to be like everyone else. Sad really.
So true. The magic is going, going, gone. I now feel like I just stay at a hotel inside a theme park as opposed to what it once was, a magical world that was clean and safe and cast members were always happy and interactive and where you didn’t have to think about the mundane daily things and just had fun.
I miss the free package delivery to the hotel. I skip a lot of extra buying because of this.
I also miss the free fastpasses. I’d even go back to running all over for paper ones
The option to have your room decorated with for a special event like a birthday or 1st visit now they will only deliver the package to the front desk or your hotel ! How is that a special surprise ? Disney is becoming less and less enchanting.