Onsite vs MaxPass

Hello! Planning a trip for late April/ early May w/ my family (5 year old girl and 2 year old boy & grandparents). We always do DLH or GCH but this time we are thinking of switching to the Courtyard Marriott Theme Park w/ a suite. As a trade-off we would do digital fastpass everyday. Is that a good trade?

Also thought about trying Paradise Pier but doesn't seem worth it now that you can't cut through the Grand.

We never really used the extra morning hour at DL. We either did the Minnie's buffet or got in line to use the other parts of the park. Fantasyland seemed more swamped than ever during the extra hour- plus we would get one early entrance w/ our multi-day ticket.

The part I would really miss is the extra hour to DCA.

Any thoughts or advice? Rehabs I should know about? Thinking Ariel's Grotto will be gone by then so I'm really sad about that!

The benefits of staying onsite are being close, having the EMHs, and being in the Disney "bubble." If Paradise Pier is just as far as the Marriott and if you won't use much of the EMHs (many of the things available in DCA for EMH your 2-year-old isn't tall enough for), then you're left with the intangible "bubble." I have heard good things about the Marriott for families.

I think you could save as much time as the EMH hours using the shorter MaxPass window and not having to walk to FastPass machines, plus using rider swap.

PHXscuba

MaxPass all the way. I've never stayed onsite, but knowing how awesome MaxPass can be, and trading it for just EMH, it seems way better.

Since you never really used EMH, MP + off-site all the way. We love EMH but I found MP to be much more useful on our last trip.

Have never stayed onsite but for our trip in August we stayed across the street and got MaxPass for 3 of our 4 days. It's amazing and saves so much time. No walking to the ride only to pull a pass and then return. You book on your phone...no matter where the ride is compared to where you are currently at. Also the max wait time between being able to pull your next pass is 30 minutes sooner than without MaxPass. It's so worth it and saves lots of time.

Absolutely, Maxpass! Just the convenience and better FP selection trumps any benefit to on-site hotels in my opinion! Especially because the Courtyard Marriott is still very close.