Free Water Park for 2025 Stays

[tjkraz]

Great way to fend off not being able to have the rooms ready by 4pm!

Did you even bother to appreciate it for 5 minutes first, or just immediately look for ways to spin a nice new perk into a failure on Disney's part?

 

[bobbiwoz]

We rarely get to MCO early in the day, but if we did, I would definitely love to use a lazy River instead of sitting around waiting for my room to be ready! It will be great for summer split stays, though.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

Not sure this will get used much… are there many people who like to get off a plane and go straight to a water park?

I’m so excited for it we live 2.5 hours and will easily use it many times. While not all will be able to use it there will be many that can.

 

[Tink3815]

I see it as good marketing, especially when the weather is cooler, and guests do not want to pay to visit. Gives housekeeping department more time to hit the 4:00pm check in. I can see early check in going away with this.

 

[tjkraz]

I can see early check in going away with this.

No.

Why would they formally remove something which would be naturally lessened by the move? Why would Disney take steps to keep people from entering rooms that are clean and ready for guests?

 

[crisi]

No.

Why would they formally remove something which would be naturally lessened by the move? Why would Disney take steps to keep people from entering rooms that are clean and ready for guests?

AND there is a definite need at Disney for early check in - as anyone getting on a 7am flight with a toddler or preschooler knows.

 

[New Mouse]

Did you even bother to appreciate it for 5 minutes first, or just immediately look for ways to spin a nice new perk into a failure on Disney's part?

Two of the top three points from this internal meeting were likely involving off setting the ability of housekeepings ability to get work done on time and the ability to generate more revenue at the waterparks.

 

[New Mouse]

No.

Why would they formally remove something which would be naturally lessened by the move? Why would Disney take steps to keep people from entering rooms that are clean and ready for guests?

Because they spend more money of they are in a park, especially on a vacation day where people typically do not go to a park.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Interesting perk. Guess water park attendance is not great?

That split stay idea is a good one, just go hit up the water park for the day and go back to your new hotel when done.

We drive so would be pretty easy for us. We are actually going a day earlier then normal this year and staying at the new Drury Inn and will go mid morning to Poly and then swim there and hang out at the resort until room is ready. If we do the same thing next year, could see just going to water park instead and then back to room that evening.

Have they even had both water parks open at the same time since before COVID? If so it was a really short overlap - seems like they always have one WP closed. Could be this is an excuse/incentive to get them both open?

I could see us using this coming in on a red-eye since the flight gets in around 5-6a and you literally have the whole day to kill. We tend to push it and sleep our way though the shows in a park on that day. Sleeping in a deck chair at a water park would be far more comfortable. DW hates moving mid-week so we don't do split-stays, but with this perk I just might be able to convince her it's not such a bad idea.

 

[MouseEarsMom33]

I think this is a marketing push to compete against Universal. Universal will be promoting that they have 4 parks with Volcano Bay when EPIC Universe opens. Many people think of WDW as having 4 parks. I am sure there are a lot of people that don't even realize Disney has 2 water parks. And those that do, many haven't even tried them (me included).

 

[RichVIII]

With the cost of tickets, I would argue most don't buy tickets for the first or last day. The last days seem to be a Disney Springs day often. So this would give people something to do, I mean spend money while you wait and feel like you got something while you waited. As others have said, staffing is required for most pools regardless of their count, so why not extract some more value? It's not costing them anything since nobody would have paid for day one anyway. Smart move. Hoping for the split stay, as that would make that day tolerable.

 

[Tink3815]

Because they spend more money of they are in a park, especially on a vacation day where people typically do not go to a park.

Exactly spending time at Disney Springs and hanging at the Resort pool is not making Disney a profit. Also less housekeeping staff is less in employee costs such as benefits and statutory costs. Less staff needed if rooms don't have to be ready until 3pm. If Disney can figure out a way to make us pay for early check in , they will. And now they are giving you a Waterpark perk, so no complaining about paying extra for early arrival rooms or rooms not ready until 3pm.

 

[tjkraz]

Exactly spending time at Disney Springs and hanging at the Resort pool is not making Disney a profit.

So....people will spend more money during a day at Blizzard Beach than at the resort itself or....a shopping and dining district? You must buy a lot more towels and sand buckets than we do.

Also less housekeeping staff is less in employee costs such as benefits and statutory costs. Less staff needed if rooms don't have to be ready until 3pm.

Rooms already don't have to be ready until 4pm. Housekeeping staff works 8-5 schedules per the CBA, with incentives to leave early if their assigned rooms are completed. This will undoubtedly reduce requests for early room access, but it doesn't change the staffing needs to prep the rooms.

If Disney can figure out a way to make us pay for early check in , they will. And now they are giving you a Waterpark perk, so no complaining about paying extra for early arrival rooms or rooms not ready until 3pm.

This is such a cynically bonkers take. People complain that Disney doesn't offer enough on-site perks. And then when they announce a pretty dramatic new perk, so much effort goes into looking for ways to undermine it.

 

[CraigInPA]

I normally go in January or February, so only one water park open and it's normally too cold to swim anyway. Until this year, I would have laughed this perk off as being something I'd never use. However, this year we took the 6 year old grand niece with us. On check-in day, the first thing she wanted to do was go in the pool, despite the air temp being all of 70 degrees. If a water park was a free option, I'm sure we would have been on the bus to it on check in day!

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

It's a freebie, but it really isn't all that great!
Is anyone going to choose a earlier flight to get unto property earlier just to go a waterpark when no one can predict the weather beforehand.
When I go to a waterpark, I want to arrive early not 4 hrs after the place has opened. If the resort room isn't ready why am I not going to the pool? THAT is much more convenient!
Honestly, it's almost insulting! I can imagine the usage of this "offer" being very low!

 

[gatechfan99]

I can see with flights this not making a huge difference. However, if you drive like us, this could be great.

A lot of times we drive to WDW after leaving work early and will get to the Orlando area late at night. Rather than spend 40+ points on a room we get to at 11:00 PM, we'll often just stay at a cheap-ish hotel for the night and then head to our resort the next morning. With this deal, we could do that and then head to the free water park immediately that morning. I imagine there could be a sizeable other number of driving families that use a similar strategy.

 

[crisi]

It's a freebie, but it really isn't all that great!
Is anyone going to choose a earlier flight to get unto property earlier just to go a waterpark when no one can predict the weather beforehand.
When I go to a waterpark, I want to arrive early not 4 hrs after the place has opened. If the resort room isn't ready why am I not going to the pool? THAT is much more convenient!
Honestly, it's almost insulting! I can imagine the usage of this "offer" being very low!

Maybe you won't choose an earlier flight just to go to the waterpark, but we always take an early flight anyway. We tend to arrive at the resort around 1pm - and we generally spend the afternoon wandering around World Showcase - maybe riding a few Future World attractions. Our kids are grown, but there was a good ten year period where arriving at 1pm with a daybag with a swimsuit in it and catching the bus to the waterpark would have been a winning strategy for our family. It won't do us any good now, but there are a lot of Disney perks that aren't targeted towards us and we've never taken advantage of - but others find them useful.

(We have ONCE taken advantage of the AP discount in 25 years. Personally, I don't find it that great. We just don't go that often or stay that long. Its pretty obvious that other DVC members think its awesome - although I'd imagine with the rise in small contract holders and large contract holders who don't use their own points, its a perk that a smaller percentage take advantage of now than did ten years ago. ).

For Disney, there is almost no incremental cost to additional people in the waterpark. There isn't (as pointed out) a huge waterpark revenue stream - some food and beverage, towel rental - probably just enough to cover the incremental cost of more guests. But Disney has been nickel and diming guests for several years now while removing some of the "free" benefits to an on site stay (like Magical Express) - this is one way to create the impression of getting value out of an onsite stay without the cost of something like ME. But like ME, not everyone is going to use it or get value out of it

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

This is great for my family, we don't like to go to a park on arrival day. We usually drop our stuff off at bell services then either hang out at the resort or go to Disney Springs, then hit up a park early the next day. I'm honestly wondering why we never considered doing a waterpark before, my kids would've gone bananas for it. We don't need a full day, 3-4 hours is plenty. Bonus points for wearing the kids out so they sleep well as we settle in the first night.

I'm not a huge fan of split stays, but this would definitely make one easier.

 

[Minnie1222]

Great way to fend off not being able to have the rooms ready by 4pm!

Oh please! Our rooms (hotels side) have ALWAYS been ready before 3:00. I think you're confused Disney with Universal.

Edited: I didn't realize this is a DVC forum. My comment is off. My tone is correct. People need to stop finding negativity in everything. Have a great day! Please enjoy the water parks, or not!

 

[Minnie1222]

Honestly, it's almost insulting! I can imagine the usage of this "offer" being very low!

It's not for everyone! We haven't used their pools in years. Never been to their water parks and don't plan to. Just because you don't need it doesn't mean it's insulting. Otherwise, we would have found Disney Magic Express insulting since we rarely used it.