Disney World announced today that it added two more hotels in the Hilton portfolio to its list of official Disney World Resort hotels. Guests staying at Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek and Waldorf Astoria Orlando will now have access to Extra Magic Hours at the parks. As of now, Disney has not announced if these hotels will also get the 60-day FastPass+ benefit like other on-site hotels. Update: Both of these hotels now have access to FastPass+ at 60 days out, just like on-site resorts.
These hotels provide amenities that similarly-priced on-site Disney resorts don’t have, like a kids’ club and a lazy river. Both properties offer continuous transportation to the parks. This is great news for folks who like to use miles and points to travel for free or at greatly reduced prices.
Hilton already has two resorts in Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels that have on-site benefits, and you can see my review of Hilton Buena Vista Palace.
Extra Magic Hours
Extra Magic Hours at Disney World provide access to certain parks one hour before opening or two hours after opening. Last year, I went to Animal Kingdom with my three kids. We went to the morning Extra Magic Hour, and we got to ride many rides with no lines before the park opened to the public. Priceless!
Acquiring Hilton Honors Points
Hilton partners with Amex on several credit cards that make it super easy to earn Hilton points. With the Hilton Honors Ascend card (my referral link), you can get a bonus of 150,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $3000 in the first three months. The card has a $95 annual fee.
The Hilton Honors Amex card (my referral link) has a bonus of 100,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $1000 in the first three months. It has no annual fee.
If you use the Power of Two and both you and a spouse apply for both cards, you can accumulate a ton of Hilton Honors points that you can easily use for a Disney World vacation. The cost in points for both of these hotels varies by date, but I see rates at Hilton Bonnet Creek in the 45k-50k range and rates at Waldorf Astoria Orlando in the 69k-80k per night.
Does the recent addition of Extra Magic Hours make these two Hilton properties more attractive to you for a Disney World vacation?
Click here to view various credit cards and available sign-up bonuses
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
[…] these two hotels now have the on-site 60-day FastPass+ privileges, as well. I’ve updated the original post […]