We're staying at a Disney Springs hotel in about a week (having stayed on site at every level before and several off sites too) so I'll soon have a full comparison.
This years added benefits sank the deal for us. We have enough Holiday Inn points to "pay" for our 9 night stay. If you don't have points, you can certainly sign up to earn points while you're there & redeem them later (can't do either if on site).
We will have our own car, with AP "free" parking at parks, may try buses some, especially if group wants to split, its another option. I wouldn't sweat hotels sharing a bus, most Disney resorts have either multiple stops at one resort or share a few one-stop resorts. So there's multiple pickups no matter which way you choose. The bus sharing the most hotels makes 4 stops, that's pretty typical of a Disney bus too. It irks me when I can get to a park faster off site then Disney can get me to its parks from its hotels (Disney busing is not great).
We're going to the water parks so we don't need a resort type pool.
It won't be a 15 minute walk to the lobby or the bus stop or our car or the gift shop or the pool or the restaurant or the front desk.
HI told me they also have hotel delivery of in park purchases
Our room will also have a microwave & I'm not sure any of my on site rooms had that (and Doubletree will have kitchens w/dining areas and separate bedroom area).
Our room will also have a balcony with 2 chairs and a small table, can't get that at Disney until your deluxe level. I booked the 'pool view' room to guarantee I won't be on the I-4 side of the hotel.
We're done with the
DDP ever again (unless it changes drastically) so we don't need that on site benefit.
We have a collection of magic bands from past trips to choose from so don't need those.
I'm not opposed to staying on site again, I'm sure we will. I'm sure we'll also stay off site again too.