October 2013 Code Watch?!

[LikeSeriously]

I think it is unlikely for that week because the Gartner Symposium which usually comes to WDW at the end of October, got scheduled for that week this year. I have no clue why they made it a few weeks earlier than normal. I know that week was blocked out on the bounce back offer, we got last December because we were looking at that week as DD has fall break then too. Gartner groups stay primarily at BC/YC Swan, Dolphin and Boardwalk. I think they have over 10,000 attendees. It is my understanding that some of those places are practically booked up already, and I know from looking for myself a while back that several of the room categories were already unavailable for BC. I've heard Gartner doesn't really make much difference at the parks except for at Epcot in the evenings because they are in their meetings etc. all day. We were really hoping to see a discount to go that week too, but I will be really surprised if it happens.

Free Dining was offered 10/19/12 - 11/1/12 and the Gartner Symposium was held 10/21/12 - 10/25/12. So, the Symposium did not appear to warrant a blackout date on discounts.

 

[LikeSeriously]

Subscribing, and asking (sorry for not researching the previous 40 pages of the thread): since we will likely be going from 10/5 through 10/12 or 10/13, are there likely to be any codes or discounts for that week? That is fall break for a lot of schools (including my DDs school) and recently WDW has had discount blackouts for that week (and maybe the week before as well). I was just hoping someone knew of possibly a relaxation of that blackout period for this year. That is pretty much the only week we can go these days, though I love going in October.

Those blackouts are typically related to Columbus Day and not to that week in October particularly. Last year, the FD blackout started on 10/5, which was the Friday before Columbus Day. This year, that would be 10/11. If you are checking in on the 5th and they follow suit, you should be fine. There was also a Room Only discount offered the week of Columbus Day. As I mentioned in a previous post, FD was offered during the Gartner Symposium last year as well. Therefore, I don't see any of the above being a cause for concern for no discounts. Hope that helps.

 

[suetoo]

Those blackouts are typically related to Columbus Day and not to that week in October particularly. Last year, the FD blackout started on 10/5, which was the Friday before Columbus Day. This year, that would be 10/11. If you are checking in on the 5th and they follow suit, you should be fine. There was also a Room Only discount offered the week of Columbus Day. As I mentioned in a previous post, FD was offered during the Gartner Symposium last year as well. Therefore, I don't see any of the above being a cause for concern for no discounts. Hope that helps.

I like your way of thinking LikeSeriously!! We are checking in on 10/5 as well. We got a 15% RO dismount through AAA but 30% would be nice! I am basically not counting on FD this year so if it happens... Bonus points!! Thanks for the recap!!

 

[LikeSeriously]

I like your way of thinking LikeSeriously!! We are checking in on 10/5 as well. We got a 15% RO dismount through AAA but 30% would be nice! I am basically not counting on FD this year so if it happens... Bonus points!! Thanks for the recap!!

FD would save my family of 3 so much more then RO so I'm crossing my fingers! Where are you staying and what is your take on FD or RO for Values vs Moderates?

We are booked for an LM room at AoA right now. I don't expect any discounts at all for us with that reservation. However, if FD is offered for the AoA Suites, we will be able to upgrade for only about $300 more than we are paying now, instead of $1300! Technically, that doesn't exactly save us money but we would really feel better having the extra room since, especially since LM beds are just Full and not Queen. Not to mention, my daughter would flip over the Nemo Suite!

Alternatively, if FD is offered for Moderates and not the AoA Suites, we can actually save about $500 if we switch to POR. My daughter will enjoy the Royal Guest rooms as well.

So we have lots of options floating around and any of them would be a bonus for us. But we will still have just as much fun with no discount in our LM room. We just might not sleep as well. Haha.

 

[jska482]

FD would save my family of 3 so much more then RO so I'm crossing my fingers! Where are you staying and what is your take on FD or RO for Values vs Moderates?

We are booked for an LM room at AoA right now. I don't expect any discounts at all for us with that reservation. However, if FD is offered for the AoA Suites, we will be able to upgrade for only about $300 more than we are paying now, instead of $1300! Technically, that doesn't exactly save us money but we would really feel better having the extra room since, especially since LM beds are just Full and not Queen. Not to mention, my daughter would flip over the Nemo Suite!

Alternatively, if FD is offered for Moderates and not the AoA Suites, we can actually save about $500 if we switch to POR. My daughter will enjoy the Royal Guest rooms as well.

So we have lots of options floating around and any of them would be a bonus for us. But we will still have just as much fun with no discount in our LM room. We just might not sleep as well. Haha.

We are checking in on 10/2 at A of A LM and super excited! I didn't realize the full/queen bed difference. Yikes! I guess I'll keep that in mind, and hope for free dining!

 

[ktlm]

Ugh - we had the choice between this week or the next week and chose this one due to crowd level predictor being lower. Hmm... would be be better off going the week of the 11th?

I really don't think the symposium is going to affect the in park crowds much at all, so I think you are fine. I did some research and it looks like those that have been there while they were said the only place you even notice it is around the Boardwalk area and Epcot in the evenings. I looked on the symposium website, and it looks to me like the rooms aren't booked yet but that WDW is holding them back. The website says to check back soon for hotel room block information.

Good to know that they did free dining when the symposium was there last year! There is still hope! I still don't like the fact that week was blacked out in the bounceback we got though. I think the bounceback was more limited in general. The week we have booked at a bounceback rate for the entire week more than once in the past (not in Oct), only had 3 nights allowed on the offer for this year.

Grimley1968, I looked at the prices for the symoposium and it was over $3,000 to attend, NOT including the room! Yikes-- discounted room or not, that won't save anything!

 

[suetoo]

FD would save my family of 3 so much more then RO so I'm crossing my fingers! Where are you staying and what is your take on FD or RO for Values vs Moderates?

We are booked for an LM room at AoA right now. I don't expect any discounts at all for us with that reservation. However, if FD is offered for the AoA Suites, we will be able to upgrade for only about $300 more than we are paying now, instead of $1300! Technically, that doesn't exactly save us money but we would really feel better having the extra room since, especially since LM beds are just Full and not Queen. Not to mention, my daughter would flip over the Nemo Suite!

Alternatively, if FD is offered for Moderates and not the AoA Suites, we can actually save about $500 if we switch to POR. My daughter will enjoy the Royal Guest rooms as well.

So we have lots of options floating around and any of them would be a bonus for us. But we will still have just as much fun with no discount in our LM room. We just might not sleep as well. Haha.

We are staying at BC for the first time. We usually either stay DVC with my parents in which case we have to pay for DDP or at a Mod... I prefer POFQ and we have had FD each time. That is my preferred discount and really does save us the most. In the past mods got FD with the regular DP but if you listen to chatter on the boards it sounds like value and mods with get QSDP which won't save you as much and if you like a TS meal everyday, you would have to pay to upgrade. In that case RO may help you more. From what I understand the LM rooms are pretty much excluded from discounts.. I may upgrade if you can just for a bigger bed..lol! We have spent a few vacations with my DH and I each sleeping with a kid for more room!! But then I end up getting kicked in the face... It's a trade off!! Good luck either way. It will be magical!!

 

[grimley1968]

Grimley1968, I looked at the prices for the symoposium and it was over $3,000 to attend, NOT including the room! Yikes-- discounted room or not, that won't save anything!

I just now googled "gartner conference" and I should have known what that is, as it is pretty much in my field (CIO's and other IT types). But the chances of my company paying for me to go to that conference are nil. Others in my company know I love Disney, so I'd have to lie to them and say the symposium is in Plant City or something. When I submit expense reports showing the bill from some Disney resort, the jig would be up. It's a little too George Costanza for my speed.

My company would probably pay for me to attend a symposium for 1/3 that cost in, say, Aberdeen, SD (no offense to Aberdeenians), including a room.

I'll keep waiting. In recent years, Disney seems to cut off FD right at the end of September and then it comes back right after Columbus Day, usually about a 2 week blackout. Our fall break sometimes has started the last day or two of September and we were able (if we wanted) to get FD for the length of our vacation which went into the first week of October. We normally look for RO discounts (or better yet discounts that include room and park tickets, though those seem to be offered far less frequently these days than RO discounts). RO discounts may not be completely blacked out for both weeks, but we normally can't get them for our entire stay now that our fall breaks tend to align more consistently with the week before Columbus Day (I have begged members of our school board to go back to the previous week, to no avail, though there's no good reason they can't). So we've ended up having a discount for part of our trip, and rack rates for some days.

I keep hoping they'll break that trend one of these years, but they haven't. With the improving economy, it's hard to imagine this would be a year that trend would change. But I'll try to keep hope alive.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

Our fall break is the same time as Gartner for the first time, so we're eagerly awaiting the Symposium rates at YC for DH to attend. We are going to chain a few days on early and then DD & I will fly out while DH attends the conference.

It works in my head ...

 

[scard192]

Planning an October trip staying at a Mod. Either October 14(Columbus Day)-21 or Oct 19-26. Airfare right now is $900 cheaper for the 14-21th but thinking there will be no discounts even checking in on the last day of the 3 day Holiday weekend. Hoping there would be some discount the 19th-26th.

Any insight from experienced DISers would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[grimley1968]

Planning an October trip staying at a Mod. Either October 14(Columbus Day)-21 or Oct 19-26. Airfare right now is $900 cheaper for the 14-21th but thinking there will be no discounts even checking in on the last day of the 3 day Holiday weekend. Hoping there would be some discount the 19th-26th.

Any insight from experienced DISers would be appreciated.

Thanks

If the airfare is that much cheaper from one week to the next, I'd go with the cheaper airfare. a) I'd bet the "discount blackout", if there is one this year, will end on the Tuesday after Columbus Day or sometime that week and b) Even if you got a discount, it would be hard to top a $900 savings on airfare.

If the discount is a room only discount, you'd get it for all your dates that coincide with it, even if you don't get it for a day or two in the beginning. If it's a package discount, it probably needs to be in effect on the day you check in. At least that's the way package discounts worked the last I had one.

 

[rachael95]

For those of you who mention getting pins or other discounts. Did you sign up for something to get those or is that from a Disney Visa or something?

We used to get Disney mailers but they stopped sending them a few years back. Guess, if I go ahead and ask for the vacation video again they might put me back on the list.

Any other suggestions on getting discounts? (Already subscribe to MouseSavers).

 

[tpimental]

I will join!! We are going October 18-26, 2013 and staying at the Poly for the first tme.

We are staying there for the first time as well. I am so excited! We are there 19th-24th.

 

[Liza111577]

I contacted AAA to have my trip priced and see if I could save anything. The way she priced it, I would be saving $120, although that is the cost of adding park hoppers to our 2 tickets, so now I'm wondering if she priced it without the hoppers even though she listed it as hoppers included.

Anyhow, my question is this, if I book through AAA, will I have access to my reservation on the Disney site? Do I have to pay AAA directly, or can I pay online through the Disney site? Will I be able to make my own ADRs?

 

[1tufgt]

I contacted AAA to have my trip priced and see if I could save anything. The way she priced it, I would be saving $120, although that is the cost of adding park hoppers to our 2 tickets, so now I'm wondering if she priced it without the hoppers even though she listed it as hoppers included.

Anyhow, my question is this, if I book through AAA, will I have access to my reservation on the Disney site? Do I have to pay AAA directly, or can I pay online through the Disney site? Will I be able to make my own ADRs?

I believe if booked through AAA you will need to do all payments and handle any changes with them. They are acting as your travel agency.

 

[Pikester]

I contacted AAA to have my trip priced and see if I could save anything. The way she priced it, I would be saving $120, although that is the cost of adding park hoppers to our 2 tickets, so now I'm wondering if she priced it without the hoppers even though she listed it as hoppers included.

Anyhow, my question is this, if I book through AAA, will I have access to my reservation on the Disney site? Do I have to pay AAA directly, or can I pay online through the Disney site? Will I be able to make my own ADRs?

Booking through AAA you make your payments and all changes to your package through them. You can make your own ADRs. To link them to your reservation you'll need your reservation number while making them online although I've made ADRs with just a contact phone number and no reservation number over the phone.

 

[LikeSeriously]

I'll keep waiting. In recent years, Disney seems to cut off FD right at the end of September and then it comes back right after Columbus Day, usually about a 2 week blackout.

Do you have a link to historical information on this? All of the one I've seen have had FD in October before Columbus Day in precious years.

 

[ColonelHathi]

Last year I was tracking the FD offer and it was available starting Oct. 19, 2012 (a Friday) through the end of the month and into Nov. I'm banking on some kind of Fall offer hopefully starting 10/18 this year. Thinking FD is unlikely though...

 

[Samdari]

I contacted AAA to have my trip priced and see if I could save anything. The way she priced it, I would be saving $120, although that is the cost of adding park hoppers to our 2 tickets, so now I'm wondering if she priced it without the hoppers even though she listed it as hoppers included.

Anyhow, my question is this, if I book through AAA, will I have access to my reservation on the Disney site? Do I have to pay AAA directly, or can I pay online through the Disney site? Will I be able to make my own ADRs?

The travel agency should be able to give you the reservation #. You can view the reservation on the disney site, do online check in, and make ADRs using it. Payments and changes go through the agent.

 

[LauraJean]

Last year I was tracking the FD offer and it was available starting Oct. 19, 2012 (a Friday) through the end of the month and into Nov. I'm banking on some kind of Fall offer hopefully starting 10/18 this year. Thinking FD is unlikely though...

Columbus Day was the 8th and the deal didn't start until the 19th. Columbus is the 14th this year so do you think they would have one the 18th? Last year it wasn't the same week at all it was blacked out that week.