WWYD? Book Family Suite, BC 1BR or wait for 4/3??

[sharadoc]

Hi. Just wondering what you guys think. We would like to go 2/5 thru 2/13 and have a few decisions to make:

1. Book a Family Suite with a AAA discount and HOPE for 4/3, then cancel in favor of
2. Book a Beach Club 1BR Villa and HOPE for 4/3
3. Wait and book if 4/3 comes out.

I think we will definitely go during that time, but without a 4/3 we would stay in a Family Suite. Do you think it truly makes a difference if you have a reservation already then try to apply the discount to it? As of today, the BCV room is available but I suspect it would go much quicker than the Family Suite, although I know the suites go pretty quickly too.

I have NO IDEA what I should do. Am I allowed to do both 1 and 2??

The 4/3 would make our stay at BCV only a few hundred dollars more than the Family Suite. I'm thinking I should book the suite, then if a 4/3 comes out, call right away for the BCV.

What do all you DIS experts think? Please help!!!!!!

[vicki_c]

Not #3. Since there is no guarantee they will do the 4/3 offer again, I don't think it's wise to wait to book a room.

I would book what you can afford without the 4/3 offer and if they offer it, jump on it right away for something more expensive.

No sense in booking something you know you can't do without a discount, because if they never offer one, you might end up with nowhere to stay.

[julluvsdisney]

I would book what I can afford and stalk the WDW website and DISboards and wait for a discount. From what I hear on the DISboards disney lost a ton of money with the 3/4 deal and most likely will not be bringing it back. This is just a rumor of course but i personally wouldnt count on it and be surprised if it comes out! Good luck though!! No matter what you choose its still disney!!!!

[Deb & Bill]

The buy 4 get 3 more has only come out twice in the last ten years. I wouldn't count on it happening again in the near future unless there are big financial upheavals again. Go with what you can afford and upgrade at a later date if you can.

[DjdBrit]

I would have to agree (even though I am hoping for a deal myself) book what you really want now (or rather what you can afford). If a deal come out lter great you can always rebook. But I would hate to get stuck no having a reservation at all Good luck

[lovesdumbo]

I would go with option 1-book family suite now with AAA. When I stayed in a family suite AAA rate was the best I ever got-even when a friend going with us got a pin code. There weren't any suites available with the pin so I would have had to change to 2 rooms to get her deal.

I've got my fingers crossed for 4/3 but have booked what I can afford for now. I wanted to book a room as I have purchased airfare and feel better about having a room that I can pay for booked before I buy airfare.

[hroyale]

I know it wasn't one of your options, but we're renting points to stay in a 1 br BCV. Makes it much more affordable.

[danceintherain]

I would go ahead and book what you can afford now without any discounts. Chances are some kind of discount will come out for your dates, but there's no guarantee that it will be 4/3, or anything similar.

The ASMu Family Suites sell out quickly all the time, so if you wait until a deal comes out, you might find yourself disappointed.

If the BCV room is out of your price range now, and it tends to go quickly, then chances are you won't be able to apply a discount to it anyways. Usually discounts are only available at select resorts with select views. You may have to settle for something else entirely if you don't book at all.

[CleveRocks]

Originally Posted by sharadoc

Do you think it truly makes a difference if you have a reservation already then try to apply the discount to it?

I agree with the folks who told you to book now, book what you can afford, to make sure you can definitely have what you want for that week.

To directly answer the above question ... having an existing reservation makes absolutely no affect on getting or not getting a room of your choice with any special discount/promo. Someone with a pre-existing reservation has no advantage over someone who has no reservation at all on the day the promo is announced.

Before you can book a promo deal, Disney has to make sure there is availability at the promo rate for the combination of your chosen room category, resort, and dates of travel. They offer the promo deal only if the occupancy rate for that combination is below a certain level (a level of their choosing). In other words, if they already sold enough rooms for that room category/resort/dates, then they will not want to sell the few additional remaining rooms at a discount ... they're already selling well enough on their own, so why offer them cheaper? Know what I mean.

So this is why a guest with an existing reservation has no advantage over a guest with no reservation. Let's say you have a reservation for a BCV 1 br villa. And for the sake of this example, let's say that the Disney executives decide (and we'll NEVER know the actual numbers they use) that once the bookings for a room/category/resort/date reach 85% they will stop offering the promo deal. So let's say that 90% of those rooms are already booked on the day the deal is announced. NO ONE will be able to get the BCV 1br villa at the discounted price, because Disney simply isn't offering that room catgeory at that resort at a discount for those dates, because it's already selling well enough on its own ... they want to discount the rooms that are lagging behind and aren't selling well enough.

With this being said, I'm sure you can understand that if someone with the exact room already reserved has no advantage in getting the discount, then someone with a room at a different resort also has no advantage in getting the discount.

I know this is complicated stuff. If I didn't explain it right, PLEASE post again and I'll try to word it better.

Now go call up and reserve that ASMu family suite!!!

[sharadoc]

Thanks guys. DH and I have been pondering for the past few days. We can afford both, but we generally don't like to "overspend" unless we need to. We've decided that tour groups and cheerleaders will be there at the same time and we'd rather not be at All-Star Music with them. We were there for a couple days last year with all the groups, and although there were no bad experiences, we'd rather stay away from the large group thing.

We've decided to go ahead and do BCV (if there's any AAA left), or 2nd choice BWV. We know we'd like both, so we're not "married" to either. Our family loves both Epcot and DHS, so we really want to try to stay in that area. The one time we stayed in the Yacht Club was our absolute favorite trip.

I think we've become one of those "try a different resort each trip" families, although I suspect that we'll not want to go back to All Star Music after we try a villa. We do really like the family suite and would recommend it in a heartbeat.

I'll let you know how it goes when I call to make the reservation.

To answer hroyale about renting points, I just don't know if I can ever be comfortable with that. It would be a huge savings, but I just don't know if I can make that leap of faith.

Thanks for all your help!!