Absolutely Insane prices at Poly, Contemporary!!

[tarak]

We travel in the slow season and either use a discount or rent DVC points. I don't know that I could ever justify rack rate for the one BR suite we'd now need to travel as a family of six (unless we got two connecting rooms). However, the cost of renting a hotel room in NYC for an anniversary trip my husband and I took about eight years ago puts the cost of Disney in perspective. We saw a matinee performance of the Wedding Singer, got dinner, and spent the night in a hotel within walking distance of the theatre. The total for the twenty-four hour trip was about $1000 (this includes the cost of gas, tolls, and parking). The room was nice and clean and safe. It was the size of a shoebox, but it fit the bill for what I wanted (and the hotel had excellent reviews on tripadvisor and a few other sites). Rack rate for one night in a standard CL room at AKL (for the dates of our next trip in mid-August) is less than what I paid for the room in NYC. Where there was no pool and there certainly were no giraffes two hundred feet from the balcony.

For our dates in August, I booked a SV CL room at the Yacht Club for a little over $300 a night (booked it with a 35% bounceback rate).

 

[Anonomom]

This is not directed at you, as I see what you are doing here.

But, our last two stays (and upcoming stay in August) have all been 10 nights club level at deluxe.

We are not rich (we make good money, but are squarely middle class).

We might be a bit frugal in our everyday lives, but not overly....but we don't overextend ourselves either. We have a nice, comfortable house, with a comfortable mortgage. We have comfortable car payments. We definitely live within our means so that we can splurge on what's important -- annual vacations!!! We have zero credit card debt.

What we do have is a great discount (40% off military--but 35% is often available to GP). We also book our vacations as soon as the old one ends, and we start making monthly payments by just working it into our budget. Yes, we always have a Disney payment in our budget line. (I'm still paying off for 2014, but have already started making payments on 2015!) The trip is PIF, in cash, a couple of months before the trip. It's wonderful!!! In 2012, we paid $249/night for WL CL. 2013 was $338/night for YC CL, and this year is $365/night for GF CL!!! Very reasonable IMHO.

I just want to point out that with a good strategy, you can make it work for you if you want it. It just takes planning and commitment to a goal.

Would you mind sharing where/how you booked that GF price? We're staying there this summer for slightly less, but not CL, and I would LOVE to upgrade if possible. Thanks!

 

[Mousemommy1]

Would you mind sharing where/how you booked that GF price? We're staying there this summer for slightly less, but not CL, and I would LOVE to upgrade if possible. Thanks!

It is the military discount at 40%. But, if your dates fall into a 35% off timeframe, you'll be right there!

 

[Suziannie]

I haen't read the whole thread but I have to agree with this.

I would LOVE to stay in a deluxe but at that price, I just can't. I'm always amazed at the amount of trip reports on here from people who spend a week or more in a deluxe.

Having said that...we stayed at Shades of Green for the first time this past Dec and while it's certainly not a deluxe resort being that close to the Magic Kingdom is simply addicting. Imagine driving PAST the parking lot to get to your hotel every night? Or seeing the Monorail zip by as you park your car. We opened the door in our room to look at the pool when we got there and could hear the boat whistle on the lagoon. It's just a wonderful feeling in my opinion.

But not wonderful enough to spend the week in a $600+ a night room in my opinion. I'd just rather double my time at a moderate or value if I had the option.

 

[Suziannie]

We are not rich (we make good money, but are squarely middle class).

We might be a bit frugal in our everyday lives, but not overly....but we don't overextend ourselves either. We have a nice, comfortable house, with a comfortable mortgage. We have comfortable car payments. We definitely live within our means so that we can splurge on what's important -- annual vacations!!! We have zero credit card debt.

What we do have is a great discount (40% off military--but 35% is often available to GP). We also book our vacations as soon as the old one ends, and we start making monthly payments by just working it into our budget. Yes, we always have a Disney payment in our budget line. (I'm still paying off for 2014, but have already started making payments on 2015!) The trip is PIF, in cash, a couple of months before the trip. It's wonderful!!! In 2012, we paid $249/night for WL CL. 2013 was $338/night for YC CL, and this year is $365/night for GF CL!!! Very reasonable IMHO.

I just want to point out that with a good strategy, you can make it work for you if you want it. It just takes planning and commitment to a goal.

I agree with this. We walk away from all of our vacations with nothing but a few souvenirs and lots of memories. We never ever go into debt for a vacation and always pay it off, as well as the spending money, food etc well before we leave the house.

I have a standing "Vacation" budget line item and while the destination and amount changes I never skip it or remove it.

To me it's just as essential to our lives as food or our electricity bill. Family time is worth it!

 

[mommaodie]

I stand corrected. You must forgive my initial scepticism! Now its because of you that I may see you in August. For that rate at the Poly I'll ignore the construction and swim in the fountain instead! Thanks again.

Staying at the Poly-Club level, August 20th!! And I agree, with that price, Ill swim in the fountain too!

 

[larryz]

We might be a bit frugal in our everyday lives, but not overly....but we don't overextend ourselves either. We have a nice, comfortable house, with a comfortable mortgage. We have comfortable car payments. We definitely live within our means so that we can splurge on what's important -- annual vacations!!! We have zero credit card debt.

They say common sense isn't so common, but here's proof that it can still be found in the wild.

 

[Mousemommy1]

They say common sense isn't so common, but here's proof that it can still be found in the wild.

 

[MScott1851]

We go once a year, but always at the cheapest time of the year. I would never book rack rate, ever. DH and I got into a bad, bad habit before my DD was born, we stayed deluxe, concierge, ate like kings. Now the little princess is putting a cramp on our budget (she's 4 now, never mind the sweet baby pictures in my signature) and its suddenly adding another $1000 or more to our trips because we have to house and feed her, and she likes to go in the parks, too.

 

[ixmnrs]

What travel agency?

They who shall not be named!!! As per moderators, although a search through some aug 2014 threads will probably reveal their identity. Pm me if you need or google Disney travel agencies and they will pop up in the search quite quickly. Maybe we should do a pictionary thread?

 

[abc2dis]

They who shall not be named!!! As per moderators, although a search through some aug 2014 threads will probably reveal their identity. Pm me if you need or google Disney travel agencies and they will pop up in the search quite quickly. Maybe we should do a pictionary thread?

I've found the agency. I know you can't get dining plan with those rates. Can anyone speak to any other differences, especially CL. Do you still get IPO access? Able to link ressie for advanced access to fastpass+ scheduling? etc? TIA!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I've found the agency. I know you can't get dining plan with those rates. Can anyone speak to any other differences, especially CL. Do you still get IPO access? Able to link ressie for advanced access to fastpass+ scheduling? etc? TIA!

Yes, everything else is the same!

 

[Andy and Johanna]

Could someone PM me the name of the travel agency, thanks

 

[appleorchard]

Booked the Beach Club for under $200 per night including tax. You just can't beat this. It's less than our 40 percent military discount would be. It's just about what you get rent DVC points for during the week-- they'd be much more than this on the weekend.

 

[msl013]

Could someone PM me the name of the travel agency, thanks

Would like assistance with this also please. Thanks

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I hope everyone who wants this great/amazing/incredible rate gets it!

However I would be very careful. Like the old adage says,

*If it seems to good to be true....it most likely is*
AKK

 

[DeeCeeSW]

I hope everyone who wants this great/amazing/incredible rate gets it!

However I would be very careful. Like the old adage says,

*If it seems to good to be true....it most likely is*
AKK

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I will share how I got an excellent price at the GF last fall. Someone posted here they saw a great rate at the Poly on [a travel website], so I checked it out. That rate was gone, but I watched the site for days and noticed that prices were fluctuating at many of the resorts. They were offering 30% off at the time, plus an additional 10%, for 40% off. One day I noticed the rate at the GF had dropped significantly; I could barely believe my eyes. (And sorry, I cannot remember exact figures right now, but I'm talking significantly lower than usual.) I mentioned it to DH and he told me to book it, but we were already booked elsewhere at a very good rate, so I decided to sleep on it. (GF was never anywhere we wanted to stay.) The next morning I woke up and the low rate was still there, so I booked it. By that afternoon, it was gone. So I was able to get 40% off an already very unusually low rate. I continued to watch it and it never went back down again. As a matter of fact, we stayed an additional night and the best they could offer at the resort for that one night was rack rate, so we trucked it over to the Dolphin instead. (I never thought to barter, but honestly, the resort was at 100% occupancy during our trip and they'd gotten special permission to offer us that one night as it was so I wouldn't have wanted to start bickering over price. We love the Dolphin so it was an easy move, and I got an excellent rate there as well.) Oh, and we were able to do everything ahead of time on MDE even though our trip was booked through [a travel website]. I did get tix through WDW so we wouldn't have ticket hassles with MDE. Anyway, the moral of my story is to keep looking! I would never pay rack rate, either. Anywhere we've stayed I've always managed to track down a good deal. Good luck, everyone! PS we wound up loving the GF and wouldn't hesitate to stay there again if the price was right! Keep your eyes open, guys!

ETA I realized after I posted this may be taboo, so I removed the name of the travel website. If anyone quotes my post, please remove it from there also, thanks.

 

[The V Gang]

I can't find it. Please pm me as well.

 

[carrie1626]

Rack rates are pretty insane for sure, but there is almost always a discount or deal to grab to make them more affordable! Just have to do a little homework.

I don't have the luxury of "doing homework" I have to put vacation in for an entire year the Nov before. So I'm at the luck's draw if a discount comes out when my week of PTO is.

Just saying.............