AP Discount Watch and FAQ 2023. 10% - 40% off select nights July 11 - Sept 28; Oct 2 - Dec 25

[Friendlyadvice2]

I don’t know why people keep saying this is new. I literally paid $100 more per night for a CSR room booked on an AP rate over a holiday weekend this past February. The room was booked as soon as AP rates came out in fall of 2018 and never changed.

You are right, this isn’t new. I found this on our last 2 trips so it has been going on since last summer at least. We were there the second week in September. We had an AP rate for a YC club level room for Saturday to Friday. Friday night only showed at rack rate for any YC room when I booked. I was able to get a discounted room for Friday night in a regular room at Beach Club. I continued to look right until our trip & Friday night was never discounted at YC.

We also were just there for Easter, April 20-27. I originally found public & Disney Visa discounts as 3 night & 4 night split stays in YC club & regular rooms. When the AP discounts came out, I was able to get a single stay in a club level room, but Saturday the 20th & Friday the 26th were at rack rate. Late one night I did find a single night discounted AP rate for the 20th. I quick booked it called CRO the next morning asking to drop the full rate Saturday from my existing reservation. The CM contacted guest services who did drop the full rate night from my existing reservation. So I had a single reservation for Saturday at the AP discount & a 6 night reservation with AP discount from Sunday to Thursday & Friday at the full rack rate. I continued to check, but Friday night never showed up with any available discount.

For what it’s worth, the CM who helped me when I called about dropping the Saturday night didn’t initially understand why I wanted to drop the first night. She kept saying, but you have the AP rate on your whole reservation. She eventually looked at each night’s rate & saw that Saturday & Friday were at rack rate. She was quite surprised & said she had never seen that before. I think it’s been going on for awhile, but most people just look at the total cost & don’t pay too much attention to each individual night’s cost.

I think Cakebaker made a great point a few posts ago. You have to be “obsessive” & vigilant to get the best price. The 30% AP rate might not be available for every night of your trip, but the 20% public discount might be. So depending on your individual circumstance, the public discount might indeed be better. Disney always has that limited availability disclaimer. A Thursday to Sunday stay with a 20% discount on every night may indeed be better than an AP rate for the same stay with no discount for Friday & Saturday. Disney has become a Buyer Beware situation.

And you know, it really wasn’t much better 20 years ago. Back then, you had to call & ask for rates. If you didn’t specifically ask if there were any discounts, you would just get quoted full rack rates. The CMs would not offer up any discounts automatically. So even then, the buyer had to be aware & know the secrets to getting the best price. You still do, it’s just different secrets now.

As @cakebaker pointed out early this morning, ALL rooms at ALL resorts are now back to being discounted for ALL days of the promo; the fourth time it has fluctuated entirely this week. This is VERY NEW and has zero to do with availability. It’s simply Disney playing games with the pricing and room inventory as was pointed out earlier in the week.

Again, this is not a specific room category at a specific resort where someone is paying a higher a weekend rate, it’s an across the board change for all weekend rooms/rates. I wonder how many people booked at the higher rates without realizing?

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

And now it's back to same rate for week days and weekends for our resort. No hesitating this time, it's booked, who knows when it will change again!

I’m glad you were on top of this and were able to get your rate!!

 

[cakebaker]

I wonder how many people booked at the higher rates without realizing?

I have friends who booked yesterday morning and since they haven’t purchased their AP’s, are going to have to call this morning and get their reservation adjusted. They had no clue. Hopefully it doesn’t change before they call. Ridiculous to have to jump thru hoops like this.

 

[bookbabe626]

Interesting that some of you have experienced this before. I've been booking AP rates for many years now and always am vigilant about the rates. Not once have I run into a situation where the weekend was rack rate, had rates change for the same time frame or ever found any other discount that was better than the AP. Just lucky I guess! That's why this was so surprising to me.

I've regularly seen a room category I had booked with an AP rate now be offered under that same AP offer at a higher price for the same dates, sometimes up to $100 a night difference at the deluxes. I'm a bit of a room stalker and last minute resort changer, so I'm always looking at the rates and availabilities. For our October trip, I got a great AP deal on a CL cottage room at BW the first day the offer was released, and I watched the rate gradually climb as our trip approached, eventually being listed at about $250 more a night than I'd booked at initially. That was one trip where I didn't do any last minute changes, since we'd gotten such a great deal booking the first day the offer was released.

 

[NoviceMouse]

I’m sure everyone has by now but make sure you have your reservation! I was playing with booking a different room and the pricing changed while I was checking out! I exited and went back and it took a couple of minutes but it went back to the discounted rate. It was significantly more expensive

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

For anyone that cares, weekends are back to being excluded from the AP discount across the board this morning. To sum up the week, Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday showed the weekend discounts for all resorts while the remaining days switched back to rack rates and were not discounted. Again, it appears that all rooms/resorts, not just specific room categories, are affected.

 

[vinotinto]

For anyone that cares, weekends are back to being excluded from the AP discount across the board this morning. To sum up the week, Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday showed the weekend discounts for all resorts while the remaining days switched back to rack rates and were not discounted. Again, it appears that all rooms/resorts, not just specific room categories, are affected.

Yup, crazy!

And like I said earlier, I don't think it's a glitch. They are testing something!

 

[Disneylover99]

For anyone that cares, weekends are back to being excluded from the AP discount across the board this morning. To sum up the week, Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday showed the weekend discounts for all resorts while the remaining days switched back to rack rates and were not discounted. Again, it appears that all rooms/resorts, not just specific room categories, are affected.

I care. Thanks for keeping up with this.

 

[cakebaker]

For anyone that cares, weekends are back to being excluded from the AP discount across the board this morning. To sum up the week, Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday showed the weekend discounts for all resorts while the remaining days switched back to rack rates and were not discounted. Again, it appears that all rooms/resorts, not just specific room categories, are affected.

I noticed it too when I went to make a change in my reservation dates. Luckily I was just dropping a weekend night so didn’t affect the price.

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

Yup, crazy!

And like I said earlier, I don't think it's a glitch. They are testing something!

Yea, I have no doubts. At the beginning of the week, I didn’t know what to think, but the drastic fluctuation is just too odd.

I just don’t want unsuspecting people to book without realizing what’s going on. Some of those room categories can really make a big difference in price for a week long stay.

 

[focusondisney]

Have any of you emailed guest services about this? It would be interesting to see what they say.

 

[cakebaker]

Have any of you emailed guest services about this? It would be interesting to see what they say.

Yes. I got a canned response that didn’t even address my question. “Availability is limited. It’s possible your selection was no longer available”. My question was, why is the AP rate bouncing back and forth between being a discounted rate on the weekends, to no discount at all, then back to being the same discounted rate as the weekdays.

I emailed a second time and got another canned response...”Rates are subject to change at any time.” At that point, I gave up. lol Right now, I’m seeing a discounted weekend rate on some resorts that is higher than weekdays, but not rack rate. At least that’s a new twist.

 

[mressler12]

Does anyone know if a certain block of rooms is reserved for AP holders? Pop is showing booked up for our dates but it is September so wasn't sure if I could jump on it once September AP discount comes out.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Does anyone know if a certain block of rooms is reserved for AP holders? Pop is showing booked up for our dates but it is September so wasn't sure if I could jump on it once September AP discount comes out.

If it’s sold out at rack rate, then there won’t be an AP rate. It probably sold out one or more of your nights when the sun & fun promo was available earlier in the year.

 

[mressler12]

I didnt even think about how it could be one night sold out that could throw off the whole booking. Suppose it might be a split stay trip. Thanks!

 

[vinotinto]

For anyone following along the "AP-weekend-rates-at-rack-rate-saga" weekends are at rack rate today.

 

[cakebaker]

For anyone following along the "AP-weekend-rates-at-rack-rate-saga" weekends are at rack rate today.

Have been since yesterday morning. Unless you book a weekend, then this happens...

 

[SarahC97]

Can someone please look at 8/3-8/5 AP discount at mods and deluxe? Two adults. Thanks, sorry to be a pain.

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

For anyone following along the "AP-weekend-rates-at-rack-rate-saga" weekends are at rack rate today.

Yes, Sunday was discounted, but yesterday and today are not as you guys pointed out.

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

Have been since yesterday morning. Unless you book a weekend, then this happens...

I haven’t seen that! So I’m clear, if just booking weekend, it’s offering you Saturday at a discounted rate, but puts Sunday to full price? And if booking the whole week, Saturday is rack rate but Sunday is discounted?