AP website Hotel section down???

[pycees312]

I have been trying for days to get into the hotel section that displays the hotel availability and ap rates and no luck... anyone else having this issue??

 

[toyota]

Same problem here. I have tried for the last 2 days- "system error, please try again later" message comes up.

 

[dwheatl]

I couldn't get the calendar to come up, but I could get to this page http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/ap/gated/detail?name=AP_AP7Hotel_SpecialOfferPage
that had the AP discount code.
I don't know what date you are looking for, but I booked a couple of weeks ago for New Year's Day through the 4th for a rate of $209 a night at the DL Hotel. That sounded good to me, since even the cheapie places are over $100 that weekend. When I called, the CM didn't see that rate at first, but when I asked about it, he tracked it down.

 

[bumbershoot]

When I called for our reservations, I called the number on the AP page, and the guy basically had me tell him what I saw. Then he agreed. Which was kind of funny, and put all sorts of naughty thoughts in my head...."ah yeah, I saw 26 dollars on the site for that Friday, really I did..."

 

[Krissy Marissy]

When I called for our reservations, I called the number on the AP page, and the guy basically had me tell him what I saw. Then he agreed. Which was kind of funny, and put all sorts of naughty thoughts in my head...."ah yeah, I saw 26 dollars on the site for that Friday, really I did..."

Tell him it said you have won a free stay I wonder why they ask...dont you just need your AP when you arrive and not at booking? Or am I confused?

 

[bumbershoot]

I think maybe their system is confusing or bogs down (if it's anything like disney's websites I can see that!) and they'd rather jump straight to the info, if you have it. That's what I think.

You don't have to have the AP when you book, they don't take the number or anything, so I don't know what it's like if you call and haven't any idea because you can't get into the site, though I assume it'll be the same thing when people try to get in while that part of the site is down!

 

[tink2dw]

If you don't have an AP to get into the AP Site. Go to www.MouseSavers.com and click wdw resorts then click Annual & Seasonal Passholder Resort Hotel Discounts and then you can see the deals with codes to tell the person you call.

 

[Canyon girl]

The hotel availability site has been down for at least a week. I called them last weekend to let them know. I'm not sure what it is saying now, but last weekend it would give "system error" and then send my browser in so many directions that it would basically shut down. The hotel section must have gone the way of the schedule/refurb list!

 

[Vala]

It's been down for a about 10 days. I called them and sent three e-mails too. No response to the e-mails, and during the call I was told they'd "look into the matter."

 

[Sherry E]

It's been down for a about 10 days. I called them and sent three e-mails too. No response to the e-mails, and during the call I was told they'd "look into the matter."

Same problem here. At first I thought it was just my stupid computer with the problem. I must have tried over ten days ago to get into that AP hotel availability calendar to look at some prices for different dates at the various hotels and I got the same 'System Error....please try again later.' When I did try again later, I got the same message. And every time I checked since then it has said the same thing.

Finally, when it came time to switch my GCH reservation to the PPH, I especially wanted to see the AP calendar BEFORE I called DLR Reservations and made the downgrade, because sometimes the rates on the calendar are different than what they give you on the phone for the same dates. Like when I first made my GCH reservation, the AP calendar quoted a higher rate per night for the dates I wanted than what the CM on the phone quoted me as being available, which worked in my favor, but sometimes it can work the opposite way - to one's disadvantage - and the calendar actually shows a lower rate than what the CMs quote you!! I couldn't access the calendar, so I had to just call Reservations and hope they were giving me the lowest price available for PPH. I mentioned to the CM that the AP calendar was down, and she seemed disinterested!

The last time I was able to access the AP calendar, I had been wondering why there still seemed to be so much availability showing on the calendar for next month, at all three hotels (with the exception of New Year's Eve). Maybe they had to take it down to totally revise it and/or re-price some rooms, and then it turned into a bigger undertaking than they had planned.

 

[tracer]

Wow the AP8 rate for PPH is amazing! I hope you are all going before Feb 12 to get it.

 

[Sherry E]

The $139 AP8 rate at the PPH is not available anymore. The CM I spoke to said that it hasn't been available for "a while," but for whatever reason, Disney keeps it up there on the site. The lowest they have available currently, she told me, is $179 per night for the PPH. Still pretty good, though. That is not much higher than what I paid for my off-peak rate at PPH in October.

 

[pycees312]

hmm im wondering now if they took it down since it showed how avail the hotels really were. They would like the rest of the world to think Disney is still doing well and it's not.

 

[bumbershoot]

The $139 AP8 rate at the PPH is not available anymore. The CM I spoke to said that it hasn't been available for "a while,"

hmm im wondering now if they took it down since it showed how avail the hotels really were. They would like the rest of the world to think Disney is still doing well and it's not.

But it doesn't really show that the hotels are super-available. The prices changed often, generally getting higher, which means it was filling up. And plenty of dates weren't available at all.

And they themselves released info that attendance was down a few months ago.

Their site is boggy and overdone and often useless. One of the alumni from my year in college, involved in fund-raising for the university now, recently announced he got a job with online disney, and I keep meaning to go to a local alumni gettogether so I can talk his ear off about how awful the site it. But I can't help but HOPE that they are working on it, since new things keep popping up and it's been working a tiny bit better with my computer and browser, b/c it's so obviously that it's an awful website.

 

[bronko78]

I've been waiting for it to come up too. It was a nice resource while they had it up.

 

[Sherry E]

I should clarify that I saw lots of availability the last time I was able to access the AP calendar section of the website, which was probably over two weeks ago since it has been down for at least that long. I have no idea how much availability they have now. Obviously, they could fix the problem with the calendar and put it back up if they wanted to. I don't think it is a system error. I think it is a choice. They may have had to change the rates for the hotels as certain lower-rate rooms were being booked up, and then just decided not to put the calendar back up!

But yes, there is still some availability for the lower-priced rooms (meaning $179 and up, not $139) for arrival dates as soon as two and three weeks away. Attendance is down and Disney hotel bookings are down while we are in this recession, so it may be down for a while! What I am hoping is that closer to MY arrival date I will be able to call Reservations and they will say, "Guess what? We have some $139 AP8 rooms that just opened up, so you can have one of those instead of the $179 room you are getting!" Yes, I know... wishful thinking. Actually, the $179 rate is pretty amazing by Disney standards for the weekend before Christmas. I never expected to see anything in the $100 range. I expected much higher rates than that for peak holiday season, even with AP8 rates.

 

[Lostgirlz]

It's surprising bookings are down, When we went Halloween week everything was booked solid.

 

[Sherry E]

It's surprising bookings are down, When we went Halloween week everything was booked solid.

October was really chock full o' people! And you are right - the hotels were booked and filled to the brim. I think the reason is because October has traditionally been the off-peak season at DLR and the hotel rates are lower than they are now, and DLR offered lots of promos/discounts and things that attracted people on top of the lower daily rates. December is usually much more expensive at the hotels, so I imagine that because of this bad financial year, people wanted to go to DLR but not pay so much money, so they chose October to go instead, when it's cheaper and they could get discounts. They probably didn't anticipate that there would be good bargains on the December hotel room rates! Now that we are in an 'official' recession (it's not like we didn't know that we were already), it will be interesting to see how DLR handles this. Will they raise their ticket prices again in 2009? Will they offer great hotel rates all year round? Will they offer other kinds of perks like free meals and other stuff?

I also think a lot of people who ARE going to DLR during December are staying off-property to save money and some are even finding alternate dining options rather than doing costly character meals and certain table service restaurants!

 

[DizMe]

When I was there last week (ap rate of $149 at DLH), we were offered a rate of $129 to extend our stay! Couldn't take advantage of it, but I've never seen that offer before. This was Thanksgiving week, too.

 

[Sherry E]

When I was there last week (ap rate of $149 at DLH), we were offered a rate of $129 to extend our stay! Couldn't take advantage of it, but I've never seen that offer before. This was Thanksgiving week, too.

Ooooh, that IS very interesting information, Cheri (for me)! This means they are definitely down in bookings this holiday season. See, last year, when I went in September and stayed at PPH, on the morning of check-out we got the final bill slipped under the door with an offer to extend the stay for one more night at a $99 rate! We couldn't accept the offer and had to leave. That was off-peak season. When I went back in December last year and stayed at GCH, I asked if GCH ever offers an extra night at a highly discounted rate and they said yes, but "never during the holiday season when it is busy." The CM I asked even sort of chuckled at me as if she was thinking I was out of my mind for proposing such a thing. And sure enough, we did not get the offer, although that time we could have accepted it.

So fast forward to this year. I went in October and stayed at PPH. I fully expected to get that 'stay an extra night at a cheap rate' offer again because it was off-season, technically. We did not get it. They must have been booked. And all accounts said that DLR was super-crowded all throughout October, not to mention all the hotel promo discounts floating around.

So now that you mention you were offered an extra night at that low rate in the middle of holiday season, this makes me think they are still far from being booked and need to fill rooms. Of course, it could get busier in the next couple of weeks and the hotels will fill up closer to Christmas, but this contradicts what the CM told me last year about how they never offer that discounted extra night during the holiday season. I think too many people have figured out that they can get much better deals by staying off-site and the DLR hotels will suffer if they keep charging so much. All I know is, this time when I go to DLR in a couple of weeks, if they offer me an extra night at a discounted rate, if I have the money to do it, I will take advantage of it! I'd hate to let a good deal go to waste!