Are we getting close???

[aprilp]

I agree I wouldn't mind paying rack rate if the prices were reasonable. I think the deluxe resorts are least $100.00 a night too much. I wouldn't have a problem paying 350.00-400.00 a night to stay on the monorail. Disney should get a premium for those resorts. I don't expect to pay $200.00 a night, but don't think its worth the $500-600 their asking. Universal has realistic prices. Their rooms start between $200-300 a night. Why can't disney. Universals resorts are on par with disney deluxes if not better. I really hate the whole discount game. I just want to book at a fair price and not worry about waiting for a discount.

Universal has realistic prices? I guess its all in how you look at it. To be able to go to disney, I have to stay in the value resorts, or if a good deal comes up, maybe the moderates, depending on how many people(friends or family) will be sharing the room with me. So that means I can afford from $89 a night (if two people total) to $149 a night (if three or four people total) for 4 or 5 nights. That being said, $200-$300 a night is not realistic for me and I will probably never be able to stay at a Universal resort. I wish they had values that started at $89 like disney does, but since they dont, the night before we do Universal we just end up having to stay at a cheap hotel nearby. But I can see your point if you only do deluxe at disney. You lucky duck(or would that be mouse)!

P.S. I have still not booked my December vacation...I too am waiting to see what will be offered; I would happily take 30% off or free dining, but we'll see. Fingers crossed!!

 

[sjs314]

IMHO I think we will see some kind of FD or maybe discounted Dining forthcoming for the end of the year. It seems to me that there is a lot of openings at the restaurants as I changed resorts and found the need to then tweek many of my ADRs with little or no problems at all. I think Disney will offer something since FD serves 2 purposes fills rooms at rack rate and fills restaurants.

I mentioned discounted Dining and I have been thinking with Disney testing out various new options of discounting perhaps we will see something such as a 40% off Dining Plans? If they truely want to get away from offering FD.

 

[havoc315]

I mentioned discounted Dining and I have been thinking with Disney testing out various new options of discounting perhaps we will see something such as a 40% off Dining Plans? If they truely want to get away from offering FD.

I really hope that's not what they do. Basically, that would make the dining plans fairly priced, as opposed to overpriced.

I suspect that free dining will just cover shorter periods, with more restrictions and extra costs (like the photobook). Maybe free dining will only be offered to Mon-Thursday arrivals, for example. With required stays of 5 nights, plus purchase of photobooks.

Or instead of free dining, we will see room offers without exact percentages attached, much like the current September room rate (get rooms starting at only $xxx).

Or smaller discounts that only apply if you get resort + dining + tickets. (15% off, if you purchase all 3!).

 

[chrisw127]

Interesting.
Assuming that the "Manager" you spoke with is correct -- That the "first" set of discounts will be the best, then you should take some comfort is knowing that no real discounts for fall have been announced yet. So the "best" set may very well be the first set, which is yet to come.

As to what CMs do or don't know.... I suspect they get a day or 2 notice. Basically, they have to be the first to know that new codes are going into use. Supervisors might get a bit more notice, as they might have to adjust staff if a big new flow of calls is expected. I doubt anybody gets tons of specific notice -- As I doubt Disney decides specifically on a discount, until shortly before issuing the discount. Since they base on the discount on the current status of bookings, etc... They need to base their decision in the moment.
When CMs give information, I'm sure some of them are just basing it on past history (Expect 2012 discounts announced in the fall). Some may be repeating rumors they have heard themselves, and some may even know something.

I tend to ignore rumors about generalized statements made by CMs. But when someone reports learning something specific from a CM, I take notice. (For example.... right before the current batch of PINs, someone posted a CM saying that 400,000 PINs were about to go into the mail... sure enough, reports of new pins flowed over the next few days).

Though I was hoping new discounts would be announced right after July 4th.... There has been total silence in terms of strong rumors... I'm starting to suspect we won't see anything next week.

This is what I'm thinking too. And I am holding onto FD coming out for Oct - Dec. I am already booked for my trip on rented DVC points, but I have clients who may very well cancel or at least change their resort if FD doesn't come out.

 

[LaurieN]

IMHO I think we will see some kind of FD or maybe discounted Dining forthcoming for the end of the year. It seems to me that there is a lot of openings at the restaurants as I changed resorts and found the need to then tweek many of my ADRs with little or no problems at all. I think Disney will offer something since FD serves 2 purposes fills rooms at rack rate and fills restaurants.

I mentioned discounted Dining and I have been thinking with Disney testing out various new options of discounting perhaps we will see something such as a 40% off Dining Plans? If they truely want to get away from offering FD.

I also think the will offer something for the fall, Free dining or a room only discount based on the availability at different restaurants. I am booked for late Nov (at rack rate) and was moving around some ADR's, I found a lot of openings at places I thought would be full at this point (Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace and Cind. Royal table all had decent times open).

As I said I am booked without a discount because we plan on going discount or no discount. I also didn't want to chance waiting and BC being full for the type of room we wanted (DH doesn't want to stay anywhere else). Hopefully something will come our way but I'm not banking on it, I haven't gotten a pin code since last years "monster pin" and our trips starts on Thanksgiving day, so unless there is a room only discount that I can apply to part of my trip I'm sure we are out of luck.
Laurie

 

[smitch425]

Has anyone else tried going to disneyrewards.com today??? I can't get the site to come up. Praying that they are putting an October offer on there, but who knows? LOL!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Universal has realistic prices? I guess its all in how you look at it. To be able to go to disney, I have to stay in the value resorts, or if a good deal comes up, maybe the moderates, depending on how many people(friends or family) will be sharing the room with me. So that means I can afford from $89 a night (if two people total) to $149 a night (if three or four people total) for 4 or 5 nights. That being said, $200-$300 a night is not realistic for me and I will probably never be able to stay at a Universal resort. I wish they had values that started at $89 like disney does, but since they dont, the night before we do Universal we just end up having to stay at a cheap hotel nearby. But I can see your point if you only do deluxe at disney. You lucky duck(or would that be mouse)!

P.S. I have still not booked my December vacation...I too am waiting to see what will be offered; I would happily take 30% off or free dining, but we'll see. Fingers crossed!!

Universal's resorts are DELUXE resorts, so comparing them to a value resort is not an apples to apples comparison.

 

[SarahD]

Has anyone else tried going to disneyrewards.com today??? I can't get the site to come up. Praying that they are putting an October offer on there, but who knows? LOL!

Can't get in either...

 

[iteach7th]

Universal's resorts are DELUXE resorts, so comparing them to a value resort is not an apples to apples comparison.

I know this is not a Universal thread but I have to comment to say - I agree completely, even the lower level of their three resorts is much nicer than most of the deluxe resorts at WDW. In addition, when you stay at a Universal resort your room key acts as an unlimited fast pass. It is called a "front of the line" pass and you just show your room key to the attendant and enter from a different line just like the fast pass system works. Nothing to swipe, no extra cost, no time limits between rides etc... pretty cool! When we make our next trip to Universal - I plan on budgeting in at least two nights at one of their resorts just for that perk. Also, the 5 minute walk from resort to both parks is another reason to stay at their resort. Very much worth the extra $$.

Universal commercial over - WDW is my love and if we don't get a good code for October, our trip won't happen. I need free dining !! That will be our biggest money saver since 4 of the 5 of us are now "adults" in Disney's eyes. Everything so far that has come out has had our weeks blacked out. If something doesn't happen within the next two weeks, I may be looking at pricing out 4-5 days in the Universal world instead of 8 days at WDW.

 

[mom2rtk]

Starting to get grumpy! :

I'm starting to get sleepy.

Is anyone happy or bashful?

 

[smitch425]

Can't get in either...

no new offers. I guess I'll be continuing to wait (cough,cough, obsess,cough) for the fall discounts to come out.

 

[Downey Family]

I got in, nothing new here.

 

[judaloo]

Hopefully something will come up and all of our obsessing will pay off. Seriously, I need to be able to tell my husband "I told ya so" about the amount of time I've been spending here on the DIS paying off! lol!

 

[disneychic2]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that an offer will come out next week....hey, we can only hope, right? I'm checking here multiple times a day as well as Googling and checking the "special offers" on the WDW website. I've never received a PIN and don't expect to now...but it would be nice.

Just wanted to let you know that I received a pin a couple of years ago and was never notified. When I called to check something else, they told me I had a pin attached to my name. I didn't know what a pin was! As it was, the pin was for 30% off our (mod) room and we already had free dining, so we just kept the dining. But, it wouldn't hurt to ask when you call...you just may have one. Good luck! (and hoping for free dining for Oct/Nov!)

 

[summerlady]

I'm starting to get sleepy.

Is anyone happy or bashful?

No, but I'm feeling kinda dopey today.

 

[FigmentChick]

Just wanted to let you know that I received a pin a couple of years ago and was never notified. When I called to check something else, they told me I had a pin attached to my name. I didn't know what a pin was! As it was, the pin was for 30% off our (mod) room and we already had free dining, so we just kept the dining. But, it wouldn't hurt to ask when you call...you just may have one. Good luck! (and hoping for free dining for Oct/Nov!)

I did call on Thursday, but nada for me and mine. Oh, well.....

I appreciate the good vibes for free dining....I would like it so bad at this point, but it won't be the end of the world if we don't get it (less of a schedule we'll be tied to, that's for sure). I was just really hoping to eat at some interesting places this trip. I have Teppan Edo scheduled and the San Angel Inn. BUT....I'm not going to get totally upset if they don't offer free dining. I am an accountant by trade, so I know all about the bottom line and profit margin. You can't always offer discounts, especially if you aren't filling up the rooms as it is.

That being said....Disney must be doing well if they have already started on the Art of Animation buildings (where I am hoping to stay next time) and have begun renovations on POR (too bad it's too late for us.....a queen wouldn've been nice! lol).

 

[mommy*RN]

I was just looking at the Disney Rewards website, and noticed their current free dining offer ends on 8/27 and the free dining starts on 8/28. The Disney website is the same way. I always remembered old offers expiring, waiting a week or so and then the new offers starting up. Has this changed?? I really just want to see what is happening for October so I can start planning either my WDW vacation OR my random FL beach vacation. No discount = no Disney for us. Sorry, but I can't pay rack rates.

 

[saskdw]

For me its not about not paying "rack rate". The problem is the rack rate is waay to overpriced compared to comparable resorts. I just want a fair price. It doesn't matter whether its rack rate or not. Disney has choesen to over price their resorts, so the reality is with the current economy they will probably have to discount to fill them. We can only go at Christmas time and its really hard to justify paying $250-$300 for a Mod or $400-$600 for a Deluxe resort When I can book the Bonnet Creek Hilton for $123 a night. Which is on DW property right next to CBR and is probably a nicer hotel than any of the DW deluxe resorts. It doesn't have a Disney feel or some of the perks which I would pay a "little" extra for, but the rack rate is just ridiculous.

 

[mom2rtk]

For me its not about not paying "rack rate". The problem is the rack rate is waay to overpriced compared to comparable resorts. I just want a fair price. It doesn't matter whether its rack rate or not. Disney has choesen to over price their resorts, so the reality is with the current economy they will probably have to discount to fill them. We can only go at Christmas time and its really hard to justify paying $250-$300 for a Mod or $400-$600 for a Deluxe resort When I can book the Bonnet Creek Hilton for $123 a night. Which is on DW property right next to CBR and is probably a nicer hotel than any of the DW deluxe resorts. It doesn't have a Disney feel or some of the perks which I would pay a "little" extra for, but the rack rate is just ridiculous.

I agree. I believe those rack rates are set up to accommodate the discounts they always offer..... but in the back of their beady little brains is a desire to somehow "wean" us off of said disocunts.

I do think the offsite hotels will be the beneficiary if Disney starts offering fewer discounts. I also don't think Disney would put up with low resort occupancy for long. I just hope they don't decide to make this December their "trial period" for such a plan!

 

[FigmentChick]

I agree. I believe those rack rates are set up to accommodate the discounts they always offer..... but in the back of their beady little brains is a desire to somehow "wean" us off of said disocunts.

I do think the offsite hotels will be the beneficiary if Disney starts offering fewer discounts. I also don't think Disney would put up with low resort occupancy for long. I just hope they don't decide to make this December their "trial period" for such a plan!

Or the rental homes. That's what my family did in 2006 and 2007, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. When we weren't at the parks, we had our own heated pool, plenty of snacks in the kitchen, and each one of us had a TV we could call our own (nice after a day at the parks that I could watch the news and hubby could watch ESPN).

And if we don't get a discount or free dining in October? I plan to get right online and book a house in Davenport, FL. We loved being there....it wasn't too far from the property at all and there were two Publix and a WalMart on our way "home". We don't cook while on vacation (much....putting a pizza in the oven isn't cooking, is it? lol), so we snack a lot and whenever we're hungry (which, in the FL heat, isn't too often).

I do like being on-site and how close everything is, but it won't be the end of the world if I have to go off site. I can rent a house with the pool heat included for $100 a night....can't get that on Disney property (oh....and I have plenty of bathrooms as well as a washer and dryer).