Budget Board Question

[klawso@att.net]

Hi BB Community,

We're purchasing AP's for the first time, and wanted to get feedback on the room only discounts typically offered in the fall. Do you book now and try to obtain the discount when it becomes available or wait until announced? I've looked at historic discounts and found many resorts with 40% off or more. I've never seen the Contemporary resort for this discount? But it seems like a great deal for Polynesian or WL. Any thoughts/experiences would be appreciated!!

 

[mieuxmew]

Love the annual pass discount on room only reservations! For Disney annual pass holders, Disney reserves only a certain number of rooms for the discount. If you have a reservation at the Contemporary (or other resort) and when you call they no longer have discounts at that resort, you will either have to change your reservation to a different resort that has the discount or pay rack rate for your current reservation (in other words, having a rack rate reservation does not hold a place for a discounted room).

Why don't you reserve a room that you would be ok staying in at rack rate. Once the discounts come out, call and ask to switch your reservation to the one you want at the discounted price?

Seems that Disney doesn't always offer the same discount at the same resort level. Some deluxe resorts will be more heavily discounted than others.

Hope it helps!

 

[danceintherain]

It depends on what you want to do. Since Disney allots discounts based on the rooms available at the time, you may actually be shooting yourself in the foot, so to speak, if you book something now and wait for a discount.

Basically, what you should decide is what is more important to you: getting a good deal or a particular room. Some room categories hardly ever appear at a discount because they are so popular without one.

It has seemed to become common that discounts are more tiered than they used to be. Instead of having an all or nothing 40% off for Deluxe resorts, some of them have been getting 5% etc. In general, I've noticed that people have not been very impressed with the Annual Passholder discounts as of late.

Nobody knows what discounts will be offered and when. The historical discounts are a good indicator that something will be offered, but what that will be and the exact availability won't be known until the discount is actually released. Some people have gotten lucky with excellent discounts. Others are disappointed, because something didn't pan out the way they had hoped.

I agree that you should book what you can afford now, and consider switching later. You won't gain anything by booking your dream room now and hoping that a discount for it is released.