Cheapest way to stay at a Moderate?

[KSR0330]

I've been reading everything I can find about ways to save money when booking a Moderate. There are so many routes that people take: TA, Orbitz, renting DVC points, waiting for Disney Discounts, etc.
In your experiences, what's the best way to go? I will be planning a March (Easter week)2016 trip. There are so many options and I want to make sure I get the lowest rate that I can! Thanks!

 

[dansdad]

Research, research and research.

There is no single sure fire way other than exploring all the options.

 

[dis_guy]

I will be planning a March (Easter week)2016 trip.

Easter is a popular time to go to WDW so prices are among the highest of the year. Christmas is the most expensive time to go. Traditionally, Disney doesn't have any discount offers for peak times but this year's spring offer did include Easter Week. When I was playing with the web site, I found that a week over Easter with the spring offer applied, netted a price about the same as a non discounted stay in early November. The good thing is that you're thinking about it now so your chances of getting the best deal for your trip is excellent.

 

[smiths02]

If Disney offers discount, I think the cheapest way is to go through ebates (to get cashback), then Orbitz if you have some kind of Orbitz code because Orbitz rates will reflect that discount (and use a credit card with rewards).

 

[dmunsil]

I've been reading everything I can find about ways to save money when booking a Moderate. There are so many routes that people take: TA, Orbitz, renting DVC points, waiting for Disney Discounts, etc.
In your experiences, what's the best way to go? I will be planning a March (Easter week)2016 trip. There are so many options and I want to make sure I get the lowest rate that I can! Thanks!

The advice given by others to research is absolutely sound.

The cheapest way to stay in a Value or Moderate Disney resort is almost always to book room-only with a Disney percent-off discount, plus any stackable discounts you can get. Currently Orbitz/Cheaptickets have been running the best stackable discounts. By next year, that could change. The same basic advice applies to Deluxe resorts, but you should first look at the Deluxe Villa (DVC) resorts because you often get almost identical rooms and benefits for less money via renting DVC points. Well, the cheapest over the long term is to buy into DVC, but that's a much larger commitment and isn't particularly cheap in terms of up front costs.

Renting DVC points to stay in Studios is a great savings, but be aware that there are some differences with staying on a cash reservation. DVC Studios don't usually have two beds; they have a Queen bed and a Full pull-out sofa (and a pull-out or pull-down single bed in some units). You also don't get daily housekeeping when staying on points. And typically the cancellation policy when renting points is very inflexible. Getting third-party trip cancellation insurance is a good idea.

Booking with a TA is not primarily about savings, it's about getting superior service, though many people do save money with a TA via the TA finding them deals they didn't know about, or using various booking tricks to get equivalent accommodations which cost the client less. It's more about knowing the system and being able to work the angles. People who know Disney inside and out may pooh-pooh these kinds of advantages, but TAs can really do amazing things sometimes, like find ways to book a room with a discount that's showing as having no discounted rooms available. Knowledge is power, and a great TA has a lot of knowledge. If you're a "go it alone" kind of person, though, a TA might not be the right choice.

 

[canadiandisneynut]

Would you be willing to explain the Orbitz Cheaptickets route?

 

[KSR0330]

Thanks to everyone for the great information!

So I can book my room now, and wait to see if Disney offers a discount during that time and on the resort I picked. If Disney doesn't offer a discount, I can book with Orbitz (using Mousesavers code for a discount) and then cancel my previous reservation, correct? Dmunsil, can you explain what the Orbitz stackable discount is?

 

[cindy17]

I'm just learning about this myself. But I think I got it! Go to Mousesavers.com. In search, type in Orbitz. It will direct you to detailed info on how to "stack" discounts (Disney percentage off plus whatever percentage Orbitz is giving at that time). In a nutshell, this is for Room Only discount (as opposed to packages). In my case, we are going August 2015. I am waiting for Disney to come out with their summer room only offers, should be by end of March. Then I will open up an Ebates "shopping trip" (join Ebates, if you haven't already). Go to Orbitz. Find the resort I want, then when it's time to check out, apply the Orbitz promo code (in my case Orbitz has a current coupon code "REVIEW15" which is good for extra 15% off through travel 9/30/15. Hope that helps!

Thanks to everyone for the great information!

So I can book my room now, and wait to see if Disney offers a discount during that time and on the resort I picked. If Disney doesn't offer a discount, I can book with Orbitz (using Mousesavers code for a discount) and then cancel my previous reservation, correct? Dmunsil, can you explain what the Orbitz stackable discount is?

 

[cindy17]

I'm just learning about this myself. But I think I got it! Go to Mousesavers.com. In search, type in Orbitz. It will direct you to detailed info on how to "stack" discounts (Disney percentage off plus whatever percentage Orbitz is giving at that time). In a nutshell, this is for Room Only discount (as opposed to packages). In my case, we are going August 2015. I am waiting for Disney to come out with their summer room only offers, should be by end of March. Then I will open up an Ebates "shopping trip" (join Ebates, if you haven't already). Go to Orbitz. Find the resort I want, then when it's time to check out, apply the Orbitz promo code (in my case Orbitz has a current coupon code "REVIEW15" which is good for extra 15% off through travel 9/30/15. Hope that helps!

Oh I really didn't explain the Ebates portion. There are often Orbitz offers on Ebates, a small percentage that you will get back in Cash from Ebates. Usually 1-3%, small but better than nothing. However last year, there was a very brief time where they were offering 10%! I got $216 cash back on a Disneyland ressie that I made.

 

[KSR0330]

Okay, so if I book through Orbitz at the same time WDW is offering a discount, I will get the discounted rate that WDW is offering plus can add the Mousesavers code for an extra 15% off through Orbitz. Then if going though Ebates, I also get a cash back percentage. Is that right?

 

[cindy17]

Okay, so if I book through Orbitz at the same time WDW is offering a discount, I will get the discounted rate that WDW is offering plus can add the Mousesavers code for an extra 15% off through Orbitz. Then if going though Ebates, I also get a cash back percentage. Is that right?

Yes, that is correct, for this coming up promotion season. The discounts for 2016 May be different. But this process is correct. Percentages change throughout the year. Hv fun planning!

 

[KSR0330]

Yes, that is correct, for this coming up promotion season. The discounts for 2016 May be different. But this process is correct. Percentages change throughout the year. Hv fun planning!

Thanks so much!

 

[tstottle]

Keep your eye on Orbitz and Cheaptickets, because they can offer higher discounts than the Mousesavers 15%. This is spelled out on the Mousesavers site. Currently Cheaptickets is offering 18% off. You would want to do the math to see if that works better than Orbitz (currently 15%) plus Ebates.

The only other thing I would add is that (I think) Orbitz and Cheaptickets get blocks of rooms to resell, so it is possible that you could search on Disney site and find what you are wanting, then Orbitz or Cheaptickets wouldn't have it. Just something to think about.

 

[dmunsil]

Currently Cheaptickets is offering 18% off.

The Disney hotels are not eligible for the Cheaptickets 18% off code.

 

[tstottle]

I noticed that...yet several posters mention that you can stack Cheaptickets/Orbitz discounts on top of Disney discounts (when there are Disney discounts out for your dates). Does this mean that Cheaptickets never has Disney hotels, or that it is just the current 18% that excludes Disney? Thanks!

 

[tstottle]

OK I am answering my own question: I found a Mousesavers code valid for Disney hotels 15% off, that works through Orbitz. However their rack rate is a little higher for my dates and hotel so it only works out to a few dollars less than on the Disney site. I still would be curious to know if Cheaptickets ever has Disney rooms though...

 

[dmunsil]

OK I am answering my own question: I found a Mousesavers code valid for Disney hotels 15% off, that works through Orbitz. However their rack rate is a little higher for my dates and hotel so it only works out to a few dollars less than on the Disney site. I still would be curious to know if Cheaptickets ever has Disney rooms though...

It appears that Orbitz will sometimes show no discounted room available when Disney shows a discounted room available, and sometimes vice-versa, probably because their databases are slightly out of sync, or perhaps because they have blocks of rooms that are separate from Disney's. That doesn't happen super often in my experience; broadly speaking, the base rates you see on Orbitz/Cheaptickets should be the same as what you see with Disney's current room-only discount (if any) applied, assuming there are any rooms left at the discount rate. Then their coupon code stacks on top of that.

Cheaptickets does have codes that work with the WDW hotels. MouseSavers always lists the current best code that works with the WDW hotels on the WDW Hotel Discounts page, the current best code that works with the Disneyland hotels on the Disneyland hotels page and the current best code that works with the Universal Orlando hotels on the Universal Orlando page. Right now the best Cheaptickets code that works with WDW hotels is 10% off, which is kind of moot since there's a 15% off code available for Orbitz. For Universal on-site hotels, OTOH, you can use the Cheaptickets 18% off code, which makes the 15% off Orbitz code moot.

 

[tstottle]

Thanks; appreciate it, think I have it all straightened out!

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

For our family, the best deal BY FAR is still Free Dining!!! I know many people will argue against it. But for our family--Me, DH, DS14, DS12--it can't come close to being beat by any of these discounts.

I look at it this way. For argument's sake, on average, a moderate hotel room is, let's say $200 a night depending on season. Sometimes higher, sometimes lower. But that's a nice round number.

Now, let's say you get a room only discount for a total of 35%--which is a lot for a moderate, but maybe with all the finagling with third-parties it could be done. That means you're saving $70 a day. Could you feed my family of four at Disney for $70 a day???? Not if you've seen my 14-year-old eat! Even with a small ticket discount, it's still not going to add up to that much. Even if you saved $100 a day, it would be hard to feed a whole family for that.

When we go with Free Dining, we get to enjoy a nice TS meal every day. And we share QS and snacks throughout the week, so end up paying next to nothing OOP for food. So, yes, I'm paying rack rate for my room, but when you add the TOTAL expense, we come out way ahead of any the deals discussed here so far.

 

[tstottle]

Sounds good, but all depend on the dates! (We're summer travelers so won't ever be getting free dining that I know of.) Good point though!