Discounts at resorts

[off to neverland]

The 3 Resorts/10 days thread got me wondering....

What exactly are these cash discounts everyone keeps mentioning? Are they Annual Pass discounts, and if so, at which resorts, or member discounts, again, which resorts?

Which discounts have you all found to be the best?

And you keep mentioning concierge level. What exactly is that, and isn't it very expensive to spend cash for that?

 

[Chuck S]

DVC members can get a 25% cash discount off the rack rate at DVC resorts on cash nights. The discount is subject to availablility, as they are rooms from member point inventory. Rooms must be booked through MS.

There is no DVC discount at regular Disney resorts, so those would need to be booked either with an AP discount or a promo (postcard-type) discount.

 

[off to neverland]

So are the Annual Pass discounts pretty standard, and if so, what are they?

And if you are paying cash for dvc rooms that are available, how far in advance can you reserve these?

Thanks for the info.

 

[Chuck S]

AP Discounts vary seasonally, they often in the 35%-40% range, but are very limited in availability and are usually not available more than 3 to 4 months prior to travel dates, sometimes less of a window than that.

As far as 'when' MS makes DVC cash discounts available, I don't know...I've heard of people being able to book it quite a long time prior to arrival...so I guess they use seasonal trends, since DVC has been around about 14 years they probably have established a fairly consistent demand pattern to estimate availability.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by raewhid
So are the Annual Pass discounts pretty standard, and if so, what are they?

All discounts, including AP are limited and not always available. They've been running 30 - 40% off rack rate when availasble.

And if you are paying cash for dvc rooms that are available, how far in advance can you reserve these?

Thanks for the info.

It varies. Occasionally we hear of members being able to book them 11 months in advance, but I believe that to be the exception rather than the rule. Most member discounts are released much closer to arrival. MS apparently has some historical data/formulas that tell them when allof the rooms in the member inventory are likely NOT going to be reserved for points. Only if MS believes the rooms will go unused for points, can MS give a cash discount.

Note that the member must be staying in the cash discounted room and also that you have to ask for the membr cash discount - there is no formal "announcement" that rooms have become available for the discount.


Best wishes-

 

[off to neverland]

Thanks for the great info.

So, to figure out what 25% off rack rates are, when I look at the price chart of say, Beach club, on the Disney website what rooms would my suite be considered? I see standard, deluxe, and then concierge with standard, etc.

And, again, what is concierge?

Sorry for all the questions; I'm just trying to figure out if it would be better for us to pay for our rooms over the weekend.

 

[off to neverland]

Oops, never mind that last question. I see you can get the rates for studio under "home away from home" resorts. I was looking at "deluxe resorts.

 

[Chuck S]

Beach Club standard, deluxe and concierge rooms are NOT available for the 25% DVC member discount. The discount is for DVC Villa rooms ONLY.

You could use the AP discount for regular Beach Club rooms, if the discount is available.

==Oops we posted at the same time==

Concierge Rooms are often small suite type rooms, there is a conceirge that normally will prepare some sort of contental breakfast, answer any Disney related questions, handle any problems, and will contact you prior to your arrival date to see what you "expect" from your vacation...they will make suggestions for PSs and can often obtain PSs for you for hard to get seatings, like Cindy's Breakfast. Sort of like a valet or butler that you "share" with the other concierge level guests.

 

[off to neverland]

So next comes the question: where do you find out the annual pass discounts? Is there a website?

 

[RobDoc]

You can get some great information about WDW room discounts on the <a href="http://130.94.75.33/forumdisplay.php?forumid=12">Resorts Board</a> and/or the <a href="http://130.94.75.33/forumdisplay.php?forumid=22">Budget Board</a> right here on the DIS. Further discussion about discounts at non-DVC resorts would be best continued on these forums.

Rate and discount information is also updated regularly on the DIS at:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/discounts.html

Enjoy!