Do you ever truly pay rack rate at Disney

[rcklein5269]

We did this time for the end of August. We did get a free Memory Maker though. Yippee...LOL --Tim

We are going end of August and switched over to the other special with the discounted room and even adding MM we were paying less. Not much but a little bit.

 

[DebbieB]

In 20 years, never. Before DVC, I always had either a % off room discount or some kind of package with a special deal. The rack rates are outrageous, when they give you a % off, that really gets you to what full price really should be. I'm glad I have DVC and am out of the discount hunt.

 

[Sue M]

no!!! Never, ever, ever paid rack rate, nor will I. Mousesavers.com has a chart of historical discounts, dates released, and what dates discounts have been for.

 

[alyssa18o6]

I doubt there will be FD in June, so we're hoping for some kind of RO. I'm looking into AAA discounts as well currently. But if we can't find anything, we will be paying rack rate for our trip next June. It's our honeymoon so I don't mind the splurge. But i've never traveled in my life without some sort of discount :/ Hopefully later down the road when we're more familiar with Disney and we take our future kids i'll be able to find discounts. Cause if not i'm afraid we will never be able to afford to take our family, as this is quite a stretch right now :/

 

[auntie]

Visiting since '91. NEVER have paid full rack rate. Can't bring myself to do it. Much as I LOVE WDW, it's not worth the full rack rate. We always stay on site and usually Deluxe. Always get a code, pin or an AP rate. (back in the day there were even shareholder discounts yep, ..dating myself, but they were awesome!lol!). Without a discount, we don't go.

 

[HotMama]

Yes we did! Our 1st trip in July 2005. We didn't even realize Disney offered promo codes. We were planning a vacation, decided to look at Disney Beach Club Resort, fell in love, and booked. After that vacation, we got hooked and did more research... If only we knew then what we know now! LOL!

 

[dmband]

We paid "rack rate" once. Dec. 2008. It was our first trip, we had never heard of FD, "rack rate" was much cheaper then, and we could afford what it cost and had a great time. Having said that I would not pay the current "rack rate". Our continued trips to WDW hinge on FD or RO.

I do find some people are to hung up on the words "rack rate" and "a good deal". What I'm looking for is a "fair price". If I felt rack rate was a fair price I would have no problem paying it. I don't need a discount off "sticker price" if the sticker price already represent fair market value. Right now I consider a Mod resort with FD for a family of 3 or more to be a "fair price".

Unfortunately for some a "fair price" doesn't always mean they can afford what they want and what the average person can afford doesn't always have a bearing on what a fair price is.

well said
Butttt
I don't feel disneys room rates are anywhere near fair even with a discount. Fr example 8 nights at a mod is costing me $2900 for a family of six, two rooms
We don't use the resorts for anything ther then sleeping, showering, some eating and maybe a dip in the pool
So on average that's $362.50 a night. I can book rooms many other places for much more fair and affordable prices then that, in fact I just booked at hershey park for $249, at Memorial Day in Niagara Falls for $189
Sure those places are not Disney but I am not going to Disney for the hotel either just like I am not going to Niagara Falls or hershey for the hotel.
Now where Disney does have a huge perk IMO is in magical express
The bag pick up and resort checking is huggggge and that's the only reason I feel Disney is worth anywhere near what they charge for a hotel room

 

[Guatemommy]

Right now we have a ressie for mid- Feb as a rack rate since they dont have any other rates out yet. Our dates are set since we are using miles for our flights and DH has cleared the dates on his calendar. I dont expect FD as they havent offered that in Feb since 2012 but still hoping for a RO and will consider SPD. We loved FD in the past but it was a true savings then. I can get park hopper tix for about the same price as no park hopper thru my work so if a RO comes out for Feb I will jump on it. And if not, we are still going anyway! I have some special needs and Disney is good about helping me with that without making me pay a small fortune. ME is so convenient so even if I pay rack rates, it still works out to be a fair deal for me.

 

[wendybeth75]

I don't think we ever had. I think our first onsite trip several years ago was one of those stay and play 7 days for the price of 3 or 4 days. Now we do either AP discounted, RO or FD. We just bought DVC so now we will be on the point system!

 

[mystery222184]

Nope - We've always been able to get between 25% - 45% off on Deluxe stays in summer or winter by using GP, VISA, BounceBack, or AP Discounts. Those resorts are so inflated I'm not sure we would still go otherwise.

 

[vinotinto]

We paid rack rate for 1 out of our 4 nights at YC in Oct 2011. The stay started before the Columbus Day-Fall break dates that seem to always be blocked for all kinds if discounts. The rack rate for that one night, once you factored in the tax was like $480. Ridiculous, really. To add insult to injury, it rained, I mean RAINED for most of the 4 days, so I think we only used SAB for like 1 hour.

The other 3 nights were booked with a 40% off pin, so the average discount was 30%. I could have booked 3 nights, but what was the fun in that?

BTW, 40% off???those were the good old days!