Does anyone actually pay rack rate for deluxe resorts?

[agame2323]

I travel a lot and have stayed in some very expensive hotels but Disney's rates seem outrageous. We have never stayed onsite but I was looking into the possibility of doing so for F&W. The cheapest room at the Beach Club was $490 a night!

Now, I can afford it but just can't seem to justify spending that much. Am I missing something? Its not the Four Seasons (or something simular) so I'm trying to figure out why someone would pay that much for a hotel room.

 

[Sue M]

No, I never stay deluxe without a decent (35%) discount. I agree, rates are insane.
If I can't get a good rate with a deluxe, I'll stay at a moderate.
There's also Swan & Dolphin if you want to stay in the Epcot area for F&W.

On mousesavers.com you can find their chart with Historical Discounts (use their search option) and you can see for your dates if WDW has put discounts out in the past, what kind, and when they were released.

I love staying on site, we stayed off site our first trip, and it's a big difference for us staying on site.

 

[cwt580]

convienence and just the feel.......disney transpo and a few extra perks.


We stay at mods and deluxes and sometimes get stuck paying the rack rate. It is what it is.....Disney will keep jacking the prices till they cant fill rooms...

Being a worldwide destination, they dont have a lot of problems filling resorts.


We are going 1 more time and thats the end of our WDW trips. we want to explore other parts of the country................and for the price we spend at WDW, we could have an awesome time just about anywhere. Our kids mean more to us than the money spent to make magical memories.

 

[vicki_c]

convienence and just the feel.......disney transpo and a few extra perks.

We stay at mods and deluxes and sometimes get stuck paying the rack rate. It is what it is.....Disney will keep jacking the prices till they cant fill rooms...

Being a worldwide destination, they dont have a lot of problems filling resorts.

We are going 1 more time and thats the end of our WDW trips. we want to explore other parts of the country................and for the price we spend at WDW, we could have an awesome time just about anywhere. Our kids mean more to us than the money spent to make magical memories.

I have paid rack rate before. I'd rather not, but have since I don't always plan my trips around discount times.

But I don't understand why you have to add that part about your kids. Of course, I don't think anyone would say the opposite, so I not sure what that is supposed to mean?

 

[tinkbyday]

No, I've never paid rack rate - even during our Thanksgiving week trip we were able to use AAA for the nights that I couldn't use the pin code I received.

I agree though - even with a discount, rates are pretty high - we stayed at the Ritz in DC and paid less!

 

[cwt580]

what i meant about the kids is that the enjoyment on their faces is worth any price i have to pay..... we can only go when we can go. I like discounts but i dont let it dictate "if" we can go to wdw.....My kids are grown up(25 and 20) now so the stays are about just a break from reallife to enjoy maybe a vacation with my kids cause i know someday they wont be making these trips with us.. when we are at wdw we tend to forget about everything else that tends to stress us..


I do agree that deluxes are way overpriced. But i havent ever seen them come down... but they do seem to go up just a bit everyyear. Yes disney does a pretty good job of making your stays enjoyable and to some the price is something you must endure to stay where you think is the most fun for your vacation.

I will say the deluxes have just a little something special about them.....$500 a night?? im not sure that special....Disney must think so.

 

[Infamousmare]

I will tell you first that we always stay in the deluxe villas (that washer/dryer and kitchen are priceless when traveling with little ones) and second that I abso-freaking-lutely never pay rack rate. I went in September '10 with free dining (party of 9 = more savings on dining than room at that time), November '11 on a room-only code and am going back this September on a 35% bounceback offer.

Now, if there is free dining (I Disney restaurants!), I always have the CMs calculate whether it's cheaper to use the room code or free dining for the people in my party and I go from there.

 

[vicki_c]

what i meant about the kids is that the enjoyment on their faces is worth any price i have to pay..... we can only go when we can go. I like discounts but i dont let it dictate "if" we can go to wdw.....My kids are grown up(25 and 20) now so the stays are about just a break from reallife to enjoy maybe a vacation with my kids cause i know someday they wont be making these trips with us.. when we are at wdw we tend to forget about everything else that tends to stress us..

I understand now - I read it differently - too many threads on the DIS questioning people's parenting have warped my brain! And I generally agree, as my kids are getting older (middle school) we don't have the luxury of going in the cheaper seasons at this time. I wish they were better students so we could pull them out, but apparently they didn't get that memo!

 

[KatieKat]

I will stay at a deluxe resort, but only if we get a discount (at least 30%) off. If not, it's a value or a mod.

 

[iloveeeyore]

The closest we ever got to paying rack rate was spring break 2008, when the best discount we could find was AAA 15% off the room at WL. That hurt a bit, but it was the only time we could travel that year and there were no other meaningful discounts. Last year we technically paid rack rate for our room at CSR (moderate), but it came with free dining for 4 "adults," so we actually saved a lot. We like to stay at deluxes, but with the free dining discount, we didn't want to pay the rack rate for the room at a deluxe, even with the free dining. We ended up having a great time at CSR! This year we got a good room discount at the Poly, so we can''t wait to go back! (And no, I don't think we'd pay rack rate...at least not for a week).

 

[spiceycat]

one reason I brought DVC back in the 90's - the rates have only gone up. now in 2000 or close they stayed the same - but that was only for a year or two.

the thing that is up setting to me is the vallue resorts - first it was the moderate resort price at $69 - then it was the value resorts at $69 - now both are over $100 and the moderates are close to $200 to $300...

they need a new value resort - maybe budget back under $100.

 

[raven69david]

I've never paid rack rate throughout the times I've been to WDW. Even my first trip in 96 was done with a discount on ASMo.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

I'm sure many people do. In fact I'd say a pretty good sized number of people don't know much about discounts. Years ago when I first joined the DIS we had just returned from a week at the BWI on rack rate. Back then I'd say a majority of people were unaware they could save with any types of PIN codes, emails offers, etc. Definitely more people use the internet now and have become savvy about booking with discounts, but then I look at my parents and I know they can barely turn on their computer let alone find a discount. So I'm sure some people are still just calling Disney and paying full price.

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

I've never paid rack rate for any resort in WDW, deluxe, moderate, or value! In our 15 or so trips we've always had some sort of discount, usually a room discount. We've also used the pay for 4 get 3 free discount, where we paid rack rates for 4 nights, then got the next 3 nights free (also got a 7 day ticket for the price of a 4 day), but that's about as close as I've come to paying "rack rates".

I know Disney keeps saying they want to do away with all the discounts, but we probably would find somewhere else to vacation before we pay Disney's rack rates. We wouldn't be able to justify the cost of a deluxe, and have no desire to stay at a value (or pay over $100 for said value).

 

[carrie1626]

Yes at the AKL in 2011

But it was during a fall season week in Nov and with FD.

so it was a discount as far as $$ from my wallet

 

[RobynPrincess]

We have paid 'rack rate' for BC in october but no where near that price! I think we have paid around £200 a night, it was booked June last year though so maybe that's why?

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

We paid full price for our trip in July. Nearly killed me as I always look for a deal. Sometimes timing and plans do not allow for it and you just "suck it up" and pay.

 

[stepdisney]

Yes we do pay rack rate because we travel during value season with free dining. I hate that the rates are so high but the FD is a better discount for my family of 2A and 2 DS's 17 and 11 who eat a LOT of the very expensive Disney Food.

 

[luvthemouse71]

I pay rack rate..I just can't be bothered waiting for a pin. I'm pretty frugal the rest of the time so vacations are splurge time for me.

 

[vicki_c]

Folks, if you have free dining, I don't believe that's what was meant by the question. Of course you are paying rack rate if you have a free dining offer, but you're still getting a discount.