Everything You Need to Know About 40% Off - With Link to Codes : SHHHH!

[CanadianGuy]

THIS CODE HAS EXPIRED

Since there is so much confusion about this.. I figured I'd try to put all of what we know in one place.

What is a PIN Code? mking624 said it best..

"Pin codes are special offers sent out to people via email or snail mail (usually in the form of a large postcard). It will state exactly what the offer is, when the offer is good, and will also display a series of numbers that is the actual pin code. When you call to make a reservation, you refer to this pin code to get the discount (provided the rooms are available). Pin codes are attached to specific households, so if I got a pin code, I could not give it to you, for example. "

A number of DIS Board members got either a postcard or an email for 40% off.. some got an offer for 30% off. Both offers say you must book by February 18th (or March 15th?) and use the PIN code included at the bottom of the email which is for your household only (not shareable). Near as I can tell the dates for these offers are the same :

02/25-03/07 - Peak Season Rate before discount
05/28-06/03 - Summer Season Rate before discount
08/21-10/06 - Value Season Rate before discount
10/21-11/03 - Regular Season Rate before discount
11/11-11/16 - Regular Season Rate before discount
12/09-12/22 - Value Season Rate before discount

The offer says this is for 40% off value resort room only. The discount is off the regular season rate as noted above.

For example, the Value resorts during "Value Season" a standard room rate is 82 for standard view or 94 with preferred location. So your 40% is off that rate.

However, booking a discounted room during a week that falls within the "Peak Season" the original rates would be 119 for standard and 131 for preferred.

We know from the experiences posted that people have used the same offer at Moderates and Deluxe resorts. There is limited availability at each resort.

Some dates at some resorts have already sold out.

You'll have to call to find out if the resort you want is available for the dates above.

There are no other dates beside the ones listed above. However, some people have successfully booked a stay that starts on one of the dates in that range and extends beyond it but been given the discount rate for their entire stay. For example, one person reported booking a package checking in at Pop on December 17th and checking out December 31st and got the discount for the entire stay. Your mileage may vary.

You can get this as a package or as room only. Either way you are saving 40% off on the room rate only. The tickets and dining plan -- if you add them -- are normal prices. Some agents seem to be able to book it either way. Some don't. Play agent roulette till you find what you want I guess.

I personally received an email offer and booked a value resort -- room only. Others have booked room and tickets and yet others have booked room, tickets and dining. But you're just paying the normal rates for tickets and dining. No other discounts apply.

People with existing reservations that fall within or start on one of the dates within the ranges listed above have been able to call and apply the code to their stays. Again - your luck may vary with the agent you get on the phone.

How do you get a code? That's the million dollar question. Disney does targeted marketing to previous guests and those who register at the parks website or order the vacation planning kit. Some people get them right away.. others never get one. One common thread seems to be that if you go to the parks four or five times a year, you don't seem to be selected to receive these offers nearly as frequently as someone who goes once a year or every two years.

Now.. THE BUT... and this is a VERY BIG BUT...

The three letter codes that are bouncing around out there, are what the agent uses IF you have the PIN associated with your account. Obviously, if you know the three letter code, you can try booking without the PIN.

There continues to be confusion at CRO as to whether these three letter codes are for the general public or if it is only for those who received the postcard/email with the PIN.

Some CM's are saying anyone and everyone can book it.

Others are saying only those with the PIN can book it and others who have booked it will not have it honored.

It seems reasonable to believe that if you booked it -- regardless what an agent CRO has told you -- and you do not have the PIN -- it *MAY* not be honored even tho you had the code.

Promises from a booking agent on the phone are worth the paper they are written on. Seriously. I can't stress this enough. It becomes a game of he-said/she-said, if they decide not to honor it. Bottom line, if agents broke the rules in booking this package for you - you have every reason to expect it not to be honored; regardless what they told you.

If you don't have the PIN associated with your account, they do have every right to prevent you from booking this offer. You may not like it -- I don't -- but that's the way CRO and these offers work. We've all known that for a long time.

So far - no reputable site that normally posts general public codes has posted either of these 'forbidden codes' - you may want to ask yourself why not? The answer is probably that they are not general public codes.

If you decide to try and use the codes you find there.. Give them an example letter for each code letter.

For example.. if the code was ABC then say "A as in Alphabet, B as in Bobcat, C as in Charlie.. " ... these discount codes "sound" suspiciously similar to other discount codes (including the upgraded ticket code) ... So spell it out with words so there's no confusion.

Should you book the code and have a wonderful vacation - congrats! But consider yourself warned.

J

 

[heidica]

Thanks for trying to pull this all together. I definitely think there is a lot of confusion (and pandamonium) out there because of all the DIFFERENT experiences people have had regarding this. I have not personally received a postcard or email (although in the past I have) but I have asked my TA to look into it - if she is able to get me the discount great, if not that is ok too. I figure it didn't hurt to ask especially since we are going whether we get any discount or not. Congrats to those who did get the discount.

 

[Candid]

A number of DIS Board members got either a postcard or an email for 40% off.. some got an offer for 30% off. Both offers say you must book by February 18th ......snip
J

Mine said you must book before March 15th not February 18th

 

[Going2WDWAgain]

There continues to be confusion at CRO as to whether these three letter codes are for the general public or if it is only for those who received the postcard/email with the PIN.J

There really shouldn't be any confusion about those codes. It is quite obvious they are NOT public codes. I was lucky (or unlucky!) enough to get a CM who actually read me all the information associated with those codes and now I know for sure

If you booked using either the Z or the B one and you don't have a Pin, I wish you luck, but I'm not willing to take the chance. (off my soapbox now! )

 

[marathonmommy]

There really shouldn't be any confusion about those codes. It is quite obvious they are NOT public codes. I was lucky (or unlucky!) enough to get a CM who actually read me all the information associated with those codes and now I know for sure

If you booked using either the Z or the B one and you don't have a Pin, I wish you luck, but I'm not willing to take the chance. (off my soapbox now! )

Understood . . . but tell me:
If you are unsure if a code is public or not,
you call and ask a CM IF you can use said code,
you are told "yes" and given the rate,

what more are you supposed to do?

 

[CanadianGuy]

It's really quite simple -- Public codes are posted at reputable sites like AllEars, MouseSavers and others. These codes haven't been posted there.

If you asked the Administrators of those sites.. and this site.. the codes haven't been posted because all indications are from their sources -- that these are not public codes.

That's worth taking into consideration. The admins of all these sites have contacts that share this information with them to distribute to the public.

And those contacts have said "No, not public."

We'll know as soon as someone goes and is either successfull or not at check-in. Unless of course people start getting phone calls before then....

Once again - if an agent broke the rules by booking this code without a PIN ... then they broke the rules. I understand that's not the customer's fault.. but Disney reserves the right to correct such actions -- as we've seen in the past with the BW glitch.

I certainly hope everyone gets the vacation they booked at the price they booked. That would be wonderful. But .... it may not happen that way.

And that would be a shame given the warnings people have been given.

J

 

[Wafflestoo]

OK... I am beginning to see and unfortunately believe that "this magical code" is a glitch in the system and not a public code... THEN WHY are Disney CM's still willingly applying it to peoples reservation (sometimes without people asking for a discount)???? I would think that a corporation as big as Disney would have their computer techs on this in no time at all. The BW "glitch" lasted a very short time before Disney realized it and corrected the problem. People booking the BW knew that a mistake had been made. This glitch has been going on for a few days and people had been offered this discount on their reservation, now knowing that they were "taking advantage" of Disney.

Meg

 

[MEK]

There really shouldn't be any confusion about those codes. It is quite obvious they are NOT public codes. I was lucky (or unlucky!) enough to get a CM who actually read me all the information associated with those codes and now I know for sure

If you booked using either the Z or the B one and you don't have a Pin, I wish you luck, but I'm not willing to take the chance. (off my soapbox now! )

I agree! The cm I talked to was pretty specific. The code existed, but she neede the pin!

 

[MEK]

wafflestoo - cute kids!

 

[MagicKingdom05]

OK... I am beginning to see and unfortunately believe that "this magical code" is a glitch in the system and not a public code... THEN WHY are Disney CM's still willingly applying it to peoples reservation (sometimes without people asking for a discount)???? I would think that a corporation as big as Disney would have their computer techs on this in no time at all. The BW "glitch" lasted a very short time before Disney realized it and corrected the problem. People booking the BW knew that a mistake had been made. This glitch has been going on for a few days and people had been offered this discount on their reservation, now knowing that they were "taking advantage" of Disney.

Meg

Who knows. The CM explained that when you give them the pin code from the post card or e-mail, there are two 3 digit codes associated with it. One they plug in if you want to do a room only and the other if you want to do a package. From what she told me, they are not suppose to book a reservation using either one of the three digit codes unless the person has given them the PIN code first or it is already associated with there name.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

I agree! The cm I talked to was pretty specific. The code existed, but she neede the pin!

Exactly. Like I mentioned above the CM explained that when you give them the pin code from the post card or e-mail, there are two 3 digit codes associated with it. One they plug in if you want to do a room only and the other if you want to do a package. From what she told me, they are not suppose to book a reservation using either one of the three digit codes unless the person has given them the PIN code first or it is already associated with there name.

 

[mking624]

Disney reserves the right to correct such actions -- as we've seen in the past with the BW glitch.

I definitely agree that Disney reserves the right to correct anything that might be in error...and all of us who are attempting to use this code should definitely be aware that Disney may tell us that we'll have to pay rack rate or cancel.

But I don't think this situation to the BW glitch is exactly the same thing. With the BW glitch, people were not paying for rooms at all...they weren't paying a dime. And in that matter, I believe that Disney was completely in the right for calling people and telling them they couldn't do that, they had to pay. Now I'm not going to get into the whole mess where they were printing off DIS stuff (I think that crosses a line of stalking a person by trying all they can to find them online). But this was a situation of literally trying to get something for nothing. This isn't really the case here. This is a case where people are paying for a room, just at a discounted rate. Yes, Disney does still reserve the right to correct anything that might be wrong, even if it was their employees who were at fault. But compared to the BW glitch, people have a higher chance of this being honored...even if it's a slim chance.

 

[Wafflestoo]

wafflestoo - cute kids!

Thank you so much MEK. The little one's name is MAX, hee, hee. This picture was taken after a fun meal at Whispering Canyon (before they stopped using the bandanas).

Meg

 

[Sammie]

But the big question is, once the CM makes the decision to imput the information and discount without the guest having the pin, and the guest gets the discount and confirmation, are they capable of even tracking it to void it. This is not the same thing as the BW glitch where you had a major computer glitch with the online booking system selling rooms hundreds of dollars less than rack.

I mean are they truly going to search through hundreds of thousands of reservations trying to find a mistake and would it even show up.

Personally I am beginning to think these CMs that are telling people you don't need a pin, know exactly what they are doing and are bypassing the system to get a booking. I could see a few mistakes on day one but this has gone on all week.

Is that fair, to those that have called and called and did not get that CM that would help out, absolutely not.

And actually in the big scheme of things does it matter to Disney. If Disney was going to discount these rooms, which since they are mailing these postcards and emails out they were, then it does it matter if Mary J. booked it instead of John R. I doubt it. It is still booked.

The only way this type of random discount will stop is those that don't like it complain. Of course be warned, Disney is famous for throwing out the baby with the dishwater. The only true way they may be able to prevent this, is to stop offering all discounts of this type.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

But the big question is, once the CM makes the decision to imput the information and discount without the guest having the pin, and the guest gets the discount and confirmation, are they capable of even tracking it to void it. This is not the same thing as the BW glitch where you had a major computer glitch with the online booking system selling rooms hundreds of dollars less than rack.

I mean are they truly going to search through hundreds of thousands of reservations trying to find a mistake and would it even show up.

Personally I am beginning to think these CMs that are telling people you don't need a pin, know exactly what they are doing and are bypassing the system to get a booking. I could see a few mistakes on day one but this has gone on all week.

Is that fair, to those that have called and called and did not get that CM that would help out, absolutely not.

And actually in the big scheme of things does it matter to Disney. If Disney was going to discount these rooms, which since they are mailing these postcards and emails out they were, then it does it matter if Mary J. booked it instead of John R. I doubt it. It is still booked.

The only way this type of random discount will stop is those that don't like it complain. Of course be warned, Disney is famous for throwing out the baby with the dishwater. The only true way they may be able to prevent this, is to stop offering all discounts of this type.

I can't see them doing that because they would rather take a $100 hit a night on a room then not sell it at all.

 

[mking624]

I can't see them doing that because they would rather take a $100 hit a night on a room then not sell it at all.

Oh trust me, they'll still sell it.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Personally, here's what I think.

This has been going on since Tuesday.. when posts in this forum indicated that someone was told the dreaded "Audit Dept" was getting involved. If that was in fact true, the "Audit Dept" should be thrown out with the bathwater if after 5 days they still can't correct something that's apparently "wrong."

On another note.. these are Disney's "Wonderful Weeks" -- in other words -- traditionally low-traffic, low-occupancy weeks where the parks close earlier than usual and there are fewer things going on in general.

These are the weeks they have the hardest time getting bookings... So maybe this really IS their evil plan?

At this point - I believe Disney SHOULD honor the reservations. But what I think, and what Bob Iger and the crew at Disney decide to do.. are not necessarily the same thing.. (darn it!)

J

 

[MagicKingdom05]

Personally, here's what I think.

This has been going on since Tuesday.. when posts in this forum indicated that someone was told the dreaded "Audit Dept" was getting involved. If that was in fact true, the "Audit Dept" should be thrown out with the bathwater if after 5 days they still can't correct something that's apparently "wrong."

On another note.. these are Disney's "Wonderful Weeks" -- in other words -- traditionally low-traffic, low-occupancy weeks where the parks close earlier than usual and there are fewer things going on in general.

These are the weeks they have the hardest time getting bookings... So maybe this really IS their evil plan?

At this point - I believe Disney SHOULD honor the reservations. But what I think, and what Bob Iger and the crew at Disney decide to do.. are not necessarily the same thing.. (darn it!)

J

Well if they don't it should be interesting to see how they handle letting those who got it who shouldn't have know. I truely think that nothing will be done and that all the reservations will be fine.

 

[Sammie]

I can't see them doing that because they would rather take a $100 hit a night on a room then not sell it at all.

I agree and since it is obvious they are discounting rooms during those select time periods, I am not sure they care who booked it and how.

Not fair, but probably true.

If the audit department is getting involved I can see that more as trying to discipline the CMs that booked without the required PIN, than punishing a guest. The other mistakes were online booking mistakes, quite a different situation since it was not a legitimate discount. These discounts are legit, it was just the process getting them is not being uniform for everyone.

It would be different if the CM was saying Yes you need a PIN but if you are willing to take a chance, lets go for it. That is however not happening. You have CMs working in reservations telling many, No you don't need a PIN, and there is no reason you can't book this. They will have a hard time taking that away.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

I will be hoping that all these reservation WILL be honored and that everyone has a wonderful time on their vacations. Make the MAGIC real!!