bigmochick -
I'm the guilty party who first began informing DIS'ers here about the "trick," which I will explain in a second. As soon as I discovered it last year, I began telling people. At first, it was a great way to get a PIN code (not a pass code) and it was almost guaranteed to work. Now, unfortunately, so many people have been trying the trick that it seems to be faltering a bit, such as people like the OP getting PIN codes for weeks in which they cannot go to
Disneyland, or getting PIN codes for WDW instead of DLR.
I think that whatever mysterious database sent out the PIN codes because of the "trick" has now run out of them (tempoprarily), and I think we have to wait for the current wave of PIN's to cycle out and expire before they send out more batches. Of course, there may be other PIN codes that Disney sends out through other sources, but this specific one generated by the "trick" seems to have momentarily gone off course so it may not work for you.
The trick is this: make sure you create a "My Disneyland" account on the Disneyland Resort website. Many people visit the website and look up rates but they don't actually create accounts unless they need to buy something. Make sure you create the account, enter in all the necessary information to get on their mailing list, etc.
Next, make sure you are logged into the My Disneyland account. Don't sign out of it. Go to the Hotels section and plug in the dates you plan to take your trip and your hotel of choice - for example, December 12 - 15, Paradise Pier Hotel, or whatever.
The DLR system will calculate your rate for you and it will appear on the screen.
Somewhere at the bottom of the offer that pops up on the screen it will give you an option to Save it. It will say Save or Save This Offer, or whatever. Make SURE to save it - this is the key. When you click Save, it will save to your My Disneyland account. You can even double check your account to be certain that it saved.
Don't buy anything, don't book anything, don't spend any money on the hotel at that moment. Just leave the Saved Offer in your My Disneyland account.
What will happen is that a sort of 'signal' will be sent to Disney Destinations, and they will see that you showed interest in booking a room BUT that you did not book anything at ther crazy rates.
More than likely, they will probably send you a PIN code within a few days to a few weeks after that, and it could be via e-mail
or via regular mail. More than likely you will get a PIN that covers 3 different hotels, and the rate could be something like $163 for PPH, $186 for DLH, $227 for GCH - that kind of thing (depends on the dates you want). The rates will probably be slightly different than the rates I and others have received, but it will be a PIN code specifically for you, with prices for each of the 3 hotels.
If DLR is anticipating huge crowds during the window of time you want, most likely they will not send you a PIN that can be applied during that time - because, basically, they do not need the business if they already anticipate crowds, and so they don't need to attract guests. Instead, they may send you a PIN for a different time frame in the same month when they expect lighter crowds - so if you want to get and use a PIN, it will help if your dates are a little flexible!
Or, they could send you something for WDW instead. Or maybe nothing at all until the current wave of PIN's expire. At first this trick worked like magic for many people. Only recently did it start to falter!
My current PIN code must be claimed by July 20th if I am going to use it, and it is good for 10/16 - 10/31, which was not the time frame I wanted. I'm sure other people will not be able to use their PIN codes at all, and theirs will probably expire in the next few days or weeks.