Let down by AP rates

[Misti]

I know there are no guarantees with AP room discounts but I can't help but be disappointed with the latest offer. For our December trip, it's about 20% regular rack rates (at the GF). I looked back to some of our old confirmations about 6 years ago and it was 50% off!! Combined with the much higher nightly room rates, it makes going Deluxe next to impossible (or at least making the trip a lot shorter if I want to stay in a Deluxe). Do you think it's because the AP program is so popular now?? Clearly, Disney is booking at these high rates (even rack rates) so I guess guests must not mind. Anyone else feel like the prices are getting out of hand?

 

[ADP]

Resort prices are getting out of hand. Travel to Disney World has picked up and the rates are a reflection of that. The old supply and demand theory.

My second theory is that Disney wants to drive more of their loyal fans (AP Holders and others) towards DVC. With high resort rates more people will lean towards buying into it.

Disney is the absolute best at persuading their visiting public in making decisions based on actions Disney decides to make. For example, the ticket system. The more days you buy the more you save for each day. More and more people will be buying 7 day tickets because of the price model. In turn, people will stay on property longer and be less likely to leave and go to Universal or Sea World. This is how Disney manipulates us, but I don't mind at all.

 

[Dixie Luvr 98]

I think MYW taicket and package pricing encouraging longer stays has something to do with it. It also just seems that a lot more people know how to get discounts now, possibly due in large part to the internet. When we first became regulars in 1998, nearly everyone seemed to pay rack rate. I guess the more discounts are available, the smaller the discount.

Whatever the reason, the deluxes have just about risen to more than they are worth to me. Back in Aug of '99 we payed $159/nt at BoardWalk Inn. Regular season moderate rates are more than that for 2007.

Now that my youngest is six and I dont have to lug a stroller and extra bags, it is much easier just to hop on a resort bus. This makes it much less inconvenient to stay at a moderate.

And, yes, I'm sure they would love to get as many AP holders as possible to commit to DVC.

 

[spiceycat]

I think that Disney wants to do away with the annual pass period. and I am even a DVC member. been one since 93.

if you go often it is definitely the way to go.

with the new tickets you really need to go like 10 days each year to save money buying the annual pass.

I have been shocked by the deluxe resorts for a couple of years.

when I was got my first AP then the discount were really great 60 to 70% off the room rates - back in the early 90's.

remember even before 9/11/2001 - Disney was having trouble. - most of the Pop century was never finished (it was surpose to be open back in the 2001)

they even today haven't got back to there 1997 crowds.

So I am not expecting them to give us the breaks in price we saw even a few years ago.

you might just have to consider going with a cheaper deluxe - both WL and AKL are very nice! or go rent points from a DVC member and see how you like the DVC resorts. You might find a new favorite.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I know there are no guarantees with AP room discounts but I can't help but be disappointed with the latest offer. For our December trip, it's about 20% regular rack rates (at the GF). I looked back to some of our old confirmations about 6 years ago and it was 50% off!! Combined with the much higher nightly room rates, it makes going Deluxe next to impossible (or at least making the trip a lot shorter if I want to stay in a Deluxe). Do you think it's because the AP program is so popular now?? Clearly, Disney is booking at these high rates (even rack rates) so I guess guests must not mind. Anyone else feel like the prices are getting out of hand?

are you sure they were 50% off?? I really do not ever remember getting 50% off ... only time I did was when I was a cast memeber.. I know I have gotten 40% and then in that January time frame when it is really slow... I did get 60% of as a CM , but only 45% (I want to say) for AP...

The rates are getting pretty high. I can only afford them now during value season with an AP or FL resident rate... gone are my days of staying at Deluxes for several days.. more like only value resorts for me lately... hey, better than nothing

 

[n2mm]

are you sure they were 50% off?? I really do not ever remember getting 50% off ... only time I did was when I was a cast memeber.. I know I have gotten 40% and then in that January time frame when it is really slow... I did get 60% of as a CM , but only 45% (I want to say) for AP...

The rates are getting pretty high. I can only afford them now during value season with an AP or FL resident rate... gone are my days of staying at Deluxes for several days.. more like only value resorts for me lately... hey, better than nothing

I agree, a little exageration here. Been an AP holder since 1995 and discounts just didn't exist for us from 95-98 (before 95 I have no idea about room discounts). I remember when you got 20% off of deluxes, but only during lower season and never a discount at values resorts (I probably still have the newsletters/mickey monitor from then). From 1998 to 2005 we enjoyed CM discounts of 50% off or higher, and the AP rates were never as low as our rates--but sometimes close. I remember paying $38 a night for an A/S resort (CM rate), while AP holders were paying $49 a night--and saying to myself, why does hubby bust his butt, when I could get the AP rate almost the same as our discount. Of course, now he's no longer a CM and the AP discounts are not as great. However, I think part of it is that there doesn't seem to be a percentage off, just a dollar amount off, which is great for the lower price rooms, not great for the more expensive rooms, plus add in that the prices for rooms are so much higher then they were in the past (my first visit to CBR was in 1989 and the rack rate, regular season-May-was $69 a night, no discounts, that was the regular price and the waiting list was 2 years). With that in mind, the discounts for CMs is not as great either. They are now only 50%, 40% and 25%, and there are a group of each catagory of rooms, so when the cheaper rooms are gone, then you have to select from the next discount group. (Of course, nothing beats the CM holiday discount from Dec - Jan, which we used many times = 60% off). Of course, this doesn't affect us too much now, since we bought into the DVC with hubby's CM discount before he left the company. There will always be APs IMO, but will they be FL resident only, or continue to be available to all. The room discounts just are not important to us, when we need them, they are just to add a day here and there, or book a room for friends and family, as we pretty much bought enough DVC points for our 4-5 vacations a year and still have leftovers. We are the minority folks who only buy our APs for park entrance and nothing more. We visit the parks now only about 40-50 days a year, so an AP fits our needs for a park ticket.

 

[SnowWitch]

In July of '99 I had an AP rate at the Poly lagoon view of $169 or 179 a night. I'm not sure what % that is off but it was alot better than 20%. Between '98-'00 we stayed at the Contemp. Tower for $179 per night, WL woods view $129 per night, courtyard at the WL $169, and the Poly as mentioned above. After that we purchased DVC. Some years we buy AP's to Disney and others we spend our time at other parks. The Ap $ are getting rather high. For our family of four this year 2 adult regular AP's and 2 adult prem. AP's with the DVC discount was almost $1700 and thats with the $450 savings from DVC. For $450 we can all 4 get (limited)AP's for IOA/US.

I love Disney and I am not trying to start a comparison of other parks debate. We have done all the parks mutiple times and am well aware of what each has to offer. My point is Disney will evenually price its way out of the average median income families vacation allowance.

 

[Misti]

are you sure they were 50% off?? I really do not ever remember getting 50% off ... only time I did was when I was a cast memeber.. I know I have gotten 40% and then in that January time frame when it is really slow... I did get 60% of as a CM , but only 45% (I want to say) for AP...

Yes it was just about 50%... I've been a passholder since 1990 (back when they used to take your picture and it was put on the back of the card kind of funny to look at now lol). I'm one of those strange Disney fanatics that saves nightly room rate charts from years past as souvenirs LOL (they used to have them printed out on paper and they would send them to you in the mail). I guess I should clarify... up to the mid 90's the Value Season discounts I found were 40-50% depending on resort (one room confirmation I found for our Jan 1994 trip to the GF in a Lagoon View room was a few dollars over $200/nt WITH tax with was about 45% off). Point being is that for Value Season this year I'm paying $420/nt (with tax) with the discount. That's a lot of inflation. Don't want to get in a debate about the exact % off... it's just a WHOLE lot less than it used to be is what I'm saying.

 

[TDC Nala]

I've gotten 45% off before, but that was in the year or so after 9/11 when they couldn't pay people to get on a plane.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We're still averaging a savings between $90-100/night during stays when AP rates are available. $59/night at Pop over Christmas is far better than the going rate Of $151/night. However, we've had visits over the past year (most notably fall break) when there were no AP discounts on offer. Still, it's really difficult for me to complain when I see what hotels in other destinations are charging today.

 

[tink55]

If your December trip falls in "value season" (before December 19), the AP discount at the deluxe resorts is about 20%. But we're going December 20-24, which is "holiday season", and the AP discount amounts to almost 50% for us. Because the AP rate doesn't go up when the season changes, while the rack rates go up quite a bit. The difference at BWI is $534/night rack rate vs. $263/night AP rate. So I'm not at all disappointed.

 

[TiggerAllie]

I just got 40% off BC this summer with an AP rate.