Marathon Weekend 2025

[Zutroy]

OK, I have to ask about staying at most of the Disney resorts:
Is everyone staying at them shelling out some serious $$$, or smarter about reservations than I am?
When I look at places like Polynesian, BW, POR, Swan/Dolphin, etc., I see prices that are over $300/night on up to $1000 per night.
Pop and the All-Stars are the only resorts that (to me) are halfway affordable.

Am I doing something wrong? I welcome any advice in this department.

I’ve stayed at pretty much every Disney hotel except for Pop and Caribbean Beach Resort. There once was a time (not actually that long ago) where you could get moderate rack rates at $120 a night. The price increase has been sudden and drastic. My conspiracy theory is that this is a way to drive business to DVC.

Each Christmas we book a cabin at Fort Wilderness and see the Hoop-De-Doo. The rate this year is double what we paid last year. Now we are staying a lot more at Universal properties (we are AP there too), or the nearby Grand Hyatt. That said, I like staying on property for race week, and I just bite the bullet and pay the cost.

 

[SheHulk]

OK, I have to ask about staying at most of the Disney resorts:
Is everyone staying at them shelling out some serious $$$, or smarter about reservations than I am?
When I look at places like Polynesian, BW, POR, Swan/Dolphin, etc., I see prices that are over $300/night on up to $1000 per night.
Pop and the All-Stars are the only resorts that (to me) are halfway affordable.

Am I doing something wrong? I welcome any advice in this department.

I don't have any hacks. We were regular deluxe resort vacationers up until post-covid when the prices just got too high to be worth it for us. I think my history is pretty similar to what @flav said up above somewhere. I am still able to find decent prices for Swolphin most race weekends. I do like Pop Century for a race weekend, for all the reasons mentioned by others, but bang for buck, Swan/Dolphin has worked out for us. This past Princess Weekend, I had been booked at Pop, but then I needed to drop a night from my stay and Disney said they "don't have availabilty" for me to *give them back* a day. I thought it was a mistake when I got that message trying to change my reservation online, so I called.The phone CM told me that, it's true, they don't have availability for me to drop a night at Pop. However, they did have availability for my shorter stay at Caribbean Beach for a much higher rate than my Pop room however. I just canceled the whole thing and booked Dolphin at the same rate as Pop, maybe it was $20 more per night, if that.

tl;dr Keep checking at Swan/Dolphin, you will probably find a discount eventually. Only downside is that you lose convenient transportation to MK. You get dropped at TTC IIRC.

 

[jmasgat]

@Mr_Incr3dible Rooms are insanely priced, which makes the article I read today about people going into debt to fund Disney vacations plausible (and sad). Other than snag the inevitable, albeit tiny, Disney offered room discount if/when it appears, I have also rented points to make reservations at DVC or else rented a confirmed reservation. If you rent points, you really need to do it at the 11 month mark because people are sharks getting the ressies that they want (and will play games to walk them to get the days they want). The market for confirmed reservations is fairly robust, but be aware that some rental sites do not use a fixed $/point scale for their reservations (or else price them at a significant premium over what the "market rate" for points is (generally 20-$23/pt))

 

[kristenabelle]

OK, I have to ask about staying at most of the Disney resorts:
Is everyone staying at them shelling out some serious $$$, or smarter about reservations than I am?
When I look at places like Polynesian, BW, POR, Swan/Dolphin, etc., I see prices that are over $300/night on up to $1000 per night.
Pop and the All-Stars are the only resorts that (to me) are halfway affordable.

Am I doing something wrong? I welcome any advice in this department.

I mostly stay on our dvc points, but for this race I wanted to try the new Poly tower (which isn't available for points yet).

That said, I'm a single pringle with generally low living costs (knocks on all the wood) and a bad (?) habit of funneling every penny of my fun money to vacations, most of which are at disney. when i put in for pto, my boss typically asks me, "which park?"

 

[Naomeri]

OK, I have to ask about staying at most of the Disney resorts:
Is everyone staying at them shelling out some serious $$$, or smarter about reservations than I am?
When I look at places like Polynesian, BW, POR, Swan/Dolphin, etc., I see prices that are over $300/night on up to $1000 per night.
Pop and the All-Stars are the only resorts that (to me) are halfway affordable.

Am I doing something wrong? I welcome any advice in this department.

I pretty much stick to the values too, maybe up to Coronado if there’s a deal on (AP usually gets me down to about the rack rate of Pop Preferred) As I mentioned in my SAFD answer, I rented DVC at Saratoga for barely more than the rack rate I was willing to pay at Coronado (which was original choice for MW).

I stayed rack rate in a Beach Club studio one time and I’m still kicking myself about it because it was SO MUCH MONEY that I could’ve spent in so many ways (and it was a cool week in December, so I didn’t even get to enjoy Stormalong Bay)

 

[nekonekoneko]

Other than that, cash rates are just insane. Even with Disney Visa or AP discounts, a deluxe resort hotel room will likely run $400-$900/night. I assume a lot of folks here are also shelling out a lot of money.

Also, whenever Disney announces discounts for the holidays or for "early in the year" Marathon Weekend is always blocked out.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Thank you for all the explanations and detailed responses to this question!

 

[Herding_Cats]

Just to echo what others have said, dvc points are really the way to stay at deluxe resorts. We rented 4x before we bought because I hated depending on other people to get a reservation for me, and DH had a reeeeally good year at work. Our dvc investment was less than $100/pt, and I’m guaranteed Disney vacations every other year at a minimum for the next 30 years.

For around 80 points you can stay in a studio at OKW, SSR, and AKV for a week during MW (these also tend to have the most availability and do’t completely book up at the 11mo mark.) Those resorts commonly rent for $18/pt on the boards here (or on Facebook if you want to risk the masses) directly from an owner. That comes out to $205/nt. With that, I get free (community) washer and dryer, hot tubs at the pools, and sit-down and counter service restaurant options at the resort. The downside is not being able to cancel and needing to book in advance.

 

[marty3d]

I tend to travel quite a bit for work and almost always with Marriott. When it’s not crazy I can usually get Swan or Dolphin on points which obviously helps with budgeting. If staying at a Disney deluxe, a travel agent can be helpful.

 

[PrincessV]

OK, I have to ask about staying at most of the Disney resorts:
Is everyone staying at them shelling out some serious $$$, or smarter about reservations than I am?
When I look at places like Polynesian, BW, POR, Swan/Dolphin, etc., I see prices that are over $300/night on up to $1000 per night.
Pop and the All-Stars are the only resorts that (to me) are halfway affordable.

Am I doing something wrong? I welcome any advice in this department.

I’m an AP and will only book onsite if the AP discounted rate fits my budget. My budget effectively rules out most Deluxe resorts most of the year. AP rates at the All Stars are usually decent, and CSR almost always has something for me. I never book anything other than Standard views because I keep my curtains closed while I’m in the room: the view is meaningless to me and I’d rather save the money.

I also look offsite for comparison and will opt for the Hampton Lake Buena Vista if it comes in less than a WDW Value. It usually doesn’t, though. In the time WDW resorts were charging for parking, I stayed offsite exclusively, unless renting DVC points - I refuse to pay extra to park my car.

I have no idea what I’ve done wrong in life that I earn a decent income and can’t begin to afford $500/night rooms lol!

ETA: I’m a former DVC member, too - I sold because it became so difficult to book late in the game, and I do not plan trips 11 months out. (And because I needed the cash to not be tied up.) I’ve looked into buying back in via resale and the numbers just do not add up for me: I’d need to keep and use a contract for 10 years to break even, and I can’t count on continuing to visit WDW for another decade, for a variety of reasons. DVC can be great for some, but you really, REALLY need to do the math and think carefully about your specific traveling habits and what you expect over the next decade+.

 

[PrincessV]

There once was a time (not actually that long ago) where you could get moderate rack rates at $120 a night.

I remember in the late 2000s grabbing mods through Orbitz, using Orbucks + a discount code to book for less than $100/night. Those were the days!

 

[pluto377]

SAFD- I'm team onsite for sure. It's just more convenient and easier for me. I've stayed at several deluxes by renting points, which if you can find a confirmed reservation last minute you can sometimes get a great deal! If that doesn't work out I'm at a value. For 2025, I'm booked at CBR because I think I'm skipping the park ticket. I'm only doing the half, so while I am concerned by the size and bus situation at least I'll only have to deal with it for one race.

 

[Barca33Runner]

It has been really interesting reading all of the information about how and why everyone goes about booking their accommodations and some specifics about how costs are kept as reasonable as possible.

I will say that my family’s shift from staying almost exclusively at Disney resorts to now spending every Marathon Weekend off site has been almost entirely down to the skyrocketing costs of most WDW resorts compared to when we started making yearly trips in 2012. We’ve never had DVC and currently have one member with an AP; but those discounts haven’t been much, if any, better than Disney Visa or Disney+ subscriber discounts for a while now. We’re pretty good navigating the system and finding deals, but they’ve been pretty few and far between since the pandemic.

 

[Dopey 2020]

SAFD a bit late…
Always been onsite DVC. Have stayed at BCV BWV AKL and Copper creek. AK was the favorite especially when we scored 1 BR value but last year and this upcoming were Copper Creek. Love the location of AKL for driving but the hot tub and pool at wilderness are the best.

OK, I have to ask about staying at most of the Disney resorts:
Is everyone staying at them shelling out some serious $$$, or smarter about reservations than I am?
When I look at places like Polynesian, BW, POR, Swan/Dolphin, etc., I see prices that are over $300/night on up to $1000 per night.
Pop and the All-Stars are the only resorts that (to me) are halfway affordable.

Am I doing something wrong? I welcome any advice in this department.

This is as others have said, we got into DVC direct when it was less and got the benefits. Then added a few resale contracts, then sold a contract when prices skyrocketed. We have enough still to rent extra points to help pay for other trips. Discounted APs, discounted gift cards from BJs wholesale, the airline credit card game for free flights all help keep the Disney budget in check.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

It has been really interesting reading all of the information about how and why everyone goes about booking their accommodations and some specifics about how costs are kept as reasonable as possible.

I will say that my family’s shift from staying almost exclusively at Disney resorts to now spending every Marathon Weekend off site has been almost entirely down to the skyrocketing costs of most WDW resorts compared to when we started making yearly trips in 2012. We’ve never had DVC and currently have one member with an AP; but those discounts haven’t been much, if any, better than Disney Visa or Disney+ subscriber discounts for a while now. We’re pretty good navigating the system and finding deals, but they’ve been pretty few and far between since the pandemic.

A buddy of mine goes at least 1x per year with his whole family, usually a week at a time. He has an AP for himself, books everything in his name, and says the AP pays for itself.

 

[Let's Get Kronk]

A buddy of mine goes at least 1x per year with his whole family, usually a week at a time. He has an AP for himself, books everything in his name, and says the AP pays for itself.

I did save a ton of money with my AP discount staying at YC in January for MW. It was all but about $200 for what I paid for the AP when it was all said and done and to me that was worth it.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Dang, I looked at a DVC rental website... depending on the resort those are some pretty nice deals. I currently have a standard room at Coronado booked for Princess, and have family talking about making it a tradition. I may recommend that route if there's a big enough group going.

 

[lahobbs4]

SAFD: we always stay onsite for the ease of not driving. (Can i use this time to reminisce about Magical Express??)

We love AKL but have gotten SUPER far rooms twice for MW so we don't choose that anymore. We like Boulder Ridge Villas because the DVC pool is so peaceful and we enjoy Geyser Point.

This year we are trying POFQ because the Deluxe prices just are not worth it for us anymore! Even with renting points like we always have.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Trying to think through what has become a sort-of split stay for MW, and whether or not we can get away without a rental car and not be annoyed. Because rental cars are crazy priced, and I guessed the wrong "return" time for the rental car I currently have booked through costco (unless the return time doesn't really mean anything as long as I'm not returning later than I picked up the car?) Clear as mud, I'm sure.

Our bookings, all at Saratoga, are as follows:
Tuesday-Thursday DH and I in a studio--will talk to the front desk about keeping the studio for our continuing stay, listed below. I'm not counting on it though. Would save packing up and having to move luggage around.

Thursday-Monday DH and I, plus BIL/SIL in a 2br lockoff

Monday-Tuesday DH and I in a studio. Again, it would be nice if we could "keep" the studio.

We are [more than likely] going to be without a room for part of the day TWICE on this trip, and we are going to be over a 1/4 mile from bell services. I'm going to talk myself in circles about this, and do my usual price-stalking unless anyone has a better idea that won't include schlepping my luggage around the whole resort.

 

[sandam1]

Trying to think through what has become a sort-of split stay for MW, and whether or not we can get away without a rental car and not be annoyed. Because rental cars are crazy priced, and I guessed the wrong "return" time for the rental car I currently have booked through costco (unless the return time doesn't really mean anything as long as I'm not returning later than I picked up the car?) Clear as mud, I'm sure.

Rental car prices are always eye-popping this far out. Every time that I've rented a car, they start out stupid high, come down to an "I could stomach this"price, and then prices real start dropping about 4-6 weeks out. I wouldn't give up on getting a rental car.