Newbie and trying to get best deals... pro's please help!!!

[poohbear13]

My family and I just got back from WDW in July... we are ready to go back but need some discount advice because paying full price again is just totally crazy. Love the Mouse, but OMG... My family and I are looking at going Feb 29th to March 7th or 8th 2012... what are the odds of their being a Free Dining plan offered... and can I go ahead and book everything and a free dining is offered can I adjust my reservations to get the discount? How does that all work? Or do I have to wait until the last moment when they post deals to book our trip? Thank you in advance for any and all info. It is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[havoc315]

You can book a package now, and apply a discount later. You would have to call when the discount is announced. Some travel agents will take care of it for you automatically.

Can't really say whether or not there will be discounts for your dates. You are in a low crowd week, sandwiched between 2 high crowd periods. So discounts are certainly possible for your period, but who knows.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

You can book a package now, and apply a discount later. You would have to call when the discount is announced. Some travel agents will take care of it for you automatically.

Can't really say whether or not there will be discounts for your dates. You are in a low crowd week, sandwiched between 2 high crowd periods. So discounts are certainly possible for your period, but who knows.

And just in case I would have a back up resort in mind. You may have to switch resorts to get free dining if your resort is booked up with that deal or its not available there I havent had that happen but I have heard of it happening

 

[poohbear13]

Thank you so much!!! can I book everything room, tickets (air I will probably do on it's own for better deal)?

 

[kerplop]

Thank you so much!!! can I book everything room, tickets (air I will probably do on it's own for better deal)?

You'd probably do better to book air on it's own. I compared on our vacation and it was a considerable difference.

 

[havoc315]

Thank you so much!!! can I book everything room, tickets (air I will probably do on it's own for better deal)?

Yes... BUT....

You can make modifications to your reservation with no penalty, up to 45 days before check in. So up to that time, you can apply discounts, etc.

Now the caveats -- Many discounts have limited availability with a certain number of rooms per resort. If your resort of choice doesn't have availability, you may end up having to change resorts.

Further, many discounts are offered by PIN code -- Personalized discount, as opposed to a general public offer. While there are reports of people who already have reservations getting discounts, I have to believe that you're less likely to get a PIN code if you already have a reservation. Thus, you may be hurting your chances of getting a discount.

And finally, while your reservation is a drop in the bucket.... If enough people think like you, and make their reservations solely in the hope of a discount, then Disney will see a high occupancy rate, and be less likely to offer discounts.

Keep in mind, that early 2011 discounts came out last year on August 16, 2010. No knowing if this will be repeated this year, but it may give you a reason to wait a couple of weeks.

 

[discorsner]

I would book package but hold off on air. I you read the Free dining rumor thread it is full of people who would like to adjust their dates by a day or two to take advantage of a deal that may come out with specific check in dates required. If you already have air booked it can become more complicated and also expensive to start changing flights.

With that said though I also wouldn't pass up an amazing flight deal if it came out just to see if their is a wdw discount later because that discount may or may not come but flight prices can go way up.