November/December 2016 discount code watch

[georgina]

Sorry everyone is so disappointed.... I only needed a Room Only for 2 nights before our Pkg started. I was locked into my dates as I had already booked airfare. Thankfully, I was able to get 2 nights at POR for $169/night. Garden view. Seeing as how I was willing to pay rack rate, it was nice to get a bit of a deal. The $60 I saved will cover some of the exchange into Canadian dollars!

I'm happy too. I have a couple of nights at Pop in Nov I was willing to pay rack rate for (would be a first for me!) but I saved $27 on my 2 night ressie. I'll take it.

The website seems to be back up and working as I modified online.

Now if Universal would just load their APH discounts for Nov I could save on that part of the trip too.

 

[scard192]

I'm going there during that time as well. My past two trips have been pretty much walk-ons most attractions... I've always been careful to choose one of the most recommended weeks. Did this time too... doesn't seem to be working out so well. LOL.

based on the last 4 four years, I was pretty sure our dates would be qualify for FD. Disney fooled us all!

 

[georgina]

In my experience what's there now is what they're offering. I grabbed a room at ASMo since it was the only "regular" Value room available (Pop not included in the offer, ASMu only had suites, and I honestly don't recall about ASSports as I have no interest in it). I would have loved Port Orleans, but they are more and more NOT included in these discounts; guess they are popular enough to fill via package and/or rack. The other stuff is way out of my budget even with a discount, so I didn't spend too much more time looking!

I can only guess that they just aren't hurting to fill rooms later this year!!

Maybe Pop just wasn't available for your dates? It is definitely included in the offer, I just modified my reservation there to take advantage of the discount.

And the website seems to be down again. Glad I snuck in while it was briefly up.

 

[FootracerJ]

Honestly, I think FD is almost never worth it. The one time I did it, it was because it was the only offer available, and it was more food than we were comfortable eating, AND I got a stomach virus halfway through and after that, it was all wasted on me. I like the RO discount, also because you can buy your tix a little cheaper elsewhere.

We used to always pray for FD, but then we realized the dining plan always made us feel like we HAD to eat way more food that we really wanted to. Then we'd feel (and look) like huge, immobile, bloated sausages by the end of the week. Now, going for resort discounts is our thing and we appreciate the food more when we pay out of pocket.

Not to mention, with FD, you end up paying massive tips on an amount of food you never would have ordered on your own dime.

 

[Princesca]

We used to always pray for FD, but then we realized the dining plan always made us feel like we HAD to eat way more food that we really wanted to. Then we'd feel (and look) like huge, immobile, bloated sausages by the end of the week. Now, going for resort discounts is our thing and we appreciate the food more when we pay out of pocket.

Not to mention, you end up paying massive tips on an amount of food you never would have ordered on your own dime.

Yep, exactly. And it takes a ton of time out of park touring, too, if you're doing table service every day. And it's bad enough I'm tied down to FP+ time slots now, adding in a meal reservation just adds to the pile of complications. In addition, my partner has had bariatric surgery, so that makes free dining much less appealing for us.

 

[CandiceF]

I think it depends on how many are in your family and where you eat. We are not big eaters but with 3 kids under 10 who want almost all character meals we save money even when paying for the dining plan. It is also nice to not have to wait in line to meet characters and it saves us time meeting a bunch while eating. When the kids get older it might not be worth it, but for now it is.

 

[FeaturePresentation]

Got 20% off my existing AKL reservation for 12/1-12/11 with no hassle this morning. I was hoping for 30% based on the past few years, but I'm definitely happy to at least get 20% off.

I'm having trouble understanding the "attendance is down" reports, e.g. what the podcast team keeps reporting, compared to the availablity of rooms this fall/winter. Is it just an odd disconnect where park attendance is declining and certain events have driven up resort occupancy?

 

[shh]

Here's one bit of good news...I don't see the $25 cancellation fee on value ressies from Orbitz. (It does appear for mods). Ended up booking there - cheaper than Disney's "special" rates.

Got 20% off my existing AKL reservation for 12/1-12/11 with no hassle this morning. I was hoping for 30% based on the past few years, but I'm definitely happy to at least get 20% off.

I'm having trouble understanding the "attendance is down" reports, e.g. what the podcast team keeps reporting, compared to the availablity of rooms this fall/winter. Is it just an odd disconnect where park attendance is declining and certain events have driven up resort occupancy?

I wonder if the zika scare has people shifting to late fall/winter, figuring peak of mosquito season is over by then.

 

[scard192]

Yep, exactly. And it takes a ton of time out of park touring, too, if you're doing table service every day. And it's bad enough I'm tied down to FP+ time slots now, adding in a meal reservation just adds to the pile of complications.

the kids (mine and sis) were very vocal that they did not to "waste" time doing TS meals this trip. we have the QSDP and are paying OOP for 2 TS meals only.
we did tons of character meals when the kids were little but now that the are older: 16,10,9 and 6; they want to spend more time on attractions.

last trip I felt like I was constantly nagging that we needed to be to FP+ and ADR all week long. at least now it will just be FP+.

 

[merry_nbright]

Since I booked mine last year at CSR, I tried to get the discount today and it would have costed more. Oh well. No discount is fine this time around, I guess!

 

[FootracerJ]

We are not big eaters but with 3 kids under 10 who want almost all character meals we save money even when paying for the dining plan.

That is true, and we did a lot of character dinners when my daughters were younger--now they are teenagers. We still love the characters more than ever, but we no longer want them while we're eating.

Character dinners started to become annoying to me after a while: "What? I can't go to the buffet yet, the Mad Hatter is almost here?" "Oh, put down your forks and get your autograph books ready for Aurora!"

Nah, I just want to relax, eat, and enjoy the atmosphere now.

That said, breakfast at the Cinderella castle with my daughters is my favorite memory of all time.

 

[buzznina]

What a big joke these discounts are

We are another family that will only do dinning if we are going to do a bunch of character meals, to us that is the only way it is worth it. Our normal trips now, we may do 1 TS meal, we also feel that it takes up way to much time and truthfully Disney TS food is nothing real special to us and has become very inconsistent. Plus, leaving a tip that equals what we would of paid to eat at QS, always bugs me

 

[heath92681]

I go to the beach and miss all the fun! Hope lots of you are having some luck!

 

[jpeden]

Got 20% off my existing AKL reservation for 12/1-12/11 with no hassle this morning. I was hoping for 30% based on the past few years, but I'm definitely happy to at least get 20% off.

I'm having trouble understanding the "attendance is down" reports, e.g. what the podcast team keeps reporting, compared to the availablity of rooms this fall/winter. Is it just an odd disconnect where park attendance is declining and certain events have driven up resort occupancy?

Part of this is that large resort crowds does not equal large park crowds. The majority of people who go to Disney don't stay on property (there simply isn't enough room for them). So, if Disney is having a sale on rooms, that's great for us, and means that they aren't meeting their occupancy goals (they don't just give discounts/FD to be generous - if they could never give a discount and fill +/- 95% of their rooms they would). However, if Disney isn't meeting their occupancy goals, it means that off-site hotels aren't meeting theirs either. I would not panic about crowd levels - they will either be better than you're hoping or at the level you expect (as you should always expect crowds). Just go and have a good time!

 

[jackie721red]

TA sent me an email first thing this A:M and she managed to save me 700.00US off my existing AKL res for dec3-10..thats nearly 1000.00 canadian...of course 30% would have been nicer but im happy

 

[Donald Duck888]

Thanks to all for the advice and thoughts on FD vs this 20% offer. you now have me rethinking what to do. If i figure on $150 a day for the 3 of us to eat (should be able to do that with 2 adults and 1 kid, yes?). then we can save at least a bit over free dining with this especially when figuring at least 2 of our meals are going to end up oop either way due to 2 signature dining ressies.

Now i need to decide if BC garden view is worth about $300 more than Boardwalk standard view. Decisions, decisions lol.

 

[SiameseCitys]

Here's one bit of good news...I don't see the $25 cancellation fee on value ressies from Orbitz. (It does appear for mods). Ended up booking there - cheaper than Disney's "special" rates.

Can I ask specifics, or even ballpark. Where is Orbitz cheaper? I just got on the site to see if I can book for less than we're already spending (second week of November) and the rates look to be exactly the same as on Disney's website.

 

[Mike&AllisMom]

I just updated my Signature with all my new reservations to reflect the "discount". We are doing multiple split stays. I was able to book most of it as club level at a discount and saved around $450 over my previous reservations. Hopefully something will open up over the next few weeks so that I can combine a few!

 

[jpeden]

Can I ask specifics, or even ballpark. Where is Orbitz cheaper? I just got on the site to see if I can book for less than we're already spending (second week of November) and the rates look to be exactly the same as on Disney's website.

You'll need to google for an ORBITZ coupon code, and enter it at checkout (usually on the right hand side). It's normally only 10% or 15% but it can save a decent bit when it comes to Disney's prices.

 

[PolyRob]

Thanks to all for the advice and thoughts on FD vs this 20% offer. you now have me rethinking what to do. If i figure on $150 a day for the 3 of us to eat (should be able to do that with 2 adults and 1 kid, yes?). then we can save at least a bit over free dining with this especially when figuring at least 2 of our meals are going to end up oop either way due to 2 signature dining ressies.

Now i need to decide if BC garden view is worth about $300 more than Boardwalk standard view. Decisions, decisions lol.

Beach Club was just refurbished, if that helps! The rooms had a big makeover! I really want to stay there next fall!