Sherry, could you direct me to your exact instructions? Or maybe explain them here? I've read a LOT about these PIN codes but never been offered one. I've seen discounts come through my destination disney emails, but I have not been sent one of those in months.
It seems like Early-Mid September is when a lot of people are getting offer codes for, but none can take advantage of them. The week after most schools start (so the week of September 9th) is when I'm hoping to go (short notice, I know) and I want to stay on site, but it's so much more spendy than I remember and a discount would help, for sure. Any advice? I used to get those destination disney emails, but since it's been 4 years since my last visit, I think they gave up on me.
Rainforest_Elf!
I haven't seen you around here for a while!
Somewhere or another I typed up the instructions, step by step, and posted them in a past thread - but who knows where that went? It was quite a while ago.
First of all, I have a feeling that PIN codes will not be abundant this year, or if and when they are sent out they may not be for the time frames we want. That was starting to happen last year too - people were beginning to get offers for time frames when they couldn't go.
I think that Disney sends (or sent) out offers for times when they expect to be less busy. So if they are currently sending out offers for early/mid-September, it's probably because they expect there to be fewer guests and bookings at the hotels during that time frame. Generally, Disney has kind of scaled back sending out PIN codes for weeks when they expect to be busy.
This year is a question mark because of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street. Disney may expect that the new California Adventure will lure in the masses all year long (whether that happens or not is anyone's guess), and they may not send out as many offers because of it.
The way that it worked for me - twice - was that I specifically created a
My Disneyland account (which is no longer an option, as I just discovered). Some people have not gone directly to the Disneyland Resort page. They have instead gone through the Disney.com (or My Disney) portal and followed that path.
I think that there are ways "they" (Disney; their computers, etc.) can tell which portals we are using to get to which places on their sites, so therefore they can send out offers based on things we simply looked at.
I think that if people go in through the Disney.com or My Disney portal, that will open them up to more offers for WDW and maybe fewer specific offers for Disneyland.
So that is why I advised going directly to the Disneyland Resort website. Do not go through Disney.com to get there. Go directly to DLR's page.
Make sure you create a specific "
Disneyland" account if you don't already have one.
Make sure you sign up for all the mail offers and updates, so check every box where it asks you if you want to receive mailings.
Once you are signed into your Disneyland account, pull up the hotels and plug in your dates to get the quoted rates. I would try for Room Only (or whatever it is called now) and
not a package - in other words, just price the rooms themselves, and do not include tickets in the package.
After you have done this, there should be a "Save" option somewhere near the bottom. I haven't done this since last year so I don't know if the layout of the page has changed, but somewhere under your hotel quote there
should be a Save option for you to save the offer. There used to be a Save Offer option when I did it.
Once you have Saved your hotel quote with your plugged in dates, leave it there. Don't book anything. Don't buy anything on the site. Don't do anything but leave the Saved offer in your Disneyland account.
IF the PIN trick still works at all, you may get an offer fairly soon (since September is close).
What will happen is that Disney's system will see that you went directly to the Disneyland page (not through the Disney.com portal), pulled up an offer and showed interest in staying onsite for a specific time frame (but not at their crazy rates). IF they have a PIN code to send out at that time, they may send it to you. There may not be anymore available if they have already sent a bunch out that have not yet been claimed, but you can try! Can't hurt to try.
It may not work anymore, but that's how it worked for me in the past, two years in a row, and it worked for some other folks I suggested it to as well.
), but I think the PIN codes have been more scarce lately. Or if they are being sent out at all, the discounts are lower and the room rates are higher than with previous PIN codes. 
