Reservation help.....timing?

[hsmamato2]

So....say I choose a date I'd like to travel....what's my best option, book a room at rack rates now,and then,if a special comes out,call and apply discount to my res? Can that be done? Or just wait till deals are offered,then book? (fast) How do you all do it? I am dying to set a date, but am waiting for some deals to appear.....

 

[BearcatsFan]

I book the dates I want to travel, then when (if) an offer comes out (free dining, etc.), I have it applied to the existing ressie.

HTH

 

[hsmamato2]

do you res. the whole package,and then wait, or just the room,and then add stuff later?

 

[Missytara]

Ditto.

Book the dates you want to travel and book what you can afford. Some people tend to overbook what they can afford, hoping a discount will come out that will meet their needs.

When the discount comes out that works for you, you can decide to take the savings or upgrade resort categories.

To me, that way a discount is always icing on the cake. Some years, I decide to stay put and use the savings to do extra special stuff; some years I decide to upgrade a category.

A couple of things about discounts.

1. You cannot stack discounts; you have to choose one that works for you.
2. Discounts are done to fill rooms; you cannot pick and choose where you want to stay. You may have to change resorts within your category to get the discounts.
3. Free dining seems to work best for larger families, values and moderates. Room discounts work for smaller traveling parties (like me going solo), and deluxes.

You can run the numbers or have the CM do it for you.

You can also go onto the discounts codes and rates board at the top of this forum; subscribe to the thread for the month you want to travel and then information will be posted as it becomes available.

You can also get information regarding "pins" there as well. An entirely different animal.

 

[BearcatsFan]

do you res. the whole package,and then wait, or just the room,and then add stuff later?

Everything MissyTara said

Book what you can afford - you can always add on/make changes to upgrade later.

 

[hsmamato2]

so.... if I booked at a resort I liked now,wouldn't that further limit the discounts available when I want them?

 

[BearcatsFan]

so.... if I booked at a resort I liked now,wouldn't that further limit the discounts available when I want them?

If you are booking now at full rack rate with no discount, then no, because later on you will add the discount when it becomes available (ie: free dining, % off, etc.). I'm not sure how booking now would "limit" discount availability for you.

 

[Missytara]

If you are booking now at full rack rate with no discount, then no, because later on you will add the discount when it becomes available (ie: free dining, % off, etc.). I'm not sure how booking now would "limit" discount availability for you.

This question actually comes up a lot with newbies.

What they are saying is if everyone is already booking up resort rooms, then they wouldn't need to do discounts because they already have rooms filled. They may be looking at it as just one big resort.

But with the amount of resorts and rooms at Disney, there will always be availability somewhere - it just may not be exactly where you want to be and the reality is that you may have to stay somewhere other than where you originally booked.

 

[BearcatsFan]

This question actually comes up a lot with newbies.

What they are saying is if everyone is already booking up resort rooms, then they wouldn't need to do discounts because they already have rooms filled. They may be looking at it as just one big resort.

But with the amount of resorts and rooms at Disney, there will always be availability somewhere - it just may not be exactly where you want to be and the reality is that you may have to stay somewhere other than where you originally booked.

Aha Thank you for clarifying for me (and OP). I'm not a noob, but don't get over to the Resort boards very often