reservation question

[cristen]

I am going in April and want to book my room to make sure I have one. But I am also buying an AP, so I want to see if they will be offering discounts. And I don't know when they come out for April. I hear of people making the reservations now, then calling back later when the discounts are released to apply them. Are you sure they do this ALL the time? I am a little afraid that they won't let me apply the discount (I also hear of CM that are not very nice or accomodating on the phones). What exactly are the cancellation policies? If they won't let me apply the discount, can I cancel and make a whole new reservation? Thank you for your help.

Cristen

 

[sherry8253]

Hi - I probably do not do what the majority of AP holders do. I do NOT book a room before AP rates are released and then hope to apply the AP later because I am not willing to pay rack rate at Disney and I don't want to tie up a room that I am not willing to pay for if AP rates don't come out or I can't get AP rate at that specific resort. My DH and I have decided several years ago that we do not have to stay at a 'specific' resort on any of our trips. We always have a few in mind and as soon as AP rates come out we call and we have always been able to get a Discount at one of the 5 or so choices we have on our list although it may not have been our first choice. We also go at very slow times (early December or during the month of January) when discounts are traditionally offered. I believe the cancellation policy depends on whether you book through CRO or Disney Travel. I believe CRO has the most liberal cancellation policy. Also, I think April can be very busy depending on when you go (spring break, Easter, etc.) So you may want to so some research to make sure that AP rates are traditionally offered when you are planning to go.

 

[DebbieB]

There have to be other rooms available for the AP discount in order for you to apply it to an existing reservation. They look at each date and each resort and decide how many rooms will be available for the AP discount. You are actually hurting your chances because the more rooms already booked for full price, the less likely they are to make AP discounts available. If you are willing to pay full price, then make the reservation now. But if you can't pay full price, make a reservation at a resort you can afford at full price and try to switch if AP rates come out. Usually the 2 weeks around Easter don't have AP rates. This past April, there were no AP rates from April 10 to April 27, Easter was April 20. I believe Easter is April 11th next year, so I would not look for them in the first half of the month.

Also, AP rates are never guaranteed to come out, this month (September) is completely shutout.

 

[cristen]

We are planning on staying at the WL and the Boardwalk whether there are AP rates or not. I just thought it would be nice to apply the rates if they came out. We are going from April 26th to May 3rd, so we will just be missing Easter. And I know they are being weird about the rates coming out at all. So that is why I was wondering what I should do. I was on Expedia and I looked up the hotels and they say they have no rooms for those dates. Does that mean they just don't have info that far out? Or does the hotels actually fill up this far in advance? I wouldn't think that they do.