The NEW AP Rate Watch Thread, Are they out yet??

[rccruiser]

I think Disney is banking on this new Disney Bank One Visa and free 6 month financing for vacations booked with WDW Travel to fill those empty hotel rooms and boost the hotel rates. Disney does not want to have to invest in making everything new for Annual Passholders every year when they can sell the same old theme park to someone who would not normally go because it's out of their financial means.?

Boy I'm glad I booked my Hilton HHonor certificates to stay in WDW Downtown Disney instead of waiting for the Annual passholder rates to come out. Disney Management has been known to change policies on a dime and not tell a soul till the last
minute. I'm sure that It had a lot to do with the outcome of the war with Iraq too. Well our family can still use the last remaining AP days left without having to be charged $100 to 300 dollars a night to stay on Disney Property.

Disneyland Annual Passholders can attest to flaky Disney A.P. Policies. When they opened up California Adventure we were first sent mailings to upgrade to the new 2 park Annual Pass, then at the last minute we were told that there would be no Annual Pass the new park. They even Mailed back my check! They changed their tune real soon when they saw the much lower than expected attendance levels to the new park. Now they are begging people who have bought single day admission tickets (to Disneyland only) to upgrade their passes to a 2 Park Annual Pass to boost those Low Attendance figures. Funny that Disneyland Attendance was higher than ever though and they had not added a new attraction since Indiana Jones! In a nut shell DCA was DOA! Luckily Paul Pressler is gone and they are investing heavily in the new park to boost attendance. Now it's
turning out to be a pretty good day park.

They are also ending the Disney Club. Wait a while and you will see Disney Club come back again.... I'm not sure who is in charge of running things down at Disney but they sure do change their mind a lot about us Annual Passholders. I guess we figured we paid for the thing... where else are we going to go?

Just a few thoughts

James Martin

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by peachgirl
I agree, that's what it was last year with the CBR closing. So, I took a quick look at the POFQ uprgrade thread. At first glance it does seem like the deals are just incredible, and some are! However if you really look closely, there's not that many of those type of offers being made that it ought to affect AP's. I did a very quick count, so I may have missed something. But, in general it looks like there's 1 person each saying they got YC, BWI or BC. The vast majority are reporting getting AKL or the Poly. It appears as though AKL or WL is running about $10 per nite more with the others being about $30 per nite. I saw no mention of the Grand Floridian, although I only checked the POFQ closing thread.

At any rate, the numbers don't seem to be enough that it would have any effect on AP's. I realize that not everyone who is booked at POFQ posts here, but I'd bet that those who don't read or post on this site know nothing about the possibility of upgrades.

I tend to believe the lack of AP rates has more to do with the abundance of other discount codes. I don't recall there being so many, even last year.

Of course, this is all pure speculation, but it does pass the time!

The information about the deal for the Grand Floridian was posted on another site. The person got the Grand for $160 and someone else who started their trip during the value season in December and ends it on Dec. 31 got the week of Christmas at the Polynesian for $160 as rack rates for that time period are $469. That has to be the deal of the century.

Some are beginning to become upset that while they understand and completely sympathize with those displaced at POFQ, is it fair to the person paying 3 times more to stay at the Grand and the Polynesian at rack rates and lower discounts because of poor planning on Disney's part as to when to close POFQ. Many felt a really good discount at the other moderates and an across the board discount of say 50% on deluxes would be fair to everyone.

I personally don't know what is fair. I feel for those displaced at POFQ and I feel for those that come year after year and Disney continues to take their money with no reward for them.

At this point I beginning to consider some of the really good deals off property and even "ahh" Universal.

 

[peachgirl]

The information about the deal for the Grand Floridian was posted on another site.

Those are some incredible rates! There is a new post on this board with the GF for under $200. I don't know what's "fair" either. I do know they certainly didn't offer these kinds of rates and resorts last year for the CBR.


My apologies in advance. I rarely whine, but I'm in a major whine mood so feel free to skip over the rest of this....Just remember you were warned!

It's a puzzle to me....they're practically giving away rooms for displaced POFQ guests and yet no AP rates. There are a lot of codes out, but nothing to compare to what I got last year at WL for the Christmas season. It's not a question of fair, I just don't get it.

The only really great rate I've seen is the comeback rate. If I didn't know better, I'd swear business was booming and they just didn't have a need to cut prices. But, I know better! I just watched a news story on MSNBC from Universal and they were talking about an overall drop of 20% in attendance in the Orlando area. So, who knows.

I really hope they aren't thinking that their new credit card is a replacement for the DC or other discounts. I'm sorry, but in order to get $750 in rebate form that limits how I spend the savings, I'd have to charge $75,000. I've already saved more than that on our current discount for OKW, I didn't have to spend $75,000 to do it and the savings is real money that I can do with what I choose! The DC had 10% off purchases and over the period of one vacation I easily spend $300-$400 just at the Disney Store in DD. That meant a $30-$40 savings. With the cc, I'd get $3-$4 rebate, a fraction of the savings. Their package rates are no better than the current codes and you have to book a package. I don't like packages, so that won't work for me. All in all, the Disney CC is poor substitute for the DC.

As I've said before, I don't think I'm "entitled" to any discounts, I'm just very puzzled as to why they aren't there!

Ok, my ranting is over....sorry!

 

[d-r]

They'll probably start mailing out the May issue of the Mickey Monitor soon.


FWIW, we had reservations at CBR last year when it was closed - we hadn't stayed there before and were looking forward to x-ing it off the list, but we weren't able to. We took the up-sale. This year we don't have reservations at port orleans, but I'm not disappointed that we don't get the offer that those who had them will get - those folks choose to stay at port orleans because that's where they wanted to go, for whatever reason and I'm sure there are several, and now they don't get to. So they get a nice rate, and Disney gets more money from them than they were getting in the first place and fill up some empty hotel rooms. That isn't a slam on AP holders at all.

Also, aren't there codes on the internet that are available to everyone? I'm sure that there will be AP rates soon - my guess is that they release them right before the Mickey Mon. is mailed out, and that the Mickey Monitor will start going out a week or so before May, so it is probably just a week or so.

Don't they usually release rates on Sundays (I'm seriously asking, I think I remember that, but I'm not sure).

Last year they had AP rates out earlier; they were listed as "AP webpage specials." I think that they planned to have an AP web page, but never got it made. This was when go.com was falling apart, iirc. So, for now the Mickey Monitor remains the way that Disney communicates with AP holders that there are rates.

DR

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by d-r
They'll probably start mailing out the May issue of the Mickey Monitor soon.


FWIW, we had reservations at CBR last year when it was closed - we hadn't stayed there before and were looking forward to x-ing it off the list, but we weren't able to. We took the up-sale. This year we don't have reservations at port orleans, but I'm not disappointed that we don't get the offer that those who had them will get - those folks choose to stay at port orleans because that's where they wanted to go, for whatever reason and I'm sure there are several, and now they don't get to. So they get a nice rate, and Disney gets more money from them than they were getting in the first place and fill up some empty hotel rooms. That isn't a slam on AP holders at all.

Also, aren't there codes on the internet that are available to everyone? I'm sure that there will be AP rates soon - my guess is that they release them right before the Mickey Mon. is mailed out, and that the Mickey Monitor will start going out a week or so before May, so it is probably just a week or so.

Don't they usually release rates on Sundays (I'm seriously asking, I think I remember that, but I'm not sure).

Last year they had AP rates out earlier; they were listed as "AP webpage specials." I think that they planned to have an AP web page, but never got it made. This was when go.com was falling apart, iirc. So, for now the Mickey Monitor remains the way that Disney communicates with AP holders that there are rates.

DR

Yes there are codes on the Internet that gives you a discount on a garden room at the Polynesian for $266 during May and June and the Grand Floridian for $328. Not quite the same as $160 including tax.

 

[Keeva]

Checked today no AP rates yet,also no availabilty at any mod for June 28-July 8

 

[hotcarib]

Hi,
Am I missing something? Is it that everyone is awaiting codes for later in the summer/early fall? We are booking WL for 7 nights in May (or the beginning of June) and the rate is
$139/nite before tax or $94/nite (before tax) for POR or CBR. Isn't this as good as the AP rate using the code CCQ (expired)? After reading all of these posts I am thinking I must be missing something; otherwise the prices using the AEF code seem to be as generous as the recently expired AP code.

Kindest regards,
Janice

 

[cindyfan]

Janice, no....the code is not as goodas AP rates typically are.
The AP rate that just expired was also based off of "Peak" season rates. Regular season starts on the 27th. There are codes that can get you a moderate at $104 or $94.
And there is a postcard (with a pin #) that will get a mod for $74.
So typically the AP would get the mod for $74 + tax.

So the postcard is the only thing that will come close to what AP would typically be. And those are very few and far between.

It just seems the guests with APs have been forgotten about!
Disney is not taking care of their "regular" guests and just concentrating on bringing in "new" guests.

 

[lizzie64]

No AP yet 7:45 AM EST 4/15/2003

I mentioned to the CM that with the POFQ issue, that I thought AP may not happen. She very quickly corrected me and said no way. That wouldn't have any affect on the AP rates. She said with he last closure they also offered the ap rates. She told me not to worry.

Yeah right - she doesn't know me.

 

[denman007]

There is not going to be an AP rate until after summer, if at all.

 

[csmommy]

Originally posted by denman007
There is not going to be an AP rate until after summer, if at all.

denman007

You say that with such authority, do you know something we don't?

 

[DisneyPoly]

We too have APs and have always been able to take advantage of the discounts offered with these passes. However, this year when we visited in January, we were offered the comeback rate. I remember saying to my DH, we could wait for the AP rates since we were attending after July 4th. We thought again, and decided to book using this rate. I am so glad we did so now, as things are not looking in our favor.

I would like to get a better rate from the 2nd-4th, but it doesn't look too good.

However, I do remember a few years back, about 3-4 years, when the summer APs did not come out until the beginning of May We were going the end of June and did not get an AP until early May.

Keep our fingers crossed

 

[OhMickey]

Yesterday on CNN my husband heard where Disney issued a warning that SARS may impact the number of visitors to their theme parks. What impact did they think this announcement would have on park attendance? IF the company feels this to be true, then they probably will issue AP discounts. It is just a matter of waiting.

I personally believe that next week after the Easter holiday they will be released. But I'm not an expert & have never used AP discounts.

 

[Tess]

Two (maybe 3) years ago I had been waiting and waiting for APs to be released for June. I, unfortunately, could only book a DC discount and it was a "package". Since it was a DC and a "package", I had to pay in full by mid-May as I recall. I wasn't able to make changes to the package after that date either (at least not without a penalty). The APs came out a few days after I needed to pay for my package in full. By that point I was already paid and didn't feel like jumping through the hoops to change it all at the last minute AND pay a penalty for doing it.

That was the last time I booked a "package" that I held onto for more than the length of time it took to get a better rate.

 

[denman007]

You say that with such authority, do you know something we don't?

No. I'm basing it on the facts. AP discounts exp'd on the 9th. I think they would not have had down time(4/9 to current) if they were planning on using the code.

Resorts seem to be pretty booked. I'm basing that what I've read and my conversations with CRO.

They had a new comeback rate.

And lastly, I thought I would try to jinx myself.

D

 

[onceuponadream]

I don't know if any of you have considered the S/D BUT...we just cancelled our CR and AKL ressies for 12 nights (2 rooms) and got S/D with a hotwire bid of $81/night. This saved us a total of $2000. We had our hearts set on AKL and were ready to pay the $239/nt (with tax) but couldn't pass up the sure thing of $81 plus tax at S/D. IF Disney had released an AP rate comparable to last years for AKL (about $200/nt tax included-would have knocked the price down about $600 total) we would probably not have switched. Just tired of waiting and watching. We are looking forward to a magical trip at the Swan now and can spend more on fun stuff .

 

[jillz]

I called last nght to make a ressie for wl for first week in June...I aked innocently about ap discount...cm said they should be out by now let me check...of course no ap rates...she seemed very surprised..said they should be out anytime now ..maybe beginning of May
If anything she did sound hopeful she told me to make my ressie now and wait for the ap to come out to apply it to my existing ressie


of course that's exactly what i did!!

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by hotcarib
Hi,
Am I missing something? Is it that everyone is awaiting codes for later in the summer/early fall? We are booking WL for 7 nights in May (or the beginning of June) and the rate is
$139/nite before tax or $94/nite (before tax) for POR or CBR. Isn't this as good as the AP rate using the code CCQ (expired)? After reading all of these posts I am thinking I must be missing something; otherwise the prices using the AEF code seem to be as generous as the recently expired AP code.

Kindest regards,
Janice

The problem with the new codes compared to past rates offered to Annual Passholders is the codes were good for standard rooms at the AKL and WL but not very good for rooms at YC/BC, Polynesian or the Grand Floridian. Last time I checked our dates there were no discounts left for 139 for AKL and WL for the end of May or early June. In the past the AP rates have been about 40% off across the board at all resorts.

 

[hotcarib]

I was just able to book 7 nights at WL using code AEF for 139/nite (pre-tax / June 1-8). The CM said that should any AP rates become available I can just shift the reservation over and receive whatever happens to be the lowest discount. I'm sort of bummed as I wanted to go in May, but I could only get 139 (in May) at AK. I'm just hoping the first part of June is not too crowded? Do you guys think this rate (139) is a good deal? This is way more confusing than just hopping in the car and driving to DL
Anyhow thanks for all of your help!!
Regards,
Janice

 

[rccruiser]

I wonder if the problem with the Annual Passholder Hotel rate change (not being available) might have something to do with recent software upgrade problems at WDW?

From Orlando Business Journal:

... Project Tomorrowland. Walt Disney World is in the middle of a massive switchover to a software system produced by German manufacturer SAP AG.

It hasn't been an entirely smooth transition. Some data didn't successfully convert from the old system.

Cast members aren't alone in their frustration.

According to a story in Internetweek.com, 57 percent of corporations using the SAP AG software were still waiting for a payback on their multi-million-dollar investment.

A SAP spokesman questioned the validity of the report, citing the small number of customers interviewed -- 21.

As for the Disney employees, their attitude seems reflected in their nickname for the switch over: "Project Tomorrowland" ...