January/February 2018 discounts, who else is in?

[Mika02]

I noticed for my January Dates that Beach Club, Yacht Club wasn't even showing up for me under the AP Discounts. And when I tried last month for the Gift of magic the prices were very high. I'm wondering if its due to the construction as well.

 

[dwheaton]

We're going from 1/11 to 1/15 (over MLK weekend), and I was able to use a 30% pin code that was e-mailed to me (they also sent one in the mail; apparently I'm on the list) for an AKL standard room. It worked out to about $268 a night I believe. I also got an e-mail about a 35% off Disney Visa discount, but that one is mostly gone.

I did notice that the resorts offered with the codes and discounts were more limited this year. No Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary, etc. It was mostly Epcot resorts like the Boardwalk and the AKL for the largest discount, then some moderates and values with lower discounts.

 

[sbbwdw]

Hoping you guys can help. So, I am looking at booking dates 1/2-1/6 for 2019. Just starting to price things out for next post Christmas trip. We usually go for fall break in Sept., but the heat was too much this time. So, we are looking at either WL or AKL both standard rooms. I was surprised to see WL coming in a little less. Almost $100 less for the 4 nights. My question is, when discounts come out for that time frame will one of those resorts be easier to get the discount applied? I am wondering if AKL is more expensive because there will be a discount and WL standard is a little less, but there will not be any discounts. I know this is all a bit of a guess at this point. Just wondering if past experts have any thoughts? I tried to take a look at 2018 to get an idea but everything is booked up so I cannot do any comparisons. Thanks!

 

[amandaleigh2]

Hoping you guys can help. So, I am looking at booking dates 1/2-1/6 for 2019. Just starting to price things out for next post Christmas trip. We usually go for fall break in Sept., but the heat was too much this time. So, we are looking at either WL or AKL both standard rooms. I was surprised to see WL coming in a little less. Almost $100 less for the 4 nights. My question is, when discounts come out for that time frame will one of those resorts be easier to get the discount applied? I am wondering if AKL is more expensive because there will be a discount and WL standard is a little less, but there will not be any discounts. I know this is all a bit of a guess at this point. Just wondering if past experts have any thoughts? I tried to take a look at 2018 to get an idea but everything is booked up so I cannot do any comparisons. Thanks!

From what I could tell, there were much better discounts for AKL standard than for WL standard. In fact, I'm pretty sure all of the standard rooms at WL were sold out before any discounts were released, so no discounts were available.

 

[melanielll]

Hoping you guys can help. So, I am looking at booking dates 1/2-1/6 for 2019. Just starting to price things out for next post Christmas trip. We usually go for fall break in Sept., but the heat was too much this time. So, we are looking at either WL or AKL both standard rooms. I was surprised to see WL coming in a little less. Almost $100 less for the 4 nights. My question is, when discounts come out for that time frame will one of those resorts be easier to get the discount applied? I am wondering if AKL is more expensive because there will be a discount and WL standard is a little less, but there will not be any discounts. I know this is all a bit of a guess at this point. Just wondering if past experts have any thoughts? I tried to take a look at 2018 to get an idea but everything is booked up so I cannot do any comparisons. Thanks!

Here is my story from this January's AP discount.

We are going to be there from the end of December until January 9th. We stay at The Contemporary - which is actually totally full on Marathon Weekend (Jan 5-8). I booked the rooms last December. When the AP discount came out, there were no rooms available for the length of our stay. There were, however, a few night in January which had rooms available and had the AP discount available. I saw this online. I then called and got them to apply the discount to all of the nights in January on my existing reservation. This was more nights than showed up online because I got the rate applied for nights when there were currently no room available. This took me about an hour and a half and talking to 4 different people.

So - you can get discounts applied to existing reservations - but you have to spend the time on the phone finding someone who will do it. This will save you if there are no rooms available. But - you can never guess which rooms will have discounts applied to them I am seeing a definite trend towards discounting the higher priced category rooms at each hotel. For example - during our stay, I could not find any Garden Wing or Bay Lake view rooms with discounts. Theme park view, suites and concierge rooms all had discounts.

Also - you have to keep trying. Last December we stayed in the tower with a theme park view. I couldn't get an AP discount until a few days before we arrived. I tried for weeks - but none were available. One popped up a few days before we arrived, and I was able to get it applied to our existing reservation. Last year in December, I saved around $1500. This year in January will be around $1400. My March trip savings were around $1000. Our May trip also got a discount, but I can't remember how much it was for. Keeping looking is worth it.

My advice is to book where you want to stay early. Then if you can get a discount, great. If not, be willing to pay rack rate or to change your hotel.

Edited to add this - You also should book early for another reason - room rate increases. The Garden Wing room that I booked in December of last year for December of this year was at rack room rate. Because rates jumped so much this year, this rack rate was less than any discount that I found later in the year. 15% off of the new rate was still more than the old rate. Ouch!

 

[Dfrishe]

Would anyone with an AP be willing to check rates for POFQ for 2/17 - 2/21 for 2 adults? We are currently booked oin n a river view with 4 day passes.
Thanks in advance!

 

[melanielll]

Would anyone with an AP be willing to check rates for POFQ for 2/17 - 2/21 for 2 adults? We are currently booked oin n a river view with 4 day passes.
Thanks in advance!

King bed ...$265.70 That's the only room configuration that comes up as available with the discount.

 

[Wubar]

Anyone with an AP willing to check Pop for std room from 1/14-1/20/18 for 2 adults and 1 child? Thanks in advance!

 

[Syndrome]

Would anyone with an AP be willing to check rates for POFQ for 2/17 - 2/21 for 2 adults? We are currently booked oin n a river view with 4 day passes.
Thanks in advance!

King bed ...$265.70 That's the only room configuration that comes up as available with the discount.

Thats a pretty good discount for POFQ . Looks to be about a 15% off discount. Thats very good considering POFQ is almost never included in any of the discount offers .
We just stayed at POFQ about a month ago and even though its scheduled for a room refurb starting in Jan 2018 , it was probably about the cleanest , well kept Disney room with the most comfortable bed we have ever stayed in .
Just keep in mind ........for your dates, there will be some room refurb construction going on at POFQ . They are scheduled to do one building at a time . When they finish POFQ, they are moving over to POR for a room refurb , sometime in 2018 .

 

[Dfrishe]

King bed ...$265.70 That's the only room configuration that comes up as available with the discount.

Thank you!

 

[Dfrishe]

Thats a pretty good discount for POFQ . Looks to be about a 15% off discount. Thats very good considering POFQ is almost never included in any of the discount offers .
We just stayed at POFQ about a month ago and even though its scheduled for a room refurb starting in Jan 2018 , it was probably about the cleanest , well kept Disney room with the most comfortable bed we have ever stayed in .
Just keep in mind ........for your dates, there will be some room refurb construction going on at POFQ . They are scheduled to do one building at a time . When they finish POFQ, they are moving over to POR for a room refurb , sometime in 2018 .

Thankyou for the info!

 

[shoes99]

well my stalking payed off, I just changed to the Yacht Club garden view accessible for the same
price as the AKL Pool View still using the 35% Disney Visa room only discount. This is challenging
but fun. The website was wacky for the past two days but I was able to use the change feature
on the current reservation.\Update: I realize that this is one of the dog friendly hotels, but we will take our chance. I love the location.

My pre-cruise stay 2/17 and 2/16 are blocked out for discounts. We will stay in ASMovies Preferred for $198 a night pre-cruise on the Wonder out o
Port Canaveral and then come back to the Yacht Club with the 35% discount on a Woods/Garden View.

 

[earfulofmagic]

Anyone with an AP willing to check Pop for std room from 1/14-1/20/18 for 2 adults and 1 child? Thanks in advance!

Showing nothing at Pop available with the AP discount for those dates - I tried splitting some dates, like 1/14-16, 1/16-20, 1/16-18 etc. and still nothing.

I feel your pain, there aren't any Pop AP discounts available for my Jan dates either.

 

[Wubar]

Showing nothing at Pop available with the AP discount for those dates - I tried splitting some dates, like 1/14-16, 1/16-20, 1/16-18 etc. and still nothing.

I feel your pain, there aren't any Pop AP discounts available for my Jan dates either.

Thanks for checking, I really appreciate it. Good luck finding an AP discount for your dates!

 

[OhAmbs]

I'm getting a bit frustrated. Trying to book a 6-7 day trip to get our fix (Moved to DC this year from Florida). We'd be meeting some family there who is a party of 3. When I look at Pop for Feb 26-Mar 4th I see a standard room, reg price. When I put in the other parties travel dates Mar 1-4, there is nothing available. We want to stay at the same resort.

Also, When looking at LM at AoA, I can book my stay but as a split, Feb 26- Mar 1, then Mar 1-4. That's odd to me.

 

[melanielll]

I'm getting a bit frustrated. Trying to book a 6-7 day trip to get our fix (Moved to DC this year from Florida). We'd be meeting some family there who is a party of 3. When I look at Pop for Feb 26-Mar 4th I see a standard room, reg price. When I put in the other parties travel dates Mar 1-4, there is nothing available. We want to stay at the same resort.

Also, When looking at LM at AoA, I can book my stay but as a split, Feb 26- Mar 1, then Mar 1-4. That's odd to me.

Welcome to Disney's new resort booking algorithm.

It may be that there is only one room for the first set of dates - but I doubt it. I would book two trips at with the longer stay and then modify one of them. I had to do this kind of junk for our trip this month.

 

[OhAmbs]

Update: I called in and the rep was able to book the shorter stay, each day separate, then have guest services 'push them together' as 1 booking. Strangely, they requested a $200 deposit (instead of the standard 1 night) with a final due date for the balance of 30 days before our check in date. This old timer is used to the 1 night deposit with the balance due at check in