Your accommodation

[BecBennett]

We booked our accomm at POR for our wedding, under the wedding discount and I'm hoping that a better discount will eventually come out.

However, most of the discounts that come out are for packages, and because of our wedding AP's we don't need tickets.

So, what did everyone else do? Did you buy extra park tickets to get better discounts? Did you find a great AP discount? Or a room only discount?

I don't suppose anyone has one of those handy spreadsheets to work out what discounts work best?

 

[neener3]

We were lucky enough that our wedding date (Feb 15th) fell within the discounts that Disney released on Monday.

We originally thought that we'd go with the room only discount, but since we're staying at Pop, it wasn't a great value. Our stay also happened to be within date ranges where the discount ended, so we would lose room only discount halfway through, but if you check in on a free dining day, you get free dining for the whole stay.

We had wanted to do something for DH's mom anyway, and his aunt as well, since it is a bit of a financial burden for them to come (more than the rest of our guests). We decided to go with free dining, and then give the 2 days to his mom and aunt. It kind of worked for us...something for them, something for us, still less than rack rate!

Also, the 2-day passes for the free dining don't have to be used in your visit, so keep that in mind too!

Hope that makes sense...I guess the moral of the story is to look at your dates and play online to see what the cheapest option is!

 

[BecBennett]

Yeah it does make sense, I didn't consider giving the extra tickets to guests.

 

[weedee]

we just used a room only discount. We are going back in November for a trip with our APs so we could still only use the room only discount because the annual pass discounts weren't available for then.

 

[lurkyloo]

The AP hotel discounts don't usually come out til about 2 months beforehand, so we booked at the wedding rate and then waited to see if we could get a better one closer to our dates.

Also, back in the old days, you could get free dining if you only bought a 1-day ticket per person so, because we had APs, we did that. Now they require you to buy at least a 5-day ticket (for the current offer) so it's totally not worth the added $$$ to me.

 

[BecBennett]

Now they require you to buy at least a 5-day ticket (for the current offer) so it's totally not worth the added $$$ to me.

Ooh, ouch. Didn't realise it was 5 days now.

 

[angel81uk]

I think it's slightly different for us in the Uk as its generally cheaper for us to book here than through the US site anyway. But it ended up much cheaper in the long run for us to book a package and get free dining, especially as here they are offering 43% off at SSR or OKW and free DDP. The downside is we have to book tickets for the entire length of stay (and we're staying for 21 nights, ouch!).

 

[ChocoKat]

I just used the %25 off discount that is being offered now for room only for my time frame 02/11).
It actually applied to club level for the resort we wanted and ended up making our room cheaper than the ones offered by the wedding discount, so we got it that way.

When a passholder discount comes out we will add the code to the reservation if it applies to that level of rooms.

If you wait just a little bit maybe a new offer will come out for your window. We waited until codes were available for ours and then sent a newsletter to our guests with the info as well.

 

[girli565]

Even though you haven't activated you AP you can still book the AP discount price as long as you have the AP at check in.

But like Lurky said, they usually don't come out with AP discounts until 2-3 months before the dates. I say hold out because you can probably get a room only or AP discount for less than the wedding discount. As long as there's rooms available under the AP or room only discount announced they can switch or cancel and rebook your reservation.

 

[neener3]

Just wanted to clarify - it is 2 days you have to buy for free dining, not 5. Disney uses the "5 day" as an example on their site, and a lot of people have been misled by it. We've both just booked this week, and DF's dad and step-mom have booked; we all got free dining (we booked a 2 day, they booked 3). We then upgraded from Quick Service Dining to Dining plus (worked out to about 5 dollars a day each!).

They sure don't make it easy to understand though...

 

[BecBennett]

2 days is doable. I might look into it a little more. It may not be the best deal for us, but it's worthwhile knowing how much it could save us.

Also, when changing your booking from the wedding discount to say a room only discount, do you need to make sure they know that you've got a complimentary night with your existing booking? or should they be able to see that?

Thanks.

 

[mareeld86]

What about adding the no expiration option to your ticket and then using it next yeah or in the future if you go or to buy future annual passes?? I know if your like me Bec you will want to go back to WDW again...

 

[brer rabbit 28]

What about if you book through dreams Unlimited? They will then add the AP discount for you as soon as it becomes available as long as you tell them you will have one.

 

[ChocoKat]

You can do it through an agency or yourself.
We normally book online first using a general discount.
Then keep an eye out for new discounts.
When AP discounts come out, we call the reservations line and get them to add the new codes.
Since we are FL residents sometimes the last second we get even better discounts, so then we call, yet again and get them to lower our rate even more.

We did that for our PS trip. We went from 25% off to 45% our entire length of stay at Pop.