Disney Hotel Prices are Out of Control!

Disney expanded the EMH and 60FP windows to certain select non-Disney hotels in the Disney Springs area basically (only certain ones qualify). It's still on Disney World property but not Disney-owned properties. I should note it's on a rolling approval meaning that Disney re-approves the benefits. I believe right now they go through 2020 at the moment.
I think there is around 20 of them (correct me if I am wrong) and to see Disney Resort prices increase the way they have and then extend the 60 day window to all these off site hotels makes me feel what you pay to stay on site has been devalued as it's no longer a benefit that you only get for staying on site at a Disney resort.
 
Discounts are for far less than they used to be though, are they not? Especially if you’re just part of the general public. Plus you do often need to be flexible on your resort, room type, or your dates.

It’s not quite like the Old Navy/Gap pricing structure where there is literally always some sort of easy to access discount for anybody who looks for it.

So far, we haven't had any issues getting a discount either a public, Disney Visa or AP. The only time no discounts are available has generally been holidays and now for a couple of days surrounding SWGE. We've gone every month except November at some point and have for many many years, always gotten a discount. AP discounts have been consistent year round as well. If you book early enough, you don't have to be all that flexible- but it certainly helps. As with anything, the earlier you book, the more supply there is. But I just tacked on 5 days to a short trip in September and was able to get a resort I was happy with on an AP discount. Since 1987, we have never paid rack rate. General discounts weren't available that far back, but there was a disney club sort of thing (don't recall the name) that allowed a small discount.
 
I see - 60FP for the onsite non Disney hotels. That's always been the case for the Swan/Dolphin (our choice for the last 4-5 visits given the price and location)
 
I think there is around 20 of them (correct me if I am wrong) and to see Disney Resort prices increase the way they have and then extend the 60 day window to all these off site hotels makes me feel what you pay to stay on site has been devalued as it's no longer a benefit that you only get for staying on site at a Disney resort.

This I agree with. There is still enough to keep us on site, but it's not as much a value as it used to be. I don't believe there are 20, it's just the Disney Springs resorts- 8 I believe.
 


I've never seen the appeal of over paying for a tiny room so I can, what, go to the park an hour early sometimes or get a $25 wrist band? Oh I know, now I can plan out what rides I'll ride 60 days in advance instead of 30.

I just don't get it. EVERY hotel I've ever stayed at that is remotely close to Disney has some sort of free shuttle to the parks. And free breakfast. And free parking. With bigger rooms. At lower prices.

To me, unless you are going all out and staying at one of the hotels where the monorail comes through, or maybe Ft Wilderness for the boat ride to MK, what exactly is the appeal?
 
So far, we haven't had any issues getting a discount either a public, Disney Visa or AP. The only time no discounts are available has generally been holidays and now for a couple of days surrounding SWGE. We've gone every month except November at some point and have for many many years, always gotten a discount. AP discounts have been consistent year round as well. If you book early enough, you don't have to be all that flexible- but it certainly helps. As with anything, the earlier you book, the more supply there is. But I just tacked on 5 days to a short trip in September and was able to get a resort I was happy with on an AP discount. Since 1987, we have never paid rack rate. General discounts weren't available that far back, but there was a disney club sort of thing (don't recall the name) that allowed a small discount.

All of you who are so good at this, here's a challenge for you:

We are going 5/6 - 5/15/20, staying at Gran Destino, water view and that's what we want. Get me a discount, we don't have APs as we don't go to Disney very often.

1, 2, 3...go!

I'll buy you something if you get us a discount. :)
 


I believe there are 13, if you count SOG and the Waldorf Astoria.
Probably right, I was just referring to the DS resorts. Whatever the count, it's too many as far as I'm concerned. That should've stayed an on site perk only.
 
I've never seen the appeal of over paying for a tiny room so I can, what, go to the park an hour early sometimes or get a $25 wrist band? Oh I know, now I can plan out what rides I'll ride 60 days in advance instead of 30.

I just don't get it. EVERY hotel I've ever stayed at that is remotely close to Disney has some sort of free shuttle to the parks. And free breakfast. And free parking. With bigger rooms. At lower prices.

To me, unless you are going all out and staying at one of the hotels where the monorail comes through, or maybe Ft Wilderness for the boat ride to MK, what exactly is the appeal?

I don't stay values or rarely moderates (although I am for part of our trip next month!) so we don't have tiny rooms and we sure don't when we stay at the villas. It's really just personal preference and we prefer being on site both for the convenience and the immersion in Disney. Our favorite resort is WL, but not because of the transportation, we just love the ambience. For convenience, we much prefer YC or BC or Boardwalk. Nothing better than being able to walk to a park. For those that's not important to, they can save a lot of money! Neither is wrong.
 
All of you who are so good at this, here's a challenge for you:

We are going 5/6 - 5/15/20, staying at Gran Destino, water view and that's what we want. Get me a discount, we don't have APs as we don't go to Disney very often.

1, 2, 3...go!

I'll buy you something if you get us a discount. :)

Discounts aren't out for that time frame yet. If that's where you want to stay, book now, watch for discounts. If you're staying that many days, take a look at getting an AP for at least one person. The room discounts alone will most likely make it well worth doing. AP's include memory maker, 20% off shopping and 10% off dining at a lot of places. My AP more than paid for itself on my first trip on it with just a 5 day stay at the YC. For a 11 night stay, I can't imagine that it wouldn't save you money.
 
All of you who are so good at this, here's a challenge for you:

We are going 5/6 - 5/15/20, staying at Gran Destino, water view and that's what we want. Get me a discount, we don't have APs as we don't go to Disney very often.

1, 2, 3...go!

I'll buy you something if you get us a discount. :)


When discounts drop this will be the first place to see them.
 
Discounts aren't out for that time frame yet. If that's where you want to stay, book now, watch for discounts. If you're staying that many days, take a look at getting an AP for at least one person. The room discounts alone will most likely make it well worth doing. AP's include memory maker, 20% off shopping and 10% off dining at a lot of places. My AP more than paid for itself on my first trip on it with just a 5 day stay at the YC. For a 11 night stay, I can't imagine that it wouldn't save you money.

We aren't using an AP, so that's out.

As always, I'll keep an eye open for a discount, but I'm willing to bet that when it comes out and I call, somehow the room category I want won't have any available...
 
We aren't using an AP, so that's out.

As always, I'll keep an eye open for a discount, but I'm willing to bet that when it comes out and I call, somehow the room category I want won't have any available...

You don't have to call, you can check online. But yes, if you insist it only be 1 resort and 1 specific room category, your chances are less that you'll get a discount. We usually have a couple we prefer that we can bounce back and forth depending on which discounts are better. But I can tell you when I went to book last week, I took a long look at Gran Destino towers. We had stayed there for a single night on our trip a few weeks ago and I really liked it. Even at that late date, it was open for my time frame. I opted for POR because I'll have my grandson and he fell in love with the royal rooms. On a trip we made in May, I would've never considered the YC, it was just my grandson and I, but the discount was excellent and I couldn't pass it up. Turns out it was a good idea- they upgraded me to Club Level when what I had was a standard view room! I like to keep options open rather than picking a resort and sticking with it no matter what. If you choose to categorically refuse to go with an AP even if it saved you money, that's your choice as well. Honestly, it sounds like you're trying to prove a point rather than get a discount. No one will argue that if you severely limit your choices, your options won't be limited as well.
 
You don't have to call, you can check online. But yes, if you insist it only be 1 resort and 1 specific room category, your chances are less that you'll get a discount. We usually have a couple we prefer that we can bounce back and forth depending on which discounts are better. But I can tell you when I went to book last week, I took a long look at Gran Destino towers. We had stayed there for a single night on our trip a few weeks ago and I really liked it. Even at that late date, it was open for my time frame. I opted for POR because I'll have my grandson and he fell in love with the royal rooms. On a trip we made in May, I would've never considered the YC, it was just my grandson and I, but the discount was excellent and I couldn't pass it up. Turns out it was a good idea- they upgraded me to Club Level when what I had was a standard view room! I like to keep options open rather than picking a resort and sticking with it no matter what. If you choose to categorically refuse to go with an AP even if it saved you money, that's your choice as well. Honestly, it sounds like you're trying to prove a point rather than get a discount. No one will argue that if you severely limit your choices, your options won't be limited as well.

I'm not trying to prove my point, I'm just telling it like it is. Most stays I've tried to get the discount when offered, it didn't work out. :confused3

We can't comfortably afford an AP at this point as well as buying another hopper, sit down dinner, etc. - there's no guarantee there will even be an AP discount next May. We did the budget, it doesn't work right now.

As for being willing to just change resorts s- we have stayed at Poly, Yacht, Beach, but this time we need less expensive and we want Gran Destino.
We don't go to Disney just for the parks, the hotel is a big part of it. We research and decide which hotel we'd like to spend some time in. Gran Destino is the next best thing to the deluxe in our opinion, the views are great, people are giving amazing reviews and it looks beautiful. As I said, it's much, much cheaper than deluxes.
We don't want outdoor corridors, so won't do rest of CSR or any other mod/value so a discount there is of no value to us.

We booked Destino as it's what we can comfortably afford, so yeah, we aren't really willing to change.

You seem to go very often. We don't. It's not easy for us to just change dates.
 
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I'm not trying to prove my point, I'm just telling it like it is. Most stays I've tried to get the discount when offered, it didn't work out. That would be idiotic to not take a discount just to prove a point. :confused3

We can't comfortably afford an AP at this point as well as buying another hopper, sit down dinner, etc. - there's no guarantee there will even be an AP discount next May. We did the budget, it doesn't work right now.

As for being willing to just change resorts s- we have stayed at Poly, Yacht, Beach, but this time we need less expensive and we want Gran Destino.
We don't go to Disney just for the parks, the hotel is a big part of it. We research and decide which hotel we'd like to spend some time in. Gran Destino is the next best thing to the deluxe in our opinion, the views are great, people are giving amazing reviews and it looks beautiful. As I said, it's much, much cheaper than deluxes.
We don't want outdoor corridors, so won't do rest of CSR or any other mod/value so a discount there is of no value to us.

We booked Destino as it's what we can comfortably afford, so yeah, we aren't really willing to change.

You seem to go very often. We don't. It's not easy for us to just change dates.

I'm not entirely sure you want advice, but I'm going to at least tell you what I'd do in your situation:

Book the hotel you want. Start now saving up money for your tix, with the goal of having enough for an AP before your trip. Watch this board for discounts, and when the AP rates come out for your time frame, call and ask them to see if you can get an AP rate for your trip. If a room is available, and if the savings are more than the cost differential between an AP and the regular ticket you'd normally buy, then change your booking and buy an AP just before your FP window opens with the money you've saved up. Enjoy the restaurant/merch discounts as an added perk. You don't need an AP in hand to book a discounted room; you just need to show it at check in.

No part of this requires you to be at all flexible with your dates or your resort choice (like you, we're almost never very flexible on dates, though I change resorts a lot), nor do you have to buy an AP before you know whether or not you'd get a discount. If you can't get a discount that makes it worthwhile, then you haven't wasted any money and you already have your reservation at a price you're willing to pay.

I'm trying to think back, and iirc, we have booked this way for most WDW and Universal trips we've taken over the past decade. Granted, we generally stay at Deluxe resorts, but I can't remember ever not being able to get an AP rate good enough to justify buying a pass.
 
I'm not entirely sure you want advice, but I'm going to at least tell you what I'd do in your situation:

Book the hotel you want. Start now saving up money for your tix, with the goal of having enough for an AP before your trip. Watch this board for discounts, and when the AP rates come out for your time frame, call and ask them to see if you can get an AP rate for your trip. If a room is available, and if the savings are more than the cost differential between an AP and the regular ticket you'd normally buy, then change your booking and buy an AP just before your FP window opens with the money you've saved up. Enjoy the restaurant/merch discounts as an added perk. You don't need an AP in hand to book a discounted room; you just need to show it at check in.

No part of this requires you to be at all flexible with your dates or your resort choice (like you, we're almost never very flexible on dates, though I change resorts a lot), nor do you have to buy an AP before you know whether or not you'd get a discount. If you can't get a discount that makes it worthwhile, then you haven't wasted any money and you already have your reservation at a price you're willing to pay.

I'm trying to think back, and iirc, we have booked this way for most WDW and Universal trips we've taken over the past decade. Granted, we generally stay at Deluxe resorts, but I can't remember ever not being able to get an AP rate good enough to justify buying a pass.

Thanks for advice. :)

Mostly my post was answering those who say no one ever pays rack rate, I responded that we do indeed pay rack rate sometimes and I was trying to explain why, not complaining. :)

It's not that I don't try for discounts, but as explained previously they aren't ever available for where I want to stay at and the time I want to stay. We don't go that often, so I've only tried a few times.

Thanks though! We are already booked for May 2020 at a price we are comfortable with.
 
Thanks for advice. :)

Mostly my post was answering those who say no one ever pays rack rate, I responded that we do indeed pay rack rate sometimes and I was trying to explain why, not complaining. :)

It's not that I don't try for discounts, but as explained previously they aren't ever available for where I want to stay at and the time I want to stay. We don't go that often, so I've only tried a few times.

Thanks though! We are already booked for May 2020 at a price we are comfortable with.

I bet more people pay rack rate than it would appear from posts on here. I would guess most guests look what’s available and book what appeals to them and works for their budget. Done and done.

The general public discounts available on the site currently are half as much as I remember them being before we started renting points. And rack rates much higher. I think it’s definitely fair to feel like prices have gone way up despite the availability of discounts.
 
You seem to go very often. We don't. It's not easy for us to just change dates.

I don't go as often as my signature would lead you to believe. lol This is a very unusual year. lol We do go frequently, but once a year is our norm, sometimes every other year. There were several unusual factors that allowed me to go as often as I have. But for the entire family to go, our schedule is very locked in. We visit in the summer and it has to be between late June and late July. My kids and kids-in-law are all teachers. It's taking a lot of work for them to get off for the Illuminations trip- something they'd normally never do. But we have said for many years that when Illuminations ended, we would be there to see that last show no matter what. They are only going for the latter portion of our trip, it will be just my grandson and I at POR because there was no way they could get that kind of time off.

We are not flexible on dates, but I am very flexible on which resorts we will stay at. I'm all about the resorts too. It's a great part of our vacation. We have a handful that we like and we'll go with whatever we can get the best deal on. I've never claimed no one pays rack rate, but I will say that for a vast majority of people, it's a choice not to use a discount. It's priorites and if a specific resort is your priority, you may well not get a discount. For us, price rules.
 

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