Is this likely the best price I’m going to get at DLH?

[AndrewC]

Currently have a standard room at the Disneyland Hotel booked for Oct 19th to Oct 24th. I might extend it a day longer but I'll nail that down soon...

Currently the price is as follows

Oct 19th - Saturday $549.00
Oct 20th - Sunday $475.00
Oct 21th - Monday $475.00
Oct 22th - Tuesday $475.00
Oct 23th - Wednesday $475.00

Total with tax is $2865.

I keep seeing wide open availability during those dates, and plus a day on each end, for the standard room. However, when I look on 3rd party sites, AmexTravel (this booking would score me almost 15,000 points!), CheapTickets, Orbitz, etc I only see $700+/night rooms at the DLH for these dates. Premium view or concierge level, no standard rooms. I also keep reading on all the "How to save money at Disney!" sites that the last three weeks of October fall into the lowest/cheapest season for Disneyland resort hotel rooms, which I find odd since they do pretty good business during Halloween season.

Anyway, based on previous years and based on the traffic the park is seeing this year, am I likely going to see an offer for 10 or 20% discount on standard rooms direct from Disney?

Also, does Disney release rooms to 3rd party sites at different times? Like 60 days out is there a chance I'll suddenly see a bunch of standard rooms show up on AmexTravel and other 3rd party sites? Or is what is loaded now probably what will be there until check in?

So far I've been checking Disneyland direct and AmexTravel daily, which is a pain considering I've book this reservation back in April. BUT, at the same time, I don't want to miss saving a few hundred bucks (or earning thousands of points) by rebooking the exact same room during the same dates because new rooms were loaded or a promo was started...

 

[pharmama]

The rates you have are pretty low for DLH at this point barring a convention rate or special event rate (or military). I can tell you that there is a state pharmacy conference being hosted at the DLH Oct 17-20 so some standard rooms may be held in a block for that (if you're curious, the convention rate for a Std room is $344/nt). Those rooms can be booked through 10/22. If I look on CheapTickets from 10/22-24 only I do see Standard rooms come up at DLH so perhaps the convention is contributing to standard view availability at the beginning of your stay for third party sites. Disney can control how much inventory and what type of room they release to third parties for booking and they could indeed decide to release more standard rooms closer to the dates if the convention block is released. I don't think there's a need to check daily this far out...maybe start looking again in a couple months?

No way to know yet if Disney will be offering a fall room promo so you'll just have to wait on that one. I'm sure it depends a lot on what their bookings are looking like come fall (and if/when ROTR opens...which sounds like it won't be by fall but who knows).

 

[AndrewC]

The rates you have are pretty low for DLH at this point barring a convention rate or special event rate (or military). I can tell you that there is a state pharmacy conference being hosted at the DLH Oct 17-20 so some standard rooms may be held in a block for that (if you're curious, the convention rate for a Std room is $344/nt). Those rooms can be booked through 10/22. If I look on CheapTickets from 10/22-24 only I do see Standard rooms come up at DLH so perhaps the convention is contributing to standard view availability at the beginning of your stay for third party sites. Disney can control how much inventory and what type of room they release to third parties for booking and they could indeed decide to release more standard rooms closer to the dates if the convention block is released. I don't think there's a need to check daily this far out...maybe start looking again in a couple months?

No way to know yet if Disney will be offering a fall room promo so you'll just have to wait on that one. I'm sure it depends a lot on what their bookings are looking like come fall (and if/when ROTR opens...which sounds like it won't be by fall but who knows).

Do you happen to recall if there have been fall promo's before? I feel like there have been late summer promo's that end come October but not actually any that cover the month of October...

Also, man I would trade any discount, points, promo, or anything if it meant ROTR was open by my dates! LOL

 

[Geemo]

Do you happen to recall if there have been fall promo's before? I feel like there have been late summer promo's that end come October but not actually any that cover the month of October...

Also, man I would trade any discount, points, promo, or anything if it meant ROTR was open by my dates! LOL

Here's a link to the history of Promo's Rolled out by Disney.

The Summer/Fall one generally end the latter part of September and the Fall/Winter one generally begins the tail end of October.

Geemo

 

[ParkHopper1]

Pro tip...when booking room only reservation direct with Disney at one of the three resort properties you can cancel for full refund up to five days out from arrival...meaning there is zero risk in booking direct now at those rates and if a lower rate pops up along the way from Disney or a third party site you can always cancel and rebook at the new rate.

That does NOT apply to packages, certain promos or third party bookings which is why it has to be substantial savings for me not to book direct.

 

[avalon451]

Yeah, it looks like historically there’s a 20-30% off weekdays in late Aug- Sept, that starts sometime between now and mid July. I’m a Disney Visa cardholder, so watching that like a hawk to knock a bit off 2 nights of our September trip.

 

[AndrewC]

Pro tip...when booking room only reservation direct with Disney at one of the three resort properties you can cancel for full refund up to five days out from arrival...meaning there is zero risk in booking direct now at those rates and if a lower rate pops up along the way from Disney or a third party site you can always cancel and rebook at the new rate.

That does NOT apply to packages, certain promos or third party bookings which is why it has to be substantial savings for me not to book direct.

Yep, I've already got the stuff booked that I listed in the first post, what I'm really curious about is if I should keep checking every day, or probably wait to check until like mid August time frame...

 

[AndrewC]

Yeah, it looks like historically there’s a 20-30% off weekdays in late Aug- Sept, that starts sometime between now and mid July. I’m a Disney Visa cardholder, so watching that like a hawk to knock a bit off 2 nights of our September trip.

Is there any real benefit to holding the Disney Visa card? I know there's a small signup bonus (what, like $250 or something) but do you gain any perks or extended discount windows?

 

[LizzyS]

I need to show these prices to my husband to really prove to him that we got a great deal at $356 per night back in late February.

OP, I hope you can take advantage of a better rate at some point before your stay!

 

[AndrewC]

I need to show these prices to my husband to really prove to him that we got a great deal at $356 per night back in late February.

OP, I hope you can take advantage of a better rate at some point before your stay!

I'm not holding my breath sadly... it looks like historically it's the week of Halloween that the promo rates start, unless Halloween is like a Monday, then it starts the week before. So, this year with Halloween being Thursday, I'm suspecting the promo dates will be Sunday Oct 27th and onward. I hope I'm wrong and because of traffic flows they add a week (possibly since more of the Halloween dates are week days then maybe they'll be getting less out of town folks during that time).

Again, if I had to pay that rate and instead get ROTR open I'll be beyond happy

This will be my forth year down there during this time frame and third year at DLH, I absolutely hate the cost, but I'm used to it >.<

 

[avalon451]

Is there any real benefit to holding the Disney Visa card? I know there's a small signup bonus (what, like $250 or something) but do you gain any perks or extended discount windows?

Eh, I don’t know. The signup bonus covered the $50 yearly fee plus $150, and I put the hotel and the flights on it. Used it since then for restaurants, groceries, etc so that I have around $100 coming in a Disney gift card from the 2% kickback. You get like 10% off in some restaurants and shops at the resort. For the summertime room discount that starts soon (if they have it this year, knock on wood) they usually offer it first to cardholders, then AP holders, then lastly the general public. So I’m charging on it then paying it off immediately to avoid the ridiculous interest rate. That said, I’m starting to think it would be a better idea to get a Target Red Card, buy Disney Gift cards with it at a 5% discount, and use that to pay for the balance on the hotel, and dining in the parks.

 

[AndrewC]

Eh, I don’t know. The signup bonus covered the $50 yearly fee plus $150, and I put the hotel and the flights on it. Used it since then for restaurants, groceries, etc so that I have around $100 coming in a Disney gift card from the 2% kickback. You get like 10% off in some restaurants and shops at the resort. For the summertime room discount that starts soon (if they have it this year, knock on wood) they usually offer it first to cardholders, then AP holders, then lastly the general public. So I’m charging on it then paying it off immediately to avoid the ridiculous interest rate. That said, I’m starting to think it would be a better idea to get a Target Red Card, buy Disney Gift cards with it at a 5% discount, and use that to pay for the balance on the hotel, and dining in the parks.

Buying the gift cards is a good idea! I've got an Amex Gold card which earns 4x at grocery stores, usually I can redeem points for at least 1.3 cents but often 1.5 cents (and way more if you fly internationally in biz class or something). That means a $500 Disney gift card earns at least $26 at my lowest redemption rate. I usually cover my domestic first class flight (just down from Washington state) and back from Amex points, lol

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Is there any real benefit to holding the Disney Visa card? I know there's a small signup bonus (what, like $250 or something) but do you gain any perks or extended discount windows?

Ask this question in the Budget Board -- it's absolutely amazing what you can learn there!

 

[AndrewC]

Ask this question in the Budget Board -- it's absolutely amazing what you can learn there!

Thanks for the heads up! I’ve just lived over here on the SoCal one, totally forgot there were other parts, lol