Save Up to 40% Off Disney World Hotels Now to Christmas 2020!

In addition to the “Magic Is Here” deal, Walt Disney World has released awesome new room-only discounts for now through Christmas 2020. In this post, we’ll share the details of these special offers, and share some analysis as to how much money you’ll actually save with each.

There are actually three “new” room-only discounts as of today. Two of them are simply extensions of the “Rediscover the Magic” offer that was released back in July for Annual Passholders and Florida residents. There are obviously some differences (which we’ll get to below), but those discounts are not nearly as interesting as the brand-new deal, which we’re dubbing Walt Disney World’s Southerner Savings.

For the Southerner Savings room-only discount, residents of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, or West Virginia, can “Rediscover the Magic” with great savings on hotel rooms when taking advantage of this special offer…

Here are the official details: save up to 30% on rooms at select Walt Disney World resort hotels for stays most nights September 4 through December 25, 2020. Walt Disney World’s Southerner Savings discount is available for booking through December 25, 2020.

This special offer excludes the following room types: 3-bedroom villas, Cabins at Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows. Additional per-adult charges may apply if more than 2 adults per room at Disney Value, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts and Studios at Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts.

Here are the resort by resort savings rates:

Walt Disney World is touting that guests can “book with confidence.” For extra peace of mind, know that if your plans change, any Disney-imposed change and cancellation fees will be waived up to the date of check-in for reservations with arrivals through December 31, 2020.

This is consistent with Walt Disney World’s temporary new cancellation policy, applicable to anything booked. It’s not unique to this offer.

Next, the discount chart for Florida Residents:

Finally, the Annual Passholder “Rediscover the Magic” discount chart:

From the best I can tell, the Annual Passholder and Florida resident offers are identical to the prior “Rediscover the Magic” rates and terms.

The critical difference is that they’ve been extended beyond their previous September 30, 2020 expiration date and now instead end on December 25, 2020.

As with most discount release days, Walt Disney World’s phone lines will be jammed and the online system will likely slow to a crawl at peak times, with Stitch eating the occasional page here and there.

If you’re at all flexible about your resort choice or room preferences, consider waiting until later this evening when things calm down a bit. You might save yourself some headache and frustration. In any case, here’s a look at what should be the best per night prices at all of the eligible resorts:

Depending upon the resort and what room categories are available, this rates can end up being slightly cheaper than the previous round of “Rediscover the Magic” discounts.

That’s simply because the rack rate charts are generally better for these months than they were for summer and early fall 2020. If your travel dates are flexible and you want the cheapest possible rooms, here are the date ranges that are generally the best: October 25 to November 4, November 8 to 20, and November 28 to December 5, 2020.

Not so coincidentally, those date ranges will also be the lowest in terms of crowds. The lone exception to that is Veterans Day week, which for some reason has lower rates (aside from the weekend) but should have elevated crowds.

If we had to choose dates among those ranges to visit, we’d pick November 28 to December 5, 2020. That’s likely to be the sweet spot in terms of lower crowds, Christmas decorations & entertainment, and better weather (assuming “better” is slightly cool, which is what we favor).

As before, there are some atypically aggressive discounts in here—not by a huge margin, but 5-10% more than normal for this time of year—and some of these deals will not have a ton of inventory allocated to them.

This is especially true of the Deluxe Villa Resorts (aside from Disney’s Riviera Resort), simply because Walt Disney World doesn’t hold many rooms at these DVC properties. In some cases, we’re seeing some pretty attractive and fairly unprecedented deals.

The best we’ve spotted is ~$200 off at Yacht Club and Contemporary Resort, with both at or below $300 per night for some dates. That may still seem expensive (and it is!) but it’s also considerably less than you would’ve paid for the same date ranges last year.

It’s also far superior to what Walt Disney World is offering to the general public via the “Magic Is Here!” discount that also just dropped. That discount is downright pathetic.

Keep in mind that if you already have a resort reservation booked under another discount (or no deal at all), you can modify your reservation and apply this “Rediscover the Magic” deal (pending availability and eligibility). Since this is the best deal Walt Disney World has released for these travel dates, you’ll almost certainly save more money.

If you want to help determining what discounts are available for your travel dates and which resort will work best for your family, we recommend requesting a quote from Be Our Guest Vacations, a no-fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner that we recommend. The agents there will book your vacation and help take the stress out of planning.

Overall, some of these room-only rates are pretty attractive if you’re among the guests eligible to book them. As always, Deluxe & Villa Resorts are going to offer the best savings–we’d skew towards the standalone properties rather than the add-on wings for maximum savings.

Deals elsewhere are less of a draw. We love Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, but there’s no way we’re paying ~$180 per night when Pop Century is significantly cheaper and some Deluxe Resorts aren’t that much more expensive. Regardless, though, this is significantly better than the general public offer, so here’s hoping you’re eligible to book this trio of discounts!

Hopefully, Walt Disney World will release more 2020 discounts for the general public that are not targeted to specific states or a region of the country in the coming weeks. If Florida’s case numbers continue to fall and hotel occupancy remains low, that seems likely. We will be closely monitoring what’s released and will notify subscribers of our free email newsletter when any general public Walt Disney World discounts become available!

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of these room only discounts for Annual Passholders plus Florida & Southern state residents? If you booked this, do you think you ended up with a good price? Can you think of any circumstances that would make the “Magic Is Here” discount somehow better than this? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!

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