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!
Do you think this means Beach Club will not reopen this year? We have a reservation there for a December 12-19. We have not yet been notified if we will be moved.
I really wish the Magic is Here allowed for more than 7 park days. I have an October trip planned with 9 park days, and I cannot apply the discount without losing park days. Why can’t they allow up to 10 park days??? Any ideas on the rationale behind the limitation? Frustrating.
After going from bookings at Port Orleans to Wilderness Lodge to a sweet deal at the Polynesian, I am now sadly cancelling! The Poly is now closed too! I will wait for deals, entertainment, dining and no masks and live vicariously through Tom and Sarah until that time! Hopefully April 2021!
Heh. I’ve thought that Disney should be offering specials to those within driving range. Wish I’d posted it, lol.
Okay, this is a better deal than is usually available for this time of the year for me, as we live in NOLA. It’s not mind-blowing great, however (and, lol, I’m still adjusting to the joys of having the kid turn 18, with the price increase that goes with it…c’est la vie!).
Is it worth it for:
Reduced hours.
Reduced attractions.
Only able to book 7 days at the theme parks.
No park hopping.
Discount is not as good as FL and AP discounts…but better savings that what one would expect for this time of the year.
Hmmm….
I will say this: The Poly Villas seems to be really being snapped up. I’ve been playing around for a fair bit with different dates, and I’ve not seen them available any dates.
Poly is closed until next summer except for DVC rooms so that’s why there’s no availability.
Poly Village is closed, yes. Poly DVC, the Villas and bungalows, however, are open. Pineapple Lanai, for instance, is still open. There’s still a place to get Dole Whip outside the parks!
The DVC bungalows are not eligible for the discount, but the DVC villas are.
Paul: Since the Polynesian Villas are technically sold out to DVC owners, meaning only about 2-3% of the villas are available for cash reservations, it may be most booked on DVC reservations. They usually take any unbooked points inventory and convert it to cash inventory at 60 days out. Bungalows take an obscene amount of points per night, so you might be able to snatch a cash reservation for a bungalow. They sleep eight, but only have two real beds, one king, one queen. The other four sleeping spaces are a queen sleeper sofa and two bunk sized murphy beds.
Really sad for us in NY…. my heart is broken having to change my original May 2020 then to go August with FREE dining being the only good benefit (Hate the heat in August) to then have to cancel again because of all this … We are rebooked for May 2021 and I am hoping some “Normal” will come back to the magic and that New Yorkers will be able to benefit some how with some kind of discount.
any thoughts on when hotel deals might become available for those of us who are not Florida residents or southern states residents? I am wanting to book for december but am still hoping for hotel discounts before i do.
If you read the article, the first category of discounts (the lower ones) are available to the public. The better discount tiers are only available to Florida Residents or AP holders, but there is discounting available to the public for trips taken before the December 25, 2020.
We have reservations for October and we’re supposed to be staying at Port Orleans. They moved us to Caribbean resort. Since they moved us And we live in Illinois we are not eligible for any discount .
There’s an article about an offer to the general public, with up to $500 off for Deluxe Villas and Resorts, with the usual reductions in discounts for the moderate, value, etc. tiers.
Tom isn’t too keen on this deal, but your mileage might vary. For example, comparing an early October stay of 7 nights, with 7 days of park admissions for each person for 3 adults, it would cost $362.58 more for us on the general population plan than it would using the Southern discount.
We were thinking about a Disney Vacation this January to help stimulate the economy and have some fun. We have gone every other year for the past 6 years. Why would you not offer discounts to all. This has shown us how Disney really is by excluding certain states. My money will go elsewhere. Not a very good business plan. I see hard times for years to come. Very high prices for less the experience, no thanks. Was a magical place for my family, hope it comes back.
We have been to WDW twice, and we have our third trip Dec 24-29. This is the first time we have ever been eligible for a discount (Other trips were in early Feb and Spring Break). We got $140 discount for the upcoming trip. Honestly, just excited because we were considering dropping a park day to save some money.
We looked at renting DVC points but with the park tickets, even the cheapest DVC rental would end up being the same price and honestly, I don’t want to do all the work of renting DVC points (I have no idea how it works really, do they have travel planners who help with renting DVC points and purchasing park tickets?). Just seems like a lot of work.
The biggest reason we decided to go is because we keep hearing and seeing how low the crowds are, how safe people feel there, etc. I just never had a desire to go to WDW during Christmas because I know what a nightmare it’s been in years past. We’re excited to see Main Street at Christmas while being able to see a great view of the castle too, and be able to ride the rides!
I agree with the riskiness of renting points right now. We rented points for a 2BR villa at AKL-Jambo House back in February for a trip in January 2021. I also reserved 2 additional rooms for family through Disney reservations at the Lodge. Now, because Jambo House is open only to DVC, it appears my family may be split up. Disney can move my 2 additional rooms, but not the DVC because it is a 3rd party rental. David’s won’t move my rental because Jambo House DVC is open, Wish I hadn’t done this now. Isn’t hind-sight wonderful!! Keeping my fingers crossed for a positive outcome.
You might check on reserving for cash two Jambo House studios or even two Kidani studios. Kidani is only about a ten minute walk from Jambo. Your two bedroom at Jambo will be a lockoff, a combination of a studio and a one bedroom.
Thank you for these updates. I was able to save $228 on my room/ticket package for later this month. Considering it extra spending money 🙂 Every penny counts…
We are Louisiana residents. We already had plans to visit 10-11 through 10-16, and we modified without issue as soon as I saw the discount was available. It took maybe 5 mins. This discount saved us about $215. We are pretty excited about that considering we didn’t, at all, expect a discount to become available.
Hi Josh – we have a trip planed for the same time period, with park passes and dining reservations already booked. Did you add the discount online, and if so, did it alter any park passes/dining reservations you had? (terrified to lose the reservations I have, but I also just spend 2.5 hours on hold and would love to avoid doing this again…) Thanks for any advice!
Faith- I was able to just modify it on the Disney website under the “My Plans” section. The option to “change reservation” should be the first thing listed with your check-in. Then you just select “change” in the special offer section and go through the motions. Like I said: it literally took 5 mins. We didn’t have any ADRs, but none of our park reservations were lost. I highly doubt it would affect your ADRs either.
Thanks so much!
Arkansas here! Why is Disney leaving us out!?! We drive to DW too!
What about the rest of us! I’m from IL and had to rebook our big Disney trip 2 times because of the closing and then high Florida covid numbers. First we had May booked the. The beginning of August. Now we have nothing! We want to reschedule for November. I want this discount!! How do I get this discount???
We arrive on Saturday and upgraded 11 nights from Carribbean Beach to Yacht club for an extra $400. Can’t beat it.
Great deals but probably the only thing that would get me there right now is a ticket deal. I can’t really stomach the ticket prices with the short hours and reduced offerings (and since we are DVC we don’t really care about cash room discounts). If we were AP I’d be there in a heartbeat though!
Just modified a reservation..Saved us $80 a night at Coronado.
Very easy and quick to do on my Disney experience. “The southern states” ,
magic is back, special was right there to click on. To those that did not see it earlier on the my Disney experience app, check again 🙂 It’s there
I can’t see that this is much more than smoke and mirrors. Even the AP “40%” discount doesn’t seem to make the rooms very much cheaper (if any) compared to normal. In fact some rooms are bit higher than what we had for same time periods last year. When you consider there are no extra magic hours nor any other perk for staying on site, I can’t see that there is any compelling reason to stay on property anytime soon.
Are they flying the southern cross?
I have a feeling it is because these states are easier to drive from and people are not wanting to fly right now.
What exactly do you mean by asking “are they flying the Southern Cross”? Is that a slam against southerners? I feel positive that the southern state discount is because we are in DRIVING distance to Walt Disney World.
We already have a reservation for Nov 28 – Dec 5 (WL CL) and looked to modify this morning. Nothing is available that is worth modifying to with the passholder discount. Also looked at other dates around our travel time and no availability. Nothing even in the Villas portion of WL. I don’t think they filled up in an hour or so, not sure what is going on with the availability of passholder rooms under this discount umbrella, feel like they really want the new ticket package to go first.
We also have a reservation from 11/29 to 12/7 at Pop, in a standard pool view room. The only thing available to change to is a standard room. We usually book the prefered rooms, but there was no availability for those when we booked a few months ago. We booked the standard pool view, with the intent to request a room in the 50’s, as our priority is to be near the food court. I like the idea of saving $50 per night, but not sure we want a standard room far from the food court, since we fill our mugs often.
Hi I’m trying to figure out how you see the southern states deal. You listed Kentucky but when I try to book something it isn’t showing me any deals.
So here’s my scenario. I think we are still in the good. We had a trip already booked pre covid for Christmas from Dec 24 to Dec 30 at POR with free dining. So of course we lost not only the free dining but POR resort. Since they were offering a 30% discount to compensate we took it and moved to POP…we saved $500 per person and we are a group of 12. We still are in better shape than one of these discounts even though we live in North Carolina, we still got the 30% discount on a value room and the Southern discount is only giving 20%. I will keep what we got. I have listed below how the costs kept going down for us for anyone who would like to see how our savings went.
When we first booked it broke down to $1836 per person for 6 nights from Dec 24th to Dec 30th with a package staying at POR, park hoppers for 5 days and dining for 6 nights of course and all guests were adults aged 14 and up. Then I got to take advantage of the free dining deal and we had the same package but it went down to $1500 per person. Then covid hit and we lost the free dining and moved to POP because of the skyliner and I wanted a direct bus to the parks instead of dealing with the internal bus system at Caribbean Beach, and the cost per person went down to $1037, which is where we are currently until they change the park tickets not to be park hoppers and then it will go down more and the money we saved we will allocate towards food. Happy where we are at. Good luck to those booking now with the discounts….may the force be with you!