Best & Worst Disney World Discounts

Walt Disney World offers discount rooms, packages, and other money saving promos, including military pricing and free dining. This post covers the best & worst deals, and when they’re typically available. A few Walt Disney World special offers have been released through Fall 2022, with more to come. (Updated April 12, 2022.)

Some of these Disney World discounts are better than others and discounts are usually predictable as repeat like clockwork in normal years. To get an idea of how the various discounts stack up, we’ve put together this article rating Walt Disney World’s discounts. To see which discounts are best for particular “types” of guest read our summary and review of all Walt Disney World discounts below.

With that said, 2022 still is not quite a normal year at Walt Disney World, hence the emphasis on “usually” above. After a dearth of deals late last year and in early 2022, discounts are slowly but surely starting to return. Some have unique wrinkles and others haven’t been (and won’t be) offered at all this year. If you’re visiting between now and the end of September 2022, you can get a quicker rundown of what’s available in All Current Disney World Discounts (Spring to Fall 2022). This post is better suited for those looking forward to next year, as hopefully the pattern of deals will revert to normal at Walt Disney World in 2023.

Rather than this being a generic post providing details like dates of the various discounts at Walt Disney World, this post will instead editorialize. You can find the information concerning applicable dates and the like on DisneyWorld.com or on a myriad of other fan sites that simply copy and paste the information from DisneyWorld.com.

This post is meant to help those of you who are unfamiliar with Walt Disney World discounts get an idea of how good the discount you’re considering really is (despite Disney’s best marketing efforts, some discounts are better than others).

Although Walt Disney World constantly changes the discounts it offers, the same types of discounts are constantly offered (“Free” Disney Dining Plan, Room-Only, etc.), so these reviews should give you a good idea of which discounts are best for you. Hopefully this provides a primer for those who don’t visit as often, but are looking to save the most money possible when planning their Walt Disney World trip!

As a threshold matter, the very first thing you need to do when comparing special offers is determine whether they’re offering things you actually want or need. For example, the Disney Dining Plan, which offers more food than most guests can eat, might be a good deal for you on paper, but if it’s more food than you would otherwise eat, are you really saving money? (In any case, the Disney Dining Plan is temporarily unavailable and may not return until Fall 2022.)

Some vacation packages require you to purchase Walt Disney World park tickets directly from Disney, when these tickets can be purchased cheaper from an authorized third party. Read our Tips for Buying Discount Walt Disney World Tickets Guide for more information about saving money on park tickets.

Please note: this post covers Walt Disney World (in Florida); if you’re traveling to Disneyland Resort (in California), check out our Disneyland Resort Discounts Tips & Info post.

Disney Discounts: Reviewed

Magic Your Way Vacation Package – This is Disney’s way of bundling hotel, tickets, and the Disney Dining Plan together, and they don’t typically offer any discount. Although you will receive certain “Magical Extras” for booking a Magic Your Way vacation package, these Magical Extras are not things that most guests will use. That is, unless you plan on spending time bass fishing or at the arcade while you’re at Walt Disney World. Even if you do, you can usually find a better discount and then just pay full price for the arcade or bass fishing.

Discount ratingSince it’s not really a discount, this rates poorly. Disney encourages people to buy vacation packages because that’s how it makes the most money. Most people will buy tickets and meals, anyway, but buying those items as part of a package typically encourages guests to buy greater-length park tickets and spend more on meals by purchasing the Disney Dining Plan. Most of the time you will save much more money by utilizing an available discount (which actually often incorporate a Magic Your Way package into the discount) than an un-discounted Magic Your Way package.

We actually don’t recommend booking this non-discounted vacation package, because it’s more expensive to buy tickets from Disney directly. If no other discounts are available during the dates you want to visit (which is very rare), we highly recommend renting Disney Vacation Club points and buying Walt Disney World tickets from an authorized third party ticket broker. You’ll save so much more money going that route.

The exception here to keep in mind is that there are some other discount offers that require the purchase of a Magic Your Way vacation package. The most notable of these is Free Dining (below), which can offer significant savings over buying each component of the package individually.

“Free” Disney Dining Plan – Disney World has not yet released its general public “Free Dining” dates for 2022, and is unlikely to do so in the foreseeable future. In fact, we don’t think Free Dining will be offered again until 2023, at the earliest. Read this post for important details about Free Dining at Walt Disney World.

Value Resort and Moderate Resort guests receive the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan during the promotion, and Deluxe/Deluxe Villa guests receive the standard Disney Dining Plan. I have a numerous articles and resources devoted to the Disney Dining Plan and the Free Disney Dining Plan promotion. More details can be found there.

Discount ratingFree Dining is unquestionably the most popular discount Disney offers. Expect to see it to be released in the spring for travel dates typically from August through December. The promotion offers the Dining Plan for free to guests paying for full price Magic Your Way packages (so purchasing full price rooms and park tickets). Free dining can be a great discount, and is generally best for larger parties in a single room or parties with small children. With this year’s downgrade of the Quick Service DDP to Moderate Resort guests, the Free Dining promo loses a lot of value for guests who leveraged it the best.

It’s still a very good discount for most parties. Make sure to crunch the numbers to make sure it’s better than a room-only discount (it usually is, except for 2 people staying in a Deluxe Resort). Popular dates and resorts book up fast for this discount and the Disney Chase Visa usually gets an extra week in mid-August that is not available to the general public. (The a few day head-start ‘early booking’ window for Disney Visa cardholders is no longer offered.) on booking the discount.

PIN Codes – PIN codes are often regarded as the holy grail of discounts within the Disney community as they’re only sent to a select few. They’re not a separate category of their own, as they could incorporate many different types of discounts. Only those who receive the PIN Code may utilize it, and usually these discounts are better than those offered to the general public. Usually. I’ve written a lot about PIN Codes as we have had great “luck” in receiving them regularly. To increase your chances of receiving a PIN Code, read this. PIN Codes can be room-only discounts, “kids play free” discounts, free dining discounts, or other discounts with which Disney is experimenting.

Discount rating – Since PIN codes aren’t really their own category of discount so much as multiple types of discounts offered to select groups, it’s impossible to rate them. Generally, PIN codes are better than what’s available to the general public, but there have been some exceptions to that. PIN codes are most often early Free Dining, Free Dining for dates not available to the general public, or room only discounts.

“Stay, Play, Dine & Save” – This is often released in the winter for early-year travel dates. It off offers varying savings on Magic Your Way vacation packages that include park tickets, a hotel stay, and the Disney Dining Plan.

Discount Rating – With this bundled package savings, Disney doesn’t state the amount that you actually save (which is frustrating), but currently is touting savings of “up to $600 for a family of 4.” By pricing out sample bookings, you can see that the savings are hit or miss–most of the time it’s not as good as a room-only discount. Typically, it offers an ~50% off savings on the Disney Dining Plan (more or less depending upon the precise details of your booking). Thus, we consider it “Half-Free Dining.” It can be a good deal—especially for travel dates when Free Dining has, historically, never been offered in the past.

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Authorized Walt Disney World Ticket Seller Discounts — There are a limited number of third parties that are authorized by Walt Disney World to sell discounted tickets. We cover these sellers (and which tickets to buy to get the most bang for your buck) in our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. These savings can be fairly modest or significant depending upon where you buy and the type of ticket purchased. The important thing to remember here is the word authorized. We’ve emphasized that twice now because it’s really important. There are a lot of roadside stands and timeshare scams near Walt Disney World in Florida, as well as sellers on eBay and Craigslist that run ticket scams.

Discount rating — The discounts from these authorized Walt Disney World ticket sellers vary by ticket and might be insignificant for some tickets and more significant for others. The savings can add up, though. This discount is not as good as the Florida Resident or military discounts, but if you don’t qualify for either of those savings, this is the best way to go.

Walt Disney World Resort-Hotel Room-Only Discounts – These room only discounts are available to the general public for booking only their hotel rooms. Tickets and the Disney Dining Plan are not included with these discounts, but typically may be added separately for full price. Room only discounts are typically tiered, with the deepest discounts (usually 30% off) for Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resorts. During low booking seasons, the least popular of these resorts can see discounts up to 40% off (most often only at Saratoga Springs and Old Key West). Moderate resorts usually see 25% off discounts, with Value resorts seeing 20% off discounts. The exact percentages here can fluctuate a bit depending upon season.

In general, the discounts here are slightly better during off-peak times. If you have flexibility, you should avoid traveling when lesser discounts are offered. Not just because you won’t save as much, but because greater discounts are typically offered during slower seasons. So, not only do you save more money, but you have lighter crowds to deal with. Win-win!

Discount ratingFor parties of two or less, the room-only discount is usually my recommended discount (for reasons we discuss in greater detail in our post weighing the pros and cons of the room-only discounts). For parties of four and sometimes three, I often recommend the Free Disney Dining Plan discount when it’s available. This discount usually offers the best value because it doesn’t force you to purchase things you don’t need, and gives you the most autonomy in selecting other aspects of your vacation, like park tickets and meals. If you’re purely considered with traveling cheaply, a Value Resort with a lower percentage discount is always cheaper than a Deluxe Resort or Deluxe Villa Resort with a greater discount. However, the higher tier resorts, obviously, have nicer accommodations.

If you’re in a party of three and are traveling at a time when Free Dining is also offered, which discount you should select depends upon how much food you would ideally want to eat on your trip, the exact percentages of discounts, and in which resort tier you’d stay. If there’s 40% off the resort at which you want to stay and you’re light eaters who would rather save time by doing mostly counter service meals, the decision is easy: take the room discount.

If your party would otherwise stay at Port Orleans Riverside on a 20% room discount and you enjoy large table service meals, the decision is also easy: take free dining. Chances are, your circumstances won’t be quite so cut and dry, so you’ll have to crunch some numbers. Consider how much the restaurants at which you want to eat would cost out of pocket versus what you’d save with a room only discount. If the out of pocket dining cost is higher than the percentage savings, take Free Dining. If not, take the percentage discount. As a party of two that prefers to use the Tables in Wonderland 20% off dining card, we generally go with the room discount.

Annual Passholder Room-Only Discounts – Annual Passholders typically receive slightly better room-only discounts than the general public. The Disney Dining Plan can typically be added to these discounts for an additional fee. Just like the general public room-only discount, these are typically broken down into tiers with the best discounts available at Deluxe or Deluxe Villa Resorts. These discounts also vary widely based upon booking trends and season. These are often available later than the general public discounts with the presumption on Disney’s part that Annual Passholders are in a better position to book a room at the last minute.

Discount ratingAnnual Passholders (obviously) don’t need park tickets, so this will, with very rare exception, be the best discount for them. Depending upon the length of your stay and the tier of resort at which you’d like to stay, it may be advantageous for one member of your party to purchase an Annual Pass to take advantage of the discount. For example, if you’re planning a 12-night vacation at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, one person in your party might want to purchase an Annual Pass if the discount rate there is better for Annual Passholders than it is for the general public. You will need to present your Annual Pass at the time of check-in, so make sure to order it in advance and pick it up before checking-in.

Florida Resident Room Discounts – Florida Residents typically receive room discounts comparable to Annual Passholders. Proof of Florida residency is required at check-in. The Disney Dining Plan is not included with these discounts but may be added.

Discount ratingIf you’re a Florida resident who only needs a room for a weekend or something, this is probably the best discount for you. This is true even if you do not have an Annual Pass. Depending upon how many times per year you visit, it may be advantageous to purchase an Annual Pass (and possibly also a Tables in Wonderland card if you eat on Disney property on a semi-regular basis). If not, see below for discounted tickets available to Florida residents.

Disney+ Subscriber Room Discounts – This is the newest category of affiliation discounts, debuting in Spring 2022 for summer and fall travel dates. In order to book this discount, you need an active Disney+ account.

Discount rating – While it’s still early, this deal appears to be an alternative to AP and Florida resident discounts, offering comparable savings to those. Most notably, it has a much lower barrier to entry. Annual Passes cost several hundreds of dollars, and being a Florida resident costs…a house or at the very least paying rent somewhere, I guess? One month of Disney+ costs $7.99.

Dollar Off Deals on Rooms – Another newer offer is a tiered discount that takes a set amount of nightly room rates based on the resort category. For example, you can save up to $20 per night at Value Resorts, up to $40 per night at Moderate Resorts, and up to $100 per night at Deluxe Resorts.

Discount rating – This can work out to be a good savings–and it’s certainly better than nothing–but if calculated as a percentage savings, it’s usually only on par with the room-only discounts at the least expensive rooms in each resort category and for the lowest rate seasons.

In other words, if you’re thinking of doing a room with a view at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa during the week of Thanksgiving, this is going to be way worse of a discount than the aforementioned room only rates. Even in more normal or average examples, it often works out to be 5-10% off less than the room-only deals.

Florida Resident Disney Ticket Discounts – From time to time, Disney offers discount tickets to Florida residents who don’t own Annual Passes. Proof of Florida residency is required to purchase these tickets. Disney often offers special multi-day tickets for Florida residents for use during lightly attended days in the spring. These tickets almost always have blockout dates during spring break season and Easter week.

Discount ratingAs a diehard fan, I can’t fathom being a Florida resident and not being an Annual Passholder. However, if you’re not, these are great prices for tickets, as standard Magic Your Way tickets are typically much more expensive. If you’re a Florida resident planning a vacation to Walt Disney World, I highly recommend adding on the Park Hopper option or the Water Park Fun & More option (or both!). Depending upon how many times per year you visit, it may be advantageous to purchase an Annual Pass.

These tickets are a win-win for Disney and guests. Disney gets to draw some guests who otherwise might not have visited at all during the year (or visited during busier times) during times of the year when there is unused capacity. The guests benefit in receiving cheaper tickets and visiting during a light time of year.

Military Disney World “Armed Forces Salute” Room Discounts – Disney’s popular “U.S. Military Forces Salute” has extended through December 16, 2022. It’ll likely be extended again for 2023, 2024, and so forth along the same schedule, with blockouts applying to the popular weeks of Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

The Armed Forces Salute has been running for the past decade–extended every time it was about to expire. Military personnel (active or retired) receive better room-only discounts than the general public. (When available, the Disney Dining Plan is not included with these discounts, but typically may be added at full price.)

Discount ratingDisney does a lot for military personnel, which is absolutely great. However, even with these excellent savings, you might instead check out our review of the excellent Shades of Green Resort. My father is retired military, and we always stayed at Shades of Green when I was growing up. It was great back then, and thanks to a recent refurbishment, it’s looking better than ever.

Shades of Green Resort is located in the Magic Kingdom area (walking distance to Disney’s Polynesian Resort) and rooms are generally as large or larger than Disney Deluxe Resorts. Additionally, the food is much more reasonably priced. Prices are based upon military-ranking.

Military Disney World “Armed Forces Salute” Ticket Discounts – As with the above room discount, the U.S. Military Forces Salute ticket deals are back for 2022. When booking with this offer, active or retired US military personnel may purchase 4-Day Military Promotional Tickets with your choice of either the Park Hopper or Water Park Fun & More option at a steeply discounted rate.

These tickets may be used by themselves, family members (including spouse) or friends. Guests booking this package can upgrade to either the Park Hopper or Water Park Fun & More options for a bit more (highly recommended). These tickets are by far the cheapest that Disney offers, so if you qualify, jump on this deal.

Discount ratingThis is a frequently-offered discount, extended every year for roughly the last decade. This is a great price for a 4-day park ticket. If you’re eligible for these tickets, buy them, as they are without a doubt the best deal you’ll be able to find. I would highly recommend adding on either the Park Hopper option or the Water Park Fun & More option.

If you’re going to be at Walt Disney World for more than four days, the Water Park Fun & More option allows you to spend some time enjoying other Disney offerings on your remaining days. If you’re going to be at Walt Disney World for only four days, the Park Hopper option allows you to visit multiple parks in the same day. This will allow you to travel to the parks with morning and evening Extra Magic Hours. Although there are only four theme parks and four days might seem like plenty, it’s impossible to see it all in four days. The Park Hopper option will at least help you see a bit more.

Foreign & Association Discounts – In addition to the military discount, there are other “association” discounts. The most prominent of these was the AAA discount. Disney and AAA terminated their partnership at the beginning of last year, meaning perks and exclusive discounts available to AAA members are gone. AAA locations still sell discount tickets and travel packages, but these are the same offers available elsewhere to the general public. Members of other associations are advised to inquire as to whether their association affords them a discount. Again, these savings are unlikely to be better than what’s listed above.

Discount rating – Guests from overseas frequently can receive substantially better discounts than those offered to Americans. In the past, a 30-40% room discount plus Free Disney Dining Plan was not unheard of. Access to these discounts is only available through foreign travel agents and from foreign arms of the Walt Disney Travel Company. Guests coming from other countries would be well-advised to look into these discounts first–they’re often better than US discounts. Discounts for US associations are rarely, if ever, better than what’s available to the general public.

Kids Stay and Play Free – This discount offers free tickets for your kids when booking a Magic Your Way Vacation package. The rest of the package is full price (meaning no room discount or discounts on adult tickets).

Discount ratingSince children always stay free in a room with adults, this isn’t that great of a discount. On short stays in Value Resorts with multiple children is when it’s best. The fewer children you have, the longer your stay becomes, and/or the higher tier of resort you choose, the worse discount it becomes. If you have 3 adults and one child staying in Disney’s Polynesian Resort for 12 days, this is most certainly not the best discount. Obviously, if you have no kids with you, it’s a terrible discount no matter the trip duration and resort tier. When this discount is offered, it’s seldom the best discount for most guests.

Other discounts may be offered from time to time (one discount we’d love to see return is the “buy 4, get 3 free” offer), but these are the most common ones that you can normally count on seeing most years. Other, minor discounts (like add-on ticket days) aren’t mentioned here as they typically are insignificant and/or uncommon.

If you need help finding the best discounts for your family’s Walt Disney World vacation and would like the assistance from a professional, click here to get a quote from a recommended, no-fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. They get their commission from Disney, so there is no charge to you for them to book your trip and help you plan!

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? If you’re interested in learning more about hotels, our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page is a good place to start. For where to eat, try out our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews page. If you want to save money on tickets or determine which type you should get, 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 unconventional things you should take on your trip. Once you arrive at the parks, our Walt Disney World “Ride Guides” are great for determining what to do and when to do it. For overviews of all of these topics and so much more, the best place to start is our comprehensive Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide to make the most of your experience.

Your Thoughts…

There are a lot of different ways to obtain discounts on your Walt Disney World vacation, which do you find works best for you? What “extinct” discount would you like to see return? Any other tips for saving at Disney? Share your thoughts in the comments!

113 Responses to “Best & Worst Disney World Discounts”
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