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 rating – Since 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 rating – Free 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.
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 rating – For 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 rating – Annual 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 rating – If 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 rating – As 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 rating – Disney 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 rating – This 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 rating – Since 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!
Do you know if you can get discounts if you are part of the Coast Guard Auxillary
Do you think that Thanksgiving week is going to be blacked out this year? I am planning on taking my 2 teenage sons for my oldest sons 18th birthday and my 40th and a discount would be great.
Thanks
Does disney have any discounts for muiltables I have triplets and would Love to take them
Hi Tom!
As a first time Disney vacation planner, this was very helpful. We have hotel points with Mariott and would like to use those for our trip in December. Since it’s a offsite resort, I’m having a hard time locating where to buy meal plans, or is there one?
Thank you for the Undercover Tourist site. Saving us money already!
Alice
The description of the Magic Your Way package is not really accurate because it states that you can do better by buying all the package components separately than when they are bundled. Well, you can’t by the Disney Dining plan separately without a Magic Your Package (unless you are DVC member or Military). I disagree that the Dining Plan is not a good value, obviously it doesn’t work out for every guest, but often it represents a good savings. For many travelers, the idea of prepayment for most food is also very attractive. It saves a lot of psychic energy opening that wallet constantly. The flexibility of the dining plan also allows you to take a day away from Disney and still use the meals by doubling up on table service meals on another day, or splurging at one of the excellent signature restaurants.
Thanks for the great info, so well formatted. I’ve passed this info along to my guests, friends, and family.
My dad is retired military and he wants to take the whole family to Disney. Problem is there is 12 of us. Do you know if someone can buy the extra tickets and are they going to check when you go into the park? I have been told they haven’t in the past, but that was years ago. there is a big difference in prices on tickets
I’m not sure either way. Your dad should be able to buy a certain number of tickets for others. I suspect that number is far less than 12, though.
The best discount – cast member 😉
Have you ever used the “kids eat free” card or the “dine4less” cards? We are coming to Disney in may-June of this year and I have been reading your site and others and I came across a link with those two cards… Thanks!
I’ve heard of the Kids Stay & Eat Free promo (which has been run from time to time), but not the cards you mention. Care to share the links?
I’m a military dependent and was amazed by the discounts I received when booking my package. I chose to stay at Port Orleans-Riverside instead of Shades of Green just for the theming and dining plan (It’s a surprise break for myself and my daughter for her 7th birthday so I booked the Royal Guest room). But Shades of Green looks amazing. We may stay there on one of our trips.
I was expecting our package to cost well over 3k. But I was shocked when it was less than half that for 4 nights and the deluxe dining plan.
The military discounts offered are great and definitely worth asking about if you qualify.
I’m a military dependent and was amazed by the discounts I received when booking my package. I chose to stay at Port Orleans-Riverside instead of Shades of Green just for the theming and dining plan (It’s a surprise break for myself and my daughter for her 7th birthday so I booked the Royal Guest room). But Shades of Green looks amazing. We may stay there on one of our trips.
I was expecting our package to cost well over 3k. But I was shocked when it was less than half that for 4 nights and the deluxe dining plan.
The military discounts offered are great.
HELP I AM TAKING MY 9 AND 14 YEAR GRANDSONS IN MAY -JUNE AND DO NOT HAVE A CLUE ABOUT WHAT TO DO ANY HELP TO MUCH INFO FROM DISNEYWORLD FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND PLEASE HELP
I would also love to see the Buy 4, Get 3 Free deal come back!! That was amazing, went with my family (4 adults), stayed in a Old Key West 1 bedroom suite for 7 nights only paying for 4 in 2009! It was a great deal.
I think we’d book a stay at the Poly if they brought back that deal!
Hello,
My sister and I both in our mid 60’s are coming to Disney World June 9 through the 15th 2013.
We have each been giving rooms at Animal Kingdom Villas, Jambo House, by our niece!
I am overwhelmed looking for activities and places to eat, and what tickets will we want to get the most out of our visit.
Any advice for two old sisters young at heart?
Thank you,
Mary Kay
Check out Jiko, Sanaa, and Boma–all are great restaurants in your hotel. I would recommend park hopper tickets for as many days as you plan on being in the parks.
There are a lot of other articles on this blog that can help you plan. Enjoy the trip, Animal Kingdom Lodge is great!!!
My travel agent discount is my favorite! 50-75% off up to a 7 night stay at any disney resort, and MYW ticket with park hopper and water parks+ more for 7 days for $185. Stayed at the poly for $149/night last year, and the grand californian for $199/night! Disney Cruises $25 per day. Aulani, hilton head, and vero beach deals galore.
Also- using chase sapphire points to get target gift cards which can be used to purchase disney gift cards has netted us $800 worth of disney money this year simply for signing up for the card and spending 2k within 3 months.
Yeah, that’s a pretty awesome discount! Sadly, I don’t think it will help too many of us… 🙁
I bet there’s plenty of travel agencies that would love to have you on board Tom- you should consider getting your CLIA or IATA credentials with an agency. It requires very little time and money (as in, a matter of hours and less than $200) to get credentials and sell- even if only on a limited basis.
Would love to contact your travel agent. . .and get this deal. Can you e-mail me back?? Thanks! Sharon
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Great posting. Thank you. I’m trying to plan our first trip to Disney for our family (3 young children) plus two sets of grandparents and an caregiver who is with us through August 2013. We seem to possibly have several options for discounts. My question is do I try and have persons who qualify for a discount use them individually and book separately or try and do the whole package together under one discount that might apply to everyone. So for example, my dad is retired military and could sponsor us at Shades of Green (plus we are bringing out caregiver who is married to active military – does she qualify?). My in-laws are Florida residents and our dates are pretty flexible right now so do I wait for the Fall 2012 “Free Dining Plan” discount and book a “Magic Your Way” trip? Help!? Thank you!
This is really a tough question for someone else to answer. “It depends” is my best answer. Shades of Green is an amazing resort (Deluxe-level), but it doesn’t feel as “Disney” as the other resorts. The rooms are huge and its location is great. It sounds like there are enough people in your group that Free Dining would be a really good deal, too, especially in a cheaper hotel. If you don’t mind staying in a Value or Moderate, I’d say wait for Free Dining. If you like nice hotels with large rooms and don’t necessarily need Disney theming, Shades of Green is a great option. Also, food is cheaper at Shades of Green than elsewhere on property, so if you’re paying for food out of pocket, you save by staying there. Good luck!
Thank you. I’ll continue to sort through the details and read your blog. Thanks again!
The spouse of active duty may purchase military tickets as long as she has her military Id So she would qualify. I purchased tickets two years ago without my spouse because he was over seas. Your best bet is military discount as their 4 day ticket is much better than any other price you will find anywhere… Your dad can purchase up to 6 tickets and so can the spouse of a military member. The tickets are around 160 I believe but they are base tickets, one park per day.. However it is worth every penny and more! Hope that helps 🙂
Where are you getting the late spring annual pass information at?
I’m on the passholder’s website, and there is nothing mentioning 40% off Poly. Only 30%. They’re only discounting the same resorts as the general public room-only discount, too. They just appear to be 5-10% higher.
If there is an AP discount for 40% at the Poly, can you point me in the right direction? We’re doing a Polynesian/Bay Lake Tower split stay in May for our 5 year anniversary.
AAA discount got me 20% off Bay Lake Tower in May, since there were resort specific stipulations with the AP discounts.
Also here’s a helpful hint – If you’re wanting to stay at the Contemporary, especially in the tower, and not the garden wing – check Bay Lake Tower’s prices! It may be seem like it would be a lot more, being a classified as a ‘Deluxe Villa Resort,’ but… It has flat prices, meaning if you’re planning on staying on dates that have weekend prices, BLT’s prices does not increase for Fridays and Saturday night stays. It seems to only save money if you are planning on staying through dates that do fall in the weekend, though.
I didn’t indicate in the text that the Polynesian is offering 40% off. It says “25-35% off” for Deluxe Resorts. It also says “Availability is limited.” Which resorts are available changes as rooms as booked and bookings are canceled.
Good tip on Bay Lake Tower!
Tom…just curious, are you aware of any room only discounts that WDW may offer during the month of December? We would likely be traveling as a couple at a Deluxe Resort?
Thoughts?
Nice write-up Tom. I hope you do one of these every year when they roll out the discounts!
Also, I think there may be a word missing in this sentence: “In general, the discounts here are slightly better during off-peak times. If you have flexibility, you should above the lower list of dates because these correspond with Spring Break for most schools and Memorial Day weekend. “
Fantastic writeup, Tom. I know that between Disney’s seasonal and my AP discount, my college roommate and I saved a total of $600 on our trip coming up in May. And when my buddy in the Air Force Reserve asked me to do up a quote for him on the quick, I was flabbergasted to see how much military personelle can save! However, it took me forever to find all my info. Having it all in one easy spot is super helpful.
I hope you suggested that he stay at Shades of Green. It may not be “Disney” (it used to be–it was the Golf Resort, then the Disney Inn), but it’s an incredible value and a great location. When we traveled with my parents in December 2010, we stayed there. It was my first time back to the resort at which I stayed every year while growing up, so that was nice. The resort has really changed–and for the better! Great value, great location–it really can’t be beat!
He knows about it. Right now he’s deciding if he wants to stay at Shades of Green for slightly more money (but obviously more room and luxury) or if he just wants to make things easier and stay at All-Star Sports (yeah… almost typed that one as an acronym… oops) with me and my other friend. It’s his first time going to WDW, so I’m sort of his guide. And he’ll end up being my photo-buddy.
Shades of Green is awesome, but the rate is determined by the service member’s rank. For us, a park hotel prices out better. We like the resort hotels better anyway. When we’re on vacation, it’s also a break from the Army’s clutches 🙂