Save Up to 35% Off Disney World Hotels in Spring & Summer 2021!
Walt Disney World has released new hotel discounts through Summer 2021 with the “Spring into Magic” room-only deals. 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 resort discounts, which are essentially “extensions” of the previous promotions released for Annual Passholders, Florida residents, and the general public that offered up to 40% Off Hotels at Walt Disney World Through Spring 2021. That deal is still available for booking and travel dates through April 17, 2021. There are obviously some differences (which we’ll get to below), most obviously in the discount rate.
These are in addition to new ticket deals for Florida residents and the general public, plus the a widely-targeted 35% off PIN Code that covers some (but not all) of the Summer 2021 travel dates of this “Spring into the Magic” promo. There’s also the Half-Off Hotels at Walt Disney World, but that only runs through early spring, so we’ll probably get a new special offer for Visa cardholders soon…
This is a tiered discount, with each category of guest (Annual Passholder, Florida resident, general public) receiving different discount levels. Obviously, you should apply the best deal for which you qualify.
Let’s start with the Annual Passholder options.
Here are the official details: Annual Passholders can save up to 35% on rooms at select Disney Resort hotels for stays most nights April 18 through July 10, 2021. Walt Disney World’s “Spring into Magic” AP discount is available for booking through July 10, 2021.
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. Maximum length of stay under this deal is 14 nights.
Here are the resort by resort savings rates:
For all of these discounts, 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 April 30, 2021. This is consistent with Walt Disney World’s temporary new cancellation policy, applicable to anything booked.
Interestingly, this modified cancellation policy had been extended with past promo releases to encompass all of those travel dates, but that has not occurred (yet?) here. With so much uncertainty for many people to feel comfortable booking travel without incredibly flexible modification and cancellation policies, it seems inevitable that this will eventually be the policy for all of 2021–perhaps even into 2022.
Next, the “Spring into Magic” discount chart for Florida Residents:
Terms and conditions are pretty much identical for the Florida resident deal. Same exclusions, stay limitations, and extra guest fees. The only material differences are that this is available to all Florida residents, not just APs, and you save 5% less across the board.
Finally, the general public discounts:
The general public “Spring into Magic” offer is very similar to the one for Florida residents, with the main difference being the discount rate for Moderate and Value Resorts. Room inventory and availability will also likely end up being different, but we haven’t had time to see that play out yet.
It’s also noteworthy that there is no difference in the discount for weekdays versus Friday and Saturday nights, which was the case for the previous room-only discount that runs through April 17, 2021.
When that previous up to 40% off discounts was released, we noted that it made sense given that weekends are currently significantly busier at the hotels due to Floridians and other Southerners doing long weekends.
That absolutely remains the case, and will as long as tourist numbers are down. We’re still expecting Revenge Travel in 2021 at Walt Disney World, but it’s going to take a few months for the bookings to reflect that. In other words, expect weekend dates to sell out of these discounted rates faster than weeknights.
Benchmarking these discounts as compared to historical offers is pretty easy, as a very similar slew of room-only discounts was released last year on January 6 (so one day earlier this year!) that covered travel dates for April through July 9 with the same exclusions and similar hotel options. Obviously, there were slight differences since some hotels are currently closed and there’s a new cancellation policy, but you get the idea.
That spring & summer discount offered 15%-25% off room-only rates for general public, 20%-30% off room-only rates for Florida Residents, and 25%-35% off room-only rates for Annual Passholders. Basically, this discount is identical except for the “Spring into Magic” general public deal which offers an additional 5% off at Deluxe Villa and Deluxe Resorts. Close enough.
One difference, and something we’ve seen with other recent deals, is the rather paltry rates for Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Beach Club Villas, and Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows. Each of these expensive resorts is only 15-20% off, as compared to 30-35% off other Deluxe Villas and Deluxe Resorts.
This is undoubtedly due to the popularity of each, and in the case of the Beach Club and Poly Villas, the fact that the main hotels aren’t available for booking most travel dates. Nevertheless, we’d strongly discourage you from booking these resorts. Do BoardWalk Villas instead of Beach Club–the rooms are similarly bland and locations are comparable. In the case of BLT or the Poly, choose the Grand Floridian instead.
Other than that, the biggest difference is that last year on January 2, the Free Dining at Walt Disney World discount was released. Granted, it ended up being cancelled before any of those travel dates came around, but that’s like the Super Bowl of Walt Disney World discounts and room-only discounts are like the World Series.
Some of us might prefer the latter–especially given the perpetual, conspicuous omission of the Detroit Lions in the former–but the Super Bowl is unquestionably the “bigger deal” for most people.
As we discuss in the aforementioned post, we still expect Free Dining to be released this year, but it could be a few months–or more–because that happens. When it does come out, it almost certainly won’t cover the same dates as this room-only discount.
Last year, there was also the “Kid-Sized Package” which was not worthwhile for the vast majority of Walt Disney World deal-seekers. Basically, equivalent to this year’s Two Free Days Discount.
Even though you can save more with Disney Vacation Club Point Rentals (especially confirmed reservations) or Priceline Express Deals, the flexible cancellation policy here (which neither of those offer) is huge. For many people, booking directly from Disney is going to be the only way to go in 2021 given the lingering risk and uncertainty.
Of course, value for money still depends upon what crowds, wait times, and entertainment offerings are looking like inside Walt Disney World’s parks, but comparing the apples to apples of the resorts, these “Spring into Magic” discounts running through Summer 2021 are better than their counterparts from last year.
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.
Despite that, we’d encourage you to book this deal ASAP, especially if you’re considering one of the Deluxe Villas. Walt Disney World doesn’t have much inventory for those Disney Vacation Club resorts, so those rooms in particular are likely to book quickly.
In any case, here’s a look at what should be the best per night prices at most of the eligible resorts:
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 deal (pending availability and eligibility). Since this is the best deal Walt Disney World has released for these travel dates, you will definitely save more money–unless your room category isn’t available and you have to do a forced/unwanted upgrade.
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.
Ultimately, some of these room-only discounts for the “Spring into Magic” deal at Walt Disney World are pretty decent, but there’s nothing groundbreaking here. Just a familiar “workhorse” discount that doesn’t grab headlines or fan excitement, but often ends up being the best rate for some fans or (especially) couples looking for nice accommodations.
To that point, Deluxe Villa and Deluxe Resorts are going to offer the best savings—we’d skew towards the standalone properties rather than the add-on wings for maximum savings. Unfortunately, due to the loss of the extra 5% off (as compared to the previous deal through April 2021) plus higher room rates for the summer months, the net prices end up being more expensive. Nevertheless, if you’re eager for an escape to Walt Disney World in the coming months and don’t mind the in-park sacrifices and need flexibility on the cancellation policy, these price points are pretty attractive.
Hopefully, Walt Disney World will release more Summer & Fall 2021 discounts for the general public in the coming months. It’s good to see Disney getting back on track with general public discounts, and also reopening more hotels and restaurants. If history repeats itself, the next major round of discounts would be released the third week of April 2021, and would include a room-only offer through the end of August 2021.
It could also include Free Dining if we’re jumping back to the “old” discount schedule from a few years ago. While it’s premature to predict the return of the Disney Dining Plan and that highly-coveted deal on that timeline, it’s certainly possible. Walt Disney World has already surprised us countless times during the reopening process–a good surprise for once would be nice! We will be closely monitoring what’s released and will notify subscribers of our free email newsletter when any Walt Disney World discounts are released or rumored!
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 the general public, Annual Passholders, and Florida residents? If you booked this, do you think you ended up with a good price? What was available or unavailable for your dates? Is 30-35% off enough to convince you to book a trip, or is too much still missing from the full Walt Disney World experience to justify even those prices? 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!
Hi Tom. Any idea when Disney will release the AP discounts for summer?? I already have July 13-27 booked but certainly I am hoping for a little more savings.
Tom, do you think they will release a summer sun and fun discount like they’ve done in the past for late July- august?
I have a split stay at the same resort ( CBR) upcoming in a couple of weeks. They are 2 diff room categories (had to do it this way to get the room discount), but I’d like to stay in the same room for both reservations. I’ve been trying to modify the second reservation to match the room category, but no discount rooms come up . However, all room categories are available at the standard rate. Would there be a way I can ask upon check in:
1. Keep the same room and
2. Modify the second reservation to the room category I have for my first (earlier) reservation at the discounted rate.
Both reservations are the discounted rate. The first one is for a standard view 5th sleeper and the 2nd is a pref room with 3 beds. The standard view 5th sleeper is a slightly cheaper rate w the discount.
You probably won’t be able to stay in the same room without the same room category. Either pay the non-discounted rate and ask for a continuing stay or pay a non-discounted rate for the entire stay.
1. I have a Disney credit card and I’ve never seen a discount offer for a stay. That would be amazing.
2. I want to take my kids for Christmas, but I’m so worried that things are going to be back to normal mostly and crowds are going to be horrendous!
Hi Tom, we are planning on going around June; our trip last year got cancelled so we want to re schedule… With this offer what hotel do you recommend the most, we are between wilderness lodge, animal kingdom lodge and Beach Club?
Love your blog!
Was hoping to book Caribbean Beach resort with discount but no rooms available for time wanted in June. Do you think they will add additional rooms each day or week?
Thanks.
We had a short 3-night visit to PC in early May. Just me and my son. We could’ve saved $199 taking today’s room discount release but opted for the two extra park days x2 guests instead. 4 gate entries for $199 was the better deal for us.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I was on the phone just this morning with Disney and they never mentioned I qualified for a hotel discount. I just modified my vacation and saved $480 after reading this post! Now if they would only bring back After Hours… 🙂
I wouldn’t expect After Hours to return in 2021 at all.
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween and Very Merry Christmas parties, on the other hand, seem pretty likely.
Planning on a trip for 7/17 to 7/24, and hoping for some deals at some point. Had a trip planned for last July at Port Orleans-Riverside that fell through, so hoping they reopen as well! I tried leaving my cart in checkout a couple of weeks ago to a moderate hotel in hopes of getting a PIN code but nothing yet.
I did the same thing with leaving a room in my cart but no PIN code appeared in my mailbox so I pulled the trigger on this deal. However, the prices have since been jacked up so it’s a dubious deal indeed. The price – with the discount – was still $200 more at CBR for the same dates than the package that was in my cart. Which I can’t get back so I’m out of luck on that price.
I’d love to be wrong, but I would not hold my breath on Riverside opening by this summer. In my view, November 2021 is the best-case scenario.
Again, would absolutely love to be wrong on that!
Hi Tom, I love your Blog! so informative!. I go to Disney World every 1st week in December. I have just gotten back. I reserved December 6, thru 13, 2021. Any idea of when the room discounts for Fall and Winter will be released? The room dscounts save me more money than the free dining. I stay at Wilderness Lodge. This year I was relocated to the Yacht Club, very nice but, my favorite is Wilderness Lodge.
Going by precedent from the last couple of years, September through December room discounts will likely be released by mid-July 2021.
Hi Tim! When usually disney release deals for September? I saw the tickets deals but its barely worth it if I want to go for a week..
We’ll be in Orlando for three weeks in May. I’m hoping to buy annual passes for my family to allow us the freedom to visit the parks at different times of day and around our various schedules. Please, please let there be annual passes available to purchase in the next few months.
I have a trip July 8-18. With this promo ending July 10. Will I be able to use it. We are at bay lake tower through Disney. it sucks that it’s somehow in a lower tier at nearly $1000 a night for the one bedroom unit. I would gladly live to grand Floridian but can never find availability through Disney.
I have a trip for July 8th to 15th, and applied the passhikder rate to my booking. The promo rate only applies the 8th to 10th. The rest of the nights are still rack rate, but I’m expecting when additional discounts are released for the rest of the summer that I’ll be able to apply it to my entire booking.
Thanks krista. I don’t know why I’m worried. We booked through TA. I’m she’s on top of it.
Thanks very much for the helpful article Tom. I particularly liked the discount charts which made it easy to reference whether the discounts apply to when we are considering going.
Do you think that renting through Dave’s Vacation Club is a good idea? This is all so confusing to me. Please help!
We did, and without Covid, it would have been the most amazing trip we ever took. I booked for a room at Old Key West. For the number of nights staying our full price was $799.00. We were going to back this hotel stay up with a Disney Cruise. Daves is a zero refund program! Covid canceled our Cruise. Our options were: Go to WDW and stay at OKW or lose $799 during covid. We went. We were blessed with Disney being at the 25% capacity program. The hotel was great.
Just remember that with Disney you get a semi gamble. You have a bit of say in your booking and you have issues you just call them. With Daves you have to remember he is like a Travel agent. You pay dave, he pays the Disney Vacation Club owner whos points you are renting.
With Disney you get to chose your hotel based on occupancy, Daves you get a hotel room that MIGHT be the hotel you want, but only if there is a point owner who is willing to rent out the number of points you want to rent (I used like 23, which is harder on people who are trying to rent out 2-500 points).
Example, you want to stay at Animal Kingdom (either one) and Disney says $xxx per night. If you book with Disney you KNOW you are going to get an AK room. With Daves you say “I would like to stay at AK for my first choice, and Bay Lake towers for my 2nd and Old Key West for my 3rd.” you send in your deposit with your application and a Daves employee will get back with you to let you know if you won your “lottery” or if you need to come up with a 4th choice or 5th or 6th. so you see one is a slight guarantee, and the other is a slight gamble.
In my case the Gamble was worth it. I didn’t get my first 7th choices, but I got a good room at Disney at a GOOD price to me for the time I was there.
Because of Dave’s Vacation Club I was able to go to Disney and get the feeling that the parks were crowded like the TV shows they are crowded… and we got to ride every ride we wanted to with little to no wait (Pandora was 60 minutes and worth every moment of the wait).
Way back when, I used to recommend first time renters use a broker to make it easier for them. Now, with the response from many of the brokers with the covid time period rentals, I would never recommend using a broker, but finding an individual owner to work with. DIS Boards and Mouseowners are two sites where owners rent out their points. Make sure you read all the sticky threads at the top of the site before you post any requests. And never respond to private messages that you did not initiate. That’s just one way that renters get taken by unscrupulous people who might not even own DVC points. I think many of the brokers might have a difficult time getting owners to rent out their points these days because of the flood of cancellations from covid that are still trying to be rented at fire sale prices and the changes in the contracts the brokers have given the point owners leaving the owner responsible for any pandemic costs in the future. Renting points takes courage because it might not work out the way you hoped it would.
At this point, I’d only do DVC point rental at the last minute when you know you won’t have to cancel. That’s also when the deals are the best and it’s lowest-risk.
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the heads up on the discount. If we have reservations that begin on July 9, would the discount only apply until July 10, or would it cover the whole of our stay, several days after this? We normally end up using a discount called the Sun & Fun, but I haven’t seen that yet. Also, a technical question – do you feel there will be a significant difference in what has resumed to normalcy between July and the month of August?
Thanks so much.
“do you feel there will be a significant difference in what has resumed to normalcy between July and the month of August?”
No, probably not. Disney will restore normalcy as circumstances allow, but beyond that, I’d expect concerted efforts ahead of Easter, Memorial Day, and October 1. August is the end of summer vacation season, so it seems unlikely (to me) that Disney would undertake to bring things back at that point.
I am contemplating getting a Disney credit card for our trip for spring break. Do you know which resorts or dates the half off would apply. We are currently booked with CBR.
Where are the ticket deals for non-locals?! From what I can glean, DVC members are making a big chunk of resort reservations presently and attractive ticket offers would go a long way to convey appreciation for booking resort rooms!
Shockingly, the 2-day free ticket offer is available for DVC members: https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/discounts-perks-offers/special-offers/member-ticket-offer/
I didn’t include it in the post to avoid confusion among non-members, but it’s rare to see something like this without the requirement of a cash-booking.
Oh wow! Thank you for that update, I stand corrected!!
That DVC ticket deal looks like the first attempt to do something about the coming crunch, in this case, encouraging reservations earlier in the year.
I didn’t do exhaustive research but whenever I see these discounts and I look at CBR it feels like a bait and switch.
They should call them the, “Spring into Magic, but only if you want to stay in a Pirate room because we have the hardest time booking those.” Or something more clever…
I don’t have any evidence to back me up on this, but I feel like it’s often the case where CBR primarily has Pirate Room availability when any discount is dropped, and then other rooms are added later. It’s like they want to push their weakest inventory first, and then gradually release the rest.
I wonder what percentage of villas will be available for cash booking. With the flood of DVC points coming, some members might be unhappy they cannot book at the last minute like they did later on in 2020.
I was glad to wake up to this news this morning along with an new email quote from our travel agent with the discount applied for a standard room at Coronado! However, we were really hoping to do a split stay with Animal Kingdom Lodge and of course it’s not open. Anybody have predictions on a reopening date there? Our trip is June. Thanks!
@Nicole – I highly doubt AKL will be open by June.
@DebC – Totally agree. DVC Members are going to be even less “understanding” of cash-only availability at the Villas later in the year when there’s nothing on the DVC side. Hopefully Disney does something to address that coming problem, but my confidence level isn’t high.