NEW Fall & Christmas 2019 Room Discounts at Disney World!
Walt Disney World has released new promotions for Fall & Christmas 2019, including room-only discounts for the general public, Florida residents, and Annual Passholders for September through December. This is in addition to the New Free Dining Dates for Fall & Holiday 2019 we’ve already covered here.
While we’ve been expecting room-only discounts for September to drop for the last several weeks now (historically speaking, this offer is actually a few weeks late), we’re a bit surprised by the range of dates available, specifically for December during the heart of the Christmas season, and after Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opens.
However, we’ve already offered extensive commentary about the why of these new Walt Disney World promos, some thoughts on availability, and more in our aforementioned Free Dining post, so I’ll spare you the details here. Suffice to say, it’s likely due to concerns Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Now, let’s take a look at these Walt Disney World room only discounts…
Let’s start with the general public room only discount available at most Walt Disney World hotels. With this offer, you can save up to 20% on rooms at select Walt Disney World hotels, valid for stays most nights September 1 through December 24, 2019.
Here is look at the specifics of this deal, including discount rates and booking deadlines:
If you have trouble reading any of that, the same info can be found here on DisneyWorld.com.
Next, Florida residents can save up to 25% and Annual Passholders can save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resort hotels for stays most nights September 1 through December. These deals look pretty similar to the general public one, albeit with more attractive discounts.
Here are specifics on the Florida resident room-only discount and here are specifics on the Annual Passholder offer. Note that the booking deadline is more lenient for these offers, which is another plus.
Note that as of 6 a.m. EST on July 16, 2019, we cannot book any of these discounts online–at least, not for the correct prices. It’s unclear if this is just us or a widespread outage. It’s entirely possible that Walt Disney World did not intend upon dropping today’s deals at 4:30 a.m. (that’s when we first spotted them!) so the announcement is already in the system, but the prices have not yet loaded. Who knows.
What we do know is that Walt Disney World’s phone lines are likely to have long, multi-hour waits all morning as a result. Once the online system does start working, it will probably slow to a crawl given that several new deals have simultaneously been released.
Sometimes, on Walt Disney World discount release day, it’s okay to sit out the madness and wait for the system to start functioning smoothly to save yourself unnecessary stress for deals that aren’t going anywhere. Unfortunately, that’s not the case today, especially with the holiday-time discounts.
This is totally speculation on our part, but we strongly suspect that inventory for October, November, and (especially) December 2019 is very limited.
Again, this is something we cover at length in the Free Dining is Back post, but we do not believe bookings are low for the Christmas season. (This is supported by the fact that we’ve previously searched for rooms and found several resorts and room categories sold out well before this deal was released.)
As we discuss in our massive Star Wars Land Info & Galaxy’s Edge Guide, we still expect to see elevated crowds from mid-October through December 2019, and likely for at least the first half of 2020. While we may have previously overstated the impact it’ll have on attendance, we do not think Walt Disney World will be a ghost town come November or December 2019.
To the contrary, our expectation remains elevated attendance in those months. This is something we also cover in detail in our 2019 Walt Disney World Crowd Predictions: When to Go & Avoiding Star Wars Land Lines post, which we’ve updated since Disney announced the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opening date.
However, it’s also entirely possible that Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot do not see precipitously larger crowds. Epcot, specifically, could have lower crowds than normal, especially if construction scares people away or Disney’s Hollywood Studios cannibalizes its attendance.
There are so many variables at play, and if the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland has taught us anything, it’s that this year is going to be a weird, wild ride in terms of attendance and crowd projections at the U.S. Disney Parks. Even if occupancy rates are high for October through December, off-site hotels and Annual Passholders are a huge unknown. If they ‘sit out’ the first few months that Star Wars Land is open, this holiday season could be a great time to visit Walt Disney World.
Once the dust settles and the online system is working, hopefully you’re able to book your desired room. If you are (or even if you are not), we’d love to hear from you in the comments. We always do test searches (and will be booking some dates ourselves!), but it’s far easier for me to crowd-source some of this data rather than fighting Disney’s system all day.
As always, if you want to save yourself the hassle and time of having to fight DisneyWorld.com’s online (or phone) system today, you can request a FREE quote from our recommended Authorized Disney Vacation Planner and have them do the work for you.
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 about these new Walt Disney World discounts? Have you been able to price out anything–or book it–for the correct price after discount? Do you agree or disagree with our analysis? 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!
Tom: Thanks so much for the timely update on fall resort discounts for Annual Passholders AND for let us know about Be Our Guest travel agency. I personally booked three rooms at Wilderness Lodge in November, 2018 for a 50th Anniversary/birthday/first visit for young grandkids family celebration in mid-December. Be Our Guest was able to book three new rooms for us at Wilderness Lodge at the fall promotional rate that is saving us $2,700. It does not get any better than that. We have been staying at Wilderness Lodge since the year it opened and have been there 26 times. Totally agree with you that it is the best resort on-site. We love their Christmas decorations but they have unfortunately toned them down from what they were in the 1996 – 2006 time frame. Keep up the great work.
I didn’t know where to post this question but I’m wondering about fast pass for Star Wars Millineum falcon in November or if anyone has been able to book this yet? How do is regular normal people going to Disney get to ride this ride?
There are no fast passes for the Galaxy’s Edge attractions yet. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/fast-pass-plus/star-wars-galaxys-edge-fastpass/
However there are some crazy long extra magic hours being offered. I’m not sure of all the dates, but I know Hollywood Studios will be open as early as 6am when I’m visiting in mid September.
It looks like the extra, extra magic hours are only scheduled until November 2 currently:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/extra-extra-magic-hours/?ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIl_zKhqXE4wIVDdvACh2CWwzxEAAYASAAEgJp4fD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!5060!3!346351974397!b!!g!!%2Bextra%20%2Bmagic%20%2Bhours%20%2Bhollywood%20%2Bstudios&CMP=KNC-FY19_WDW_TRA_DOM-EXCFL_W365_RES_RCV_EEMH-BMM|BR|G|4191013.WW.AM.01.01|NA_NA_NA_NA&keyword_id=aud-431369947423:kwd-725429042356|dm|%2Bextra%20%2Bmagic%20%2Bhours%20%2Bhollywood%20%2Bstudios|346351974397|b|5060:3|&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIl_zKhqXE4wIVDdvACh2CWwzxEAAYASAAEgJp4fD_BwE
Very disappointed, found out we did not qualify for either the room discounts or the free dining. When we booked the trip, the Disney Vacation planner said I know this is expensive but just wait until the fall discounts come out. May be ditching the dining plan, we’re pay for 7 adults, 1 is 11 but they charge as an adult, and 1 child. We have the dining plan of 1 table service meal, 1 counter service and 2 snacks.
Thank you to Lisa Marie and others who noticed the passholder discount was not applied to the weekend dates. I had called the day the discount was announced to modify a three night stay, standard view at POFQ at the end of Sept. It took a while to get through, but I was able to get the discount. However, my email confirmation didn’t come in until later. I then noticed that the discount was not applied to Saturday, Sept. 28. I tried to call to get that checked on yesterday, and the person could not help me. I noticed today that online additional room views had opened up and a garden view was available at a lower rate than my modified standard room total. I called and a very helpful person was able to change and give me the garden view for an additional savings. I now have saved $150 for a three night stay at POFQ and have an upgraded room view.
Congrats! :Happy Dance: 🙂
Thank you for the info! Was able to adjust my reservation online, in about 5 minutes. Dropped our price down about $150 overall. Staying at Port Orleans Riverside Sept 21-Sept 28. Really appreciate the heads up.
Thanks for the info Lisa Marie! I was told by a CM on the phone this morning that there were no more passholder discounts available for my dates. I decided to check on line after reading your comment and was able to book a new res for the same dates, same resort, same room category WITH the passholder discount and it was applied to my weekend days also! You made my day, thanks for sharing!!!
Hurray! I’m so glad to hear it Tricia! 🙂 Congrats on scoring an awesome deal!
A heads up for those of you who were able to apply the Passholder Fall and Holiday Room Offer Discount in the morning yesterday!
It appears that while the system was down Disney changed some of the dates that the discount applies to…
I originally applied the AP Fall and Holiday discount to my stay in the Beach Club Villas and got my confirmation e-mail yesterday morning. In that e-mail it shows that I have the AP Fall and Holiday discount for the weekdays, while Friday and Saturday were full price.
I was playing around with dates last night when the Disney system came back on-line, and I found that they were now applying the AP discount to the entire week!
I could not get the system to “Modify” my reservation, since it already showed that my AP discount was applied. But I was able to book a new res with the better discount. My new confirmation e-mail shows the discount applied to the full week and saved me an additional $159 each for Friday and Saturday, or over $300 total.
So, if you were an early bird yesterday, I would definitely recommend you check the website now to be sure you received the best possible PH Fall and Holiday package. 🙂
Thanks for that heads up. I did go back and check every weekend in Oct – Nov at the Polynesian. Although it appears as though there is a Passholder discount, it is zero. And when I was on the phone with them yesterday (on hold 2.5 hours) they told me the same thing after I pointed out the math didn’t seem right (discount didn’t add up to the 20%). So it looks like it’s a Polynesian thing – only the weekdays are discounted. We may drop the Nov 16 night or switch it to a different resort as the full price for that one night is astronomical.
Sorry it didn’t work for the Poly, 🙁 but at least you know you aren’t leaving money on the table. Good luck in your planning! 🙂
We had booked a stay at CBR, we were told that in order to apply the discount to our room we had to updated our booking to Disney’s current price. The current price listed is an increase from when we booked meaning applying the room discount would actually cost us more then if we stay with our original request, stated our Disney approved Travel Agent. (Be Our Guest Vacations). Does anyone have experience with this issue? I was hoping the discount would apply to the price we held when first booking? Can anyone tell me more about this?
So, I got through this morning and the system was working, however the CM couldn’t apply the discount because there was no more availability for my dates! Arrgh! So the system is down the day the discounts come out and then they are gone by early am the following day. I did get the discount for the general public applied but it is substantially lower than the passholder discount and does not apply for our entire stay. Oh well, something is better than nothing.
I added an extra day to my existing reservation. It was odd because they showed three potential packages that I could use………..the standard price package and then two additional ones, Fall and Holiday and Festive Fun (something like that). I priced all three packages and the Standard Price Package was the cheapest of the three, by over $100.
Thanks for the heads up in this Tom.
I was able to get the Passholder discount applied to our existing reservation at the Polynesian but only for the weekdays during our stay. Nov 16-22. Still saved quite a bit.
I had no trouble on the website changing my Pop Century reservation. It was only a little $100 in savings but it is certainly better than nothing so I’m happy to have it.
After finally getting through to the hold queue after an hour or more of the “all circuits are busy” message or line busy (how long has it been since anyone has heard a busy signal??), I got through to a cast member after 45 minutes only to be told that their system is down and has been all day so unfortunately they were not able to modify any reservations or apply any discounts. How frustrating!! Hopefully I will have better luck tomorrow. I hope everyone calling in remains kind to the person on the other end of the line. It is not their fault that the system is down. Remember it has probably been an absolutely miserable day for them.
I didn’t have any trouble getting through this morning but no luck in getting the discount at Wilderness Lodge even though our already booked trip was within the discount dates. No more offers available evidently. And the dining promotion skipped out reservation so very disappointed.
THANK YOU!!! I woke up this morning to see your e-mail, and immediately logged on the Disney website. You saved me $700! It was NOT easy though….
I had a split stay booked for September with 5 days in a Little Mermaid Room at AoA and 5 days in a 1 bedroom villa at Beach Club.
First, I saw that the 1 bedrrom villa at Beach Club was AVAILABLE for the annual passholder deal, but I was unable to modify my Beach Club reservation on the website. So I started trying to call in to the reservations line. But, of course, I just kept getting a busy signal.
I kept trying and finally got into the hold line for a representative. 25 minutes later I was talking to someone. Unfortunately, this person seemed utterly clueless! I was so patient and polite, giving my reservation number 3 separate times and repeating that I wanted to modify it to apply the Passholder Fall & Holiday Discount. I told her to take her time, and not to worry. She kept sounding utterly confused. 🙁 After 15+ minutes of this, she informed me that her system was down because too many people have been calling in and that I should call back later. I explained that I was afraid the room I wanted would not be available later, and she said “sorry”. I asked if I could be transferred to someone else. She said “sorry.” UHG!
So I finally just booked the room with the offer on my own and then cancelled my old reservation. I ended up losing some of my fastpasses, but it was worth it to save $500 on that booking. I’m not sure why the fastpasses disappeared (only my husband’s who was coming for the 2nd half of the split stay). But I was able to rebook all but one of them (Mine Train).
Next I went to see if I could apply the discount to my AOA reservation. At first there were no rooms available with the discount. I kept checking back, and IT POPPED UP! I was so excited to save another $200. But the website kept sending me an error message when I got to the “confirm purchase” final step in modifying the room. Uhg again!
After multiple attempts and one computer reboot I was about to give up and just be content with the deal I got on the BC res, but I decided to eat my lunch and just keep clicking refresh and trying again, when on…perhaps my 20th attempt…it went through!
WOOHOO! Another $200 saved!
So all told, I was able to save $700 on my trip due to your wonderful e-mail. THANK YOU!!!!
I’m still trying to see if I can get the discount on my Wilderness Lodge reservation for December. No luck so far. But if this experience has taught me anything, it is Don’t Give Up!
Good Luck to everyone in snagging those hard to get deals! Keep Trying!
Any word on January 2020 booking discounts yet?