Summer & Fall 2022 Discounts for Disney World APs

Walt Disney World has released new Summer & Fall 2022 resort room-only discounts for Annual Passholders. This post shares the details of these special offers, commentary about why there’s such a shortage of savings, plus sample pricing, analysis & other info.

In case you’ve forgotten, discounts of up to 25% off rooms at Walt Disney World have already been released for now through July 7, 2022. Those room-only rates were only available for Floridians and Annual Passholders, and had relatively limited availability. For the general public, Walt Disney World released savings of up to $100 off per night for the general public for Spring and Summer 2022, which also run through July 7, 2022.

For dates beyond July 7, this actually is not the first discount the company has released. Back in early April, Walt Disney World dropped new deals covering Summer & Early Fall for Disney+ Subscribers. That promotion is still available to book, and runs through September 30, 2022.

The second half of last year was rough for general public discounts, and that is thankfully starting to turn around with this latest. We’re still not seeing the range or quality of normal discounts, but it’s a marked improvement as compared to last summer and fall.

As discussed elsewhere, the combination of pent-up demand and reduced resort operations has caused problems for WDW dealhounds in 2022. We’ll circle back to those subjects in the commentary.

Before starting, we’ll preface this with a reminder that availability has been weak for many recent deals. Thankfully, that has started to turn around in the last couple of months, but we’re still not seeing the range or quality of discounts as would be released in a normal year.

To that point, we’ve had many readers report finding nothing at all–or higher prices–for their travel dates. Where there is availability, it often requires a room upgrade (although no longer to the Pirate Rooms!), thus at least partially negating the benefit of the discount. Just something to keep in mind before getting your hopes up here.

Let’s start with the official details for the new AP discount. Per Walt Disney World, Annual Passholders can delight in great summer rates on rooms at select Disney Resort hotels for stays most nights July 8 through September 8, 2022.

Here’s the resort by resort AP savings chart provided by Walt Disney World:

Walt Disney World provides one example of the savings: “stay in a standard room at Disney’s All-Star Resorts for just $129 plus tax per night—and make the most of your Annual Pass.”

This is probably more confusing than it is useful, as that’s not an across the board price for the All Stars during this range of dates. It’s simply an illustrative example. (Frankly, I don’t even know why they provide these–the examples only seem to lead to more confusion.)

Walt Disney World also notes that you can take advantage of this early-booking opportunity for Annual Passholders now—before these great rates become available to Florida Residents on June 21, 2022.

Annual Passholders must present a valid Walt Disney World AP at check-in. This special offer for Annual Passholders excludes the following room types: 3-bedroom villas and The Little Mermaid Standard Rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.

Additional per-adult charges may apply if more than 2 adults per room at Value, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts and Studios at Deluxe Villa Resorts. Maximum length of stay under this deal is 14 nights.

Here’s what we found for best available rates for this Summer & Early Fall 2022 discount:

This search is for the night of September 5, 2022, which is part of the “Value 2” season at Walt Disney World. That has the cheapest rack rates of the year outside of January and February. This is not an exhaustive list of the lowest rates for all hotels. Some resorts listed above are showing prices for non-standard rooms.

For comparison’s sake, here’s the same thing for the earlier Disney+ subscriber promo, for the exact same dates:

There’s no past precedent for Disney+ discounts, but it’s nice to see that the Annual Passholder rates edge out those offered to subscribers of the streaming service. If you’re not an AP but are a Disney+ subscriber, you may disagree with that. Fair enough.

My counter would be that the company has been singularly focused on growing Disney+ at the expense of pretty much everything else. As nice as it was to see an affiliation benefit with a low barrier to entry, it was also concerning that subscribers to something unrelated to the parks were being treated better than Annual Passholders.

That only further reinforced the notion that the parks & resorts are back-of-mind, whereas streaming is Disney’s top priority. I won’t read too much into this discount being a sign of a shift away from that, but I nevertheless hope that shift does occur–especially as investors rethink the value of the streaming market.

Of course, it would also be nice if Walt Disney World would resume Annual Pass sales. Plenty of people won’t be able to take advantage of this discount simply by virtue of not being able to buy APs. Don’t expect that to change until August, at the earliest.

Another optimistic sign: this is better than last year’s “Summer Fun” discount.

That was also the case with the Disney+ subscriber special offer, but it’s worth pointing out again, as the vast majority of recent deals have ranged from disappointing to nonexistent. There are real deals to be scored here, sometimes to the tune of $100 to $150 off per night at the Deluxe Resorts.

As always, it all depends on your desired resort, room categories, and travel dates. If you’re already locked-in and don’t have much flexibility, the options might not appear so hot.

Additionally, if you’re looking for rooms at the All Star Resorts, Animal Kingdom Lodge, BoardWalk Inn, or either Port Orleans Resort, your perception of this discount will be superior to those searching for discounts at one of the popular hotels. This discount has more exclusions than the Disney+ subscriber offer, with Pop Century, Caribbean Beach, Grand Floridian, Beach Club, the Polynesian, and other resorts ineligible for this discount.

Some of these discounted rates are far superior to what we’ve been paying recently, and that’s when booking hotels both on-site and off-site near Walt Disney World. Granted, I’m comparing prices of stays in May 2022 when pent-up demand is (hopefully) worse to stays in September 2022, which (hopefully) will be the sleepy off-season once again.

For the recent and upcoming months, we’ve been booking rooms at Flamingo Crossings and elsewhere, and I’ve yet to book anything for under $125 per night. To the contrary, most stays have been significantly more expensive. I’ve seen many nights when rooms are over $200, and those are for “budget” or extended stay accommodations. Granted, they’re nice and new, but that area is supposed to be cheaper. The point is that hotel prices are up everywhere, not just Disney-owned resorts.

Relative to what I’ve been seeing for this summer, $100 per night for All Star Music–with the new rooms, perks, and transportation–is a downright steal. It’s just too bad that Pop Century isn’t available for this discount, as I’d rather pay a bit more and get Skyliner access than stay at the All Stars and rely on the buses.

Of course, it’s not as cheap as what you would’ve paid this same time in 2019, let alone 2016. Back in my day, the All Stars had off-season rates that were routinely $79 per night or less! Unfortunately, absent a time machine, it’s impossible to book those prices. Even with that in mind, this isn’t too far from that when adjusted for inflation.

As we’ve written several times in the last few weeks, we doubt this will be the last of the good Walt Disney World discounts for the coming months. There’s a chance this summer will be the “last hurrah” for pent-up demand; as that starts to fizzle out, household savings decreases, inflation starts stinging more, and the economy slows down, it seems increasingly likely that Walt Disney World will experience its own slowdown.

Who knows if any of that will actually happen, though. I didn’t think “revenge travel” would run this hot for this long. It’ll be interesting to see how all of this actually plays out. The return of international guests in full force could sustain Walt Disney World’s strong demand even longer, as could special events and conventions (which are big in the fall). That could also be offset by the return of more hotel rooms to the inventory. No one knows how many rooms are currently out of commission at the operational resorts, but at some of them, it’s a lot.

Ultimately, if you’re an Annual Passholder (or Florida resident once that booking window opens) who is eager for an escape to Walt Disney World, these deals might be as good as it gets–at least, until pent-up demand fizzles out or Disney is able to operate its resorts at 100% occupancy.

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 Walt Disney World Annual Passholders and Florida residents? Disappointed that there’s nothing for the general public? If you booked this, do you think you ended up with a good price or do you feel like you’re overpaying? What was available or unavailable for your dates? Is this deal enough to convince you to book a trip, or can you not justify these 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!

18 Responses to “Summer & Fall 2022 Discounts for Disney World APs”
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