“Summer Fun” Hotel Deals for Disney World Passholders & Florida Residents
Walt Disney World has released new “Summer Fun” resort room-only discounts in August and September 2021 for Annual Passholders. This post shares the details of these special offers, commentary about why there’s such a shortage of savings, plus analysis & availability info. (Updated July 7, 2021.)
In case you’ve forgotten, general public discounts of up to 25% off rooms at Walt Disney World were released at the beginning of May for stays most nights July 11, 2021 through September 29, 2021. While Annual Passholders and Floridians were free to book that, there were no special (larger) discounts for residents or APs.
It’s also worth noting that availability was abysmal for that deal. We had many readers report finding nothing at all–or higher prices–for their travel dates. In our searches, we found few options at the Value and Moderate Resorts. Where there is availability, it often requires a room upgrade (e.g. from standard to preferred view…or the dreaded Pirate Rooms), thus at least partially negating the benefit of the discount…
Anyway, here are the official details for the new AP discount: Delight in special summer rates on rooms at select Disney Resort hotels for stays most nights August 8 through September 4, 2021.
Walt Disney World’s summer room discount is available for booking now through September 4, 2021. Passholder must present a valid Walt Disney World Annual Pass at check-in.
July 7, 2021 Update: This same deal is now available for Florida Residents. In checking available resort and room categories, discount rates and pricing, and other terms, there are no apparent differences between the promos that we could find.
The only difference is that instead of presenting a valid Walt Disney World AP at check-in, Floridians must present proof of Florida residency required at check-in. Otherwise, all of the terms & conditions are identical.
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, and 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 Disney Value, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts and Studios at Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts. Maximum length of stay under this deal is 14 nights.
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort – Standard Room for $149+ tax/night
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort – King Bed Room for $249+ tax/night
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort – Family Suite for $349+ tax/night
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa – Outer Building Garden View Room for $449+ tax/night
Here’s a list of all eligible resorts:
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
- The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
Since Walt Disney World’s theoretical list of eligible resorts and prices tends to differ from what’s actually available, here’s what we found for best available rates when searching:
As a reminder, Walt Disney World does not increase prices prior to releasing a discount. This is a popular misconception, but it’s absolutely not true. Rack room charts for the entire year are published well in advance, and can be found in multiple places online.
If you see higher prices now as compared to what you’re already paying, the first thing to do is check the room category. Make sure it’s an apples to apples comparison. (Normally, you should also compare ticket prices, but that’s obviously irrelevant to an AP room discount.)
Okay, commentary time.
These deals are pretty paltry. They’re certainly not what we’re accustomed to seeing in the depths of the late summer, early fall off-season. This is not a huge surprise–weak discounts are what we expected.
If you’re wondering why there’s a dearth of deals, recommended reading is What’s Up with Sold Out Hotels at Walt Disney World? That offers an in-depth explanation of the current phenomenon, which I’m not going to rehash here. In a nutshell, it’s a matter of pent-up demand colliding with low room supply.
With that said, a couple signs of optimism. The first wave of College Program Participants have arrived, and Walt Disney World continues its hiring spree. As we’ve said countless times before, it’s going to take time before the fruits of these efforts are felt as on-the-job training takes some time, but we’re optimistic most of the staffing shortages work themselves out by late September.
This should enable Walt Disney World to reopen Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter, plus All Star Movies and Sports. I’m optimistic that at least two of these will return prior to October 1, 2021. Hopefully all of them, but I don’t want to be overly optimistic.
Walt Disney World already announced the reopening of Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House, which will add more rooms to the available inventory. With each hotel reopening, the likelihood of more and greater discounts in the future should increase.
Finally, many of you have asked when we think the next round of room discounts will be released. If past precedent and historic trends are any indication, discounts for September through December 24, 2021 would be released in mid-July 2021.
We wouldn’t be surprised if that occurs later than normal this year, potentially not until August 2021. Honestly, that’s probably for the best. The sooner discounts are released, they worse they’ll be. If Walt Disney World waits to drop deals until the Port Orleans and remaining All Star Resorts have reopened, there’s the potential for better deals. So don’t be too impatient for the next round of special offers!
Until available room inventory catches up to (pent-up) demand, this is the reality of room pricing and discounts at Walt Disney World. (For what it’s worth, we warned that you’d be overpaying for summer vacations back in March!) Everyone can grumble about Disney being “greedy” or whatever, but have you tried booking a hotel or Airbnb in a beach city this summer? What about a rental car? Seen the increased pricing at non-Disney buffets?
This is hardly unique to Walt Disney World. It’s happening all over the place, and is not going to change until Americans satiate their desire to make up for lost time vacationing and the labor market stabilizes. Maybe that’ll happen by August or September, maybe it’ll take until January or February of next year. (A complicating factor here is Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary, which will spike visits right as pent-up demand for travel among the general public is starting to fizzle.)
Nevertheless, if you’re an Annual Passholder or Florida resident who is eager for an escape to Walt Disney World in the coming months, don’t mind overpaying a bit, and can’t find any better options via Disney Vacation Club Point Rentals (it’s pretty much only confirmed reservations now) or Priceline Express Deals, this might be as good as it’ll get for you. 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? 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!
Not to be outdone by a Princess Bride reference.
“These are not the hotel deals you are looking for.”
Lol Thanks DebC !!
April: Maybe he is naming them after Dread Pirate Roberts from Princess Bride?
Actually, that is why…sort of. I remembered a “Dread Pirate” from something in pop culture, so that was the original inspiration for the name. I forgot it was from Princess Bride, though.
Tom, I have a question. Im very new to Disney and its services even though I’m a Floridian. But what does the Club level access offer? Is it worth the pay? Let me know.
Also do you think there will be discounted hotels during September & October? I’m looking to stay somewhere close to Epcot for Food & Wine Festival
The AP rates over Labor Day weekend are higher than the other 25% discount promotion offered. I presume that is not the case on some other dates, but this is still disappointing.
Why do you keep calling the pirate rooms the “dreaded” rooms at Caribbean Beach? They look fun for the kids.
Those rooms are less desirable because of their location, plus the bed quality, size, and comfort. They were redone in the Pirates style because they were among the last to book at Walt Disney World. It was lipstick on a pig, so to speak.
However, it’s pretty lipstick…and not the lipstick’s fault it’s being put on a pig. There’s nothing wrong with the underlying Pirates style or look. Does that make more sense?
we are going to disney in november do you think there will be any discounts we have a group of 8 we are booked at art of animation
thanks Mary
I find the small window of time for this offer interesting. It doesn’t seem to line up with much else (regular room offer, events, etc.) and seems unusually small.
Your picture of the deals available raises a question that I’ve wondered about for a little while: why do they list the deals/discounted rooms differently for Grand Floridian than all the other resorts. I’ve noticed this for at least a little while now – all the other resorts show the rack rate, the discounted rate, and the amount saved per night. GF just shows the discounted rate with no savings nor the rack rate.
If this is for AP holders, they haven’t sold any new APs since before the shutdown. And anyone who didn’t renew their AP probably has an expired AP now. So all you have are the renewals and maybe a few three year olds who now have an AP since the rest of the family has a current AP. Until they start selling APs again, no need to have an expansive number of hotel rooms and villas at the AP rate. Since these rates are only good through Sept 3, maybe new APs will become available starting Sept 4.
Tom – not sure if you have answered this and I can’t see it confirmed anywhere , but I see that Club Level rooms are available for booking at Animal Kingdom Lodge when it reopens. Does that mean all of the Club Level services (including food) will be available too? I didn’t see Animal Kingdom listed in the club level openings. Thanks.
Tangentially relevant but we had booked a December stay at Portofino Bay (Universal) a while back because I noticed a deal/price point that was a pretty good deal (at least in my opinion). I poke around every couple weeks just to see if things drop/we can get a better deal. The same dates have gone up every time I’ve checked with the latest being a $900 increase. Pandemic deals are done it seems. I’m driving out to Colorado from the mid-Atlantic later this week and just hoping we can find gas the whole way…strange times.