Up to 25% Off Disney World Resorts for APs & Floridians
Walt Disney World has released new Spring & Summer 2022 resort room-only discounts for Floridians and APs. 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 March 2022. Those room-only rates, like the two rounds before them, were only available for Floridians and Annual Passholders, and had relatively limited availability. Additionally, Walt Disney World just released savings of up to $100 off per night for the general public for Spring and Summer 2022.
The second half of last year was rough for general public discounts, but we were hoping that trend would turn around with the start of 2022, the winter “off-season,” and cancellations. However, as discussed elsewhere, it’s possible that a combined of pent-up demand and reduced resort operations are going to continue to cause 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 was weak for the last round of deals…and the round before that. We 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 (e.g. from standard to preferred view, Pirate Rooms, etc.), thus at least partially negating the benefit of the discount. Just something to keep in mind before getting your hopes up here.
On a different note, if you’re not an Annual Passholder or Floridian, you still might want to check out these discounts. It’s worth crunching the numbers on an AP to see if you would save more by one member of your party purchasing one, rather than regular tickets and hotels at rack rate. Just be warned that once you buy an Annual Pass to “save money,” it’s likely you’ll end up booking more quick trips or long weekends throughout the year. Not that we speak from experience or anything!
Let’s start with the official details for the new AP discount: Annual Passholders can save up to 25% on rooms at select Disney Resort hotels for stays most nights March 11, 2022 through July 7, 2022
Here are resort by resort AP savings rates:
This special offer for Annual Passholders excludes the following room types: 3-bedroom villas, campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, Cabins at Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, 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 Value, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts and Studios at Deluxe Villa Resorts. Maximum length of stay under this deal is 14 nights.
Next, Florida Residents can save up to 20% on rooms at select Disney Resort hotels for stays most nights March 11, 2022 through July 7, 2022.
Details are mostly the same, but with ~5% less off at some tiers of resorts. Here are the specifics:
Proof of Florida residency is required at check-in. Otherwise, the terms & conditions are identical, with the same room exclusions and so forth.
As a reminder, Walt Disney World does not increase resort rates prior to releasing a discount. This is a popular misconception, but it’s false. Rack room charts for the entire year are published in advance, and can be found in multiple places online.
Here’s what we found for best available rates for this Spring & Summer 2022 discount:
These rates are weak by objective historical standards. Nevertheless, they are better than the new general public discount across the board…and also better than nothing, which is what we’ve seen repeatedly over the course of the last 6 months.
To be sure, they’re not nearly as good as the deals released last winter around now, but absent a time machine, no one is able to book those rates in the here and now. Discounts are a product of supply and demand, and unfortunately, pent-up demand is still running hot and Walt Disney World still isn’t operating at 100% (meaning supply is constrained).
In other words, this isn’t tremendously surprising. We’ve been covering the dearth of deals for months, as well as the lack of hotel availability for the end of the year. (If you haven’t already read it, we’d recommend What’s Up with Sold Out Hotels at Walt Disney World?)
As covered in the latest update to that, we’re starting to see it spillover into this year, with limited availability through Easter 2022. Certain hotels are starting to show as unavailable on other dates, too. It’s likely that the first half of 2022 will continue to see the same issues as the second half of last year.
As discussed in the latest update to our 2022 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars, we’re expecting pent-up demand to continue as the dominant story through at least the first several months of this year. While we could be wrong, it certainly seems like that will significantly overshadow and outpace Omicron-driven cancellations. Most, but not all, people seem to be ready to move on with life.
Consequently, we’re expecting heavier crowds in the first half of this year than the first half of last year. That’s due to pent-up demand resulting from postponed trips, a return of international travel, resumption of runDisney and youth sporting events, people remembering how low crowds were at this time last year, and more.
Regardless of the cause, it’s likely that these Spring & Summer 2022 discounts are going to be disappointing to many of you. Beyond those traveling in the first half of the calendar year, the ongoing pent-up demand and lack of discounting might be disheartening for those who have been upset by recent announcements about Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, among other things.
On the plus side, availability for the dates we spot-checked is pretty good at most resorts. This suggests to us that either Walt Disney World is increasing guest loads at the resorts or bookings aren’t nearly as strong for a lot of dates as they have been this fall and holiday season. If that anecdotal observation is accurate–and it may not be–we still might see decent discounts for later in 2022, or at least more rooms unloaded on Priceline or Hotwire. Walt Disney World also might take a wait and see approach to releasing more deals.
Ultimately, if you’re an Annual Passholder or Florida resident 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!
I would love to be a passholder again but they have paused sales right now.
We have a French Quarter trip planned in June. When I read the article I figured I would try to get the discount.
It is unbelievable how bad the service is right now. First I got the space mountain prompt to just get to the website and look. 20 minutes later Stitch ate my page. Then I tried a chat. It finally timed out at 11:59 after almost 5 hours. I did get someone the next morning who gave me a phone number and suggested a 7am call. I called at 7:03 and had a 2 hour wait after all the prompts. Needless to say I didn’t wait.
Today I called right at 7am and had someone pick up immediately. 5 minutes later I had almost $400 taken off the Bill and had an upgrade to a garden view room. That was the old Disney. Also, just to know, I didn’t complain or anything. She just said she would adjust and get me the best deal. I looked an hour or so later and it was applied and all the park reservations were still there and I’m good to go.
A couple of takeaways are 1. This whole experience is a microcosm of going to Disney. Three minutes can cost you two hours. It is just like being at the turnstiles 45 minutes early vs 30 minutes early… literally thousands of people difference. 2. I think the marketing person who blamed “the popularity of Genie” as the reason for long wait times on the phone/chat should maybe get another job. Shouldn’t Genie make you not need to call if it is so great?
Regardless, the discounts are there and it is worth a 7am call to get them. Now we can buy fastpasses with the money we would have just paid and only feel sort of ripped off!
Thanks Tom, over the year your blogs save thousands of folks a great deal of money. Here’s my two tips as I try to pay it forward.
1) Don’t wait for deals folks. As soon as you know you’re going book it and wait for Tom to tell you when deals are available. Then you just have to apply the discounts.
2) This tip is not for people hauling around young children. You want to save money and the only true perk is for the expensive rooms. Think way out of the box. Book a split stay using the least expensive Deluxe hotel (generally Wilderness Lodge but Swan Dolphin etc might work better) for Monday to Wednesday or just Mon and Wed if you’re ok with moving in and out and in and out and in and out. The difference between those nights and All Stars is about $271 per night during the lowest price weeks. Doing this you get 2 exclusive hours at two different parks. Back in the day, if you had purchased tickets for those After Hours special nights you’d have paid around $129 EACH ($99 each if you were Annual Passholder s). The difference between your room at ALL Stars and Wilderness is fairly covered by the 2 hour park exclusivity. I know that the After Hours program was 3 (sometimes 4 hours) and included ice cream, pop corn and soda but still it kind of eases the pain. Hey the difference between a moderate like Caribbean Beach is only $129 and now you’re making money! Well you’re ahead of the game by $129 (I assume you brought at least one significant other who you may transport across state lines legally). That comes to $258 for the two nights which covers two thirds of that Tuesday night stay and considering Tues at AS is $126 ( $268 at Caribbean) you might as well stay put for three nights at the Lodge. Or you can camp out at $66 for those nights ($198 total) and save 1,000 bucks. Your marriage may differ.
We have a trip booked for late March at the Grand Floridian, and I am trying to get online to see the price difference- website has a 30 minute wait (have never seen this before) and to call is over two hour wait. Crazy!
As a family who haven’t been to Disney World in many many years, and you already have our hotel booked for May, your advice is fabulous! I now have to re-read the information about where to eat and what to do with the four days we have there.
Thank you so much for all that you do.