Travel dates: January 2 – February 20, 2012
Walt Disney World has released a special discount for Disney Visa cardholders only where they can save up to 35% off of their room only reservation at select Walt Disney World resorts. Savings are based on resort;
Sample Savings:
- All-Star Movies: 20% off
- Pop Century, All-Star Sports and Music and Port Orleans French Quarter: 25% off
- Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs and Port Orleans Riverside: 25% off
- Animal Kingdom Lodge and Polynesian Resort: 30% off
- All other Deluxe Resorts: 35% off
- Deluxe Villa Resorts: 35% off
This offer must be booked by December 21, 2011. Not all nights or resorts may be available. Deposit must be made at time of booking with your Disney VISA card or Disney Rewards card. Guests can book either a room only reservation or a package reservation including tickets and dining plans, though only the room portion will be discounted, tickets and dining plan will be at full rate. Availability is limited. This offer will be made available to the general public on October 5, 2011.
For more information about this or any other Disney World discount, please contact our great sponsor Mouseketrips.
Does this mean the chance for a later winter 2011 room-only discount for the general public is zero? I’m currently booked for free dining for early Dec 2011, but was hoping to switch for a room-only discount instead.
WC – I would consider it bad news, but I wouldn’t say there is zero chance. It is possible this deal may be extended to cover 2011 dates when released next week, or there may be another deal released soon. We will just have to wait and see.
WC, if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t jump on Free Dining fast enough (not our top choice) so we’ve got 7 nights at the GF with a measly 10% AAA discount. I’ll never make that mistake again! We’ve gotten fabulous rates for several years now and I didn’t want to believe that our luck would run out. 🙁
Jessica – You should be able to book GF with an AP discount and get a 35% or 40% discount. You will have to buy one AP before you arrive, but the extra cost of the pass should be covered pretty quickly.
Thanks, Keith. I’ve been meaning to look into this option- my in-laws also have a room for the same rate. One person from each reservation (or room) needs to get the pass, right? We’re tricky b/c we can’t be flexible w/ our dates (11/13-11/20) but I’m checking asap. Clearly we are not particularly clever w/ Disney discounts, although we go often (their perfect guests!) The great room-only rates the past few years spoiled us.
Nevermind! I just saw in my notes that I inquired about both Free Dining and AP for our dates on 9/8. There was nothing on the monorail then, and there still isn’t. Oh, well- it’s a combination of our lack of flexibility (husband’s job needs tons of notice, monorail, etc.) and lack of experience. Thanks for helping us learn to be smarter Disney travelers!
Can you get the AAA and VISA discount together? If so, do you have to book through AAA to get both?
Tricia – Disney does not let you combine discounts, it is one or the other, never both.
Jessica – just looked, both the Polynesian and Grand Floridian are available for your dates with the AP discount. Contact a decent travel agent who will work for you to find what you need. Mouseketrips is great, contact them and they can book what you need.
What??? I’ve called the Disney line twice about this! The guy seemed knowledgeable last night in particular! I’ll submit a Mouseketrips request and try to call WDW again, too.
Jessica – One other note. Each passholder can book up to 3 rooms at a discount with their pass, so you only need to buy one AP, the rest of the people can have normal park passes.
I’m on my worst-ever call with WDW reservations right now- 38 minutes and they’ve changed their minds three times about room availability. Keeps going to the supervisor. Ugh, I know if it weren’t Sunday I’d be in talks with Mouseketrips right now!
Thanks, Keith, for all of your advice. It took an hour and 15 minutes, but I eventually changed our reservations for two rooms from GF theme park to Polynesian theme park view (preferred this over AP GF lagoon-view- they said no theme park view GF AP discounts were available). We have to do one night at the AAA rate, but the remaining six will be at the AP rate. After I’ve bought my AP pass, it’s a savings of about $1300, I think. I will warn others that I had THREE different Disney Reservation people tell me there were no AP discounts available for my dates- one admitted she didn’t know she was supposed to check for more than one code! Thanks for encouraging persistence- next time I’ll just start here!
Hi Keith. New to your site, looks great. Just booked for 4/15 -4/21 and planning another larger family trip for November 2012. Thinking that an AP makes the most sense. What are the chances of AP room discounts for these periods? Should i hedge my bets and just buy 1 AP in case there is no AP discount next Nov. Thx, Mike.
Keith, love the site & thanks for being so dedicated. I booked MYW, 4 day park pass, w/dining for 4/17 – 4/21 @ Boadwalk @ full price for fam of 4. Same package w/AAA can offer a $275 savings. I do have a Disney Visa. I am banking that a promo will come out that I can jump on, prior to the trip (ie. disc w/visa, ext dining dates, free disney gift card w/booking…ect). Would you suggest rebooking with AAA? If so, and if a better deal comes up, would I be able to switch out of the AAA booking? It looks like Jessica (above comments) seems to be “stuck” with the AAA rate for one night. Your comments are highly valued & thanks in advance.
Mike – LIkely, AP discounts have been pretty steady for years now. If you are doing a deluxe resort, then I would say it is likely an AP deal is a better deal for you. I would wait to buy your AP until you see discounts for April though.
Bernie – I am not a fan personally of AAA. Very few of their agents know Disney at all, and it is super rare that you actually use a AAA discount, usually Disney releases something that is better. I suggest to not worry about it at this point, and plan your trip assuming there will be a discount.
Just so I don’t mislead anyone, I was NOT able to get the AP rate on the last two nights of our stay, 11/18 and 11/19, because they are evidently part of the Thanksgiving week black-out. Even paying full price for those days, though, it was a better deal to get an AP.
Can someone please explain what AP means? Also what kind of discount does AP usually give? Is AP usually a better deal than free dining if staying at a deluxe resort? New and confused, sorry.
Tony – AP = Annual Pass. The Fall AP deals can be seen here:
Fall Disney World AP discounts
To receive an AP discount, you must purchase at least one annual pass, which is quite a bit more expensive than a normal hopper, usually double the price. It is rare that an AP discount would be better than free dining, but that will depend on who is traveling, how long you are staying, etc. You really need to just do the math on all options available to you to see which is better.
I just booked a 7-day trip with the Free Dining discount, but when I asked about this cardholder discount, the rep said we couldn’t stack the discounts. Is that correct? I would almost swear that we used several discounts when we booked our trip a few years back.
Do I need to try to call again and see if we can get this discount applied to our trip?
Phil – Disney has never allowed you to use multiple discounts. They cannot be combined, so you always have to compare available deals to see which one works best for your family.
Thanks, Keith. I saw your answer above after I posted my question. I’m not sure what we did last time, but I thought we had stacked discounts. Maybe Disney allowed us to upgrade to a better discount after we had already booked our trip.
Thanks again!