Rumor of future discounts

[Tinkerbella001]

Well, I'm using 2 rooms because that's what I need. However, it's evident that Disney does not worry about families with more than the standard 2 children. Disney's thinking only works if you are a family of 4 staying less than a week. If you go longer than that, or more rooms than 1, it starts to fall apart.

And that's fine. I've got Universal tickets, and there's tons of other choices.

I totally agree!! I think Disney should have more options for families with more than 2 children. Most of the hotels we stay at have no problem with us having 6 people in the room, and we are very happy to be in one room. My children don't fight, argue and bicker (theyre happy to be on vaca!!) and we have never "needed our space" away from them. It is an inconvenience for my husband and I to sleep in different rooms. And as far as fire codes go, they just need to know who is registered in each room. Every single room at any hotel is never booked to full capacity...

that said, we always need two rooms at Disney (on site) and it is cheaper for us to find 2 more people to go with us to fill the rooms. Adding the extra two only raises the price slightly. So if we end up going with only 6, off site is much better...

 

[saskdw]

$350 per night is because you are talking about 2 rooms. When just looking at 1 room... Over 5 nights, for example. They are estimating the value of the included Disney transportation at worth a few hundred dollars. Thus for cost, comparable off site would have to be in the $50 per night range.

The Disney perks and atmosphere are worth something, but how much? The problem with using the value resorts as a comparison is they don't compare. The rooms are very small, something I would expect to find in a motel on the side of a highway. The grounds have Disney atmosphere, but know luxury or amenities. Even for a family of 4 those rooms are too small for any kind of extended stay. We come from 2500 miles away and we come for 2 weeks, we need more than 290 sq ft? And quick service. You would be hard pressed to find a decent hotel in the area with rooms that small and that few amenities. I don't want to seem snobbish, but really the values are for families with small kids coming for short stays. So the off-site value comparison has to be with the Mod and Deluxe resorts.

 

[sonjaandsue]

Thank you for sharing this! It is very interesting speculation. The theme parks are a very strong brand, and I guess, why not see if they can fill the resorts at rack rate? I can't imagine paying rack rate - I am a recent Disney Parks convert and I am still a little horrified by the price of park tickets. However, I am still willing to pay them and we are planning to go to DLR for our next trip (partly because the hotel prices are a little more inline with the rest of the market) so I imagine that there are plenty of people who will pay rack rate too. Our son fell in love with the Poly but we realized that actually going to Hawaii is cheaper than another Poly stay so we are planning to go there next summer.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I'm glad they are considering getting rid of free dining. They turned the restaurants into junk. I feel rushed. The food is sub-par, and I cant stand when they come by with computers to take surveys of you when you are sitting, eating, waiting and paying. Everyone thinks they are owed something. Its a joke. If you cant afford to pay for your meals on vacation-you probably cant afford a vacation!

Um, you live in Palm Beach. I live in Denver and I generally have to factor in a minimum of $1500 for airfare.

And while the DDP in general has changed Disney dining, free dining is merely one of many discounts Disney has offered in the past. We got it, we paid on average $200 a night for our room at POR. For my family of four adults it was a good discount. But we did need that discount and I don't think that means we should be staying home because of it. We have what we have to spend on vacation, if Disney can fit into our budget its our number one choice. If it doesn't we will sadly go elsewhere. I have a ticker right now that is not resort specific because one thing I can do is go the value route if discounts are not offered. Or just go someplace else where I can stay in deluxe accomodations for far less. Just as Disney has a lot of options to consider and a lot of possiblities to weigh, so do I. And so do a lot of other people.

Bottom line, Disney wants to do this. But like all things in life, what they want and what they are able to do may be two different things. Short term losses of revenue while we all get used to this idea are one thing. But if in the long run they see a real decline then discounts will be back.

There's a thread on the budget board right now about the impending "second recession". All sorts of insights into the economy and if you believe what a lot of people on that thread have to say, Disney will offer discounts again. Just like they have in the past when terrorist attacks, hurricanes and the economy made it necessary to do so.

We all just have to wait it out and I for one am for sure researching other things to do next summer. I hope its Disney but if its not, that was their choice not mine.

 

[nrpofp]

I think they should get rid of the free dining and improve the quality of the restaurants. They might run into some difficulty filling the deluxe resorts. I like to go for at least 10 days and stay deluxe. If I can't afford the 500 dollar rooms I won't go. I love wdw, but for me its about the overall vacation expereience. The resort and fine dining are a big part of that. If it was just about the parks I would stay value, but for us its not.

 

[johnnyr]

Sadly, I have started to ween myself from Disney, just as they are doing with the discounts. I just don't fall for their tactics anymore. I have been a loyal deluxe / moderate guest for many years and am finding it difficult to find a good deal anymore. With the exeption of the value resorts, their room rates are just way over priced. It doesn't matter if the resort is in a great location or not. If they cannot offer a deluxe 30% to 40% discounted room, I make alternate vacation plans. Fact is, even the deluxe rooms are small compared to resorts in other parts of the world for the price they charge. For $400 + a night and park ticket costs, one could get a huge ocean view suite with perks included somewhere else. Not to mention the price gouging of merchandise and food. IMHO, Disney is pricing themselves out of the market. But on the flip side, there are many newbies that do not know any better and will pay full price. The question is will Disney have enough of guests paying full price to fill the rooms.

 

[TCups4Me]

This is timely because I was just researching alternate vacation destinations this evening. Renting points appears to be our only option for our fall 2012 stay if we want a room with some sort of separation from our small children (balcony or separate bedroom). I've set an all-inclusive budget of $3,000 for us because anything more seems just obscene to me. And I think it will work if we rent points.

Does Disney consider guests who stay on rented points as lost revenue? We still eat and play there so I'm guessing not. It seems that I've seen more threads than normal recently about folks renting points. Or maybe I'm just noticing them more.

Either way, there is no way I will ever pay rack rate for a disney vacation. I love it there but I find that the product is disappointing compared to the one I originally fell in love with.

The funny thing is that I have always considered Disney to be a good value for us. Until now.

 

[nrpofp]

I think the discounts will return in 2013 after disney's "no discount plan" fails.

 

[dandave]

The Value Resorts are a decent and fair price at anything under $125, with the EMH, room charging ability, transportation, etc., included. I really can't see that anyone can argue that on an apples-to-apples basis.
The Mods are way overpriced at anything above $175, IMHO.
The Deluxes are overinflated by at least 40%, and I have never stayed in one without a 40% discount. I won't start now, either.

 

[CLEO Z]

The Disney perks and atmosphere are worth something, but how much? The problem with using the value resorts as a comparison is they don't compare. The rooms are very small, something I would expect to find in a motel on the side of a highway. The grounds have Disney atmosphere, but know luxury or amenities. Even for a family of 4 those rooms are too small for any kind of extended stay. We come from 2500 miles away and we come for 2 weeks, we need more than 290 sq ft? And quick service. You would be hard pressed to find a decent hotel in the area with rooms that small and that few amenities. I don't want to seem snobbish, but really the values are for families with small kids coming for short stays. So the off-site value comparison has to be with the Mod and Deluxe resorts.

EXACTLY!! We are a family of 4 that drive in from Northern Alabama. I adore Disneyworld and love the atmosphere, but once you've stayed offsite and the kids get older, you get lured by the perks of more space and a kitchen. I can get a nice two bedroom condo/timeshare in October for $359 (plus tax, etc) a week. One that is within a 15 minute drive. Seriously. We can get our park tickets for under $1000. The same at a value is $1570 plus tax. Even if they are the same price, the value is a standard hotel room. My kids go to bed earlier than we want to. As they get older, it gets harder to have 1 room for a week. The only thing that could make me go for onsite is free dining.

There are two exceptions where onsite is the only was to go: with really small kids (under age 6) or going as the only adult with two kids under 8. In these situations, if I could not pay for onsite, I wouldn't go at all.

It looks like I might be solo with the two kids in October. If thats the case, then I'm not going without free dining. I'll just have to suck it up and hope for another year.

PS -I feel for y'all that live further. I'd be lucky to get there every 5 years if I had to tack on another $1000 to 1500 for airfare.

 

[havoc315]

See a lot of reaction that discounts are gone. That's not exactly what I heard. Just that the size and scope of discounts we say in 2009-2010 are gone. Totally free dining is gone, and may require add ons like the memory package, etc.

 

[BBG-BLT]

Most of the hotels we stay at have no problem with us having 6 people in the room, and we are very happy to be in one room.

This is very odd. It is against the law to have more than 5 people in a single room unless one of the "people" is under 2. Having a 6 person family I have had more than one discussion regarding this topic because we can also squeeze into a 1 BR. But it's not allowed, maybe where you're staying they're turning their head - which is great but hasn't been our experience.

But I do think that Disney thinks about the families with more than 2 kids, that's why they have so many 2BR villas at their DVC resorts and now at some of their other resorts as well. It's just that there's not that many of us these days (families with 4 or > kids). But I don't feel like I have to fight for a place to stay - but is also probably the reason I bought into DVC - overall if you go once a year it ends up being a money saver.

And I get to immerse myself in Disney no rental car - no trips to Walmart - just Disney.

 

[thebigdisneydaddy]

This is very odd. It is against the law to have more than 5 people in a single room unless one of the "people" is under 2. Having a 6 person family I have had more than one discussion regarding this topic because we can also squeeze into a 1 BR. But it's not allowed, maybe where you're staying they're turning their head - which is great but hasn't been our experience.

But I do think that Disney thinks about the families with more than 2 kids, that's why they have so many 2BR villas at their DVC resorts and now at some of their other resorts as well. It's just that there's not that many of us these days (families with 4 or > kids). But I don't feel like I have to fight for a place to stay - but is also probably the reason I bought into DVC - overall if you go once a year it ends up being a money saver.

And I get to immerse myself in Disney no rental car - no trips to Walmart - just Disney.

I can agree with both of you, we have 5 kids, and it does feel like Disney caters to the "family of four" model. I do think that the art of animation suites is their way of trying to accomidate more of us larger families. We don't do the villa's it is still far cheaper to get two rooms. We can get two moderate rooms for less that one villa.

As far as the original topic of discounts, we are going in Jan whether discounts come or not. BUT, and it is a big BUT, if they do not have any this trip and I pay full price, I will be sitting out a few years, going other places, before we go back. I do think their prices are overinflated and that the "discounts" only brought them to reasonable rates.

 

[tyniknate]

And what, exactly, makes you think if they get rid of free dining that the sub-par food will suddenly and magically transform itself into 5-star dining. I say if you don't like the food....why don't you go somewhere else? If Disney has gotten you to stay there and already accept the food the way it is (and obviously you do accept it the way it is or you would be traveling elsewhere) - why would they sink more of their profits into upgrading the food? Not good business sense. Not gonna happen.

I'm glad they are considering getting rid of free dining. They turned the restaurants into junk. I feel rushed. The food is sub-par, and I cant stand when they come by with computers to take surveys of you when you are sitting, eating, waiting and paying. Everyone thinks they are owed something. Its a joke. If you cant afford to pay for your meals on vacation-you probably cant afford a vacation!

 

[skater]

I'm glad they are considering getting rid of free dining. They turned the restaurants into junk. I feel rushed. The food is sub-par, and I cant stand when they come by with computers to take surveys of you when you are sitting, eating, waiting and paying. Everyone thinks they are owed something. Its a joke. If you cant afford to pay for your meals on vacation-you probably cant afford a vacation!

There's no way that "getting rid of" so called free dining will restore the restaurants to their former glory. And how is free dining free anyway? Its a dining plan included in a package in which we pay rack rate for the room. Its not free, its just another discount. And I'm not sure that your last sentence is funny.

 

[tyniknate]

Here's what will happen in my family. Instead of visiting Disney yearly with a good discount - we will go once every three years and spend the off years somewhere else. I suspect that will be the scenario for a lot of families. How, then, does Disney think this will improve their bottom line. Sure we will be paying rack rate when we go, but we will be going less often.

Without discounts we would be paying $4,000 once every three years = $4,000.00

With discounts we would be paying $2500 every year (x 3 yrs) = $7500

Looks like a loss of income for Disney from our family (and others as well) over the long run.

 

[skier_pete]

Here's the way it works...

Disney wants to fill their rooms. An empty room makes NO money at all...and operating the resort doesn't cost much more if that room is empty or full. In an ideal world, they fill all the rooms in every resort at rack rate. The reason they started offering discounts to begin with was that in the slow season, the same percentage of people were staying on-site and off-site, but by lowering the prices (offering "free dining") they drove more people to stay on-site.

Now, they might start to think that they can get people to stay on-site at a higher price. This may or may not be true. Only time will tell. If they reduce/eliminate the discounts, and continue to fill the rooms, then they were right. If they reduce/eliminate the discounts, and people stop staying on-site, then they were wrong, and the discounts will return. Simple as that.

One thing to point out - the discount have yet to "go away". Remember, they have had both "kids stay and play free" and "free dining" as well as GP room discount throughout this year. Just because they have not yet announced a discount for the fall doesn't mean they won't. Again, they used to not announce these discounts until mid-August, so I am not really going to worry until we get to the end of August without seeing a discount.

But in the end, even without a discount, we are going on this trip. For now, we really love staying on-site, and as a family of 3 (or 4 for this trip) we can get a single room. The values are still enough of a value that with the convenience of staying on-site (Save on rental car, parking, use of DDP) I can't argue for not taking advantage of it.

 

[emmabelle]

well I hope they offer some kind of discount in January because I just can't bring myself to pay $345 a night for BWI! It's just the principle of the matter.

I haven't stayed offsite since 2002, but I guess I could make the effort....

 

[park]

Don't forget that one of the main reasons Disney wants to keep people onsite is to have them captive from competition. If people stay offsite, they are much more likely to do Seaworld and--running high on Harry Potter--Universal. If they try to squeeze the rooms, I think more willl go empty, and they lose the captive argument. This is the same reason they offered Magical Express and in some cases I think free dining.

 

[drgnfly30]

There's no way that "getting rid of" so called free dining will restore the restaurants to their former glory. And how is free dining free anyway? Its a dining plan included in a package in which we pay rack rate for the room. Its not free, its just another discount. And I'm not sure that your last sentence is funny.

I agree.. I priced out POP w/ 1 day basic tix & QSR for August (for 2) & it was $825.xx. Then I priced out the same package (w/ Free QSR) w/ September dates & it was $841.xx... so essentially it would have cost me more for the same vacation with 'Free' dining.. not.