I understand why everyone is upset. I am anxiously waiting for the AP discount as well. But, my problem is why would disney offer discounts when most of the people on this thread have already booked? If they are filling up the rooms without giving the APers the discount, by their numbers, they don't need us. Three years ago, when the AP discount came out first, there obviously were enough rooms left to merit offering all of the other discounts very soon after. Now, it seems like they are waiting to see how many rooms they can fill before they release the AP discount. I don't book my room until the discounts come out. Maybe if everyone waited to book Disney would panic thinking they weren't going to fill the rooms and release the discount sooner. Sorry, that is MHO.
You are correct, of course. I would love to wait for discounts to book. When possible, that is definitely what I do. Adults only vacations with only price as an issue are easy. OF COURSE you wait for discounts to book. There will be a room somewhere on property that will work for you. You just book where and when you get the best deal. It is NEVER a good idea to book a room at a resort that you are not prepared to stay in at the booking price. It really just reduces the likelihood that you will get to stay there.
Problems with waiting to book come into play when you have issues with inflexible dates, large group size and specific room requirements, and/or the need to make other related bookings, based upon where you will be staying, far in advance.
One issue for us is that to get affordable airfare we have to book holidays far (months to a year) in advance. So, we can't be flexible and change dates to go when discounts are available. We book dates that are as low season as possible with the hope of discounted room rates being likely during that time. Then we wait for discounts to see what rooms are within our budget. That used to work pretty well, but there are more dates without discounts than ever before even during what once would have been low season.
In addition, WHERE you stay can sometimes matter a lot, especially when you have children, a once in a lifetime celebration and people with handicaps or health issues. This problem is compounded with affordability. Six people with small children and some with health issues wanting to stay together have fewer options for staying on site and most of these options are expensive. Discounts are very important to make the trip possible, fun and affordable.
So, yes, you are right that booking a room in advance of discount releases decreases your chances of a discount, but if you are going anyway then you need a room of some sort to fall back upon if discounts do not appear to meet your requirements. (Perhaps it is time to start booking off site hotels initially. Many have suggested this. The problem with that is, I don't really want to stay off site and sometimes you have to live with the back up plan. That is WHY you make it, after all. But, I digress.)
For some trips, such as the one we have upcoming this fall, certain hotel areas or categories are important for one reason or another. On these occasions we are very anxious about room categories selling out completely. So, for example, you might book rooms in POR but switch to a CR GW when discounts make it affordable. The plan is that bookings in POR hopefully won't affect later discounts in CR. If you have an infant and want to be on the monorail, then the wait to see where you will be staying is tense. It will impact your trip considerably AND you need to mentally adjust your expectations of how you will manage your trip. Other planning arrangements must be made.
That brings up the planning issue. Perhaps you will need to arrange ECV rentals because of distances to be walked even at the resort. We like to book hotels near the theme park that we will be visiting. Then we book our dining in those theme parks. I micro manage and plan my trips. I have ADR's based upon where I expect we will be staying. You can't get ADR's where and when you want at only a month or two before you are arriving. You will almost undoubtably have difficulty booking CRT and BOG for example when you want, especially with a party of six. You don't want all your ADR's at the MK when you are staying in the BC and then all your Epcot ADR's when you are staying at the Poly, for example. So all my plans are based upon where we are going to be staying and are made at least 6 months in advance. The only problem: I know where we will stay if affordable discounts are offered, and I plan based upon that becoming reality. Except there is now much less probability that we will indeed get to stay where I plan.
Frustration with late release of discounts:
Then all planning goes out the window, because I simply can't predict where we will be staying until the last month or so before leaving. After investing all that time, effort and money it is difficult to wait to see if what you have done will work or if you need to re evaluate and re plan based on staying somewhere completely different.
It is difficult not knowing when time is getting short. Sure, you have a back up so the holiday WILL go ahead. BUT Every day you are waiting with uncertainty and dwindling hope to finalize your plans. You want this trip to be magical. The stress takes its toll and causes frustration.
