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I'm not going to lie...Disney pricing is insane, and RPC is the craziest! Now that the orchestra is gone, it will be even harder to justify, but we'll see how things are this weekend. I hope the plush robes are back at least instead of the waffle weave ones lol. We did get a 25% discount which is probably the main reason we booked this short, last minute trip. For us, there is some sentimental attachment since our kids grew up staying there (youngest DD is 17 now), so we stay there a couple of times a year at least; however, we used to be able to stay in RPC for around a third of what it costs today so now we typically do a split with BWI CL since we also love HS so it works well (sometimes Poly)! As far as the TPV room in RPC goes, the view is nice, but the rooms tend to be farther from the lounge, and it's definitely not the best TPV at Disney. Poly is better in that category. We have booked the TPV room when it was the only thing available and we did enjoy it, but I prefer the Deluxe room (two queen) if it is available and if not then just standard. The Deluxe King is nice if you're lucky enough to get a turret room, but I'm not a fan of the second floor since you have to use an elevator to get to the lounge. TBH, I'm not surprised that people are cancelling their reservations for the 50th, because a lot of people were probably hoping there would be a discount (plus a lot of people are scared of the current surge of the Delta variant). You might even get lucky with someone cancelling a standard RPC room for your dates. If you're just wanting to try RPC, you might want to wait until you can get it with a discount at least, but then again, having the RPC lounge to escape the craziness of the parks on the 50th would be nice! Also, I feel like the lounge being open to the atrium/main lobby creates better ventilation as far as Covid goes?? That is the way I felt about the lounge at AKL when we were there two weeks ago too, and I didn't get sick so maybe that's true??
@TexanInTheMidwest pretty much perfectly described how we feel about RPC too, but it definitely varies from person to person. Some people don't like RPC and favor the ones I don't really like lol. Everyone is different! As far as Disney room rates compared to other resorts, it will be interesting to see what happens. Right now, Covid is limiting travel to places farther away, but that won't last forever. Disney will always be a popular vacation destination, but I hope they will have to offer better discounts at least once people are more comfortable taking those longer flights to Europe and various island locations (giving Disney more competition). I guess I'm off topic too, but there's not much CL to talk about at Disney just yet...hopefully a lot to talk about this weekend!