Changing plans based on new discounts

[Think Tink]

Anyone else sit like a crazy person and craft new vacation plans based on the discounts that come up? I’ve been sitting here like a crazy person for 30 minutes comparing and creating a new vacation because the Yacht club had no discounts on my dates. So now I’m thinking split stay with Beach club and either AK or GF. Just waiting for my husband to wake up and confirm he’s okay with my choices.
I’m a shopportunist and refuse to pay full price lol.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Anyone else sit like a crazy person and craft new vacation plans based on the discounts that come up? I’ve been sitting here like a crazy person for 30 minutes comparing and creating a new vacation because the Yacht club had no discounts on my dates. So now I’m thinking split stay with Beach club and either AK or GF. Just waiting for my husband to wake up and confirm he’s okay with my choices.
I’m a shopportunist and refuse to pay full price lol.

lol can understand that. I'm definitely against paying rack rates. I'm a natural bargain hunter so I tend to bargain hunt all my vacations.
my problem is I tend to have in my head what resort I want to stay in.

 

[Think Tink]

lol can understand that. I'm definitely against paying rack rates. I'm a natural bargain hunter so I tend to bargain hunt all my vacations.
my problem is I tend to have in my head what resort I want to stay in.

Totally get that. I have multiple favorite hotels so I’m flexible as long as I get near the Boardwalk. Just finished my changes. 2 nights at AKL and 3 at Beach Club, all Club Level and saved $1600. Id call that a win.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I do the same -- not so much with WDW (where we rent DVC points, which locks us in to our dates and cements our "room discount" 11 months ahead), but with Universal, where I shop for annual passholder discounts and have changed our hotel/room category/dates as much as 5 or 6 times for a single trip, to maximize our savings!

Not only do I applaud your "shopportunism," OP, but I fail to understand why so many Disney guests are happy to knowingly pay more than they need to for various components of their vacations. I think some of us were just raised to be bargain-hunters, and to enjoy the thrill of the hunt: in my family, where the elder members were hit hard by the Great Depression and raised their kids to be thrifty and resourceful, if you compliment somebody's new-to-them car, or furniture, or home improvement project, the first thing you'll hear from them is what a great bargain they scored and how. They're not "cheap" -- the most kind and generous people I know, in fact -- and they appreciate the need to spend more on a quality item that will last for years, but their position (and I guess mine now, too) is that if you paid full price for something, you've been scammed.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Totally get that. I have multiple favorite hotels so I’m flexible as long as I get near the Boardwalk. Just finished my changes. 2 nights at AKL and 3 at Beach Club, all Club Level and saved $1600. Id call that a win.

 

[I am Timmy]

if you paid full price for something, you've been scammed.

That's beautiful.......

 

[Gramma4]

This is so me, always looking for a bargin,,, where is the best place to look for discounts for resorts? that whole pin code thing is so confusing,, weighing out the difference between renting points or hoping to find discounts,,

 

[TheGuyThatMakesSwords]

Anyone else sit like a crazy person and craft new vacation plans based on the discounts that come up? I’ve been sitting here like a crazy person for 30 minutes comparing and creating a new vacation because the Yacht club had no discounts on my dates. So now I’m thinking split stay with Beach club and either AK or GF. Just waiting for my husband to wake up and confirm he’s okay with my choices.
I’m a shopportunist and refuse to pay full price lol.

"Book and Lurk" used to be our standard process, prior to becoming DVC owners. How this works:

1) BOOK - get something, even at rack.
2) LURK - as soon as a discount shows up? CALL. Ask to have the discount applied to 1).
3) REBOOK/CANCEL - in ONE phone call, book the DEAL first, then CANCEL previous Reservation. In a good 12 trips? We only had to do this ONCE. Given 3), All WDW gets from rejecting 2) is more paperwork.

And must add? We got tired of this annual game, bought DVC, and could not be happier .

 

[Minthorne]

We got tired of this annual game, bought DVC, and could not be happier .

Ditto. I used to hunt. Then rent. Then bought DVC. Never looked back.

 

[I am Timmy]

"Book and Lurk" used to be our standard process, prior to becoming DVC owners. How this works:

1) BOOK - get something, even at rack.
2) LURK - as soon as a discount shows up? CALL. Ask to have the discount applied to 1).
3) REBOOK/CANCEL - in ONE phone call, book the DEAL first, then CANCEL previous Reservation. In a good 12 trips? We only had to do this ONCE. Given 3), All WDW gets from rejecting 2) is more paperwork.

And must add? We got tired of this annual game, bought DVC, and could not be happier .

We've hunted soooo many times, just got back from our first "rented points" trip and looooved it. Now looking at buying DVC, but wondering how hard it is to book in advance and get what we want. We have no problem booking very early, but unfortunately we are picky about getting a certain resort so that may hold us back.

 

[Think Tink]

And must add? We got tired of this annual game, bought DVC, and could not be happier .

We were looking into DVC a few months ago, but my husband is now thinking we may just move down to central Florida when I graduate in December so we are holding off until we decide.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Anyone else sit like a crazy person and craft new vacation plans based on the discounts that come up? I’ve been sitting here like a crazy person for 30 minutes comparing and creating a new vacation because the Yacht club had no discounts on my dates. So now I’m thinking split stay with Beach club and either AK or GF. Just waiting for my husband to wake up and confirm he’s okay with my choices.
I’m a shopportunist and refuse to pay full price lol.

I have in the past for sure, but DVC sort of cured me of it lol. But remember your time is money too, so if you constantly check that is time you could be spending doing something else.
Edit after post: You are more limited where to book with DVC so if you did buy do it but where you like. We did resale as it saved thousands. I am a bit over a year. It's beed good, I would probably be just has happy if we didn't have it either, but we do lots of types of vacations, not just disney.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'm always looking for a deal and I will change my resort if something I like gets a better discount. Sometimes that deal goes beyond just the basic numbers and plays into the perceived value to me. Ex. We were booked at CBR for our recent trip. When discounts came out for our dates, AKL was nearly the same price ($12 more for the entire stay), while our CBR room had absolutely no discounts being offered. So, the bargain hunter in me said I was getting more for my $ by spending an extra $12 for AKL vs. sticking with CBR at rack rates. That $12 extra was probably close to what we would have paid for a Lyft to get us from CBR to Sanaa for lunch one day...so worth the change to me.

 

[m3000]

What I've found fascinating is how much the room availability has varied over the last month. Dates that weren't available at all when booking opened up on Jan 6th for the Disney room-only discounts are now available a month later. Also 3rd party sites like Orbitz (where you can stack discounts with their BOOKNOW code and Orbucks) had no rooms available at all when doing searching during the first half of January until they suddenly popped up in mid January and I could book any room on any date for the summer.

I ended up making and cancelling 3 sets of reservations until I got to my preferred itinerary with the cheapest possible prices. In the end I saved over $525 for 2 rooms at Pop compared to the official Disney discount room prices that were released on Jan 6th. Definitely worth keeping on an eye on prices the weeks after Disney drops their discounts to see if more availability opens up.

 

[Tinkwings]

The only thing that limits me in this is when I have already purchased airfare and then find the better deal is a day or two off my planned visit! Would be wonderful if the airlines were more flexible.....

 

[dreamfinder]

This is so me, always looking for a bargin,,, where is the best place to look for discounts for resorts? that whole pin code thing is so confusing,, weighing out the difference between renting points or hoping to find discounts,,

PIN codes aren't as common as they once were, and those are targeted per person. So if someone gets a PIN code, chances are you won't. If you watch the boards, someone, usually @Kingdom Konsultant or @wannabeBelle will post info about newly released discounts. If you check MouseSavers, you can get an idea of historical discounts, but keep in mind they are getting much more targeted in terms of dates and such. RE renting DVC vs finding a discount, quick rule of thumb, discounts are rarely more than 30% (unless free dining works in your favor) so if point rental is less than that, jump on it. Once again, check out MouseSavers historical trends to see what is usually offered.