December Deals?

[MickeyMom Caren]

Hi Everyone!

I am new to this site and wanted to introduce myself - my name is Caren. I live in Connecticut (we got 2 feet of snow last night... Yikes!). Been to Disney 3 times - once as a 10 year old in 1981 (stayed at Contemporary - they were planning Epcot at the time!). The 2nd time was for a conference in 2001 (stayed at the Dolphin) and I don't really "count" that time since we only had time to do one park - MGM!). The 3rd and best trip was with my husband, kids, and parents Thanksgiving week of 2010 (Wilderness Lodge - fell in love with that hotel!). My kids were 5 and 7 at the time. They are now 7 and 9. We are planning our next trip for either the week before or the week after Thanksgiving this year. I can not wait! Thinking of staying at WL again or we may try Beach Club so we are closer to Epcot this time. We are also planning to check out Harry Potter stuff at Universal this trip.

The last time we went we got an amazing deal - 40% off on WL (all the deluxe hotels were offering this discount.) We booked about 11 months in advance because of this deal - too good to refuse!

I have not seen any deals for the times we are planning to travel this year (again, either the week before or after Thanksgiving) - does anyone know if there are any specials (like hotel discount or free dining) typically offered and how far in advance they are offered? I feel like I am afraid the hotel will book up if we wait too long!

Also, we hear the week after Thanksgiving is the best week to go - but we may have to go the week before instead - have any of you gone the week before and is that a good time as far as the crowds? Is it decorated foe Christmas yet? We went Thanksgiving week - loved the decorations bur found it to be very crowded.

Your advice is so much appreciated! Looking forward to getting to know you!

Caren

 

[disneysince71]

Welcome... Some of the others are a lot better at answering those questions than I am... Just wanted to welcome you to the site.. have fun and good luck!

 

[MickeyMom Caren]

Thank you!

 

[RonAnnArbor]

There are rarely if ever discounts during that period. Your best option is just to call Disney reservations and ask them. They haven't done 40% discounts in years. At most, they do 30% discounts and those are open to passholders only. They sometimes have 25-30 percent discounts during off-peak travel times.Normally to get the 30% discount, you have to currently be staying in a resort and make your return reservations while still on property, but they relax that at times. Anytime between Thanksgiving and after New years are peak times and rarely have any discount or dining offers of any kind -- but again, your best bet is just to call Disney reservations and ask them what the best things are they can offer you.
The only other thing that pops up, from time to time, is a special offer when you call to book a moderate but they have empty Deluxes -- they might offer you an upgrade to a Deluxe for only a couple hundred more than your moderate stay -- in particular, they seem to do this with Wilderness Lodge and the Polynesian. Those are not offered at all online, and only available if you call them directly and it pops up as an option on their computer screens. That, also, is only available at the least busy times of year when they are just trying to fill the resorts. Overall, resort reservations are up bigtime over the past few years. Post back what you find out!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Sadly- the 40% off discounts seem to be a thing of the past. 30% is the highest I've seen of late for non-FL res discounts. We went in 2010 (also stayed at WL) and had both free dining and 40% off discount offers available through PINs and general discount offers. In 2012, the best we saw was 30% off and my FL res parents consistently get deals for 35%. There were some room and free dining discounts before and after Thanksgiving in 2012...but the dates were pretty limited- still if it includes your checkin date...you're golden. We wound up extending our trip by 1 day and checking in on Nov 15th just to cash in on a discount (i.e. Thanksgiving was early in 2012). I recall that more discount dates fell after the end of Thanksgiving pricing- which ended around the end of Thanksgiving weekend. The general public deals for these dates generally pop up in August...so you've got some time. I think you may have also been working from a PIN discount in 2010- i.e. something sent privately to you before other discounts were offered to the general public.

This historical discount info might also help you...
http://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/

Welcome to WDW Magic

 

[MickeyMom Caren]

Thank you both so much! Ron, I have never heard of the resort upgrade! Very interesting! Thank you for sharing! And you are right - we have not seen 40% discounts since we booked our trip in 2009. And thank you HouCuseChickie! The discount link was super helpful! I have never heard of PIN discount - will need to check into this!

I just got off the phone with Disney and he told me they do typically offer some kind of discount - either room discount or dining - but it's too early now to know for December. The discounts offered now are only through June travel. He suggested booking as soon as we know our dates and paying the deposit and they can apply the discount when they are made available, somi think that is what we will do.

I asked him about Christmas decorations and he said they do not usually decorate until after Thanksgiving but I am wondering if he may be wrong? Because we went over Thanksgiving and they were all decorated the Sunday before Thanksgiving - at WL and the Osborne lights - all the parks were fully decorated so I am hoping he is wrong in case we go the week before Thanksgiving - the Christmas decorations are so magical! Thank you both again for your advice!!!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I asked him about Christmas decorations and he said they do not usually decorate until after Thanksgiving but I am wondering if he may be wrong? Because we went over Thanksgiving and they were all decorated the Sunday before Thanksgiving - at WL and the Osborne lights - all the parks were fully decorated so I am hoping he is wrong in case we go the week before Thanksgiving - the Christmas decorations are so magical! Thank you both again for your advice!!!

The resort decorations actually typically go up before Thanksgiving...and the parks...right after Halloween. We went Nov 15-21 this past year and by Nov 17...all of the resorts were in full holiday decor swing. The MK tree is usually the last thing to go up since they have to wait on parade taping.

 

[MickeyMom Caren]

Awesome - good to know! Thank you!

 

[disneycouple07]

Welcome Caren! I am also hoping for free dining or a room discount for December. We usually go in September and book in March so this waiting around for an announcement is bugging me I'm not going to wait too much longer to book though!

 

[Poofiesdream]

Look for the discounts to come out in August for Nov. and Sept. for early Dec. discounts.

 

[MickeyMom Caren]

Thanks Poofiesdream - will look forward to hearing something in August!

disneycouple07 - I am dying - just can't wait!

It just occured to me maybe I should go ahead, 6 months before our travel date, and make table service reservations just in case we get the free dining? Because if we get free dining we will take advantage of table service meals every day. Last time we did a different character meal just about every day. We weren't planning to do the meal plan this time around but if we do get it for free - of course we'll have to make some reservations. All this planning is really fun right now - we are in New England with 2 feet of snow!

 

[Goofnut1980]

Welcome!!! I have a question for the group... Will Disney move your luggage for you if you hotel hop? We are staying at BLT in December, but we are going in the day before the rest of the family, and decided we do not want to use DVC points for that one night.. And want to stay at our favorite (pre-DVC) POFQ for the one night...

So when we go to switch hotels, will they move it for us so we don't have to?

 

[olinecoach61]

Welcome!!! I have a question for the group... Will Disney move your luggage for you if you hotel hop? We are staying at BLT in December, but we are going in the day before the rest of the family, and decided we do not want to use DVC points for that one night.. And want to stay at our favorite (pre-DVC) POFQ for the one night...

So when we go to switch hotels, will they move it for us so we don't have to?

I'm pretty sure your going to have to move it yourself. Last summer we moved our own although I didn't ask if they would do it for us.

 

[Ariel484]

Welcome!!! I have a question for the group... Will Disney move your luggage for you if you hotel hop? We are staying at BLT in December, but we are going in the day before the rest of the family, and decided we do not want to use DVC points for that one night.. And want to stay at our favorite (pre-DVC) POFQ for the one night...

So when we go to switch hotels, will they move it for us so we don't have to?

Yes, they will transfer your luggage for you. We did a split stay in 2011, moving from Animal Kingdom Lodge to the Boardwalk Villas and it worked out great. I would suggest packing a small bag with toiletries, swim suit, etc. in case the transfer takes awhile, but we had no problems. Maybe mention it to bell services at POFQ when you check in and they can let you know what to do the next day when you check out.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Welcome!!! I have a question for the group... Will Disney move your luggage for you if you hotel hop? We are staying at BLT in December, but we are going in the day before the rest of the family, and decided we do not want to use DVC points for that one night.. And want to stay at our favorite (pre-DVC) POFQ for the one night...

So when we go to switch hotels, will they move it for us so we don't have to?

Yes, Disney will move your luggage. On the morning you check out you would call Bell Services and have them come get your luggage or you can drop it off too Bell services if you would like. All you do is tell them it is for a hotel transfer and which hotel and they will take care of it. If you have laptop of camera equipment, make sure you tell them it is to be put in secured location and it gets locked up seperately. Also if you have any refridgerated or frozen items make sure they know and it will be stored in the proper environment. You will gert a ticket with the total count of items/bags on it.

At that point I recommend going and checking in at you new hotel if you can. I like to do this so if I want to request a specific location or room then I have a better chance earlier in the day than later. Then go out to the parks and have a great day . When you return later in the day you just go to your room and again call Bell Services. They will ask you for your ticket number and they will bring your items/bags up to your room.

We do this every trip. We always stay at 2 differant resorts with DVC and have never moved our own bags between resorts. One thing to point out is that when you use Bell Services you have to tip them each time. I tip them about $2.00 per bag.

 

[Jillie Fish]

Just wanted to say Welcome Caren!

I chose to use a travel agency this year. I use Kingdom Konsultants (yay Jessica! love her <3)- which WDWMagic recommends. Their service is completely free because they receive payment from WDW. Their job is is to look for any discounts and obtain the best deal for you. For example, I have a reservation for December. Jessica will let me know if a discount has been released and obtain my room at that new discounted rate rather than what I am currently paying. I hope that helps a little. It made things much easier for me because I am employed full-time and a college student. I don't have time to be hunting for the latest deals.

 

[Goofnut1980]

Yes, Disney will move your luggage. On the morning you check out you would call Bell Services and have them come get your luggage or you can drop it off too Bell services if you would like. All you do is tell them it is for a hotel transfer and which hotel and they will take care of it. If you have laptop of camera equipment, make sure you tell them it is to be put in secured location and it gets locked up seperately. Also if you have any refridgerated or frozen items make sure they know and it will be stored in the proper environment. You will gert a ticket with the total count of items/bags on it.

At that point I recommend going and checking in at you new hotel if you can. I like to do this so if I want to request a specific location or room then I have a better chance earlier in the day than later. Then go out to the parks and have a great day . When you return later in the day you just go to your room and again call Bell Services. They will ask you for your ticket number and they will bring your items/bags up to your room.

We do this every trip. We always stay at 2 differant resorts with DVC and have never moved our own bags between resorts. One thing to point out is that when you use Bell Services you have to tip them each time. I tip them about $2.00 per bag.

Thank you very much! Yea. I am a tipper... for everything..

 

[Poofiesdream]

Welcome!!! I have a question for the group... Will Disney move your luggage for you if you hotel hop? We are staying at BLT in December, but we are going in the day before the rest of the family, and decided we do not want to use DVC points for that one night.. And want to stay at our favorite (pre-DVC) POFQ for the one night...

So when we go to switch hotels, will they move it for us so we don't have to?

They will move it just let them know the day before the move.

 

[PhilharMagician]

They will move it just let them know the day before the move.

You do not need to do that the day before. Just call Bell Services that morning to schedule you luggage to be picked up and tell them at that time on the phone.