Easter Blackout Dated Lifted!

[H20Babie]

Easter Blackout Dates Lifted!

So, just for fun, I went on to the WDW website to reprice our Easter vacation April 3-6.

Lo-and-behold, it accepted our dates for the room only offer (30% off our moderate). I went through the booking procedure until I had to enter my credit card, called CRO and gave them the code and -- sure enough -- it was applied!

I just saved $150!

:sohappy:

 

[Dwarful]

Congratulations. We are going March 27- April 3. In the beginning these dates were also blacked out...we saved quite a chunk of change...so that was a really nice last minute bonus!

 

[H20Babie]

That's awesome! It's funny though ... the WDW special offer page still lists March 27 to April 11 as non-eligible. Persistence pays off in the end!

 

[krankenstein]

Same here. I was looking at staying offsite March 26 - 31 because a value resort was costing $150 a night during the blackout. I decided to check one more time before I booked offsite and got Sports for $87 with my AP.

 

[Dwarful]

hmmm....we can hope this will mean lighter crowds. I stress the word 'hope'. Although I told the kids to expect the crowds like we had on Christmas Day in the Magic Kingdom, that way if it is lighter they will be surprised.

 

[Victoria]

I really wish the Passholder site worked. :brick: I'm trying to check and see if there are any Values left for March 26-30 but I can't get the site to function.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Didn't Iger say the discounts were over?:lookaroun

 

[Dwarful]

I really wish the Passholder site worked. :brick: I'm trying to check and see if there are any Values left for March 26-30 but I can't get the site to function.

I never could get it to work, so I just kept calling. I know it is annoying, but it worked out for us. We ended up at Pop for the spring trip. We have a good rate at YC in the summer but I am still looking for an AP rate.

 

[Victoria]

I never could get it to work, so I just kept calling. I know it is annoying, but it worked out for us. We ended up at Pop for the spring trip. We have a good rate at YC in the summer but I am still looking for an AP rate.

I find I have better luck with the Passholder site earlier in the day. It is usually these late night attempts that fail. I guess Disney turns off the functionality of the website once the techies go home at 5pm.

(I can't believe I just used the words Disney, functionality, and website in the same sentence!)

 

[jeffk410]

I can never get into the passholder website now.. it really stinks...

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Didn't Iger say the discounts were over?:lookaroun

I gots a message for Mr. Iger: Liar liar pants on fire!!!

As long as the economy stays down I think you can rest assured that the majority of guests at WDW are there on discounts.

 

[DisneyJoe]

As long as the economy stays down I think you can rest assured that the majority of guests at WDW are there on discounts.

What makes you think the majority are there on discounts? Bad assumption.

 

[Victoria]

What makes you think the majority are there on discounts? Bad assumption.

I can't speak for the poster you quoted, but I think I tend to agree with her. I can't remember the last time I set foot on property and didn't have some sort of discount attached to my reservation. In fact, this past December my sister and I went down for 5 days with a goal to not pay full price for a single thing. We succeeded too! Between AP room discounts, TiW discounts, AP merch discounts, and DVC discounts we saved at least 10% on every transaction we made. I realize that being an AP holder made this task a lot easier for me. However, I think non-APs pretty much can't avoid discounts at this point.

Each round of discounts (free days, free dining, free gift cards, ect) have more or less overlapped each other for at least the last year. Each promo is being marketed to the point where anyone planning a trip has at minimum heard of it. If you book with a decent travel agent you're going to get any applicable discounts. If you book online and are even minimally observant you will notice on the homepage info about the discount du jour. If you book over the phone the CM is going to try to upsell you to get the current promo.

I feel confident in saying that a majority of people there have gotten some sort of discount on their trip. The only ones who are paying full price are people whose trips happen at a time where there isn't a promo happening, people staying off site, and people who did next to no research when booking their trip. Even locals who aren't staying property have ways to save money on certain activities. AP merch and food discounts are available to those who choose to use them.

Now, just out of curiosity, why do you think it is a bad assumption that most people are there on some sort of discount.

 

[Dwarful]

Pretty ironic, we have one trip fully paid for (March 27 - April 3) and another with a deposit (July). Have discounts on both, first one AP rate, second one GP discount. Today in the mail we got a post card with a pin code good pretty much the remainder of the year...not better than the discounts we have though. But seems to me they are really offering up the discounts.

 

[nepalostparks]

Didn't Iger say the discounts were over?:lookaroun

Indeed he did. Which I figured was more of a hopeful suggestion than a cold hard decision.

The fact they lifted the blackout for Easter must mean they are hurting bad to fill the resorts. I'm really surprised... did they lift the holiday blackout last year?

 

[DisneyJoe]

people who did next to no research when booking their trip

From my experience - this is the majority of WDW guests !!! Don't forget, the internet forum population is a very small percentage of WDW visitors.

Now, just out of curiosity, why do you think it is a bad assumption that most people are there on some sort of discount.

First, I am a travel agent, and can see certain patterns among my clients. Agreed, that is a small percentage of all WDW trips booked.

First, many people book their trips many months in advance, before the discounts are announced, when the only discount available is AAA, and the AAA discounts are limited to a certain availability. As I write this, I have agents who are quoting and booking trips for clients for late August thru December 2010, some using AAA, most not. In other words, most are booking trips at full price.

Second, most of my clients would not book direct on disneyworld.com, they prefer face to face or phone contact and are nervous about putting their private information on the internet; if they did book with Disney directly, they would call on the phone. Unless these guests are aware of available discounts for their travel dates, Disney phone CM's will NOT volunteer discount information unless the guest asks for them. It is against policy to offer discounts to clients unless the client asks for them. Yes, CM's will offer upsells - but upsells mean add insurance, add dining, add Water Park Fun and More option - not offer the guest a way to save money.

Finally, even for the clients that we have booked when a new promotion is released, one of our services (like KK) is that we are on the phone with Disney at 7am attempting to convert our full-priced client's reservations to the new promotion - and only a certain percentage can be converted, as Disney only allows a certain number of rooms per resort and date to be booked with a promotion. Based on the client, we can and do sometimes move them to a different resort based on their requests - but this is telling me that the resorts where I can't convert reservations are FULL with mostly non-discounted reservations. (or the allocation for that promotion at that resort for those dates has already been exhausted)

Disney calculates a magic occupancy number for each resort and travel date, when the number falls below a certain point they offer promotions to fill the resort; just because they lifted the black-out on Easter dates doesn't mean that the majority of guests are booked with a discount.

 

[mousefan1972]

From my experience - this is the majority of WDW guests !!! Don't forget, the internet forum population is a very small percentage of WDW visitors.




First, I am a travel agent, and can see certain patterns among my clients. Agreed, that is a small percentage of all WDW trips booked.

First, many people book their trips many months in advance, before the discounts are announced, when the only discount available is AAA, and the AAA discounts are limited to a certain availability. As I write this, I have agents who are quoting and booking trips for clients for late August thru December 2010, some using AAA, most not. In other words, most are booking trips at full price.

Second, most of my clients would not book direct on disneyworld.com, they prefer face to face or phone contact and are nervous about putting their private information on the internet; if they did book with Disney directly, they would call on the phone. Unless these guests are aware of available discounts for their travel dates, Disney phone CM's will NOT volunteer discount information unless the guest asks for them. It is against policy to offer discounts to clients unless the client asks for them. Yes, CM's will offer upsells - but upsells mean add insurance, add dining, add Water Park Fun and More option - not offer the guest a way to save money.

Finally, even for the clients that we have booked when a new promotion is released, one of our services (like KK) is that we are on the phone with Disney at 7am attempting to convert our full-priced client's reservations to the new promotion - and only a certain percentage can be converted, as Disney only allows a certain number of rooms per resort and date to be booked with a promotion. Based on the client, we can and do sometimes move them to a different resort based on their requests - but this is telling me that the resorts where I can't convert reservations are FULL with mostly non-discounted reservations.

Disney calculates a magic occupancy number for each resort and travel date, when the number falls below a certain point they offer promotions to fill the resort; just because they lifted the black-out on Easter dates doesn't mean that the majority of guests are booked with a discount.

That's great info, Joe. Thanks.

I hope people pay attention to the part that states not all reservations are able to have a discount applied due to availability w/the promotion. So many guests seemingly think (especially w/free dining) that "I can just call and have it added to my ressie" and that is absolutely not the case. Usually the guest can indeed get it, but it may involve changing dates, changing resorts, or both.

 

[DisneyJoe]

hmmm....we can hope this will mean lighter crowds. I stress the word 'hope'. Although I told the kids to expect the crowds like we had on Christmas Day in the Magic Kingdom, that way if it is lighter they will be surprised.

The Disney resorts and their occupancy levels do not affect the crowds by that much; most park visitors are from non-Disney resorts; I'd even go so far as to say that the majority of park visitors, especially at peak times such as Christmas and Easter, are from off-site.

 

[H20Babie]

The Disney resorts and their occupancy levels do not affect the crowds by that much; most park visitors are from non-Disney resorts; I'd even go so far as to say that the majority of park visitors, especially at peak times such as Christmas and Easter, are from off-site.

Good to know ... maybe the EMH's will be worth going to Easter weekend (since we're only there four days).

 

[Dwarful]

This is so odd. In Monday's mail we got a room % off pin code discount postcard. Today, Tuesday, we get the postcard with a pin code for free dining. The kicker is that we already have one trip booked and paid for in March and one partially paid for in July. Both trips we used discounts, one AP the other GP % off at YC. Both offers ended this summer, we def. won't be making a third trip before Fall/Winter. Not sure why all of a sudden I am getting hit with pin codes, none of which are better than the deals we already have.