AP Discount Watch and FAQ 2023. 10% - 40% off select nights July 11 - Sept 28; Oct 2 - Dec 25

Lots of good data points here. Thank you to everybody for posting their experiences and knowledge. I can't agree with all the information posted as my experience and research simply doesn't support it. The price fluctuations this week were extreme and across the board, not a result of single resort/room category, a "cart" timing issue, or using up all the allotted AP discounted rooms. One day they were fully discounted and the next day they were not, only to repeat the pattern over the next two days. Today is the first time this week that they haven't fluctuated and are at the higher weekend rates.

One thing I know for sure, pricing out a resort room for a given set of dates pursuant to a 30% AP discount should not yield a higher final price than the same resort room priced at a 20% Summer general public discount. I plan to continue to monitor the rates.
 
These are from our April AP rates. Originally Saturday & Friday were rack rates. I eventually got a discount for Saturday.

15EB58C9-D49B-4822-92FF-D44369694F4C.png



11A8949F-540C-4FB3-A6D7-3F763AD0B045.png

Sorry they are a little blurry. But clearly, weekends were rack rate back when I booked in October too.
 
One thing I know for sure, pricing out a resort room for a given set of dates pursuant to a 30% AP discount should not yield a higher final price than the same resort room priced at a 20% Summer general public discount. I plan to continue to monitor the rates.

I think Cakebaker made a great point a few posts ago. You have to be “obsessive” & vigilant to get the best price. The 30% AP rate might not be available for every night of your trip, but the 20% public discount might be. So depending on your individual circumstance, the public discount might indeed be better. Disney always has that limited availability disclaimer. A Thursday to Sunday stay with a 20% discount on every night may indeed be better than an AP rate for the same stay with no discount for Friday & Saturday. Disney has become a Buyer Beware situation.

And you know, it really wasn’t much better 20 years ago. Back then, you had to call & ask for rates. If you didn’t specifically ask if there were any discounts, you would just get quoted full rack rates. The CMs would not offer up any discounts automatically. So even then, the buyer had to be aware & know the secrets to getting the best price. You still do, it’s just different secrets now.
 


These are from our April AP rates. Originally Saturday & Friday were rack rates. I eventually got a discount for Saturday.

View attachment 401136

View attachment 401135

Sorry they are a little blurry. But clearly, weekends were rack rate back when I booked in October too.

We stayed at YC that same weekend, Friday to Monday...same AP rate code, confirmation lists price for YC CL std view room as $562.90 per night. That was a last minute upgrade, we'd had a regular std room up until a few days before the trip, at $400 per night under that same AP discount.
 
Will CMs agree to book the weekend at summer room discount and the weekdays with AP rates making this a split stay with the same room category? (Knowing that we might have to change rooms)...
 
Will CMs agree to book the weekend at summer room discount and the weekdays with AP rates making this a split stay with the same room category? (Knowing that we might have to change rooms)...
I don’t think you’d need a CM to book it. You should be able to book a split like that on the Disney website.
 


I don’t think you’d need a CM to book it. You should be able to book a split like that on the Disney website.
I already booked through the website for the summer room offer but there is a much better rate for our last night which is a weekday...
Therefore i guess I need to call to modify?
 
I already booked through the website for the summer room offer but there is a much better rate for our last night which is a weekday...
Therefore i guess I need to call to modify?
Probably your best bet. The only other option is to book that better rate and then try to modify your existing reservation to drop that day (it may or may not let you). Might be more efficent to call if the wait time isn’t too long.
 
Will CMs agree to book the weekend at summer room discount and the weekdays with AP rates making this a split stay with the same room category? (Knowing that we might have to change rooms)...

I’m considering doing just that. We’ve never had them make us change rooms and it makes no sense to pay so much more for a weekend. I haven’t quite figured out how to book it all online other than to book one, then go back in and book the other- hopefully still finding the availability. I may do that, then stalk to see if the rates flip again.
 
I’m considering doing just that. We’ve never had them make us change rooms and it makes no sense to pay so much more for a weekend. I haven’t quite figured out how to book it all online other than to book one, then go back in and book the other- hopefully still finding the availability. I may do that, then stalk to see if the rates flip again.
If you are trying to book two different offers, you have to make two separate reservations. Yes, book one and then book the other. And Guest Services cannot combine two reservations with different promos. But, if you book same room category, you can request to stay in the same room.
 
Will CMs agree to book the weekend at summer room discount and the weekdays with AP rates making this a split stay with the same room category? (Knowing that we might have to change rooms)...


You will have to make 2 separate reservations, one for the summer discount nights & 1 for the AP discount nights. You can’t have 2 different discounts in the same reservation. You can have them noted as continuing reservations. At check in stop at the desk & request to remain in the same room. If both rooms are the same category it is very likely you will remain in the same room. A few months ago someone posted that disney doesn’t want to clean your room for a new guest & move you into a different already cleaned room. Make sense to me.

For my April stay I posted about above, the CM on my first check in could see I was already assigned to stay in the same room. I stopped at the desk the next morning to see if I needed to recheck in but I didn’t have to. They already had me checked in for the next stay. No issues at all.
 
Last edited:
FWIW, I have also paid rack rate on the Saturday night of Columbus Day weekend under a PIN code promo. This was many, many years ago at YC and the difference in price was substantial (something like $490 rack vs $300 with PIN on the other nights). What seems different to me is that ALL weekends and ALL resorts are excluded in this AP offer. It doesn’t seem an issue of availability of the AP promo, but rather a full exclusion of promos at all resorts, during all the weekends.

For example, with that old PIN code, other Saturdays were included. So it seemed an issue of availability or one Holiday Saturday being excluded.

I’m not surprised. Disney has been giving out discounts only for what it cannot get people to book rack rate. They may be trying to see if people will book even with non-discounted weekends.
 
We stayed at YC that same weekend, Friday to Monday...same AP rate code, confirmation lists price for YC CL std view room as $562.90 per night. That was a last minute upgrade, we'd had a regular std room up until a few days before the trip, at $400 per night under that same AP discount.


I’m a little spoiled, I prefer the waterview rooms. There were standard view rooms but I didn’t look at the night rates because I wasn’t booking that category.
 
Interesting that some of you have experienced this before. I've been booking AP rates for many years now and always am vigilant about the rates. Not once have I run into a situation where the weekend was rack rate, had rates change for the same time frame or ever found any other discount that was better than the AP. Just lucky I guess! That's why this was so surprising to me.
 
What seems different to me is that ALL weekends and ALL resorts are excluded in this AP offer. It doesn’t seem an issue of availability of the AP promo, but rather a full exclusion of promos at all resorts, during all the weekends.

For example, with that old PIN code, other Saturdays were included. So it seemed an issue of availability or one Holiday Saturday being excluded.

I’m not surprised. Disney has been giving out discounts only for what it cannot get people to book rack rate. They may be trying to see if people will book even with non-discounted weekends.

Exactly!! This is very different, especially with the back and forth fluctuation this week. They were ALL included and then suddenly not.
 
Interesting...Pop Century is discounting their weekend rate- the only resort doing so. Weird.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top