Discounts and Fantasy Land About This Page:

[mommadjones]

So I come to ask your thoughts.....

Do you think Disney will start pulling back on the discounts after Fantasy Land opens ....or......do you think people have become accustom to the discounts and wont go without them?

We have only gone since Disney started offering discounts. Not because of the discounts, to start we went with our daughter who was 7. We loved it so much we decided to go back the next year and thats when we started with the discounts. We really haven't gone without using a discount of some sort since(mainly free dinning).
Since 2007 our family has grown from 1 to 3 children and our income has decreased significantly(economy ) so for us without the discounts we would only be able to go every 3 or 4 years.

We are lucky enough to be sharing expenses and a villa this year with my sister which makes it somewhat more affordable with 5 of us but we still are praying for a room only and booked our trip for the end of August to up our chances
I think we may be safe this year as FL wont open until late fall sometime and DH is convinced the discounts will continue as its pretty rough out there for so many.

So what do you think???? Will the discounts continue to roll out? Or will they become extinct?

P.S. This is not me wondering for the purposes of my upcoming trip. Its a debate that continues in my house and is brought up monthly

[HiddenMickey]

Well, Disney themselves said they'd be cutting back on the discounts in an announcement about a year ago. They continue to offer them, but the discounts are smaller and often cover fewer days/weeks than they used to, and often aren't available for some resorts at all.

[mommadjones]

Yes I do remember the interview that brought the idea of cutting back on dicounts but I really dont think they did much cutting back. They offered free dinning into Dec again this year and they offered the free photo book with free dinning in Sept which was new. To me it seemed that last years discounts were just as good as they were in 2010 which was when Disney proposed cutting back.

[Caldercup]

They did do some cutting back -- fewer discounts for lesser amounts. I think they'll continue to do this, especially once the construction is done because 1) the economy is improving and many people are feeling more secure with their financial situation, and 2) Disney knows that people will WANT to plan a trip to see the changes.

While I think there will still be some discounts at less crowded times of the year, I do foresee less discounts at moderate times and almost none at peak times of year.

[HiddenMickey]

Where once you might have been able to get a 40% discount on a deluxe, lately the offers have been 30% off, and so on, in smaller increments down to the value resorts.

[Patrick FaMILY]

Should attendance not meet Exec's expectations, i think we will see equal discounts to those offered in the past. If attendance does increase, then discounts could be reduced. IMO...

[mom2twingirlies]

From what I have seen the number of room only discounts has been less and generally for less percentages off. In addition there have been more free dining offers, but with these you pay full price for your room and your tickets - in addition, they are ensuring that the restaurants on-site are getting more business, while they are still collecting the full price amounts from customers for the other things. I can see the trend continuing in this way, and then less free dining offers too.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Patrick FaMILY

Should attendance not meet Exec's expectations, i think we will see equal discounts to those offered in the past. If attendance does increase, then discounts could be reduced. IMO...

I think you're spot on with this. It's all about the visitor numbers Disney are aiming for. If they hit those, then the discounts will lessen. If they don't, then they'll need to encourage more people to come, so the discounts will get bigger. I guess it remains to be seen whether the Fantasyland expansion is going to be enough on its own, without discounts, to lure enough people to visit.

[benjiboo25]

Originally Posted by HiddenMickey

Where once you might have been able to get a 40% discount on a deluxe, lately the offers have been 30% off, and so on, in smaller increments down to the value resorts.

In 2010, My pin code gave 45% off villas, 40% off deluxe, 30% off mod and 20% off value. We opted for the deluxe. We recently got a 30% off any resort level.

[jimmymac]

Bob iger announced last year that they would be doing away with all discounts, and that never happened. They'll keeep offering discounts, free dining or something like them as long as the resorts are not selling out. If the resorts ever reach capacity again, the discounts will go away. Free dining is not Disney's way of disposing of excess cash

[Dave Marx]

Bob said they'd be cutting back on the aggressive discount offers. He didn't say that there would be no more discounts. He said that to Wall St. analysts to assure them that business is picking up.

Even in Disney's best years they've offered discounts. Some periods will always be slower than others, and incentives will always be necessary at those times. A room rented at 50% is better than a vacant room, and those Wall St. folks would downgrade any lodging company that was not working aggressively to fill every room possible.

[Pumpkinfrost]

Great topic and insight. We have actually had this same discussion around the dinner table as well in anticipation of future trips and hoping for free dining once again (dreaming is more like it I guess). I hope the discounts will continue in some form. But if we could swing it we'd always go to Disney for our vacations whether there were discounts or not.

[mickeyforlife]

yea I'm hoping they extend free dining to end of year for AOA. I'm booked in Little Mermaid room week after thanksgiving and I am crossing my fingers for free dining