Category — e. What to Budget for Walt Disney World

Walt Disney World is offering a free dining promotion for arrival dates from August 25th to September 29th 2012.

This deal must be booked by May 18, 2012–the end of this week.

So if you’ve been dawdling, book it now!

For more on the deal, see this.

Disney released and discussed its quarterly earnings yesterday, and its domestic parks shot out the lights, with increases in attendance, per-attendee spending, hotel occupancy, and hotel revenues per room.

Disney does not break out Orlando vs. California any more, but it did report that Disneyland had its highest attendance ever for the quarter (January-March) so it’s unclear how park attendance at Walt Disney World went. However, since the vast majority of Disney’s hotel rooms are in Orlando, clearly the Orlando Walt Disney World hotels performed well.

Hotel bookings for the current quarter (April-June) are running slightly above last year, and hotel prices for the quarter are showing “low single digit” increases–pretty good considering that the earlier Easter in 2012 compared to last year means a couple of weeks of high spring break rates are lost vs. last year.

All this suggests that Disney strategy of continuing to limit its discounting will continue.  

Based on its behavior so far, it’s not clear if it will offer fewer programs, fewer eligible dates, a smaller number of rooms/hotels eligible for discounts–or all three.  But however it limits its discounts, the net effect is that fewer vacationers will get them.

The economy is the wild card in all this.  A major economic setback will throw this up in the air, and the continuing struggles among those who want to have their euro but spend it too could have widespread ripple effects.

But so long as the economy continues to slowly recover, deals at Walt Disney World will slowly diminish.

DISNEY WORLD DEAL FOR LATE SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2012

Walt Disney World has announced a new promotion for stays from August 15 through September 29, 2012.  Book between now and and August 14, 2012.

Savings range from 15-30%.

Value Resorts discounts:

• 15% off Disney’s All-Star Movies
• 20% off Disney’s All-Star Sports and All-Star Music

Moderate Resorts discounts:

• 20% off at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside
• 25% off at Disney’s Coronado Springs, Caribbean Beach, and The Cabins at Fort Wilderness Resort

Deluxe Resorts discounts: 

• 20% off at Disney’s Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and Contemporary Resort
• 30% off at Disney’s Beach Club, Yacht Club, BoardWalk Inn, and Animal Kingdom Lodge (standard view)

Disney Vacation Club Resorts discounts:

• 30% off at Disney’s Old Key West Resort and Saratoga Springs

For Disney’s page on this deal, see this.

For other Disney World discounts, see this.

DISNEY WORLD DEAL FOR SUMMER 2012

Walt Disney World has announced a new promotion for stays from mid-June though mid-August 2012.  Book between now and and June 14, 2012.

Details are sketchy, and there may be actually two deals–one room only, and one packages, with different dates.

But based on this and this, here’s what it looks like:

• Selected Value Resorts and Moderate Resorts: arrival dates 6/15 through 8/4/2012, 15% off values, 20% off moderates.
• Selected Deluxe Resorts and Disney Vacation Club Resorts: arrival dates 7/15 through 8/14, 20% off of some, 25% off of others.

I’ll revise and update this page as more details emerge…or I understand them better!

For Disney’s pages on this deal/deals, see this and this.

For other Disney World discounts, see this.

FREE WALT DISNEY WORLD DINING: A GOOD DEAL FOR MILITARY FAMILIES?

(Updated to reflect Shades of Green’s new 40% discount.)

Inspired by this post on MilitaryDisneyTips.com, what follows tries to guide military families intending to travel to Walt Disney World to the best deal possible during the period that free dining is available.

It’s a tricky question because there’s a bunch of other deals also available during this period, some of which can be combined

• Disney’s offer of heavily discounted Military Salute 4 day tickets
• Its Military Salute offer of discounts of 30-40% off of Disney World resort hotels
• Shades of Green, which is always a deal compared to Disney deluxe resorts, and usually one compared to its moderates (and where you can combine lower-cost hotel rooms with the discounted Military Salute tickets). Shades now has discounts of 40% off during the free dining period, making it an even better deal

Here’s the basics:

• The discounted tickets are $138/person for 4 days.  That’s almost half price.  But they can’t have days added to them, so for longer trips, there quickly becomes no savings. The discounted tickets plus a regularly priced day is still a small bargain, but a normal Disney 6 day ticket is cheaper than a military salute ticket plus 2 regular days.  So longer trips yield less or no savings
• The room rate discount percentage is higher for deluxes (40%) than for moderates (35%), and higher for moderates than for values (30%).  Since deluxe prices are much higher, savings are much greater the more expensive the room.  A $400 a night deluxe room saves $160 a night at 40%, while a $125 a night value saves only $38 a night at 30%.  These savings occur for every night of your trip, so longer trips increase savings
• Dining plan savings also happen for every night of your trip, and are the same if you stay in a deluxe or a moderate.  They are less if you stay in a value, as what you get for free in a value is the “quick service” plan, not the regular dining plan. You save more per night with a larger family, and less the more of your family is under 10.
• Shades of Green gives you value for money every night, but is dull compared to alternatives.  At its 40% discount, it is a remarkable deal

Sadly, you really do have to do the math for your own family, because of savings differences in both the ticket deal and the dining plan based on how large your family is and how many are younger than ten at the time of your visit, differences in the length of your stay, and the specific prices of the resort types you are aimed at. 

But if your family looks like my example family of two adults and two kids, one younger than ten and one older, and is taking either a three night or an eight night trip, I can give you an exact answer:

• For shorter trips, staying at Shades of Green and using the salute tickets is the cheapest option.  If you don’t want to stay at Shades, answers vary.
• For longer trips, Shades is the cheapest option if you’d otherwise stay at a deluxe resort, but free dining is the better deal if values or moderates is your alternative

[Read more →]

Update July 9: for rumors of a Fall 2012 free dining deal, see this.

FREE DISNEY WORLD DINING

Walt Disney World has opened its free dining promotion for late August to late September 2012 to the general public.

Eligible arrival dates are August 25th to September 29th 2012.

The deal must be booked by May 18, 2012.

DETAILS ON WALT DISNEY WORLD FREE DINING

As in the past few years, those booking Value Resorts will get the “quick service” plan for free, and those booking Moderate Resorts, Deluxe Resorts, or Disney Vacation Club Resorts will get the regular dining plan for free.

As is also common, grand villas, suites and The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort are excluded. (The Cabins at Fort Wilderness Resort are eligible.)  Disney’s new Art of Animation Resort is also excluded.  Update: crack commenter Joanne notes that Art of Animation is in the deal.

For some reason, All-Star Music Family Suites are also not eligible.

For Disney’s page in this deal, click here.

For other current Walt Disney World special offers, deals and discounts, see this.

Update July 9: for rumors of a Fall 2012 free dining deal, see this.