Walt Disney World has released new resort discounts of up to $100 rooms per night for Spring & Summer 2022. This post shares the details of these special offers, commentary about why there’s such a shortage of savings, plus sample pricing, analysis & other info.
In case you’ve forgotten, discounts of up to 25% off rooms at Walt Disney World have already been released for now through March 2022. Those room-only rates, like the two rounds before them, were only offered to Floridians and Annual Passholders, and had relatively limited availability.
The second half of last year was rough for general public discounts, but we were hoping that trend would turn around with the start of 2022, the winter “off-season,” and cancellations. However, as discussed elsewhere, it’s possible that a combined of pent-up demand and reduced resort operations are going to continue to cause problems for WDW dealhounds in 2022. We’ll circle back to those subjects in the commentary…
Let’s start with the official details for the new discount: Save up to $100 per night on rooms at select Walt Disney World resort hotels for stays most nights March 6, 2022 through July 7, 2022. For example, if you book a 5-night stay at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge with this offer, you can save $500 on your stay.
Here are resort by resort discounts:
Note that additional per-adult charges may apply if more than 2 adults per room at Disney Value, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts and Studios at Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts. Advance reservations are required, and stays must be at least 1 night and up to 14 nights to qualify. This deal cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion.
Valid admission and a park reservation are required for the same park and same day to enjoy theme parks and special events and are not included in this offer. All Star Sports Resort reopening date is subject to change.
This Spring & Summer 2022 discount excludes the following room types: 3-bedroom villas, The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Disney’s Art of Animation Resort — Little Mermaid Standard Rooms.
It also excludes several resorts entirely. You’ll notice a lot of “big names” not present on that list at all, including but not limited to Caribbean Beach, Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary Resort, Beach Club, and the Polynesian.
Nevertheless, here’s what we found for best available rates for this Spring & Summer 2022 general public discount:
Since this is a flat rate dollar amount off, the percentage savings offered by the discount will vary.
I priced out rooms during the “Regular 2” rate season, which is the cheapest date range encompassed by this discount. During that, the savings worked out to be about 10-15% off per night. Had I opted for Easter instead when rack rates are higher, but percentage savings would’ve been lower.
xxx
On that note, a friendly reminder that availability has been weak for the last several round of discounts. Many readers have reported finding nothing at all–or higher prices–for their travel dates for discounts over the last couple of years.
Where there is availability, it often requires a room upgrade (e.g. from standard to preferred view, Pirate Rooms, etc.), thus at least partially negating the benefit of the discount. Something to keep in mind before getting your hopes up here.
With that said, Walt Disney World does not increase resort rates prior to releasing a discount. This is a popular misconception, but it’s false. Rack room charts for the entire year are published in advance, and can be found in multiple places online.
If you see higher prices now as compared to what you’re already paying, the first thing to do is check the room category. Make sure it’s an apples to apples comparison. The reason Grand Floridian’s “discounted” rate above is $2,995 is because literally the only available room category on that date is a 2-bedroom suite. That’s a more patently obvious example–usually it’s something like having to upgrade from a standard to garden or pool view.
In other words, Walt Disney World’s theoretical list of eligible resorts and prices tends to differ from what’s actually available. We always do several searches to check out actual discounts and availability.
February 20, 2022 Update: This discount has now been out for a while, and we’re actually surprised by the amount of availability that still exists for late spring and early summer. In fact, in spot-checking options for May 2022 and beyond, most resorts have options. (Above is the week of Memorial Day, when demand and prices should be high.)
We’ve managed to find standard rooms at Pop Century and the other Value Resorts, among many other options that have been difficult to book in recent months. Contemporary Resort and Caribbean Beach appear spottier (the former is in the midst of a room refurbishment and the Garden Wing is out of commission, so that one makes sense) and Deluxe Villas, which always have limited inventory. All of this is very good news.
In fact, when searching for the week of Memorial Day, we’ve found many off-site hotels that are more expensive than Value Resorts at Walt Disney World. There are a lot of examples of this, but one of our up-and-coming favorite areas, Flamingo Crossings, currently has all of its hotel options priced higher than the All Stars.
Flamingo Crossings is arguably nicer when it comes to rooms, but those are still budget-tier hotels and they don’t offer the same on-site perks as Walt Disney World-owned resorts. For all of the complaining we’ve done about on-site pricing lately (and the Disappearing On-Site Advantage at Walt Disney World), we’d take Value Resorts over comparable off-site accommodations in a heartbeat.
While on-site hotel prices are high right now and discounts are meager, the same is (sadly) true of many off-site hotels, too. Pent-up demand is still strong, and the days of good hotels in the Orlando area for under $100/night are largely a thing of the past–unless you visit in September!
Removed from its current context, my assessment of Walt Disney World’s deal is that it’s still nothing special. For one thing, I really don’t care for a flat rate amount off as opposed to a percentage savings. While I personally prefer to book resorts during the cheapest rate seasons, this definitely puts those who travel during more popular dates at a disadvantage.
Beyond that, I remember back to last winter when deals were much more aggressive…or even a couple years ago when this was the “normal” time for the Free Dining promotion to be released. By historical precedent, these savings are weak.
With that said, this isn’t tremendously surprising. We’ve been covering the dearth of deals for months, as well as the lack of hotel availability for the end of the year. (If you haven’t already read it, we’d recommend What’s Up with Sold Out Hotels at Walt Disney World?)
As covered in the latest update to that, we’re starting to see it spillover into this year, with limited availability through Easter 2022. Certain hotels are starting to show as unavailable on other dates, too. It’s likely that the first half of 2022 will continue to see the same issues as the second half of last year.
There’s also the practical reality that these are arguably good deals by more recent precedent. Many of you aren’t Annual Passholders or Floridians, and haven’t been offered any discounts at all in months. When viewed as compared to discounts from the last couple of quarters, this is something–which is better than nothing.
In other words, it’s all relative. If you’re a seasoned Walt Disney World dealhunter with a long memory, this is undoubtedly disappointing. Conversely, if you’ve just started pricing out your first visit within the last few months, this might be exciting. Unless your name is Emmett Brown, it’s not particularly productive to compare this to deals from a few years ago–it’s not like you can go back in time and book those.
As always, discounts are dictated by supply and demand and not by corporate benevolence.
The simple (and unfortunate) fact of the matter is that Walt Disney World hasn’t needed to offer aggressive deals in order to incentivize trips or fill rooms. That same sentiment could be applied beyond Disney. For pretty much everything, prices have gone up across the board and discounts are less commonplace. That’s due to a mix of pent-up demand, supply chain woes, and worker shortages that exist throughout society right now, from hotels to grocery stores.
Regardless of the cause, it’s likely that these 2022 discounts are going to be disappointing to many of you. Beyond those traveling in the first quarter of the calendar year, the ongoing pent-up demand and lack of discounting might be disheartening for those who have been upset by recent announcements about Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, among other things.
On the plus side, availability for the dates we spot-checked is pretty good at most resorts. This suggests to us that either Walt Disney World is increasing guest loads at the resorts or bookings aren’t nearly as strong for a lot of dates as they have been this fall and holiday season. If that anecdotal observation is accurate–and it may not be–we still might see better discounts for later in 2022, or at least more rooms unloaded on Priceline or Hotwire. Walt Disney World also might take a wait and see approach to releasing more deals, wanting to assess forward-looking bookings before offering anything “too good.”
Personally, I would not take a wait and see approach as a consumer. While I hope that things start to normalize and we see a return to regular discounting patterns, I’d stop well short of predicting that will happen in 2022. (We will be closely monitoring what’s released and will notify subscribers of our free email newsletter when any Walt Disney World discounts are released or rumored!)
If anything, I’m worried that February will bring with it the annual price increases, meaning that anyone who waits to book might find themselves paying more for tickets or other components of their package. Just something to consider if you know you’ll be visiting Walt Disney World at some point this year–booking now and applying a discount later (if one is released) is likely the best course of action.
Ultimately, if you’re eager for an escape to Walt Disney World in Spring or Summer 2022, these deals are the first that’s been offered to the general public in a while…so perhaps there’s at least a sense of relief. I’m not really sure. In theory, you can still do better with Disney Vacation Club Point Rentals (although it’s pretty much only confirmed reservations now) or Hotwire & Priceline Express Deals for Walt Disney World (but we haven’t see any WDW hotels added to either in months), but with both of those options also more or less drying up, this truly might be as good as it gets for 2022.
If you want to take advantage of this discount, we’d recommend requesting a FREE no obligation quote from an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner and having them book for you. They will happy to assist you with the planning process, help you choose the most economical dates, best add-ons, and so forth. Notably, they also monitor reservations and can retroactively apply new discounts if a better deal is released to save you more money.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of these room only Walt Disney World discounts for Spring & Summer 2022? Disappointed that they’re flat rates instead of percentage savings like normal, or just happy that something, anything is being offered? If you booked this, do you think you ended up with a good price or do you feel like you’re overpaying? What was available or unavailable for your dates? Is this deal enough to convince you to book a trip, or can you not justify these prices? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!