Walt Disney World has released new hotel room discounts for Summer and Fall 2022 for Annual Passholders. This article shares the details of these special offers, comments on why there is such a shortage of savings, as well as sample prices, analysis and other information.
In case you forgot, discounts of up to 25% off rooms at Walt Disney World have already been published through July 7, 2022. These room-only rates were only available to Floridians and annual passholders, and had relatively limited availability. For the general public, Walt Disney World has released up to $100 off per night for the general public for Spring and Summer 2022which also run until July 7, 2022.
For dates beyond July 7, this is actually not the first discount the company has released. In early April, Walt Disney World dropped new offerings covering Summer and early fall for Disney+ subscribers. This promotion is still available for booking and runs until September 30, 2022.
The second half of last year was tough for mainstream discounts, and that’s thankfully starting to pick up with this latest one. We still don’t see the range or quality of normal discounts, but it’s a marked improvement from last summer and fall.
As noted elsewhere, the combination of pent-up demand and reduced resort operations has caused problems for WDW dealers in 2022. We’ll come back to those topics in the commentary.
Before we get started, we’ll start with a reminder that availability has been low for many recent offerings. Fortunately, that has started to change over the past couple of months, but we still don’t see the range or quality of discounts that would be released in a normal year.
At this point, many readers reported finding nothing at all – or upper price–for their travel dates. Where there is availability, this often requires a room upgrade (but more to pirate rooms!), thus at least partially negating the benefit of the discount. Just something to keep in mind before setting your hopes here.
Let’s start with the official details of the new AP discount. According to Walt Disney World, Annual Passholders can take advantage of great summer room rates at select Disney Resort hotels for stays most nights from July 8 through September 8, 2022.
Here is the resort-by-resort AP savings chart provided by Walt Disney World:
Walt Disney World provides an example of savings: “Stay in a Standard Room at Disney’s All-Star Resorts for just $129 plus tax per night and get the most out of your Annual Pass.”
This is probably more confusing than helpful, as this is not a general price for All Stars during this date range. It is merely an illustrative example. (Frankly, I don’t even know why they provide these examples – the examples only seem to lead to more confusion.)
Walt Disney World also notes that you can take advantage of this early bird opportunity for Annual Passholders now, before these great rates become available to Florida residents on June 21, 2022.
Annual Passholders must present a valid Walt Disney World AP at check-in. This special offer for Annual Passholders excludes the following room types: 3-Bedroom Villas and The Little Mermaid Standard Rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.
Additional charges per adult may apply if there are more than 2 adults per room at Economy, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts and Studios at Deluxe Villa Resorts. The maximum length of stay under this offer is 14 nights.
Here’s what we found for the best rates available for this summer and early fall 2022 discount:
This search is for the night of September 5, 2022, which is part of the “Value 2” season at Walt Disney World. This has the cheapest rack rates of the year outside of January and February. This is not an exhaustive list of the lowest rates for all hotels. Some resorts listed above show prices for non-standard rooms.
For comparison, here’s the same for the previous Disney+ subscriber promotion, for the exact same dates:
There’s no precedent for Disney+ discounts, but it’s nice to see the prices for annual pass holders exceed those offered to subscribers of the streaming service. If you’re not an AP but are a Disney+ subscriber, you may disagree with this. Fair enough.
My counter would be that the company has been particularly focused on growing Disney+ at the expense of almost everything else. As nice as it was to see an affiliate perk with a low barrier to entry, it was also concerning that subscribers to something unrelated to parks were treated better than annual pass holders.
This only reinforced the idea that parks and resorts are in the background, while streaming is Disney’s top priority. I wouldn’t say too much that this discount is a sign of change from that, but I’m still hopeful that change will happen, especially as investors rethink the value of the streaming market.
Of course, it would also be nice if Walt Disney World resumed annual pass sales. Many people will not be able to take advantage of this discount simply because they will not be able to purchase access points. Don’t expect that to change until August, at the earliest.
Another sign of optimism: it’s better than last year’s “Summer Fun” discount.
This was also the case with the special offer for Disney+ subscribers, but it’s worth pointing out again, as the vast majority of recent offers have gone from disappointing to non-existent. There are real bargains to be scored here, sometimes as much as $100 to $150 off per night at Deluxe Resorts.
As always, it all depends on the desired resort, room categories and travel dates. If you’re already locked in and don’t have much flexibility, the options might not seem so hot.
Additionally, if you are looking for rooms at All Star Resorts, Animal Kingdom Lodge, BoardWalk Inn or any of the hotels in Port Orleans, your perception of this discount will be greater than those looking for discounts at one of the popular hotels. This discount has more exclusions than the Disney+ subscriber offer, with Pop Century, Caribbean Beach, Grand Floridian, Beach Club, the Polynesian and other resorts ineligible for this discount.
Some of these discounted rates are far above what we’ve paid recently, and that’s when booking hotels locally and offsite near Walt Disney World. Granted, I’m comparing prices for stays in May 2022 when pent-up demand is (hopefully) worse than stays in September 2022, which (hopefully) will again be the sleepy off-season.
In recent and upcoming months we have booked rooms at Flamingo Crossings and other places, and I have yet to book anything for less than $125 per night. On the contrary, most stays were significantly more expensive. I’ve seen many nights where rooms cost over $200, and these were for “budget” accommodations or extended stays. Granted, they are nice and new, but this area is supposed to be cheaper. The fact is that hotel prices are on the rise everywherenot just Disney owned resorts.
Compared to what I’ve seen this summer, $100 a night for All Star Music – with new rooms, perks and transportation – is downright a steal. It’s just a shame that Pop Century is not available for this discount, as I’d rather pay a little more and have access to Skyliner than stay at the All Stars and rely on the buses.
Of course, that’s not as cheap as what you would have paid around the same time in 2019, let alone 2016. In my day, the All Stars had off-season rates that were regularly $79 per night or less! Unfortunately, in the absence of a time machine, it is impossible to book these prizes. Even with that in mind, it’s not too far off when adjusted for inflation.
As we’ve written many times over the past few weeks, we doubt this will be the last of the good Walt Disney World discounts for the coming months. There is a chance that this summer will be the “last hurrah” for pent-up demand; as that begins to deplete, household savings dwindle, inflation begins to sting more, and the economy slows, it seems increasingly likely that Walt Disney World will experience its own downturn.
Who knows if any of this will actually happen, though. I didn’t think the “revenge trip” would last this long. It will be interesting to see how all of this Actually plays. The return of international guests in force could support Walt Disney World’s strong demand even longer, as could special events and conventions (which are important in the fall). This could also be offset by returning more hotel rooms to inventory. No one knows how many rooms are currently out of order at operational resorts, but at some of them it’s a lot.
The bottom line is, if you’re an annual pass holder (or Florida resident once the reservation window opens) and want to escape to Walt Disney World, these deals could be as good as possible, at least until the pent-up demand runs out. or Disney is able to operate its resorts at 100% occupancy.
We will closely monitor what is released and will notify our free email newsletter subscribers when Walt Disney World discounts are released or rumored!
Planning a trip to Walt Disney World? Learn more about the hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews page. To find out where to eat, read our Walt Disney World restaurant reviews. To save money on tickets or figure out which type to buy, read our tips for saving money on Walt Disney World tickets. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips article takes a unique look at smart on-the-go items. To know what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride guides will help you. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Travel Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of these room-only discounts for Walt Disney World Annual Passholders and Florida Residents? Disappointed that there is nothing for the general public? If you booked this do you think you ended up with a good price or do you feel like you paid too much? What was available or unavailable for your dates? Is this offer enough to convince you to book a trip, or you can’t justify these prices? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback – even when you disagree with us – is both interesting for us and helpful for other readers, so share your thoughts below in the comments!
