Best time to book resort?

I am planning a trip for this time next year (March or April 2017). When is the best time to start booking my hotel? Should I do it asap when the dates open up or do I wait for a discount? Looking at moderate priced resorts. Thanks experts!!! :):smile:

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Discounts for that time are normally released in October-ish each year. No real advantage in booking before that.

I like to book what I want as soon as I have my dates chosen and then apply discounts that are released as they come out. Since dining reservations open at 180 days and most discounts arent released that far out you would miss out on the first crack at the ADRs you want if you wait to book.

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I book ASAP and then continue to look back to see if there are better deals. I normally do just rooms and forgo the packages - gives more flexibility in re-booking and changing times

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Listen to @999HappyHaunts she is a lot smarter than I am lol

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Not smarter, but probably more neurotic! Love you @Outer1!

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I do what @999HappyHaunts suggests. You just call Disney when the seasonal discounts are released and ask them to apply them to your existing reservation. Sometimes it works out as a simple price drop for the room category you’ve already booked, but you often have to be flexible depending on what resorts and room categories have discounts. You can always keep your existing room/rate or switch to take advantage of a deal elsewhere. Makes like interesting!

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One caveat though - I wouldn’t book a room that you can’t afford in the pre-discount months. If you upgrade later when the discounts come out, that’s great, but you’ll just be disappointed if you book a room that’s currently outside your budget and have to cancel it or downgrade. That’s just my opinion of course.

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Thanks everybody! I didn’t realize it was as simple as Disney applying a discount to an existing reservation. If I choose to do it this way, it wouldn’t cancel out precious dining reservations I made would it?

No, they normally just alter your existing reservation and not create a new one… and as long as you were within 180 days to your check out date it wouldn’t matter even if they did have to make a new one.

[quote=“999HappyHaunts, post:3, topic:21949”]
I like to book what I want as soon as I have my dates chosen and then apply discounts that are released[/quote]

Absolutely. If you know when you want to go, then there’s no reason not to book right away. You can always change or cancel/rebook later if a better deal comes along. The same goes for rental cars and anything else that doesn’t require fees for cancellations/changes.