Hi everyone, I have been to Disney World a number of times and even been on a Disney cruise twice. However, that was when I was younger and someone else planned/payed for the trip. I am planning my family’s trip for the first time and I’m trying to get the best deal I can for a 6 night stay at the Polynesian (my wife just has to stay there). I read in the unofficial guide that they saved around 50% of the normal cost of staying at the Polynesian! So I contacted MVT about our stay but the deal they gave me was only a little over $500 less than I would have paid if I had purchased the package through Disney myself. Don’t get me wrong, saving money is saving money but I thought I would be saving more based on what I read. Am I doing something wrong or does anyone have any advice? Thank you!
I think the only time I have seen close to 50% from them is their Labor Day exclusives. After that I think it depends on the time of year you go and the resort you choose. I think I saved about $800 for POR and their convention tickets in May, which was more of a discount than the deal Disney gave at the time.
Yes, the best discounts are the Labor Day rates. I have always found them to be closer to 40% off, maybe a little more. Remember, MVT quotes include tax. For example, I have two nights at POR in February. I checked again yesterday since there was a discount released. My cost for two nights is just about $509. I checked Disney: $601 at first but after tax $676. Is $254 a lot to spend for a discounted room- yes- but not compared to rack rate (I guess there is no discount for my dates or resort).
So what you are telling me is I missed out I the biggest discount of the year earlier this month!? I was told by the agent I spoke with that I couldn’t book my vacation until late September for our trip in late May.
No, the Labor Day exclusives are for trips that are scheduled for around Labor Day. A trip in May is not going to give you the higher discount.
I see! Thank you for the clarification. I’m hoping an even better deal comes through prior to my vacation and my agents jumps on it. I will be on the lookout also. Thank you for your help!
That’s a question I’ve had. If a deal that’s better comes out through Disney (my discount wasn’t that big either and it’s at a different escort than what we were wanting), will my MVT agent help with this? I know a normal agent does. Do I still have to be super vigilant looking for discounts and if one comes up, is it my responsibility to book it?
We have a big “savings” for our trip, but I think most of that is the switch in resorts.
Yes, my MVT agent’s have always checked against new discounts.
And remember that MVT has some “agency exclusive” deals which generally represent their best discounts. However, they do NOT have agency exclusive rates for every day of the year, so, it could be that a portion of your trip falls outside of the agency exclusive rates. Not saying that is the case, but its a possibility.
Also, MVT’s discounts depend on the rate WDW is willing to give rooms to them for… I would guess that WDW’s willingness to discount rooms for MVT depends greatly on the specific hotel and the season.
I second this. Also not every resort gets the agency discount during their agency exclusive window. You can ask your agent - “is this qualifying for your agency exclusive?” If it is not, Pixie Dust and Pirate Hooks also gets agency exclusives that tend to happen when MVT does not have exclusives.
Finally, for Poly (and it might be too late) you could consider renting DVC from DVC rental store or David’s. Some great savings this way too.
I have been seeing, though, that the savings seems to be less going forward than it has been in the past (barring the Labor Day special which is exceptional)
Any truth to that?
Hi, my agent is saying this is an agency exclusive deal. I will look into the DVC deals next.
Yes they do, but I was told that their exclusives tend to be better than Disney’s discounts. This was true in my case.
I just booked thru MVT for my stay in Feb 2019 at Pop. With the current 25% discount Disney is offering my stay would be $833 with tax. MVT price for the same room $692 which works out to about 29% off rack rate. I think a bit less of a discount I have gotten in the best but still better than I could have gotten direct even with an AP
I have had some instances where the MVT rate was better and only a couple of times when I’ve found something better (once was just the regular Disney room only deal and the other time was an AP rate). But I usually book the MVT rate and my wonderful TA switches them if something better comes along.
For my March trip, my discount for 8 nights was only about $127 total off of rack rate thru MVT and $166 total off rack rate using the newly released Disney offer and two of my nights were not included in the Disney rate but were included in the agency exclusive. I’m getting 2 rooms so a little savings adds up. Booked through Disney as it’s easier to skip the middle man. Very disappointing b/c even though we are going during spring break, I expected MVT to be at least slightly better than Disney, b/c why have agency exclusives if they are higher than Disney? May try the other travel agency for agency exclusives.
As everyone else has said, they’re deep discounts appear to be for deluxe resorts in August and September, the rest of the year is kind of a crapshoot. I was able to save about $600 more than booking direct through Disney for 7 nights at POR through them for a January trip.