Question - Trying to maximize savings..will this work?

Hello all wise, all knowing Liners. For an upcoming trip I am going with my sister and her family. She’s quite the couponer. Anyway, We currently have the 35% room only offer for June but it’s only applying for 5 days of our trip. So she’s thinking she could purchase the annual pass to see what the rates are there. The trick is, is that due to the size of our party and allergy needs, she needs a suite with a full kitchen. We are scheduled for Old Key West. Will trying the AP route work and then try to link back the tickets to our existing reservation to get both discounts? I’m nervous about changing the existing reservation…thoughts anyone?
Thanks in advance and have a MAGICAL day!

Hi there! You can only apply one discount at a time, so for your entire trip you’d either have your current offer or the AP offer. If you’re only interested in obtaining an AP for this trip for a potential discount, I’d find out whether or not your dates are fully covered by the offer, and whether or not it’s still available at OKW. Usually the max AP discount is 35%, so it seems like the only benefit would be extending the discount beyond 5 days.

In the past, you could call Disney and have them apply an AP discount without purchasing the AP yet. I did that a few years ago, but I’ve had an AP since so I’m not sure if that has changed.

For OKW you would probably get the best deal renting DVC points Tips For Renting Disney Vacation Club Points | TouringPlans.com Blog

You could also try orbitz and see if it would be cheaper with the discount and their promo codes. It looks like the spring offer only goes until 6/16, are the dates you are staying past that?

Others have already offered some good suggestions and possible explanations for why a discount isn’t available for your whole stay. Just to be clear, though, you don’t have to have an Annual Pass to check what the discount is for your stay. Any Disney travel agent should be able to do that, then you can decide if the pass makes sense. There are several Liners who are travel agents, a number of reputable agencies people here can suggest, or I have a friend who is a Disney TA that would be happy to help if you aren’t sure who best to contact to find passholder rates.

Just looking at what is available for me, I don’t see any passholder offers beyond June 15, 2015, so if your stay extends beyond that date, then I don’t think anymore discounts are available as of today (that may change in the coming months).

Another thing to consider, since it sounds like you’re planning a longer stay, is whether other passholder benefits may save you money. You get a 10% discount on most merchandise in the parks, but you’d have to buy a lot to make that worthwhile. However, if you plan a lot of table service meals, then being able to purchase a Tables in Wonderland card can be a great benefit. It costs $100, but includes a 20% discount for table service meals (including drinks during your meal or at lounges attached to Table Service restaurants). If you have an Annual Pass and will spend over $500 on table service meals, then the card pays for itself.

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I took a quick look at rates for a 2BR Villa at OKW. Rack rate for 1 week in June is $5,838. If you rent points, a week ending before June 10 (Dream season) will cost 269 pts and a week starting after June 10 (Magic season) will cost 296 pts (the WDW Reservations and DVC Rental seasons do not line up).

If you rent from a DVC broker (usually at $14 per point) it will cost you $3,766 for Week A (36% discount) or $4,144 for Week B (29% discount).

If you rent directly from an owner (usually at $13 per point) it will cost you $3,497 for Week A (40% discount) or $3,848 for Week B (34% discount). However, if you shop around you can often find better deals than that - I quickly found an owner renting for $12.50, which brings the costs down to $3,362.50 (42%) and $3,700 (37%).

If you are looking at a 1BR Villa, then I think that the discounts for renting can be even greater.