[gingles]

Sounds like old Mike Eisner saying "Trust me".

[tiggerfan74]

Florida resident rates usually coinside with AP rates. Do you think they will be affected as well?? What if you were already booked for you room before June 17th? Does that make a difference?
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[Willbegone]

AGGHHHH!!! This is just toooo stressful! Now I too am wondering if we should switch to a value for October!!! AGGGHHHH!!!!! Not the news I wanted to hear on Monday morning!

[Metalfan]

Anger! However I guess I'll have 2 options with the Florida rate (if it's not messed with).

[disneymom]

If I don't get any kind of a discount, I may have to change me resort to a value.

This really stinks. I wonder if you have to make a change to a lesser priced resort if your deposit will just roll over. I hope it is only non refundable if you cancel all together.

We have a trip planned for December and need two rooms because I have four children. I was counting on using the AP discount for both rooms at POR and maybe buying a room for inluvwithdisney too.

[ilvminnie]

Originally Posted by llama

So far, DVC members are still getting $100.00 off annual passes. I plan to renew mine, but that is because resort discounts don't effect us. If it did, I think I'd be pretty upset at the changes. Using the AP twice a year is still quite a saving on admissions.

Ditto! Since we generally go twice in a calendar year for 8 to 9 days at a time & we use our DVC points for rooms it won't really affect us. I'll still get it.

[disneypro]

I interrogated a CRO person yesterday, and he was also nice enough to double check everything with his supervisor, but what he said about the new program was this:

(As described by him) It's just another AP rate option, not unlike discounted airline tickets online. If you book online, you will get the best or least expensive rate if you are an AP holder, as a trade-off, you are subject to all the restrictions and deposit (very similary to online cheapo airfares).

You can still book via telephone, AP rates will still be available, they just may not be quite as good as online. In fact, he said that they were told to expect new AP and FL resident rates to "drop into their systems" in the upcoming month or two, along with processional packages. Phone AP rate bookings are subject to the same restrictions as they always have been, and as usual, only a certain number of rooms will be available. AND, you can still book more than one room via phone.

Here's my only question (which I couldn't inquire about, as I had to get off of the phone), If the online rate is supposed to be the "best" available to the general public, and they are still going to offer AP rates via phone bookings, wouldn't they be the same? How is online cheaper? The regular phone AP rate would be the "general public" discount, right? So I'm still trying to figure out how online is better. I wonder if it has to do with availability and number of rooms available? For instance, if you have AP and book online, are you always going to get a discounted room, period? As opposed to telphone AP rate bookings where they may say they don't have any left. Anyone else out there follow my logic, or hear anything different from a CRO person?

[_landry]

Originally Posted by disneypro

I wonder if it has to do with availability and number of rooms available? For instance, if you have AP and book online, are you always going to get a discounted room, period? As opposed to telphone AP rate bookings where they may say they don't have any left. Anyone else out there follow my logic, or hear anything different from a CRO person?

I think you're exactly right. That's what I've gathered from everything I've seen and heard here and on other sites.

I don't have my AP yet, nor have I purchased my voucher. I've pretty much decided I'm going to stay at AKL no matter what. So I'm going to hope for a "phone in" discount, and if not, oh well. I'll suck it up and pay the full amount.

[disneypro]

That's exactly what we're doing. I already booked our Dec. trip at WL yesterday, and will wait to see if other codes come out. What was also interesting, is with all the new magic packages, they must be blocking a lot more rooms off for these packages, because I called about the first week in Dec., rack rate, and already, only courtyard and concierge rooms were avail. Let's hope they set aside plenty of AP rate rooms when the time comes.

[chris5568]

I hope that is true. I would love to still get an AP rate, even if it is a little more than I would pay on line. I don't like the 120 day/non-refundable deposit.

[ilvminnie]

I work in the banking world & it sounds to me like Disney is trying to do what banks tried a few years back. They thought that if they made things difficult for customers to deal with a person either on the phone or in a branch, that they could switch most customers patterns to using the internet. At some point that would reduce their staffing needs & all the associated expenses that go with that. I'm wondering if Disney figures that if they get people to do stuff on-line vs with a real person they can reduce their personnel needs/costs. Just a thought.....

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by chris5568

I don't like the 120 day/non-refundable deposit.

That's the part I have the biggest problem with. I don't mind booking online or with a TA, I just can't afford to lose a one night deposit if something changes.

Is there an automatic discount to APs when they book online? Are APers getting a discount for November/December rooms online right now?

[missy H]

There is a long thread over at WDWMagic http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=57904 about this topic.

There is a CM who works at reservations and he gives information from the inside. As stated this programme is in addition to the usual way of getting AP discounts. There is only a limited number of dates and room types that are available for the Best Rate Program.

So just keep a look out for the AP discounts in the future. An interesting point is that AP discounts are not considered as general public discounts.

[_landry]

I read that same thread a few days ago.

[Dana]

Originally Posted by missy H

There is a long thread over at WDWMagic http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=57904 about this topic.

There is a CM who works at reservations and he gives information from the inside. As stated this programme is in addition to the usual way of getting AP discounts. There is only a limited number of dates and room types that are available for the Best Rate Program.

So just keep a look out for the AP discounts in the future. An interesting point is that AP discounts are not considered as general public discounts.

That does offer some reassurance anyway sorta. Thanks for the link to that thread.