Going to WDW in October, Suggestions?

[nicklesm17]

Yup, I know some people who are leaving for their first ever trip to Disney next week and they were told they could change their booking up to three times in order to take advantage of the best deal. They are staying at Bay Lake Towers and chose the smallest plan of the Table Service dining plan. With their deal they got a $750 gift card to use on property. Someone in the know told them that that was the best promo out there, even better than the free Dining Plan.

amy, just out of curiousity, is this gft card just a vacation club deal, or is it a disney visa, or a wdw promo code. i may end up in wdw this fall after all, so i'd like to know where to look for deals. i use "magical journeys", and they're good, but many times i had to find the bonus, or better, deals myself. they're not to quick to bring 'em to your attention on their own. of course they're quick to incorporate it once you request it, but i'm sure they know about it befor i do, so why keep it a secret? as always, happy for your help... thanks.

I know they are not vacation club members, and I believe she said she just booked directly through Disney, so I think it was just a promo code.

thanks amy, if you happen to talk to them again, ask 'em where they spotted this promo. i keep a pretty close watch on wdwinfo.com, that's where i usually spot and then book our annual trip's "good deal", but i never saw this one being mentioned. the more sources for me to keep an eye on the better. if you know, or find out, please let me know. thanks, nick

[Amy]

thanks amy, if you happen to talk to them again, ask 'em where they spotted this promo. i keep a pretty close watch on wdwinfo.com, that's where i usually spot and then book our annual trip's "good deal", but i never saw this one being mentioned. the more sources for me to keep an eye on the better. if you know, or find out, please let me know. thanks, nick

I won't see them for a few weeks but I will be sure to ask. I know she mentioned her friend, and also that her friend gets a lot of her info off of www.allears.net ~ hope that helps

[nicklesm17]

I won't see them for a few weeks but I will be sure to ask. I know she mentioned her friend, and also that her friend gets a lot of her info off of http://www.allears.net ~ hope that helps

thanks amy, takes a little looking around to find the "deals" links, but i did see a past deal that i never saw on wdwinfo. so perhaps this is the one they found it on. i'll start checking this site regularly too. thanks!

[Chernabog]

I did not know that, awesome!! And does anyone know the deal w/the free meal plan for our dates? I have heard that it will & that it will not be extended. I pray they extend it! And I agree, the Food & Wine Festival would be greatly improved knowing the food is covered under the snack category!

no, it has not been announced yet for your dates. at this time it's only been released up to 10/2. this is how they've done it in past years (including last year). so keep your eyes peeled, as history has shown your dates should be available w/ free dining, no later than mid july. just watch for the updated offer more closely as that time approaches. i'd be surprised at them cancelling the offer with all the construction going on. if anything they might even offer a combinable deal since that is considered a "low" or "lower" season. we've scored some pretty good deals in oct. in the past. also, don't worry if you just nailed down the meal deal, and as time progresses a bonus combinable (better) offer pops up. just contact disney or your travel agent, they've always re-done our confirmation with the best offer possible... no extra charge.

Yup, I know some people who are leaving for their first ever trip to Disney next week and they were told they could change their booking up to three times in order to take advantage of the best deal. They are staying at Bay Lake Towers and chose the smallest plan of the Table Service dining plan. With their deal they got a $750 gift card to use on property. Someone in the know told them that that was the best promo out there, even better than the free Dining Plan.

Where's Bay Lake Towers? Is that the new Contemporary Villas?

[Chernabog]

I won't see them for a few weeks but I will be sure to ask. I know she mentioned her friend, and also that her friend gets a lot of her info off of http://www.allears.net ~ hope that helps

thanks amy, takes a little looking around to find the "deals" links, but i did see a past deal that i never saw on wdwinfo. so perhaps this is the one they found it on. i'll start checking this site regularly too. thanks!

The $750 gift cert is not DVC, my in-laws went in Feb & got one for $500. You got $750 for deluxe, $500 for mod, & $250 for value

And if anyone comes acroos a deal for Oct, please post where to find it! Thanks!

[Amy]

Where's Bay Lake Towers? Is that the new Contemporary Villas?

I believe they are one in the same, yes.

[nicklesm17]

Where's Bay Lake Towers? Is that the new Contemporary Villas?

yes, thats the new buildings by the contempory. supposedly there's a pool up top where you can watch the fireworks from. never been a big fan of dvc. i've looked many of them over while in wdw, and the feel is never as "magical" as the regular resorts. if this makes sense, they always seem more "industrial", like you can see just a little too much behind the scenes for my liking.

[nicklesm17]

The $750 gift cert is not DVC, my in-laws went in Feb & got one for $500. You got $750 for deluxe, $500 for mod, & $250 for value

And if anyone comes acroos a deal for Oct, please post where to find it! Thanks!

do you know how they got this deal?

[Amy]

The $750 gift cert is not DVC, my in-laws went in Feb & got one for $500. You got $750 for deluxe, $500 for mod, & $250 for value

And if anyone comes acroos a deal for Oct, please post where to find it! Thanks!

do you know how they got this deal?

Unfortunately I do not know how they got this particular deal. She mentioned a friend that is very knowledgeable and also the allears.net. I am planning on asking them when they return for you though. I'll see them in a few weeks and be sure to share through this thread

[MmeLeota]

I'm pretty sure that was the promotion prior to the free dining promo. I remember seeing that and wished we could have booked a trip...$500 to spend would have been nice. We had TV commercials for it as well as it was plastered all over the Disney related sites.

[nicklesm17]

[quot] Unfortunately I do not know how they got this particular deal. She mentioned a friend that is very knowledgeable and also the allears.net. I am planning on asking them when they return for you though. I'll see them in a few weeks and be sure to share through this thread [/quote]
i appreciate it, and will keep an eye on this post for the info. allears seems even slower to update their site than intercot, but looking in past posts i didn't see any mention of this deal. this deal is similiar to a deal we got several trips back. we had already locked down the reservation with free dining, then, a few weeks later "disneying" around on the internet i came across a new offer on wdwinfo. i can't remember all the details, but is was an additional $500 off our reservation. since disney seems to repeat alot of the same offers, i'll bet this is the same one (we usually stay at POFQ... a moderate priced). the girl at magical journeys was able to combine this offer no problem when i brought it to her attention, just had to cancel and re-do the reservation... no charge for this. as much as i want to see the world of color in DL, a deal of this size would be hard to pass up.

[Chernabog]

The $750 gift cert is not DVC, my in-laws went in Feb & got one for $500. You got $750 for deluxe, $500 for mod, & $250 for value

And if anyone comes acroos a deal for Oct, please post where to find it! Thanks!

do you know how they got this deal?

All they did was call WDW & book a trip when they were offering the deal.

[nicklesm17]

thanks for the replies. i did some research on this one as well. if you look carefully on mousesavers.com there's a link called "historical info on discounts for WDW resorts". this will show you a chart w/ every deal offered since 2006. the one we're all talking about here was the "gift card" deal. $300, $500, or $750 depending on which value resort you chose. unfortunately at the time this was offered, free dining was not, and this was not able to be combined w/ any other offer. if you use the free dining wisely, you'll end up saving more money by taking advantage of that offer, still not a bad deal if nothing else is available. we always travel end of oct.-early nov., and we always have it booked (w/ whatever deal they're offering) by mid- late july. so keep your eyes peeled if your also planning on booking in this time frame, the new offers should be surfacing soon. thanks everybody for your help...

[wdwgirly]

My best suggestion for October would be to not expect it to be less crowded. It seems that over the years it has become more and more crowded in October. I think the days of the "off season" are over. We went year before last, and then the year before that and compared to the early 2000's it was significantly more crowded than in the past. Was it as bad as Christmas week or Easter, no of course not, but it was comparable to summer.

Hope you have a great trip

[Amy]

The $750 gift cert is not DVC, my in-laws went in Feb & got one for $500. You got $750 for deluxe, $500 for mod, & $250 for value

And if anyone comes acroos a deal for Oct, please post where to find it! Thanks!

do you know how they got this deal?

Ok, saw those people yesterday and grilled them a tiny bit for info...then had to do a search to find out which thread this was in I could have sworn it was in Trip Planning and Reports!
She actually did the research online, through the WDW site itself. She said there was a link on the side that you could click on that showed all the current offers. Once she figured out what she wanted she called and booked with an agent. She also said the rooms that had the $750 gift card included were limited so you had to ask if you would be getting that offer.
She said you don't have to be a DVC member to stay at the Bay Lake Towers. She also mentioned that you check into the towers in the Contemporary since there isn't really a lobby per se in the towers. And you evidently enter the towers through a concourse thru the Contemporary.
Hope this helps...