Until recently, making a reservation for a stay at one of the Walt Disney World resorts was fairly straightforward.  Rack rates, or the published full price for which hotel rooms are sold, were established for either four or five seasons throughout the calendar year.  The more crowded the time of year (Christmas and Summer for example), the more it cost to stay per night, no matter if it was a weekday or weekend.  For example, if you wanted to stay at a Garden View room at the Polynesian Resort from December 21 to December 25 of this year, you would pay $519 a night irrespective of the fact that the dates fall within a weekend.  Well, starting later this week, this reservation system is about to get a little more complicated.

Major changes are coming to the hotel reservation system beginning June 23, 2007 for reservations beginning January 1, 2008.  Specifically, the pricing and rates for Walt Disney World hotel stays in 2008 will be date specific. First, you will now have to pay a nightly rate based on the season of that date. For example, if your first night of your stay falls under the value season and the consecutive nights fall under peak season, you will no longer be able to maintain the value season rate for the entire reservation. Second, premium rates will now be applied for premium dates, such that staying on a Friday or Saturday night pricing may be higher than staying Sunday through Thursday.  So, what this boils down to is that a stay at Walt Disney World resort might cost you a variable amount per night. In theory, you could be paying a different price for each night of your stay.

Depending on how these new changes are rolled out, figuring out the total price of a stay might be somewhat difficult.  Up until now it’s been relatively easy to predict how much a stay at Walt Disney World would cost when researching or planning for a trip.  Generally, you would multiple the rack rate by the number of nights you were staying (then add 12.5% tax).  Now, however, if you try to budget or plan for a trip, calculating the total cost might be impossible or overly difficult.  With weekends costing more than weekdays, and changes of seasons calculated into your total cost, it’ll be hard at first to transition.

There are some things you can do (and might be able to do in the future) to alleviate some of the confusion of calculating the cost of your length of stay.  First of all, you can always call Disney Reservations or book through a travel agent that specializes in Disney vacation planning.  Let them know that you want a per night cost given to you in addition to the total cost, that way you can see how much your stay costs on a day by day breakdown.  This is important for our next tip, which is to try to be flexible with your travel dates.  While I realize that some trips can only happen within a certain window (my August trip is like that), if you are going down for four or five nights for example, try not to stay on a Friday or Saturday, instead, start your trip on a Sunday and then check out on Friday morning. Also, if you know that your trip will fall between two seasons, try and stay during the cheaper of the two.  Use the price quotes from Disney or your travel agent to adjust your trip in order to make it the cheapest for you.

Hopefully in the weeks and months ahead we will see something like the DVC Point charts (check out the point charts for Saratoga Springs from dvcbyresale.com) used for the rack rates.  While a lot to look at, there would be one chart for each resort or each category of resort, and these point charts would be divided up by the time of stay, the costs per night during the weekend versus the weekday, and the how those prices change depending on the different seasons.  Assuming prices won’t drastically fluctuate week by week, charts like this might be helpful for potential guests to search though by resort.  At the very least it would establish some consistency, allow people to look up prices themselves (without the help of a third party), and mitigate whatever backlash people will have against this new system.

What does concern me is the lack of word on how this new reservation system may affect Annual Passholder rates.  Currently, the savings for Annual Passholders can be deep.  Annual Passholder discounts are more likely to be available during the slower times of year, like during Value and Regular seasons, though there are exceptions to this. Discounts are released about two to three months in advance.  While Disney has not yet said how this new system is going to affect passholder discounts, I hope that it won’t at all.  Sure, there might be more information released when a discount is announced, like dividing the rates between weekdays and weekends, etc., but for the most part this new reservations system should not interfere with discounts.  I also doubt that the new system will result in drastic changes such as getting rid of discounts altogether, or only offering them on weekends.  As an Annual Passholder, I’m very interested to see how Disney deals with this in the future.

So what is the verdict?  Is this new reservation system going to be the bane of our Disney existence?  Well, quite honestly, only time will tell.  This announcement is coming six months in advance in order to allow 2008 resort guests a chance to acclimate themselves and get used to the new system.  Sure, at first it will be difficult to calculate the cost of your stay, but in a few weeks time I’m sure those of us that enjoy planning future trips will get the hang of it. 

But what about the criticism that this just another way Disney is trying to part you and your money by making you pay a premium for weekend visits?  I think it is a valid argument. We already spend most (if not all) of our vacation dollar on property as it is: at the resort, in the parks, in the restaurants, in the gift shops…heck, we even pay extra for special events like Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.  No matter where we turn, it’s as if we’re handing over our money to Mickey Mouse.  Now we have to hand over more just because we go to the World on a Friday or Saturday?  It seems ludicrous.  Disney states they are enacting this new reservation system in order to conform to industry standards not necessarily because they are trying to generate more revenue.  While this may be true, cant you give my wallet a rest, Disney?  I might be able to figure out the total cost of my stay…I just hope I’ll be able to afford it.

What do you think about the new reservation system and the implications of it?  Email me your thoughts or post over in the forums.  Until next time!