Looking for the best deals & discounts for Walt Disney World between now and Fall 2022? This post offers money-saving info and details on special offers for the general public, Florida residents, Annual Passholders, Disney+ subscribers, Visa cardholders, and other groups. (Updated July 7, 2022.)
Let’s start with a quick rundown of what’s not available, as we get more questions about this than any discounts that actually are available at Walt Disney World. That’s right, we’re referring to the Free Disney Dining Plan Discount, the most popular promo of the year. Unfortunately, that won’t come back until the regular Disney Dining Plan returns (see When Will the Disney Dining Plan Return? for our thoughts and predictions on when that’ll be back). Accordingly, we doubt Free Dining will be offered until 2023, at the earliest.
Speaking of which, you can subscribe to our free email newsletter for instant alerts when new discounts are released. We’ve consistently notified newsletter subscribers on the days that deals go live early in the morning, which is often a significant head start before Disney makes an official announcement. That can make a huge difference when booking–you’ll have better availability and won’t have to wait in a virtual queue or for hours on hold.
Fortunately, there are currently many other discounts available at Walt Disney World for travel dates between now and September 30, 2022 for resorts and through December 31, 2022 for tickets. By long-term historical standards, some of these “deals” are relatively weak. However, unless you have a time machine, the discounts and room rates from 2019 or earlier won’t do you much good.
Again, this is a period of pent-up demand at Walt Disney World and at destinations, generally. Prices are higher for travel across the board, with prices spiraling throughout the country (with the exception of certain cities). If you compare the discounts available as of Spring 2022 to those available last year at this time, there’s actually significant improvement in the savings. In other words, it’s all relative.
With that out of the way, here’s a rundown of what is available for the Annual Passholders, Floridians, active or retired US military personnel, Disney+ subscribers, and everyone else. We’ll start with a look at the resort by resort savings for Florida resident and Annual Passholder rates in summer and early fall:
Up to 25% Off Disney World Resorts for APs & Floridians – Although there aren’t specific percentage savings tied to this offer, both Annual Passholders and Florida Residents can save up to 25% off rooms from now until September 8, 2022. (Note that those are Annual Passholder rates above; Florida resident discounts are typically 5% less, except the bottom tier, which is the same.)
In our comparisons, these savings worked out to be slightly better than the Disney+ subscriber discount below for most resorts and travel dates. Not be a wide margin and not consistently–so you’ll want to price out all of these offers for which you’re eligible.
Speaking of which, here’s the Disney+ subscriber deal for late summer and early fall:
Up to 25% Off Walt Disney World Resorts for Disney+ Subscribers – Disney+ subscribers can save up to 25% on rooms at select Disney Resort hotels for stays most nights July 8, 2022 through September 30, 2022. Proof of Disney+ subscription required–book by logging into DisneyWorld.com with your Disney+ account. Disney+ subscriber with an active subscription must stay in the room.
This is a moderately good discount. It’s better than last year’s “Summer Fun” offer for a similar range of dates, and the Disney+ affiliation presents a significantly lower barrier to entry than purchase of an Annual Pass or home in Florida to meet that residency requirement. Historically, it’s exactly on par with summer and early fall discounts on the high end, but only 10% as compared to the normal 15% on the low end.
If you want to help determining what discounts are available for your travel dates and which resort will work best for your family, we recommend requesting a quote from Be Our Guest Vacations, a no-fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. The agents there will book your vacation and help take the stress out of planning.
Next, there’s a deal available this fall for Disney Visa Debit & Credit Card Members…
Up to 30% Off Walt Disney World Resorts Disney Visa Cardmembers – While this deal sounds better, the headline 30% off is only available at Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Art of Animation Family Suites. Otherwise, it’s pretty comparable to the Disney+ offer, but with more availability and some slightly better rates. This offer is valid for stays most nights August 28 through September 19, 2022 when you book using your Disney Visa Credit or Debit Card.
The final resort discount is offered by the Swan & Dolphin:
Discounts for Swan & Dolphin at Disney World – Many Walt Disney World fans dismiss these three third party hotels out of hand, but the Swan, Dolphin, and Swan Reserve are located on-site and within walking or boat distance of both EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. They also are eligible for Early Entry and Extended Evening Hours.
Aside from the Disney details and themes, these hotels offer better benefits and a superior location to most Value and Moderate Resorts. With prices starting at under $200 per night after discount, they are well worth considering.
Next, the various Armed Forces Salute ticket and resort room discounts for active and retired military personnel:
2022 U.S. Military Salute Ticket & Room Discount at Walt Disney World – US military personnel can purchase promotional Walt Disney World theme park tickets at deeply discounted prices. Choose between a 4-Day or 5-Day Disney Military Salute Ticket (formerly the Disney Military Promotional Ticket) for visits through December 16, 2022.
Armed Forces Salute room-only discounts are also available at Walt Disney World. These are valid most nights through December 16, 2022. Precise percentage savings is not published online, and varies by season, resort popularity, and room category. Military personnel (active or retired) receive better room-only and ticket discounts than the general public, Floridians, or Annual Passholders. Call (407) 939-7830 for rates and to book. If you’re eligible for this deal, it’s your best bet.
Future Walt Disney World Discounts
What’s past is prologue.
That expression holds true with Walt Disney World discounts, which play out in predictable patterns every year. Or at least, did until the closure and subsequent reopening. That threw a monkey wrench in things, as pent-up demand collided with closed resorts to create a room inventory imbalance that is just finally starting to be resolved.
While special offer trends aren’t totally back to normal, they are falling back into familiar form most of the time. Accordingly, our expectation is that the next Walt Disney World discounts will be released in mid-July 2022 for travel dates from September 2022 through Christmas 2022.
The most likely release dates for these deals are either July 12 or July 19, 2022. As for travel dates, they’ll likely encompass September 1 through December 24, 2022. It’s also possible another discount drops on that same day for immediate bookings between that date and late August if bookings are slow.
Whether these are general public special offers or for Annual Passholders, Floridians, and/or Disney+ subscribers remains to be seen and is likely dependent upon resort occupancy projections. Walt Disney World has been tinkering with more targeted discounts during the period of pent-up demand, so more of that wouldn’t be surprising–it really depends on whether that’s starting to slow or if travel is still booming.
It’s also entirely possible that Walt Disney World resort discounts are released earlier or later than mid-July 2022, or for only a subset of the aforementioned Fall 2022 dates. While past is prologue, it’s also true that history doesn’t always repeat itself–sometimes it just rhymes.
Other Walt Disney World Discounts
Some of these room-only discounts can be converted to a package, which we do not recommend. The only difference with booking a package is that you’re locking yourself into paying more for park tickets and other vacation components, meaning you can’t use our Money-Saving Tips for Buying Walt Disney World Tickets or other strategies for saving.
Next, there’s the option of Renting DVC Points for Rooms at Walt Disney World. This allows you to rent use of Disney Vacation Club accommodations from a member or business. DVC rental is safe, easy, and cheaper than standard hotel reservations. It’s also a great way to “test drive” the accommodations before buying a DVC membership. Currently, there’s confirmed DVC availability for the remainder of 2022, or custom-bookings for pretty much just October 2022 through March 2023.
In addition to the aforementioned general public discounts, one popular under-the-radar discount among Walt Disney World fans is the PIN or Unique Offer Code targeted deal. If you’re wondering what a PIN code is and how to get one, read this. Currently, the best available PIN code offer is the same as the summer and early fall AP discount.
Another way to score deep discounts on accommodations is via Hotwire & Priceline Express Deals for Walt Disney World. These are opaque deals, meaning you can’t see the name of the hotel prior to booking, but it’s very easy to “reverse engineer” the hotel with clues provided in the listing plus good ole fashioned internet sleuthing. Unfortunately, we haven’t see any WDW hotels added to either service in months.
Speaking of deals that are not available, there would also normally be a Bounceback Deal on Walt Disney World Rooms. However, this is NOT AVAILABLE during the phased reopening. Honestly, we’re not confident this type of discount will ever return.
In a normal year, this would run from January until August (or so) and be bookable for travel dates through the following December. In August, the bounceback would switch over to Free Dining for the following fall. Booking bouncebacks discounts is a great idea and efficient way to lock-in a future stay discount.
Finally, some words of warning and generalized commentary. In addition to the standard varying rates of the discount depending on precise travel dates, some room-only discounts have incredibly limited availability, especially room-only offers with peak travel dates. Don’t be surprised if you search for an otherwise qualifying hotel and are unable to book the discount due to zero availability.
In our searches, there are a number of situations close to holidays where these “discounts” would actually cost more, due to zero availability in standard rooms, meaning you have to upgrade to a room with a view, suite, or Club Level room. In other situations, there’s just nothing, period, so Disney’s site recommends upgrading resorts. (Such helpful suggestions for “saving” money!)
On the other hand, the discounts for off-season travel dates look pretty good in terms of availability. The additional upside to those dates is that you can choose off-season times to visit when crowds are lower and rack rates are lower, which means you’ll pay even less.
For more details on the pros and cons of taking advantage of a room-only discount, read our Room-Only Discounts at Walt Disney World post. This is our favorite discount because it’s straightforward and tends to offer the best value for us, and many other Walt Disney World regulars are fans of it for this same reason. However, if you’re a first-timer visitor to WDW, there’s a good chance a better, more inclusive offer will work better for you.
Typically, the best discounts are offered in August and September, and January and February. The downside to the former is that this is the heart of tropical storm season (see our Storm Season at Disney World Survival Guide for more info), and it’s still fairly hot and humid during the fall in Florida. These months are arguably the worst of the year in terms of weather, and that’s assuming you don’t have to deal with any hurricanes or intense tropical storms.
The downside to the latter is that January and February are colder. However, both sets of months are typically among the least crowded times of the year to visit Walt Disney World. (Although that’s less true about the winter with each passing year.) Suffice to say, it’s a trade-off for lower prices and crowds.
As always, keep in mind that Walt Disney World does not offer discounts out of generosity. Discounts are offered because Disney wants to hit a target occupancy rate for its hotels–they are a way to entice people who otherwise might not do so to book a trip.
Disney only offers discounts to the extent that are needed to hit projected target occupancy rates. Once those targets are reached, discounts are not offered. Hence the lack of availability for some resorts and some room categories in any promotion.
This is all a long-winded way of saying that flexibility is important when it comes to Walt Disney World discounts, especially Free Dining. If you want to save the most money, there’s a decent chance you will need to choose your resort hotel based upon discount availability. If you’re able to be flexible on travel dates, that’s even better!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Thoughts?
Have any Walt Disney World deals of your own to add for saving money on vacations or things you’ll need while on vacation? Have you had success booking any of the current room-only discounts? Any difficulties? Any questions about these deals that we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!