How to save money staying on-site at WDW

We recently stayed at Disney’s Beach Club resort, which has been in my bucket list, by booking with an agency that offers agency exclusive rates. These rates are discounted quite significantly over what you can get by booking directly with Disney. The caveat is that you must be somewhat flexible with your booking dates and which resort you stay at, as they may not have offers for all resorts. Currently there are four agencies that offer these exclusive rates: Magical Vacations Travel, Magical Enchanted Vacations, Pixie Dust and Pirate Hooks, and Mouse Fan Travel. I had read a lot on-line about people have a good experience using Magical Vacations Travel (MVT) and decided to try their services first. I would recommend contacting an agent directly through e-mail to inquire about rates.

I was wanting to stay at the Beach Club in the fall, which is during The International Food and Wine festival at EPCOT. Rates can be quite high at this deluxe resort during this time, as the resort is within walking distance of EPCOT. I was so happy to find out that they did have an agency rate available for the Beach Club and after a couple of e-mails back and forth, to match up dates available and when we could go, we booked our vacation! At the time we booked, they also had park tickets available as part of the package, but this is no longer an option. We saved approximately $200 per night on the room rate offered directly through Disney. Plus we were able to have these room rates available to us for a Saturday night stay, which was nice, as room rates are higher on Friday and Saturday nights at the resorts. (Not staying on a Friday and Saturday night had been a go to savings trick for me in the past.)

Another way to save for an on-site stay at WDW resorts is to book as early as possible if booking without an agency exclusive rate. Then you can monitor for any special rates offered by Disney at a later date. I typically do not get too excited about specials offered, as these specials are usually a percentage off on a higher room rate than if you had booked earlier, but it is worth monitoring for, as you may save a little if you get lucky.

If you have the Disney credit card, occasionally you may see these offers available earlier, or some variation of them. In 2017, I had a vacation booked for a stay at Port Orleans Riverside and just before our trip, there was an offer through my Disney credit card to stay at the Port Orleans French Quarter for the same dates. I almost called and changed my booking for the $400 savings, but I decided I wanted to try out Riverside. I kind of wished I had changed my booking for the savings now, but at the time I was unfamiliar with both resorts and thought maybe we would like Riverside better.

One last way to save with an on-site WDW stay is to rent Disney Vacation Club points. I haven’t personally tried this yet, so I will only mention it as a possible option.

I was very happy with my experience with MVT and the savings I able to achieve. I hope this has given some food for thought if you are planning a WDW vacation and saves you some money!