Priceline Deals Into 2019: Vive La Values!
If I could start this post with an audible klaxxon, I would.
In recent weeks we’ve gone over some methods to find great deals on Disney resorts on Priceline. There have been Animal Kingdom Lodge Express Deals for $148, some nice regular Priceline deals for Value resorts, and the Express Deals for the Swan in the new year. I’d like offer you some more simple, yet effective, Priceline search techniques that work in conjunction with Hotel Canary to help you in your own searches.
But first, like the Ghost of Christmas Past (but with less foreboding) I’d like to extend my hand and lead you towards prices that evoke memories of long-forgotten price points…
Anyway, that’s enough Scrooge metaphor–let’s get to it. How does All-Star Sports as low as $41 sound? Or Sports, Movies, and Music resorts consistently in the $50 to $62 range?
If you are, like me, nodding your head vigorously then *dramatic echoing ghostly voice* BEHOLD!
There are smatterings of such deals at Disney’s Value resorts from January to July that are enticing to say the least. At this time March does not appear to have any of these resort deals, while June and July have less than earlier months. Here are the bulk of these earlier deals:
Those prices are terrific, but, I think you’ll agree that the most impressive group of these deals appear from August 1 through October 9, 2019–more than two months of solid room rates that taken all together average $62 a night! Extra exclamation points! While some Friday and Saturday nights in that time frame do run up into the $75 range (Heavens!) I think you’ll agree: Wow.
I went back and looked at historical prices for the All-Star resorts using the Wayback Machine. The lowest rate I could find was $77/night in 2001. Adjusted for inflation, the rates we’re seeing on Priceline may be the lowest in the last 20 years. — Len Testa
I wonder if someone’s looking to bolster up those pre-Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge room bookings?
Now, If you haven’t already run off to take the Priceline Express, I’d like to offer a few additional tips to help you squeeze some more opportunities from them.
THE USUAL CAVEATS
While I mention these things in every deals post, they are always worth repeating: Remember to read the fine print on any deals you book. Express Deals, in particular, are normally non-refundable. Keep in mind that you won’t know 100% for certain what resort you will get until you book it (but you can be fairly confident if you do your homework.)
In addition, Priceline technically only guarantees rooms for two people. But, since the vast majority of Disney resort rooms are made for four or more people, booking them makes that less of an issue. I have seen people report they had success adding people to their room by calling the Disney Wholesale Department at (407) 939-7671 after booking with the initial two occupants.
TIP: Keep Your Eyes Open
If you are in the market for a trip, keep checking regularly for deals! Things do come and go on Priceline, so when you see something enticing it is best to book it while you can.
If you had searched Priceline Express early last week you would have seen an absolutely huge number of new Express Deals for Disney resorts appear. Some of them for were for Deluxe resorts I hadn’t seen on Priceline Express before and the deals ran all the way into late Spring. Sadly, by the next night those Express Deals had disappeared as quickly as they arrived. *sad trombone*
So, while these deals can linger out there for several weeks like those in November and December, don’t get complacent. If you hope to catch a deal in the future, why not play around with Hotel Canary now so you feel confident using it when the time comes for you to book?
This quick primer on using Hotel Canary and my own posts can get you started if you are new to using Priceline Express. Of course, you should also keep watching the TouringPlans Blog for more of these updates as we find more deals for you.
TIP: Refresh The Page
OK, now you’re saying to yourself, “Self, this guy calls these tips?” Yes. Yes, I do.
I’ve obviously done a lot of Priceline searches now and I can say unequivocally: I have no idea what they are doing.
Wait, I didn’t mean it that way. What I meant was: for whatever reason, Priceline likes to change things up. You might see their booking fees change slightly each time you look at the same deal. The resort results they present to you for a given set of dates will sometimes change every time you refresh.
In particular, when looking at the Value resort deals at the top of this post, I didn’t realize at first that they covered virtually all of August. The first time I searched any of the earlier dates, the Value deals weren’t there – but when I simply refreshed the page, they would magically appear.
TIP: Try Sliding Your Date Window Around
When I’m searching to see if there are any new deals released, I tend to search one day at a time to get a quick sample of dates. When I see deals appear, then I’ll use various techniques to check to see where they start and stop. I have found that even if you search one day at a time for every day in a period, Priceline may not show you all the room inventory available. Crazy, but true.
For example, If you search one day at a time for check-in dates January 1 to 13, you’ll likely see All-Star Sports Express Deals only for the January 4 through 9, followed by one solo day on January 13.
If you then try searching for various groups of multiple days within that time frame, you’ll see Sports deals for some of those missing days. I have yet to find a rhyme or reason to it, so you may have to shift the window around to see what you get. In this particular example, when I tried January 9 to the 13 together in a multi-day search it returns Sports deals for *all* of those nights with an average rate of $61. That’s three more days available that weren’t there on single-day searches!
To reinforce my warning that there doesn’t seem to be a pattern to search results: Oddly enough if I extend that search window even one more day to check out on January 14, Sports disappears from the results. However, if I then search January 13 on its own, Sports once again appears. Good times.
I hope these Value resort deals come in handy for you–and these tips provide a little more control over what Priceline offers to you.
Have you taken advantage of any of the amazing Priceline Express deals? Let us know in the comments.
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for some reason I cannot get Hotel Canary to run on my desktop. Looking for deals June 1st-3rd. HELP!
Hi Brandon,
When you find and click on a deal in Priceline search results, a new browser tab will open with the Express Deal’s details. I think the issue that arises most often when people have issues with Hotel Canary is that it does NOT work on this initial Express Deal detail page. (It used to, but Priceline made some changes a few months ago.)
You need to click the “Book” button on the deal page and yet another new tab will open. Go to that new browser tab with the booking page and then click the Hotel Canary icon in the Google Chrome toolbar. It should open a popup window that will take a few moments to work, then offer resort suggestions.
If that technique doesn’t get it working for you, can you tell me what is happening?
Just a quick follow-up to my earlier post: I did another search tonight for January 21-26, and this time I saw a good rate for what Hotel Canary identified as All Star Sports. Using a coupon code from BetterBidding, I was able to get those five nights for $432.25, all taxes and fees included. Now this is not as good as the rate seen in the January calendar above. However, it struck me as still pretty good generally and I took it.
Thanks for all the tips on Priceline Express rate trends and Hotel Canary. They helped me out a lot.
Hi Mark, Thanks for the report! Lately I’ve really noticed that just the rate Priceline Express returns can vary a fair amount with just one day’s difference in start and end dates. While not the cheapest we’ve seen, that rate you booked for your week looks pretty nice to me!
Hope your trip is awesome.
When booking with prince line, do you need 2 rooms for 5 family (2 adults, 10 years old, 7, 5)?
I’m not sure I can give you an authoritative answer on that one. Just yesterday I saw someone respond to that question on Touring Plans chat that they have been successful with a family of 5, but had to deal with the hotel directly. (I’m not sure if they meant the Wholesale people or “regular” cast member support.)
Obviously there are some rooms at resorts with capacity for 5. While the Priceline policy only guarantees room for 2, when it comes to booking Disney resorts I feel comfortable with being able to get a room for my family of 4. Even though I think Disney has been expanding their inventory of rooms that can sleep 5, I’m not sure I personally would want to roll the dice on being able to insure I’d get one of those.
So, TL;DR: It is surely possible to get a room for 5 at a Disney resort and some people have reported success. But I’m not sure how much of that particular inventory is on Priceline Express, (or if it even is a particular block of rooms they are selling.) That’s a lot of variables for me to be comfortable trying it.
One extra idea: Last year in the July to September time frame, there was some Art of Animation suite inventory on Express Deals. The AoA suite deals (pun intended) were in the $158 to $226 price range.
I also happened to see an AoA suite appear yesterday for a single day in January at a rate of $226. So, might be worth watching out for them!
Just a heads up….
All of the All Star Resorts can only sleep four people in a standard room. Disney will not allow more than four unless you get a “family suite” at All Star Music resort.
Thanks! I should have made that point more clearly: You sure need to book a room category that actually has the chance of sleeping 5!
Thanks for this excellent post! I have an upcoming trip February 2-9 and employed you suggestion of looking at a split stay. I had discovered I could find excellent rates for February 2-7, but beginning on the 7th the rates shoot through the roof and availability is low because of a cheerleading competition. Ultimately, for Feb 2-7 I was able to find rooms through Priceline Express Deals for $58/night at All Star Sports and $78/night at Coronado. Both are excellent deals, but I opted for Coronado. Based on a search last night, both of these rates had disappeared.
Thanks Disneyguy! These deals over the last couple of weeks seem to be coming and going within a few days, which I think can be frustrating for people trying to get comfortable with the Priceline Express process.
Yesterday, the later summer Value deals at least started disappearing – only to be replaced by some Port Orleans – Riverside and a sprinkling of Values. Someone I chatted with said they booked Animal Kingdom Lodge in the fall, but I haven’t checked how extensive that might be myself.
By the end of the day, I noticed in January that Animal Kingdom Lodge showed up with mid $100s prices for the first few weeks, with some $244 Wilderness Lodge rooms, as well as some very random single day Beach Club rooms for $178 in February.
So, definitely worth checking often – I hope you find some good deals!
For whatever reason, Priceline’s deals do seem to be very fluid lately. The deals from November and December sat out there for several weeks, but that release of rooms I saw last week was gone in a flash.
Think it is a matter of keeping at it and acting quickly when you see something enticing. Good luck!
I was able to see the All Star Sports rate for January 21-24, but could not get it to appear for the 25th or the 26th. Possibly the dates closer to the following weekend have already booked up. I was hoping to re-book that entire time period as a replacement for a higher-priced booking that I made a while ago on “regular” Priceline. Maybe I’ll check again later.