Most Affordable Times of the Year to Stay at a Walt Disney World Resort

It’s cheaper to book a “room-only” reservation at a Walt Disney World Resort than it is to buy a vacation package that includes the room and park tickets. It may be a bit more work, but it pays off in the end. Not only that, but there are certain times of the year when seasonal room rates are lower. It pays to know the best times of the year to visit a Disney World resort.

Fewer Choices When You Fly StandBy

Pre-teens enjoy Lost City of Cibola Pool, an archeological-themed dig site with the pool slide. Photo credit: Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort

In order to use our standby flight benefits, we try to plan all our major vacations during the times when others aren’t flying. It just makes sense that our chances of finding available seats on a flight increase during the least busy travel periods. This often coordinates well with Disney’s off-season, when resort room-only prices are lower and lines are shorter.

At Walt Disney World, the year is divided into the following “seasons”: Value Season, Fall Season, Regular Season, Summer Season, Peak Season and Holiday Season.

Your goal is to plan your vacations around Value Season – the least expensive and least crowded time to visit. The next best time to go is in the Fall. Not only will the weather be cooler, but you’ll also find the park decorated for the Holidays, Halloween through Christmas.

Best Walt Disney World Resort Room Rates

Illustration credit: Chris Bird, Standby TravelingMom; Source: MouseSavers.com

Use the calendar to the right for the best times to visit Walt Disney World for the lowest Disney resort room rates. As always, weekend rates will be higher than weekdays. And, if your stay begins during a value season but ends during a regular season or vice versa, the room rate will change accordingly.

The dates shown on the calendar are based on calendar year 2015, but can be assumed accurate for future years as well with slight day-of-the-week adjustments.

Value Season

January through February begins the Value Season for all Disney Resorts. The dates are the same for Value, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts.

Deluxe Resorts have additional Value Season Rates from August 16 – September 24.

Value 2 Season

Value 2 season dates begin July 12 and extend through August 15 for Deluxe Resorts, while Value 2 rates for Value and Moderate Resorts start August 16 and end September 10.

Fall Season

The Fall Season rates kick-in September 11 for Value and Moderate Resorts and go through December 10. Fall begins more than a month later for Deluxe Resorts on October 18 and then follows the same schedule as Value and Moderate Resorts, with an additional three days in November: Nov. 21-23

Below are examples of room rates from Disney’s three categories of resorts: Value, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts. Price comparisons are between a standard and preferred room for the Pop Century and Coronado Springs Resort, and standard view and standard view – Club Level for the Yacht Club. Club Level is only available at Deluxe Resorts. Standard view rooms at a Deluxe Resort overlook a parking lot. Upgrading your view to a Garden or Pool View will increase the rate, but for the purposes of this post, we have included only the Standard View for comparison. Note that the first price listed is for weekdays (Sun-Thurs) and the second price for weekends (Fri-Sat).

Value Resorts – Pop Century Resort

Of the four Value Resorts at Disney World, Pop Century Resort offers the best bang for your buck. Besides being the newest of the value resorts with newer décor than the All-Star Resorts, Pop Century also has its own bus service to/from the parks. Not having to make stops along the way like the All-Star Resorts (which all share one bus service) is worth it in itself.

Read what Karen Heffren, Desert TravelingMom had to say about Pop Century Resort at Walt Disney World.

Moderate Resorts – Coronado Springs Resort

Coronado Springs is the newest among the moderate-priced resorts, which also includes Caribbean Beach, Port Orleans – French Quarter and Port Orleans – Riverside. It is also a convention hotel, which means it offers additional amenities the other Moderates don’t have. This includes a salon, health club, limited-menu room service and a nicer food court.

See what Leslie Harvey, Frequent Flyer TravelingMom says works for families at Coronado Springs Resort and what doesn’t in her review.

Deluxe Resorts – The Yacht Club

The Yacht Club is in the middle of the pack when it comes to price of Deluxe Resorts. We love the nautical décor of the Yacht Club as much as we love the pirate ship water slide and pool area! Walk to Epcot in less than 15 minutes or the adjoining Beach Club Resort for a character dining experience at Cape May Café without having to go to the parks.

Here I give an inside look at the Yacht Club from our stay there two years ago.

Additional Discounts

There are always discounts available in addition to the already lower off-season room rates if you know where to look. The first place I always consult is MouseSavers.com, which is regularly updated with the latest discount codes and offerings from around the web. Another option to save is to rent Disney Vacation Club points. Traveling Mom recommends  Undercover Tourist for discount Disney World tickets.