Priceline Express Deals

[dlavender]

What terms led you to the Swan?

 

[earfulofmagic]

Wow. That's a great deal. We've been pricing out weekends from now until christmas eve and on site is beyond insane. Thanks for the heads up!

Definitely keep an eye on the Swolphin! Even booking through SPG, they frequently have somewhat last minute or "off night" rates of $140-170 before fees, which still beats other Epcot resort rates. I just didn't think prices would drop significantly for our dates because they had recently increased, otherwise I would've held out a bit longer.

What terms led you to the Swan?

Honestly, I prefer the Swan. I love their pools, interior, beds, the restaurants, gym, and the feel of the resort. If they had Magicband charging/room key, I'd probably pick Swan every time. As much as I like the new rooms at YC (they're wonderful), I thought our AP rate wasn't a good deal for just one night ($340 w/taxes), and imo the amenities are better at Swolphin.

We added to the front of our stay, so we booked 2 nights Pop and 1 night YC originally. Since we were mainly adding to catch the tail end of F&W, I've been looking for a switch to Swan to have more time in the Epcot resort area. (Another $300+ at YC, BC or BWI seemed nuts.) Financially and location-wise, I'm super happy to do 1 night Pop and 2 nights Swan Swan's sold out for the first night, but will try to see if I can get Dolphin on PL

ETA: misunderstood what you meant by terms, lolol. see below.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

What terms led you to the Swan?

I'd like to know this too - did you do it on Priceline? On PL I'm always afraid of accidently getting something like one of the Hiltons. How were you sure it was the Swan?

 

[earfulofmagic]

I'd like to know this too - did you do it on Priceline? On PL I'm always afraid of accidently getting something like one of the Hiltons. How were you sure it was the Swan?

OMG. I totally misunderstood that when @dlavender asked! I thought they meant "terms" as in reasons why I chose to switch to Swan, not the details that let me ID the resort. lmao, sorry, seems obvious now.

Anyway, terms. Did priceline express. Narrowed to Walt Disney World - Bonnet Creek. It's listed as 4.5* and here are the amenities that were shown:

Business Center
Restaurant
Free Internet
Indoor or Outdoor Pool
Fitness Center
No Smoking Rooms/Facilities​

Also, the resort fee for two nights was $63, sooo $31.50 per night... I was pretty certain that was Swan. I didn't think it would be Dolphin because I assumed Dolphin would be 4*, but would've been fine getting Dolphin.

 

[momto4obkids]

OMG. I totally misunderstood that when @dlavender asked! I thought they meant "terms" as in reasons why I chose to switch to Swan, not the details that let me ID the resort. lmao, sorry, seems obvious now.

Anyway, terms. Did priceline express. Narrowed to Walt Disney World - Bonnet Creek. It's listed as 4.5* and here are the amenities that were shown:

Business Center
Restaurant
Free Internet
Indoor or Outdoor Pool
Fitness Center
No Smoking Rooms/Facilities​

Also, the resort fee for two nights was $63, sooo $31.50 per night... I was pretty certain that was Swan. I didn't think it would be Dolphin because I assumed Dolphin would be 4*, but would've been fine getting Dolphin.

Your right the Dolphin will be 4 star with a 7+ rating and the Swan comes up as a 4.5 star with a 8+ rating.

For anyone worried about getting something other than the Swan and Dolphin the resort fees are different. For the other hotels the fees are $25 per night and Swan/Dolphin is $31.50.

I got 2 rooms at the Dolphin for $86 a night on Thanksgiving Day and the Friday after. We needed a third room a few days later once our family decided what their plans were and ended up getting the Swan for $95!

Now when I look at dates it says below the "secret" hotel, "you booked here before, book again" So I know for sure when its the Swan or Dolphin, lol. Not much of a secret anymore!

 

[earfulofmagic]

For anyone worried about getting something other than the Swan and Dolphin the resort fees are different. For the other hotels the fees are $25 per night and Swan/Dolphin is $31.50.

Yep! Although I would urge people to be careful in reviewing (as always w opaque booking), because not all Priceline Express deals will show the resort fee if there is one. I learned this with the Waldorf Astoria's resort fee For now they do show it w/Swolphin, and I think they always have done so. Just be aware it can change!

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Your right the Dolphin will be 4 star with a 7+ rating and the Swan comes up as a 4.5 star with a 8+ rating.

For anyone worried about getting something other than the Swan and Dolphin the resort fees are different. For the other hotels the fees are $25 per night and Swan/Dolphin is $31.50.

I got 2 rooms at the Dolphin for $86 a night on Thanksgiving Day and the Friday after. We needed a third room a few days later once our family decided what their plans were and ended up getting the Swan for $95!

Now when I look at dates it says below the "secret" hotel, "you booked here before, book again" So I know for sure when its the Swan or Dolphin, lol. Not much of a secret anymore!

Awesome, thanks for the tip!

 

[CarrieR]

Has anyone scored one of these lately? If so, how far out did you book? Looking to pop down for a quick weekend in late Jan/early Feb and having zero luck. Not sure if I'm too early or the jig has dried up...

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Has anyone scored one of these lately? If so, how far out did you book? Looking to pop down for a quick weekend in late Jan/early Feb and having zero luck. Not sure if I'm too early or the jig has dried up...

There were some great deals back in September, and they haven't really shown up since. However, the deals really show up a couple weeks out, so you're probably looking too far in advance. Everyone was saying how October-December was way busier than in previous years and the Disney hotels were booked solid, so they probably didn't have any rooms to put on PL/HW. That's a good time of the year to go so don't lose hope!

 

[CarrieR]

Thanks. I ended up going a different route but will probably look for this time period out of academic curiosity!

 

[Louie7080]

I have done a little looking into opaque deals on HW and PL. Coming up with nothing for my spring break trip except for Port Orleans Riverside for about the same price as Disney has on HW. The deal was listed as a Hot deal but when you clicked on it, the site said the last person got POR - not all that opaque. Very dissapointing. I had gotten my hopes up reading about the good deals people got through opaque deals as well as others last year. I also looked into June and didn't find anything that looked like a good deal then either.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I have done a little looking into opaque deals on HW and PL. Coming up with nothing for my spring break trip except for Port Orleans Riverside for about the same price as Disney has on HW. The deal was listed as a Hot deal but when you clicked on it, the site said the last person got POR - not all that opaque. Very dissapointing. I had gotten my hopes up reading about the good deals people got through opaque deals as well as others last year. I also looked into June and didn't find anything that looked like a good deal then either.

You’re pretty far out. My pofq for $82 was only about 8 days in advance.

 

[earfulofmagic]

Agreed w/ @disneymagicgirl -- you are too far out, *and* spring break/June are not exactly slow seasons, so there's less need to sell empty hotel rooms.

 

[Louie7080]

Agreed w/ @disneymagicgirl -- you are too far out, *and* spring break/June are not exactly slow seasons, so there's less need to sell empty hotel rooms.

ok though I thought there reports of people finding the deals for Thanksgiving and Christmas time at months in advance. I will keep looking. My husband says deals will be harder to find because of the upswing in the economy. Thanks for the feedback to both of you!

 

[Louie7080]

Looks like the Swan is on Priceline Express for about 202 to 212 (base rate/excluding taxes and resort fees) for various nights from March 16th to the 22nd. Not a huge discount though not too bad? I think the Dolphin is listed too for some of those dates but at aroun 30 more a night.

edit to add: one of the searches I did was for the 18th to the 22nd and saw what I'm sure is the Swan for 212 a night but when i changed it to the 19th to the 22nd it wasn't listed there so I went back to the 18th to the 22nd and it reappeared. I thought that was interesting.

 

[Christine]

Looks like the Swan is on Priceline Express for about 202 to 212 (base rate/excluding taxes and resort fees) for various nights from March 16th to the 22nd. Not a huge discount though not too bad? I think the Dolphin is listed too for some of those dates but at aroun 30 more a night.

edit to add: one of the searches I did was for the 18th to the 22nd and saw what I'm sure is the Swan for 212 a night but when i changed it to the 19th to the 22nd it wasn't listed there so I went back to the 18th to the 22nd and it reappeared. I thought that was interesting.

I've been watching things daily. I think I've seen the Swan a few times for a trip I'm organizing for my son in May (10th-15th). However, in reading this thread, I think we may be too far out?

 

[Louie7080]

I've been watching things daily. I think I've seen the Swan a few times for a trip I'm organizing for my son in May (10th-15th). However, in reading this thread, I think we may be too far out?

Yes, probably. I think people were getting Disney hotels or the Swan/dolphin farther out before, but it seems that occupancy is going up this year and so deals are harder to come by.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

I haven't seen anything good yet this year! So frustrating. It seems like when I'm not going I see deals galore.

 

[Louie7080]

I haven't seen anything good yet this year! So frustrating. It seems like when I'm not going I see deals galore.

Me too, for 2017 when I went to Disneyland instead, I was hearing/reading about many deap discounts for WDW but there doesn't seem to be as good discounts for this year when I plan on going a few times.

 

[Louie7080]

So confused - there is a priceline express deal of 119 for mid -June for a 4 star bonnet creek hotel that lists 94.50 in mandatory fees but includes that pets ARE allowed among the amenties. I thought it would be the Dolphin because of the additional fees listed but they don't allow dogs, right? That is what I saw when did a google search. The better bidding folks thought the hotel was the Wydham at Bonnet Creek but then wouldn't the fees add up to 75.00 since their nightly fee is 25.00?

edit to add my search was for 3 nights