Hi Angela!
Welcome BACK to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! We absolutely love talking all things Disney with our longtime friends. Thank YOU so much for your years of questions!
While I don't have the proper Magic Mirror to see upcoming
special offers, promotions or deals that aren't currently published, you can go ahead and reserve a rooms-only reservation at your desired resort hotel for your dates in question. This way should a special discount become available you may call the Disney Resort Hotel Reservations Line to turn the initial reservation into a package or promotion. Their phone number is (407) 939-1936.
A lot of guests prefer to book their Walt Disney World Resort vacations 10 (or more!) months in advance of their trip. I'm kind of known as the last-minute mom, having planned four Walt Disney World visits in under three months, with one being 24 hours notice! A trick I use to find room rates that fit into my budget is to play with all of my potential vacation dates in the
Disney Resort Hotel reservation screen. If I initially checked the rates for a Sunday through Saturday stay, I'll search again for a stay of Saturday through Friday or Monday through Sunday, and will pick the option that works best.
When my schedule doesn't have that much flexibility, I'll look into what's known as a Split-Stay. I'll again play with my dates in the reservation screen, but this time I'll break up my total number of vacation nights into multiple bookings. A five-night vacation might end up as two nights in a Moderate Resort Hotel and three nights in a Deluxe, but it sure beats zero Disney nights! Bonus: You can even have your luggage transferred between your old resort hotel and the new one while you're off playing the day away.
I hope this helped, Angela!
~Kristen