Hi Barbara!
Welcome to planDisney! I love a good deal or discount, so why pay full price if you don’t have to? The place to check is always the
Disney Special Offers Page, and this should always be your first place to go before you book.
Barbara, I would start by
booking something for October if you haven’t already if you know that is when you want to travel. With more Americans feeling comfortable traveling, many Disney Resort Collection Hotels are already quite full this fall, and so it is possible that a Special Offer may not be offered for the dates you wish to travel. If a Special Offer is offered for your dates,
and there is availability at a resort you want, you can call Disney to cancel and rebook with the new deal. Otherwise, you run the risk of not finding availability at all. I would also keep an eye on the
Theme Park Availability Calendar, as the newly required
Disney Park Pass Reservations are booking well in advance. You don't want to wait until the fall to book your Park Pass Reservations, or you run the risk of not being able to get into the parks.
If your dates are not set in stone, and you can be flexible and prefer to wait for a Special Offer to be announced, you should check periodically over the next month or so. There is no set schedule of when Special Offers are released, and so there is no way to tell you exactly when to check. Before the days of the pandemic, in 2019, Special Offers for Florida Residents were released at the end of July, and in 2018 they were released at the end of June.
I would leave a browser page open on your computer to the
Disney Special Offers Page and simply hit refresh daily to look for any updates. This would be the simplest way to do it yourself. If you are on social media such as Facebook, you can follow some Disney fan-based pages, as they will often post when a new Special Offer is announced. Another option is to use an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner to book your trip. They can book you now, and then can rebook you if there is availability for a Special Offer. Authorized Disney Vacation Planners are often notified by Disney a few hours before a Special Offer is released so they are ready to assist their clients. I use a website called MouseMisers that offers an email list where you can ask to be notified when a new Special Offer is announced. While this isn’t 100% guaranteed, it is another option for you.
I hope one of these methods works for you, Barbara. Sending you pixie dust for the perfect Special Offer!
- Kate