Book a Cheap Disney Hotel with a Third Party

Taking a Disney Vacation can get expensive! But, with careful planning and a Realistic Disney Budget you can consistently save money on a Disney Vacation. How? Well, one of our best tips is to use a third-party site hotel site. Not only can you find Cheap Hotels Near Walt Disney World at a discount, but you can also find Disney Resort Deals on Hotels.com. In fact, we’ve even found club-level Disney Rooms on third party sites.  Here is everything you need to know about how to book a Disney Hotel at a Discount with a third party. One of our favorite ways to save money when traveling!

Did you know you can book a Disney Hotel on Hotels.com, Priceline.com and Expedia to get Disney Hotel Deals you can’t get anywhere else? You can even use this information to help you on other third-party sites like Hotwire and Orbitz as well! We love Hotels.com because you can earn FREE nights that can be used at Walt Disney World. Much like staying at a Marriott Bonvoy Hotel at Disney World, when you use third party services, you can earn nights with your loyalty programs that you can both EARN and REDEEM at Disneyland, Disney World and most Disney Parks.

How to Get Cheap Disney Hotel deals with a Third Party

You may be thinking, Why book through a third party? Disney is so great, and you could just wait for special offers, right? Sure! For us, we tend to look for deals. But, we also like cheaper… and knowing that we just got a room at the Disney Dolphin Hotel for half of what everyone else paid. Here’s why you should consider checking hotels.com and other third party providers first. 

• Discounts are already on the third-party site, no code is needed, no special offer is required.
• You can get them all year long!
• You can get rooms that may no longer be available on the Disney website. ( This is especially true during Disney discount periods when all the resorts are booked)
• You earn points and rewards on the site you book through. 
• You can still get Disney Perks! Just attach your booking to your My Disney Experience Account after you book. 

Do you still get Disney Perks if you Don’t Book through Disney?

Yes! Unlike booking some other brands of hotels, you don’t lose any of the benefits of booking a Disney hotel through a third party. You still get your Disney Resort perks, including free parking at Disney theme parks, 30 minute Early Theme Park Entry, and 60 days advanced dining reservations. You don’t need to book directly with Disney to get a Disney Hotel at a Discount.

After booking, you will be given a number to Disney technical support who will transfer your reservation to My Disney Experience and you can manage it from there as you normally would! Even Magic Band color customization is available once your booking is connected for your pre-arrival magicband order. Super easy!

How can you book a Disney hotel on Hotels.com and Priceline?

It’s important to shop around to always get the lowest price, but we typically like hotels.com best. We also love finding Disney Hotels on Priceline, because they can be cheaper than you would think. Just type Walt Disney World, or Disneyland, or the specific Disney resort name, like Art of Animation in the search bar to see what’s available for your selected dates. 

You may be wondering how these sites can offer the hotel rooms cheaper than Disney themselves. Well, third-party sites basically work like travel agents. They get a commission for each sale of a hotel/resort they sell. In most cases, they are also free to use. Most of the time, you can snag a great deal on a hotel because that hotel needs to sell some rooms, so they offer them through a third-party site at a discounted rate. In the case of Disney, sometimes you can find some very discounted rates when they are below a certain capacity. And it doesn’t matter if you’re searching for discounted Walt Disney World hotels, Disneyland hotels, Disneyland Paris hotels, and even Tokyo Disneyland hotels. you can find them all on third-party sites and usually for much cheaper than adding them to a Disney resort package.  

How Can you Get a Cheap Disney Hotel?

When booking on a third party site like hotels.com and priceline.com, Honestly, it varies! By getting a Disney Hotel at a Discount you can save as much as a hundred dollars or as little as two or three dollars.  It really depends on when you’re looking to go, when you book, and what resort you are trying to book. To be completely transparent here, here are a few examples of savings we’ve gotten using hotels.com. As you can see, the prices are all over the place. And these prices change all the time. As always be sure to check Disney’s website as well, since certain promotions and special offers may actually be cheaper on the Disney Website than the third party. Here are some examples of the price differences we’ve found. 

• Animal Kingdom Lodge: $225 per night for a standard view room vs. $296 for the same room category on Walt Disney World’s website 
• Coronado Springs Resorts: $163 per night for a standard view room vs. $225 for the same room category on Walt Disney World’s website
• Disneyland Hotel: $340 per night vs. $494 for the same room category on Disneyland’s website
• Grand Floridian Resort and Spa: $540 per night vs. $780 for the same room category on Walt Disney World’s website

Cheap Hotels Close to Disneyland

If you’re looking for cheap hotels near Disneyland park, you’d be surprised at how many there are. As always it’s all about location. the further away you are from the parks, the cheaper the hotels get. However, we’ve stayed at quite a few Cheap Hotels Near Disneyland that were within walking distance. Castle Inn and Suites, the Anaheim Hotel and Tropicana Inn are all good options to check for Disneyland Hotel deals. 

Disney World Hotel Deals

Walt Disney World has more than 25 resorts on property and some that are within walking distance of the parks. The cheapest Disney World hotels on property are at the Value Resorts. If you’re looking for Cheap hotels near Disney World, Orlando is filled with them. Check out the post for a list of hotels to search on hotels.com and priceline.com for your best options. We most like getting deals on the Disney Swan and Dolphin, which are within walking distance of both EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. As well as the nearby Holiday Inn locations, as they are cheap and often include free breakfast! 

Do you Really Save Money by Booking Disney Resorts with a Third Party?

Yes! At least we have in the past. Sometimes, hundreds of dollars. Much like Renting DVC points for your Disney Hotel, or Renting an RV for Fort Wilderness at Disney World, you can sometimes save hundreds. On top of booking through a third party, like hotels.com, we also use Rakuten Ebates, Capital One Shopping Rewards, and other discount sites. Ebates allows you to earn money back on purchases you’d already be making. When you book on hotels.com(or other third-party websites), by booking through Ebates you can earn anywhere from 2%-10% back on your booking.  How can you go wrong with getting money back from booking a Disney hotel?!

Can you Earn Free Nights at a Disney Hotel?

Sometimes! Both Marriott and Hotels.com have a rewards program that grants you a free night for a number of nights stayed. And that means staying anywhere, so one vacation can help you earn free nights on another. The value of the free night is determined by your average of nights already stayed so sometimes it won’t actually be “free” but rather a large discount that is applied to your booking. These free nights can be redeemed when you book any hotel, even Disney Hotels. It’s a great program if you travel a lot, and occasionally they will run sales that will allow you to earn free nights faster. 

Not Booking Through Disney Means…

While we do LOVE hotels.com and the fact we save money and earn free nights towards future stays, there are some cons to consider when you don’t book direct with Disney. Because there are a few things you can’t do with a third-party reservation. You can’t add a Dining Package, or access Lightning Lane at the earliest times. These add-ons are reserved for reservations on the Disney website only. You also can’t add on Park Tickets directly or get the multi-day park ticket discounts you would if you booked through Disney’s website alone. And since many of the sites are given only certain rooms to offer at a discount, don’t plan on finding a princess room or pirate room in the room options on these sites. For us, none of this is big enough of an issue to deter us from saving money. So this info is just here for you to be aware of the limitations. 

Hopefully, this post has helped you get a handle on your options for your next trip to Disney. We always love sharing when we can save money and hope it helps you as well!