Disney Hotel Price Check: Do Prices Drop After Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving week had large price increases for Disney hotels and tickets but how about the week after? Do the prices crash back down, or do they stay a similar way?

Let’s start with the easiest category, the value category. The cheapest options are almost always the same, and the highest is always the same with the Art of Animation. The All-Star Resorts are the cheapest and don’t have too large of a variance from week to week. The average per night is $206, where the prices were at $213, which is about a 4.23% decrease in price. With $184 being the week before Thanksgiving, it is clear the prices haven’t dropped as much as they should. 

Pop Century is sold out this week and this will be a recurring theme. Several hotels are blocked out within every category. 

One of the most mind-blowing prices are the rooms from the Art of Animation which only have the family suites available they are charging $684 a night for this week. A DELUXE studio at a DELUXE hotel at a DVC resort, which holds four people, and a small child, is going for $611 a night. It is crazy to me that Art of Animation is 10% more than a deluxe resort. 

Moving on to the moderates. 

Coronado Springs is the most expensive per night even with a room only holding 2 people for a cost of $419 a night. The average cost over Thanksgiving was $398 per night. A 5% increase between the two weeks. The week before Thanksgiving was $330 a night and is the cheapest. A 21.24% climb over 3 weeks. 

The cheapest moderate is Port Orleans Riverside at an average of $344 a night. 17.9% less than Coronado this week. During Thanksgiving week, it was $361 and $339 the week before. Only a 4.71% increase for Thanksgiving and it is almost back to normal pricing.

Caribbean Beach is the only other moderate available for this week averaging a nightly rate of $384. Down 3.52% from Thanksgiving, where it was $398 per night. The week before Thanksgiving it was $344 a night. Prices are still up. 

Port Orleans Riverside seems to be the best deal. Here is the pricing for all moderate hotels. 

DVC is the one where most of the resorts are booked out. Almost half of them are not available and the cheapest one is Saratoga Springs averaging $567 a night. Down only a small amount from averaging $572 a night over Thanksgiving. This resort didn’t increase much as $543 was the lowest, and $572 was the highest at only a 5% rise. 

Riviera is typically the most expensive with deluxe studios and almost every room to be honest but for Thanksgiving week and this week, the only availability is one-bedroom villas. The nightly average 12/1-12/7 is $1294 up from the Thanksgiving rate of $1135 which is a 12% increase. 

The most expensive Deluxe studio option for a standard view is Boardwalk Villas at an average of $768 a night. And once again, Thanksgiving week is less expensive at $763 a night. The week before Thanksgiving is $703 per night. 

Just to see how consistent this is, we have Old Key West which is routinely one of the cheaper options, and it is averaging $575 the week after Thanksgiving and $569 for Thanksgiving week. 

The only one left is the Kidani studio which I alluded to with being cheaper than Art of Animation at $611 a night. The week before is $576 a 5.7% increase. 

Saratoga Springs is the only one cheaper 12/1-12/8 than Thanksgiving showing a HUGE decrease of 0.8%. Best value I would say. 

Polynesian, Grand Flo, Boulder Ridge, Copper Creek, Beach Club, and Bay Lake Tower are all unavailable. 

Moving on to the deluxe category, we will start with the Polynesian and Yacht Club… no rooms in the inn. 

AK Lodge as usual being the cheapest one averaging $611 per night and once again it is a 5.7% increase just like the DVC portion sporting an average of $576 Thanksgiving week. 

Beach Club has similar pricing $775 average per night and $747 Thanksgiving week. 3.6% increase from Thanksgiving. 

 Grand Floridian has the first decrease from Thanksgiving $952 to $951. Woo.

Contemporary Garden Wing as well from $776 per night for Thanksgiving week drops to $740 an actual drop of 4.8%. 

Very interesting to see the way these different categories fluctuate their rates. If you would like a weekly report on every hotel price for a given week sign up for my weekly newsletter. 

The variable pricing at Disney World can sneak up on you if you are not prepared. If you go and purchase tickets at the window you could be getting a lot of wasted money so please do your research. 

Also shop around different hotels and different weeks for prices that fit your vacation budget. Oh and also have fun.