How to Find Disney World Hotel Deals on Hotwire & Priceline

For years I have known that Disney World hotels sometimes show up as “mystery” hotels on discount travel sites Hotwire and Priceline, but I never put any effort into finding them.

Well in the past I have used these sites MANY times to get cheap Disney World hotel rooms and have even stayed at a Disney resort for $48/night.

In this post, I’ll show you how to find Disney hotels in disguise on these sites and suggestions for saving even more with a promo code.

You can even link these reservations to My Disney Experience and get all of your Disney benefits.

If you’ve never used Hotwire or Priceline before, here’s the gist.

When you book one of their “Hot Rate” or “Express Deal” hotels, the name of the hotel isn’t revealed until after you pay. You’ll know it’s amenities, area, and ratings, but not the hotel.

Here are two important things to know about using these sites to find Disney World hotels:

• Your reservation is non-refundable, so you won’t be able to make any changes to after you book.
• You can usually only find Disney hotels up to 30 days in advance (however occasionally they show up as far as six months in advance). 
• You can’t add a Disney Dining Plan to these reservations since they are booked through a third party.

If you want help booking a Disney World package or guaranteed room, head here to get in touch with my travel agent partner Siera with Destinations in Florida. She can help you find the best price for your trip all at no cost to you!

Now here are all of my Hotwire Disney World tips and tricks to help you save money on your Disney vacation!

How To Find Secret Disney World Hotels on Hotwire

To find Disney hotels on Hotwire, first do a search within Orlando for your dates.

To narrow your results to hotels that could be Disney hotels, limit the area to Walt Disney World – Bonnet Creek. 

Here is another key piece of information:  Disney Value Resort will show up as 3-star hotels, Moderates as 3.5-stars, and Deluxe as 4-stars.

You can sometimes even figure out which resort you are booking by the bed choice (if you are familiar with the offerings at the resort), location, or even guest reviews.

Here is a 3-star mystery hotel in Bonnet Creek with an airport shuttle, so we know this is a Disney Value Resort (learn what to expect at the Disney Value Resorts in this post).

Hotwire now uses Expedia ratings on their site, which means you can use this as a clue to find out exactly what resort you are booking. 

Immediately after you book the hotel the name will be revealed to you. Turns out it was what I expected – Disney All Star Sports!

A Disney hotel for $48/night is the absolute lowest price you’ll get for stays on Disney property.

That is, unless you have a promo code to get an even lower price on Hotwire. 😉

Read on to learn more…

Disney Hotwire Strategy

Using the clues provided on the Hotwire site, you can usually figure out exactly what hotel you are booking in advance. For Disney resorts use these clues:

• Room types. For example, if you see a Tower Room you’ll know it is Coronado Springs. A Royal Room is definitely Port Orleans Riverside, etc. 
• The distances to other locations are shown in the desktop version of the site (not on mobile or in the app). You can use the distance to the theme parks to figure out pretty much exactly where the hotel is located. 

If I know that I am going to Disney World and am flexible on where I stay, I try this approach to getting a discount through Hotwire. 

• Book a room-only reservation at a Disney resort with lots of availability (most often the All-Star Resorts and Coronado Springs). These reservations can be cancelled or changed up to five days before check-in. 
• Check Hotwire often for my travel dates to see my resort shows up at a better price. 
• Book part of all of my stay through Hotwire if it becomes available.
• Change or cancel my room-only reservation accordingly. 

If you find your resort on Hotwire for part of your stay, it is okay to split your visit up into two reservations.

As long as you are booked in the exact same room type (e.g. Standard View Room or Preferred Room) Disney will not make you change rooms during your stay.

It is much easier on them and better for guests to stay in the same room. 

How To Save Even More on Hotwire

Often times you can find promo codes that will give you an additional amount off a Hot Rate hotel (usually $10 to $20 off a $100 hotel or 10% off your total).

The best way to get those is to sign up for Hotwire’s email newsletter here.

To get a promo code via email, I suggest lurking on the Hotwire site for a few days and then not visiting it.

Do at least a few days before you want to book. It is almost guaranteed that Hotwire will worry that you aren’t going to book and will send you a promo code discount to entice you to book!

How To Find Disney Hotels on Priceline

The strategy is much the same on Priceline – search within Orlando, then narrow results to the areas Walt Disney World – Disney Springs and Walt Disney World – Bonnet Creek.

Priceline recently made it extremely difficult to find Disney World hotels since they now list hotels with paid airport shuttles as having a shuttle as an amenity. 

Many resorts in the Bonnet Creek area offer a paid airport shuttle (booked through Mears Transportation) so you now can’t use that amenity as a clue. 

Now you’ll have to have very thorough knowledge of the Disney world resorts to actually be able to find one on Priceline. I have been able to book them in the past, though, so here is my experience. 

I was about 95% confident the hotel I was booking was one of the Port Orleans resorts since it matched the result on Hotwire that confirmed Port Orleans Riverside.

I booked it and thankfully I was right! Above is my receipt for two nights at Port Orleans Riverside for $233 total – the rack rate for my room was $272/night, or $544 total, a 57% savings.

I luckily had a 10% off a Express Hotel booking in my inbox because I recently signed up for the Priceline email newsletter. It saved me an additional $20 so I’m glad I saved the email!

Immediately after you book you’ll get a confirmation email from Priceline. In it, you’ll find the Hotel Confirmation Number (circled in red above).

This is the number you enter on the Disney site or app to link your reservation to My Disney Experience.

You’ll by default have two people per room on Priceline. I don’t know if you are able to call them and have more added, so if you have more than 2 people per room I’d call them first.

If you are lucky you may be able to snag a discounted Disney reservation on Hotwire or Priceline, too.

Any questions? Leave a comment below or join the discussion over at The Budget Mouse private Facebook group!