Adding another night, worth it?

[deedeew80]

Hi everyone! We are driving to Disney from NJ. We should arrive in the Disney area in the late evening of Friday Nov 23, the day after Thanksgiving. We don’t check into All Star Music until Saturday the 24th. We need a room for the night. Is it worth adding another night to my already existing reservation or is there somewhere else to stay that is cheaper? If I go on the website and try to modify my reservation will it mess it up? Or should I just call. I think one night is $147, which is a lot just for a few hours of sleep. Not sure what to do.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I’d add the night, be sure to mark ur reservation for a continuing room ( if they can) and relax, get the Disney feel going, grab some desserts and ENJOY!!!
To grab some $89 room somewhere have to check in, then out, then travel and resettle.. not worth it to me.

 

[Upatnoon]

For example, you could stay at the Flamingo Lakes SpringHill suites all-in for around $120. That includes a large, hot breakfast in the morning.

When you combine the food savings and hotel savings, it could be around $50 or more, depending on the size of your group.

 

[deedeew80]

I did notice how a lot of the surrounding hotels hit you with all these other fees which will then up the price. I guess I should call and see if a room is even available to add on.

 

[Magical2017]

If you can add it on, it might be worth it. If there are traffic delays, etc. then you will be tired. Having to pick up and move in the morning might be a pain. They started charging resort guests for parking, though, so consider that. I hope the room is available!

 

[MonorailNate]

I would just add a day. I don’t think you will find a peace significantly cheaper and it’s just not worth the hassle of moving for $20, imo.

 

[Woody412]

Add the day. We found a much cheaper flight if we flew in the night before so I called up and added an extra night with no problem. If you do it on line you end up with 2 separate reservations and you have to hope they’ll keep you in the same room.

 

[bryanb]

I was going to recommend finding a cheaper hotel on the way, but I'm going to agree with those who say to add it on at All-Star Music. It all depends on how much it's worth it to you not to have to pack up and lug your stuff again the next day, and then not have access to your new room until 3:00pm.

I would only do it if you can put it all under the same reservation though. NOthing worse than to go through all that, only to still have to change rooms. I don't think it will mess anything up, but I would call just to make sure.

 

[DJFan88]

Weve driven down from Mass and always arrived the night before, (not the plan, crazy husband, lol )and just grab a room on international drive. We are usually tired, so we just pull our car up to the door, take out only what we need, walk over to a restaurant to grab a meal and go to bed early. We wake up fresh and check in around 730 am ready for a park. Sometimes the room is ready, sometimes get a text.
Usually around Jacksonville I start assessing our options, and when calling Disney and finding out the price of the room vs. off-site, it was at least $100, so this worked fine for what we needed. Granted, we were staying in a mod, but whatever you decide you'll be fine, I would base also on how many hours you were driving from your last sleep too, because for us, we weren't really enjoying wherever we were that night anyway, just let me eat and sleep and get up fresh.
We were pretty close at that point and everyone is fresh and excited when they see the Welcome to Disney sign in the morning.

 

[Bob Dolewhip]

I would try to add another day to your reservation. It’s the most convenient way to do it.
That way you can wake up on Saturday and get to the parks. If you stay elsewhere you will have the added annoyance of being in limbo until your Disney room is ready, somewhere between 3 and 5 pm.
If you do choose to stay one night in a different hotel you can leave your luggage with bell services, but overall it’s a pain in the rear compared to having the room already.

 

[Marionnette]

Hi everyone! We are driving to Disney from NJ. We should arrive in the Disney area in the late evening of Friday Nov 23, the day after Thanksgiving. We don’t check into All Star Music until Saturday the 24th. We need a room for the night. Is it worth adding another night to my already existing reservation or is there somewhere else to stay that is cheaper? If I go on the website and try to modify my reservation will it mess it up? Or should I just call. I think one night is $147, which is a lot just for a few hours of sleep. Not sure what to do.

Well, you're going to have to pay for a hotel somewhere and being a holiday weekend, the rates may not be much better. If you can add on to your current Disney reservation, $147 for the night may not be so bad. You'll wake up in the morning, won't have to pack up and move to AsMu like you would if you stayed elsewhere. You can grab breakfast and hit the parks early. There's also the possibility that your Disney room may not be ready until late afternoon, which means leaving your bags with luggage assistance or in the trunk of your car (in the Florida heat). IMO, time and convenience have a price but only you can determine its value. I would at least attempt to modify the existing reservation. If that fail, make a separate RO reservation and have it linked to your existing reservation as a continuous stay. A cheap, offsite motel would be my last choice.

 

[robinb]

It depends on how much you'll want to pay not to move in the morning. The Clarion Inn LBV is a popular hotel and it's $90 for your night which is $101 all in with free parking and no resort fees. The room at the All Stars is $180 with taxes and parking. Depending on my mood, the $80 would be worth the 45 minutes it would take me to drive to the All Stars (15-20 minutes) and then check in (20-30 minutes).

 

[bumbershoot]

I think one night is $147, which is a lot just for a few hours of sleep.

But it’s not just that. Assuming it’s the same resort same room type and you don’t have to move rooms ( all to request that it’s marked as a continuing stay and also tell them when you get there), you’ve got the night and then you have that room all the way through. Otherwise you’re “homeless” from when you leave the other room until after checkin time. Not *having* to wake up early and get everything out of the room and then move is worth a lot.

 

[deedeew80]

Well I just spoke with Disney. They cannot add on an additional room to my already existing reservation due to me having free dining, which was offered on select dates. Adding that extra night takes me out of free dining. So we will just keep looking for other places to crash for the night. Not having our room available right away is not an issue to us. When we have flown to Disney we arrive pretty early and our room has never been ready. So we just head to the parks! We are happy with that! So we’ll see what else I can find! Thanks everyone for the help!

 

[dreamit]

Last year, I added a room-only reservation for the Friday after Thanksgiving with a package reservation beginning on Saturday. When I checked in they said it would be no problem to keep the same room. Saturday morning I just had to stop at the desk to check out and check in. Also, I'm pretty sure after booking the Friday reservation that I later found a room discount that I applied to the reservation.

 

[DJFan88]

Well I just spoke with Disney. They cannot add on an additional room to my already existing reservation due to me having free dining, which was offered on select dates. Adding that extra night takes me out of free dining. So we will just keep looking for other places to crash for the night. Not having our room available right away is not an issue to us. When we have flown to Disney we arrive pretty early and our room has never been ready. So we just head to the parks! We are happy with that! So we’ll see what else I can find! Thanks everyone for the help!

Of course you'll be fine! And honestly, leaving your bags in the trunk is nbd. If you stay somewhere a little nicer than we do, like the Clarion someone above mentioned, your family may even enjoy being able to check out a different hotel. Honestly of about 7 or 8 rides down, I can only remember 1 or 2 where are room wasn't ready, and it wasn't the ones where we checked in at 730, it was more like the 1030s.

 

[robinb]

Well I just spoke with Disney. They cannot add on an additional room to my already existing reservation due to me having free dining, which was offered on select dates. Adding that extra night takes me out of free dining. So we will just keep looking for other places to crash for the night. Not having our room available right away is not an issue to us. When we have flown to Disney we arrive pretty early and our room has never been ready. So we just head to the parks! We are happy with that! So we’ll see what else I can find! Thanks everyone for the help!

You can add a night room-only if you really want to be on Disney property.

 

[deedeew80]

Yes, they did say I can I can add a room only. So I may do that. If I find a discount that would be even better!!! Thanks!

 

[robinb]

Yes, they did say I can I can add a room only. So I may do that. If I find a discount that would be even better!!! Thanks!

It looks pretty busy. I would grab the room only now and work on getting a possible discount. I believe that you can cancel up to 5 days in advance for a room only reservation instead of 45 days for a package so there is no reason not to grab it except that Disney will sit on $160 of your money while you decide.

 

[Sue M]

This is what I’ve done when I decided to arrive a day early, I had DDP so I added on a room only res. and had it noted as continuing res. When we arrived I reminded CM it was a continuing stay and would like to stay in the same room. In the morning I had to go to Front Desk for the formality of checking out, then checking in to next res but stayed in same room. This was awhile ago so don’t know if you still have to go to Desk anymore the next morning.