Big upgrades?!

[ephebe]

My husband and I originally planned to spend a bit less for our trip and we booked a stay at All Star Music from Oct 22-28. Then eventually we changed our minds when we found some DVC confirmed rentals available and booked a pair for a split stay instead. One of my DVC rentals has been having some complications in that my husband's name didn't make it onto the reservation yet, so I've held off on canceling our All Star reservation until everything looks right.

I just got the call from Disney today that they're upgrading me from All Star Music to a Cars family suite at AoA. I thanked the nice lady on the phone and told her I didn't have any questions.... My first upgrade for a Disney resort and I'm about to cancel that reservation any day now.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Y'all realize they are moving people to shut down resorts again right? Next they will announce Port Orleans is being shut down again. Then AKL. Then WL. No availability does not mean full. It means they are not making them available. Just my 2C. Not yet fact.

The global supply shortages beginning now will cripple worldwide commerce in the next six months and everything else for that matter.

So go to Disney now while that Dooney is still available.

 

[morganms22]

So I have a question. If the rumor is true and they are delaying the opening for ASMusic until December or later, that would include my stay in November. My question is whether you have to accept their offer at an upgrade. For example, This will be our first and likely only on-property stay. I will be solo with my daughter and the reason I picked an All Star was for the bigger-than-life childish theming. More for the fun of it for her than luxuries for me. I’m worried they will upgrade us to CBR, which so many have been getting, and we will lose much of the childish whimsy. I wonder if you have to accept their offer or risk losing your reservation. Or can you counter-offer with like POP or AOA? Just trying to gauge what I can do before the phone call.

I think it will depend on if All Star Music is open and has availability or not. Lots of speculation here, but no confirmation as to why some people are being upgraded.

Also, it doesn’t ever hurt ask for another resort (if you do get the call).

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[fairygagamother]

Has anyone ever been upgraded to club level at the GF? I booked a lagoon view outer building for Oct 3-9.

my daughters family was upgraded to CL a few years ago. their reservation was for one night only & Im pretty certain that’s why they were upgraded. I was upgraded to the vice presidential suite at WL one year (awesome!!!) & our reservation was for one night only then as well.

 

[spokanemom]

I’m booked Nov 1 -Nov 9 at Music. BFF and I both turn 50 during our trip. She and I have been planning to be in WDW for our 50th birthdays for 15 years. She can’t afford much, so we chose Music. Admittedly, it’s not my first choice (or 2nd, 3rd, etc), but we will be having a great time wherever we lay our heads, away from our families. Ha.
But, an upgrade on Disney’s dime would be super awesome! It will be interesting to see if I get the call.

 

[brockash]

So I have a question. If the rumor is true and they are delaying the opening for ASMusic until December or later, that would include my stay in November. My question is whether you have to accept their offer at an upgrade. For example, This will be our first and likely only on-property stay. I will be solo with my daughter and the reason I picked an All Star was for the bigger-than-life childish theming. More for the fun of it for her than luxuries for me. I’m worried they will upgrade us to CBR, which so many have been getting, and we will lose much of the childish whimsy. I wonder if you have to accept their offer or risk losing your reservation. Or can you counter-offer with like POP or AOA? Just trying to gauge what I can do before the phone call.

No you do not...I'd certainly ask about other resorts you're interested in (especially if they're other values- just for logical reasons.) If whatever they offer you is not acceptable; tell them you need to think about it and hang up. You can then call back or call guest relations the next day or a week or 2 later and politely try again. Once you get down to a week out or so and if Disney announces they're not opening music then you'll be getting down to thw wire, but there's no reason you shouldn't be able to be moved to another value.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Y'all realize they are moving people to shut down resorts again right? Next they will announce Port Orleans is being shut down again. Then AKL. Then WL. No availability does not mean full. It means they are not making them available. Just my 2C. Not yet fact.

The global supply shortages beginning now will cripple worldwide commerce in the next six months and everything else for that matter.

So go to Disney now while that Dooney is still available.

Not quite. First off, this is still a rumor. Clearly they are moving people but it’s not everyone with reservations, only October. Part of the rumor is it’s delayed until December not forever. They’ve been doing construction on ASMu so perhaps keeping that one closed for now makes the most sense.

If they were taking POR offline they would have had to start moving people now as well since it opens mid October.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Not quite. First off, this is still a rumor. Clearly they are moving people but it’s not everyone with reservations, only October. Part of the rumor is it’s delayed until December not forever. They’ve been doing construction on ASMu so perhaps keeping that one closed for now makes the most sense.

If they were taking POR offline they would have had to start moving people now as well since it opens mid October.

Hope so. Another shutdown and layoff would be devastating.

 

[Tiggr88]

FWIW, my daughter had several reservations in October at ASMu. She got a call for each one from Disney travel. When we called back we were able to run through the options on each. Most were upgrades to CBR standard 5th sleeper, but the ones that began on Friday and Saturday were Cars section at AoA. Since our plans had solidified more since we made the original reservations, we cancelled a bunch and kept two, each as an upgrade to CBR standard 5th sleeper.

About an hour before the first call on Monday, I had reached out the the regular reservation number asking if the first reservation was still valid at ASMu and they said yes. I mentioned that there were people being moved and there were rumors of the resort opening being delayed. She laughed and said she hadn't heard anything about that. Sure enough we got the call about an hour later from Disney Travel directly. Clearly the regular reservation CMs have no idea people are being moved.

When I spoke to the very nice and very friendly guest relations CM, I actually asked her if this was about moving her reservation and she laughed. I told her what happened with the regular reservation CM and she said. well they were wrong. yes we are offering her to move to CBR standard 5th sleeper for the same price. It appears they have a dedicated team of 15 CMs handling this.

I asked what would happen if she declined and wanted to stay at ASMu and she said they have been told to tell people that they are strongly urged to accept. I asked if that was because the resort wouldn't be open and she just laughed and said they hadn't even been told officially why people were being moved.

Because we had about 6 reservations that needed to be moved by their records, I tried to wrangle an upgrade to a crescent lake area deluxe if we cancelled all of them to save them the time and effort and free up the rooms for transfers sooner, but she said the only options were CBR and AoA. As long as they still have availability there, I suspect that will remain.

Have to say that the friendliness and the knowledge of the people I talked to dealing this reminded me of Disney customer service from days past. very friendly and helpful. We had some conversations about CBR as we were trying to figure out what to do. I had done a little research once I heard people were moving and asked some questions that she was able to answer about the resort villages and the Skyliner. Definitely more knowledgeable and helpful than the usual CM.

 

[StarrySkye21]

FWIW, my daughter had several reservations in October at ASMu. She got a call for each one from Disney travel. When we called back we were able to run through the options on each. Most were upgrades to CBR standard 5th sleeper, but the ones that began on Friday and Saturday were Cars section at AoA. Since our plans had solidified more since we made the original reservations, we cancelled a bunch and kept two, each as an upgrade to CBR standard 5th sleeper.

About an hour before the first call on Monday, I had reached out the the regular reservation number asking if the first reservation was still valid at ASMu and they said yes. I mentioned that there were people being moved and there were rumors of the resort opening being delayed. She laughed and said she hadn't heard anything about that. Sure enough we got the call about an hour later from Disney Travel directly. Clearly the regular reservation CMs have no idea people are being moved.

When I spoke to the very nice and very friendly guest relations CM, I actually asked her if this was about moving her reservation and she laughed. I told her what happened with the regular reservation CM and she said. well they were wrong. yes we are offering her to move to CBR standard 5th sleeper for the same price. It appears they have a dedicated team of 15 CMs handling this.

I asked what would happen if she declined and wanted to stay at ASMu and she said they have been told to tell people that they are strongly urged to accept. I asked if that was because the resort wouldn't be open and she just laughed and said they hadn't even been told officially why people were being moved.

Because we had about 6 reservations that needed to be moved by their records, I tried to wrangle an upgrade to a crescent lake area deluxe if we cancelled all of them to save them the time and effort and free up the rooms for transfers sooner, but she said the only options were CBR and AoA. As long as they still have availability there, I suspect that will remain.

Have to say that the friendliness and the knowledge of the people I talked to dealing this reminded me of Disney customer service from days past. very friendly and helpful. We had some conversations about CBR as we were trying to figure out what to do. I had done a little research once I heard people were moving and asked some questions that she was able to answer about the resort villages and the Skyliner. Definitely more knowledgeable and helpful than the usual CM.

Interesting. Did you get the feeling that they would not upgrade you to AOA if you weren’t arriving on a Friday or Saturday? I’m really hoping for an AOA upgrade but we arrive on a Monday. CBR is just not one I would ever personally pick.

 

[rangerxenos]

Has anyone ever been upgraded to club level at the GF? I booked a lagoon view outer building for Oct 3-9.

We were in May of 2019, it was AMAZING! I was traveling with a friend who was footing most of the bill, which is the only way I could afford GF to begin with, and CL was icing on the cake!

 

[CosmicGirl]

Interesting. Did you get the feeling that they would not upgrade you to AOA if you weren’t arriving on a Friday or Saturday? I’m really hoping for an AOA upgrade but we arrive on a Monday. CBR is just not one I would ever personally pick.

We got CBR for a Saturday arrival, so YMMV.

 

[Tiggr88]

Interesting. Did you get the feeling that they would not upgrade you to AOA if you weren’t arriving on a Friday or Saturday? I’m really hoping for an AOA upgrade but we arrive on a Monday. CBR is just not one I would ever personally pick.

I honestly don't know since I didn't ask. I would go ahead and ask if you prefer the other option. At this point, it does appear that those are the only two options though.

We were more than happy with CBR since you can access the skyliner direct to DHS and direct or non-transfer to Epcot. I think she would prefer that over most other options anyway.

 

[Tiggr88]

It could have just been a coincidence that the AoA were on Friday and Saturday.

 

[SteffyLou]

Ok so I said we were moved from All Star to Pirate. I asked them if there was another option and was told no- it was pirate or nothing. We took it because we thought it would be awesome to be on the skyliner. However, we had no idea until reading this board that they were full beds. Do you think we can ask to get a regular room instead?

 

[Tiggr88]

Ok so I said we were moved from All Star to Pirate. I asked them if there was another option and was told no- it was pirate or nothing. We took it because we thought it would be awesome to be on the skyliner. However, we had no idea until reading this board that they were full beds. Do you think we can ask to get a regular room instead?

You'll have to ask and then be polite but firm and explain that the full size beds won't do and/or that you may have some mobility issues that would make the location more difficult, especially since I don't think they have reopened the quick service in that village and it is furthest from the main house. Tell them you liked ASMu because of the bed size and the relative smaller footprint, which is much different than the larger, more spread out CBR. I honestly don't know how much discretion they have but if they say they don't have that discretion, ask if you could speak to a manager who might be able to. Just be nice and have some plausible reasons. They don't want to have to special handle all of the moves, but I would think they might have some discretion on some.

I was glad I did a little bit of research before they called back because I know very little about CBR as it is one of the few places we haven't stayed at yet.

Good luck. let us know how it goes.

 

[Tiggr88]

FWIW, the Pirate section is a little further from the main house, but appears to be reasonably close to the DHS skyliner station if that matters.

 

[CosmicGirl]

FWIW, the Pirate section is a little further from the main house, but appears to be reasonably close to the DHS skyliner station if that matters.

It is. And even if Spyglass Grill is not open yet, there's a Joffrey's right outside the Skyliner station.

 

[Tiggr88]

On an unrelated note, if anyone has flights in September/October/November, you may want to check the rates now. When we were solidifying my daughter's plans, turns out that United is offering $112 roundtrip from Newark to Orlando ($91 if you don't want to select your seat). I haven't seen those rates since the recession. Looks like Jetblue also has low rates. My daughter changed her flight with no fee and then got a $100 credit for a future flight.

This may have been in the transportation thread but haven't made it over there yet.

 

[jmv223]

My arrival is a Wednesday and I got AoA.