Surprise Upgrades?

[DisneyLu]

We have been to Disney 40+ times. We have had one upgrade but it was super special. We arrived at the Contemporary at 3 am. Lots of flight delays. My girls were 6 and 11 at the time (in 2000) both could barely stand up. The person checking us in asked if they were both excited to be at Disney. They both looked up and said yes ma'am. We were upgraded from a standard wing view room to the lake view room in the tower. It was a very magical vacation.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Love this thread. Another lucky guest who got upgraded from Standard view to Savannah at AKL.
Sadly also had a trip where we were downgraded at GF from overbooked castle view to a lagoon view impacted by trees where we could only see the wedding pavilion.
Had to remind ourselves that thousands of people worldwide would have happily swapped places to be in that location but it did take the shine off the resort.

 

[wisteria1019]

I love to read about other's good fortune! I am doing my first solo trip in October for a significant birthday (gulp), it appears that the Pixie Dust lands more frequently on families and couples than the single traveler.

 

[mkh531]

We checked into contemporary report for one night and as we were checking in the woman behind the counter asked me to get my whole family to the front desk Ii was kind of grumpy but got them and then two very cheerful Cms showed up with balloons and announced we were family of the day and got an upgrade to a bigger room and extra fast passes. It was amazing! I burst into tears!

 

[caribbeandream]

Those who had a surprise upgrade to club level....did you change your plans because of having access to the lounge? Stay more time at resort, skip CS meals somewhere???

We were surprised this past January with an upgrade at the GF from a standard room to the Royal Palm CL (Main Building). We cancelled all our ADRs. We had breakfast and dinner at the CL every day. We ended up using the Disney gift cards I had earned through Swagbucks for souvenirs and going all out at EPCOT trying out as many QS restaurants and beers as we could around the "world."

 

[jo-jo]

We were surprised this past January with an upgrade at the GF from a standard room to the Royal Palm LC (Main Building). We cancelled all our ADRs. We had breakfast and dinner at the CL every day. We ended up using the Disney gift cards I had earned through Swagbucks for souvenirs and going all out at EPCOT trying out as many QS restaurants and beers as we could around the "world."

At the end of the trip, did you say that the food was amazing or I wish we kept the ADRs?

I heard some say the food offerings aren't what they used to be. I've never done club level, so I have no idea.

 

[evilqueenmindy]

In 2012, we were staying at beach club. I was working half a day and meeting my group at the hotel. They had told me they arrived, I was prolly 10 minutes out. I had never mentioned to anyone in the group that upgrades were a thing or that club level even existed, because WHY raise unrealistic expectations.
I get to the resort, I see the other car in the portico, go inside, cannot find them in the lobby. Look ALL over, they are nowhere to be found. I start calling mobile phones, no one is answering. I FINALLY get my SIL on the phone, she says in a very confused tone “we don’t know why, but they sent us to check in up at a different desk upstairs. We had to have an escort to get up here. They said we aren’t in trouble.”
Me- “OMG! OMG! We got upgraded to club level????”
Her- “yeah I think we get free soda now. But I’m not sure”
Now I am almost blacking out from excitement, and the rest of my group is just confused as can be.
I had to find a lobby CM to take me upstairs to meet them. Our rooms were not just club level, they were pool/Boardwalk view rooms. It was pretty much the most magical trip ever.

 

[dtstampz]

My husband and I got the AKL upgrade from standard to savanna view. And 3 nights at CSR solo trip: booked standard & got upgraded to a lovely water view in Casitas 3, just steps away from the main buildings!

 

[caribbeandream]

At the end of the trip, did you say that the food was amazing or I wish we kept the ADRs? I heard some say the food offerings aren't what they used to be. I've never done club level, so I have no idea.

I can't really speak about the menus at the other resorts but we loved what was served at the GF. For us, it was totally worth it to cancel our ADRs. But first, the caveats - I (age 50) traveled with my 47-yo sister and 13-yo son. We have been to WDW enough times that we knew what we did NOT want to do. This first thing our our list of "nopes" was rope dropping and touring commando-style. As a family, a big sit-down breakfast is a daily event in our lives. We NEVER "grab and go." Also, 13-yo boys can eat, a lot. Had I paid out of pocket, my son's breakfast alone would have been about $30 per day, plus tip. (He ate about two or three of those Mickey waffles every.single.day, plus huge bowls of strawberries, plus yogurt, plus countless mini-quiches, plus multiple glasses of milk, etc.) As for dinner-time appetizers, there was only one day when my 13-yo (who does eat a lot more than pizza and burgers) did not like what was on the menu so he took himself to Gasparillo's downstairs and grabbed a burger and fries to go. I love appetizers for dinner, especially when chased down with champagne and the amazing views from the 4th floor of the Main Bldg at the GF. Then at the end of the day, the adults enjoyed some cocktails while listening to the band play until 10pm every night. Honestly, our best memories of WDW from this past trip were from the time spend at the RPCL just chilling.

 

[winnieofpooh]

Our upgrade wasn't technically a surprise, but still a very nice pixie dust moment! We booked a standard view at AKL at the end of January. We had just gotten engaged a few days before our trip, so mentioned it at the check-in desk and asked if there was any chance there were any rooms with a partial view of the savanna. She said no problem, and switched us! We got upgraded to a full savanna view, and got to spend our mornings watching the giraffe and zebras roam around.

 

[sam_rogers]

Love reading these stories. Dh and I are celebrating both our 30th birthdays and our wedding anniversary on our September trip so it'd be awesome if we got a bit of extra pixie dust. I am never one of those people though

 

[FSU Girl]

Love reading these stories. Dh and I are celebrating both our 30th birthdays and our wedding anniversary on our September trip so it'd be awesome if we got a bit of extra pixie dust. I am never one of those people though

Call and have it noted on your reservation. They might do something

 

[sam_rogers]

Call and have it noted on your reservation. They might do something

I'm going to call nearer the time with a room request (nothing specific just don't want a 1st floor room at all star sports) and was thinking of booking a surprise signature dinner or activity for my husband at the same time so will mention it then

 

[SharonZ]

I'm a single traveler, and have been upgrade twice. Once from a studio to a 1-BR at SSR, and a hotel switch from CSR to GF. I never make a request on any of my reservations, and have never been disappointed.

 

[katyjeka]

We were upgraded to Saratoga Springs when Pop was oversold. I was excited but the rest of our family wanted to stay at Pop!!!!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Not me, but Mom and Dad got upgraded on two out of the three trips they took to WDW. On all 3 trips, they booked a standard view room at BC. The first time, that's what they got. But for the second and third trips, they got upgraded, once to YC concierge, once to BC concierge. I think it was because they always went for their anniversary-59th, 60th, and 61st. Maybe after 60, they upgrade people.

 

[jmpurdy]

A couple years ago we were upgraded from standard to Concierge @ Boardwalk. They met us at Magical Express and walked us up to Concierge. We were shocked and delighted. Our room was lakefront and we felt like royalty. It was a magical 3 days for us.

 

[AngiTN]

We had another upgrade on our trip last week. Booked standard club level at BWI. Requested water view, our only request, didn't even request room ready early. Our original flight wasn't going to land till 3:00. First off, we had a room by 8:00am, before our flight even left. Very nice to know we'd have a room when we landed. Got to our room and realized after a day or so we'd been given a Deluxe room. I'd never seen one so it took a while to dawn on me it was bigger than normal. I thought it was that way because we were close to the big suite. It was great to have so much extra space since we had DGD with us.

 

[closetmickey]

For my first solo trip with my girls, I had splurged and booked us a room at CR in the garden wing. I received a phone call about a month out that they were oversold and would like to upgrade us. I almost ended the call, thinking it was my husband playing a joke- he is not a big Disney fan and loves to pick on me for it! They offered us the Grand Floridian but luckily, because of these boards, I knew that the main pool was closed for refurbishment. They allowed me to choose the Poly and assigned us a garden view and sideways view of the lagoon and castle. We were one happy little bunch!

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

We were upgraded to a garden view this past Christmas. We stayed water view and were really spoiled with the view (even though we didn't use it too much)... so it killed us to go back to "standard". I requested a room on a higher floor and they could only do the 2nd floor (as long as we're not ground we're happy). The CM said "being that I can't get you on a higher floor, I went ahead and upgraded you to garden view."

The second time we were traveling with my cousin. It was her first time with the little ones. I was with her during check-in and I kept dropping "it's their first time". The CM upgraded them, then gave each girl a balloon. I remarked to her "that's very nice... that's like a $200 value!" My cousin goes "the room upgrade?" I responded "no, the balloons...." The CM caught my eye and let out a chuckle, followed by "someone is a Disney vet".