Speaking of upgrades and pixie dust

[Missytara]

That is one sweet upgrade

That was done because the resort booked the Royal Rooms expecting them to be completed and they were not done in time.

That was one time when Disney did feel that they greatly needed to make this up to their guests. Not only was it considered a refurbishment of the resort, but there were very special themed rooms that had been especially pressed via marketing by Disney.

This is one time when they felt they were greatly inconveniencing their guests and thus the upgrade from moderate to deluxe.

I can tell you it was mostly a huge disappointment at first for many of the guests who we followed on the POR thread. It was great what Disney did and almost all of the guests were pleased with the choice of the Poly in the end.

But you can imagine their disappointment of just barely missing getting into the new rooms; some whom had booked months in advance.

 

[Southern Bell]

Never, Ever recieved an upgrade in a room! Did get to apply my daughters pin code to my reservation for free dining because her name was on it too. I thought that was great!

 

[soccer mom]

The first time we stayed at AKL it was an upgrade from POFQ. They decided to closed POFQ for rehab and forgot to tell us! They called four days before we were going to leave and apologized. They upgraded us to AKL Savannah view!

Although it wasn't a resort upgrade, when we stayed at BWI we were upgraded from standard view to club level waterview. It was awesome! I think that was during the Year of a Million Dreams promotion.

Only two upgrades we have ever had.....but then again Disney World is an upgrade from a Michigan winter no matter how you look at it!

 

[KrazeeK120]

In 2009, when the YC was being refurbed, DH and I went to check in for our stay there. At the time, they had a stay 4 nights, get 3 free promotion going on. We were staying 6 nights, so we only got 2 free, but hey, that's still great!

Anyway, when we checked in, they asked us if we would be willing to move to Boardwalk and they would give us one night free (so we would only be paying for 3 instead of 4). DH really wanted to take the offer, but I had my heart set on YC. We politely declined the offer. They ended up putting us in a handicap accessible room. That didn't bother me though, we were on the first floor and SUPER close to the lobby.

I hope they weren't upset with me for not going to the Boardwalk. But it was presented as an offer, not a demand.

 

[Mike&AllisMom]

We have been upgraded during both visits - from standard view to wood view at WL and from garden view to deluxe garden view at GF. I almost jumped up & down at check in when I saw the upgrade Now I am finding it difficult not to go ahead & just book the deluxe room again, so their "free" upgrade sold me on booking a more expensive room this trip.

 

[sharadoc]

In 08, we arrived at CSR and at check in, the CM asked if we would rather stay at the Beach Club. ummm, yes please! i wish i could afford to stay there again!
Apparently, the Osmonds came in at the last minute.

If I had known the Osmonds were going to be there, I would have never left LOL. LOVED them growing up, especially JAY

 

[augusta1]

Wow. Disney must have really screwed up.

My thought too!

 

[augusta1]

I've never been upgraded, but I was asked to downgrade

We were checking into POR and they were overbooked - they asked if we would mind moving to one of the All Stars - um, yes we would thank you...

We did not move, but the next family checking in had no choice.

I didn't realize they could do that

 

[SanFranciscan]

Resort upgrades are done for the benefit of the resort and one has absolutely no control over whether they get one or not. There is no way of knowing when or where it will happen.

If you check the fine print on your reservation, all Disney owes you is a room on property. So downgrades could be as possible as upgrades.

Many CM's report the one way NOT to get an upgrade is to ask for one. It is better to allow the CM the opportunity to do so, without expectations by the customer.

There is no problem is asking how much an upgrade would cost. However, if you choose to do so, realize that you are basically doing a new reservation and you would lose any discounts currently on your reservation.

If you look at the amount of people who check-in to the Disney resorts each year, compared to the few amount of people who posted they received an upgrade, it probably averages about 1 percent.

I really hope that you are wrong. If a downgrade is as possible as an upgrade, there is no incentive to pay more for a room. Wouldn't anyone knowing this just reserve the cheapest room available every time?

 

[onelittledisneyfan]

We were upgraded on our trip in Sept.October. I felt like Tinkerbell was stalking us given the amount of pixie dust we received! We arrived at AoA with a little mermaid room booked that we had booked with free dining- so already an amazing deal. We had requested a first floor. The manager saw that we had it noted on our reservation but that there were none available. We were very polite the entire time and the manager offered to upgrade us to any deluxe that we wanted for the entire 11 night trip! At the end, we picked the WL as we had not been there before and had always wanted to try it. They comped our taxi ride over. It was truly such a great gesture and definitely unexpected. I called the manager to thank her again and asked to see if I could put in a good word to her supervisor as well. She truly went above and beyond. One of the many reasons that I loved Disney!

 

[RonNic]

My family went to Disney for the week between Christmas and New Years in 2010. We were booked to stay at All Star Movies and a couple of weeks before the trip I received an email from Disney for a free upgrade to the Yacht Club.

 

[augusta1]

We were upgraded on our trip in Sept.October. I felt like Tinkerbell was stalking us given the amount of pixie dust we received! We arrived at AoA with a little mermaid room booked that we had booked with free dining- so already an amazing deal. We had requested a first floor. The manager saw that we had it noted on our reservation but that there were none available. We were very polite the entire time and the manager offered to upgrade us to any deluxe that we wanted for the entire 11 night trip! At the end, we picked the WL as we had not been there before and had always wanted to try it. They comped our taxi ride over. It was truly such a great gesture and definitely unexpected. I called the manager to thank her again and asked to see if I could put in a good word to her supervisor as well. She truly went above and beyond. One of the many reasons that I loved Disney!

That is great! I bet you had a great time!

 

[golf]

We have somehow lucked out a couple of times with upgrades...
A few years ago, we booked at standard room at CBR and received an e-mail a few days later asking if we would like to upgrade to a 1 bedroom at Saratoga Springs, which was an especially great surprise for us because we were travelling with our 1 year old and it meant we didn't have to go to sleep when she did!
A couple of years later, we stayed at WL and had to switch rooms halfway through our 11 day stay (I screwed up when I booked-- not Disney's fault) and when we changed rooms, they moved us up to Club Level to the Vice Presidential Suite. It was unbelievable! We had about 6 CMs following us up to the room because they didn't tell us that they had upgraded us and they wanted to see the look on our faces when we opened the door. We thought we were just moving to a standard room on the other side of the building, so we were shocked when they opened the door to the suite! On top of it, they arranged for us to be the flag family the next day! It was the most amazing trip I have ever been on!

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

There is no problem is asking how much an upgrade would cost. However, if you choose to do so, realize that you are basically doing a new reservation and you would lose any discounts currently on your reservation.

Not true. You'd be quoted the additional price as the difference between the rack rate of the new category and the rack rate of the category you're already in, plus tax. You would not have to pay the difference between the rate you're paying and the rack rate of the category you're in.

Example:
New Category Rack rate: $250/night
Current category rack rate: $200/night
Your discounted rate: $175/night

If you paid at the desk to upgrade a 2 night reservation, it would be (250-200) * 2 = $100 + tax.