2 questions...

[armychap]

My DH and I just decided to spend a long weekend at the Poly for our 5-year anniversary - yipee! And now I have two questions...

1. We booked our room through a travel agent (new experience for us but had the cheapest rates I've ever seen). If we want to let the resort know we are celebrating our anniversary, should this information get to them through the travel agent or can I call the resort directly?

2. We have decided against visiting the parks, but we want to visit a few of the restaurants (not ones in the parks). Can we purchase the dining plan separate from a "Magic Your Way" package? And if so, how do I go about doing that?

Hope these questions aren't too off the wall. I'm a detail person when it comes to collecting info.

Thanks!

 

[grimley1968]

On question 1:

Your travel agent technically "owns" your ressie until you check in at the resort. I don't think you'd be able to access your reservation directly with WDW. You'll need to talk to your TA about any requests, etc.

On 2:

I could be wrong, but I don't think you can purchase the DP without tying it to a MYW package, which of course would include room and park tickets. If there is, I have not seen how to do this via the WDW online booking site. Besides, I don't think the DP would be a good value for you if you're not actually spending most of your days in the parks.

Hope you have a great anniversary!

 

[tkldisney]

To answer you first question, yes all request/information will have to be done by your TA. I would mention it's your anniversary when you check in too!

Second question to get DDP you have to have Magic Your Way Package. If you make your own ADR's make sure you tell the CM your celebrating your anniversary.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I would call the resort directly and advise them it's a special occasion. We did this at the CBR for our son's birthday. They had balloons waiting on him upon our arrival.

The only way you can purchase the dining plan is by purchasing a vacation package. This would mean you need to change over your room only reservation and purchase at least one day tickets for each of you. If you did that, you could eat at one of the Epcot World Showcase restaurants.

 

[grimley1968]

I would call the resort directly and advise them it's a special occasion. We did this at the CBR for our son's birthday. They had balloons waiting on him upon our arrival.

First of all, the resort will most likely not talk to them about the reservation, since it was done through a travel agent. OP really needs to go through the TA for this.

Second, to the OP: make the requests, but don't necessarily expect anything to happen. They might do something really magical for you, you never know, but just as often, or more often actually, they will not do anything special for you. I think it depends a little on how many other special occasions there are while you're there. A high percentage of people who go to WDW have some kind of occasion they're celebrating, and WDW simply can't do things for every one of them. But do make the requests. It never hurts to ask. Just don't be disappointed if nothing special is really done by WDW.

 

[Mom2Evie]

I'm not making fun of you when I ask this, but I really don't understand.

Why in the world would you stay in a Disney Resort but not go to a single park? It just boggles the mind!!

 

[GofFreak]

The resturants at the Poly are excellant.

We stayed last year for our 18th and let them know at check-in. The CM's made it very special for us.

 

[armychap]

I'm not making fun of you when I ask this, but I really don't understand.

Why in the world would you stay in a Disney Resort but not go to a single park? It just boggles the mind!!

Yeah, it is mind-boggling. Reason we're doing it this way is... we have one hopper ticket from several years ago that has one unused day on it. We were already going to be at the Poly for one night prior to our Disney cruise with no visits to the parks just because of time constraints. Then I got the idea of going to the Poly a day earlier, then buying a ticket for my DH and using up the remaining hopper ticket day on myself so we could spend at least one day in the Magic Kingdom. I would love to spend more time at the parks that trip, but unfortunately our jobs won't allow that much vacation time since we're already taking a week off for the cruise. We thought two nights at the Poly with one day in the park was a great way to spend our anniversary, begin our cruise, and would be better than no WDW visit at all.

 

[armychap]

Thanks for all the info. I appreciate it! Most of it was simple curiousity.

I don't except any big deal to be made for our anniversary, but then again last year when we went, I had just found I was pregnant, and it seemed like everywhere we went (mainly the restaurants), they made a huge deal about it. This was actually unfortunate in many ways for me since I was overwhelmingly nauseous to the point that I didn't get to enjoy most of it, but I did get some yummy desserts out of the deal!

And thank you for clarifying on the dining plan. I had heard rumors of being able to purchase it separately. It didn't sound right, but I had to ask. I've already made to ADR's without the plan and it's no big deal... we've always wanted to explore more of the resort restaurants and this will be a great time to do that.