AKL upgrade chances help

[disneymania10]

We are staying in a standard room at AKL for the first time 7/16 to 7/27/05 and are so excited. We are hoping for a savanah upgrade, but know that this may be tough in July. We booked standard and will be ok with that if the upgrade doesn't happen because we would rather stay 10 nights in standard than less nights at the savanah view. That being said, if we put bunk beds (dd8 really wants these), 4th or 5th floor (read upper rooms are better), non smoking and room on Giraffe trail (closer to pool, bus stops etc)- do you think this will make the resort less likely to give us an upgrade if one is available?

I would like to indicate preferences for the standard so that if upgrade is not given at least we try to get the best possible standard room.

What does everyone think?? Thanks for your help!

 

[sjw4870]

July is a busy month - I think upgrades will be limited. However, I think if they are offering upgrades they will be offered regardless of what preferences you list on your original reservation.

I think it would be a good idea to list the MOST important of your preferences rather than list multiple preferences. For example, a standard non-smoking bunk bed room may be easier to accomodate than a standard non-smoking bunk bed room on giraffe trail preferably on the 4th or 5th floor. Does that make sense? Once you actually get there and speak with a CM you can probably get into more specfics - this has always worked for me.

Regardless of the room - have a wonderful time. AKL is great.

 

[bicker]

That seems counter-intuitive to me. I would assume that the more special requests, the less likely that that an available upgraded room would be suitable with respect to those requests, and therefore the less likely that an upgrade will be applied. Am I missing something?

 

[SeattleMark]

The upgrade isn't based on your preferences. Personally, it has been my experience with staying there that if you have a special occassion listed on your reservation, they'll pick you over someone who doesn't. It could be a birthday, anniversary, etc. By the way, birthday could be within a week or so of your stay (just say you're celebrating it while you're there), and anniversary? Well, an anniversary could be just about any time, couldn't it? They don't need to know if it was the anniversary of your first date, your first kiss, when you got the dog, etc.

We always book a standard room and have been upgraded every time we've done this. The one time we didn't, we got the standard room.

Just remember, there are absolutely no guarantees when it comes to upgrades (or requests, for that matter) so don't get mad if you don't get them. You're still at Disney World in a FANTASTIC resort!

 

[Marseeya]

We are staying in a standard room at AKL for the first time 7/16 to 7/27/05 and are so excited. We are hoping for a savanah upgrade, but know that this may be tough in July. We booked standard and will be ok with that if the upgrade doesn't happen because we would rather stay 10 nights in standard than less nights at the savanah view. That being said, if we put bunk beds (dd8 really wants these), 4th or 5th floor (read upper rooms are better), non smoking and room on Giraffe trail (closer to pool, bus stops etc)- do you think this will make the resort less likely to give us an upgrade if one is available?

I would like to indicate preferences for the standard so that if upgrade is not given at least we try to get the best possible standard room.

What does everyone think?? Thanks for your help!

From what I understand, you should probably only list maybe one of your preferences aside from non-smoking. We had no preferences other than non-smoking and still got the upgrade. I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to it -- maybe just luck of the draw?l

 

[c.hack]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I read that all the smoking rooms are standard-view. Therefore, if you specify non-smoking you will improve your odds of an upgrade.

 

[Lewisc]

We are staying in a standard room at AKL for the first time 7/16 to 7/27/05 and are so excited. We are hoping for a savanah upgrade, but know that this may be tough in July. We booked standard and will be ok with that if the upgrade doesn't happen because we would rather stay 10 nights in standard than less nights at the savanah view. That being said, if we put bunk beds (dd8 really wants these), 4th or 5th floor (read upper rooms are better), non smoking and room on Giraffe trail (closer to pool, bus stops etc)- do you think this will make the resort less likely to give us an upgrade if one is available?

I would like to indicate preferences for the standard so that if upgrade is not given at least we try to get the best possible standard room.

What does everyone think?? Thanks for your help!

AFAIK none of the standard rooms are on the 5th floor. I'd just request non-smoking room with bunk beds. If the only bunk beds available are a savanah view you have a shot of an upgrade. You're asking for too much. There is almost no chance there be a room available that will meet all your requests so they won't have the slightest idea what's more important to you. I think you'd rather have a bunk bed room on the 3 floor than a room with 2 Q on the 4th floor for example.

 

[gepetto]

you want an upgrade for a 12 night stay late July? Don't get your hopes up.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We stayed in a standard view room on the 5th floor one night during our May visit. Remember: the lobby is actually the 3rd floor. We had a standard bunk room. I think all the rooms in our area were standard bunk rooms. It was very dark and unappealing. Our savanna view room on the 2nd floor for the remainder of our visit was much brighter and more pleasant.