Anyone ever get Magic to a Signature Suite

[whjensen]

Out of curiosity, has anyone been upgraded to one of the signature suites at DLH before by magic? My assumption is that they generally don't oversell their suites but I saw another post of the Princess Suite (I think?) and decided to satisfy pure curiosity via anecdote instead of me just thinkin'.

 

[DizMe]

If that were to happen, it would be under very unusual circumstances. There are regular suites (very pricey!) and it is very rare for anyone to be upgraded to one, but it happens from time to time. However, the signature suites are phenomenally expensive and they are often given as perks to business people but I've never heard of a guest being upgraded to a signature suite. Well, I did once hear of a honeymoon couple who were given the Fairy Tale Suite, but that's about it. The other signature suites run in the thousands per night.

 

[whjensen]

Of course. I was thinking more on the direct upgrade from suite to specialty suite, not from a room to specialty suite.

We were booking a trip recently and noticed that the normal suites are sold out. My wife in her immediate post-college years had the (mis)fortune of working for one of the large hotel chains and commented that they are probably booked at 110%-120% capacity. It created a conversation along the lines of "Where could the Disneyland Hotel place you if they screwed up their capacity planning and you had 6 in your party with no suite available? Would they place you in a non-Disney hotel (or if you were in the GCH, walk you to the PPH for a suite?) or do they not follow industry standards and not overbook? Or would they upgrade you to a suite that costs $4,500 a night?"

Disney is generally a great company in terms of customer service, but everyone messes up capacity planning some time (one time I was speaking in Arlington, VA. I had a standard room in the Ritz Carlton there - already well above my paygrade - but my flight through O'Hare was delayed and delayed and delayed so I showed up at midnight instead of 4 PM. The net is that all rooms were filled or accounted for EXCEPT the presidential suite. Nice. Except I had to be up at 6:00 the next morning, so I didn't get to really partake. ). I don't know the occupancy rate for those suites, but I bet it is somewhere south of regular suites (or rooms). So I wondered if that's their potential excess capacity of 5 (or 6?) rooms.

 

[DizMe]

Well, that might just be one of the unusual circumstances! I have heard of them moving people to other DLR hotels (which again is a rarity), but in the case of having already booked a large suite, I'm not quite sure what they would do. They would likely try to put you in a comparable or better suite at GCH, but if that were not available, I assume they would bump you up to a signature. I do know that they generally hold a certain number of rooms/suites for VIPs who might show up, so likely you'd get one of those if there was one. If not, I suspect you're right and you'd be put in a Signature! One can always dream!

I also remember someone posting quite a while back that her family was put into the Mickey Penthouse. I can't remember the reason for it, but it was a big and welcome surprise.

I would be tempted to think of a reason to stay if I were bumped up to a Presidential Suite!

 

[Mysteryincorp]

We were upgraded from a regular room to a signature suite at paradise pier. We had a pretty significant house keeping issue with our initial room. We were very patient and understanding and just asked for them to fix the room. A few minutes later a manager knocked on our door and walked us over to the Huntington suite. Full kitchen with full sized refrigerator, microwave, Keurig etc. full dining room, living room, two full bathrooms. Huge bedroom. It was awesome. I'm sure nothing compared to the signature, fantasy suites at DH but it was still so cool that disney "took care of us".
I asked another time when booking paradise pier how much that room cost a night and they said $2500/night.

 

[whjensen]

I would be tempted to think of a reason to stay if I were bumped up to a Presidential Suite!

So would I but neither my wife nor boss (nor, I'm sure, the Ritz ) thought extending a trip to take advantage of the room was a good idea!

We were upgraded from a regular room to a signature suite at paradise pier. We had a pretty significant house keeping issue with our initial room. We were very patient and understanding and just asked for them to fix the room. A few minutes later a manager knocked on our door and walked us over to the Huntington suite. Full kitchen with full sized refrigerator, microwave, Keurig etc. full dining room, living room, two full bathrooms. Huge bedroom. It was awesome. I'm sure nothing compared to the signature, fantasy suites at DH but it was still so cool that disney "took care of us".
I asked another time when booking paradise pier how much that room cost a night and they said $2500/night.

That's awesome! Congrats! Re: The price. Yeah, I think that magic is the only way here. I called around a year ago and I think the cheapest one (besides the Princess/Fairytale one) was either $3.5K or $4.5K. It's just one of those cost-prohibitive things of life. The great news is that they create such as great environment for everyone, it really doesn't matter! Going back to the Ritz comparison, neither cares if you're renting the Presidential Suite or the broom closet - they're going to take care of you and you don't have to worry about roaches (I used to travel A LOT. Trust me, there are "nice, 4 star" hotels where occupancy was 30 to a room if you included roaches) or anything but a good experience.