Miffy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2002
- Messages
- 5,422
Hi everyone. My dh and I are just back from 10 days (9 nights) at WDW. Just 24 hours ago we were walking on Main Street and because it rained in Orlando yesterday morning, Main Street was almost empty...and lovely as ever.
But this post is about our hotel stay.
We were originally booked for 9 nights at the Swan (where we had never stayed before). We checked into the Swan on Friday Dec. 5, spent some time looking around the S/D, spent the night in Epcot, came back to the Swan, and decided we wanted to stay at a WDW-owned property instead. Our first choice was AKL, which is our favorite WDW resort. If you want to read my impressions of the Swan, please refer to the review I just posted in the Reviews section here on the DIS.
We woke up Saturday (Dec. 6) and the first thing we did was call Disney reservations. I wasn't expecting anything to be available--particularly with an AP discount, but happily, I was wrong!
Not only was AKL available for 7 days checking in on the 7th, but it was available at the AP discount! There go all the theories about how AP-discounted rooms, once booked, are returned to rack rate when the ressies are cancelled. I had tried to get an AP-discounted room anywhere at WDW several weeks earlier (and was completely flexible about the check-in date) and the only thing they had at that time was CBR, where we didn't want to stay because we knew some of the cheerleading crowd was staying there.
We moved to AKL on Sunday morning and I have never packed so fast in my life!
And...one more thing...when I booked the AKL reservation, they didn't have any savannah-view rooms available at the AP rate, so we booked a standard room. When we checked in, we asked if any savannah-view rooms had become available (we offered to pay for this--we didn't ask for a free upgrade). Our check-in person excused herself, went into the back, and returned after a couple of minutes...with a savannah-view room for us!
At no extra charge! Talk about Disney magic! And the room was ready. A few minutes later, we were sitting on our balcony, watching zebras, elands, giraffes, and some adorable pelicans.
I could go on forever about how much I love AKL. It looks gorgeous at Christmas, btw. Their tree is sensational. But what I really want to say here is this: If you're trying to book an AP-discounted room (or, in fact, any room anywhere at any rate at WDW) and your first choice isn't available, keep trying. Don't give up. We were able to get our room at an incredible rate the day before we checked into it.
We have other magical Disney moments from our trip, but I'll save them for the TR, which I hope to write soon.
If you've got any questions about AKL (or the Swan, for that matter), ask away.
Meanwhile, here's some extra pixie dust for all of you planning your WDW vacations:
--miffy--
(I'd better change my countdown clock!)
But this post is about our hotel stay.
We were originally booked for 9 nights at the Swan (where we had never stayed before). We checked into the Swan on Friday Dec. 5, spent some time looking around the S/D, spent the night in Epcot, came back to the Swan, and decided we wanted to stay at a WDW-owned property instead. Our first choice was AKL, which is our favorite WDW resort. If you want to read my impressions of the Swan, please refer to the review I just posted in the Reviews section here on the DIS.
We woke up Saturday (Dec. 6) and the first thing we did was call Disney reservations. I wasn't expecting anything to be available--particularly with an AP discount, but happily, I was wrong!
Not only was AKL available for 7 days checking in on the 7th, but it was available at the AP discount! There go all the theories about how AP-discounted rooms, once booked, are returned to rack rate when the ressies are cancelled. I had tried to get an AP-discounted room anywhere at WDW several weeks earlier (and was completely flexible about the check-in date) and the only thing they had at that time was CBR, where we didn't want to stay because we knew some of the cheerleading crowd was staying there.We moved to AKL on Sunday morning and I have never packed so fast in my life!
And...one more thing...when I booked the AKL reservation, they didn't have any savannah-view rooms available at the AP rate, so we booked a standard room. When we checked in, we asked if any savannah-view rooms had become available (we offered to pay for this--we didn't ask for a free upgrade). Our check-in person excused herself, went into the back, and returned after a couple of minutes...with a savannah-view room for us!
At no extra charge! Talk about Disney magic! And the room was ready. A few minutes later, we were sitting on our balcony, watching zebras, elands, giraffes, and some adorable pelicans.I could go on forever about how much I love AKL. It looks gorgeous at Christmas, btw. Their tree is sensational. But what I really want to say here is this: If you're trying to book an AP-discounted room (or, in fact, any room anywhere at any rate at WDW) and your first choice isn't available, keep trying. Don't give up. We were able to get our room at an incredible rate the day before we checked into it.
We have other magical Disney moments from our trip, but I'll save them for the TR, which I hope to write soon.
If you've got any questions about AKL (or the Swan, for that matter), ask away.
Meanwhile, here's some extra pixie dust for all of you planning your WDW vacations:
--miffy--
(I'd better change my countdown clock!)
