As the Ticker Turns...the neverending saga of the Resort Changers

[Astylla]

I can officially join the ranks..lol.

I originally booked POP Century under the Spring offer for DH and I from May 9th-15th but on a whim called today to see if any moderates were available and after several phone calls ( system was down for a bit) we upgraded to
Coronado Springs for about $320 more for our entire trip! I am really excited and feel lucky we were able to modify our package just 18 days out. WOOHOO!!

 

[pas130]

I went ahead and added the Quick Service dining plan back. I've crunched the numbers and it makes the most sense for my mom and I. The regular dining plan is just too much food for her and I and so we'll share many meals. Now that you can modify your reservation on MDE it's a lot easier to see what the total package price will be.

That isn't good for someone like myself! Haha!

I can now only use a TA, otherwise I will never be able to hold a reservation LOL

I would SO like to go to the DISapalooza at US in December!! Diagon Alley party!!

Then the question is...US or WDW resort?

US, two words...Express Pass

No question . . . WDW resort.

I love WDW, however I'd do a split stay if anything. The Express Pass alone makes it worthwhile to stay at a US property IMHO. Any CityWalk is amazing...now I have to look up this party.

I can officially join the ranks..lol.

I originally booked POP Century under the Spring offer for DH and I from May 9th-15th but on a whim called today to see if any moderates were available and after several phone calls ( system was down for a bit) we upgraded to
Coronado Springs for about $320 more for our entire trip! I am really excited and feel lucky we were able to modify our package just 18 days out. WOOHOO!!

and WOOHOO for your trip coming up so soon! I am a Pop lover, as is my DH and kiddos. But CSR looks really nice

 

[Koh1977]

DH nixed my idea of the DIS party at US…He said I already have the Disney trip this year… :-/ Maybe I will think about adding a day at US/IOA for a girls'/adults trip in a couple years for my 40th… MNSSHP, F&W at WDW, night on the Boardwalk, and a day doing Harry Potter stuff!

 

[Princess_Nikki]

Hello! So I was just perusing the cheer/15's thread....we arrive LATE May 4th. Staying until May 12th. I think we might be in the clear. However...I don't know how I have not figured this out by now, but I cannot take dates away from my trip, only cancel and book a new one. (It's a room only res).

Found out my son now has his last Little League baseball game Monday, May 4th, which is why we cannot check in early that day. I had us booked at CBR until May 11th (now the 12th is not available in the room we have booked). Thought about switching to the POP, got a standard room for May 4-12. We have stayed at POP twice before. Once just me and the boys in June, then again in Oct 2013. It was nice. I don't remember big crowds of loud, obnoxious people.

I know the POP is considered a value, but it has always had the Mod feel to me in regards to the quietness of the resort. In Sept of 2014, we booked at ASMovies to go to MNSSHP. I remember shouting to the rooftops, "I'll never stay value again!!". It was just one of those weeks!

I'm now partially terrified to stay at POP, as I've never been there in May. Stayed at CBR in May of 2014 and it was Heaven. The price difference between the two resorts I believe is around $360 and some change.

Pros are thinking with the extra $$ we can go to the Water Parks (which we never really do for some reason).

We are Florida Resident Passholders, so it's not a "once in a lifetime" trip. However, that being said I don't want to have a disruptive, crappy time at the resort either! We will do maybe 3 or 4 mornings/evenings at the Parks. The rest of the time, the boys LOVE to swim in the pools at the resort. They are DS5 and DS8.

Maybe one of you can help me shed some light on where to decide on. Or just tell me I'm crazy. LOL.

I almost want to just go with my gut on this one (stay at CBR), but I'm disappointed we may have to leave May 11th if no room opens up, and my DH (who cannot go with us this time around) keeps saying, "Stay at POP!! Save yourself the $360 and do something cool while you are there you never do!". He's not helpful right now. LOL

TIA!!!

 

[pigletgirl]

Well, the last couple of days have been quite interesting! I guess I'll get to the bad news first. First of all, we're going to have to switch from the BC. DH's car completely died on us on Friday so the extra cash we had on hand for the BC is now being put towards a new car. The trip is still on, but I'm not sure what resort I want!

I've been thinking about doing a preferred room at CBR. I know that resort is huge and with my DD we'll need to be in proximity of dining and the main pool. The other option is a preferred room at POR. Any thoughts? Cost is about the same.

In other news, we found out Sunday night that we're pregnant again! Oh my goodness gracious! It's looking like we're due near New Years.

So, now that I'll be (most likely) expecting during our vacation, I have that to consider as well.

TIA for any thoughts!

 

[pas130]

Hello! So I was just perusing the cheer/15's thread....we arrive LATE May 4th. Staying until May 12th. I think we might be in the clear. However...I don't know how I have not figured this out by now, but I cannot take dates away from my trip, only cancel and book a new one. (It's a room only res).

Found out my son now has his last Little League baseball game Monday, May 4th, which is why we cannot check in early that day. I had us booked at CBR until May 11th (now the 12th is not available in the room we have booked). Thought about switching to the POP, got a standard room for May 4-12. We have stayed at POP twice before. Once just me and the boys in June, then again in Oct 2013. It was nice. I don't remember big crowds of loud, obnoxious people.

I know the POP is considered a value, but it has always had the Mod feel to me in regards to the quietness of the resort. In Sept of 2014, we booked at ASMovies to go to MNSSHP. I remember shouting to the rooftops, "I'll never stay value again!!". It was just one of those weeks!

I'm now partially terrified to stay at POP, as I've never been there in May. Stayed at CBR in May of 2014 and it was Heaven. The price difference between the two resorts I believe is around $360 and some change.

Pros are thinking with the extra $$ we can go to the Water Parks (which we never really do for some reason).

We are Florida Resident Passholders, so it's not a "once in a lifetime" trip. However, that being said I don't want to have a disruptive, crappy time at the resort either! We will do maybe 3 or 4 mornings/evenings at the Parks. The rest of the time, the boys LOVE to swim in the pools at the resort. They are DS5 and DS8.

Maybe one of you can help me shed some light on where to decide on. Or just tell me I'm crazy. LOL.

I almost want to just go with my gut on this one (stay at CBR), but I'm disappointed we may have to leave May 11th if no room opens up, and my DH (who cannot go with us this time around) keeps saying, "Stay at POP!! Save yourself the $360 and do something cool while you are there you never do!". He's not helpful right now. LOL

TIA!!!

I didn't love CBR, but only because the one time we stayed there was during Cheer Nationals and CBR was a host resort. And we thought the resort was too big, since that trip we did OKW and had great luck with the bus system there. I don't think you are crazy, however price aside, if given the choice I personal enjoyed Pop more. I'd actually was quieter than CBR (see Cheer disclaimer though LOL). There are so many fun different pools to enjoy there. I am also a firm believer in going with your gut though I may have been zero help. I think you will find May crowds to not be so bad at all!

Well, the last couple of days have been quite interesting! I guess I'll get to the bad news first. First of all, we're going to have to switch from the BC. DH's car completely died on us on Friday so the extra cash we had on hand for the BC is now being put towards a new car. The trip is still on, but I'm not sure what resort I want!

I've been thinking about doing a preferred room at CBR. I know that resort is huge and with my DD we'll need to be in proximity of dining and the main pool. The other option is a preferred room at POR. Any thoughts? Cost is about the same.

In other news, we found out Sunday night that we're pregnant again! Oh my goodness gracious! It's looking like we're due near New Years.

So, now that I'll be (most likely) expecting during our vacation, I have that to consider as well.

TIA for any thoughts!

Congrats! A New Years Babe VERY COOL! I've traveled so much pregnant, no problem at all. That said...I would do POR, solely for the proximity of DtD and food/snacks YES!!!

 

[pigletgirl]

I haven't done too much traveling while pregnant so this is new territory for me. I would be about 26 weeks during the trip if all goes well.

 

[pas130]

I haven't done too much traveling while pregnant so this is new territory for me. I would be about 26 weeks during the trip if all goes well.

Easy peasy, second trimester...just stay hydrated and take lots of breaks. You might even have more rest time than you do at home

 

[Monykalyn]

Well, the last couple of days have been quite interesting! I guess I'll get to the bad news first. First of all, we're going to have to switch from the BC. DH's car completely died on us on Friday so the extra cash we had on hand for the BC is now being put towards a new car. The trip is still on, but I'm not sure what resort I want!

I've been thinking about doing a preferred room at CBR. I know that resort is huge and with my DD we'll need to be in proximity of dining and the main pool. The other option is a preferred room at POR. Any thoughts? Cost is about the same.

In other news, we found out Sunday night that we're pregnant again! Oh my goodness gracious! It's looking like we're due near New Years.

So, now that I'll be (most likely) expecting during our vacation, I have that to consider as well.

TIA for any thoughts!

Just popping in to say CONGRATS on the pregnancy!!! How exciting

 

[Princess_Nikki]

Thank you @pas130 for your reply post! It's amazing how crazy we can make ourselves choosing a resort. I told the lady at Disney, sometimes having the ability to visit more often causes me more stress than if it was a "once in a lifetime" or "once every few years" visit. I think our obsession with CBR is that we all are huge Pirates of the Caribbean fans, and my DH is Jamaican. We adore anything Caribbean themed, and the resort just reminded me of a tropical escape. <3 Pop is great, though, too. We loved the theme of Disney Characters everywhere, and the 50's area to me was the best. I do have to make up my mind TODAY. LOL.

 

[pas130]

Thank you @pas130 for your reply post! It's amazing how crazy we can make ourselves choosing a resort. I told the lady at Disney, sometimes having the ability to visit more often causes me more stress than if it was a "once in a lifetime" or "once every few years" visit. I think our obsession with CBR is that we all are huge Pirates of the Caribbean fans, and my DH is Jamaican. We adore anything Caribbean themed, and the resort just reminded me of a tropical escape. <3 Pop is great, though, too. We loved the theme of Disney Characters everywhere, and the 50's area to me was the best. I do have to make up my mind TODAY. LOL.

My DH was amazed at how many resort changers are out there. I think a lot of it is the Disney Magic, and we all want to make the most magic for our family I have made the least amount of changes this trip, and most of that is because I am actually listening to my family. For every itch to switch, my DH and kids give me all the reasons they want to stay put. Initially we were Poly GV CL, but for the second summer in a row...the construction scared me off. This is our first BC stay, and I can't wait!! I loved the icons at Pop!! And the food court, the pool bar....our only issue was the double beds let us know what you decide, and enjoy Flower & Garden!!

 

[pixarmom]

Congrats Piglet!

Nikki, I'd actually go with CBR, but it's been quite a while since we stayed there. Enjoyed the theme, like how the new rooms look, the pool improvements look significant. We've stayed in all the mods and all the values except movies, and our kids put CBR at the top of the list the next time we stay at a mod.

Did everyone see the thread regarding reducing nights on your reservation? Interesting to see the change, and will impact my resort changing!

 

[Princess_Nikki]

Congrats Piglet!

Nikki, I'd actually go with CBR, but it's been quite a while since we stayed there. Enjoyed the theme, like how the new rooms look, the pool improvements look significant. We've stayed in all the mods and all the values except movies, and our kids put CBR at the top of the list the next time we stay at a mod.

Did everyone see the thread regarding reducing nights on your reservation? Interesting to see the change, and will impact my resort changing!

Yes! I did see that thread, and it is one of the reasons I'm having the resort switch issue! POP was the only resort that was able to extend us out to May 12th without completely switching rooms. :/ This new policy will be a drag to get used to! Also makes you wonder if they did it to reduce resort changes and/or split stays.

Thanks so much for your input. Really. LOL. I plan to stick with CBR, and travel on my original date which was EARLY Monday morning, and my son will just be missing his last Little League game. Totally stinks, but it's too hard to change our plans now. I do think we will all be happiest at CBR over the course of a week. I'm excited to see the upgrades!!

 

[pigletgirl]

What is this new policy?

 

[rere101399]

Hi everybody-
I can't believe I just discovered this thread! I feel like I belong!
We're booked for our first family trip in November (I've been three times before but not in over a decade). I'm a serial resort changer apparently. Is there hope for someone like me?

We started out in CSR. Switched to AoA LM, switched to AKL standard, switched to CBR, switched to CR and are currently booked at AoA Cars suite but I have my eye on an AKL bunk bed room. Eeek...is that really bad?

The story: we're a family of four. DH is a bit of a cheapo and will always choose based on price, 4 year old son loves Cars, 2 year old son loves animals and I love luxury but also a happy family

We'll be driving and staying for 6 nights. My boys absolutely no matter what cannot share a bed or none of us gets a wink of sleep (2 year old is wild in bed).

What we seek: I would love the price of a moderate (for DH) with Cars theming inside (for DS1) and views of animals (for DS2) with the convenience of a monorail and a deluxe feel (for me), and three separate sleeping spots so the kids don't have to share (for the sake of all of our sanity).

Stick with AoA Cars suite or switch to AKL bunk room? I'm always open to a wild card, too! Which is why I'm here. I have a problem right? I need to just stick with something at some point!

 

[pigletgirl]

Hi everybody-
I can't believe I just discovered this thread! I feel like I belong!
We're booked for our first family trip in November (I've been three times before but not in over a decade). I'm a serial resort changer apparently. Is there hope for someone like me?

We started out in CSR. Switched to AoA LM, switched to AKL standard, switched to CBR, switched to CR and are currently booked at AoA Cars suite but I have my eye on an AKL bunk bed room. Eeek...is that really bad?

The story: we're a family of four. DH is a bit of a cheapo and will always choose based on price, 4 year old son loves Cars, 2 year old son loves animals and I love luxury but also a happy family

We'll be driving and staying for 6 nights. My boys absolutely no matter what cannot share a bed or none of us gets a wink of sleep (2 year old is wild in bed).

What we seek: I would love the price of a moderate (for DH) with Cars theming inside (for DS1) and views of animals (for DS2) with the convenience of a monorail and a deluxe feel (for me), and three separate sleeping spots so the kids don't have to share (for the sake of all of our sanity).

Stick with AoA Cars suite or switch to AKL bunk room? I'm always open to a wild card, too! Which is why I'm here. I have a problem right? I need to just stick with something at some point!

I think a Cars Suite sounds like the perfect fit for your family. It's just so Disney and your boys are the perfect age for it!

 

[Mousemommy1]

Well, the last couple of days have been quite interesting! I guess I'll get to the bad news first. First of all, we're going to have to switch from the BC. DH's car completely died on us on Friday so the extra cash we had on hand for the BC is now being put towards a new car. The trip is still on, but I'm not sure what resort I want!

I've been thinking about doing a preferred room at CBR. I know that resort is huge and with my DD we'll need to be in proximity of dining and the main pool. The other option is a preferred room at POR. Any thoughts? Cost is about the same.

In other news, we found out Sunday night that we're pregnant again! Oh my goodness gracious! It's looking like we're due near New Years.

So, now that I'll be (most likely) expecting during our vacation, I have that to consider as well.

TIA for any thoughts!

Sorry about your car but OMG Congrats on the baby!! We leave on Saturday with our little guy....should be interesting!!

 

[Princess_Nikki]

What is this new policy?

According to Disney CM's it's a "new" policy, or it could just be that Disney is just now enforcing it. Here are two threads I read earlier about it:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/cm-said-i-cannot-change-my-stay.3402743/page-2#post-53509380

http://www.disboards.com/threads/has-anyone-else-been-told-this.3403073/#post-53509854

Sounds like they are just making it more challenging to change your resort plans once they are made.

 

[pixarmom]

What is this new policy?

From what I understand, posters report that Disney will only permit guests to reduce the number of nights on their reservation IF the desired number of nights is showing available. So in the past, if I made a BC room-only reservation for 7 nights and called to change it to 5 nights, it would be obvious that the change was possible. I was just giving up two nights and putting them back into inventory.

Now, posters report that a reduction in the length of stay is still possible, but no longer automatic. In the BC example, I could only change the reservation from 7 to 5 nights if 5-night availability shows up in the system. One poster said the reduced number of nights was not available. Another reported that the reduced number of nights increased the nightly rate from $99 to $160. The CMs on the phone told posters that it's a new policy that went into effect this week.

Hi everybody-
I can't believe I just discovered this thread! I feel like I belong!
We're booked for our first family trip in November (I've been three times before but not in over a decade). I'm a serial resort changer apparently. Is there hope for someone like me?

We started out in CSR. Switched to AoA LM, switched to AKL standard, switched to CBR, switched to CR and are currently booked at AoA Cars suite but I have my eye on an AKL bunk bed room. Eeek...is that really bad?

The story: we're a family of four. DH is a bit of a cheapo and will always choose based on price, 4 year old son loves Cars, 2 year old son loves animals and I love luxury but also a happy family

We'll be driving and staying for 6 nights. My boys absolutely no matter what cannot share a bed or none of us gets a wink of sleep (2 year old is wild in bed).

What we seek: I would love the price of a moderate (for DH) with Cars theming inside (for DS1) and views of animals (for DS2) with the convenience of a monorail and a deluxe feel (for me), and three separate sleeping spots so the kids don't have to share (for the sake of all of our sanity).

Stick with AoA Cars suite or switch to AKL bunk room? I'm always open to a wild card, too! Which is why I'm here. I have a problem right? I need to just stick with something at some point!

For our kids, resort theme enthusiasm only lasts so long and goes so far. That's unique to us, so it may not apply to your situation. We stayed at AOA on our arrival night in January. Our youngest thought it was awesome for a couple hours on our arrival day, but then was THRILLED when we transferred to AKL the next morning. The parks are filled with characters and themes and we all love a relaxing retreat at the end of the day. Comparing AOA and AKL back-to-back really highlighted the difference - overall atmosphere, quiet, a balcony (which is huge for me, especially with kids), the bathrooms, the bedding, the dining options, the pool and the slides, the playground area, etc. And at AKL, you have both the Kidani pool with the splash pad / water playground and the AKL pool.

 

[Koh1977]

Hi everybody-
I can't believe I just discovered this thread! I feel like I belong!
We're booked for our first family trip in November (I've been three times before but not in over a decade). I'm a serial resort changer apparently. Is there hope for someone like me?

We started out in CSR. Switched to AoA LM, switched to AKL standard, switched to CBR, switched to CR and are currently booked at AoA Cars suite but I have my eye on an AKL bunk bed room. Eeek...is that really bad?

The story: we're a family of four. DH is a bit of a cheapo and will always choose based on price, 4 year old son loves Cars, 2 year old son loves animals and I love luxury but also a happy family

We'll be driving and staying for 6 nights. My boys absolutely no matter what cannot share a bed or none of us gets a wink of sleep (2 year old is wild in bed).

What we seek: I would love the price of a moderate (for DH) with Cars theming inside (for DS1) and views of animals (for DS2) with the convenience of a monorail and a deluxe feel (for me), and three separate sleeping spots so the kids don't have to share (for the sake of all of our sanity).

Stick with AoA Cars suite or switch to AKL bunk room? I'm always open to a wild card, too! Which is why I'm here. I have a problem right? I need to just stick with something at some point!

You could always go with WL bunk bed room ;-) Could check out the ponies at Fort Wilderness next door for your 2yo. Not sure how to throw in the Cars theme for your 4yo though...