Asking for free upgrade?

[AuntieKels]

I do NOT fancy myself a schmoozer by any means. I'm most comfortable following the rules and cower in blushing anxiety if someone implies I may be "cheating" or abusing the system. With that in mind, are there rules or do you have advice about asking for a free upgrade at Disney Resorts? I hear about people getting free upgrades to suites and concierge all the time. My coworker has been upgraded EVERY TIME. He is very much a schmoozer.

One time I asked about an upgrade at the Disneyland Hotel and they quoted me the upgrade price. Maybe I should I just continue relying on pixie dust. =)

Thank you!

 

[DisDreaming4116]

I try to put myself in the shoes of the cast member...would I be more or less likely to "pixie dust" someone if they asked for it? Answer is pretty easy.

 

[daisy2013]

You hear about it because it’s unusual. Who would post hey I got the exact room I reserved and paid for! Upgrades tend to happen because there is a problem with the room they assigned you and they can’t move you to another. Ask but don’t be surprised if they quote you the cost

 

[dansdad]

I do NOT fancy myself a schmoozer by any means. I'm most comfortable following the rules and cower in blushing anxiety if someone implies I may be "cheating" or abusing the system. With that in mind, are there rules or do you have advice about asking for a free upgrade at Disney Resorts? I hear about people getting free upgrades to suites and concierge all the time. My coworker has been upgraded EVERY TIME. He is very much a schmoozer.

99.9% of free upgrades benefit the resort and are done prior to the guest checking in. And for the .01% that are left up to the Front Desk CM, I've been told by multiple CMs that the one way to guarantee not to get one is to ask for one.

One time I asked about an upgrade at the Disneyland Hotel and they quoted me the upgrade price.

Which is what I would expect.

Maybe I should I just continue relying on pixie dust. =)

Thank you!

 

[focusondisney]

I do NOT fancy myself a schmoozer by any means. I'm most comfortable following the rules and cower in blushing anxiety if someone implies I may be "cheating" or abusing the system. With that in mind, are there rules or do you have advice about asking for a free upgrade at Disney Resorts? I hear about people getting free upgrades to suites and concierge all the time. My coworker has been upgraded EVERY TIME. He is very much a schmoozer.

One time I asked about an upgrade at the Disneyland Hotel and they quoted me the upgrade price. Maybe I should I just continue relying on pixie dust. =)

Thank you!

I think your coworker is schmoozing you. There have been CMs on this board that have said asking for a free upgrades will pretty much guarantee you won’t get it. We have been going to WDW for 26 years, often 2 or 3 times per year. We have been upgraded twice. As for hearing about people getting upgrades, no one posts “I got exactly what I booked”. People post about special things like upgrades. When you think about how many rooms there are at WDW & how many upgrades you hear about, the numbers point to a very small percent of upgrades.

You certainly can ask if there is a better room available & what the cost would be to upgrade. You can either accept or turn it down when given the cost. You might even get lucky & be given the upgrade for free. Disney resorts are booked pretty full, so there may not even be an upgraded room available.


I’m pretty sure a poster will come here & say he always offers a cash tip to the CM or just asks & always gets an upgrade. But most posters here say CMs can lose their jobs if the accept cash & don’t recommend that method. I think what you experienced is the norm, not the exception.

 

[bphilb]

Just ask. The answer is usually no, especially now that there is often very little availability at any of the hotels. The cast members usually check (at least they have for us). We got upgraded to a cars suite once from the mermaid room at AOA we believe because they had overbooked the LM rooms. We asked at Grand Floridian for an upgrade and was told there was nothing available and then got to our room and had a castle view despite paying for a courtyard view. I believe as long as you don't pressure the cast member or become outwardly disappointed on not getting an upgrade you will be fine inquiring.

 

[NJlauren]

We got upgrade once. I’ve posted about it a few times.

The short version our rooms weren’t ready at check in time, but they are upgraded the CM said! Two rooms us and in-laws upgraded to theme park view.

Well I had to fight to get my room by 6ish My in laws didn’t get there’s till like 8 or so.

I would have preferred my regular view room on time!

 

[Lynne M]

You're not missing out on anything; there's no secret phrase that'll get you an upgrade. By far, most of the complimentary upgrades you'll hear about are assigned before the guest's arrival, and they're done for the resort's own business reasons. Overbooking, maintenance, that sort of thing. They need the room they would have given you, so they have to put you somewhere else. It's presented to the guest as "pixie dust," but it's really about the resort's operational needs. It's much less common for an upgrade to be assigned by the front desk CM.

I'm sure complimentary upgrades have been given out to guests who ask for them, but we've had several cast members post here over the years that in situations where they have the ability to upgrade a guest at check-in, they'd much rather surprise a guest with an upgrade than give it to someone who walks up and asks for a freebie. So, there's an argument to be made that you can actually decrease your chances of getting an upgrade by asking for one.

As for people getting free upgrades to suites and concierge rooms all the time, that's definitely not the case. Suites and club level rooms are a small fraction of the rooms on property, and lots of people pay to book them. There just aren't that many that are vacant on any given night. Out of the thousands of guests who check into Disney resorts every day, only a very small number get a complimentary upgrade. As PPs have said, it's the rarity that gets people talking about them, kind of the way people like to talk about winning the lottery. Who doesn't like to dream about arriving at your hotel and being whisked off to the presidential suite?

 

[AuntieKels]

Thank you everyone for the helpful feedback! Your responses seem much more how I imagined it works.

Pixie dust it is!

 

[Disneypro1]

We almost always get a free upgrade. I always ask at check in. We go in early May and it’s not busy then at all. But yeah, just ask for a free upgrade. We book standard and get upgraded to preferred.
There is a lot of perks at Disney if you just ASK! You’d be suprised.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The desk CMs have very limited ability to upgrade people. It usually is up to assignors.

 

[DISNEY1975]

Ive been on many trips and have never been upgraded. My cousin just went for one night and was upgrade to Club Level. I would say the person who said its the room assigners, not the front desk is correct. When she arrived in her room there was already some flyer with activities/ club level amenities, pre printed "Welcome XXXX Family". She was assigned the upgrade before she arrived.

 

[kiford]

My advice is to not bother to ask. The answer is likely no, or they wouldn't have any availability or they don't have the ability to do it. We had once made a room request for Conch Key at GF. When we checked in, they had put us into Big Pine Key and we asked if it was possible to move us to Conch Key instead (no upgrade, just the same category in a different building). She had to call someone else and see what could be done. We were moved to Conch Key but I can't imagine them calling someone and asking if they can upgrade someone for free because they asked for it. With so many people making requests, it's a bit like a puzzle to try to accommodate everyone as much as possible; randomly upgrading someone just because would create nightmares. I suspect your co-worker is either making it up or actually thinks they received an upgrade when they didn't.

 

[gratefulfred]

We got upgraded once because it was a special occasion (our honeymoon) we didn’t tell them it was our honeymoon but they could tell and my wife was wearing one of those Minnie ear bridal veils. We didn’t ask for an upgrade, they even decorated our room. Anybody could buy those hats

 

[jennyq87]

I’ve been 10 times in the last 8 years and been upgraded twice. Once we had a studio savannah view at AKL and got upgraded to a 1BR savannah view. And then one time we had a Garden View at Yacht Club and got upgraded to a water view. We didn’t ask either time, they were just awesome surprises

 

[MsThumper]

We’ve been upgraded at least 5 times. We have never asked to be upgraded and have no idea why we were upgraded. It has always been clearly decided before we even got to the resort. The best was an upgrade at BWI to a 2 bedroom suite. It was just me and DH. Our luggage had a room of its own. It was such a surprise, I cried.

 

[Magnoliafan]

We had once made a room request for Conch Key at GF. When we checked in, they had put us into Big Pine Key and we asked if it was possible to move us to Conch Key instead (no upgrade, just the same category in a different building). She had to call someone else and see what could be done. We were moved to Conch Key but I can't imagine them calling someone and asking if they can upgrade someone for free because they asked for it. With so many people making requests, it's a bit like a puzzle to try to accommodate everyone as much as possible; randomly upgrading someone just because would create nightmares.

I was assigned a ground floor room for my last two stays at FQ. I don’t feel comfortable on the ground floor as a solo traveler, so I asked for a new room on a higher floor. The request was granted both times, but the Cast Member at the desk had to make a phone call and wait while the mysterious person on the other end played around with the puzzle to see how it could be done. Putting that whole puzzle together is pretty impressive, really, with all the moving pieces and different lengths of stay. I appreciated the effort to switch me to a new room, but I can’t imagine straight up asking for something that I didn’t pay for. And I was fully prepared to be told no if my request couldn’t be accommodated.

On the flip side, I was also the recipient of pixie dust on my first Deluxe stay. My 7 day standard room was upgraded to a deluxe club level room right over the Boardwalk Bakery. It was amazing and I’m still talking (and posting) about it nearly two years later. But I’ve also had a ton of stays where I got what I booked. It’s just not as fun to talk about them.

 

[KrazeeK120]

We’ve been upgraded at least 5 times. We have never asked to be upgraded and have no idea why we were upgraded. It has always been clearly decided before we even got to the resort. The best was an upgrade at BWI to a 2 bedroom suite. It was just me and DH. Our luggage had a room of its own. It was such a surprise, I cried.

I was assigned a ground floor room for my last two stays at FQ. I don’t feel comfortable on the ground floor as a solo traveler, so I asked for a new room on a higher floor. The request was granted both times, but the Cast Member at the desk had to make a phone call and wait while the mysterious person on the other end played around with the puzzle to see how it could be done. Putting that whole puzzle together is pretty impressive, really, with all the moving pieces and different lengths of stay. I appreciated the effort to switch me to a new room, but I can’t imagine straight up asking for something that I didn’t pay for. And I was fully prepared to be told no if my request couldn’t be accommodated.

On the flip side, I was also the recipient of pixie dust on my first Deluxe stay. My 7 day standard room was upgraded to a deluxe club level room right over the Boardwalk Bakery. It was amazing and I’m still talking (and posting) about it nearly two years later. But I’ve also had a ton of stays where I got what I booked. It’s just not as fun to talk about them.

I’ve been 8 times since 2007 and upgraded once. Like both of you, I was upgraded at BWI. It was a 5 night stay, just DH and I. I booked a standard room and was upgraded to a cottage suite! The trip was for my birthday (although this was not noted on the reservation). I was so happy, I cried! It was an amazing room...I wish I could actually afford to stay there. So maybe the trick is to stay at BWI?

Kidding aside, I think upgrades are luck of the draw and it’s probably unlikely that you’ll get one by asking.

 

[Minnie1222]

We've been there at least 20 times now and have never gotten an upgrade. I haven't asked for one either.

 

[goofy4prez]

I'm not going to attack anyone that asks for an upgrade, but I personally don't ask. My only requirement is that I receive the category of room that I pay for and if upgraded I'm thrilled. With that said, I have been upgraded only one time. Our very first stay at WDW was the WL. We were booked with a standard view and the CM said at the desk that we believe in pixie dust at WDW, had no idea what she was doing or saying and were upgraded to CL standard view. At the time I had no idea what CL was either.