Being reallocated from closed hotel.

[Ellie Webbs]

So with the news on Wilderness lodge not opening until June, this throws a spanner in the works for our 2 week April booking
Anyone have any experiences re what Disney is likely to do? It's a difficult one because I can't see us getting shifted to yacht club etc, but I'll be narked if we get downgraded... scratch that we wont be downgraded unless we get a partial refund.

Any ideas what may happen?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

You can call now and see what they offer you. Or wait until they eventually contact you next year.

There will only be three open Deluxe resorts for your dates, so I’d put my money on CR, GF, and YC (in that order).

If you don’t like what they offer, then ask for another option. Availability is pretty wide open everywhere, so being fully booked isn’t really a problem (generally speaking).

I’ve read very few/perhaps no reports of anyone being downgraded a resort level.

 

[Ellie Webbs]

You can call now and see what they offer you. Or wait until they eventually contact you next year.

There will only be three open Deluxe resorts for your dates, so I’d put my money on CR, GF, and YC (in that order).

If you don’t like what they offer, then ask for another option. Availability is pretty wide open everywhere, so being fully booked isn’t really a problem (generally speaking).

I’ve read very few/perhaps no reports of anyone being downgraded a resort level.

That's the order we put it in too. I think we will hang fire for now, and hopefully it will all come good. *wishing for YC even though it's an impossibility *

 

[brockash]

That's the order we put it in too. I think we will hang fire for now, and hopefully it will all come good. *wishing for YC even though it's an impossibility *

I wouldn't say it's an impossibility. I'd call now, see what they offer; explain why you don't want it and then specifically ask for YC, if that's what you want. If they tell you know or only with more $$$, politely decline and tell them you're going to wait and hope that WL opens up early. Then call again a few weeks later and try your luck again. I know it sounds ridiculous, but this is really how to play Disney's game. We've had multiple reservations at closed resorts since reopening and have gotten some awesome upgrades...sometimes just by luck and other times by calling a couple of times and holding out for what we wanted. You're booked at a deluxe...any deluxe is within reason and really shouldn't be an issue getting it for you considering they're not offering what your 1st choice was/what you booked.

ETA: I'd call now, as there's probably more open/flexibility the earlier you try to change it. Just say you've heard the resort you wanted/booked at is now going to be closed and go from there. If you don't like their first/second offer, just politely decline and try another day.

 

[Moliphino]

They could possibly move you to the DVC side of WL, if available. All of the DVC resorts are open.

 

[lmdean]

They could possibly move you to the DVC side of WL, if available. All of the DVC resorts are open.

I was going to mention that too. When they cancelled our Poly reservation, I immediately called and got a DVC room. We're really looking forward to a less crowded Poly in January, despite some resort amenities not being available.

 

[SarahC97]

We were booked at WL last July and since it didn't open, they basically asked me what resort I'd like to be moved to. We chose the Contemporary and ended up getting a sweet surprise upgrade at check-in to a two-bedroom villa at BLT. In my experience, they were pretty lenient when booked at a Deluxe in letting you choose what you wanted. We could have chosen basically any deluxe we wanted. Hopefully, it'll be the same for you.

 

[Leigh L]

So with the news on Wilderness lodge not opening until June, this throws a spanner in the works for our 2 week April booking
Anyone have any experiences re what Disney is likely to do? It's a difficult one because I can't see us getting shifted to yacht club etc, but I'll be narked if we get downgraded... scratch that we wont be downgraded unless we get a partial refund.

Any ideas what may happen?

I suspect they'll offer you DVC or CR Garden Wing, but speculate it'll also depend upon availability. I'd personally call sooner than later. Depending on how the world looks in April, the resorts might be fuller with spring breaks, etc.

Anecdotal, but we were supposed to stay at WL in August. I called and was offered a move to Boardwalk DVC (I declined since we wanted a MK resort), then one of the WL DVCs, but both offers didn't give me a guarantee of two beds (no sofa beds), so was a no-go for us. Plus, they wanted to charge more money for these moves. Then I inquired, even though it was a downgrade, to an AoA suite since it has two regular beds and my girls love this resort, but they wanted to charge us $200 more. After 2 calls with 8 hours total on hold I'd just agreed out of exhaustion and frustration, lol. (It wasn't until after this call I learned about price protection on these boards or to ask for Guest Services.)

The next day I was not happy with the change and called to speak to Guest Services to cancel and get a refund. GS was kind of shocked I was charged for a downgrade and moved us to Poly and she refunded my $200 back. When Poly didn't open we were offered Poly DVC which would have been awesome, but no guarantee of not getting a sofa bed for the 2nd bed which wouldn't work for our family, so the CM offered me CR. That was perfect for us.

Long post short , make sure you ask to speak with GS when you do call and let them know your resort isn't opening. (We'd had a May ASMo trip that I also was charged extra for since I didn't know about price protection or to ask to please speak to Guest Services.)

 

[Ellie Webbs]

I wouldn't say it's an impossibility. I'd call now, see what they offer; explain why you don't want it and then specifically ask for YC, if that's what you want. If they tell you know or only with more $$$, politely decline and tell them you're going to wait and hope that WL opens up early. Then call again a few weeks later and try your luck again. I know it sounds ridiculous, but this is really how to play Disney's game. We've had multiple reservations at closed resorts since reopening and have gotten some awesome upgrades...sometimes just by luck and other times by calling a couple of times and holding out for what we wanted. You're booked at a deluxe...any deluxe is within reason and really shouldn't be an issue getting it for you considering they're not offering what your 1st choice was/what you booked.

ETA: I'd call now, as there's probably more open/flexibility the earlier you try to change it. Just say you've heard the resort you wanted/booked at is now going to be closed and go from there. If you don't like their first/second offer, just politely decline and try another day.

Thank you. I was going to wait until last minute but I'll give this a go. Worst they can say is no I guess! The Yacht club dream lives on......

 

[GADisneyDad14]

And if you call now, you don’t have to commit to anything. Just say you need to talk it over with fam and you’ll call back. You have a lot of flexibility to do this at your timeline.

Do you mind if I pry a bit? Were you booked at WL at the rack rate, or some sort of special offer?

 

[SarahC97]

Also, if they try to move you to a DVC studio and that's not what you want, just tell them that you booked a room with two beds and you'd like to get a room with two beds in the Magic Kingdom area. I've had luck doing that.

 

[Ellie Webbs]

And if you call now, you don’t have to commit to anything. Just say you need to talk it over with fam and you’ll call back. You have a lot of flexibility to do this at your timeline.

Do you mind if I pry a bit? Were you booked at WL at the rack rate, or some sort of special offer?

We were originally booked for AKL last april and had a +25% offer to rebook. I'm not sure what will happen to that...

 

[Dug720]

When had WL had a prior opening date to book rooms? I had not seen it on the list until yesterday (or day before - whenever it was announced.)

 

[Ellie Webbs]

We rebooked through tui from the UK this March / April as a replacement for our AKL trip in April.

 

[Dug720]

We rebooked through tui from the UK this March / April as a replacement for our AKL trip in April.

Interesting. I had not heard of any US actual travel agency being able to book it. Just those third party cheap sites who didn’t know better.

 

[lanejudy]

Interesting. I had not heard of any US actual travel agency being able to book it. Just those third party cheap sites who didn’t know better.

IIRC in the early shutdown all resorts were available to book. It wasn’t until around June and the re-opening plans that some resorts were blocked for (re)booking.

 

[Dug720]

IIRC in the early shutdown all resorts were available to book. It wasn’t until around June and the re-opening plans that some resorts were blocked for (re)booking.

Ah. That makes sense. I forget when I started looking for January.