BRP v. old AP program- vent, praise, etc. here

[xterratri]

I booked a trip in July with the old system and one in January using the online BRP system. The biggest difference in my experience has to do with the 60 day window- we came home from the World on June 5th and I called to book July 25-29 on June 6th and then called the next day(the 7th) to switch it to the 26-30 after buying airline tickets. That was a spontaneous trip that was planned within the 60 day window. Can't do that now.

When we got our airline tickets for October, we ended up having to add an extra night and it was in the "black hole" so we ended up adding it on points rather than switching to a cash ressie for the last night. Disney's got the money for the DVC points I own so they gained nothing(except for the extra food we bought at F&W fest) by essentially forcing my hand on using points rather than cash.

I'm a DVC member with an AP(PAP actually) and everyone in the party I usually travel with also has their own. I don't buy the AP for room discounts but having them available does affect my decisions about extra trips above and beyond what I would do using just my points. Disney can definitely make more money on me by encouraging more frequent trips with discounted room rates so I'm glad that some sort of program is available. I just wish they would do something about the 60 day window as I can see that being a problem again in the future.

 

[KilleriMac17]

actually the 60 day window was when it first started, it has been 120 days for quite some time now.

we like the BRB program, don't have to call to try to get rates, and if they drop them, the price automatically adjusts(it has done this already), our next trip will probably be our last for a while with AP's since wife is pregnant and we have gone 3 times in one year, so will probably stay away for a bit so it doesn't grow 'old'

 

[MagicKingdom05]

KilleriMac17

Actually when it first came out you had to book 120 days out, but they changed it about a month ago to 60 days.

 

[KilleriMac17]

KilleriMac17

Actually when it first came out you had to book 120 days out, but they changed it about a month ago to 60 days.

oops, I was drunk that day, lots of errors in my posts..

 

[bru_ellman]

I agree that the recent lack of spur of the moment AP room availability doesn't seem to make good business sense.

As to the "automatic" rate reduction when lower rates come out: well that's a "yes" and "no." If the new lower rate begins in the middle of a current reservation you still have to call and break your old reservation up into two to get the affected part reduced.

Example: Our original BRP reservation was for January 11-21. The rates from January 16-21 had dropped, but our rates for those days were NOT automatically lowered. We had to call and shorten our original reservation and make a NEW BRP reservation for January 16-21 and leave a new non-refundable deposit as well.

We were NOT charged a change fee for the modified reservation, but the rate change was anything BUT "automatic."

Still, we get to go to WDW for 10 days!

 

[TDC Nala]

I was just now in the position where I had to rebook my December trip due to the reservation anticipations of the friends I was staying with falling through. I am unable to book at Best Rate since the 60 day deadline had passed, and there is no availability at all onsite for Saturday December 3. I have Saturday at the Swan and Sunday/Monday at Pop Century rack rate and was lucky to get that.