Well, that's sorta what happened.
I'm one of the people who booked "special deal" back in September. Many of us knew it was a glitch, and some thought it was perhaps a deal as part of the YOAMD. The glitch allowed us to book individual packages consisting of 1 night each in a BW garden suite with tickets.
The way the glitch worked was that if you put in your dates on a 1-night basis, it showed higher room levels as a certain $ amount and the garden suite category as a negative amount (similar to when you pull up availability for a deluxe and it shows the more expensive room categories and you can change to the less expensive room type - which show up as negative amount until you select them and update the quote). We had to book individual nights and select the number of ticket days - this was booked as a package.
Most paid in full for each package - and many of us had numerous nights booked (I had 5 nights). Most chose a 1 day ticket for each package. So it ended up being around $200 (can't remember the exact amount) per reservation. Many of us called Disney reservations to check on our reservations and were told they were fine, comments were made that we had found a great deal, and to have a great vacation. I knew I had to fix my reservations since in my haste, I missed booking one of my nights in the middle and double booked one night. Upon pushing a CM to see if I could get it fixed, she put me on hold and came back with a different view on my reservations. She said people would have a big surprise at check-in when they found out they owed more money. I even tried to cancel my reservations that same day because of my mistake in double booking/missing the one night. I told by a supervisor that I should hold onto my reservations since they were paid in full and that Disney might negotiate with me.
We all had online confirmations and email confirmations that showed our balances paid in full, a garden suite plus package with tickets, and even showed our room requests. Some received confirmations of the same in the mail. Some even received letters from concierge re: their upcoming stay at the BWI (since a garden suite is concierge level). Then the calls started coming in saying we had only purchased tickets and our choice was to pay more $$ or cancel. Some were given 3 hours to cancel, others did on the spot. Disney would not budge.
Many of us hoped that they would honor it as other hotels and airlines have done in the past when people booked obvious error rates. Even one of the Downtown Disney hotels had a mistake rate and honored it.
Some people tried to return calls to the CMs (Yolanda for one) making the calls and the phone numbers would not work or messages went unanswered. Then reservations were just cancelled for some and rates changed on others. Others held on to their reservations, and may still be.
I knew it was a glitch, but it still irks me that Disney kept saying we only purchased a 1-day ticket even though my confirmation said it was for a package and showed the hotel, the room type and requests (non-smoking, etc.). I was NEVER told they didn't have enough garden suites to accomodate all of us.
Disney even sent huge packets of printed DIS threads, as they were able to match some DIS users with reservations. They highlighted sections and noted that many of us knew it was a glitch. Yes, I knew they read the DIS boards, but didn't think they'd go that far.
Just wanted to clarify this. I booked it because I was curious if they would honor it after seeing what the airlines and other hotels have done in similar situations. I figured I had nothing to lose since it was fully refundable. I received all of my money back and am satisfied with that. However, after this experience, I would NEVER book another obvious mistake rate or try to book a pin code rate without having the pin. It's not worth it worrying if they'll honor it or not. Just because you have a printed out confirmation or have paid in full does not mean they have to honor it.
Oops. I didn't mean to bring up controversy.
