Can this question be any more obscure?

[curemyreed]

I have an odd question that I know someone (or many someones!) here at the DISboards will have an answer for....

All five of us are serious Disney junkies. My middle child, who is 11, asked if Dad or Mom would take him to WDW if he saved up enough money. We agreed and worked out that if he saved enough to cover a 5-day ticket with Park Hopper option, 5 nights rack-rate Pop Century (his favorite!) during Value season, plus $250 for Southwest Airlines round-trip ticket (rate we always get with advanced planning) then one of us would gladly take him and be mighty proud of the disciplined savings this would require.

Well....he has saved every dime and continues to do so! He will have the full amount by summer. He has had such a great time planning and researching this (Mini-Me!) and wants to go ahead and put down a deposit to reserve the room at Pop Century. We are counting on Disney offering the general-public Free Dining code again this fall, but will go regardless. I know that it is best to go ahead and book the room now and then we can modify it with any codes later.

Here is my question. Our plan is for Dad to vacation with DS the last week of September. Dad is an attorney and has no way of knowing whether he can be away until just before vacation time. If it won't work with his schedule, then I would take DS instead. I'm assuming that everything Disney-related would need to be in the adult's name, right? So the hotel reservation we make now would be in DH's name, not child's name. And when we upgrade the reservation to Free Dining (I know, no guarantee!) it will list DH and DS. What happens if husband and I have to switch places at the last minute? Can I just change things from his name to mine? My concern is that if the "book by" date on any discount code we use has passed then we will lose the discount by changing adults.

Please share any thoughts you may have!

P.S. Only one parent is going on vacation because of the challenge of having others take care of the rest of our children for this many days. I nominated Dad from the get-go because work schedules allow me much more time with the children than he gets, so this will be special for both DH and DS. However, CONFESSION TIME....the more I think about how cool it is going to be to be vacationing with just this DS, the more I am trying to figure out how to tag along! By virtue of being the first to be born, our eldest child got to do a Disney vacay alone with mom and dad, and all three of us have fond memories of that one. But every vacation since has been with each additional child accompanying the family. I would really, really love to be able to relish DS's Disney joy alongside my husband.

 

[noahdove]

Can't wait to read what others have to say..good luck in trying to tag along

 

[Mike&AllisMom]

I have no idea how to answer your question but I really hope you get to go along! What a wonderful trip

 

[amcc]

Why don't you just put both your (parents) name on the reservation? Two adults will cost the same as 1 adult. You can book it as a room only reservation without tickets for now, and if you get a pin, or a special comes out that requires ticket purchase, hopefully, by that point, you will know better who can go with him.

That's a pretty cool son you have there! Hope you can go too!

 

[marcielm]

Your DS is awesome!! I wish my 10 yr old had that kind of dedication to something. Sounds like you kid is going to do well with his finances as he gets older.

As for your question. It is always difficult for Disney to swap the lead name on the ressie. I like the idea of listing both parents, but still you have to have 1 name be the lead name. Since you are planning to keep the last name the same on the lead ressie, maybe it will be easier for them to make a swap when the time comes. *still thinking out loud here* If you had both names, then it would be a matter of "one adult can't come last minute" and they would just be swapping the ressie from one possible lead to a second adult in the room, rather than adding a "new adult" to the reservation.

I would definitely call Disney, and ask them what they think would be the best thing.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Just one thought about booking now and changing later vs. just booking later..

Booking now actually works against you - here's why.

Disney decides the dates and total number of rooms available based on current bookings for that time period. If you're booked in at rack rate, that is one more room that Disney's computer system thinks is booked and solid for the regular rates.

They don't know you intend to cancel and opt for free dining if offered.

If lots and lots of people book rack rate rooms hoping for free dining, all that does in the agregate, is reduce the dates and total number of rooms offered for free dining...

Why?

Because Disney will look at their room inventory and go "Well, we are 60% booked for those dates at resort XY, so we don't need to offer as many Free Dining packages there .."

See what I mean?

Don't book til the offer you want is on the table. Otherwise, it really is counter productive.

Having spit that out - congrats to your son on his disciplined savings. It can be REALLY hard to keep the money in the bank once they see they have enough for video game "X" or whatever.

Knox

 

[Virtucomp]

I have an odd question that I know someone (or many someones!) here at the DISboards will have an answer for....

plus $250 for Southwest Airlines round-trip ticket (rate we always get with advanced planning) then one of us would gladly take him and be mighty proud of the disciplined savings this would require.

The real problem here is the airline tickets. You cannot change the person's name on the Airline tickets. The name must match the ID shown to go through security.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I have a similiar issue and may just call CRO just to see what they say.

I've got a trip booked for DH, me and DD10. DS14 will be going with his band group but not leaving until 11pm at night.

DH was saying that he and DD could drive down during the day and I could get DS on the band bus and then fly down the next morning. Well, the reservation is in my name. So my question is going to be - can DH check in?
I am thinking maybe I should drive down with DD and DH could deal with getting DS on the bus and then flying in the next day or I call Disney CRO and try to change the reservation so either of us could check in once we decide what we will be doing. Oh the fun.

If you call before me, please post the result and I'll do the same. LOL

 

[sumertime]

Booking through Southwest is smart. If you book the ticket under your DH's name, and then you end up needing to switch it, you can use the value of the ticket he booked to put towards a ticket in your name with no change fee. You will have to pay the difference between the price that he booked at and the price of the ticket at the time you book (and if it is last minute it will most likely be more), but at least you wouldn't be completely paying for a whole new ticket.

 

[5boyz]

Sorry did not real all but I cant believe that it would have to even be a question!!!!! Disney would give her that hard of a time changing a name before she even gets there?????? What's with that?

 

[justhat]

I would book it with both adult names on there, and even if just one of you goes it doesn't matter. You can always change that, even if you have to do it at check-in. We had to do something similar last year when my BIL had to back out of the trip at the last minute. He was on the reservation and somehow became the lead guest! We *never* put him there, in fact we didn't book the room with him initially, and added him later. Anyway, The CRO rep we spoke to was able to switch things around, but said if there were any problems, just mention it at check in and they can take care of things like that without a fee.

Your trip sounds awesome, hope you can both manage to joing your son!

 

[danceintherain]

I think you've gotten some good advice. Personally I think its wonderful that you're giving your son this opportunity. My parents tried to do similar things when we were younger where we had to "earn" our vacations. However, if one kid didn't work hard enough to "earn" the vacation, they would still bring him anyways. It used to drive me crazy.

Anyways, since it doesn't cost any extra to add a second adult onto a reservation I would just go ahead and put both your names down. Hopefully you'll know better your plans once Free Dining is released, or at the very least once you reach your 45 day mark.

Maybe to solve the problem, you should just decide to go regardless, that way you could put your name as primary on the reservation.

 

[amcc]

I booked myself and my mom in a room last year - I reserved, I paid for it. I couldn't go at the last minute. I called to see if there would be a problem and they told me that it would be no problem for my mom to check in without me being there. Actually, every time we go, I go inside to check in while my husband waits in the car with the kids and we always reserve under his name with his credit card. The registration desk just gives me all 4 cards with my check-in packet. I think that maybe this whole thing is being overthought.