Disney Resort Experiences: Who's recieved unexpected Upgrades? Concierge worth $? etc

[algamble]

So this could be a Poll I suppose!
We are going to stay at Disneyland Hotel in Dec. I booked 5 nights in a Premium View room in the Dreams Tower so *hopefully* we'll see the fireworks!! I considered booking a Concierge level, but it was too much $$$$ ($125+ per night)

Poll/Experience questions:

Who here has received an unexpected upgrade?

What happened?

Is concierge worth the extra money spent?

THANKS!!

 

[algamble]

I'll Start:
Had the most fantastic upgrade experoence at the Boardwalk in WDW!

We went there a few years ago, and I let the kids choose because it was their first trip. They spent a long time on the WDW Website browsing, and when they saw the gigantic Clown slide at the boardwalk and it was Unanimous! They *HAD* to stay there. We booked a standard view basic 2Q room (it was a tight fit with all of my 10,000 kids lol but we were going to do it!)

We arrived, checked in (or should I say "smooshed" in...into the room) and all was well. Put on our swim suits and headed down to the pool only to find: !!!THE CLOWN SLIDE WAS UNDER CONSTRUCTION !!! Uh Oh! So I went to the front desk and asked if they could move us across the way to the (I cannot remember the other resort name) hotel that has a Pirate Ship pool. Well, they were full, so no luck. But then (and you have to love it when they say this) the CM said "hang on one second" ...and disappeared into the back room for 5 minutes. He came back and said that he was putting us into an "invitation only" room. OMG it was not a room, it was a Townhouse! Two stories with it's own front yard and white picket fence! Mouse-keeping left animal shaped towels all over the room, and there were two tv's, a jacuzzi tub, it was AMAZING!! Gotta love Disney!!!!
It was an incredible once-in-a-lifetime experience and we will never, ever forget it!!!

Ok now YOUR turn......

 

[algamble]

I guess no one likes my thread...

I just thought it would be fun to share unusual Disney experiences... Disney is so great at treating each guest as if they were the only guest, I wanted to hear some other stories.

If anyone has any great one's to share, feel free to post them!

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

I'd love to share my upgrade story, it just hasn't happened yet!

Seriously though, I would also get a kick out of hearing about other's "magical moment" in regards to upgrades.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

I'll play. Out of 5 onsite stays At DLR, we've only been upgraded once and it was to a different view. We've never been given a complimentary upgraded to concierge. If you want a certain room, or a certain view, it's best to book that room. Any upgrade would be a bonus.

We've only recieved an upgrade once and it was when we booked PPH standard view concierge. We were upgraded to a view room. It was a great treat as we were celebrating my son's 9th birthday and he got to wake up each morning looking at his 2 favorite ride, California Screamin and Tower of Terror.

We've stayed at GCH twice and got the rooms we paid for. The first room was a city view and it opened up to the great hearth and the valet/drop off. The second room was a downtown disney view.

We've stayed at DLH twice as well. The first room was a city view in the Bonita Tower and it faced the parking lot. The second was a pool view room with concierge during the previosu dreams promotion. Upon check in the kids became honorary front desk cms. They got to go behind the counter and actually process our key cards. They took their photos and gave it to us in cardboard frames and handed them a bunch of balloons. The kids thought it was pretty cool. DD still has the photo on her bookshelf.

I don't think I'd ever pay the rack rate for concierge.It wouldn't be cost effective for my family. But we managed to get a good AP deal($189) for concierge on our last trip at DLH and it was wonderful. We ate most of our meals in the lounge and brought along the water bottles into the park. We'd have breakfast in the lounge and head to the park. We'd head back to the lounge around lunch and go swimming and rest. We'd return to the lounge before heading out the park for the evening. It worked out well. We did do a few character meals, so those were our only food expenses.

We're heading down next week and staying at Fairfield Inn because we snagged a free week's stay with LMT's $1 for the world promo. But we've added a few days at PPH concierge at the tail end because of the recent AP rate of $179/night.

 

[DizMe]

I think part of why people aren't responding is that they don't want to give the impression that it's standard procedure to get upgrades. It happens occasionally, but as has been mentioned by others, it isn't that common and it kind of bugs me when there are threads about strategies for getting upgraded. I always book the room I expect to get, but it has happened that I've been upgraded a few times. I've also gotten worse rooms than I was expecting . I don't like the Wonder tower and always let them know that I prefer either Dreams or Magic, but a couple of times I've ended up in Wonder with a parking lot view . Anyway, I know that's not what your thread is about but I'm just saying that from the title, it may seem like another "how to get an upgrade" thread.

From what I've heard from CMs, they do not upgrade people to concierge. It may have happened a few times, but the general rule is that they do not do it.

What I will say is that my upgrades have always been due to some problem or inconvenience and was the resort's way of compensating me for my trouble. They have been extremely generous to me in such cases. One year our sink backed up in the middle of the night (woke us up with the sound and smell), and we were moved from a standard room in Wonder to a nice view room (larger) in the same tower. We were also given several FPs for our family to use on almost any ride and a free character breakfast of our choice. When I went with my sister in November, we had reserved a standard room at DLH at an ap rate of $169. We requested Dreams tower with 2 beds. We were given Magic tower (not a problem, as the CM checking us in told us there were no rooms available in Dreams). When we went up to our room, it was the tiniest hotel room I've ever seen! I had no idea they even had such a tiny room in the hotel, and I've stayed there many, many times in all different types of rooms. I kid you not, the room had a long tunnel of a hall as you entered that took you to a room barely big enough for a double bed. We promptly returned to the lobby and went to the guest relations section to let them know that it wasn't going to work. The CM was wonderful and said she would go in the back and see what she could do. She came back out quite a while later and gave us a beautiful corner suite in the Dreams tower, overlooking DTD! We had a fantastic view of the fireworks and the Christmas decorations. On our last day, the hotel slipped an offer under the door to stay an extra night for $129! I had to fly home the next day or I sure would have taken them up on it.

And I did get lucky with a concierge upgrade in Feb. We booked DLH concierge for $189 (ap rate) and shortly before our trip, DLR called me to say that the DLH lounge would be closed for some reason during our stay. She offered to allow us GCH concierge lounge privileges with our existing room reservation "since you want to stay at DLH." I assured her that I would not find that very convenient and she seemed to anticipate my response because she quickly told me that we would be moved to GCH concierge instead. Woohoo!! That was a good deal. On our last night at GCH, I asked the concierge if we could add a night at the same rate. He called down to whomever and was initially told that we could stay another night but at the regular rate. With a little perseverence on both our parts, the concierge and I managed to get the extra night at $189! I doubt it would have happened if they'd been really busy, but they weren't. The only problem is that my kids and I got totally spoiled by GCH concierge

 

[pixiewings71]

No personal stories, my BFF did get an upgrade when her DBF told the front desk he was proposing that weekend. They were at PPH and they got a suite, which they told us was very nice.

OP I loved your story!!! How amazing!!! And DizMe, you were so lucky on that upgrade!!! I wish I'd get something but I tend to book what I want so I'm not disappointed.

 

[goldies 5]

The last time we went to Disneyland Hotel they upgraded usfrom a standard room to a 2 room Mickey MouseKids Suite. Our boys loved it.

 

[l’amore bella]

I was once upgraded to a park view room at Paradise Pier hotel. It was wonderful hearing the music from the Electrical Parade in my room.

 

[MomofM&M]

We stayed for the first time at PPH during January when we had to cancel our Carnival cruise as my Mom got sick. As a consolation to my kids, my mom told me to book two nights at Disneyland. We did the cheapest rate possible which at the time was $129/night and asked for connecting rooms as it was my family of four and my parents. When we were checking in my daughter was so excited she kept hugging me, then my mom and then my dad and squealing,"I'm so excited, Thank you!" The CM checking us in was laughing and asked a few questions about us; Were we AP holders? Planned trip? Celebrating anything? etc. I answered them and asked to please have connecting rooms. She asked if it were okay that one room had a king bed instead of two queens and I said that was fine. My dad suddenly asked if we wanted to stay an extra night and if we did what the rate would be. The CM said there was availability and it would be $99/night. So, we added the extra night. Well, we got to our room and we had been given a two room suite with a view of the park. We all loved the suite which had a sitting room in between the two bedrooms. We were very surprised and pleased. I think my daughter's excitement is what got us the suite. I think the CM was being really nice about spreading some magic.

 

[VDT2010]

In Feb 2007, my boyfriend and I went to Paradise Pier for our anniversary. When we checked in, they asked us if we were celebrating a special occasion- we told them yes. They gave us an anniversary pin, balloons, and upgraded our room from standard to a view (on a higher floor too). Feb is sort of slow though, so that was probably part of the reason.

It has also happened a few other times when we were wearing a birthday sticker. However, with the birthday promotion this year, I doubt they upgrade you for that anymore.. depends on your room, what is available, and how busy the parks are.

 

[DisneyIsMagical]

November of 2008 we were upgraded at the last minute to GCH concierge.

My Aunt (who had made the reservations) called GCH the week before our trip to find out if there were any free upgrades. She travels quite a bit and has always called ahead about free upgrades. They upgraded us for FREE to the concierge level. We were so surprised but had no idea what to expect. It was a great experience, we loved it so much that we've purposely booked GCH concierge for next month.

I am sure that it was not a random upgrade. I am thinking with the economy taking a dive and the fact that they had concierge rooms available at the time. Also, my Aunt has always booked our room every time we have stayed at GCH so I am assuming that they had noticed her history at the hotel in hopes of her booking the concierge for the future. It definately worked! My Uncle won't stay anywhere else but the GCH concierge, he loved it!!

Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to afford the concierge though, certainly not me on my own.

This coming trip though we were able to use a coupon that I recieved after we had already booked. We saved over $1200 for 6 days and 5 nights, which was a wonderful surprise. I guess they figure if they don't allow coupons to be used after the trip has already been booked that people just call to cancel and re-book using the coupon discount.

 

[Mom2KandK]

My friends actually called me from the road. They were on their way to Florida. Their trip doesn't start until Sunday, but they wanted to visit with family first. Anyway, she got a call on her cell phone from someone at Disney. They got a free upgrade from All Star Movies to the Grand Floridian! Can't get any better than that I suppose. What a nice thing for Disney to do. They probably overbooked ASM. Lucky for my friends though! I'm so happy for them.

 

[disneydawn6]

Twice now they have been overbooked at the GCH. Once they gave us a suite at Paradise Pier no concierge but comp ted our room and the last time I really fought being moved so they gave us a suite at Disneyland Hotel, still no concierge and through in some free buffets for breakfast. Oh and they gave us a key card so we could still come over and use their pool and exercise room. Still had to pay my Grand CA price though. Last week I came using points from my recent DVC purchase. I only had enough for concierge for two night at the Grand and then the last night in a standard room. When I got there they told me we could stay in concierge for the third night also. That was very nice. Now I'm spoiled but will be staying at the villas from now on so that will be nice also.

 

[SunBunny23]

When my friend and I went last April we booked a standard room at the DLH. But I knew that the Dreams tower was going to be park view or pool view so I just asked nicely if they had a room in the Dreams tower and we were upgraded to a park view. I don't know how much of that is luck or just throughful planning haha.

 

[Karebear]

The best upgrade that I ever got was at WDW. I was there with my 2 BFFs in Nov. 2002. We were staying at the Caribbean Beach hotel for a really good rate of like $125 per night. Disney called me about 2 weeks prior to our trip and said that the hotel was going to be undergoing renovations and that they needed to move me. They told me that they put us at the Poly for no extra charge I decided not to tell me friends about the phone call and to surprise them. They had never been to Disney before so it was cool to see their faces when we got there. We had a great time and loved the Poly!