Do free upgrades of your room (aka Disney "magic") ever happen with DVC rooms?

[curan69]

We just got back from five nights at VB and two nights at OKW. On Thursday, Feb 7th our friends had a standard view room booked at BLT. We went over to meet up with them as planned to go to the Top Of the World Lounge to watch wishes. When we met them they were all excited because they Got upgraded to a Theme Park View. They didn't even ask. Anyway we watched wishes from their balcony and never made it up to the Lounge. So it does happen.

 

[TSMMANIAC]

We have owned since 1993. Have taken perhaps 35 vacations and never once been upgraded. I never expect it and I am never disappointed.

 

[Sammie]

We just got back from five nights at VB and two nights at OKW. On Thursday, Feb 7th our friends had a standard view room booked at BLT. We went over to meet up with them as planned to go to the Top Of the World Lounge to watch wishes. When we met them they were all excited because they Got upgraded to a Theme Park View. They didn't even ask. Anyway we watched wishes from their balcony and never made it up to the Lounge. So it does happen.

What floor were they on? Just wondering as I know some Theme Park View rooms have recently been reclassified as Standard view rooms.

 

[LisaS]

We were at AKV Jambo last month and also booked standard and were kind of given savannah. It wasn't a true savannah which is why it was probably standard. It was at he very back of the resort and it was next to the holding pens/"kennel" for lack of a better word.

It sounds like you got one of the rooms that has been reclassified from Savanna View to Standard View. I'm maintaining a list of reclassified rooms so if you know the room number I'll add it to the list. Thanks!

 

[ethanwa]

The reason I ask is this...

We are renting points, not a DVC member. We are going to Aulani from Seattle. We have two young kids and just got a basic studio room. I would think that we would be a prime target to sell DVC to, therefore they may upgrade us to try and "sell" us on how great the resort and DVC is.

It makes logical sense, but I also know that Disney often doesn't know it's right hand from its left.

Ethan

 

[DebbieB]

The reason I ask is this...

We are renting points, not a DVC member. We are going to Aulani from Seattle. We have two young kids and just got a basic studio room. I would think that we would be a prime target to sell DVC to, therefore they may upgrade us to try and "sell" us on how great the resort and DVC is.

It makes logical sense, but I also know that Disney often doesn't know it's right hand from its left.

Ethan

As far as DVC is concerned, it's a points reservation so they probably would not "target" you like a cash reservation.

 

[Sammie]

The reason I ask is this...

We are renting points, not a DVC member. We are going to Aulani from Seattle. We have two young kids and just got a basic studio room. I would think that we would be a prime target to sell DVC to, therefore they may upgrade us to try and "sell" us on how great the resort and DVC is.

It makes logical sense, but I also know that Disney often doesn't know it's right hand from its left.

Ethan

As Debbie said, if you were staying on a cash reservation then Yes they might look at it and think this is a possible sale for DVC.

However since you are booked under points, there would be no reason for them to think that.

Plus you can not imagine the backlash that would occur if they started upgrading renters over members. It would not be pretty. On a points reservation whether you are the member or not, you get what you book unless a problem happens where they have no choice but to upgrade.

 

[Dean]

The reason I ask is this...

We are renting points, not a DVC member. We are going to Aulani from Seattle. We have two young kids and just got a basic studio room. I would think that we would be a prime target to sell DVC to, therefore they may upgrade us to try and "sell" us on how great the resort and DVC is.

It makes logical sense, but I also know that Disney often doesn't know it's right hand from its left.

Ethan

You're chances for an upgrade are little off from zero. If you ask, like you might at a hotel, they may mess up the reservation messing around. There are reports of members asking for an upgrade thinking they were simply asking to be upgraded for free, then later finding out the extra points were taken from their account.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The reason I ask is this...

We are renting points, not a DVC member. We are going to Aulani from Seattle. We have two young kids and just got a basic studio room. I would think that we would be a prime target to sell DVC to, therefore they may upgrade us to try and "sell" us on how great the resort and DVC is.

It makes logical sense, but I also know that Disney often doesn't know it's right hand from its left.

Ethan

Nah, makes no sense at all. You are not a cash guest. You are using member points. You really should have booked a one bedroom at the minimum with a family of four.

If you use your logic, they should ignore you totally because you wanted a bargain to begin with. So they should not expect you to even want to buy DVC and not waste their time or your time.

 

[Splashboat]

It sounds like you got one of the rooms that has been reclassified from Savanna View to Standard View. I'm maintaining a list of reclassified rooms so if you know the room number I'll add it to the list. Thanks!

I'm not the pp that you responded to but we stayed in 5544 (I think you had it with a question mark last time I looked at your list.) We booked standard (and only used points for standard) however, the CM that met us when we arrived specifically told us we were 'upgraded' to Savannah. I didn't want to embarrass her by asking but I assumed it was just one of the rooms that was reclassified to standard. Very nice corner room with views of animals all day. Not bad for standard points )

 

[LisaS]

I'm not the pp that you responded to but we stayed in 5544 (I think you had it with a question mark last time I looked at your list.) We booked standard (and only used points for standard) however, the CM that met us when we arrived specifically told us we were 'upgraded' to Savannah. I didn't want to embarrass her by asking but I assumed it was just one of the rooms that was reclassified to standard. Very nice corner room with views of animals all day. Not bad for standard points )

Thanks! It's good to hear that you had good animal viewing from that room!

 

[tgropp]

When our group stayed at AKLV before our cruise, two couples had standard rooms but were assigned Savanagh view rooms. I am not sure if some standard rooms have Savanagh views. They were quite happy with their rooms though.

 

[chainkid]

We were upgraded from a one bedroom to a two bedroom unit for a two night stay at Kidani village on our last trip. It seemed to me that this room was not an actual savannah view room which we had requested as it had a view of a chain link fence and road. you could see a few animals if you looked to your left out at the corner of the building. We had several villas on this trip which were all together except this one which was on the other side of the resort. It actually worked out better for our group as we had a couple extra people show up and they got to sleep in a room rather than the living room. I do not believe this was a savannah view room though and i would have complained if i had gotten a one bedroom with this view. So it can happen you will get a larger unit staying on points if they gave away your room which i'm sure is what happened with us. Checkin at Kidani was a nightmare from beginning to end while our BWV checkin was a breeze and we did online check in at both

 

[MinnieVanMom]

I dont' think this counts but as one of our first visits with DS to WDW we had booked a value room with a discount.

Disney called us and asked if we would take a studio at OKW. I said IDK and had to speak with DH. Well, after a few minutes she offered us a 1 br at OKW so we made sure we could have the 1 br room for my discounted value rate of $79USD. She said yes.

It was a great trip, we fell in love with OKW and of course bought at OKW.

Does Disney profile? We were a two income family, with a young child and perfect credit rating. Hmmmm

 

[DebbieB]

I dont' think this counts but as one of our first visits with DS to WDW we had booked a value room with a discount.

Disney called us and asked if we would take a studio at OKW. I said IDK and had to speak with DH. Well, after a few minutes she offered us a 1 br at OKW so we made sure we could have the 1 br room for my discounted value rate of $79USD. She said yes.

It was a great trip, we fell in love with OKW and of course bought at OKW.

Does Disney profile? We were a two income family, with a young child and perfect credit rating. Hmmmm

These were most likely rooms under CRO's control. They have a hard time filling rooms at OKW or SSR for CRO, so they sometimes overbook the values (which they have a demand for) and offer people moves to OKW or SSR.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Got a savaanah view at jambo when we booked a standard view last week.

 

[LisaS]

Got a savaanah view at jambo when we booked a standard view last week.

Do you remember your room number? I'm tracking the rooms that have been reclassified from Savanna View to Standard View. Here is the current list. If your room is not already listed I would appreciate it if you could provide the room number, thanks!

AKV rooms reclassified from Savanna View to Standard View:

5203: Studio, Lobby, Sunset side (hansel1)
5228: 1BR, Sunset, over a people pen (P&B's Mom)
5234: 1BR, Sunset, inside corner of first spur, "Fantastic savanna view" (Doug7856)
5238: Dedicated studio by a stairwell, Sunset (Anal Annie)
5257: Studio, Sunset, near inside corner inside first spur, people pen (NHGoofy)
5322: Studio, Sunset, over a people pen (Simba's Mom)
5348: Studio, Sunset, view of people pen and animal barns (rlduvall)
5372: Studio, Sunset, in a corner above the last spur near a "people pen" (erionm)
5384: Studio, Sunset, next to exit stairs at end of Kudu trail (rlduvall)
5522: Studio, Uzima, just before the last spur, over a people pen (mmmagic7754)
5528: Studio, Uzima, in a corner next to last spur (b-1)
5543: 1BR, Uzima, in a corner on outside of last spur - not verified
5544: 1BR, Uzima, in a corner on inside of last spur (TwinsFan, Splashboat)
5545: Studio, Uzima, near a corner on outside of last spur (KAT4DISNEY)
5549: 1BR, Far side of last spur off Zebra Trail, near Arusha/Uzima fence (mousefan1972)
5584: Studio, Arusha/Uzima border, last room on Zebra trail next to exit stairs (Ansky)

????: 1BR located above the check-in desk (Magic3forme)

 

[ethanwa]

Your comments came off to me as being really rude (although context is hard to judge on internet comments):

You really should have booked a one bedroom at the minimum with a family of four.

Sorry, I couldn't afford that at the time of booking, and it's too late to change it now anyway. From what I understand, a studio room has a pullout for my 5 and 7 year old. And the reason I am renting is to save money vs. a normal room. I also understood that DVC rooms were generally better than standard rooms, is that not true? And on top of that, isn't a "studio" room a standard DVC room? If a studio really won't fit us, then I've been given wrong information from a number of people, including Dave's DVC Rentals.

If you use your logic, they should ignore you totally because you wanted a bargain to begin with. So they should not expect you to even want to buy DVC and not waste their time or your time.

Actually, I have thought about being in DVC before. Just because people want bargains doesn't mean they are broke.... I think it makes them smart. In fact isn't that what DVC sells you on, is that it's a "great deal" because your vacations are pre-paid and you don't have to worry? The argument of "you are renting a cheap room, therefore you are worthless for us to sell to because you are probably broke" is a quick way for companies to go out of business, and Disney isn't that stupid.

I'm not looking for handouts, it was just a simple question about upgrade possibilities.

 

[tjkraz]

The argument of "you are renting a cheap room, therefore you are worthless for us to sell to because you are probably broke" is a quick way for companies to go out of business, and Disney isn't that stupid.

Broad characterizations aside, I agree with the others that your status as a renter will do nothing to encourage Disney to offer an upgrade. Right or wrong, Disney has never taken an active interest in identifying renters & guests to make a strong sales push.

DVC is a timeshare and timeshares are designed to be near 100% occupancy year-round. In most cases, resorts simply do not even have capacity available to offer upgrades. If there are 200 One Bedroom Villas, the resort will accept reservations for 200 One Bedroom Villas on any given day (less some modest amount set aside for maintenance needs.)

Aulani is a bit different since it's still in active sales and Disney does often have excess inventory. Still, in the recent history of DVC there is no pattern of complimentary upgrades being offered to prospects.

 

[catherines_mama]

We booked standard at Kidani, 1Bdrm and got 7839. This was the 1st room on the Savannah. I think we got very blessed with pixie dust. It wasn't a busy savannah. We saw some of the cattle and lots of birds and some little antelopes, but since we didn't plan to see anything but parking lot, we were very excited.

It was our 1st stay on points so I have no idea if that had anything to do with it. I won't expect it to happen again and am grateful it did this once!