Ever receive a room upgrade?

[JodyLynC]

Have any of you ever received a room upgrade at WDW? Where were you staying? What were the circumstances? Did you ask for it or was it a surprise?

 

[buzzrelly]

Never in many, many stays. Granted, we mostly stay DVC now, but even when we don't, we don't get upgraded. I just pay for the room and view I'm happy with.

 

[LuthienDragon]

Once in ten years, but it was my wedding and it was at Disney 2019. Three people from my party went from standard to preferred (Parents, In-Laws and the couple) at Pop Century. It's rare they do them, but for the occasion it was great.

 

[hmansionlover]

Once in 20 years. Our daughter was competing in the National Cheerleading Competition. We had a standard Little Mermaid room at AoA. When we arrived we were moved to Cars suite. Most likely do to overcrowding because of the event. Awesome room by the way. Really close to everything, especially the Bar.

 

[Hopingforpixiedust]

Twice. One time our flight was cancelled and we didn’t arrive until the next day. Went from standard view club level at Polynesian to a princess suite. It was awesome. The other time we had a late night flight and arrived at GF around 11pm. Went from standard view to lagoon view. Both times were unexpected but made our trips extra special!

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Sure
A few
Don’t remember enough details to say where we were staying. Circumstances were always just what the resort did for their reasons, almost always was because it fit their booking needs. Usually it was nothing more than view upgrades. Standard rooms booked, given water views when checked in, that type of thing. Couple more significant ones.
And no, I’d never ever ask for such a thing. I think it’s extremely rude to ask personally
I book what I want and would never walk in with my hand out asking for more. I get some do but I don’t understand the mentality that can do that any more than those that can don’t understand the mentality that view it as looking for a handout.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Once, we had a standard room booked at BWI and were upgraded to a cottage suite. I was there for my birthday but I don’t think I had it noted on the reservation. It was just my lucky day, I guess!

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Once, we had a standard room booked at BWI and were upgraded to a cottage suite. I was there for my birthday but I don’t think I had it noted on the reservation. It was just my lucky day, I guess!

Those are very often used for “pixie dust upgrades” because they are so often not sold. When they need to move folks around because rooms have to be moved out of inventory for various reasons and you are a couple and can fit in a cottage then you are the lucky one to get moved so the group of more than 2 can have your standard room. If you are one of those groups of 2 who got the lucky draw that day, you get the upgrade. We’ve gotten one once too.

 

[Finerfam]

This April, I had booked a standard room at CBR (our first time there), fully prepared to be in Aruba or Jamaica and hadn't received a text about our room by the time we arrived at the resort so decided to stop by the front desk. We ended up in a preferred room in Martinique and it was amazing being so close to OPR and Riviera! The trip was for my birthday and was also my younger son's first trip and I had both occasions marked down in MDE but doubt that had anything to do with the upgrade. I just think we lucked out!

 

[AngP]

I was originally booked at French Quarter in November 2019. A customer service rep called me and said they needed a block of rooms so they were switching me to The Grand Floridian at no extra cost. They said it was pixie dust. I had a nice lagoon room and reservation was immediately updated on my Disney Experience. I got to enjoy the Christmas decor and resort. Was very happy for the pixie dust!

 

[Her Dotness]

A very magical one once. We booked a GF King Deluxe for Christmas at a heavily discounted rate. Not too many couples want to spend Christmas in a pricey room at Disney, it seems. We've often seen this category discounted during the holiday season.

We'd had a turret room King Deluxe in the main building previously and guessed that's what we'd get.

We did but were delightfully upgraded to a Theme Park view--a full-on view of the Castle. We stood at a window the night we arrived to watch fireworks. Completely magical.

Amusingly, the bellman who took out our bags when we left told us it's the favorite room of John Stamos and Kelly Ripa--not together, I hasten to add.

That room made a magical Christmas stay glorious, one I'll never forget.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

We have 40+ trips under our belt and we have been upgraded a good number of times. We also had great luck getting our room requests which we do every trip, mainly I would add our requests to our reservation over the phone and then follow it up with a fax. Then I would add to the fax that it would be great or magical to have his type of view amongst other things. Our upgrades were mainly just up a level, standard to garden or garden to water view. Now at AKL we have gone twice and both times we reserved a standard view and both times at check-in I would be talking with the CM and bring up how great it would be to be able to see the animals from our room and both times we were upgraded to a SV room Now, our last handful of trips we called in and added our room request over the phone and have not followed it up with a fax, we pretty much just requested a certain building or a corner room. But I make sure that if we use the online check-in that I skip the online room request. One because the request available are very limited and also because it seems like this request will override my previous called in request. Our biggest upgrade was WL to GF lagoon view, because of construction. Another one was when our GF room smelled like vomit at check-in and we talked to a manager and they upgraded us to a CL room. Now, we drive to WDW and 90% of the time we arrive very late, usually between midnight & 2. I will say that when we check in at that time the CM(s) are much less stressed and since there are rarely any people around ( a lot of the time we were the only ones there) that they seem more friendlier and happy to talk with us and have a conversation. Back when my DDs were real young, there were a number of times that the CM would give them stickers and a couple of times a balloon. I think it was mainly because there were no other families around that would see this and then expect it from them also. Those were Magical times

 

[Miffy]

I've been upgraded twice at AKL--once from standard to savanna view (this was before there was a partial savanna view category) and once from pool view to savanna view. I was also upgraded the one time I stayed at GF, from garden view to bay view (if that's what it's called). Unfortunately, this was before the fireworks in MK restarted, but we did see the EWP from our room and could see lots of MK itself.

I once asked how much it would cost to upgrade to another category and when I heard the amount, I said no. I was prepared to pay--just not as much as they quoted me! I'd never just ask for an upgrade.

 

[missingdisneymore]

Once at AKL they they downgraded our reservation from pool view to standard and never let us know. When we got there I swear we were put in the worst room on property. Then, they lost our luggage from the airport to the correct resort. It was apparently put on a cart that went to a different deluxe resort. They said there was nothing they could do that night about the room and would continue searching for the luggage but would move us the next day. The next morning we still did not have our luggage despite the system saying it had been delivered to a room at AKL. While we were waiting at the counter for it to all get sorted out, another guest came up to the counter and said that another family’s luggage had been delivered to their room the day prior while they were at the parks, they had called several times to notify the front desk so the family could get their stuff, but no one had shown up yet. You guessed it, that was our luggage. We were upgraded to Savannah view/Club level. And after nearly 24 hours with no luggage because of their repeated errors, losing a day and a half of park time to try to find our stuff….it was a welcomed gesture.

 

[megs1313]

once at CSR, we got a preferred building (before the tower was built) and that was nice. not really a true upgrade, but at GF we had a theme park view that was partially obstructed so it was a standard view, which I thought was REALLY generous considering it was a pretty great view!

 

[Sweettears]

Once, we had a standard room booked at BWI and were upgraded to a cottage suite. I was there for my birthday but I don’t think I had it noted on the reservation. It was just my lucky day, I guess!

Had the same. Also Beach Club standard to club level overlooking stormalong

 

[World_of_Laughter]

Had the same. Beach Club standard to club level overlooking stormalong

Same (upgraded from standard to club level overlooking the pool). It was the room immediately next to the room where the food is prepared/stored, so there was a teeny bit of noise, but nothing that hindered our enjoyment in any way. Plus, we were very close to Stone Harbor Club.

This happened in January 2016.

 

[Neener16]

Once, at the Beach Club. Got upgraded from standard view to Club level. The cast member asked if we had anything special going on, we said no, just here to spend time as mother and daughters. Next thing we know we get upgraded to club. I suspect the people who were originally next to what appeared to be feral children asked to be moved. . We had a good laugh that night because the kids were literally bouncing off the walls. It died down soon enough and they were not there the following night. We of course did not complain, we were very appreciative of a club level room. It was awesome and so unexpected.

 

[pixiegoose]

Twice, both at CSR.

For our honeymoon back in 2006, we had booked a standard king room. Imagine our surprise when, after many delays, we finally get our room assignment and open the door to find a giant suite!

In 2011, we were upgraded from a standard king to a preferred king in Casitas 1, which was much appreciated with a 6 month old. We were traveling with DH’s brother, sister-in-law, and 2 year old nephew that trip and had requested rooms close to each other. We arrived first (flying from different states) and when I checked in I asked if our rooms had been assigned near each other and after looking, the cm was like “nope, hang on, let me see what I can do” and we both ended up in Casitas 1. I have no idea where either room was originally assigned but neither of us had booked preferred so we both ended up with an upgrade.

 

[kittercats85]

We were upgraded at AKL from a standard view to savanna view on our trip and it was such a surprise. I was hoping for one of the partial views but this was incredible.