Few Questions: GCH rooms, upgrades, adding days to park hoppers

[MommiePrincess]

We will be arriving on 8/30 through 9/6 staying at GCH. I have reserved a theme park view. If I want to request "closer to the elevators" - but still theme park view, does it make sense to request that now or at check in? Last time the walk to our room from the elevator seemed farther then the whole walk to DL!! My then 2 year old would say she was tired by the time we got to the elevator in the morning! Last time they said to call to check in when we were one hour away in the car....I did this. They basically reconfirmed my reservation on the phone and when we arrived one hour later we started the check in all over, with the room being assigned then (why do they always have to go to the back room to get your room location and then come back with keys...I wish they would show you the available choices before they "select one in the back room for you").

Also is it worth asking for a "upgrade" at check in when we have a theme park view...what would the upgrade be to? Is it possible to ask for a reduced rate on conceirge at check-in if a theme park, conceirge room was available or does the GCH do stuff like that (like they do in Las Vegas). I don't want to upset anyone by asking. Does anyone know if you truly get your room assigned when you check in (so if you arrived at 9:00pm that night you'd get the rooms that were left at that time) or if they assign your rooms prior. What if you are unable to arrive close to check in time (as calling in by phone to pre-check in did nothing for us last year). Is it better to call VP and see what the pricing on upgrades are now........I'm always scared they'll mess up my existing reservations as they look you up and say they'll plug in the request to your existing reservation, instead of just giving you a quote.
Then they seem to "redo" your current reservation to "get it back in the system"

We have a 5 day park hopper. I want a 6 day park hopper. I have called VP a few times to add Fantasmic PV and lots of PS requests. Each time the various CM's on the phone tell me to add to the park hopper when I check in.......but won't they have everything printed up in the check in packet? It's like they refuse to add to it on the phone. And I am silly enough to say "OK " and not question why. I'd like to have everything set up when I arrive...is it because they don't have 6 day park hoppers?

Lastly, is it reasonable to think that the crowds should be better the time we are there (up until the Labor Day weekend when I know it will explode)? We were hoping most schools would be in that week.

 

[orangeryno]

I have had several of these questions myself, I will be looking forward to the answers. Especially about how upgrades are handled. I think I have been to Vegas one too many times.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Subscribing, I always ask for anything I want. All they can do is say sorry. I was told by a CM at GCH that the rooms are not pre-assigned. You get what is available at the time you check in based on you noted requests. We will see.

Jack

 

[Golfing Goofy]

Well, I will try to help you....not sure if i can, but here it goes: I think that if you are getting a reservation with the "Walt Disney Travel", you should add on over the phone with them prior to your trip and then it will be a part of your package. In fact, I just did that. They have different prices than the hotel.

But, if you made your reservations through the hotel, then I guess you can add on days when you arrive?? I am not sure. We have stayed at the GC and have purchased individual tickets and AP's for our guests at the front desk. That has never been a problem. But, we never added on to our current tickets.

I have never added on to my tickets through the VP office.

We are going to be there at the same time as you....I think it will be less crowded as the room rates were cheaper and the hours are shorter. We will be out of there by Friday, though. Want to avoid the marathon crowds....

HTH.

 

[bumbershoot]

How did you make your reservation? Is it a package, or is it a room only reservation that you've added a ticket purchase to?

If it's a package, just change the package (assuming you're still in the change timeframe).

If it's hotel-only, just drop the tickets entirely, and buy them online at disneyland.com. Well, before doing that, check how much you're paying for those tickets. Then compare that to the discounts at disneyland.com (DLR offers pre-purchase discounts while WDW doesn't generally do that through disneyworld.com). If disneyland.com is lower, just buy them there. Use the e-ticket option...have them emailed to a web-based email (gmail, hotmail...just not something like outlook...you want something you can access from ANY computer), print out your e-tickets. When you're going to the first park, go up to the turnstiles, hand over the e-tickets, they'll scan them and your real tickets will be printed right there. So easy.


I don't know the layout of GCH to know if theme park view and close to elevators is any sort of oxymoron. But with a 2 year old (heck, with my 5 year old), kidlet is in a stroller in the early AM! My dude always WANTS to walk, but I have no interest in him being tired from the very beginning (especially b/c I'm always in a hurry in the morning). Note: we are not otherwise a stroller-using family, I didn't even OWN one when he was 2...but we rented them at Disneyland, and bought them later for Disney. They are very important for disney to us...



editing to add... about the tickets, talk to the place where you made your reservation. I'm not sure who you're talking to, but go back to the source, if you haven't yet done that.