Guaranteed Connecting Rooms For Families

[TheRatPack]

I'd like to hear it from an actual family that this happened to (dad in one room with kids, mom in another with kids)...not it happened to someone else on this board, or it happened to my SIL's family, cousin's family, friend's family, etc.

Just my two cents.

Well, we had it happen. We checked in last year (2 adults and 5 children) and the desk clerk said "you'll be in the 80's building and the 50's"...HUH? I asked about it and he said that we had 2 rooms, and started to show me on the map where they were located. I told him I needed connecting since it was my husband and myself with our 5 children. It took them about 10 minutes but they were finally able to clean some rooms and get us a connecting, but they saw no problem in giving us separate rooms.

It really wouldn't be much of a vacation if we had to spend it separate like that so I'm glad they made the effort to find us connecting.

Oh and our ressies for this year don't say guaranteed connecting they say under the special notes section that we're 'traveling with' and list the other half of our family.

 

[PA Princess]

Raising my hand as another family who has had issues with connecting rooms. We have 4 children, and we stayed deluxe for as long as that would accommodate our family and moved to moderates after that.

In a total of 5 trips where we have had a need for connecting rooms, we have had issues on 3 of those trips (and they have all occurred in the last 4years with our last trip in August 2008).

First trip needing two rooms we stayed at CBR, booked preferred, and were told about the guaranteed connecting for family. We checked in about noon, were told the rooms connected, arrived at the rooms and they did not connect (they adjoined).

We went back and forth, but no connecting available in preferred. We could have moved after two days, but that seemed too disruptive. Dh stayed with the boys in one room and I stayed with the girls in the other. It was okay - not ideal, but not a vacation destroyer by any means.

All 4 other trips were to POFQ, and on 2 of those trips we arrived at the resort to check in and were told we did not have connecting rooms. We nicely asked them to see if they could meet our request (the only request we ever make BTW). Both times they were able to find connecting rooms.

The other two trips we were assigned connecting rooms from the start.

That is our experience with needing two rooms for a family with 4 kids and 2 parents. My advice is to request only the connecting rooms and to avoid booking preferred sections.

 

[mjkacmom]

If you are every making a reservation at Disney and you want two rooms with a door in between you must ask for connecting rooms. Adjoining rooms just means beside or near each other.

I meant to say connecting, which is what I asked for. I don't fault them - because I knew about my dd's choir competition, I made the reservations months in advance, and they probably had no idea that they would be renovating the only connecting rooms when I made the reservation.

 

[surfgirl]

"guaranteed" in hotel-speak is worthless.

We stayed at a hotel (not disney, but a well respected corporate chain) for an event... all hotels around were sold out. We had actually prepaid this reservation since that was their requirement. When we went to check in, no rooms were available. They didn't even offer help with trying to 'walk' us to another hotel... sorry out of luck. They weren't even talking about refunding us money!

They had an 'overstay' situation. In that state, if someone extended their stay in a hotel room an extra night, the hotel is not allowed to legally kick them out. They ended up 'finding' the conference room with a rollaway bed (and no door lock on it). It had been used that day complete with cold coffee on the table.

I've always wondered... if I want to get a hotel room and they are sold out, should I just check in the day before and not check out ? Can they forcebly (sp?) remove you and belongings ?

 

[momof3+twins]

Oh, don't worry about it. There are a bunch of alarmists on this board when this subject comes up and they scare the crap out of everybody telling them it's not ever a guarantee. Yes, there is a minute possibility that in a very crowded time of the year, like summer or the holiday season, that you may not get a connecting room. It's a very remote possiblity and not worth stressing out about. And also, Disney is not going to cart you out for being mad or having a "trantrum." God knows I've seen enough of those in all of the trips we have been to Disney and I've never seen security called. And if Disney really want to stop "upsetting" everybody then they should stop printing "guaranteed" on their reservations receipt.

Also, just an FYI, a teacher friend of mine who has four kids told me recently that a couple of years ago when they checked into Pop during Thanksgiving week, they were out of connecting rooms and upgraded them to Carribean Beach Resort. Now, I'm not saying that they do that a lot, but it does happen.

Lighten up people.[/QUOTE

Very well put! I actually came to this board because everyone wanted to argue about this on the other board. I have been very disappointed that the same thing is happening here.
Thank you for bringing this to the attention of fellow disboarders!!!!="magenta"][/COLOR]

 

[maxiesmom]

Oh, don't worry about it. There are a bunch of alarmists on this board when this subject comes up and they scare the crap out of everybody telling them it's not ever a guarantee. Yes, there is a minute possibility that in a very crowded time of the year, like summer or the holiday season, that you may not get a connecting room. It's a very remote possiblity and not worth stressing out about. And also, Disney is not going to cart you out for being mad or having a "trantrum." God knows I've seen enough of those in all of the trips we have been to Disney and I've never seen security called. And if Disney really want to stop "upsetting" everybody then they should stop printing "guaranteed" on their reservations receipt.

Also, just an FYI, a teacher friend of mine who has four kids told me recently that a couple of years ago when they checked into Pop during Thanksgiving week, they were out of connecting rooms and upgraded them to Carribean Beach Resort. Now, I'm not saying that they do that a lot, but it does happen.

Lighten up people.[/QUOTE

Very well put! I actually came to this board because everyone wanted to argue about this on the other board. I have been very disappointed that the same thing is happening here.
Thank you for bringing this to the attention of fellow disboarders!!!!="magenta"][/COLOR]

So are you just disregarding the experiences that TheRatPack and PA Princess had? Do you think they are making up stories?

I would think most people would rather be aware that they may have a problem with their supposed "Guaranteed Connecting Rooms" so they can have some knowledge of what to do if they are one of the unlucky families who don't get their "Guaranteed Connecting Rooms". I'm not sure why some posters just want to deny that those experiences DO happen.

It is kind of like ignoring the safety spiel on airplanes (though on a much smaller scale). Yes, you probably won't have occasion to use that info, but if you do need it you are happy to have it.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

This is one of the reasons we booked offsite for our next trip. We are two adults and two children and we want two rooms so that kids can go to sleep in separate room as they won't go to sleep if they can see the grownups! I wasn't willing to take the chance on getting there and not having connecting rooms when at that point it's too late to do anything about it.

I totally understand that there are a limited number of connecting rooms, but it seems like reservations could be made in such a way that you'd know in advance whether or not you could have them.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

So are you just disregarding the experiences that TheRatPack and PA Princess had? Do you think they are making up stories?

I would think most people would rather be aware that they may have a problem with their supposed "Guaranteed Connecting Rooms" so they can have some knowledge of what to do if they are one of the unlucky families who don't get their "Guaranteed Connecting Rooms". I'm not sure why some posters just want to deny that those experiences DO happen.

It is kind of like ignoring the safety spiel on airplanes (though on a much smaller scale). Yes, you probably won't have occasion to use that info, but if you do need it you are happy to have it.

Apparently you did not read my entire post. I did say there is a minute possibility that you may not get the connecting rooms, it's just not a big enough chance to really stress out about. And I'm sorry, but did I misread, TheRatPack did get there connecting rooms, didn't they?.

Every single time this subject comes up on a thread you turn it into some horrible debate and imply how stupid everybody is for not heeding your all-knowing warnings about the connecting rooms issue. I mean give your warning and then give it a rest. I truly wish you would stop badgering and trying to belittle everyone that doesn't agree with you on this subject.

 

[maxiesmom]

Apparently you did not read my entire post. I did say there is a minute possibility that you may not get the connecting rooms, it's just not a big enough chance to really stress out about. And I'm sorry, but did I misread, TheRatPack did get there connecting rooms, didn't they?.

Every single time this subject comes up on a thread you turn it into some horrible debate and imply how stupid everybody is for not heeding your all-knowing warnings about the connecting rooms issue. I mean give your warning and then give it a rest. I truly wish you would stop badgering and trying to belittle everyone that doesn't agree with you on this subject.

I have never badgered or belittled anyone! But I also refuse to lie to people and tell them yeah, you are 100% guaranteed getting your connecting rooms what that is simply not true! To do so it to chance their vacation possibly having huge issues, and I won't do that to another Diser.

I have also repeatedly stated that the chances of not getting connecting rooms are small, but it is possible! I think that when we post we all have the responsibility to stick to the facts, and not just post what people want to hear or want to believe to be true.

 

[crisi]

Apparently you did not read my entire post. I did say there is a minute possibility that you may not get the connecting rooms, it's just not a big enough chance to really stress out about. And I'm sorry, but did I misread, TheRatPack did get there connecting rooms, didn't they?.

Every single time this subject comes up on a thread you turn it into some horrible debate and imply how stupid everybody is for not heeding your all-knowing warnings about the connecting rooms issue. I mean give your warning and then give it a rest. I truly wish you would stop badgering and trying to belittle everyone that doesn't agree with you on this subject.

And that is exactly what the "alarmists" are saying as well. No one is saying "OMG!!! That happens all the time!" People are saying "It does happen, and you may have very little recourse."

Want to then end the conversation - don't participate further.

 

[taximomfor4]

I am just a person on a message board, but I now only book connecting rooms if I am WILLING to, if necessary, split my family into 2 rooms. Now, here's the link to a thread from our first family trip to WDW...and our issue when we depended on "guaranteed connecting rooms for families."

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=8215890

On that trip, I was the only parent for part of the stay, so non-connecting was a not going to work. And it doesn't address how long I was truly in the lobby trying to get the problem resolved *(we were willing to move to ANY resort).