Hotel for one night - WWYD?

[flortlebap]

Hi all

We have an 8 night stay booked for September of this year.

Virgin have cancelled our flight so we have decided to travel a day earlier to a avoid losing half a day of our holiday by getting bumped to a later flight.

We have booked through WDW, 14 day tix & free dining. However, I'm guessing we can't get our MBs and activate our tickets until what is now the second day of our trip. The other complicating factor is we don't have a hire car and we have booked ME transfers.

So I guess our options are...

1. Try and add another night to our YC booking, paying an extra £300 for one night and potentially losing our FD(?)

2. Book into a different Disney hotel (but this way I guess no tix/MBs until day 2(?)

3. Book a cheap Idrive hotel and relax on our first day with no parks.

4. Book a universal hotel and spend our first day there, taking advantage of xpress passes - but paying for a taxi there from the airport!

What would you do? Is there an option I'm missing?

 

[wilma-bride]

I would go with secret option number 5) Take the later flight. In reality, how much will you actually be missing that first day? You won't be able to do anything that first night as you won't have park tickets so I can't really understand what you aim to achieve by flying in the day before and forking out for an extra night's accommodation.

 

[2Tiggies]

You wont lose your Free Dining if you add to your existing reservation. I also had a canceled flight and added a day to our stay but I added a day at the end which makes things simpler.

Will the airline not let you come back a day later? I'd phone and ask if I were you. As far as I know if you arrive later on the outbound you should also have the option to add time to your return.

Is one extra day worth £300 to you?

If you want to do Universal that would be my second choice after the above. I would not want to be transferring resorts at Disney on my first full day of vacation. Especially not on a short trip so staying at a different Disney resort would be out for me.

Just my 2c

 

[flortlebap]

I would go with secret option number 5) Take the later flight. In reality, how much will you actually be missing that first day? You won't be able to do anything that first night as you won't have park tickets so I can't really understand what you aim to achieve by flying in the day before and forking out for an extra night's accommodation.

Thanks, but to us the additional half day really matters as we are night owls. If we went to Universal or added to our current WDW booking, we would have park tickets for the entire time so that wouldn't be an issue.

You wont lose your Free Dining if you add to your existing reservation. I also had a canceled flight and added a day to our stay but I added a day at the end which makes things simpler.

Will the airline not let you come back a day later? I'd phone and ask if I were you. As far as I know if you arrive later on the outbound you should also have the option to add time to your return.

Is one extra day worth £300 to you?

If you want to do Universal that would be my second choice after the above. I would not want to be transferring resorts at Disney on my first full day of vacation. Especially not on a short trip so staying at a different Disney resort would be out for me.

Just my 2c

Thanks and this is what I'm toying with - £300 is a lot for one extra day plus a few hours! But it's good to know we won't lose FD if we did do this

Coming back a day late isn't an option unfortunately as the flight price is crazy expensive and they won't switch us for free

Universal might be the best bet - we are buying tickets anyway so this could be a good option for us in the long run

 

[Elise79]

I am with Joh and would just take the later flight. We have done short trips and those 2 hours really don't make any difference. I certainly would change flights until a day earlier for that.

Otherwise the only option I would do would be to extend my existing booking - no way would I be moving hotels for an 8 night stay.

 

[Samaya]

Hopefully you can add the extra night and still keep the free dining but if that's not an option and you go for number 3, a cheap Idrive hotel then also check out the cheaper Disney hotel prices in September.

On Expedia one night in the Disney's All-Star Sports Resort cost £45 and through Quidco there's currently 12% cashback.

That means you can still get Disney's Magical Express and if you get up early the next morning and take your luggage to the front desk they will transported them over to the YC.

You can check into the YC from 6am so giving you a full day and the use of the parks and dining plan. Room will be ready for 3pm but you might be extremely lucky and a room will be available right away.

Or what about booking in Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort for £80.90 on Expedia or even a standard room at the Yacht Club for £143.51 and at check in you might have a very helpful castmember who will check you into the room type you've purchased through WDW so no room change and even if you do need to move it will be a lot easier.

 

[flortlebap]

I am with Joh and would just take the later flight. We have done short trips and those 2 hours really don't make any difference. I certainly would change flights until a day earlier for that.

Otherwise the only option I would do would be to extend my existing booking - no way would I be moving hotels for an 8 night stay.

The moving part doesn't bother me as we wouldn't need to pack and unpack, the small bits we need would be fine in an accessible compartment.

Hopefully you can add the extra night and still keep the free dining but if that's not an option and you go for number 3, a cheap Idrive hotel then also check out the cheaper Disney hotel prices in September.

On Expedia one night in the Disney's All-Star Sports Resort cost £45 and through Quidco there's currently 12% cashback.

That means you can still get Disney's Magical Express and if you get up early the next morning and take your luggage to the front desk they will transported them over to the YC.

You can check into the YC from 6am so giving you a full day and the use of the parks and dining plan. Room will be ready for 3pm but you might be extremely lucky and a room will be available right away.

Or what about booking in Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort for £80.90 on Expedia or even a standard room at the Yacht Club for £143.51 and at check in you might have a very helpful castmember who will check you into the room type you've purchased through WDW so no room change and even if you do need to move it will be a lot easier.

This is a great idea, thanks even if the room wasn't ready we could grab our tickets after check in and head to a park early I didn't realise they would transport your luggage! And keeping ME would be a great bonus!

 

[tinkerpea]

I would stay at universal, that way with the free FOL pass you would get quite a bit done that day and can enjoy city walk, you could then also go to universal the next day for a few hours and have early entry into the new Harry potter section " it's not confirmed they will do early entry BUT more then likely"

This way you don't lose out on much on the transfer day as your a stone throw away from one park then transfer to be a stone throw away from another