How to get room upgrade

[Lexje06]

I keep seeing people mention this but am confused

I booked a pool view for AKL. we land Saturday morning how do I request a savanna room? Do I have to pay more?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Typically, yes, you have to pay more. Upgrades are extremely rare, sometimes as actual pixie dust but more frequently due to resort needs.

 

[Searc]

I keep seeing people mention this but am confused

I booked a pool view for AKL. we land Saturday morning how do I request a savanna room? Do I have to pay more?

You book and pay for the room you want.

 

[hereforthechurros]

You ask if Savannah is available because you want to upgrade and if they say yes you pay the difference. Should be easy if they have availability!

 

[buzznina]

It never hurts to ask i.e. "It would really be nice if we could see the savannah from our room" the worse that can happen is they say "sorry none available".

 

[cakebaker]

You don’t do anything- it does seem like it happens a lot, but in reality it doesn’t. Most times it’s due to an issue at the resort and they need to move you. I’ve been going for decades and got my first upgrade ever last year.

 

[fairygagamother]

We have gotten a savannah view room multiple times while having a standard view reservation. I think some of the standard view rooms might include a slight savannah view. I’m always surprised & thankful for even a not glorious animal view! But I’ve also had the dreaded parking lot view! So nothing is guaranteed that you might get a savannah-ish view if you’ve reserved a standard. The suggestion to pleasantly ask for a partial view is a good recommendation.

 

[rangerxenos]

We have gotten a savannah view room multiple times while having a standard view reservation. I think some of the standard view rooms might include a slight savannah view. I’m always surprised & thankful for even a not glorious animal view! But I’ve also had the dreaded parking lot view! So nothing is guaranteed that you might get a savannah-ish view if you’ve reserved a standard. The suggestion to pleasantly ask for a partial view is a good recommendation.

Many of the Standard rooms have what's considered a partial Savannah view. I've stayed at AKL three times, and requested a partial view Standard every time, and been lucky enough to get one. Be aware, those rooms are often a long walk from the lobby. I don't mind, I love to watch the animals.

 

[Lynne M]

The thing with message boards is, people tend to post about unusual stuff. Nobody goes to the trouble of posting to say "I got the room type I booked!" Upgrades get talked about here because they're really rare. They're sort of the vacation equivalent of hitting the lottery, and people love to talk about that pixie dust.

Complimentary upgrades are assigned days before the guest arrives, and they're done to suit the resort's needs, not because of anything you've said or done. It really is a matter of being in the right place at the right time - you happened to book a room type for a certain date range, and they need to free up that room during those particular dates.

So...if you really, really want a savannah view room, you can call and try to change your reservation, or you can wait till you arrive and ask if you can get one of those partial savannah view rooms, or ask to upgrade to savannah view. A standard room that's got the partial savannah view won't cost anything more, it's just a request. If you do ask to be upgraded to a savannah view room, they'll quote you the difference in price.

 

[AngiTN]

You do nothing.
Think of room upgrades as a gift. Do you ask for gifts? I know I don't.
You book your resort/room.
Then you show up and get your room.
If it's upgraded, great. You got a gift. If it's not, you got what you booked.

 

[Lexje06]

The thing with message boards is, people tend to post about unusual stuff. Nobody goes to the trouble of posting to say "I got the room type I booked!" Upgrades get talked about here because they're really rare. They're sort of the vacation equivalent of hitting the lottery, and people love to talk about that pixie dust.

Complimentary upgrades are assigned days before the guest arrives, and they're done to suit the resort's needs, not because of anything you've said or done. It really is a matter of being in the right place at the right time - you happened to book a room type for a certain date range, and they need to free up that room during those particular dates.

So...if you really, really want a savannah view room, you can call and try to change your reservation, or you can wait till you arrive and ask if you can get one of those partial savannah view rooms, or ask to upgrade to savannah view. A standard room that's got the partial savannah view won't cost anything more, it's just a request. If you do ask to be upgraded to a savannah view room, they'll quote you the difference in price.

Thank you. This makes so much sense. I just have seen a lot of posts/ comments about it. Wasn’t sure if it’s a last minute “we have these rooms available so we will upgrade you if you ask” type thing- or a random fluke. Thanks for clarifying

 

[Lexje06]

You do nothing.
Think of room upgrades as a gift. Do you ask for gifts? I know I don't.
You book your resort/room.
Then you show up and get your room.
If it's upgraded, great. You got a gift. If it's not, you got what you booked.

This makes sense. I never even knew it existed until coming on here. I’ve seen a lot of posts talking about getting an upgrade, asking for an upgrade etc. this will be first time in Disney in over 15 years so I appreciate your clarification

 

[Luvs Mickey]

When we were at AKL last December, we checked in at the desk. We booked a pool view and I asked the CM if it was possible to have a partial savanna view, which is still standard view.

They got on the phone and the CM stated with some pixie dust we were upgraded to savanna view.

As others have stated, it does happen but should not be expected.

I may be one of the exceptions here but I like checking in at the desk instead of online and working directly with a CM. If we don’t get a location request, for example, it never hurts to ask if that location is available because it’s likely things have changed since our room was assigned days prior.

 

[SillySallySews]

You don’t do anything- it does seem like it happens a lot, but in reality it doesn’t. Most times it’s due to an issue at the resort and they need to move you. I’ve been going for decades and got my first upgrade ever last year.

100% this. We were booked for a deluxe room at BWI four years ago and were pixie dusted with the Sonora Suite. It was great, for sure, but it only happened because they oversold our room type. I’ve been going since 1983 and never experienced anything like that, nor has anyone else we know. It doesn’t hurt to ask, and it does seem to go in spurts... I feel like I read about it happening here a lot and then no one mentions it for awhile, so it does make me wonder!

 

[cakebaker]

100% this. We were booked for a deluxe room at BWI four years ago and were pixie dusted with the Sonora Suite. It was great, for sure, but it only happened because they oversold our room type. I’ve been going since 1983 and never experienced anything like that, nor has anyone else we know. It doesn’t hurt to ask, and it does seem to go in spurts... I feel like I read about it happening here a lot and then no one mentions it for awhile, so it does make me wonder!

What's strange for us is we got an upgrade every stay since then this year. In October we were upgraded to a water view at the YC. Stayed there again in May, upgraded from standard to a pirate room at CBR for 1 night, then from standard to CL at the YC the next day for the rest of our trip. In August we got upgraded to a water view at Grand Destino then our string was broken at AKL, but we had a CL level reservation so really nowhere to go from there since the only upgrade for CL would be a DVC unit and those are never open. Maybe they were making up for all those years I never got anything! lol

The upgrade to CL was clearly a case of a problem with the room I had reserved. We were very late getting our room- nearly 5pm. I was actually on my way to ask what the heck was going on when I got a txt to go to the desk to discuss my reservation. I was sure they were going to try and move me, not a happy camper at all until I found out what was going on. I'll take a late room any day of the week if they want to do that!

 

[SillySallySews]

What's strange for us is we got an upgrade every stay since then this year. In October we were upgraded to a water view at the YC. Stayed there again in May, upgraded from standard to a pirate room at CBR for 1 night, then from standard to CL at the YC the next day for the rest of our trip. In August we got upgraded to a water view at Grand Destino then our string was broken at AKL, but we had a CL level reservation so really nowhere to go from there since the only upgrade for CL would be a DVC unit and those are never open.

Maybe they were making up for all those years I never got anything! lol

Oh my, that is A LOT of pixie dust!

 

[cakebaker]

Oh my, that is A LOT of pixie dust!

I definitely have hit my quota- not looking to get anymore for a long time, if ever.

 

[Miffy]

We often stay at AKL and until recently always booked pool view. We were upgraded to savanna view several times without our mentioning anything, but we have also not been upgraded when we asked and were willing to pay, since there were no savanna-view rooms available for our complete stay, and we didn't want to change rooms. So--it all depends.

One thing about the pool-view rooms at AKL: there are good pool views and terrible pool views. At least, to me. I realize others may not agree. But there are pool-view rooms there that are directly over the roofing for the lower floors and there's only a sliver of a view of the pool and mostly a view of the thatched roof. When we've gotten rooms like this, we've asked to be moved to another pool-view room and they've accommodated us.

There are some pool-view rooms that have kind of a distant partial savanna view. I've had rooms like that, where you can see past the pool to the edge of the savannah that's on the other side of the flamingo pond.

But, in case you don't get upgraded (either by pixie dust or paying), know that most of the pool-view rooms at AKL have lovely views and many of them are super conveniently located to the Mara (the QS restaurant), which is a plus.

Enjoy your trip! AKL is awesome!!!

ETA: There are some rooms at AKL (all views, I think) that are significantly smaller than their standard rooms. For some reason, we've had these rooms a couple of times recently. These rooms don't have the extra dresser--they have only the 2-drawer dresser that's in the TV cabinet. If you're traveling with your kids, for example, you wouldn't have enough space to put all your stuff. It's possible that we were assigned these rooms because there're just 2 of us, but I actually don't know. Once we asked to be moved and it was easily done. The last time this happened, we had such a spectacular savanna view that we just lived with the more limited storage.

 

[KenHutch]

We have been to WDW 5 times and I always book standard view. 4 times we have received an upgrade when we check in. Most it had been Garden View but they do it when we check in. Last year we stayed at AKL and I booked standard view. They put use above one of the people pens with a spectacular view of the savanna. When doing the online checkin I just ask if at all possible for a view of anything but parking lot. Disney really does try to make people happy. I am hoping our luck continues thru trip #6. We are staying at the Poly for 10 days. I book standard because we have to have 2 rooms and that gets pricey.

 

[AngiTN]

I may be one of the exceptions here but I like checking in at the desk instead of online and working directly with a CM. If we don’t get a location request, for example, it never hurts to ask if that location is available because it’s likely things have changed since our room was assigned days prior.

Guess this is a very common misconception that I can't quite figure out.
You and everyone else should realize, checking in online does not prevent you from going to the front desk, especially if you aren't happy with your room. But even if you want to too.