I'm confused... Extend my reservation?

[purplevalentine]

I'm traveling to DisneyWorld this Sept. and will be staying at CB resort. First timing staying at CB. I booked my package from 9/9 -9/14 under the free dining promo. I will be traveling with my mom who is coming from Charlotte, NC. I am coming from MD. We've already booked our flights to Orlando on 9/9 but not coming home yet. I've been waiting on prices to adjust for my mom's flight home to Charlotte as mine has been pretty steady. This morning I noticed prices have gone down for her flight home but on 9/15 which is a Saturday instead of our intended date of Friday. Her one-way flight on our original Friday date was upwards to $420 one way non-stop! Flying home the next day would be $49 non-stop. This is a no brainer to me. My questions are:

1. Could I extend my vacation by one day at the resort?

2. And still be on the promo for free dining? Or will I have to pay out of pocket.

3. Is it worth it to make the change for an extra day? I think i priced the hotel night at $200.

It's been one of those types of mornings so I can't think straight!

Thanks,
Karen

 

[MMS1125]

even if you extend a day it's 249 dollars counting the room...vs 420 for just the flight alone so to me it's a no brainer even if you can't extend with the free dining. You still get the credits til 1159pm the night of original departure so you'd really only be out for your travel home day. Worst case you should be able to get at least a room discount for that extra night if you do a separate reservation (there's a promo right now for 25% off for your dates)

 

[Disney DayDreamer]

This same exact scenerio happened for us last night. We booked our package with free dining Sat 9/22-9/29, however, we didn't make our airfare arrangements, as we were waiting for the prices to drop or a special sale. Well yesterday finally Airtran dropped their prices quite a bit going to disney but the Saturday flights are all still outrageous. So I'm getting to the 3 month mark and I'm worried they will only go up from here. I saw a $138 return flight on Sunday.

I called Disney twice (Just to see if we could get 2 different answers) and got the same answer. The free dining promo booking period is over, and the computers can't honor any adjustments or additions for that time period right now. So I was able to at least book our room for one more night. Currently we have 2 rooms - one for me, DH, DD9 and one room for my parents. Just to keep it cheap as possible, we just booked 1 room for the 5 of us, as POR has a pull out bed my DD9 can sleep on. It cost us $266 or $268. The difference in the Sat & Sun fights is $395. So as long as our food and tickets upgrades stay in the $125 range, we won't be out any additional money, but we will be getting 1 whole extra day and night at Disney.

So yes, you can probably book a room as a separate reservation, which is what I had to do, for 1 night, no 1 night discounts that I was aware of. You won't be able to get an addtional night of free dining though. But if the cost in flight is more than the cost of the room, I think it's worth it. If we plan accordingly throughout the week, we might still have at least 1 counter service meal each left for our Sat, then we might just have to pay for dinner and a quick breakfast the next day.

 

[csjordan]

I'm traveling to DisneyWorld this Sept. and will be staying at CB resort. First timing staying at CB. I booked my package from 9/9 -9/14 under the free dining promo. I will be traveling with my mom who is coming from Charlotte, NC. I am coming from MD. We've already booked our flights to Orlando on 9/9 but not coming home yet. I've been waiting on prices to adjust for my mom's flight home to Charlotte as mine has been pretty steady. This morning I noticed prices have gone down for her flight home but on 9/15 which is a Saturday instead of our intended date of Friday. Her one-way flight on our original Friday date was upwards to $420 one way non-stop! Flying home the next day would be $49 non-stop. This is a no brainer to me. My questions are:

1. Could I extend my vacation by one day at the resort?

2. And still be on the promo for free dining? Or will I have to pay out of pocket.

3. Is it worth it to make the change for an extra day? I think i priced the hotel night at $200.

It's been one of those types of mornings so I can't think straight!

Thanks,
Karen

If it was me, I would extend the vacation.

If you take $420 and subtract the $49...that's a $371 difference in ticket price. Subtract the $200 (for the hotel) from the $371 and you're still up $171. The price of an extra day in the parks (park ticket for 7 days instead of 6??) will be minimal. If you check in under free dining, you will receive free dining throughout the duration of your stay, assuming they can alter your reservation, at this point. You still come out ahead AND get to spend an extra day at WDW! To me, it's a win/win situation!

Have fun on vacay!!!

 

[KELLY]

This same exact scenerio happened for us last night. We booked our package with free dining Sat 9/22-9/29, however, we didn't make our airfare arrangements, as we were waiting for the prices to drop or a special sale. Well yesterday finally Airtran dropped their prices quite a bit going to disney but the Saturday flights are all still outrageous. So I'm getting to the 3 month mark and I'm worried they will only go up from here. I saw a $138 return flight on Sunday.

I called Disney twice (Just to see if we could get 2 different answers) and got the same answer. The free dining promo booking period is over, and the computers can't honor any adjustments or additions for that time period right now. So I was able to at least book our room for one more night. Currently we have 2 rooms - one for me, DH, DD9 and one room for my parents. Just to keep it cheap as possible, we just booked 1 room for the 5 of us, as POR has a pull out bed my DD9 can sleep on. It cost us $266 or $268. The difference in the Sat & Sun fights is $395. So as long as our food and tickets upgrades stay in the $125 range, we won't be out any additional money, but we will be getting 1 whole extra day and night at Disney.

So yes, you can probably book a room as a separate reservation, which is what I had to do, for 1 night, no 1 night discounts that I was aware of. You won't be able to get an addtional night of free dining though. But if the cost in flight is more than the cost of the room, I think it's worth it. If we plan accordingly throughout the week, we might still have at least 1 counter service meal each left for our Sat, then we might just have to pay for dinner and a quick breakfast the next day.

Sorry but you were given the wrong info twice. Cm's don't want to have to call guest services. But guest services can switch it for you once the promo is over. As long as there is availability at the resort. But you need to be firm with some cm's that you need to talk to guest services because the promo is over. It will take a bit of time so just make sure you have it when you make the call..

 

[RBrigman3]

Guest Services can do things that regular Disney travel operators cannot do. They have helped me tremendously! (I recently had to cancel a reservation because my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.) I cannot stress this enough, they are miracle makers in guest services. Good luck!

 

[thelionqueen]

I agree, I've had occasion when I needed to change a free dining date and didn't have any problem. With Disney it really does matter who you talk to, how long they've been there, how knowledgable they are and how interested in helping you they are. In general I'd say about 90% of CM's will go "above and beyond" to help. That 10% requires knowledge and being friendly but persistent. Good luck!

 

[purplevalentine]

I agree, I've had occasion when I needed to change a free dining date and didn't have any problem. With Disney it really does matter who you talk to, how long they've been there, how knowledgable they are and how interested in helping you they are. In general I'd say about 90% of CM's will go "above and beyond" to help. That 10% requires knowledge and being friendly but persistent. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. My flights are booked. Unfortunately we missed that $49 flight for my mom. Do you believe it went back up to $421 ! We did fine another flight on Airtran for $60. Much better! I called Disney and got our reservation changed over for the extra day. I asked about the free dining and the CM told be it would be until check out day.

Karen

 

[thelionqueen]

Thanks for the advice. My flights are booked. Unfortunately we missed that $49 flight for my mom. Do you believe it went back up to $421 ! We did fine another flight on Airtran for $60. Much better! I called Disney and got our reservation changed over for the extra day. I asked about the free dining and the CM told be it would be until check out day.

Karen

Awesome! Glad it worked out for you!