Just rec'd call from CRO about POFQ ressie

[welovedis]

For those that are wondering about their call from the CMs at the CRO, please check out the main thread we are trying to post to here on the resorts board:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=353419

I did hear from the CRO yesterday and the info I was told is posted there. Deluxes upgrades (for an additional fee) are *supposed* to be in their system by the end of the week at the latest per the CM I spoke with. She called me and we had a lengthy conversation regarding the PO closing situation.

HTH!

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by disneydave2003
I know this thought isn't going to be popular but I think it only makes sense that if you are booked in a moderate and have to be moved for whatever reason, that they place you in another moderate. Disney shouldn't have to offer a deluxe room for $10, $20 or $30 more than you are paying for the moderate. JMHO

dave

I tend to agree. I think that if so many had wanted a deluxe in the first place then they should have booked it. You never see anyone in this situation going quietly to another moderate. Most of them say how they cannot stand any other moderate but you never see anyone say that about the deluxes! LOL! That being said I would probably be hoping for the same!

 

[chancellor]

I just wanted to be clear that the only "concession" I wanted from Disney was to open up some more discounted (Fl. resident) rooms at WL or CR. I do not think this is much to ask in light of the fact that they announced the complete closure of a resort with only 30 days notice, when many, many people already have reservations there. I originally wanted to stay at WL, however there were so few discounted rooms available that they were all gone for my dates the afternoon that the code came out. So I booked POFQ as a compromise. I can tell from Disney's web site that there are plenty of rooms available at rack rate. And I won't even discuss the lack of AP rates.

Despite my inclinations to move offsite (call me a sucker), I agreed to take a WL cabin which was available at a Fl. resident discount of $154 a night. This is DOUBLE what I was paying at POFQ, but is still a good rate for that room. I was hoping for the convenience of WL or CR, but being able to park my car right in front of the cabin seemed a reasonable compromise, despite the fact that FW does not have great transportation options. Notably, however, this was no concession on the part of Disney - the cabin was available to me at that rate had I just called to make a ressie today.

Bottom line: all of the frustration could have been avoided if Disney had simply given the CMs the authority to apply the discount code used at POFQ to a deluxe room, if they were available at rack rate. I think this would have been an appropriate customer-service oriented move (and would not have cost them much, if anything, since they were willing to rent the rooms at that rate and they may otherwise go empty). I know we may all be spoiled by discounts (note the ranting about AP rates), but Disney has established a business practice of offering these rates to certain "market segments" (to use CRO's term), and if they're going to discontinue that, they should tell me BEFORE I make a reservation so I can take my business elsewhere.

Of course, what really ticks me off is that I am now going to end up spending twice as much money and still probably have a really great time. Definitely a sucker.

 

[photobob]

Well my vacation is about six weeks away and my POFQ ressies are out the window, I'm hoping to be offered an upgrade because I really don't want to go to POR or CBR, I wouldn't mind going to CS but it isn't being offered. I've wheeled and dealed until I got the rate and resort I wanted and now 46 days out I don't know where I'm going and have been planning this trip for two years. I'm the person responsible for having three rooms for two families. So I think an upgrade isn't a bad policy, we make the ressie and then they closed the resort. Hopefully, Poly here I come with an outrageously low rate...

 

[DisneyFreaks]

I just have to add my two cents here. The first time they closed PO/FQ we went "quietly" to another moderate. When they closed CBR we went "quietly" to another moderate. This time due to an injured tendon in my leg I honestly don't think I can manage the size of the other moderates. We are stumped as to what to do. We have had several family pow wows about just cancelling this trip {which was booked several months ago} altogether. I am just sick with disappointment. Disney made this mess but we're the ones stuck with the heartache.

 

[justhat]

As I posted before, I don't understand that logic that since I booked POFQ, under the assumption that i would be fully functioning at the time of my stay, that now that it will be closed during my stay, I should have to stay at another hotel worth the same rate that I did not ever want to stay in. If I had wanted to stay at another moderate, I would have booked a resort other than POFQ, but since I dd in fact book POFQ, it is implied that I wanted to stay at that particular resort. I did not call CRO and say "Hey, I need 2 rooms at any moderate!" Whether or not the hotel as a moderate was no even part of my considerations list.

When I called to book my room, I asked for the rates at WL, POFQ, and ASMo. What mde us coose POFQ over the other 2 was we had never stayed there, it was a compact resort (which is necessary for my mom who is joining us since she has cancer), it had a large food court, and the boat to DTD, which is great for my mom since she likes to shop. Additionally, my fiancé's teenage broher will be with us and since he may like to go out alone we didn't want something as large as ASMo, and we wanted to be closer to DQ than WL since he spends alot of time there. We will also have my 5yo niece and she loved the pool at FQ. There also aren't too many really bad standard view rooms at FQ, which was important to us too. So all of that info sealed the deal for us and we booked our 2 rooms at FQ. Never during this process did we even think about staying at another moderate, since they didn't offer what we liked most about FQ. So explain how shipping me off to CBR is making my vacation grea in any way? I'm sure that, yes, we would still have a good time, but we really don't need the hassles that a larger resort would present to us. So since moving us is an inconvenience, it really isn't such a stretch to get cheap upgrades.

As I also said before, when you book a room with a code, you are getting something from WDW where they are losing money compared to booking at rack rate. In fact, you can often get a deluxe hotel for the price of a rack rate moderate, or even less, when you use a code. So did those people paying that low rate really pay for the deluxe? It's the same thing as giving people a cheap upgrade to a deluxe from a moderate, they're paying or their room and it's just like using a code. So unless those of you saying people at POFQ shouldn't receive cheap upgrades have never used a code for a reduced rate, then I don't think you should be casting the stone.

 

[ktglads]

I fully agree with you justhat on this issue.

It just seems to me that the people who are making the most noise about others saying that they are waiting to see what Disney is going to give them are with those who are also out there waiting for the codes and Annual Pass rates to come out so that they will be getting their rooms for great rates, too. Why chastise those who are waiting for a discount or a cheap upgrade as well? Is it because this discount may not be offered to everyone?

Is it really the fault of those who chose POFQ that the resort closed? No. If the situation was reversed, I would encourage others to seek out the discounts and get the resorts that they may not have gotten if they hadn't had their hearts set on POFQ in the first place.

 

[peachgirl]

This time due to an injured tendon in my leg I honestly don't think I can manage the size of the other moderates. We are stumped as to what to do.

(which is necessary for my mom who is joining us since she has cancer),

If you have a medical reason for needing a certain location, such as close to bus stops etc....all you have to do is tell them when making the reservation. If it's a valid medical reason, you'll have no problem getting what you need. Disney bends over backwards to accomodate such requests. No matter what the size of the resort, as long as your close to what you need, it won't matter.

The problem I see is that the deluxes don't have what a lot of people say they like about POFQ. For instance, they don't have large food courts. Also, despite the fact that some have fewer rooms, they do require a great deal of walking depending on your room location as they have one centralized bus stop or monorail loading area.

I would think if you requested rooms close to a bus stop and near the main food court/pool at the CBR for instance, you'd do a lot less walking than staying at any of the deluxe resorts. Just a thought....

 

[ktglads]

My probelm with the room requests is two-fold:
(1) - They cannot garuntee anything when you book a reservation, so yeah, you can hope to get a room close to the food court, but there are only so many rooms available, so there is the possibility of getting a room that is further than I am comforatble with.
(2) - I have 2 rooms booked. That would be the first thing I would request, having these rooms adjoining. Usually Disney allows for the first request, and then tries to fulfill the second, but makes no promises. Basically, I think that I will be put in the back of the resort, just to get the rooms together.

So, yes, I could switch to a moderate, and yes, I would request that my rooms are together and that I get a room that is close to the food court, but my chances of getting these requests are slim. So, I will most likely be quite unhappy. For the amount of money that I am paying, I want to be happy with my resort, not have to settle for something because of something that I could not control. I have booked and paid for a certain service: the atmosphere and benefits of the POFQ. If Disney can not provide this, I expect them to give me something that I am happy with, not something that would cause people to be unhappy and make it known to others what they did. I think Disney would rather give an upgrade and make people extremely happy and help spread a little of that Disney magic.

 

[justhat]

Yes, you're right that the deluxes don't have huge foodcourts, which was one reason why we went with POFQ over WL. And yes, CSR and CBR have big food courts too, we didn't want to stay there. My fiancé has stayed at CBR many times with his family as a kid and he never cared for the place, doesn't really like the overly colorful, beachy theme it has. I have never stayed there, but did meet friends who were staying there once for dinner and the resort was so huge it was incredible. Yeah, it's possible that we'd get a room close to the food court, pool, and bus, but still not guaranteed to be near all 3 of those, and the registration building is far too, so I'd have to hope we'd never need to go back there. And since I did not have any urge to ever stay there (I know some people rank it #1, but it's just not for us), I would not be excited if I got a call saying my only option was to move there.

We stayed at CSR once, and while it was a beautiful resort, it was definitely not our favorite and so we didn't choose it this time around. We were in one of the closest sections to the main building, but we were so far from the pool. It didn't matter to us much at the time since it was cold any rainy almost the whole trip, at least until the last day but we were at BWI by then anyway. It just really didn't seem like the most Disneyish resort to us. At POFQ, we would have been closer to everything no matter where our room was.

So basically, as I said in my earlier posts, I did not and still do not want to stay at another moderate and if I had then I would have booked my stay at one of them initially. I'm also pretty sure that I wouldn't do less walking at CBR than a deluxe since, as Peachgirl pointed out, if I request a close room for medical reasons, I will probably get it. So why not stay at my 2nd choice resort and still not have to do too much walking, rather than staying somewhere else that I don't want to stay at ever just because it is another moderate.

I would see a basis for this statement if when you booked a room at Disney you simply booked a class of rooms (value, moderate, deluxe) rather than a specific resort, like on a cruise ship. If I had called Disney and booked "moderate class" and then the particular moderate I was assigned to closed down, okay, fine, transfer me to another moderate since I knew I could end up in any of them when I booked. But since I did not book POFQ because it was a moderate, thinking I could be switched to any moderate, then no, I am not going to be happy about that and since it is me being inconvenienced then Disney should do what it can to make my stay better. Remember, they could have avoided it all by simply not taking bookings for POFQ when they knew it would be closed.

 

[peachgirl]

ktglads...

Under normal circumstances, you're right. There are no guarantees on room requests, but those requests were no more likely to be granted at POFQ than any other resort. However, when they are made for valid medical reasons, they are virtually guaranteed, especially when you're having to switch to another resort due to the rehab. It seems if one has physical limitations, just an upgrade to a deluxe resort won't solve the problems.


As to whether or not Disney should offer upgrades....I really have no opinion one way or the other. It would be nice if they did, but I don't think they're obligated to do so. I don't see either decision as wrong or right. If Disney offered me a cheap upgrade, I'd take it, so I certainly won't jump on anyone who would do the same. However, I wouldn't have a fit if they didn't. I was booked at the CBR last year when they closed for rehab, so I've dealt with this issue myself.

 

[gepetto]

Originally posted by ktglads

So, yes, I could switch to a moderate, and yes, I would request that my rooms are together and that I get a room that is close to the food court, but my chances of getting these requests are slim. So, I will most likely be quite unhappy.

And just how does being in a deluxe resort guarantee you these things? A lot of the standard view rooms at AKL are a long hike to the food court, pool, lobby, elevator.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by gepetto
And just how does being in a deluxe resort guarantee you these things? A lot of the standard view rooms at AKL are a long hike to the food court, pool, lobby, elevator.

Even the WL being smaller it is still a hike to the food area and a major one to the bus pick up. Don't get me started on the parking lot! LOL! We stayed in a lobby room and it was a walk for my mom who has knee problems just to get to the food area. And that was a lobby room which are supposed to be close to everything. If you get a wing room you might as well be staying at the MK as those hallwalls are sooooo long! The Poly can be a hike although nowhere near the CBR but only if you get the location you want. At the CBR if you get Martinique it is probably closer to the food area then the closer rooms at the WL or the Poly. It seems that you are deadset on getting a deluxe no matter what but I thought you might want to take that into consideration if your primary concern really is distance.

 

[justhat]

You're right, I might be just as far at CBR as at WL, because like I said, those are only requests, not guarantees. I too need 2 connecting rooms so I have to request that, then I would also need to request close to bus, food, pool, etc. As much as Disney might want to guarantee me all of that, it still might not happen. And that's true no matter where I stay, even at POFQ, but at least there, the farthest building is closer than the farthest one at CBR. So back to my original point, since I can't stay at POFQ, and whereever I stay will be a larger resort, why stay at one I don't want to? Since we all know that whatever resort I stay at does not guarantee me a room location where I want, why not stay at a resort I like-that way even if I get a less than desirable room, at least I'm happy with the resort, as I would have been at POFQ. I'm not saying I will definitely stay in a deluxe, that all depends on what my options even are, but my next 2 choices are WL and ASMo, as they were from the time I first booked this trip. I chose POFQ for many reasons, not just it's size, and none of those reasons apply to CBR or CSR. If they did, then I would have chosen one of those 2 resorts months ago, but there was a reason I didn't.

 

[peachgirl]

Even the WL being smaller it is still a hike to the food area and a major one to the bus pick up. Don't get me started on the parking lot! LOL! We stayed in a lobby room and it was a walk for my mom who has knee problems just to get to the food area. And that was a lobby room which are supposed to be close to everything.

Your post about WL brings back fond memories! You're right! We had a lobby room, courtyard view and it was always an argument every morning over who took the hike down to refill the mugs!

Don't get me wrong, we loved the room, but no matter where you stay at WL you're going to be far away from something. We were close to the elevators but the walk to the bus is a very long one for anyone, as is the boat launch! While our room wasn't as far away from Roaring Forks as some, it was still quite a walk. That inclining ramp on the way down isn't bad, but coming back your calves get a workout.

The one good thing about the moderates is due to the multiple bus stops, the total size of the resort is irrelevant. In most deluxes there's one fast food spot and one bus/boat/monorail pickup area. That's one of the things that caused us to choose CBR last year. No matter where you are, there's a bus stop nearby.

It wasn't a problem for us at all, but if you have mobility issues you might want to rethink WL. No room location will get you close to the busses or boats.

 

[justhat]

Right, and if distance were the absolute, only concern we had then it would be more of a factor. However, as I stated previously, it's not. We had many other points factored in, one of them specifically being multiple bus stops (hence FQ and not POR). No one in our party wants to make multiple stops at our own resort. I know sometimes FQ shares buses with POR, but from what I had heard not at park opening/closing. Even the boats to Epcot/MGM from BWI/YBC/SD annoyed us stopping at all those stops. And when we stayed at CSR, we had to go all around the resort to our stop 4 times, though we were the main stop because there were more people for the other stops and the bus driver stopped at whichever stop had the most people. After that experience, we decided to never stay at a resort with many stops since we either had to stop many times, or stand the whole ride if we were the last stop. I know that could happen anywhere, but we'd rather not increase the chances. So I do thank everyone for their opinions on WL, but if it is offered to us (and probably even if it's not) we'll stay there.

 

[gepetto]

Originally posted by peachgirl


It wasn't a problem for us at all, but if you have mobility issues you might want to rethink WL. No room location will get you close to the busses or boats.

I thought the transportation at CBR was a lot better than WL. When we were at WL, they shared busses with Polynesian and GF. It took forever to get to the parks.

 

[peachgirl]

Originally posted by gepetto
I thought the transportation at CBR was a lot better than WL. When we were at WL, they shared busses with Polynesian and GF. It took forever to get to the parks.

WL also shares with Fort Wilderness, both busses and boats. I don't recall the details, but depending on the time of day it can be some or all of these resorts that the busses stop at. A stop is a stop, whether it's inside the resort or at other resorts, they all take up time. In fact, isn't CBR one of the few that doesn't share busses with other resorts? I could be wrong on that, but I thought I had read that last year when researching where to stay.

I don't believe there is a deluxe resort that doesn't share busses, with the exception of AKL???

 

[justhat]

We stayed at the Poly, CR, and GF and did the bus sharing between those resorts at one time or another. Also had to share the boat to MK. Still, I'd prefer that than stopping at all of the CBR stops, or CSR stops. It might be shorter than stopping at other resorts, but we don't like it. Also, we don't like CBR, so even if they had the best bus service we probably wouldn't stay there. Like I said, we've never wanted to stay there and never wanted to go back to CSR. I'm sure many people, like those of you posting, love them, but we simply don't. We'll still choose WL when we get the call. And if it's not available at all for our stay, we'll probably choose ASMo.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by gepetto
I thought the transportation at CBR was a lot better than WL. When we were at WL, they shared busses with Polynesian and GF. It took forever to get to the parks.

That is the only reason I will never stay at the WL again! The tranportation was the worse I've ever seen! When we were there in May 2002, we stopped at Fort Wilderness before going anywhere else. On return trips we stopped at FW first and then finally got to the WL. Same with the boats. So let's see. We have two concerns. Resort size and ease in being close to the food court goes to CBR if you get the close building, which is a given with a medical reason. Now we've got the transportation issue which CBR wins hands down too. I've never seen more efficient bus service then at the CBR. We would drive to 6 other stops within the resort and then proceed to the parks and it would still be twice as fast as the WL bus! Justhat, personally I think you are going to be miserable at the WL just for the two reasons you are saying you would chose it for. I don't remember if anyone in your party uses an ECV or a wheelchair but if they do then there are many times you will not be able to board the boat due to water levels. If that is the case then you will have to take the bus to the TTC and then transfer to the bus of the chosen park. And of course you will go to FW before the TTC fter waiting 45 minutes for that bus to show up at the WL in the first place!