"Look Ma! We're planning a Disney Trip!" - Nov 10-20 PTR (11/09 Final Update?!)

[skier_pete]

OK - we just got a room only PIN good for our room only days. It came in my wife's maiden name (and old fake-out trick used years ago to get PINs...still works I guess) but they are letting us use it.

However, it's not good at POFQ! This was one of my fears. Because it IS good at CBR. So, when I factor in the fact that I could add a day of free dining at CBR AND get 25 % off the room only fee - we are now talking a $266 savings to switch to CBR from POFQ. And THAT doesn't even include the saving we will see by having the extra meals on the DDP. Typically we save 25 % off our OOP charges and last trip it was closer to 40 %. Even using the conservative 25 %, that gives the total savings of switching to CBR at about $300.

That's just too much money now for me not to give it a long hard look. We've never stayed at CBR before. I am not against the resort, as I am if we were talking CSR, but I think we would miss POFQ.

Negatives to CBR:
Size - more walking involves
Room refurb - Rooms will probably be nicer @ POFQ - plus Full size vs Queen Size beds. (Won't pay for the pirate room upgrade - that's for sure)
Bus Stops - Multiple vs One. This could be less of an issue if we get a room near one of the first bus stops, then it becomes a very similar issue to POFQ.
No boat to DTD - actually not a real biggie.

Positives to CBR:
Pool - even though DD is looking forward to POFQ pool, I think she'll actually like the CBR one better. I also think she'll love the themeing better.
Something New - We do like trying new things - so again not really against CBR and have heard good things about it from friends.
Shorter bus rides to almost everywhere - AK, DHS, and Epcot. Longer to MK and DTD.

Anyone have any further advice? Again, at $150 saving, I could argue for POFQ, at close to $300 - I am having a hard time with it. I don't think we will necessarily spend the whole trip wishing we were at POFQ (unless we run into a bad room or location at CBR). And I don't picture we would have a BAD trip. (We wouldn't have minded being at POP century even.)

Pleas help...what should we do?

 

[joy13]

OK - we just got a room only PIN good for our room only days. It came in my wife's maiden name (and old fake-out trick used years ago to get PINs...still works I guess) but they are letting us use it.

However, it's not good at POFQ! This was one of my fears. Because it IS good at CBR. So, when I factor in the fact that I could add a day of free dining at CBR AND get 25 % off the room only fee - we are now talking a $266 savings to switch to CBR from POFQ. And THAT doesn't even include the saving we will see by having the extra meals on the DDP. Typically we save 25 % off our OOP charges and last trip it was closer to 40 %. Even using the conservative 25 %, that gives the total savings of switching to CBR at about $300.

That's just too much money now for me not to give it a long hard look. We've never stayed at CBR before. I am not against the resort, as I am if we were talking CSR, but I think we would miss POFQ.

Negatives to CBR:
Size - more walking involves
Room refurb - Rooms will probably be nicer @ POFQ - plus Full size vs Queen Size beds. (Won't pay for the pirate room upgrade - that's for sure)
Bus Stops - Multiple vs One. This could be less of an issue if we get a room near one of the first bus stops, then it becomes a very similar issue to POFQ.
No boat to DTD - actually not a real biggie.

Positives to CBR:
Pool - even though DD is looking forward to POFQ pool, I think she'll actually like the CBR one better. I also think she'll love the themeing better.
Something New - We do like trying new things - so again not really against CBR and have heard good things about it from friends.
Shorter bus rides to almost everywhere - AK, DHS, and Epcot. Longer to MK and DTD.

Anyone have any further advice? Again, at $150 saving, I could argue for POFQ, at close to $300 - I am having a hard time with it. I don't think we will necessarily spend the whole trip wishing we were at POFQ (unless we run into a bad room or location at CBR). And I don't picture we would have a BAD trip. (We wouldn't have minded being at POP century even.)

Pleas help...what should we do?

I've never stayed at either resort - so I can't give advice that way. For $300 - I'd make the switch. Who knows - you may fall in love with CBR!

 

[skier_pete]

I've never stayed at either resort - so I can't give advice that way. For $300 - I'd make the switch. Who knows - you may fall in love with CBR!

After some searching about resort and DW and I discussing, we are strongly leaning towards the switch. It's just too much money to leave behind when we are already over budget on vacations this year. (We went a little hog-wild on activities in Myrtle Beach.) I think once we commit, I will be excited at the idea of trying a new resort. More to come...

 

[FosterA]

I've obviously not stayed at either myself but I think I would switch. 300 is a good chunk of money. Plus...I think DD would like to try out the new pool and such

 

[skier_pete]

I've obviously not stayed at either myself but I think I would switch. 300 is a good chunk of money. Plus...I think DD would like to try out the new pool and such

That's what it comes down to $300 is too much to ignore, at least for me. And in the end, we MIGHT like CBR better. We won't know until we try! I am very much not adverse to new things...one of the things I love about Disney is that even though we've spent something like 60 days their over the last 5 years we still are always finding new experiences to have. (Can you see I'm working myself up to the idea.)

 

[PrincessInOz]

Pete - I would switch for that amount of money. It's a different matter if that were the difference between going from a moderate to a deluxe....but a mod to another mod? $300 is way too much money to leave on the table, irrespective of how much your family loves POFR or not. Afterall, you're pretty much going to sleep there and use the pool, right?

 

[Coconuts]

I would totally switch resorts to CBR. We stayed at CBR a few years ago and loved it. It is very bright and tropical and the pool is the best we have stayed at so far at WDW. On the down side, it is a large resort, with a lot of walking, and there are a lot of bus stops. We stayed there in September 2009 so crowds weren't enormous, but we never had a problem with long bus waits. Many times coming back from the parks, our bus stop was the first (Jamaica) so we didn't have to do the entire loop. I had heard this so many times on the Disboards, and this was the main reason I was hesitant about staying there. I'm glad I tried it and I would definetly stay there again, but now we're a family of 5, so POR is the only mod option for us.

 

[skier_pete]

Well, after spending the whole day agonizing over this...the point has become moot. We called, and there's NO AVAILABILITY with the PIN for CBR. (This is after they told us this morning there was.) Except for a pirate room, which the upgrade would (1) wash out the savings completely and (2) scare the bejesus out of my daughter, since we showed her a pirate room and she hated the giant skull and crossbones on the curtain.

I was pretty PO'd at Disney about all this after holding on-line for 45 minutes, but screw it, we're back at our first choice anyways.

So, we are back at POFQ - or in other words we never left.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Well, after spending the whole day agonizing over this...the point has become moot. We called, and there's NO AVAILABILITY with the PIN for CBR. (This is after they told us this morning there was.) Except for a pirate room, which the upgrade would (1) wash out the savings completely and (2) scare the bejesus out of my daughter, since we showed her a pirate room and she hated the giant skull and crossbones on the curtain.

I was pretty PO'd at Disney about all this after holding on-line for 45 minutes, but screw it, we're back at our first choice anyways.

So, we are back at POFQ - or in other words we never left.

You won't miss what you don't know!

 

[skier_pete]

You won't miss what you don't know!

Yeah true...

..I'm up early because I'm PO'd about this whole thing. Decided to check all resorts. The PIN is no good ANYWHERE for my dates. Thanks Disney! I spent a whole day gettign psyched about changing...now I'm not changing...and I'm feeling disappointed. ARGH!

(I'll be fine in a few days.)

 

[PrincessInOz]

Yeah true...

..I'm up early because I'm PO'd about this whole thing. Decided to check all resorts. The PIN is no good ANYWHERE for my dates. Thanks Disney! I spent a whole day gettign psyched about changing...now I'm not changing...and I'm feeling disappointed. ARGH!

(I'll be fine in a few days.)

Breathe in, breathe out. You'll be fine. Keep checking. You NEVER know...something may come up.

 

[FosterA]

That really is irritating. I mean didn't you even call the same day you got the PIN?
I am a believer in that things are meant to be for a reason though so there must be a reason you'll probably be back at Port Orleans

 

[skier_pete]

Well, here it is friends...we made the switch.

I went on-line a delved a little closer. The PIN was available for use at the Carribean Beach Standard Room on 11/11, but NOT on 11/10 (our first night). I called up, and the problem is there are no standard rooms available PERIOD on 11/10. (Isn't it odd that the resort is fully booked on Thursday but not on Friday or Saturday?)

Anyways, so what we ended up doing was booking for one night (Thursday 11/10) in a pirate-themed room with the PIN discount of 25 % off. This actually comes out to slightly less money than a non-discounted standard room ($180.56 including tax, where the standard room was $207.)

Then on 11/11 (friday) we have one night of room only in a standard room. This also uses the PIN discount of 25 % off. This ran $163.69, which again was less than a standard room price @ $218.25 - higher priced because it's Friday.

Then on Saturday 11/12 we have a THIRD reservation for the start of our package...which adds a day of free dining, giving us 8 days instead of 9.

In the end, the total savings versus our old reservation (based on $149.96 for the day of free dining) comes to $219.71. I guess there's still a possiblity for more if we could switch the first night to a standard room, but seems unlikely.

I figure the first night being in a different room won't be a biggie. We don't land until almost 7 PM, and by the time we're at the resort it'll probably be after 8:30 PM, with our luggage showing up closer to 10 or 11 PM. We will intentionally pack the next days clothes in a carry-on, and won't even bother to unpack until the next day. We'll push the scary pirate curtain back for the night. And hopefully after we move on Friday, we won't have to move again on Saturday.

Just 43 days to go!

 

[Coconuts]

Good for you that you made the PIN work! That would have been frustrating to get a PIN but find no availability; that's usually something that happens to me.

$219+ is a big savings and you can put toward something else during your trip. I hope you like CBR; who knows, you may find your new favorite resort.

 

[Colleen27]

Yeah true...

..I'm up early because I'm PO'd about this whole thing. Decided to check all resorts. The PIN is no good ANYWHERE for my dates. Thanks Disney! I spent a whole day gettign psyched about changing...now I'm not changing...and I'm feeling disappointed. ARGH!

(I'll be fine in a few days.)

Wow, that is rather obnoxious. Disney's ideas for "scaling back on discounts" haven't been very guest-friendly so far, that's for sure.

 

[skier_pete]

Good for you that you made the PIN work! That would have been frustrating to get a PIN but find no availability; that's usually something that happens to me.

$219+ is a big savings and you can put toward something else during your trip. I hope you like CBR; who knows, you may find your new favorite resort.

I admit I am already feeling buyer's remorse. Thinking about the way we have to change rooms - I am so used to being able to just walk to the front desk. At CBR I'll have to take a shuttle/bus from my room to get to the front desk. I definitely don't like this! I am beginning to think I should've spent the extra money. Too late to go back now. I am sure once I get there I'll be too high on Disney to care. (Plus our free drink coupons for the flight down will help.)

Wow, that is rather obnoxious. Disney's ideas for "scaling back on discounts" haven't been very guest-friendly so far, that's for sure.

Yeah, the thought occurred to me that its almost as bad as dealing with the airlines. In the end, I'm saving $1200 off rack rate, though, so it's probably worth the hoops we jumped through. It comes to ~38% savings versus room and board costs.

 

[joy13]

What an ordeal!! I'm sure you'll have a great time - but geesh - it shouldn't have to be so complicated! Glad you worked it out.

 

[PrincessInOz]

$220 is still a good savings! Glad it worked out....albeit rather complicated. But still....

 

[skier_pete]

What an ordeal!! I'm sure you'll have a great time - but geesh - it shouldn't have to be so complicated! Glad you worked it out.

$220 is still a good savings! Glad it worked out....albeit rather complicated. But still....

Thanks. Six weeks to go.

 

[skier_pete]

It's funny - while I'm a fairly organized person, I don't obsess over every little detail on other vacations the way I do with a Disney trip. Our recent trip to Myrtle Beach, I didn't even plan what we were going to do until we got there, though once I was there I did plot out what entertainment options we would do each day. But here, I'm already thinking over my strategy on how to deal with the room switch that will be necessitated at CBR, as well as how to hopefully prevent the need for a SECOND room switch after our second night.

So here's what I think:
1) Prior to trip - do on-line check in for the first night ONLY. Don't pre-check in for the 2nd night or the package.

2) Upon arrival on 11/10: go to the on-line check in desk for the first night. At the same time, enquire about how to go about the room change the next day. The CRO person I talked with today recommended

3) The morning of 11/11: Go down to the custom house in the AM to check-in to the new room. Likely the room location will already be drawn up (they do this roughly 5 days in advance) and will hopefully get our requested location (Jamaica 45,44 or 46 - close to the bus stop and within ). I will also figure out how to handle the luggage switch. Most likely option will be to have our bags picked up from our room and held at Bell Services for the day. (I don't think they will transfer them directly.)

4) Afternoon of 11/11: Return to resort around 3 PM - which we were planning to do anyways - and pick up key to new room. Get bell services to drop off bags again if they haven't already transferred them.

5) Morning of 11/12: Go down to Custom House (again) and check-in to room (again), this time getting tickets (assuming I haven't gotten them already) and dining plan credits. We hopefully can now enjoy the rest of our trip without having to go through anymore of this BS.

In addition, I've sort of decided on Friday morning instead of trying to get early access to our tickets to just use the four 1-day passes our friends have given us. Between having to make this transition to the new hotel room that morning and having to deal with guest services at the parks, it seems like too much of a headache to worry about all those things at once. By Saturday, we'll have our park tickets for the package anyways.

I apologize, dear readers, if this is boring...but it helps me to think it all through...so thanks for listening or ignoring me.