Oct - Dec 2019 no longer on sale

[Garyjames220]

Well it’s safe to say there up to something anyway

 

[CosmicGirl]

For my dates in November just a room at Beach club for 14 nights would cost around $6300 (I think it was about $450 a night). My original price with Virgin for room, flights, car, tickets,dining plan etc was about £7300. (So around $9500). I think I’d end up quite out of pocket.

If BC is an absolute must for you and you can spare the deposit then I would book on the US site if I were you because the deposit is refundable. You would have three options, all of which could be eligible for a discount if one is released. However, it very much depends on your exact dates and how many people you have in the room to figure out what works best for you.

1. book room only: can be canceled up to 5 days before arrival, deposit = 1 night, and you can still use UK tickets -> eligible for room discount if it becomes available;
2. book a package with US tickets with or without dining: can be canceled up to 30 days before arrival, deposit = $200, but you can only get 10-day US tickets -> eligible for room discount OR free dining if either one becomes available;
3. book a ticketless package with the room and the dining plan: can be canceled up to 30 days before arrival, deposit = $200, and you can still use UK tickets -> eligible for room discount but NOT free dining if a discount becomes available + this can only be booked on the phone if you book direct.

You can look up historic discount dates on mousesavers. The key is your arrival date, because there have only been very limited dates in November with free dining recently (arrival just after Thanksgiving) and with SW coming no one knows if they'll offer these anymore.
For free dining only your arrival date has to fall within promotion, but there are separate allocations for each offer. So unlike in the UK, just because you can see room availability on the Disney site doesn't mean that that room is available under the FD offer.
For room discounts you will only get a discount on those nights that fall within the promotion. These rooms also come from a separate allocation. If it's gone, it's gone.

The unwritten rule is that with only two people in a deluxe room the discount is a better deal than free dining, but it's always good to do the math.

A fourth option would be to rent DVC points and pay for the dining plan. This would also allow you to use UK tickets. To my knowledge BC only has studios with one queen bed and a pull-out sofa, so this may not be an option for you if there are 4 people in the room.

And finally, a fifth option would be to check again after free dining in the UK ends. I would not be surprised if the rooms that are currently unavailable with Disney suddenly show up again. IF they do a free nights promotion you would still be able to get something of a discount.

 

[saintrob]

A fourth option would be to rent DVC points and pay for the dining plan. This would also allow you to use UK tickets. To my knowledge BC only has studios with one queen bed and a pull-out sofa, so this may not be an option for you if there are 4 people in the room.

There are also 1 bedroom villas at BC which can be rented.

 

[zavandor]

There are also 1 bedroom villas at BC which can be rented.

1B still have the pull out sofa.
The only DVC studios with two queen beds are at OKW.

 

[Imperfect_Prince]

I booked in April for 8-23 Nov 19 (15 nights) at the All Star Music family suite through Attraction Tickets Direct as this was the only affordable resort that can cater for 6 people in one room.
Once the confirmation day had come and gone without said confirmation, I spoke to ATD and they said that there was a minor delay and it would all be sorted.

A few weeks later, I was e-mailed and told that Disney no longer have the availability and my options were as follows:
1. Cancel and get a refund
2. Stick with All Star Music but have 2 separate rooms (extra £400)
2. Move to the Art of Animation (extra £1600)

Needless to say, I wasn't too impressed by the options given (I know it's not ATD's fault but it's still a nightmare). I agreed to switch over to the Art of Animation and would figure out how pay the extra.

A couple of hours after making the change, I spoke to the Citizens Advice Bureau and explained the situation.
This is what they told me:
As a deposit has already been paid, we had entered a legal contract with ATD. Therefore, under the Package Travel Regulation Act 1992, if there is a significant change to the contract, then the customer should be offered and equivalent or superior package free of charge. As we had booked dining and park tickets, the holiday is classed as a package holiday and doesn't have to include flights.

I went back to ATD armed with this information. 24 hours later, it was confirmed that the Art of Animation was booked for me at no extra cost to what the ASM was going to originally cost. Always nice to get a little win, and we're now staying at the resort that we really wanted to start with but couldn't justify the extra that it would have cost us

 

[Garyjames220]

I booked in April for 8-23 Nov 19 (15 nights) at the All Star Music family suite through Attraction Tickets Direct as this was the only affordable resort that can cater for 6 people in one room.
Once the confirmation day had come and gone without said confirmation, I spoke to ATD and they said that there was a minor delay and it would all be sorted.

A few weeks later, I was e-mailed and told that Disney no longer have the availability and my options were as follows:
1. Cancel and get a refund
2. Stick with All Star Music but have 2 separate rooms (extra £400)
2. Move to the Art of Animation (extra £1600)

Needless to say, I wasn't too impressed by the options given (I know it's not ATD's fault but it's still a nightmare). I agreed to switch over to the Art of Animation and would figure out how pay the extra.

A couple of hours after making the change, I spoke to the Citizens Advice Bureau and explained the situation.
This is what they told me:
As a deposit has already been paid, we had entered a legal contract with ATD. Therefore, under the Package Travel Regulation Act 1992, if there is a significant change to the contract, then the customer should be offered and equivalent or superior package free of charge. As we had booked dining and park tickets, the holiday is classed as a package holiday and doesn't have to include flights.

I went back to ATD armed with this information. 24 hours later, it was confirmed that the Art of Animation was booked for me at no extra cost to what the ASM was going to originally cost. Always nice to get a little win, and we're now staying at the resort that we really wanted to start with but couldn't justify the extra that it would have cost us

Just shows you there not keen on doing this unless u tell them the law

 

[Jon84]

Just shows you there not keen on doing this unless u tell them the law

I would assume that the offer of a full refund is within the law too

 

[Ashleylvsgoofy]

**UPDATE**

We have been on the phone with Virgin Holidays everyday for a week now, I emailed management 2 days ago and when we contacted them today they agreed to move us to...

Animal Kingdom Lodge with full DDP - free of charge

Don't think it has sunk in yet but I am over the moon, its a standard room but I don't care

I am going to stay with the animals!

 

[Jon84]

**UPDATE**

We have been on the phone with Virgin Holidays everyday for a week now, I emailed management 2 days ago and when we contacted them today they agreed to move us to...

Animal Kingdom Lodge with full DDP - free of charge

Don't think it has sunk in yet but I am over the moon, its a standard room but I don't care

I am going to stay with the animals!

Excellent news!

The chances of getting upgraded to a Savannah room are high as there are much more of them than there are Standard and Pool view!

 

[Ashleylvsgoofy]

Excellent news!

The chances of getting upgraded to a Savannah room are high as there are much more of them than there are Standard and Pool view!

Thank you so much - we are just so happy to be going to AKL

Hubby and I stayed for 1 night when we first started dating (met when we were cast members at Epcot) and we loved the resort so much but never thought we would ever get the chance to stay for a 2 week holiday

 

[Stefy]

Can we join the club?

Booked our first ever Virgin Holiday package (usually book through Disney direct) for WL end of Nov/early Dec. Got the call a few weeks ago about being overbooked and these are your options. We tried our best to go through all scenarios but all they had to offer was Boardwalk for an extra £1k, CR for an extra £2,500 or AKL standard room no charge. WL has been a dream to stay at for Christmas and me and DH really toiled with the idea of cancelling or just putting up with AKL. Don't get me wrong we love AKL its on our bucket list of resorts to stay at, just not for Christmas.

We managed to snag a Savannah Room for about £400 extra with VH footing the other £600 odd, oh and the V-Room thrown in for free too (we were cheeky and tried out luck asking). I'm still a little disappointed that we won't be staying at WL, but at least we are getting to go back to our happy place. Now the next thing is, how insanely busy is it going to be as we are pretty sure Galaxies Edge is going to open Thanksgiving Weekend.

All in all, the experience wasn't too bad with VH, they are trying their best to accommodate everyone with the limited options Disney has given them, not to mention they are taking a huge loss in money in terms of if people cancel, booking changes etc. They said that this kind of thing has never happened before. Their relationship with Disney has always been very good and this overbooking issue is the first time it has ever happened on this kind of scale. I truly believe this is down to Disney and their announcement of GE opening "late Fall". They've seen a massive surge of booking/requests and decided oh wait lots more people than anticipated lets raise the rates.