paying more for less?

grossmansr

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 8, 2009
I recently booked a free dining package for 6 nights at SSR (Saturday July 13 - Friday July 19). After discussing it more with my husband, we decided we should shorten our trip and arrive on Sunday, to give us more travel time (we'll be driving). When I went to go change our reservations, it seems that the package price would increase by $500 :eek: if we do this. Wha... how... is this even possible? I don't get it.
 
Is it the same category of room? Are you sure free dining is available in that Sunday as a start date?
 
might be worth a call - something seems off and maybe a cast member can adjust it without the added expense?
 
Is it the same category of room? Are you sure free dining is available in that Sunday as a start date?

FD starts on July 5th and should not matter what day of the week she checks in on.
I do agree that it could be a different room category though.
 


I do agree with PP that it could be a room category difference.
Or did you attempt to lower your number of park tickets?
Or upgrade your dining plan from standard to deluxe?
 
Does the FD promo have availability with your new start date? You can check by looking for a new reservation.
 
I've seen this happen but don't have an explanation. But sometimes removing days will revert some days to rack rate.
For example, you can have 5 days at a reduced rate, try to change to 4 days and find that now, 3 days are promo and 1 rack.
They do some squirely things now due to their trying to avoid orphan rooms

If you continue to the payment page there's a link to open to see the price for each night. See if they are all promo or some are rack
 


I've seen this happen but don't have an explanation. But sometimes removing days will revert some days to rack rate.
For example, you can have 5 days at a reduced rate, try to change to 4 days and find that now, 3 days are promo and 1 rack.
They do some squirely things now due to their trying to avoid orphan rooms

If you continue to the payment page there's a link to open to see the price for each night. See if they are all promo or some are rack

Thing is it should all be rack rate since the special offer is for free dining not a room rate discount. Right?
 
So I've been trying all night to log back in to check my plans again and I think the system is down or something because I can't get in. I guess I'll check on things tomorrow. If all else fails I can just call and talk with someone. It just seems crazy to me that I would be paying more for less. I'm pretty sure that I didn't change anything as far as tickets and rooms are concerned. We don't necessarily HAVE to shorten our stay, but it will really be pushing things travel-wise.
 
I originally had a Sat. to Sat. at CBR booked with free dining but wanted to change my dates to a Tues. to Tues. or Wed. to Wed. because those are usually cheaper days for flights. I've been going in and trying to modify my reservation and at one point when I was trying to modify the price went up by something like $1,400. I couldn't figure out why, then realized it was quoting me regular price because free dining wasn't available those dates. Could that be the problem?

I did end up being able to modify my reservation by checking often (still free dining, but check in and check out days on a Tues. like I wanted) and the price went up $15 which I don't understand. Same room type, standard view. I changed the dates anyway though, because the (probable) flight savings will be much more than $15 flying on a Tuesday vs. a Saturday x 5 people. Still don't really understand the (albeit small) price increase though, lol.
 
Last edited:
Ok, so, apparently when I drop the day it reverts the pricing to standard package price, instead of free dining. I'm not really sure why this is because I'll still be meeting the 5 night minimum. But, there it is.
 
Ok, so, apparently when I drop the day it reverts the pricing to standard package price, instead of free dining. I'm not really sure why this is because I'll still be meeting the 5 night minimum. But, there it is.

Ugh that's weird and frustrating.
Oh well keep what you have and don't try to rush yourself.
Just know that when you get there you will have somewhere to lay your head.
 
So now I'm playing around with the dates and oh my goodness. The difference in pricing is... confusing. If I stay from Sunday to Friday the previous week, then I do save money. If I stay the same amount of nights the next week the price is even higher. So I guess it really has very little to do with length of stay, but rather with what nights you plan on staying.

They do some squirely things now due to their trying to avoid orphan room

I'm thinking this might be the case here? Who knows. I think we'll just change the dates to a week earlier.
 
So now I'm playing around with the dates and oh my goodness. The difference in pricing is... confusing. If I stay from Sunday to Friday the previous week, then I do save money. If I stay the same amount of nights the next week the price is even higher. So I guess it really has very little to do with length of stay, but rather with what nights you plan on staying.



I'm thinking this might be the case here? Who knows. I think we'll just change the dates to a week earlier.

Well room rates do vary day by day but seems weird that they are THAT much more expensive.
I guess they have had more bookings for that particular time frame to drive up the cost or maybe they have just projected that its going to be a suiester week?
What was your original dtes vs the new ones just out of curiosity?
 
It's possible the cost of the tickets are one of the significant factors as you move days around. Tickets are going to be varied based on whatever it is they base these things on. I have seen some jumps of $40/ticket just by changing 1 day
Well room rates do vary day by day but seems weird that they are THAT much more expensive.
I guess they have had more bookings for that particular time frame to drive up the cost or maybe they have just projected that its going to be a suiester week?
What was your original dtes vs the new ones just out of curiosity?
Disney doesn't have resort pricing that alters based on demand.
 
Ok, so, apparently when I drop the day it reverts the pricing to standard package price, instead of free dining. I'm not really sure why this is because I'll still be meeting the 5 night minimum. But, there it is.

Unfortunately WDW doesn't make it as simple as "drop a night" -- the adjusted dates must be available as a "new" reservation in their system or you can't get the same promotion. It sounds like that's what happened. Your original booking was for free dining, and when you dropped a night, the adjusted dates were no longer available as a new stand-alone reservation in the free dining pool of rooms. So sorry that happened! For future knowledge, sometimes you can call and get a Guest Services manager to help preserve the promotion.

So now I'm playing around with the dates and oh my goodness. The difference in pricing is... confusing. If I stay from Sunday to Friday the previous week, then I do save money. If I stay the same amount of nights the next week the price is even higher. So I guess it really has very little to do with length of stay, but rather with what nights you plan on staying.



I'm thinking this might be the case here? Who knows. I think we'll just change the dates to a week earlier.

Are you pricing different promotions or the same promotion across each of the different time periods? Different promotions can and will make a difference, as you found with changing your original "free dining." I believe there is free dining as well as a room-only discount, as well as standard rate room-only and package. And as PP mentions, the ticket prices adjust based on your dates. And I believe free dining requires a hopper, but other packages may not. So there's a chance you've got some apples-to-oranges comparisons.

Good luck with the figures and enjoy your vacation!
 
Disney doesn't have resort pricing that alters based on demand.

They sort of do. Discounts, including free dining, are designed to fill rooms that might otherwise be empty. The resort pricing itself doesn't vary but the availability of discounted rooms will decrease, or increase, partially based on demand.

Poster is right. Disney is now doing the same thing Universal has been doing for years. Drop a night and you'll only keep your discount if discounted rooms are available for your dates for new bookings. People who book extra nights, planning on dropping nights closer to arrival, don't have an advantage over guests who wait until their plans are firm to book. Call. Guest services can make exceptions.

You want to change your "deal". Disney is basically cancelling your deal and re booking you on whatever deal is available.
 
Unfortunately WDW doesn't make it as simple as "drop a night" -- the adjusted dates must be available as a "new" reservation in their system or you can't get the same promotion. It sounds like that's what happened. Your original booking was for free dining, and when you dropped a night, the adjusted dates were no longer available as a new stand-alone reservation in the free dining pool of rooms. So sorry that happened! For future knowledge, sometimes you can call and get a Guest Services manager to help preserve the promotion.



Are you pricing different promotions or the same promotion across each of the different time periods? Different promotions can and will make a difference, as you found with changing your original "free dining." I believe there is free dining as well as a room-only discount, as well as standard rate room-only and package. And as PP mentions, the ticket prices adjust based on your dates. And I believe free dining requires a hopper, but other packages may not. So there's a chance you've got some apples-to-oranges comparisons.

Good luck with the figures and enjoy your vacation!
Yes but you know what promo you are booking when you check the price. It's not like the price just changes. You have a radio dial across the top of the page and the promo shows up there. If you select the Free Dining promo and the room appears on the list as available, then it's available. If it doesn't, it's not. So I can't see how the promo would change on the OP and they didn't know it
 
Poster is right. Disney is now doing the same thing Universal has been doing for years. Drop a night and you'll only keep your discount if discounted rooms are available for your dates for new bookings. People who book extra nights, planning on dropping nights closer to arrival, don't have an advantage over guests who wait until their plans are firm to book. Call. Guest services can make exceptions.

You want to change your "deal". Disney is basically cancelling your deal and re booking you on whatever deal is available.
I know, I said the same thing above. Disney changed things when they implemented the system that prevents orphan rooms.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top