I am staying at CBR 4/24-4/28, I haven't contacted Disney because I really don't care. I think people are freaking out a little too much. Disney would not let one of their resorts get too messy or loud and unusable by guests. People are acting like the entire resort is going to be shut down and nothing will be available.
Quite frankly, I was originally in the "this probably won't affect us too much" camp, though I did send a brief email to Disney on Tuesday night (still haven't heard anything back) asking how this would affect our stay.
But when I started reading accounts that Disney, which is a for-profit corporation not known to give up money easily, was offering people the equivalent of a 33% discount on rooms during the time we are staying, on top of the "fun and sun" discount, I thought "this must be really bad." So I spent three hours yesterday bouncing back and forth between Disney and Orbitz trying to get a straight answer as to what, exactly, would be going on during our stay.
Quite frankly, I was originally in the "this probably won't affect us too much" camp, though I did send a brief email to Disney on Tuesday night (still haven't heard anything back) asking how this would affect our stay.
But when I started reading accounts that Disney, which is a for-profit corporation not known to give up money easily, was offering people the equivalent of a 33% discount on rooms during the time we are staying, on top of the "fun and sun" discount, I thought "this must be really bad." So I spent three hours yesterday bouncing back and forth between Disney and Orbitz trying to get a straight answer as to what, exactly, would be going on during our stay.
More than the construction, I'm ticked off about the communication (and lack thereof) on Disney's part.
I still have not been able to get anyone to commit to me in writing that there will be no construction activities or closures during our stay.
My two emails have gone unanswered and both Disney CMs and Orbitz told me that the CMs don't have access to an email system to send me such a message.
Disney has an incredibly sophisticated data gathering and data storage system. I have a difficult time believing that it cannot send out a brief correction email to those individuals with an April stay who received the initial email and state simply "we apologize for the inconvenience and stress this may have caused you, but you received the email in error. There will not be any construction activities or closures occurring during your stay." Boom, done. Then their phone lines would be freed up of people with April stays calling and they have more time to focus on to the thousands of people with May and June stays.
Well, no luck getting my December reservations changed. Guest services says neither PO resort was included for our dates, so they can't move us there & keep the free dining. I could of course, change resorts but lose the free dining promo. She did apply the $75 discount per night they are offering everyone.
Not entirely happy. I explained it wasn't about the money but about the resort atmosphere & amenities. But I discussed options with DDIL before I called & they didn't want to spend more money to move, so this will have to work. Truthfully, we will probably not spend much time at resort anyway. DDIL wants a day or 2 at Universal, plus lots of park time since she hasn't been in about 15 years. As long as we can get a quick bagel or pastry in the AM, we'll have to make do.
I will keep looking for other discounts but I highly doubt anything will pop up for PO. Disappointed our first trip with DS & DDIL is being affected. DH & I are there about twice a year it this will be their first vacation since their honeymoon so I would like it to go smooth. Hopefully we won't be too close to the construction zone.
I would check back again when regular free dinning comes out for that period. You may get luck and be able to move then with out having to lose free dinning however I imagine both POR may not be on it since they won't have construction so they know people will go there with or with out the dinning to avoid CBR and CSR.
Also, I am amused that the extra fastpass is just 1 per person. Not 1 a day per person, but just 1 per person for your entire stay. The CM had me pick which day we wanted it & added a note on our reservations. I will need to call back when we are within our fastpass window to get it added so we can use it. Not ungrateful, but wouldn't one a day be more appropriate?
One a day definitely would have been better. 1 a trip doesn't do much. Also why would you need to call it really should just be a master FP linked to each person that you can chose on your whim.
Disney would never put anything in writing saying your hotel stay will not have construction or lack of services. That would be stupid of any business to do. They could not possibly promise it either. Imagine if a pipe bursts or someone poops in the pool. Then there would be construction and closures that weren't planned but had to happen. Now you have this email that guarantee that wouldn't happen so now what are they going to do. A CM caused their hands to be tied. Instead you'll get a verbal there is no construction planned at this time but if there is something unsatisfactory with your stay please see the management on staff during your visit or just there is nothing currently scheduled that is it.
Not that person, and have no skin in this game, but here's my unsolicited perspective. Those are unpredictable circumstances and cannot be avoided. Especially if your time is spent dealing with these problems or your personal property gets destroyed. But this is a clear cut loss of amenities and it was planned. I know they probably did not want news to get out sooner. But once their permits were approved, they should have began their backup plan for guests who would be effected by the closure of amenities. Then, they need to either contact people currently booked through WDW Travel or Travel Agents to find out what the customer wants to do, giving them one of the three options, a different resort out of certain choices, or a discount $ amount per night.
Social media allows all this information to travel fast and they need to get proactive about this stuff.
I believe they did contact those booked direct and through TAs as many here have said they received the letters. Orbitz, Expedia, etc are the ones that are acting like nothing is up. The date the previous poster mentioned is one that is actually not during the construction period so Disney and Orbitz have both said yes construction is starting right after you leave but nothing should be going on while you are there in form of an inconvenience. I don't imagine Disney is just going to start construction 3 days early unless their permits cover those days. More often then not those who are earlier in the period experience fewer closures then originally expected due to delays.
This poster hasn't received any
As others have said, my guess is that any issues you are seeing are because you booked through Orbitz. This is 100% different then booking through Disney, even if you got a discount with Disney. Orbitz rooms are highly discounted, more then anything that Disney gives to the public. It is very possible that Disney will not further discount any rate by Orbitz because of the discount that is already on those rooms. It may even prevent them from allowing a move at that same price. That is sort of the risk you take by using a third party seller like Orbitz. The rules are much MUCH stricter.
It has nothing to do with the discount they offer to wholesalers it is that Disney doesn't get the OP payment information(for nightly rate) making impossible to give the money back because it will cause a whole lot of problems in the accounting side. The process would entail giving Orbitz the money back and then Orbitz giving the customer the money back which would be a headache and frankly not sure it will get done considering the amount of bookings that Orbitz handles. But what they can do is offer a GC as we saw above or any add on that the system would allow. GC being the much better option. Moving at the same price however is very doable just like they would if the overbook the rooms on the Disney side or give an upgrade.
Wanted to add that if you booked through third party and you call Disney they usually would transfer to the wholesale department which for us in previous stays have been very helpful. Once my reservation wouldn't link and she was able to quickly pull me reservation and give me the correct confirmation number.