Upgrade resort now...lose free dining?

[JSDisneyMommy]

I am going 9/22-9/28 and booked the trip with the free dining promotion. We are staying at Pop Century, but would be interested at this point in upgrading to a Moderate Resort. If I were to upgrade now, would I lose the free dining for my trip?

Thanks!

 

[pugcrazy]

Most likely you would lose the Free Dining as it would be a new reservation. How much time to you plan to spend at the resort? We love Pop, but spend very little time actually at the resort. We tend to be at the Parks when they open & stay till close most days. If you plan to spend a lot of time in the room or pool then you might upgrade, but if you will be in the parks most of the time I'd stick with Pop.

 

[shoegirl1020]

I don't think you will be able to upgrade and keep free dining either. BUT, it wouldn't hurt to call and ask Disney. I remeber reading a while back about people being bumped from the POP during free dining because they over-booked.

 

[Irishhockey]

I'm almost positive your are able to upgrade your resort. BUT you may have to directly go through guest services (can be connected through CRO) to do so.

With each promotion, there is a certain number of rooms offered at each resort. Your best bet would be to call, provide your reservation number and information, and ask what your other resort options are. There is a possibility that your resort choices will be very limited due to the popularity of the package. Since your only upgrading your resort (rather than changing dates or adding a person) your CM shouldn't have a problem, but if the computer forces that CM to put in the Free Dinning code, you could run into an issue, since the promotion has expired. Again though, ask to be speak with someone in guest services and they should be able to help you.

 

[disneymom06]

I am curious as well, let us know how it works out.

 

[Nicole786]

Don't know if this falls in the same category, but I have a room booked at WL and chose to extend the trip a few days ago, and did so without losing the free dining.

 

[madenon]

JSDisneymom, how many of you are there in the party? If it's one or two, you're actually off cheaper by changing the free dining to the ZJZ-code they've got going at the moment. Not like hundreds of dollars, but cheaper than upgrading the free dining to a mod.

I had a reservation for ASMo and decided to swith to CBR. I had the free dining. Allthough the promotion had allready ended, I could upgrade with free dining (just not through CRO). We also looked into the ZJZ-code, which was about $50,- cheaper (I'm travelling alone) if you look at the total costs of the resort+ticket+dining. So I decided to switch my reservation to a ZJZ and pay for the dining myself. It's a bit cheaper for me, and it was easier for the CM to change for me. (and I didn't want to go looking for trouble. Changing the free dining package after the promotion has ended, didn't feel good. As if I were getting myself in possible problems. Probably not right, but ok)

If there are 3 or more in your party, the free dining promotion will be the cheapest. In that case; call CRO and ask to be put through to guest relations. They'll be able to switch it for you, if they still have something available at the mod of your choice, for the free dining.

 

[aksunshine]

Or, stay at Pop and join our glow party!!! http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1423128

 

[jcpuppy.com]

You can call and upgrade IF it is available. That is a big key word. I have tinkered with and changed my ressies and while I was able to add some dates after my arrival, I couldn't add one day before my original arrival as free dining wasn't available. That was just this week. I also at one point wanted to do a split stay and they would have worked with me, but there was no availability, I am going to keep calling and trying for the one day i still need in the small hope someone else fails to pay for their ressie

 

[LWcalif]

Call back again. I was able to switch resorts after the dining promo ended. 1st time I called CM said nothing available at any of the resorts. I asked for someone in Guest Services and she said CRO would know what was available and if they said "no" then there wasn't anything available. So I hung up and called back. This time I asked for a Supervisor. Not sure if it was Guest Services, but she gave me the resort & room I wanted (BWI Deluxe) still with the free dining.

 

[JSDisneyMommy]

Just wanted to update everyone who replied. We called yesterday...called the number provided on our original confirmation papers sent by Disney (Walt Disney Travel Company). Spoke with an excellent CM who was able to change our resort from POP to CSR. We did not lose the free dining! It was awesome!

If anyone else is thinking about doing this, please note that she said CSR was the only resort with rooms left on the promotion.

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[Disney Ron]

Just wanted to update everyone who replied. We called yesterday...called the number provided on our original confirmation papers sent by Disney (Walt Disney Travel Company). Spoke with an excellent CM who was able to change our resort from POP to CSR. We did not lose the free dining! It was awesome!

If anyone else is thinking about doing this, please note that she said CSR was the only resort with rooms left on the promotion.

Thanks for all the replies!

JSDisneyMommy, we just did the same thing yesterday. We had free dining at POP 9/15-9/22 and were able to switch to CSR for 9/20-9/27 with free dining!!!

Have a great trip!

 

[JSDisneyMommy]

DisneyRon,

We were so psyched! I've been reading great reviews of CSR~ very exciting!

Have a great trip - hey, our trips are at the same time. Cool!

jsdisneymommy

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Wow...that's really unusual as CSR is usually one of the moderates that is always sold out during promos like this. Must be that pixie dust!

 

[Iluvthemouse]

I tried yesterday to upgrade to CSR from ASMusic Sep 14-21 and was told CSR wasnt available.

 

[CanadianGuy]

iluvthemouse:

Read the link in my signature about changing your free dining reservation.

You MUST ask the CM who takes your call to check with Guest Services. The front line CM's on the phones generally don't have the necessary access to make BIG changes to reservations booked with expired offer codes.

You still might be told no based on room availability under the offer (40%off, free dining whatever) ... but the CM's who answer the phone will ALWAYS say no because their computers will always show zero availability after the booking date expires. You must ask for Guest Services to make a change like this.

Good luck!

Knox

 

[seashoreCM]

I remeber reading a while back about people being bumped from the POP during free dining because they over-booked.

In that case you would not lose free dining.

You could take a chance that would happen although you would have to accept a room at the All Stars first since that is on the same level as Pop', or accept a room at a moderate of Disney's choice.

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[snowdrift7]

Congratulations to everyone who was able to upgrade their reservations. Wish I'd run into this thread earlier - i just spoke with a wonderful castmember for my son's trip Aug 26-31. She said it was definitely possible to upgrade and keep the free dining but there wasn't anything available. She then checked with Guest Services but unfortunately those dates are completely booked. This was the 5th time I'd called to upgrade these rooms and the first time that i thought to ask her to check with Guest Services. and now there's no availability. Enjoy your trip.

 

[antmaril]

Congratulations to everyone who was able to upgrade their reservations. Wish I'd run into this thread earlier - i just spoke with a wonderful castmember for my son's trip Aug 26-31. She said it was definitely possible to upgrade and keep the free dining but there wasn't anything available. She then checked with Guest Services but unfortunately those dates are completely booked. This was the 5th time I'd called to upgrade these rooms and the first time that I thought to ask her to check with Guest Services. and now there's no availability. Enjoy your trip.

I think the last week of August (the first few days of Free Dining) is really jammed up. I have tried for weeks to upgrade from Pop to any moderate and there just isn't anything available. I've spoken with Guest Services and the only resort they could offer me was Wilderness Lodge. Unfortunately, I need two rooms and the difference was going to be over $1,000. I decided to keep Pop and save the thousand bucks.

 

[Samsma]

On the bright side, I didn't think I would like POP as much as did when we stayed. It was a lot of fun and we usually stay deluxe. I bet those of you who couldn't upgrade will not miss the moderate resorts as much as you think.