Vacation Planning Department

[cndncruiz]

Hi all,

I have received so much great information from this board but I have never heard very much about the Vacation Planning Department from this board.

I wanted to share my experience with them so far.

THEY ARE AWESOME!

We are staying at PPH for 7 night at the end of this month and I emailed them and made a few requests.

I emailed vacation planning the day we planned to tell our kids about the trip, told them what we were doing and what we would like and here is what they have assisted for us so far.

They (John) sent each of my kids a postcard saying "we are looking forward to your visit, love your disneyland pals"

John, after giving him a budget, has arranged for gifts to be in our room for our kids when we arrive. The first day they will each have an autograph book and pen and mouse ears. I had originally sent an email but John called me at home to clarify a few things and explained alot to me. So... when he called me he asked if my dd would prefer mouse ears in pink or regular mouse ears with a bow. There will be other surprises through out the week but I asked not to know then that way I would be surprised as well.

Then Valerie at Vacation Planning made all of our PS reservations for us.

Then last but not least, they acquired our Fantasmic tickets for us and they will be waiting for us when we arrive at the hotel.

I just think that this is the most awesome service, it saved me so much time and makes staying in a disneyland resort hotel just that much more worth it.

Thanks Vacation Planning!

I thought may be there were others out there staying at a Disneyland hotel who maybe didn't know about this service.

Please ask if you have any other questions.

Ciao.

 

[Inlove4WDW]

Sounds great!! Could you tell me, how much for this and if they have a phone number or I have to contact them by the GC hotel. Thanks!!

Verºoº

 

[cndncruiz]

Hi,

It is great!

John told me that they take a 20.00 shoppers fee right off the top of the budget that you give them and that is it.

You can email them at
vacationplanning@disneyonline.com

Make sure you include the party information, names, dates, your budget, where you are staying. The vacation planning department will want your credit card number as well but they don't charge your credit card until you receive the items. That is with the exception of the Fantasmic tickets. You are charged for that as soon as they make the request to get the tickets for you.

Good luck.

 

[Inlove4WDW]

Thank you for the info! This really sounds great!!

BTW, I love CANADA!! Lucky girl!!

Verºoº

 

[cndncruiz]

No problem.

Canada is a great place to live. I love it too. )
Not quite the weather though that Mexico has.

Happy planning.

:0)

 

[mom_rules]

How far in advance did you contact them?

 

[cndncruiz]

One month prior to our trip.

 

[mousemom11]

Isn't John a sweetheart! I have been working with him for our upcoming trip on the 25th. He has been absolutely WONDERFUL. He had great suggestions about all aspects of our trip. From reservations, where to watch the parades, what to do when in the park, surprises for the girls, etc. He even reserved a specific room for us at GC (I wanted a GRR/Soarin view). Since he is also a front desk lead at GC, he told me that people would check with him first before changing our room assignment.

This service is open to anyone who is staying at one of the 3 DLR hotels. Their telephone number is 714-956-6833.

 

[mom_rules]

mousemom11-have an awesome trip and please let us know how it goes.

 

[mom_rules]

Anyone back yet? How did VP do?

 

[Grog]

This sounds great. I had never heard of VP before but now I plan to use them on my next trip. Thanks!

 

[year2late]

Bumping to find out how the vacation planning sevice was!

 

[cndncruiz]

Vacation Planning...

I was very happy with the priority seating reservations that were made for us, I was happy with our priority seating at Fantasmic.

I was not happy with the ordering of stuff for our room or the room service treats. Wouldn't do that again.

There is a lack of communication between VP and the hotel.

BUT... I do think the people in VP are great, that they work hard and that it is a really great service to have when staying in a DL hotel. It is just that in order to have a hassle free vacation I wouldn't order treats for our room at night or surprises for the kids prior to our arrival because the odds are the surprises won't be in your room for arrival.

 

[mom_rules]

And we had completely the opposite experience-we arrived early-our room was ready with the "treats" already in place-every evening at the pre-determined time - our bedtime treats arrived. We were thrilled and everything went without a hitch.

 

[year2late]

Thanks mom rules and cndncruiz for your input. It gives me an idea of what to expect. I tend to be very flexible with vacations so timing of the treats does not have to be exact. It would be cool if they were in place on check in, cool if they were delivered with the boys answering the door!

 

[cndncruiz]

Mom_rules-

What time did you check in? (just out of curiosity because I was told there are not any deliveries between 4 pm and 5 pm.

To be honest year2late, the delivery time of the treats was not the problem. I didn't care about the arrival of anything until I spoke with VP originally. I didn't know what to expect and was thrilled to hear the plans that VP had suggested. So had VP not said, we will have these items in your room upon arrival, I would not haveexpected the stuff to be in the room, and I wouldn't have been disappointed. My kids were so excited but I made the mistake of saying, "let's go to our room because I have a surprise for you".

As for the delivery of the treats. The time was not the problem. Determining how it was getting paid for was the problem. I gave VP the credit card number and twice a day for three days, I would talk to VP who would tell me not to worry about the bill, it was taken care of and then the hotel would slip a note under my door or call saying we owed Room service fees. I didn't mind paying it that way but hesitated because VP would tell me it was okay and I didn't want to pay twice. The hotel cancelled our treats that were to be delivered on the Thurs night because there was an outstanding bill and I again contacted VP who told me they would look after it. It was at that point I decided to cancel the treats because I was starting to feel anxious every night I returned to the room wondering if the message light was going to be flashing or if there were going to be treats. No one got back to me about the outstanding bill after I cancelled the upcoming treats and so I thought I should check to see what happened with the bill and I did pay it at the hotel. As expected, I was charged twice actually three times and had to get that all corrected when I returned home.

So as I said in other posts, VP is great but for me personally, I just thought some chocolate wasn't worth the hassle. Well, actually those Minnie cookies were pretty awesome, they were worth the hassle.

I think it is a great service and tons of other people have had great service. It was just one of those things. Every time I spoke to VP they were just excellent, friendly and willing to try and fix things. VP forgot about delivering items to our room for our arrival and I called them and explained what was to happen and John personally went out, got each item and delivered them to our room and another staff member called us to say they were very sorry.

So the staff was great, really not trying to whine but only share the experience because I was not experienced with this VP stuff and maybe if you out there know what I did or didn't do, like leave my credit card imprint at the counter, then you may not have the same problems. Telling the kids there is a surprise in the room, also a mistake I made.

We had a great trip, the treats were great, the gifts were great and all was appreciated by my family. Sometimes mistakes happen but as long as everyone is happy, who can complain about that.

 

[year2late]

Thanks for the input.

It seems like coordination between vp and the hotels can be iffy. That is good to know.

I am glad you had a great trip, though!

 

[mom_rules]

Our "treats" were not added to our room bill. It was exactly what I had expected it to be on our last day there. However, I haven't
received my credit card statement (or bills/receipts from VP) so I can't really say what the costs were until I get one or the other.

 

[mom_rules]

Oops! We arrived at our Hotel at 1:30pm and our room was
ready with "surprises" in place-along with balloons, autographed photos and my birthday button.

 

[Cinderella_68]

We used the VP for our stay at DLH in August. The characters sent the kids toys and candy and goodies. It worked out great!
We just gave a dollar amount for each child, ideas on favorite characters and stuff, and they said they do deliveries between 4 and 5, so we made sure to come back after 5.
They were also able to get us a reservation at GK when the 781-DINE people said they were all full. We will definitely use their services again when we return in December!