What are the rules around changing a reservation?

[BlueberryPi]

So my MIL & SIL are hoping to come to WDW with us (YAY!), but they are not as firm about their plans as we are. My goal is that when I see a Stay/Play/Dine or Free Dining or any other awesome deal, I'm going to put a deposit down (we're planning for one of the slowest weeks).

My thought was that I would reserve a room for us and a room for them at the same time, but what if they change their mind, or don't want to stay as long as us (or if we decide to go for a split stay and can somehow make it work with the deal). Would we be able to modify the reservation to make it shorter or anything, or would I end up having to cancel both rooms to augment theirs?

My other thought was to put our room on my cc and their room on DH's cc to avoid problems, but would we be able to modify their room reservation?

Thank you

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Terms and conditions state that your rate is guaranteed as long as you don't change your reservation, so, once you make that reservation, you always risk losing the discount if you try to shorten the stay or change the resort. If you make two reservations - one for you and one for them - you can certainly try to change their reservation or even cancel it altogether without jeopardizing your own reservation.

 

[BlueberryPi]

Thank you for the reply. I guess I need to get them to get a little more definite with their planning in order to make sure everything goes smoothly.

 

[purple figment]

As long as you book 2 separate reservations (2 separate rooms with different reservation numbers) you can make changes to one reservation without affecting the other reservation. On the other hand, if you book a 2 bedroom villa with the plan that everyone will stay in the villa you will get one reservation number so if you try to modify the reservation there could be problems.

If you book with a special (e.g. Play, Stay, Dine, free dining) and you decide to modify the reservation, you might lose your special rate/offer. There has to still be availability at your resort and room category when you make the modification. If you want to make a modification after the offer expires you will have to work with Guest Services since the castmembers who answer the phone would not be able to make the change. Again it will depend on availability.

 

[BlueberryPi]

I don't think we're going to do a villa because the cost for there to be enough space for all of us is still more than what it would cost for each of us to have our own room.

The most likely option will be us booking a Nemo suite for us and a Pop standard room for them (but we may get 2 standard beach club or boardwalk rooms). In my dream planning, we would stay 3 nights at Beach Club and 2 nights at Poly, but planning that with 2 other people and their suites is just too much to try to navigate - too many variables creates too many places for plans to go wrong.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I have done a trip with me and my son at an AoA suite, and my son and his GF at Pop, and it worked well. Just a short (lovely) walk across the bridge to get together.

 

[BlueberryPi]

I have done a trip with me and my son at an AoA suite, and my son and his GF at Pop, and it worked well. Just a short (lovely) walk across the bridge to get together.

That's exactly what my thought was. My daughters desperately want to stay in a Nemo room, but my MIL thought the bright colours would be so bright it would make it difficult to think.