What if we don't stay in our room?

[headoflife]

OK, so I know this is strange, but... we booked a room for 4 nights with free dining, but now my mom has the chance to get a 3 bedroom condo. We would be able to have a king bedded room, and a separate bedroom for the kids. I already paid in full for the package, but what if we just don't sleep in our room? Will anything happen? I don't want to pay to cancel. The dining plan and other perks are what caused us to want to stay on site, but the idea of privacy is pretty inviting, especially for free!

 

[Tissa]

As long as you pay your money and check in I do not think they care if you are ever in the room or not.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

As long as you pay your money and check in I do not think they care if you are ever in the room or not.

If housekeeping sees that nobody is staying in the room, they can report that to the front desk and they can cancel your reservation, and thereby canceling your dining credits. There was a thread about this a month or so back and that is exactly what happend to the original poster. I will try to find the thread and post the link on here.

 

[justtobeme2]

If housekeeping sees that nobody is staying in the room, they can report that to the front desk and they can cancel your reservation, and thereby canceling your dining credits. There was a thread about this a month or so back and that is exactly what happend to the original poster. I will try to find the thread and post the link on here.

This may be true but it's totally absurd. Disney doesn't/shouldn't care if you don't sleep in your room. What if you are insomniac and don't sleep and spend all nite eating in the snack area? Or what if your family member who lived in town was totally sick and all of a sudden you need to go tend to or stay with them at night? It's crazy, you paid for it, they aren't losing anything and it shouldn't matter. I would also think that Disney would try to call the number on the reservation and as long as they get ahold of you and you say "yes we are using the room for a rest or whatever whenever we can but we had something come up" they can't do crap. It's your choice if you want to sleep there or not and I doubt very seriously if they'd do anything.

 

[su_A_ve]

Check in and use the room for mid-day breaks...

 

[CleveRocks]

OK, so I know this is strange, but... we booked a room for 4 nights with free dining, but now my mom has the chance to get a 3 bedroom condo. We would be able to have a king bedded room, and a separate bedroom for the kids. I already paid in full for the package, but what if we just don't sleep in our room? Will anything happen? I don't want to pay to cancel. The dining plan and other perks are what caused us to want to stay on site, but the idea of privacy is pretty inviting, especially for free!

Is the cost of the Disney room minus the perhaps $200 cancellation fee LESS than the cost of your Dining Plan meals out-of-pocket? Remember, it's not going to be ALL of your food for free, it'll be one table-service meal plus one counter-service meal plus one snack per day.

I'm assuming you're staying in a Value resort during Value season ... otherwise, I'm wondering if you're making a wise decision. Just because you brought it up, would you mind letting us know what your package is costing you ... since you're sekking our advice, it would help us to know what we're talking about here.

THANKS!

 

[Letsbgoofy]

Why would Disney care? I can think of 2 reasons:

If you are getting the free dining package, you could be paying less for your room than you would be for food out of pocket.

Only resort guests qualify for the dining plan.

They offer the DP to keep guests onsite - so you spend all your money at WDW. The more time you spend at WDW, the more money you potentially spend buying drinks, snacks, merchandise, etc.

I see how the OP wouldn't want to pay a cancellation fee. Using the room daily for a park break is a good idea.

Personally, I have my own bedroom at home and all the privacy I need. I would never give up the convenience of staying onsite to have my own room for 4 nights.

 

[buzz1fan]

We booked the buy 4 get 3 free, and i told them we are checking out the 6th night. They said it doesnt matter to them. I am looking forward in having our room our last day there until we need to leave at 330.

 

[headoflife]

It is at a value in value season, it think. It is 4 nights with a 1 day base ticket, since we have tickets already, for about $740, I think. The idea of spending money to cancel just bugs me. The privacy is only a part of it. My mom is coming up from Fort Lauderdale to spend time with us, and she is really looking forward to spending time with us...as much time as possible! Since she is in her 80's and I suspect this will be our only trip together, so I want to make it as nice as I can for her. I guess we may stay there, but maybe using it for breaks would work. We just don't normally take those, especially with shorter park hours.

 

[Miffy]

It is at a value in value season, it think. It is 4 nights with a 1 day base ticket, since we have tickets already, for about $740, I think. The idea of spending money to cancel just bugs me. The privacy is only a part of it. My mom is coming up from Fort Lauderdale to spend time with us, and she is really looking forward to spending time with us...as much time as possible! Since she is in her 80's and I suspect this will be our only trip together, so I want to make it as nice as I can for her. I guess we may stay there, but maybe using it for breaks would work. We just don't normally take those, especially with shorter park hours.

If you booked your room on the 4/3 deal, then you must be staying at WDW sometime after January 1st, in which case it's far from the 45-day cancellation window. On a package, if you're 45 or more days away from the date of arrival, there's no cancellation fee. Even if you're between 45 and 6 days away from arrival, the cancellation fee is $100. The $200 cancellation fee is only for packages that are cancelled 6 days or less from the date of arrival.

So, if you're sure you want to stay in the condo with your mom, call CRO and cancel right now. They'll refund you the entire cost of your package. The dining plan, unless you and your family are the world's hugest eaters, is not worth the extra money you'll be spending on a room you're not using. In fact, if you and your family are staying at a condo, chances are you'll be doing a lot of eating there and not in the parks, so the dining plan may have even less value to you.

DH and I never get the dining plan and we spend far less money on food than the dining plan would cost us.

 

[girli565]

So check in and leave an empty suitcase in it. Mess up the beds and take the soaps.

I know it's not a popular thing to say here but if you're paying for it I don't see why you shouldn't do it!

 

[TifffanyD]

Put the "do not disturb" sign on the door.

 

[LadyOmega]

Is the free food the only thing keeping you from cancelling? As others have said, you will not have a cancellation fee charged if you cancel now. You said you already had tickets, and free lodging. So if I'm understanding everything correctly, the only thing you would be paying for is your food, which on a four day trip would almost definitely cost far less than the $740 you're plunking down for room and 1 day ticket. (This is assuming you don't have a huge family or somewhat out of the ordinary circumstances.) It seems like a waste of money to keep the room just because of the "free dining" and that you might possibly want to take a break from the parks (which you weren't sure about doing anyway).

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

Put the "do not disturb" sign on the door.

I was going to say the same thing. Put a do not disturb sign on the door and then it doesn't matter.

 

[lookingforward]

If you decide to keep the package I don't think disney is legally able to "whisk" away the very services and lodging that you PAID for. My husband had a kidney stone while staying at WDW and we were not in our room for three days. I rented the room and paid for the lodging and thus owned the room for those nights. Last I checked it was a free country and as long as you are not breaking the rules (of which sleeping in the beds is not one) than they can't ask or force you to leave. And you have the expectation of privacy as well. Where you sleep is your business as long as you are not breaking occupancy rules, etc.

I would let the hotel know that I will be in the room sparadically (sp?) and that I planned on spending a great deal of time with relatives that were staying off property. And perhaps I would leave a note for the houskeeping staff as well. It might be really nice to alternate or just use the room as a mid-day break, nap, swimming, etc.

Have a great time!

 

[safetymom]

Even with a do not disturb sign on the door they are required every several days to check the room.

 

[MDMOUSE]

Years ago, we had a room at POP for free dining and stayed at WL with an AP discount. It was much cheaper than WL with the meal plan at that time. After 2 days, I got a call on my cellphone from the front desk of POP saying it seemed as if our room wasn't used and to call them back before they canceled everything. We were using the room key from POP for food but just hadn't slept in the beds. I called them back and said we decided to sleep elsewhere and they said if we didn't sleep there they would have to cancel our package. I said OK and we just stopped by once a day and messed up the sheets- so stupid and such a waste of time.

 

[maxiesmom]

Disney's resorts, so they make the rules. It is people who find and abuse these little loopholes that cause the problems. Why do you think you can't get dining at the campground anymore? Too many people booked sites, and then didn't camp on them. Personally, I wouldn't want to spend my vacation having a mini panic attack every time I tried to pay for my meals, worrying that my plan was canceled.

Go to Disney, play by their rules. Even if you think they are stupid. Why is that so hard to do?

 

[lookingforward]

Years ago, we had a room at POP for free dining and stayed at WL with an AP discount. It was much cheaper than WL with the meal plan at that time. After 2 days, I got a call on my cellphone from the front desk of POP saying it seemed as if our room wasn't used and to call them back before they canceled everything. We were using the room key from POP for food but just hadn't slept in the beds. I called them back and said we decided to sleep elsewhere and they said if we didn't sleep there they would have to cancel our package. I said OK and we just stopped by once a day and messed up the sheets- so stupid and such a waste of time.

I completely understand the free dining rules...that makes sense. If you get free food for booking a room you should have some requirements in place...otherwise people could really abuse the plan. That said...if I book a regular package with no free anything than it should not matter where I sleep. I pay for the room, the tickets, the food. Different.

 

[United544]

I quite honestly don't see how this is any different than airlines. If you book a round-trip ticket and don't use the outbound flight, the airline will cancel your entire reservation.

If airlines can do it, then I would assume Disney can do the same thing if you don't stay in your room. Like others have said, even if there is a cancellation fee (which is doubtful at this point), you would still have to be saving money by cancelling your room and paying for food OOP.

Whether we philosphically disagree with whether Disney should do this or not isn't the point; I'm almost positive Disney is within their rights to cancel the reservation if you're a "no show" to the resort.

Is it really worth all the extra effort to make it "seem" like you're staying in the room when you're really not?