Will people cancel/downgrade their ressies if no codes?

[dreamsofdisney]

Okay...Before I even start, I'm gonna throw on my flame suit because I'm sure there will be someone out there who doesn't read this all the way through and will assume that I've booked tons of different ressies and plan on cancelling all except the least expensive ones if no codes are released. NOT the case.

I did bump up our ressies from 6/30-7/8 to 7/7-7/15 in case there were codes released for post Fourth of July. We're booked for a split stay at WL & AKL at AAA rates. In the past, I always planned and booked at least 4-6 months in advance, but this year, we had to wait because we didn't know what would work for our summer schedules. By the time I booked a month or so ago, there were only more expensive view rooms remaining.

We've been passholders for 6 years now, and this is the first time that I've found myself waiting and watching for codes. I know that they're not guaranteed, but we certainly have come to appreciate and even expect them during our previous travel dates. They'd always been available! As each day has gone by without summer codes, I've started to think that the stretch to stay at the AAA rates might not be worth it. Problem is, there aren't any rooms at POR, POFQ or CS during our dates, and DH and DS don't want to stay at a Value or CBR. So we're locked into our rooms at the somewhat painful rates, UNLESS...

Do you think there are going to be a lot of people who will downgrade to a Value or Moderate, or stay offsite because they were hoping for FL, AP or general public codes and they didn't get them? If so maybe some of the Standard, Woods, or Water View rooms would open up closer to the travel dates? What do you think?

We'll be staying there either way, but with airfare as high as it is, I'd love to get a better deal on our lodging! Thoughts?

 

[bdink921]

I booked the room that we could comfortably afford--if a discount code comes out for November, I'm considering upgrading our ressie to WL !!!

 

[jlovesee]

I dont take any offense to this post and its an interesting question. I've never booked anything I felt we couldn't afford at the time and the only downgrade I had to do was one year for 3 nights from WL to POP that was kind of painful actually, but not because I was waiting for a code.

We have Port Orleans Riverside booked for Thanksgiving, and Coronado Springs booked for this summer and I am excited about both as this will be the first time I have gotten to go to Disney this much (thank you Annual Pass!). we have a AAA discount for POR and a convention discount (we are part of the ACE Coaster Con) for this June. Both I will have to work to save for, but both I will be able to afford comfortably.

They way I look at it... Im at Disney and after my first experiences with Disney in the 80's and 90's in Comfort Inn's and Days Inn's I am thrilled to even be staying on property. After all I would rather be staying in POP century then not at Disney at all, so I am content. Even though sometimes I wish for the days when I could book WL for $115 a night...

Jennifer

 

[bicker]

It makes no sense to book a room that you have no intention of keeping at the rate you booked it at. If a discount comes out, your reservation has to be switched into that discount inventory anyway, and if there is no discount inventory left, you're out of luck anyway. All that holding-a-room-that-you-have-no-intention-of-keeping-at-the-rate-you-booked-it-at does is make it look, to Disney, that they're "more full" than they really are, and therefore makes them put fewer rooms into discount inventory.

 

[EEyorelover22]

I think that people will change reservations. I'd check online to see what becomes available. I know when I checked AKL for our dates, only the expensive rooms were available and now poolview within the last week has opened up. People do cancel trips and this summer it may be due to high air fare as well. I'd check daily online that's for sure. Check day by day too rather than for the entire stay.

 

[n2mm]

It's always better to book a room you can afford and if you get a discount, that adds to the excitment of booking a room the next level up for a great price. To me, I would never book a room I would not be willing to pay rack rate for, then having to downgrade at the last minute. That would be such a downer to start my vacation. I rarely use my AP discounts for rooms (been an AP holder since 1995), but would like to know they are still around if I need one. The resorts are really filling up and we were there last week (for 2 weeks) and were surprised how filled the resorts were. We thought, wow if the resorts are this full in early May, can you imagine how filled they will be this summer! Disney does not seem to be having any problem filling the rooms lately at rack rate--or with there promotional packages. I am truly surprised not to see any AP rates released (though I don't need one right now). After seeing the new 2007 prices and the lack of discounts, I feel the great rates we have come to love are a thing of the past. We bought into the DVC last year and glad we did.

 

[EEyorelover22]

I would check online especially for AKL. There were not any Standard views available at all for any dates when I checked back weeks ago. Now there are standard views available almost each night especially later in June and into July. You might find what you're looking for at AKL. YOu might not get a AAA rate though. I could never get one for our dates, but I waited a long time to add it as we are not members and wouldn't use it for anything else.

 

[mickeyfan2]

If others do what we do then no. We always reserve a room that we can afford and then if a discount comes out we either apply it to our resort to move to another resort (usually a class above) for about the same price that we had originally booked.

 

[dreamsofdisney]

It makes no sense to book a room that you have no intention of keeping at the rate you booked it at. If a discount comes out, your reservation has to be switched into that discount inventory anyway, and if there is no discount inventory left, you're out of luck anyway. All that holding-a-room-that-you-have-no-intention-of-keeping-at-the-rate-you-booked-it-at does is make it look, to Disney, that they're "more full" than they really are, and therefore makes them put fewer rooms into discount inventory.

We won't be cancelling our ressies because I booked rooms at the resorts where we really wanted to stay. They were the most affordable rooms available (at the resorts we wanted) at the time of booking. I thought long and hard about the fact that booking something you can't afford and then cancelling gives Disney the impression that they are filling up without any discounts, contributing to the lack of discounts. However, if I saw that a more affordable room opened up at the same resort, I would definitely consider trying to change rooms to save some much needed $. ALthough I'm a longtime passholder, this year, we are only able to stay 8 nights and will only be able to take one trip within the year. The pass probably wasn't a great financial decision this year, but there were still enough benefits without room discounts to make it worth it.

About "your reservation has to be switched into that discount inventory anyway": I specifically asked the CM when I booked (and again when I called about another issue) whether that was what we'd need to do if a code became available. He explained that while they do have a certain number/block of rooms available at the discounted rates, as long as that type of room was still available, they would just apply the AP code to my AAA reserved room.

I guess I was just curious about if the resort availability is a really an accurate reflection of what it will be a few weeks or a month from now, wonce there has been a lot of talk about people who were waiting for codes. This is my first time going during the summer, and I had no idea that it would be even busier than during Feb and April school vacations!

Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[EEyorelover22]

I'm sure you read this on the code watch thread too, but someone has changed dates to take advantage of free dining and dropped their ressie at AKL. Regardless of what people think, there are going to be those that change their plans. Keep checking...you never know!

 

[TheWeasel]

We are a family of five , so we really only have one option being on a budget and that's POR. No code = No trip. My wife is a teacher, so we can only go June through early Aug.

 

[DaisyD]

Not me. I book where I want to stay no matter the cost. The Poly fills up a lot and I don't want to be left out in the cold without a room at my favorite resort. If everyone booked what they could afford it would work out better for all of us.

 

[bicker]

About "your reservation has to be switched into that discount inventory anyway": I specifically asked the CM when I booked (and again when I called about another issue) whether that was what we'd need to do if a code became available. He explained that while they do have a certain number/block of rooms available at the discounted rates, as long as that type of room was still available, they would just apply the AP code to my AAA reserved room.

There's really no difference between the two. Either way, there must be discounted room inventory available in order to get the discount, and afterwards there is one less room available in the discounted room inventory.

 

[Sammie]

Our plans and dates will not change. We booked what we can afford without Annual Pass rates.

They might have been offered for the last 6 years in abundance but that has not always been the case. I think you would have to go back all the way to when AP rates were first offered to state, they have always been available.

We buy ours for savings in admission, I did not expect anything else.

 

[dreamsofdisney]

I only posted this topic for a little feedback, not to get everyone irritated with me. As I said before, we will not be cancelling our rooms and I did book what we could afford. But I'm guessing there aren't many people out there who wouldn't appreciate a little extra mad money in their pocket if AP codes were released. We have booked standard rooms on our previous stays at WDW and I was perfectly fine with that and comfortable with that rate. Unfortunately, due to schedules and changes in summer camp dates, we had to wait a little longer than usual to book and only more expensive "views" were available, making it more of a stretch financially than we'd have liked.

I wasn't suggesting that there have ALWAYS been AP codes for all dates. What I meant was, during every vacation WE have taken to Disney (9 in the past 7 years) there have been AP discounts. I never was even planning our stay around them, they just happened to be available during the dates that we were traveling. Just lucky, I guess!

Either way, we're still going to Disney! We might have to eat more counter service and less table service, or cut back on some extra tours and shows, but we'll still be there with bells on!

 

[mickeyfan2]

I only posted this topic for a little feedback, not to get everyone irritated with me.

I am not irritated at you. I was just stating that I book what I can afford, so the only way that my room would become available again would be if I needed to cancel or an AP came out and then I would either apply it to my reservation or do an upgrade.

 

[JennyMominRI]

I am not irritated at you. I was just stating that I book what I can afford, so the only way that my room would become available again would be if I needed to cancel or an AP came out and then I would either apply it to my reservation or do an upgrade.

I just booked the GF for 4 night for around 1600$ <gulp> I'm really hoping for an AP discount..I'm doing a split stay and I'm determined that part of it be at the GF..I won't book the first 3 nights until I find AP rate info for that time..If there aren't any I'll do 3 nights at POR, If there are I'll book the WL. No matter what I'll be able to afford the GF,but 'm not holding a room I can't pay for
I did book a higher price room once and not end up getting a discount and changed it..I was younger and stupid and didn't realize there were repercussions.I just didn't think it through.. Ever since I've only booked what I'm willing to pay for

 

[kaytieeldr]

Hmm... I don't see anybody flaming anyone, or even getting irritated. The OP asked if posters think OTHER Guests with reservations at WL will, on determining (the theoretical) lack of codes, cancel their WL reservations and downgrade to a less expensive property.
The responses have, for the most part, been posters stating that they would NOT do this, that they reserve the room/s that fit in their respective budgets; or posters surmising the same point of view for the general public.

I only posted this topic for a little feedback, not to get everyone irritated with me. As I said before, we will not be cancelling our rooms and I did book what we could afford.

Right. You're saying YOU won't cancel your room/s and you booked what you can afford - but you're assuming/expecting that OTHER Guests booked the same resort at the same time on speculation that a code will become available, but if one doesn't then THOSE Guests may cancel their reservations - thereby making available for YOU a less-expensive room that wasn't available when you first booked. So, I gotta say I'm curious why you think other Guests would do this? It seems to me the Disney "world" at large reserves the rooms they can afford at the resorts they can afford.
At any rate, I would think any cancellations would be due to: Guests with packages who cancel them at or before the 45 day mark and Guests with room-only reservations who cancel them at or before the 5 day point... for ANY reason.
Of course, then there are the blocked rooms contracted to Travel Agencies such as (but not limited to) Expedia and Vacation Outlet. After a certain date, any unsold rooms are returned to DISNEY inventory, and therefore available to Guests making their reservation through Disney.

 

[debbi801]

We booked the hotel we could afford for the length of time we could afford to stay. If a code comes out, that is just extra money we can spend on trinkets or something.

I do know people who are planning to either downgrade their hotel or shorten their stay if codes don't come out.

 

[dreamsofdisney]

I actually felt that one poster was irritated or at least misinterpreting why I was asking. The reason I posted this (since you asked) is because I had noticed on another thread, that a number of people were saying they were switching to offsite or changing their travel dates to the free dining time period. Until this trip, I'd never visited the message boards during the planning phase, so I didn't know if this was typical or not. Maybe people book all the time to "hold" rooms and then change their ressies? Personally, I don't judge people that do that because I don't know their reasons for changing and it's their perogative...whether it makes it harder for me to find the rooms I'd prefer or not.
I was only trying to get a feel for what was typical during the summer months. The last thing I wanted was to feel like I was stirring up a sensitive topic with fellow DISers. After all, we all have a love of Disney in common!