Resort Change by Disney

[DougLovesYou]

Even though I updated my reservation this afternoon, I did receive the email to confirm I was still planning to come. It still indicated my original Port Orleans information. My Disney Experience information is all up to date.

Same. Doesn't have my new resort on it.

 

[snugglebug]

I got the email for my upcoming DVC stays which I booked on points.

I got it as well for a DVC stay booked on my points. The first part of the trip is on rented points and I did not get an email for that.

 

[kimyinpink]

I got it but it had my new resort on it. I switched my resort with GS instead of the 1st CM. That may be the difference bc everything on my account was changed instantaneously. No waiting on a form or price change to show up.

 

[doleddanielle]

I got it but it had my new resort on it. I switched my resort with GS instead of the 1st CM. That may be the difference bc everything on my account was changed instantaneously. No waiting on a form or price change to show up.

Same here. I did see that, even though the change was instant yesterday under "My Plans," when I went to modify to add a celebration it still said the previous reservation until this morning. It might initially have the resort change, but deeper within the system it might take until midnight to update. So my guess is, if guests modified their resorts today and received the email today, it wouldn't be updated on the email or truly be reflected in the system until the morning.

 

[Kimrlav]

The towers are small and from what I've heard, dim lighting and hard to see. To me they look best for a solo, a young couple or maybe a parent/young child combo. As much as I like the new resort, it would feel like a downgrade going from BW over to a tower bed closet. The bathroom is bigger than the bedroom, lol.

View attachment 503960

Thanks for the info and floor plan. Yes, my favorite resort is the BWI (opening October 1st), but a move to the studio in the BW villas would have been an additional charge - really do not want to pay more for a trip this year. I would have no problem with the switch RIV from BWI to try another resort, if it was a solo stay. The bathroom does look great - maybe I can sleep in the shower.

 

[bigOlkid]

I just said forget it and moved mine to Disneyland (checks internet) Uh oh.

 

[Kimrlav]

the tower studio bed is for sure a queen bed. It’s just me and the hubs and other than the room size my hubs is sold. Says the luxury of the rest of the resort is too good to pass up and we’d never book otherwise because of the price point under normal circumstances. We shall see.

Thanks for confirming the queen bed. I always stay at BWI, so it might give me a chance to try another resort. The pool looks nice, plus two quick service restaurants and signature dining, if the Skyliner is operational that would be a bonus.

 

[Rxdr2013]

no emails here for our 3 split stays. guess its because we rented dvc points.

 

[Kimrlav]

It is a queen pull down bed in RIV tower. The mattress is the same one that is used on the beds in the regular size studios

Thanks for confirming -- makes me feel better that it is a queen bed.

 

[sheila14]

I understand that I need to call Disney and modify from resort for which I am staying at AKL Jambo house standard view king bed in September. Since my resort will not be opened, with me having to switch to another resort, is Disney expecting me to pay the difference????

 

[vinotinto]

I got rid of my 2 day base tickets and was able to retain the 35% discount - I did keep my dates though, so that may have been a factor.

I kept my dates too. Blerg -- I hate that things are so inconsistent. I do not need those tickets.

OK, so I will begin by saying that the last few days have been pretty difficult and this is looong. I am on our first vacation of this year (thanks COVID!), at the beach, but I didn’t think I could just wait until next week to sort out our mid-July trip to WDW to celebrate DD’s birthday. Yes, we could have cancelled, but we have to use vacation time, or we will simply lose it.

So, after weeks of everything frozen, and twiddling our thumbs waiting to see if our APs would be extended, and to learn about the resort reservation system, and which resorts would be open, it seems to me everything happened all within a week.

Our APs were finally extended, which meant I didn’t need our tickets on our package reservation. And then, the resort opening dates were published, and our resort (Poly) would not be open for our dates. And then, the tickets from the package that I had not yet been able to modify interfered with the APs in the resort reservation system and I could only make *1* day of Park reservations. yeah, only one day. Monday was the day we could finally modify our packages and do Park reservations. So much happening at the same time, with waits of multiple hours. Goodness!

I had to prioritize what I would get fixed first. I tried calling IT online support on Monday, but I am away, and there were only so many hours I could spend on hold. I could not get through. Then on Tuesday afternoon, after almost 3 hours on hold, I got a wonderful CM at IT Tech Support who listened to my problem, created dummy duplicates, which allowed me to make our park reservations, and then he merged those profiles back. Whew! Park reservations made!

Today, I called to get the tickets and resort sorted out. This was tricky. I had gotten 35% off when Free Dining was dropped, but the FD package had a minimum number of tickets. I had called multiple times throughout the day, holding as much as 1.5 hours, but we are meeting with family and had activities, and so I wasn’t able to get a hold of anyone through most of the day (I started calling at 7:10am!). I have multiple numbers saved and finally I got through (I *think* it was the direct Guest Services line).

I got a wonderful CM, who understood that I did not need the tickets. She put me on hold for a looooong time, but she was able to modify my Poly reservation to a Base Package. I had 9-day PH Plus, for 4 adults. Seriously, that was a $2500 savings right there.

I then asked her about the Poly. She looked it up and saw that it would not be open. I could switch to Poly Studio, but that was booked on our first night, so I would need to shorten our stay. She then offered us Contemporary TPV. I accepted that. We didn’t have anything extra to pay. CR has never been our first choice due to theming, but it cannot be emphasized enough that flexibility is key with the ”new normal.” If you want to enjoy some Disney magic, you will have to accept the changes. I was happy to get a resort for our dates. I probably could have asked what else was available, but honestly, after all the time spent On the phone, I was happy to have a place to stay!

I am so appreciative of both CMs that helped me this week, and I plan to write an email about my experience (the wonderful CMs and the not-so-wonderful aspects of being on hold for hours). I still can’t believe Disney dropped all of this during the same 3 days - the new, untested Parks Reservation system, modifications for 2020, new resort reservations for 2021. It’s madness that all of this happened in 72 hours. If it wasn’t for the wonderful CMs helping me, this would have been a complete mess.

I’m still leery though. I feel like I’m going to show up in mid-July and the parks/AP solution will become unlinked and we won’t have reservations. Or that I will show up at the Contemporary and my reservation won’t be there. Normally, I would never sweat all of this, but, the last few days feel Like everything was thrown together without much testing, etc.

Anyway, if you’re at CR in mid-July, maybe I’ll see you around the pool or the bar and maybe, possibly, by then we’ll be able to laugh about all of this. It really should not be this hard.

 

[eiblehs]

My TA (who couldn’t get through the phone lines today for my reservation) said someone at her agency called 419 times before getting through today.

 

[doleddanielle]

I understand that I need to call Disney and modify from resort for which I am staying at AKL Jambo house standard view king bed in September. Since my resort will not be opened, with me having to switch to another resort, is Disney expecting me to pay the difference????

They'll try their best to move you to similar accommodations for no charge, most likely the villas at AKL or kidani. If nothing is available at either, then they'll have to price protect you at another resort.

 

[SarahC97]

OK, so I will begin by saying that the last few days have been pretty difficult and this is looong. I am on our first vacation of this year (thanks COVID!), at the beach, but I didn’t think I could just wait until next week to sort out our mid-July trip to WDW to celebrate DD’s birthday. Yes, we could have cancelled, but we have to use vacation time, or we will simply lose it.

So, after weeks of everything frozen, and twiddling our thumbs waiting to see if our APs would be extended, and to learn about the resort reservation system, and which resorts would be open, it seems to me everything happened all within a week.

Our APs were finally extended, which meant I didn’t need our tickets on our package reservation. And then, the resort opening dates were published, and our resort (Poly) would not be open for our dates. And then, the tickets from the package that I had not yet been able to modify interfered with the APs in the resort reservation system and I could only make *1* day of Park reservations. yeah, only one day. Monday was the day we could finally modify our packages and do Park reservations. So much happening at the same time, with waits of multiple hours. Goodness!

I had to prioritize what I would get fixed first. I tried calling IT online support on Monday, but I am away, and there were only so many hours I could spend on hold. I could not get through. Then on Tuesday afternoon, after almost 3 hours on hold, I got a wonderful CM at IT Tech Support who listened to my problem, created dummy duplicates, which allowed me to make our park reservations, and then he merged those profiles back. Whew! Park reservations made!

Today, I called to get the tickets and resort sorted out. This was tricky. I had gotten 35% off when Free Dining was dropped, but the FD package had a minimum number of tickets. I had called multiple times throughout the day, holding as much as 1.5 hours, but we are meeting with family and had activities, and so I wasn’t able to get a hold of anyone through most of the day (I started calling at 7:10am!). I have multiple numbers saved and finally I got through (I *think* it was the direct Guest Services line).

I got a wonderful CM, who understood that I did not need the tickets. She put me on hold for a looooong time, but she was able to modify my Poly reservation to a Base Package. I had 9-day PH Plus, for 4 adults. Seriously, that was a $2500 savings right there.

I then asked her about the Poly. She looked it up and saw that it would not be open. I could switch to Poly Studio, but that was booked on our first night, so I would need to shorten our stay. She then offered us Contemporary TPV. I accepted that. We didn’t have anything extra to pay. CR has never been our first choice due to theming, but it cannot be emphasized enough that flexibility is key with the ”new normal.” If you want to enjoy some Disney magic, you will have to accept the changes. I was happy to get a resort for our dates. I probably could have asked what else was available, but honestly, after all the time spent On the phone, I was happy to have a place to stay!

I am so appreciative of both CMs that helped me this week, and I plan to write an email about my experience (the wonderful CMs and the not-so-wonderful aspects of being on hold for hours). I still can’t believe Disney dropped all of this during the same 3 days - the new, untested Parks Reservation system, modifications for 2020, new resort reservations for 2021. It’s madness that all of this happened in 72 hours. If it wasn’t for the wonderful CMs helping me, this would have been a complete mess.

I’m still leery though. I feel like I’m going to show up in mid-July and the parks/AP solution will become unlinked and we won’t have reservations. Or that I will show up at the Contemporary and my reservation won’t be there. Normally, I would never sweat all of this, but, the last few days feel Like everything was thrown together without much testing, etc.

Anyway, if you’re at CR in mid-July, maybe I’ll see you around the pool or the bar and maybe, possibly, by then we’ll be able to laugh about all of this. It really should not be this hard.

Glad to hear it all worked out. So, you were able to drop the tickets completely? I'm going to have to make my TA call again...

 

[Kadorto]

I haven’t heard of anyone getting club level or it being available for booking for the foreseeable future (at least for 2020 from what my CM said). That’s awesome if it’s available

Just finished my call with a CM. We were originally booked at BC club level... she was unable to re-book us at club level or anything similar anywhere. We went from a 1 br CL to a studio at Rivera. That was the best she could do,, All things considered, we're good with it.

 

[Mlchiranky]

I’m at POR and received an email for my 7/16 stay

 

[vinotinto]

Glad to hear it all worked out. So, you were able to drop the tickets completely? I'm going to have to make my TA call again...

Correct. I was able to drop the tickets completely. She could see we have APs and she understood I did not need the tickets and put me on hold for a long time and my price dropped the price of the 9-day PH Plus for the 4 people. I think they are so overwhelmed with call volume, it’s hard to dedicate the time. I decided that for me, dropping the tix was more important than a specific resort or a choice of resorts. Just get me a place to sleep, but please, let me drop the tix. I agree you should have your TA call back and explain. I hope it works out!

 

[SarahC97]

Correct. I was able to drop the tickets completely. She could see we have APs and she understood I did not need the tickets and put me on hold for a long time and my price dropped the price of the 9-day PH Plus for the 4 people. I think they are so overwhelmed with call volume, it’s hard to dedicate the time. I decided that for me, dropping the tix was more important than a specific resort or a choice of resorts. Just get me a place to sleep, but please, let me drop the tix. I agree you should have your TA call back and explain. I hope it works out!

I'm totally going to insist. Thanks so much!! Enjoy your vacation!

 

[sheila14]

They'll try their best to move you to similar accommodations for no charge, most likely the villas at AKL or kidani. If nothing is available at either, then they'll have to price protect you at another resort.

Thank you

 

[TropicalDIS]

THIS! We have a TA though so now I'm dependent on her convincing GS of that. We have GDT 9/27-10/4 and I adamantly do not want CBR. I gave her a list of places we'd be willing to take, suffice it to say another moderate was not on that list LOL!

Good luck to you! Let us know how it goes. I’ll be trying again tomorrow.