Magic Hours Help!

[WWMD]

I am an annual passholder and will be staying at a resort with my sister and her family next week. I was unable to join their reservation because they booked tickets with their room package and you're unable to join an existing reservation unless you are purchasing the same amount of park tickets. Because of this rule, I'll be getting "day passes" to stay in the resort with them. These day passes are not linked to magic hours so it seems I'll be unable to go to the parks when the rest of my family is going just because I'm an annual passholder and not able to be registered under the resort reservation. Does anyone have experience with this? I get mixed responses from guest services. Some say I'll be able to get into the parks for the extra hours if I go with my family while others say it's just not possible since I'm not on the reservation. Doesn't seem like the Disney spirit to turn people away just because of this reservation technicality. I'm very willing to pay the extra $25 a night to be added to the room reservation but was told this is just not possible. Thoughts?

 

[21stamps]

They should be able to add a guest to the reservation without linking the entire thing. I've done it twice.
1st time the phone rep messed up horribly and I almost lost my room as a result. It got escalated and fixed thankfully..but it took about an hour on the phone.

2nd time- I asked the phone rep if they had experience with the situation first. No issues that time.

 

[WWMD]

They should be able to add a guest to the reservation without linking the entire thing. I've done it twice.
1st time the phone rep messed up horribly and I almost lost my room as a result. It got escalated and fixed thankfully..but it took about an hour on the phone.

2nd time- I asked the phone rep if they had experience with the situation first. No issues that time.

I wish! I've talked to a ton of different Disney people and I tried the same thing for a trip last October. Basically the response is always that to be added to a reservation you need to have the exact same itinerary, aka same number of nights in the hotel and same amount of tickets (simply because they booked a discount package that included tickets, otherwise if it was just a room it wouldn't be an issue). I didn't have an annual pass on that last trip, I was just coming later than the rest of my party so I didn't want to pay for more park days than I'd be using. Originally the woman making the reservation said it would be fine as long as I added myself in person when I check in rather than over the phone, but this was not the case when I arrived and they took a long time figuring out a solution (which did not include giving me access to EMHs unfortunately). They ended up giving me the resort day passes (just a plastic card that allowed me access to the room) but this did not allow me to use magic hours. I've talked to guest services and they've told me the same thing each time but some say I might get lucky when trying to enter during magic hours with my family that's staying in the resort. I'd rather not risk it if there's a solution I'm not thinking of! Would be a sad hour alone outside the parks haha

 

[21stamps]

I wish! I've talked to a ton of different Disney people and I tried the same thing for a trip last October. Basically the response is always that to be added to a reservation you need to have the exact same itinerary, aka same number of nights in the hotel and same amount of tickets (simply because they booked a discount package that included tickets, otherwise if it was just a room it wouldn't be an issue). I didn't have an annual pass on that last trip, I was just coming later than the rest of my party so I didn't want to pay for more park days than I'd be using. Originally the woman making the reservation said it would be fine as long as I added myself in person when I check in rather than over the phone, but this was not the case when I arrived and they took a long time figuring out a solution (which did not include giving me access to EMHs unfortunately). They ended up giving me the resort day passes (just a plastic card that allowed me access to the room) but this did not allow me to use magic hours. I've talked to guest services and they've told me the same thing each time but some say I might get lucky when trying to enter during magic hours with my family that's staying in the resort. I'd rather not risk it if there's a solution I'm not thinking of! Would be a sad hour alone outside the parks haha

They're wrong. Like I said, I've done it twice. September 2015 and November 2016. Both times I added one person for 2 nights only.

Here's what you need to do-

First of all, you can't add yourself. The reservation holder is the one that needs to call. That's the only person who can add a guest.

Have the person with the reservation call and explain that they want to add a personal guest for X amount of nights only, not to the package.
It's up to the reservation holder if you get charging privileges or not, but you will get a key card which works for the room and pool, and a parking pass. You will also be able to do EMH, the same as "my guest" did.

If the original phone rep says it can't be done, then your family member needs to ask for a supervisor.

Trust me. I just did it. And I did it a year ago. It is definitely possible. It must being worded incorrectly somewhere along the way..again, you're not being added to the "reservation", you're being added as a guest to the reservation holder- but with all of the same privileges that the reservation holder has. There's no difference, unless they don't want to give you charging power.

The only way it wouldn't be possible is if there is the max amount of guests in the room already.

Oh- the key card has your name, the dates you will be staying, and the name of the resort printed right on the card. So there is no reason or no way that you can't do EMH with that. People who forgo magic bands use the same key.

 

[WWMD]

They're wrong. Like I said, I've done it twice. September 2015 and November 2016. Both times I added one person for 2 nights only.

Here's what you need to do-

First of all, you can't add yourself. The reservation holder is the one that needs to call. That's the only person who can add a guest.

Have the person with the reservation call and explain that they want to add a personal guest for X amount of nights only, not to the package.
It's up to the reservation holder if you get charging privileges or not, but you will get a key card which works for the room and pool, and a parking pass. You will also be able to do EMH, the same as "my guest" did.

If the original phone rep says it can't be done, then your family member needs to ask for a supervisor.

Trust me. I just did it. And I did it a year ago. It is definitely possible. It must being worded incorrectly somewhere along the way..again, you're not being added to the "reservation", you're being added as a guest to the reservation holder- but with all of the same privileges that the reservation holder has. There's no difference, unless they don't want to give you charging power.

The only way it wouldn't be possible is if there is the max amount of guests in the room already.

Oh- the key card has your name, the dates you will be staying, and the name of the resort printed right on the card. So there is no reason or no way that you can't do EMH with that. People who forgo magic bands use the same key.

Ok I'll give this a try tomorrow! I call on behalf of my sister because I have all of her reservation and personal information--they don't know the difference. A couple of questions...did you call the regular reservation number to do this or did you connect with the resort directly? Did you end up having to pay the $25 a night fee for the added person? Also was your existing reservation booked with a ticket + resort package as well? Thanks for your help!

 

[21stamps]

Ok I'll give this a try tomorrow! I call on behalf of my sister because I have all of her reservation and personal information--they don't know the difference. A couple of questions...did you call the regular reservation number to do this or did you connect with the resort directly? Did you end up having to pay the $25 a night fee for the added person? Also was your existing reservation booked with a ticket + resort package as well? Thanks for your help!

I didn't have to pay the $25 bc I didn't have another adult in the room already. The first time I had a ticket/dining package, second time I had an AP. Both times the process and result was the same. Except for the mess with the cm on the very 1st attempt.lol. Make sure to explain it how I said..and if you are told "no" ask for a supervisor. I promise that you can do it!

 

[AndrewsJ]

You can register at the front as a day guest staying in their room and you should be able to do Magic Hours.

 

[WWMD]

You can register at the front as a day guest staying in their room and you should be able to do Magic Hours.

I did this in October and they told me magic hours weren't an option since the day guest is just essentially an added key and isn't registered on your magic band or reservation.

 

[21stamps]

I did this in October and they told me magic hours weren't an option since the day guest is just essentially an added key and isn't registered on your magic band or reservation.

Was your name on the key?

 

[WWMD]

Was your name on the key?

It was a plastic card and they wrote my first name on with a sharpie but that's it. Sounds ridiculous, it was the Grand Floridian too! But we talked with multiple people working and they all said the same thing that reservations people told us over the phone--that our day passes were good for entering the hotel but don't work at the parks for magic hours. My Disney Experience didn't show anything about a resort so scanning my magic band wouldn't have helped get me into the parks for the magic hours.

 

[21stamps]

It was a plastic card and they wrote my first name on with a sharpie but that's it. Sounds ridiculous, it was the Grand Floridian too! But we talked with multiple people working and they all said the same thing that reservations people told us over the phone--that our day passes were good for entering the hotel but don't work at the parks for magic hours. My Disney Experience didn't show anything about a resort so scanning my magic band wouldn't have helped get me into the parks for the magic hours.

My friend's had her name on it..not written in sharpie.lol We were at Poly last year and GF this year. Both of them did the same.

 

[WWMD]

My friend's had her name on it..not written in sharpie.lol We were at Poly last year and GF this year. Both of them did the same.

Ugh. Well I'm just going to relay this info when I call tomorrow and hope for the best. I've always found it ridiculous that they haven't been able to resolve this issue.

On an unrelated note, I clicked on your profile (I'm new to using these forums...not sure what I need to add to mine!) and it says you're from a block away from me in Seattle. Small world if that's true! Yay Disney! Or I just don't know how to use this thing. Still yay Disney! Haha

 

[WWMD]

My friend's had her name on it..not written in sharpie.lol We were at Poly last year and GF this year. Both of them did the same.

Well I called and talked to someone again and I got the same answer. I just worded it as being added as a guest to the hotel...they said this was possible but that I'd not have access to magic hours. This guy definitely wanted to help me out too, he just said there's no way around it.