Adding a discount after booking a reservation

[DisneyLizzy3]

So I have been told that if Disney comes out with a new room-only discount, free dining plan, etc. that you can add this offer on to your existing reservation if it meets the criteria for the special offer. Does this still hold true? If so, can you apply a room-only discount, to a vacation package reservation (room+tickets)? OR would it be better to reserve the room and tickets separately? Lastly, if free dining becomes available, do I have to book a vacation package in order to be qualified for this offer? Sorry for the amount of questions. I can't find a "clear" answer anywhere about this.

 

[sxeensweet]

1) if the offer has rooms available (they only allow so many for each offer) then they basically make a new reservation for you with the current offer if you call.

2)you can't add a room only offer to a package reservation. They would switch yours to room only then they can add the tickets and dining like normal and it becomes a package basically.

3)for Free Dining you have to have a package with park tickets to qualify. (Free dining really is not free because you are paying full rack rate for the room so do the math and see if room only % off offer might be a better deal depending where you are staying etc)

Hope this helps!

 

[DisneyLizzy3]

Thank you so much! That was exactly what I was looking for

 

[sxeensweet]

Your very welcome!! Glad I could help!

 

[FrostyNaples]

So I have been told that if Disney comes out with a new room-only discount, free dining plan, etc. that you can add this offer on to your existing reservation if it meets the criteria for the special offer. Does this still hold true? If so, can you apply a room-only discount, to a vacation package reservation (room+tickets)? OR would it be better to reserve the room and tickets separately? Lastly, if free dining becomes available, do I have to book a vacation package in order to be qualified for this offer? Sorry for the amount of questions. I can't find a "clear" answer anywhere about this.

Best to call and lay it out for them, see what they say.

I had previously booked a general public room-only offer, and later modified to a pass-holder promotion that came out after the fact.

They did not need to change my reservation number, they only modified my existing one.

Ticket prices don't change based on the room rates, so those can always be 'added' to the package.

But again, contacting them directly will give you all the proper info on your specific scenario.

 

[sxeensweet]

Correct they do not change your reservation number but how they always told me it's basically a new ressie they just carry your original info over, deposit etc. Also you can do like me when one comes out and book yourself a whole new one online because it took me hours to get someone on the phone and sometimes in that time the available rooms for the deal would have been gone. So once I got them finally on the phone I canceled the original one and my deposit within a few days was put back into my account for the old one. No biggy if your reservation number changes because even if dining is Booked already it does not affect that at all.
We are DVC members but I had to do this this year because we had added some days we paid for to our trip this fall. The late fall offer came out and I did it the way mentioned above and good thing I did because it sold out the room I had that same day. If I would have never did it myself online I would have lost out waiting to get them on the phone!
Also like mentioned a wonderful free travel agent can take care of this the second an offer comes out for you to save you the time and hassle like I went through this time. Lol. I have used a travel agent in the past to take care of mainly my room and any discounts that came out.

 

[dreamfinder]

So I have been told that if Disney comes out with a new room-only discount, free dining plan, etc. that you can add this offer on to your existing reservation if it meets the criteria for the special offer. Does this still hold true? If so, can you apply a room-only discount, to a vacation package reservation (room+tickets)? OR would it be better to reserve the room and tickets separately? Lastly, if free dining becomes available, do I have to book a vacation package in order to be qualified for this offer? Sorry for the amount of questions. I can't find a "clear" answer anywhere about this.

As mentioned, you definitely can try to apply a new discount to an already existing booking. However, by definition, room only is just that, a booking for a room with no tickets or dining. So if you have a package, but they offer a room only discount, you would need to switch to the room only booking, buy your tickets separately, and not be eligible for the dining package. But in this scenario you are free to buy your tickets through a 3rd party like Undercover Tourist, and potentially save $5-40 on each ticket over what WDW would have charged you. The only time you need to buy tickets from WDW is if you are indeed doing a package and want dining.

The same applies for free dining. If you booked a room only reservation, and they then announce free dining, you would need to convert the room only booking to a package that meets the minimum for the free dining promotion, which is usually room, tickets, and dining. Lately I believe they were requiring you to buy a 2 or 3 day ticket minimum. This is mostly a problem if you already had existing non expiring tickets, APs, etc.

Keep in mind that WDW will usually only tell you the price for exactly what you ask. If you ask "Can I apply this discount to my booking" they may or may not tell you that a similar room at ASSp is eligible under the discount if you are currently booked at ASMu and there are no rooms available there under the discount. You can then proceed to ask if there are any comparable rooms that are eligible, but they normally won't just volunteer this information up. That is a benefit to booking with one of the TAs that specialize in Disney as they usually do a better job of trying to hit your budget with any and all available options.

 

[sxeensweet]

As mentioned, you definitely can try to apply a new discount to an already existing booking. However, by definition, room only is just that, a booking for a room with no tickets or dining. So if you have a package, but they offer a room only discount, you would need to switch to the room only booking, buy your tickets separately, and not be eligible for the dining package. But in this scenario you are free to buy your tickets through a 3rd party like Undercover Tourist, and potentially save $5-40 on each ticket over what WDW would have charged you. The only time you need to buy tickets from WDW is if you are indeed doing a package and want dining.

The same applies for free dining. If you booked a room only reservation, and they then announce free dining, you would need to convert the room only booking to a package that meets the minimum for the free dining promotion, which is usually room, tickets, and dining. Lately I believe they were requiring you to buy a 2 or 3 day ticket minimum. This is mostly a problem if you already had existing non expiring tickets, APs, etc.

Keep in mind that WDW will usually only tell you the price for exactly what you ask. If you ask "Can I apply this discount to my booking" they may or may not tell you that a similar room at ASSp is eligible under the discount if you are currently booked at ASMu and there are no rooms available there under the discount. You can then proceed to ask if there are any comparable rooms that are eligible, but they normally won't just volunteer this information up. That is a benefit to booking with one of the TAs that specialize in Disney as they usually do a better job of trying to hit your budget with any and all available options.

You can still do a room only discount then add the tickets and dining to the room only to basically make it a package. So you are incorrect about having to purchase tickets separately then not being able to add dining! Lol a lot of people have this misconception about room only offers.
Of course your dining plan will not be free but you can add these things to the room discount offer. We do this all the time because the room only always is a better deal for us. We just did this again for our add on days to our DVC stay (separate reservations) with the late fall room only offer. We added tickets and dining to that room only once it was booked with the offer. You have always been able to add both to a room only.

 

[smiths5]

I am thinking of getting annual passes for my family. If I make reservations for a Disney hotel before getting these.. can I still get the discount added later? I want to make sure before I do anything.

 

[Tuvalu]

I am thinking of getting annual passes for my family. If I make reservations for a Disney hotel before getting these.. can I still get the discount added later? I want to make sure before I do anything.

*If* there is an AP discount for the dates, resort, and room category you have already booked. Unfortunately the AP discount is not a blanket discount for all rooms and there is no way to tell in advance if it will apply to the room you have reserved.

Always use the number of admission days you will need in deciding if an AP is the way to go. If you plan to visit more than once in a calendar year, or more than 10 days on a single vacation, it usually is.

Then consider any discounts the AP provides as a bonus.

 

[Swissmiss]

Just to add: you don't have to call to see if a discount can be applied, you can also try modifying your reservation online. If the discount is available you can then select and apply it. This worked really well for me on our last trip, when I kept reading accounts of people on hold forever when the discounts came out, and i was able to modify my reservation online in just minutes. I should add that I always start my reservations as room only and then add components. Also, the last time we went, I was able to add a dining plan with no tickets, as we had taken advantage of buying non-expiring tickets from Undercover Tourist. This MUST be done by calling - you cannot get the system to give you the option of buying a dining plan without adding tickets.

 

[mustlovecats]

Room only discounts can be applied to packages; however, they only discount the cost of a room. Room only offers, unlike stay play, and dine or free dining do not include any sort of discount to other package components.

You can add a discount to an already booked reservation provided your booking meets the criteria and there is availability for that offer. Sometimes you can modify your reservation online but other times you might need to call. If you book through a travel agent he or she will also be able to keep an eye out for any newly released offers and apply them to your reservation based on availability.