CBR - request preferred room

[matt1999]

My disney vacation starts in three days and I am staying at the Caribbean Beach resort. I booked a standard room when I booked the package deal but I am willing to pay to upgrade to a preferred room now. I called today to see if I could upgrade but I was told that all of the rooms are booked.

Has anyone had any luck purchasing an upgrade at the resort when they check in? I would be okay with a standard room as long as I did not end up in Trinidad South. I have a 2yr old and an 11 yr old.

 

[surfsupdon]

Ask when you check in. And if preferred locations aren't available (parts of Martinique and Trinidad North) resquest a room at check in at Aruba or Jamaica nearest to the foot bridge. You will like their location. Avoid Barbados.

And don't worry about being in Trinidad South. Isn't the majority of the Island closed off to allow for construction of the new pirate rooms?? You didn't pay for a pirate room so you won't be there even if they do open early.

 

[CleveRocks]

I agree with surfsupdon ... it can't hurt to ask.

Part of your chances depends on how long you'll be staying there. If you are staying more than 4 nights, I'm afraid it would be a very very low likelihood that you'd be able to purchase the upgrade at check-in. Here's why ...

Each individual resort has no idea what the future holds for it. They only get reservation information about 4 or 5 days in advance. If you are staying for a week, and they allow you to upgrade to a preferred location room for that week, they risk having no room available for someone who already paid for and reserved a preferred location room who might be checking in on your 5th or 6th day of vacation. Therefore, shorter stays have a better chance of getting upgrades.

However, perhaps if it's a generally slower time of year they might feel a little frisky and allow an upgrade because they figure they can get away with it.

Good luck!:wave:

 

[matt1999]

Here's a quick trip report.

We stayed 12/14 - 12/19. We asked for a preferred room when we arrived and we received one. That was great since the room they had booked for us was in Trinidad South. We ended up in section 25 in a corner room, garden view.

The weather was perfect. The first few nights the highs were in the low 70's and I believe it got up to 80 the rest of the week. Crowds were light compared to when we went 2 years ago during Thanksgiving week. We rode just about every ride twice and visited Hollywood, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom. We were on the Free disney dining visa plan and also visited some resorts for our dining.

Most lines were 10 - 20 minutes. At times the queue's increased to 40 minutes but if you waited, they decreased. We rode the new Toy Story Midway Mania ride twice and the Mt Everest Yetti ride 4 times. I rode a lot of rides that I have never rode before because of the lines.

Caribbean Beach resort was nice. I never did see anyone in any boat, canoe, or anything. Buses were hit and miss. Sometimes we had to wait 20 minutes for the correct bus and other times 1 minute. We were expecting to use a taxi at least once during our trip for when we were rushed but it was not necessary.

The candy maker at Epcot made my son a Hippo. If you get the opportunity, schedule this. It's free! The playhouse disney show was great for my 2 year old son.

I think this was one of the best times of the year to go. The only disappointment was that we did not receive any magic moments. When we went last year we received a magic moment free popcorn and free arcade game. This year we tried our best to ride rides early in the morning to try to find the magic moments team. Oh well, I can't complain.

 

[surfsupdon]

Caribbean Beach resort was nice. I never did see anyone in any boat, canoe, or anything.

Glad you got yourpreferred room and had nice weather!

It's a shame the boats are not usedmore on Barefoot Bay. Back in the day, when the boats were affordable for multiple exucursions during your vacation (the "Captain's Plan" was a $99 length of play boat/bike package for up to five adults all vacation long). That was a steal. Back in those days sometimes you had to book your water mouse in advance their was such a high demand. Now the lake is empty and it just doesn't feel the same. But I won't pay their prices for a watersprite daily.