Grand Gatherings mess

[jheltz27]

Hello all... My family (11 people total) are heading to Disney in 2 weeks during Mardi Gras and we currently have 2 different types of room reservations. We have 1 night at Port Orleans FQ which we booked online through AAA (didn't go through a travel agent per se but apparently that doesn't matter) and we also have 2 Villas at the Wilderness Lodge for which we rented points through a DVC member for the rest of the 6 days.

In an effort to tie all of the reservations together so we can try to get adjacent rooms and all on one table if possible for our dinner reservations, we called Grand Gatherings to set this up. We were told that we had to go through AAA to set this up because it was "booked" through them. We did this and now have (I think) a GG # for all of the reservations. We did the same through our DVC member and gave her the same number to tie those in. Well today I get a call from DVC member services (left a message) that we are set up for the GG but then they give me a new number.

The problem is when you call the Grand Gatherings phone number no one over there can help you if you're in this situation. They can't even confirm for me which GG # has which on it because they're both listed as restricted. I'm told to basically go through the entire thing all over again through this travel agent who I don't really have and DVC member services who I can't contact directly.

I guess my main question is, if I have 2 Grand Gatherings numbers is it going to screw up our reservations in any way? Since it appears that all of our dinner reservations are on the 1 night hotel #, will I lose these in any way? It's just so frustrating that Disney sets up this service to assist in your planning for large groups and you can't even use it. Sorry for the long rant but if anyone tries to go this unorthodox routing for booking, I just wanted to give them a heads up for the mess you're about to get into.

 

[bruiser659]

:shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug:

 

[mcstensrud]

:shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug:

DITTO

 

[disneydudette]

My guess is that since you have two seperate reservations: a reservation with AAA for POR and a reservation through a DVC member for VWL, you would "have" to recieve two seperate GG numbers; especially since it appears as two seperate vacations in Disney's system.

When you applied GG to your vacation, you basically applied it to two seperate vacations: your trip to POR and your trip to VWL. When you went through AAA, you were proivded with a GG number that was valid for that resort stay alone, basically just your reservation numbers at POR. Because your moving to VWL under a complete different reservation "host" and number, you would need another GG number to cover that aspect of your stay, hence why you recieved a call from DVC. It's similar to the concept of resort switching... you can not have multiple resort stays under one reservation number. You can however have multiple reservation numbers within the same resort under one GG number.

No, your GG numbers will not screw anything up. Make sure you keep all of your reservation numbers in order and have them for check-in as well as your GG number. There is no way to lose your ADRs unless you yourself call and cancel. I'd call wdw-dine and ask to change the ADRs during your stay at the VWL under the GG number that DVC gave you.

It doesn't surprise me this has happened either. This is one of the biggest "issues" with renting points and booking through AAA and other travel agencies: you lose complete control of your reservation in these situations

 

[SweetMagic]

My first question would be:

With whom did you book your dining reservations? Through Disney Dining with a Dine or Group dine agent, or through a Grand Gathering agent?

I'm not an expert on Grand Gatherings in any way, but I did book dining for Disney a few years ago. I have never known of a "connection" between room reservations and dining. In other words, as far as your dining reservations go, nothing should change once they are booked. It wouldn't matter if you were staying on Disney property, or off-site, or if you were local. Once you make a dining reservation it is a separate entity unto itself and is not effected by anything else. Yes, they ask where you are staying when you book dining, but it is not "connected" or "attached" to that room reservation.

As far as your room reservations are concerned, I think there are other folks on here that can advise whether or not you can call ahead directly to the resort for your request for rooms that are next to or near each other. I think it's something like 3 or less days before you arrive? I also remember hearing that you can't get info on the DVC booking if you aren't the actual "owner". Since you are renting those points, you will have a more difficult time getting anyone to answer your questions. I would still try calling WL with your request though right before you go.

I hope this helps some :wave:

 

[jheltz27]

Thanks for the replies... I appreciate it. To answer disneydudette, I think you're probably right. Since they're two different types of reservations I guess they have no choice. I guess the safest thing to do is like you said and move the ADRs to the VWL GG# since that's where we'll be staying when we use them. I just was under the impression that we could have 1 number for everything.

SweetMagic04, I initially just did my ADRs through the regular Disney Disney number. I only thought about adding the GG later as a way to help out with the big group and hopefully getting tables to be together and such. If this doesn't have any impact on it and the ADRs are still fine regardless then I guess it's no biggie.

I'll try to call directly to POFQ a few days before we arrive to request the rooms be together. Hopefully I can do this myself and not have to bother going through AAA again. If we can't get the 2 VWL villas next to each other it's not the end of the world really. One of the other villas is only for 2 nights out of the 6 anyway.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions. I was just kinda frustrated when I called (my wife called again right after) and they couldn't tell me ANYTHING about reservations that really are mine. Seems kinda flawed if you ask me. Why can't they just have a master Grand Gatherings website or something where you could see all of the things tied together.

 

[jheltz27]

Oh, just thought of something. Will calling Disney Dining let me move the ADRs from 1 GG # to the other or will I have to go through the DVC Member again to do this? I hate asking her to do this because the hold times on the phone calls lately have been long. She's already had to do this a few times last week for our Magical Express reservations.

 

[SweetMagic]

Disney Dining can make a note of the GG #, but it's not necessary at all. You're going to be seated the same way when you go to the restaurants whether anyone knows you're a GG or not.

When you book a large group the standard info given is that there is no guarantee that you will all be seated together. The earlier in the dining period the better chance you have of it being easier to seat you all together. The restaurants are really good about making this happen for groups, but the procedure is the same for Grand Gatherings or large groups of any kind.

Once you actually go to a restaurant to check in at the podium it won't matter if they have a GG # or not, they will do the best they can to seat you all together either way. Checking in at least 15 minutes early helps too.

I hope that made sense. I'm just trying to assure you that you don't have to stress about your ADR's. If you have already made them, then that's all you have to do. Nothing else has to happen at this point.

I also agree with you that you don't need AAA for getting rooms that are near each other. Call the resort directly right before you go, that's what I've always heard for advice on room requests like you have.

:wave:

 

[disneydudette]

In regards to your ADR question...

As long as you you know the name/confirmation number, you shouldn't have a problem. Whenever I call to make/cancel/change a reservation they ask for the name and the reservation number or phone number it's under. You should have a Confirmation number for each ADR you've made, and can go about it that way: "I need to make a change to our reservation, confirmation number xxxxxxxxx, under the name abcd at such and such at x:xx"

I'd also suggest faxing, even though it's been said that the resorts no longer accept room request faxes. Honestly there is no harm in sending one 2-3 days before your arrival informing them of your grand gathering arrival. List all room reservation numbers, the Grand Gathering number and how you'd like all rooms close together.

I'm not super familiar with the floorplan for the VWL, so I'm not sure whether or not you can have two 2-bedroom villas directly next to each other. No 2-bedroom villas at any DVC have connecting doors to another villa/studio if thats what you were wondering. I'm sure disney will be able to find you two villas close together, whether they be side by side, across the hall, or a door or two down! You can send a similar fax to VWL if you like.

I can understand your frustrations. Your basically working with two travel agents, your AAA agent and your DVC renter... because of that... it's Disney policy to ONLY share information with those agents, even if it's your reservation. I guess that's a small price you pay for booking outside of Disney. Since Grand Gathering is a Disney "program"... they follow suit.

 

[jheltz27]

Actually we have a 2 BR villa and a Studio if that helps. I'm going to ask the AAA agent we've been dealing with to put in a request for the rooms on the 1st night be together. I've told the DVC member not to worry about calling and changing the ADRs to the Villa reservations since it doesn't sound like it matters much anyway.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Hi there Jon, Sorry you had sucha hard tme of it but so far everything seems pretty much right. When you make your reservations through AAA you are assigning AAA as your travel agent, regardless of it they told you that or not. They are in complete charge of your reservation until you check in. There are a few reasons for that and one of them is the safety and security of your reservation!!! You dont want someone being able to mess with your reservation who you did not authorize, correct? So the only person who can mess with the reservation was the person who originated it. As far as calling the resort, that wont work at all, you will be transferred back to reservations who STILL wont be able to talk to you regarding your reservations. Contact your agent and have her put the room requests on your reservation. It is not a big deal and I do it for my clients all the time ( usually when I book the room)
As far as transferring stuff around for dining, I would agree with the other posters and just leave it. The reservations arent tied to anything, just make sure you have the ressie numbers with you for all dining and you should be fine. My opinion is on the Dining it doesnt seem broke, dont fix it!! Im sure everything will work out just fine!!! Have a great time!! Belle