Old Key West, Animal Kingdom Lodge, or Saratoga

MinnesotaFriar

MinnesotaFriar

Member
So we just got the most welcomest of emails that we've been given a free upgrade (didn't know they even did those, we've NEVER gotten one)!

There are five of us, and we're NOT a young family (two in their 20's, one in his teens, actually) but we still love traveling together.

We had had POR with 2 rooms (4 queen beds for five people usually works out well), but now obviously with the upgrade in resort, we're intereted in the other options.

All opinions are very welcome (definitely keep in mind beds and stuff)!
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
MinnesotaFriar

MinnesotaFriar

Member
Original Poster
I just spoke to an agent and here is the breakdown.

At AKL it is just a room, so it's just 2 queen beds, that would probably be too tight of a squeeze (there's 5 of us and like I said, we're all grown up)!

We have OKR and actually Boardwalk as well, where they're offering us a studio. That includes a Queen bed and a queen sleeper sofa (though possibly room for an air mattress, from what I understand).

With Saratoga, we were told that we could have a 1 bedroom villa, that would include a king bed, sleeper sofa and there would be room for an air mattress (officially, it "sleeps 4" but we were told there would be room for the non-existent sleeper sofa).

So we're sort of leaning towards Saratoga because of this (logistics-wise) though we are having dinner at the Yacht Club one night, so Boardwalk IS an intriguing idea!
 
Upvote 0
wannabeBelle

wannabeBelle

Well-Known Member
Id call back and ask about the possibility of a villa style accomodation at Kidani House in AKL, not Jambo House specifically. It seems like they are leading you in the direction of the DVC properties. Kidani is all DVC Jambo is a mix of regular resort rooms ( 2 queen size beds) and DVC villas. Animal Kingdom Lodge as a whole is gorgeous and more interesting to me than either OKW or Saratoga Springs, both of which are too spread out. Have a great time!!! Marie
 
Upvote 0
M

MidwestGirl

Member
OKW is our favorite place in the world but with the 5 I'd take SSR. Lots more room. May I ask when you are going? We are booked for POR also and am hoping they are overbooked and offer us an upgrade!!
 
Upvote 0
M

MidwestGirl

Member
One thing you can do is google or look on YouTube. People have posted pictures and videos of the rooms. Will give you an idea howuch space they have. I would at least ask if they have a 2br or a 1br at OKW as I believe they are bigger. Maybe wrong but think OKW may have an additional single pull-out along with the double.
 
Upvote 0
JCtheparrothead

JCtheparrothead

Well-Known Member
A friend of mine just got upgraded from ASM to Saratoga springs. Never heard of upgrades until yesterday. I am guessing they aren't going to call me and give me an upgrade to a two bedroom from my 1 bedroom. :-).
 
Upvote 0
M

MidwestGirl

Member
Wow! Value to SSR? When are they booked that they are getting upgrades? We are going dec 16-26 and even though we love Riverside we would love an upgrade even more!! Crossing fingers (but not holding breath) for an email!!! ;)
 
Upvote 0
M

MidwestGirl

Member
Having stayed at a couple of those properties I can tell you there is NO selling. I think the most I've ever had was 1 phone call asking to go to a meeting. Come to think about it I don't think I even got that last year. You get more of a hard sell walking by those booths in the park. Never once felt pressured. True just by being there makes you wish you could own but that's about it. In fact I believe all the resorts she mentioned are sold out and you can only buy there with a resale. The high occupancy of DVC is different than other resorts so they have rooms when places like the value don't. If you are being moves you will be moved up, not across category. Dont let it being a DVC scare you away, you won't even notice it being a 'time-share.'
 
Upvote 0
MinnesotaFriar

MinnesotaFriar

Member
Original Poster
Thank you for the tip on trying to negotitate it a bit!

I was able to negotiate it to Boardwalk with two rooms! That's two queen beds, with a day bed in at least one of the rooms, so everyone will have a bed to themselves. Doesn't cost any more, either!

They must REALLY be wanting some room at Port Orleans, because they were very flexible with this, all it took was simply asking!
 
Upvote 0
MinnesotaFriar

MinnesotaFriar

Member
Original Poster
MidwestGirl said:
Crossing fingers for an upgrade with our Riverside reservation next month!!!! Not that I'm not happy with Riverside, just an upgrade would also be fun!!!
Click to expand...

That's exactly how we we felt!

We stayed at Port Orleans a bunch of times years ago. The youngest of our party, who is 16, actually called Port Orleans "the resort of my childhood".

We were definitely looking forward to going back, but this was an offer we totally couldn't refuse
 
Upvote 0
MinnesotaFriar

MinnesotaFriar

Member
Original Poster
wannabeBelle said:
Excellent Minnesota!!!! That is a great location and I am sure your family will have a great time!!! Marie
Click to expand...

Appreciate you encouraging me to negotiate! Didn't know that they'd have the ability to adjust things, but it worked out VERY well.

Originally, the offer was just upgrading one of our rooms, for just two of the nights. Simply asking, however, led them to upgrading both of our rooms for all three nights
 
Upvote 0
wannabeBelle

wannabeBelle

Well-Known Member
MinnesotaFriar said:
Thank you for the tip on trying to negotitate it a bit!

I was able to negotiate it to Boardwalk with two rooms! That's two queen beds, with a day bed in at least one of the rooms, so everyone will have a bed to themselves. Doesn't cost any more, either!

They must REALLY be wanting some room at Port Orleans, because they were very flexible with this, all it took was simply asking!
Click to expand...
I dont know if it is so much a negotiation, but sometimes you dont know what you can get unless you ask. The problem is many people dont know what they can ask for. I actually thought it would be a DVC property within the Boardwalk that they would offer, not the regular resort side, but I like it!!!! Always is a great thing to know all of your options. Congrats again!!! Marie
 
Upvote 0
luv

luv

Well-Known Member
MinnesotaFriar said:
I just spoke to an agent and here is the breakdown.

At AKL it is just a room, so it's just 2 queen beds, that would probably be too tight of a squeeze (there's 5 of us and like I said, we're all grown up)!

We have OKR and actually Boardwalk as well, where they're offering us a studio. That includes a Queen bed and a queen sleeper sofa (though possibly room for an air mattress, from what I understand).

With Saratoga, we were told that we could have a 1 bedroom villa, that would include a king bed, sleeper sofa and there would be room for an air mattress (officially, it "sleeps 4" but we were told there would be room for the non-existent sleeper sofa).

So we're sort of leaning towards Saratoga because of this (logistics-wise) though we are having dinner at the Yacht Club one night, so Boardwalk IS an intriguing idea!
Click to expand...
I would turn down this offer to "upgrade" and keep my two rooms.
 
Upvote 0
dreamfinder

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
MaryJaneP said:
Maybe it is just never having heard of a WDW prompted upgrade, but this sounds suspiciously like a time-share offer to me.
Click to expand...

WDW actually does this fairly regularly. Usually gets reported from an All Stars, but other resorts as well. Basically they overbook a resort, and try to move people to other resorts so they can do more booking. If they free up a few more rooms, its possible they could book another large group at rack rate, or something similar. So taking the hit on a single room can be greatly outweighed by a large sale elsewhere. OKW and SSR tend to come up frequently as they are larger resorts, that Disney may not rent out its points fully due to lack of demand. And yes, it never hurts to get new people to stay in DVC, but there is no more pressure while at a DVC resort than any other resort on property.

MinnesotaFriar said:
Appreciate you encouraging me to negotiate! Didn't know that they'd have the ability to adjust things, but it worked out VERY well.

Originally, the offer was just upgrading one of our rooms, for just two of the nights. Simply asking, however, led them to upgrading both of our rooms for all three nights
Click to expand...

Upgrading only 1 room would have been kinda bizarre, especially for only part of your trip. Glad you were able to get something that worked out.
 
Upvote 0

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom