Package & Dining Changes

[ExtinctJenn]

I know when you book a trip you can make changes to it, any changes, up until 45 days before without having to deal with any sort of penalty/fee. I have two questions though that I'm not 100% sure of the answer on that I'm hoping someone can help with:

1) For ADRs booked where you have to use a credit card to hold the reservation, if the amount of people change, are you penalized? For example, if I book an ADR for 3 people and at the last minute someone is sick (or whatever) and I show up with only 2, am I penalized or because I still showed up it's ok?

2) If you've paid off a trip and you change it (more than 45 days in advance) in a way that reduces the overall cost of the trip, does Disney refund you the difference and if so, is it just a refund direct to the credit card used for booking? For example, let's say I have a MYW package booked and I call to remove one adult from the package, thus lowering the price because I don't need that 3rd 4-Day PH ticket, how does that work?

Thanks everyone!

 

[jkl2000]

Good question on #2, I'd like to know that too. I'm wondering if you can even make a change like that after your paid off.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I know when you book a trip you can make changes to it, any changes, up until 45 days before without having to deal with any sort of penalty/fee. I have two questions though that I'm not 100% sure of the answer on that I'm hoping someone can help with:

1) For ADRs booked where you have to use a credit card to hold the reservation, if the amount of people change, are you penalized? For example, if I book an ADR for 3 people and at the last minute someone is sick (or whatever) and I show up with only 2, am I penalized or because I still showed up it's ok?

2) If you've paid off a trip and you change it (more than 45 days in advance) in a way that reduces the overall cost of the trip, does Disney refund you the difference and if so, is it just a refund direct to the credit card used for booking? For example, let's say I have a MYW package booked and I call to remove one adult from the package, thus lowering the price because I don't need that 3rd 4-Day PH ticket, how does that work?

Thanks everyone!

In the past, Disney has "refunded" the difference in price for items removed or reduced from the overall vacation price even after the 45 days. We have removed our daughter from a reservation with dining plan and tickets in the past and received it as a room credit when we checked in and were also offered the option to receive a refund but a refund can take up to 15 business days and in our case was during our vacation so we opted for the room credit. This was two plus years ago, things may have changed but I highly recommend calling WDW Travel as quickly as possible.

Also, don't forget to adjust your ADRs if you have any as well, this must be done over the phone as well but is quick and painless.

 

[Master Yoda]

1. I have not run into it personally, but my understanding is that you will be charged for any no shows. However, I have yet to hear of a person being charged for it which makes me think that they are not enforcing it.

2. If you change your reservation and that change results in a refund, the refund will be applied to the credit card you used. The refund typically happens within a few days, but it can take up to 2 billing cycles depending on credit card company. What happens behind the scenes is your refund goes to a particular department immediately. Depending on when that happens and the workload, that refund can take a few days to make it to your credit card company. 24 hours is pretty common, but it have seen it take a few take a few days. As soon as it gets to your credit card company, it is out of Disney's hands. Most companies will turn it around in 24 hours, but I have seen a very select few hold onto it for weeks.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Thanks folks for the responses! We are 110 days out so I have some time and my goal is that if I do have to make a change it's before the balance is paid in full anyway. Still, I wanted to be sure that if I paid it and then needed to reduce the amount of people on the trip, that money wasn't "lost." As for the ADRs, that too has to wait until I'm sure but I'd know well enough in advance that it wouldn't be an issue either I think. Here's hoping!

 

[sxeensweet]

Thanks folks for the responses! We are 110 days out so I have some time and my goal is that if I do have to make a change it's before the balance is paid in full anyway. Still, I wanted to be sure that if I paid it and then needed to reduce the amount of people on the trip, that money wasn't "lost." As for the ADRs, that too has to wait until I'm sure but I'd know well enough in advance that it wouldn't be an issue either I think. Here's hoping!

If you have to change the number of people on your reservation for the room and dining plan yes your need to do that before 45 days.
Also Your dining reservations have NOTHING to do with your room/package on making changes etc. You can change your CC guaranteed or paid Dining ressie up until 24 hours prior. They use your room reservation # when you book dining just to know if you can book at 180+10 and also to know if you have the dining plan or not. You can change your reservations/people around as much as you want up until 24 hours before the actual reservation (credit card ones) not 24 hours before you check into your resort. If its reservations that do not need CC guarantees you can cancel tht even the day of the reservation. Hope this makes sense.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

If you have to change the number of people on your reservation for the room and dining plan yes your need to do that before 45 days.
Also Your dining reservations have NOTHING to do with your room/package on making changes etc. You can change your CC guaranteed or paid Dining ressie up until 24 hours prior. They use your room reservation # when you book dining just to know if you can book at 180+10 and also to know if you have the dining plan or not. You can change your reservations/people around as much as you want up until 24 hours before the actual reservation (credit card ones) not 24 hours before you check into your resort. If its reservations that do not need CC guarantees you can cancel tht even the day of the reservation. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks for that but luckily not any new information for me there. This ain't my first rodeo. HAH! I actually booked the ADRs before the trip was officially booked so I didn't even have to worry about giving my rezzie #. The reason I broke the questions out into two separate things is because I know they aren't related (room and ADR) and I figured the answers may differ. Also like I said, I know that the package change would have to be before the 45 day thing but the ADR change I wasn't sure of the timeline on so thanks for the 24 hour bit there. If I am going to have to make the changes, I see no reason why I won't know with 100% certainty within the next few weeks so I think we're good!

Thanks again!

 

[tare]

1). You will not be penalized. It's happened to us before.

 

[Rob562]

I can also confirm that at least with the ADRs requiring a credit card *hold* you are not penalized for arriving with less than your scheduled number of Guests. Twice in the past year I've eaten at 'Ohana, had reservations for 8 both times and dined with 7 and 5 with no problem.

Though it may be (and probably is) different for locations that you pre-pay for the meal in-full like CRT or the dinner shows.

-Rob

 

[ExtinctJenn]

I can also confirm that at least with the ADRs requiring a credit card *hold* you are not penalized for arriving with less than your scheduled number of Guests. Twice in the past year I've eaten at 'Ohana, had reservations for 8 both times and dined with 7 and 5 with no problem.

Though it may be (and probably is) different for locations that you pre-pay for the meal in-full like CRT or the dinner shows.

Excellent point yes these weren't the pre-pay sort, only the "hold" sort. I was fairly sure they wouldn't penalize you, even with no notice, because you can't always control if someone gets sick etc. but it seems you've confirmed that.

 

[sxeensweet]

Thanks for that but luckily not any new information for me there. This ain't my first rodeo. HAH! I actually booked the ADRs before the trip was officially booked so I didn't even have to worry about giving my rezzie #. The reason I broke the questions out into two separate things is because I know they aren't related (room and ADR) and I figured the answers may differ. Also like I said, I know that the package change would have to be before the 45 day thing but the ADR change I wasn't sure of the timeline on so thanks for the 24 hour bit there. If I am going to have to make the changes, I see no reason why I won't know with 100% certainty within the next few weeks so I think we're good!

Thanks again!

Yw! Sorry to give so much info as I did not know for sure if you knew all of that as alot of folks do get confused. Lol. Im sure you will figure out who's going etc in plenty enough time.