Resort Upgrades

[mhaftman7]

I want to preface this post with the knowledge that any upgrade is at discretion of the resort at the time of stay. What I'd like to know is there any way to increase your odds of getting a room upgrade during your stay. I read/hear a lot about how some people received room upgrade at their time of arrival for little or no cost. I know it sounds horrible and that I'm looking for something for nothing, but our next trip Is scheduled for late August and that's generally the beginning of the fall value season. I'm not looking to upgrade from one resort to another. I do think it would be extra special if I could stay at ASMu and upgrade to a suite. Is this remotely possibly/probable or just wishful thinking?

Thanks in advance.

 

[DisneyJoe]

What is the make up of your traveling party?

 

[mhaftman7]

two adults and two children under 10. We will be driving down and would like to be able to take advantage of more space and a kitchenette. Not that it means anything to WDW, but this will also be our fifth straight year in Disney and 7th in 11 years.

 

[Master Yoda]

Going from a standard room to a suite is an incredibly high order. To put it in perspective using your analogy, it is wishful thinking turned up to 11. The only realistic way that will happen is if they over book the resort or have a number of rooms unexpectantly go out of service and the suite is the only thing that is left open. Even if this does happen you will more than likely be upgraded to an entirely different resort. The suites are very popular, limited in number, and are often booked to capacity.

 

[mhaftman7]

Ok, thanks for the info.

 

[luv]

It's extremely doubtful that you'll be put in a suite. If you really want that, you should book it.

The Disney staff is very used to people chatting them, being super-peppy and nice...and then asking them for something for free. You can do it, but you won't be the first, lol. You wont even be the first person to do it that hour. They are on to this little game. And even though they'll be nice and polite, it annoys them. They generally will be less inclined to give you free stuff if you ask for it, especially when they know you were trying to butter them up.

Upgrades are more a thing you luck into than something you'll get by asking for it.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I agree with Master Yoda - and even if there was an overbooking issue, since you are in one of the All-Stars, it is very easy for them to send you to a standard room at one of the other All-Stars rather than give you a suite.

 

[bethymouse]

I have really never been "upgraded". But our requests have always been honored. I think @ WL though we paid for a standard room, but were given a bunk bed room, which was so nice!

 

[jmargarone27]

I think upgrades are extremely sparse at the value, moderate, and DVC resorts. Why? Because there are not too many room categories like at the deluxe resorts (view, club level, etc.) I've been upgraded 3 times, but I had an "in person" that was responsible for the upgrade. It's very nice and surprising to hear it when you check in! I do know someone who was offered a free upgrade to the GF from ASSports when they were overbooked. But resort to resort upgrades are almost unheard of.

 

[olinecoach61]

We once got upgraded to a MK view room. It was awesome but we did nothing to encourage it, it was just magic!

 

[Pooh Lover]

We got upgraded at the WL to a honeymoon suite once due to problems with the room originally assigned....it wouldn't have happened otherwise.

 

[Polydweller]

As a hotelier I can tell you that upgrades are given only for the business purposes of the hotel and are not as common as boards like this make it sound. For perspective, WDW Disney resorts have approximately 27000 rooms. That works out to 9,855,000 room night per year. Now for arguments sake assuming a 2% per night upgrade rate that works out to 197,100 room nights per year of upgrades. That gives lots of opportunity for people to get upgrades and report them on boards like this. But that still means that 98% weren't upgraded or 9,657,900 non-upgraded nights. I don't know Disney's actual rate but that example shows how small the likelihood is of any upgrade is.

So to the OPs question, an upgrade is very unlikely and to a suite is only a tiny part of that and upgrade to a mod or deluxe even a tinier part. If you get one that's great and feel lucky but if you want a suite you are much more likely to get one by paying for it.

 

[fauzha7]

On our trip in Sept of 07, My wife and I reserved a standard room at ASMu. When we got to the resort, the check in line was very long so cast members came out and played trivia games with us to make the time go by. What (appeared to be) a woman with some clout came up to us as we were having fun with trivia and winning Pop Rocks and asked us if we had a Disney story of our own. We told her how we honeymooned there in 1980 and didn't return until our kids sent us for our 25th anniversary in 05 and loved it so much, we started coming back yearly. When we got to the desk, the cast member handed my wife a fresh rose and gave us a Family Suite just for the two of us. It was however the Year of a Million Dreams.
The next year we stayed at ASMo. When we got to the desk, I told them I had a standard room and wondered if I could upgrade to a preferred room for whatever the difference is. The cast member acted fairly new and had a thick accent. He excused himself and turned to an older man and the older man looked over at us and (not very quietly) said We don't do upgrades. You have to pay for what you get. He turned and walked away from us. The new cast member was very embarrassed. My week went down hill from there. The next day, I became very ill and my leg turned red and swollen. Within 2 days, I had big blisters on the back of my leg and I spent most of the time in the room (forgot I had travelers insurance). By the time I got back home, I end up in the hospital with a staff infection from a scratch in the MK. As a matter of fact, my avatar picture was taken at LTTavern. When I stood up from that dinner, I almost passed out and fell because that's when I realized I was sick. No wonder I couldn't eat my meal that night. (sorry for the ramble)

 

[rob0519]

Going from a standard room to a suite is an incredibly high order. To put it in perspective using your analogy, it is wishful thinking turned up to 11. The only realistic way that will happen is if they over book the resort or have a number of rooms unexpectantly go out of service and the suite is the only thing that is left open. Even if this does happen you will more than likely be upgraded to an entirely different resort. The suites are very popular, limited in number, and are often booked to capacity.

We've never been in suite, but we did get a nice upgrade once. We arrived at the CR in, I think 2009 and had two rooms on the Bay Lake side of the tower. The main pool was under construction and the music blaring at the pool was unbearable to me. I went down and asked if there was some way to switch rooms or move to another resort for all or part of our stay. The desk clerk went into the back for several minutes and returned to tell me that all the other deluxe resorts were full, but that she could move us to two rooms, MK view on the concierge level for our entire 6 night stay at no additional charge. Needless to say, we were quite shocked and appreciative. So upgrades do happen, but I would never count on it.

 

[sgtmgd]

I specialize in out of the box thinking. You can always look at the Timeshare Store to see what points are available as you near your trip date keeping in mind the cancellation fee cutoff date. Its not uncommon to see points @ $10.00 or even $8.00 at times, even at the standard $12.00 per point for a villa is a great deal!

 

[RonAnnArbor]

By the way, an upgrade with two kids is almost non-existant -- they normally upgrade (ie. move for their convenience) visitors who are single or couples...Upgrades are within the same resort, and they are not done to make anything randomly more "magical" for you -- they do it because they need certain blocks of rooms for specific parties, or they are closing off a block of rooms, or other resort-business related reasons....