BREAKING: Guests with Walt Disney World Hotel Reservations for Around July 11th Reportedly Being Asked to Upgrade to Disney Vacation Club Resorts at Full Price

Tom Corless

Updated on:

BREAKING: Guests with Walt Disney World Hotel Reservations for Around July 11th Reportedly Being Asked to Upgrade to Disney Vacation Club Resorts at Full Price

UPDATE: The following story has been confirmed with a handful of guests and was run with multiple reports from those in this situation, but we have been told by many more readers that they were, in fact, offered a complimentary upgrade or move to a DVC resort.

If you beat Disney’s shutdown of the hotel reservation system back in May and managed to get a room for somewhere around the July 11th reopening of the Walt Disney World theme parks, you might be in for a shock.

While Disney originally stated that all hotels would reopen on July 11th, they quickly retracted the announcement. Well, we are now receiving reports from guests with reservations for various hotels that Disney is asking them to rebook their stay at one of the open Disney Vacation Club resorts at full cost.

Obviously, the price increase from something like Disney’s Pop Century Resort to nearly any of the DVC properties is exponential, so it is understandable that guests with these reservations being asked to upgrade are quite upset.

Some guests are reporting that they are indeed getting complimentary upgrades while some are not, but it is unclear why they are given one answer or another.

No reopening dates for any Walt Disney World hotels beyond Disney Vacation Club properties have been announced as of yet.

Author

  • Tom Corless

    Tom has been regularly visiting the Walt Disney World® Resort from the time he was 4 months old. While he has made countless visits in the last 28 years, he did not become a truly active member in the Disney fan community until the summer of 2007, when he decided to launch the WDW News Today website and podcast. Tom has since become an Orlando-local and is a published author on Walt Disney World. Contact Tom at tom@wdwnt.com.

60 thoughts on “BREAKING: Guests with Walt Disney World Hotel Reservations for Around July 11th Reportedly Being Asked to Upgrade to Disney Vacation Club Resorts at Full Price”

  1. This is absolutely crazy if this is true. I can’t justify shelling out even more money for less of an experience, not sure how they can even do this.

  2. What in the freaking h*ll are they doing. I am starting to wonder if they’re trying to make it easier by having guests choose to cancel. They have lost their damn minds.

      • Calling and being placed on hold for more than an hour. Then transferred to another dept. to be placed on hold again. Then comes the bad news that you can cancel or pay the difference. I have a problem with the inconsistency of some getting a free upgrade. I was thinking maybe the free upgrades were before the parks opened…at least that is what I told myself when I was forced to cancel my Pop reservation for July 13 because I couldn’t afford the difference in the room cost. Thinking that the free upgrades were before the parks opened kept me from getting upset.

    • We called to figure things out because we had to worry about flights as well. Our options were to change our dates and pay 4x as much or cancel. This is our 3rd time having to reschedule. We were also assured that more affordable resorts would open before our trip and we’d be able to change resorts, but it’s sounding like that’s not happening.

  3. You have to pay through the nose for a regular trip to Disney. Then they cut half the experience. Now they’re forcing people to switch to a resort that’s 4x as expensive. I understand Disney lost a ton of money, but this isn’t the way to recoup the loss. So much for making a trip magical.

    • Don’t forget they’ve added 47 or 48 food price increases and only 8 decreases to further help the new magic along. 🙄 I don’t know what they are thinking but this is insanity.

  4. That is not even remotely correct information.

    If Disney moves your room because you want to keep your current reservation, they are not charging you any additional costs.

    If YOU choose to modify your reservation in any way or want a specific resort, then yes, you pay the new price.

    This has been in place since they began addressing reservations.

    Please stop sharing false information.

    • Disney isn’t moving them. They don’t have hotels open, so you can either cancel or modify, the modifying costs money. It is not false information.

      • You are not correct. I do this for a living.

        If you have an existing resort reservation at a resort that is not opening, they are offering you a complimentary upgrade to an open resort if you desire to keep your same reservation, at no additional cost to you.

        If you want to modify your reservation (new dates, new resort) or want to select a specific resort, they will charge you the new price.

        I have my own reservation that this has happened to.

        Your information is not accurate.

        • There’s many people on twitter and facebook commenting that it HAS happened to them, and then some with your story. I don’t discredit either, but it certainly seems to be happening.

          Also, I do this for a living.

          • NH, did you change ANYTHING about your stay? I am a travel agent also and have changed multiple people and if they don’t want to change anything(no adding a day no dropping a day, no moving it at all from the original dates) it IS free. But it must stay exactly the same. You also have to take the resort they offer you can’t pick one.

        • It’s not about wanting to modify. It’s about having to. Our choice was cancel(after having to reschedule twice before) or modify our dates but we have to pick a deluxe villa and pay the difference.

        • I am going call BS on that. I have a reservation for 13 July 2020 club level at the Polynesian. I was told by guest services 6/21/2020 that the resort will not open until August of this year and I can modify the reservation by moving to an resort that is open and pay the additional cost. I am already paying 4600.00 with no club level service. I am considering canceling my trip and spending my money at Universal. Universal appears to have there ducks in a row. As Disney is holding up big sign to everyone saying go away….

    • K.h. I’m a TA and I agree. Your info is correct. I am curious how many travel agents Tom has interviewed? I’m not being snarky a all, I truly want to know the answer. Because if he’s not talked to at least a few agents and found one that has run into this issue them I stand firm that it is a misunderstanding of the rules. I will also admit that Disney is not forthcoming up front with the rules if a regular person calls in. If someone calls and says they need to change dates, the agent will just say ok and tell them the new price they will not usually volunteer that if they keep it the same they won’t have to pay. It’s similar to a person who calls in and gets a quote when there is a discount but doesn’t ask for the discount, Disney won’t offer the discount they just quote you full price unless you know to ask for it.

      • You might just want to ask all the people in these comments saying this happened to them. I don’t see Disney hosing clients booked with earmarked travel agents, that’s not good for your business partners.

  5. Feels like they dont want people to come. That is they only want rich people to come so they can spend more very sad to hear this.

    • This has been the Disney MO for several years now. Crank up the prices on everything making it less affordable for for moderate – low income families. I even saw a report where they increased some prices during the time the parks were closed. If this is correct then shame on them. I have been to WDW in excess of 20 times over the years and end up doing less for more every year. I know costs rise so Please don’t even begin to lecture me on this. I’m just saying that the price increases are outpacing inflation all the while the entertainment for your dollar is decreasing. Bad look for Disney.

      • Disney has been ripping people off for years. They are greedy and as long as people are willing to pay they will continue to charge. As for me, I have been an annual pass holder for years, but no more! I know I. Can take a family of 4 on a transatlantic cruise for half the price of a one week vacation at Disneyworld.

  6. Got to address this too….
     
    I am an AP. Cannot make a hotel reservation currently. But come June 26th, I can reserve a park for certain days. So book park reservations and then book hotel after that when they become available? Doesn’t make sense….why book a park reservation before knowing if there is a place to stay?

  7. This is outrageous! How can a single company with a majority of hotels in and around the resorts do such a thing?! Its criminal I tell you!

  8. Ladies and gents, this is all in an effort to keep people away to maintain control over volume. Disney is opting to “price” people out. Is it wrong – YES! I’d be pissed if I went thru the trouble of booking a July reservation, only now being given the choice to upgrade at a HUGE cost or cancel altogether. Terrible Guest experience.

    • We had an April trip planned, obviously had to reschedule so we chose July, and then had to reschedule again, except this time our choices were cancel with refund or upgrade to a villa and pay quadruple the price. We were also assured more hotels would open so we could switch to a more affordable one and now it’s sounding like that wasn’t accurate either.

  9. This is only happening if they want a specific resort/don’t like the resort Disney has selected for them or want to otherwise modify (like move their reservations to another date). And while I understand that frustration, this seems like irresponsible reporting.

    • Nope, just got more reports of the same. Guests literally just called. We’re still trying tom figure out why different guests are getting different answers.

      • No agent can’t modify a reservation that has a check out date of July 11th or later. You can change your dates to July 11th to the end of the year and all new availability which is DVC resorts as of now. Any guest inside the now to July 10th checkout window will be given the option to cancel or go to the resort they offer at no additional cost. If they don’t like the resort can cancel. But no one with a checkout date past July 11th can touch their reservation so if someone said it was done it is false. …only reason to pay more would be if you changed your dates to new dates July 11th to Dec 31st.

      • I emailed Disney because we originally were booked at Pop for April. Obviously we had to reschedule and chose July. Parks won’t be open for that trip so our choices were cancel or reschedule again but in a villa(until other hotels open and then we can switch-which sounds inaccurate now). So we had to reschedule 3 times and have to pay quadruple, but I’m seeing multiple people that just so happen to be booked around the same time and they’re being upgraded for free. So frustrating.

      • It may be depending if they are going before the parks open or not. I was hearing that those going to the resorts from June 22-July 10 were getting a free rebooking. Those with reservations after the parks open had to pay the difference. Not official, but just an observation from social media posts.

      • How is Disney contacting people. We are Annual Passholders with a resort reservation and now park reservations for July 15-20. I haven’t gotten anything regarding our “new” hotel location, as our hotel is closed until September. Please let me know if you know anything….
        Are they still e-mailing guests? Do I have to call in? I am totally lost and confused.
         
        Prior to this week (when you could actually get through on the phones), Disney reservations and guest services wouldn’t help as my reservation was checking out after July 11.

    • calling “fake news” based on your individual experiences (no receipts provided in your response) is also irresponsible, and frankly, rude. this is good information for members to know up front so they can discuss and decide in advance how they would react. it is also unfortunate that one would think that it is okay to expect to pay more (for an already less experience) if they “don’t like” the resort Disney has chosen for them.
       
      this would not be the first time ever, much less in the last year/month etc that Disney has shown inconsistencies from their technological infrastructure on, so rely on the many excuses provided by the company itself and wait and see before attacking. To jump to any conclusion immediately opposite only prompts a defensiveness not needed by the author, whom I’m sure has an editorial process, and my response of “grown folks are talking”.

    • We had to change our dates because we paid for tickets and the parks weren’t going to be open for the majority of our trip so we wouldn’t have been able to use our tickets.

  10. I love the people in these comments trying to call out Tom and the site just because they haven’t personally experienced this on their reservation or their client’s reservations and feel like because it didn’t happen to them there is no way this could be happening to anyone else. Some really telling parallels to the major issues going on in the country/world today…

  11. Never thought I’d see the day when Universal out-happies the happiest place on earth. Chapek is a disgrace to everything remotely considered human, empathetic, and sympathetic. It’s gotten to the point where I wish Eisner was back.

  12. So I am one of the affected. I initially cancelled my reservation because when I was looking for a new site over 4th of July weekend the Poly Bungalows (over water rooms) were the only availability, my choosing a resort and as a small group it was a HUGE change from my All Star Movies reservation. I saw a note on a blog (probably this one, I read a few) and called them back to ask if a straight move was possible. Not only were they able to accommodate me, it was actually cheaper (tax difference, Orange vs Osceola room tax). I always book direct through DRC and EVERYONE was being as helpful as possible. Now I am a small party so that makes me a little more flexible but with a little faith, trust and pixie dust and also just politely asking my trip is back on. Remember at best only 1/3 of the reports are re-opening. Good luck to all trying but if you are expecting last years experiences, maybe you should stay home and reschedule next year.

  13. I received an email from our travel agent that we were going to be moved to a DVC hotel within the next week (per Disney) but that there wouldn’t be any additional cost. Could the difference be that we had our original trip cancelled by the closure and we opted to re-book v/s booking a brand new trip during this time?

  14. If Disney calls, don’t volunteer to change your reservation. Insist that they move you at no charge if they can’t honor the reservation. This just sounds like Disney trying to trick people into spending more money.
     

  15. I can vouch that the article is accurate. We had reservations in May, then June, then July 5-11th at Port Orleans French Quarter. When we called disney to modify our dates we were told only DVC hotels were open and it would cost us another $500+. We were never offered a free upgrade. Our dates were flexible and at this point the resort didnt matter ee just wanted to go. But to pay another $500 plus AND no quick service meal plan we decided to cancel. We are now going to universal studios. So disappointed in Disney.

  16. Wow really with these comments? Would you rather Disney just does not open at all? Are you not aware there are good neighbor resorts and maybe about 5 thousand other resorts in the area? Do not come until Disney is more up and running if you do not like what they are doing. It’s that easy, trust me you will be ok. I can promise you by not coming if anything you are helping the pandemic. Anyways, they have to apply to cdc and state ordinance…no they did not get approval to toss open the doors to all resorts. If you know how it works it is set similar to a pitch and a negotiation. Second, do you really think if Disney could open or was allowed to open all resorts they wouldn’t? The DVC resorts have much more amenities, far more rooms, and all size rooms, restaurants, many with walk to park access (less bus crowed).. setup etc. Also choosing to have DVC property’s open they can take reservations for DVC. Second all value and moderate guests with resort reservations when the park is closed until July 11th were and still are being upgraded to a wilderness cabin or a dvc property. Many have been given a 2 bedroom from a standard room at pop century for example. Guests with reservations past July 11th or with a check out date July 11th to the end of year to call back as they are not being modified. So if someone said they changed a resort or made any change at all for a reservation that has a check out date past July 11th, they have given false information. That is TBD how those reservations will be handled at this time. One thing at a time. And yes if someone is not happy about the situation they can absolutely cancel no penalty of course. It’s a strong decision and push to move to dates when the pandemic is at a safer course. I do and I don’t understand the need to go to a theme park at this time. It’s absolutely disgusting hot out. I tried it with the mask at SeaWorld for an hour it was terrible. Worse then i thought. Disney will not be as you always imagine it. Lines will still be there as there will be gaps on all rides for social distancing. No parades, no fireworks show, no character meet n greets, no fastpass, limited everything. I honestly thing the best and wisest choice is to push your dates to next year. If you cannot then maybe later this year when it is cooler for the mask. And if you absolutely HAVE to go to Disney, and you aren’t a complainer, well Disney is open come July. But yes it will be of a cost if you must stay on property, but no one says you have too, just stay at a Disney spring resort, same price as value if not cheaper and on Disney property. If you are relying on the shuttles and magical express…you realize a rental at MCO is like 14 dollars a day right now? No dining plans so you can even hop off property if you need to for a bite. The parking lots will be empty! Quick access to car, a breather from the mask ordeal, and there’s a outside restaurant 5-10 mins from any point in Disney. Lastly to be complaining about this is ridiculous…Florida is planned to become the new epicenter of Corona. We have the highest new cases everyday. Everyone worrying about what Disney is doing and not thinking geee they may not even open. And to save everyone time of they don’t open, it is not Disney’s fault….they tried, so don’t blame them if it happens, it is the states decision, you can write them a letter and CC the CDC. –

    • And do you not realize how expensive rental cars are, with the cost increasing per person? This is Disney forcing us to spend 4x more money regardless of what happens. We can either go to the Grand Floridian (which SUCKS as a resort, btw), or spend money on a rental car PLUS the parking fees at the parks. And with COVID, I don’t even know how the rental car process works anymore, or if they’ll even be available.

  17. Had a July 9-14 reservation at Pop Century. Our offer from Disney was cancel or upgrade to deluxe at quadruple the price. No discounts; no concessions.

  18. I am trying to rebook a Port Orleans: French Quarter reservation July 18-24 and am being told there will be an upcharge to change resorts. I have requested a redirect to a Disney-assigned resort, but they do not seem to want to do that,
     
    It is very frustrating. It is not my fault they chose to not open my resort. I’m not asking to stay at the Grand Floridian, just the most equal or minimal step up from my current booking. I don’t think I should pay the difference.

  19. My family was booked for world of animation for the last week of October. We were contacted today and upgraded to animal kingdom with a Savannah view. Two bedroom suite, living room, and kitchen breakfast bar at no cost to us. That’s like going from knights in to a 5* marriot resort. The price difference is almost three thousand. Turned our dream vacation into a once in a lifetime dream vacation.

Comments are closed.