Can't modify an existing resort reservation!!!

[goofy4tink]

So, I have two room only reservations...one for me, one for my dd. We were supposed to arrive on Oct 30, but our plans have changed, and we need to arrive Nov 1. We are there until Nov 5. I tried modifying it online, nope, that didn't work. So, I called yesterday. The CM couldn't change it either....after a 25 min on hold! He said he would transfer me to GS, but it would be at least a 30 min wait. I couldn't do that, so he said to call first thing in the morning. Okay, I did that. I called at 7:02. Okay, got through quickly. BUT...I was told that they couldn't modify my reservation either! The CM, somewhat rudely, told me that she needed to fill out a form, for each of the two reservations, asking for a change in arrival date, and those forms would then be submitted to yet another dept!!! I asked her why this was so hard to do...I hadn't used any special code or discounted rates, I was paying standard rack rate. She said something about it being outside the 30 day window? What? So, she said I would hear from the other dept within 24 hrs. When I told her that I was very frustrated, and that if I couldn't change my arrival date, I was afraid that when I didn't checkin on Oct 30, my reservations would be cancelled and when I did arrive on Nov 1, there would be no beds for us!!! She didn't seem very concerned at all. Then told me there was a survey at the end of the call and that if I needed to make any resort or dining reservation changes, I could do so by going to MDE and modifying there!! Seriously? Hadn't I just told her I was unable to do that?
Anyway....my point in posting is to see if anyone else has had a similar experience. I've always been able to change my reservation, with no problem. I could understand if I was trying to move to a different resort, but I'm just trying to drop the first two nights of a six night stay. Anyone else experienced this or am I just unlucky???

 

[fla4fun]

Is it possible that their “wonderful” computer system is on the blink again and rather than admit it, they are just giving you the runaround? I know I have had some major issues with their website recently, with links taking me to totally unrelated pages, so maybe the whole thing is wonky.

I hope you are able to get the modification you need.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Disney has been unwilling to shorten or lengthen resort reservations for more than a year now. They seem to only do it if there is an available reservation for your new dates. They don't want hotel rooms left unsold, I guess.

 

[goofy4tink]

Is it possible that their “wonderful” computer system is on the blink again and rather than admit it, they are just giving you the runaround? I know I have had some major issues with their website recently, with links taking me to totally unrelated pages, so maybe the whole thing is wonky.

I hope you are able to get the modification you need.

Could be....I've had huge issues trying to make dining plans and FP selections!!!

Disney has been unwilling to shorten or lengthen resort reservations for more than a year now. They seem to only do it if there is an available reservation for your new dates. They don't want hotel rooms left unsold, I guess.

That may be so. I've changed my resort reservations in the past year, without all this hassle. If this is going to be standard operating procceedure, going forward I'll be rethinking booking with Disney. I can make changes when staying DVC easier than this!!! Life happens, and guests shouldn't be penalized for something out of their control. If my stay can't be shortened, I guess my family obligations are going to have to take a back seat to Disney's policies. Or, I'll have to cancel both rooms and stay off-site...something I've never been forced to do before.

 

[pattyw]

Changing a reservation can be a nightmare! I just resign myself to making a new one and canceling the old one. Yes- I have to wait for my refund but it takes away the stress from calling!

 

[mom2rtk]

They changed their official policy on changes like this back right before our visit in 2015. Since then I've heard varying reports of case by case success with someone in Guest Services making it happen. Even back then, we had to completely rebook. It's crazy. I think in the future, I would consider having a couple different reservations until I was sure of my plans. Hey, maybe that's why the resorts are booked full right now!

 

[goofy4tink]

I have to wonder if those that keep several reservations, and then try to modify them, are the reasons for this change? If so, that's sad. If I find that I can't change a reservation, then I probably won't make it to begin with. Sometimes life changes our situations...and we need to make changes. The funny thing is that I worked very hard to piece these two reservations together. My dd really wanted her own room, so I had to book two rooms, at the same resort. Some days were available, others had to be tacked on at a later date. I wish I had known I was going to have to try to take two nights off down the road...I would have have left the reservations as is!!! Then I wouldn't be having these issues.
Oh well....first world problems. I was just curious as to if others had had this issue.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I have asked to just DROP a night, and it has to go to another department for approval. For me, it is usually to do with flights, work schedule, or getting another night on DVC points that I was on a waitlist for. (we do many split stays). So far, it has always been "approved".

What is nice is that DisneyLAND does not have this procedure.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Yikes! So I made a YC reservation for 2 nights last week, changed my mind and added a third day online (coming in one day earlier), and now I'm thinking I might go back to two days. I really hope that doesn't become an issue!

 

[mom2rtk]

I have asked to just DROP a night, and it has to go to another department for approval. For me, it is usually to do with flights, work schedule, or getting another night on DVC points that I was on a waitlist for. (we do many split stays). So far, it has always been "approved".

What is nice is that DisneyLAND does not have this procedure.

I wonder if it has to do with the advance scheduling of FPs and ADRs at WDW. People who tack on extra days at the beginning of their reservation could get earlier access, then drop the dates off.

Right now I have 2 extra days on my Disneyland reservation I need to call and have dropped off (I got a better deal on Orbitz) and they assured me it won't be a problem. But DLR does not have advance scheduling windows that are affected by onsite stays.

 

[goofy4tink]

I wonder if it has to do with the advance scheduling of FPs and ADRs at WDW. People who tack on extra days at the beginning of their reservation could get earlier access, then drop the dates off.

Right now I have 2 extra days on my Disneyland reservation I need to call and have dropped off (I got a better deal on Orbitz) and they assured me it won't be a problem. But DLR does not have advance scheduling windows that are affected by onsite stays.

Could be! I know lots of people that do that. And it could look like that's why I booked the way I did. I have nothing booked with Disney (dining or FPs) until Nov 1!! But we were arriving late on the 30th (9:30pm) and were supposed to head to US/IoA the next day...my younger dd works over there, so thought it would be fun to spend the day in the parks there with her, if she could get the day off!!
But, lots of people do just that...book a few days early in order to get a jump on dining and FPs!! Then try to dump those first few days. Dang, I never thought of that!!! That's probably why they're changing things up.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I've been able to do this easily when I use a TA, and I know it's not taking her long because she gets it done so quickly even when I dropped a night before 30 days. When I have had to it's a nightmare. I had to drop four nights off my son's December reservation, was over 90 days out and two hours on the phone later finally got it done. Online I could make a payment but nothing else. So frustrating.

 

[bumbershoot]

When I told her that I was very frustrated, and that if I couldn't change my arrival date, I was afraid that when I didn't checkin on Oct 30, my reservations would be cancelled and when I did arrive on Nov 1

If you cant get it changed and you still go, when doing online checkin pick the latest estimated time that yiull arrive. Like 5:30am on the 1st (which is still the 31st in hotel time). And maybe call to let them put a note on the account that you've been delayed. People have travel delays all the time. People want to book the night before sinthey have a room waiting often. I would never worry that the whole thing would be cancelled.


And yeah I've been reading reports of this difficulty for over a year.

And now universal is doing the same thing, fwiw.

 

[tzolkin]

Changing a reservation can be a nightmare! I just resign myself to making a new one and canceling the old one. Yes- I have to wait for my refund but it takes away the stress from calling!

Unfortunately this only works if there are extra rooms available for your entire length of stay. (Which seems to be the way Disney is now trying to process changes and why they are denied.)

Last night I just wanted to add a day onto the beginning of our trip (plenty of rooms available for that one night), but I was unable to do so because there was no availability for some of the nights I already had booked (busy weekend). Wound up having to book a separate one night reservation which means we may have to switch rooms. I really don't understand why they couldn't just add the available day.

 

[pattyw]

Unfortunately this only works if there are extra rooms available for your entire length of stay. (Which seems to be the way Disney is now trying to process changes and why they are denied.)

Last night I just wanted to add a day onto the beginning of our trip (plenty of rooms available for that one night), but I was unable to do so because there was no availability for some of the nights I already had booked (busy weekend). Wound up having to book a separate one night reservation which means we may have to switch rooms. I really don't understand why they couldn't just add the available day.

Yes- had to go the one night reservation route too! We luckily didn't have to change rooms- but it did take a while upon check-in to ensure we didn't have to move rooms.

 

[sndral]

For Disney the majority of stays are for more than one or two nights. Of those seeking short stays they most likely want weekend stays. OP, for example, had a Monday through Saturday stay booked. Who knows how many people wanted to book those 2 rooms for a week and couldn't because OP had those 2 rooms reserved for that week. Now OP wants to cancel Mon. and Tues. night, which will leave Disney with a very limited pool of people who might want a 2 night Mon. and Tues. stay, more than likely those two rooms will go empty those 2 days since it's only 33 days before arrival.
I've said this before - but it's the same concept you see with vacation resort minimum 3 night weekend stays for popular times/places.
When people started posting about this over a year ago my theory was that Disney's bean crunchers had spotted a source of lost revenue - late partial cancellations leaving orphan rooms - and they changed the policy to plug that hole.
The new spin here is the filling out the form part - sounds like CMs were still allowing partial cancellations and thus their discretion has been further curtailed.
I hadn't thought about the head start advantage on all the deadlines (FP+ + ADRs,) but my guess is that the resort people are not concerned about the park people's side of the ledger - although that may be what has driven the increase in people lopping off days which brought the issue to the resort bean cruncher's attention.

 

[tzolkin]

...which will leave Disney with a very limited pool of people who might want a 2 night Mon. and Tues. stay, more than likely those two rooms will go empty those 2 days since it's only 33 days before arrival.

Sure, that makes sense for partial cancellations, but it does not make sense why they won't allow people to add those stray available weekdays to their existing vacations.

I think the rooms are less likely to be sold if guests are told that they will have to switch rooms mid-stay, if they are not allowed to be included in the dining plan, etc. because they now would have two reservations instead of one.

 

[Babsy]

It doesn't make sense, but it is the way booking works with Disney now. It isn't easy to remove a night from a reservation. It has to go through paperwork channels and be 'approved' or 'declined'. I have had to change resorts because it was declined to have a day at the end of my stay removed. It is crazy - you have to book rooms early to get availability, but then if you can't get flights or if work/family issues arise, you can't go for a shorter trip anymore.

Used to be you could go as long as you had the nights booked - now not so much!

 

[pooch]

Hey Diane, stay at Universal, cheaper & less hassles.

 

[goofy4tink]

Hey Diane, stay at Universal, cheaper & less hassles.

So true!!! I'm paying rack rate for Music...so, it's not particularly inexpensive!!! Dd was going to use her dad's timeshare program and stay close to WDW, then rent a car. But, we decided that it would be more efficient if she stayed on-site and we had just one rental car. It's looking like we should have gone with the original plan. It would have been cheaper.
At this point, I still haven't heard anything from Disney, so I'm going to assume that I'm checking in there on Oct 30.
I completely understand where Disney is coming from on this....there are a ton of people that book rooms, well before the date they intend to arrive, so they can get the ADRs and FPs they want. And that's crappy. I just wish there were some way around it. I can't imagine that having to have CMs that sit there all day, deciding on who can cancel nights and who can't, is cheap. Oh well. There are worse things than having to be at WDW a few addtl days....at least I'll still get to spend the day at US with my dd! That's a plus.