When to change hotel res, offsite hotel recommendations

Walt Disney World Accommodations
1

I’m struggling with what to do and when to do it. I have to change our July AKL res for various reasons (virus concerns, NYS quarantine still in effect, wildly reduced offerings, my unwillingness to pay full price for said offerings, my hotel not even being open, etc.). I’m fully perturbed at Disney’s lack of communication on just about everything - three weeks from my trip and they’ve sent me ONE email telling me I can “make my park reservations now!”, and nothing whatsoever about my hotel being closed (thank god for you people, otherwise I’d never know or understand that Jambo Villas are not the same thing as Jambo hotel rooms). Needless to say, my enthusiasm for the whole experience has waned.

Anyway, I’m stuck with 5-day park hoppers, otherwise I’d probably scrap the trip entirely. We are trying to reschedule for January, but is there any benefit to making that change now, or should I wait until Disney cancels my reservation on me and just start fresh? (Which, again, Disney never told me they would cancel it. I learned that from you fine folks and your interpretation of the fine print on various webpages, which I interpreted differently but apparently I was wrong.)

So is there a benefit to changing the reservation now, or should I just cancel entirely and rebook it later in hopes that any discounts come out? Do we think the park reservations will sell out this far in advance? And how far in advance are they mailing Magicbands nowadays? Ideally I want to get these MB’s in hand before I change/cancel anything. The trip was a graduation present for my niece and the MB is symbolic. I want to actually have something to GIVE her, you know?

Related question, which offsite hotel do people like? I’m flying and will not rent a car. We want a great pool and will have my sister and two teens with me. I don’t mind taking a Lyft everywhere. I’d love to downgrade the park hoppers and add a day at Universal if I can do so economically and assuming they’re not allowing park hopping anymore.

Too many decisions! I had made all the decisions!!

2

I would not hold out hope for discounts. Disney is going to need to make every single penny that they can for the next long while, so I would expect to pay rack rate for the foreseeable future. Also, you can always modify to the discount in the unlikely event that one comes up.

If your trip is after parks open on 7/11, then you shouldn’t feel any need to wait. Disney is not going to contact you, per the information I shared yesterday, and at 7 days out your reservation will be autocancelled. If it were me, I would try to wait until the dust settles a little just for my own sanity and reduced risk of frustration. I would definitely aim to resolve by at least 2 weeks before arrival

3

And just now Disney finally emailed me to say I had to confirm my plans by July 1. I priced out some options and everything is way more expensive for January or February. I think I’m just going to cancel and wait to rebook. :frowning:

4

I just got a confirm request for August split stay

5

Yep. I, too, just got confirmation request emails for both rooms in August. I presume my son did as well.

1 Like
6

Can I ask you what the start date is for your August reservation? I still haven’t seen an email allowing us to confirm or change. Ours is the 9th.

7

August 7.

8

Just got my email!

9

What the heck, man. I can’t take it back! WHY?!?!

Are you messing with me?

10

If given the option to slide our August 2020 reservation from PO FQ to CBR for summer 2021 should I take it or gamble that I’ll be able to book FQ or something else at a later date? Any thoughts on how hard reservations will be to come by?

11

I had a basic package, rooms no tickets for April 2021. I called to add tickets on Wednesday. Since our reservations were at POFQ, I had to modify to a different resort or not buy tickets. After spending my day trying to make it to being on hold and then being on hold for 2 hours., I modified to CSR. Today I modified it to CBR.
I have not yet modified my December 2020 POFQ. I am guessing that Disney isn’t contacting me. I am hopeful that my bounceback offer still comes into play.