Disney to Start Charging Cancellation Fees!!!!

[Walt4ever]

A little off topic, but to go along with another comment, while it may not be "policy" (could be unwritten policy, who knows), I have been able to modify a room only reservation very very last minute with no cancellation fee. Maybe it was because I didn't try cancelling it, it is allowed. We had a one night reservation, had already paid for it via the deposit, and had even done the online check in. About 5 am on the SAME day as the reservation, something came up that prevented us from going. I modified the reservation to two weeks later, only paying about $5 on the change of price for the night. All of this was done online. There may have been a "change fee may apply" line that showed up, but I was not charged anything to change it. Maybe if the ressie was for club level at a deluxe, or on a night when they were super booked up, maybe they would have charged something. YMMV, but if you are caught up in something last minute and need to cancel, you might see if modifying the date instead keeps you from having the fee. And if so, get to the checkout page to see what the actual $ is.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Interesting. Last year, I had a 1 night reservation and considered changing the date because I wasn't sure I would be able to make it down the night before, but when I clicked to modify it indicated "Change Fee may apply" or some such. So, I Googled for Disney's Cancellation/Change Policy and the site I found said if you modified inside 30 days you had to pay $200 and if you cancelled, you lost everything. As the single night cost less than $200, it didn't make sense to pay $200 to move it to a different date. It ended up being a throwaway (I drove down the next morning), but I did get FoP FastPasses out of it, so not that big of a loss.

But, the next time I made a reservation, I noticed it said there was no cancellation fee if you cancelled more than a certain number of days ahead (I think it may have been 5). Had I known that info was for packages rather than my RO reservation, I might have moved my previous reservation to a different date. I hope they don't start charging.

The change fee is $50.

 

[Amanda999]

Interesting. Last year, I had a 1 night reservation and considered changing the date because I wasn't sure I would be able to make it down the night before, but when I clicked to modify it indicated "Change Fee may apply" or some such. So, I Googled for Disney's Cancellation/Change Policy and the site I found said if you modified inside 30 days you had to pay $200 and if you cancelled, you lost everything. As the single night cost less than $200, it didn't make sense to pay $200 to move it to a different date. It ended up being a throwaway (I drove down the next morning), but I did get FoP FastPasses out of it, so not that big of a loss.

But, the next time I made a reservation, I noticed it said there was no cancellation fee if you cancelled more than a certain number of days ahead (I think it may have been 5). Had I known that info was for packages rather than my RO reservation, I might have moved my previous reservation to a different date. I hope they don't start charging.

The 30 day prior $200 fee was for a package booking ($50 change fee within 30 days prior, $200 cancel IIRC). The 5 days prior for no fee was for room only.

Disney is known to work with its customers (to reschedule, and even to cancel no fee sometimes) if you call about a medical or other emergency. While its not guaranteed, I suspect having 35 prior trips had little bearing on whether the CM you get will waive the fee or not. (Sadly - it would be nice if Disney had a frequent-visitor bonus system like most other hotel chains.)

 

[tex1989]

But not being subject to a cancellation fee isn't the same as said fee not existing.


This is someone making an exception to the terms and conditions, not a change in policy.

I am not sure why but apparently you are confusing me with someone who has said that the policy has changed. I have not said that nor do I believe that. In fact I made a point to say I am well aware of the terms and conditions because you have to click on the box to complete your reservations. I will go further to say that before I click on the box I actually read them. The point of my response from the beginning was never to say anything has changed merely that I have 1)never changed or modified or cancelled any reservations attempting to get a better deal, and 2) I had never cancelled any reservations till I had to this year and was refunded my deposit , and 3) that your actions visa via your past history concerning reservation changes could possibly play into whether or not you might get some pixie dust should you happen to need to cancel. The third one being based on something I hope most took as somewhat of a joke that I referred to as my perminant record based on my wife's job history. No need to reply to all of my posts saying that's fine but it doesn't mean they changed the policy, I know that and have never claimed that.

I also think you are confusing people here because you replied to Princess that 35 trips prior means nothing when it comes to fees being charged or not. I mentioned the 35 trips not her, I applied the humorous notion of your perminant record, not her. Your kinda of shotgun approaching this thing with your comments. And for the record I and my wife have had a conversation with quite a few CM's and Customer Service and whether you or any one else wants to believe it, they can see your perminant record and in fact a CM actually turned her monitor to us late one night at our resort and let us look at it. Shock: it does exist!

 

[AngiTN]

I made a change to a stay within 24 hours of arrival. I bumped up our room. Disney rarely, if ever, penalizes you for increasing what you are spending on your stay, no matter how close to arrival you do it. Can they, by letter of their policy, yes. Just not something they really do in practice.

But neither of those have one whit to do with a change in any policies. Bottom line of it all, there have been no changes of any sort to their cancellation policies for either room only or packages. Not now and not for many years. OP was mistaken. OP also happens to have not returned to this thread since it was pointed out that the policy has not changed.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

You never get a confirmation email for your bookings? .

For my most recent booking, I never got a confirmation email.

Well, actually I did get one of sorts, but I was for a dummy reservation. When I logged into MDE, it looked like I had two rooms booked. I was able to see the correct conf and the dummy through MDE.

Even after I called WDW back, made sure the dummy was a dummy, and ASKED to have the confirmation sent, it never was.

Further, there were problems when we arrived as well. My personal information wasn't correct and our Magicbands never worked to open the room door. We had to get old fashioned plastic cards issued.

I think the CM who booked my room was probably new. She was nice, but it took her a very long time to process the booking, much longer than normal.

 

[AngiTN]

For my most recent booking, I never got a confirmation email.

Well, actually I did get one of sorts, but I was for a dummy reservation. When I logged into MDE, it looked like I had two rooms booked. I was able to see the correct conf and the dummy through MDE.

Even after I called WDW back, made sure the dummy was a dummy, and ASKED to have the confirmation sent, it never was.

Further, there were problems when we arrived as well. My personal information wasn't correct and our Magicbands never worked to open the room door. We had to get old fashioned plastic cards issued.

I think the CM who booked my room was probably new. She was nice, but it took her a very long time to process the booking, much longer than normal.

Moral of the story, book online.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

A little off topic, but to go along with another comment, while it may not be "policy" (could be unwritten policy, who knows), I have been able to modify a room only reservation very very last minute with no cancellation fee. Maybe it was because I didn't try cancelling it, it is allowed. We had a one night reservation, had already paid for it via the deposit, and had even done the online check in. About 5 am on the SAME day as the reservation, something came up that prevented us from going. I modified the reservation to two weeks later, only paying about $5 on the change of price for the night. All of this was done online. There may have been a "change fee may apply" line that showed up, but I was not charged anything to change it. Maybe if the ressie was for club level at a deluxe, or on a night when they were super booked up, maybe they would have charged something. YMMV, but if you are caught up in something last minute and need to cancel, you might see if modifying the date instead keeps you from having the fee. And if so, get to the checkout page to see what the actual $ is.

Changing and cancelling are two separate issues when dealing with WDW reservations. Room-only reservations are not subject to change fees at any time and you can make changes up until you are physically at the resort on the day of check-in. So, being able to make your change at 5:00 am on the day of check-in to your room-only reservation without a fee is standard WDW policy and procedure. The only "fee" you would be subject to is any change in rate with a date change which you saw with the $5 price per night increase. Changing packages within 30 days of check-in may result in a $50 change fee, but that is typically waived if your package costs remain the same or go up.

I made a change to a stay within 24 hours of arrival. I bumped up our room. Disney rarely, if ever, penalizes you for increasing what you are spending on your stay, no matter how close to arrival you do it. Can they, by letter of their policy, yes. Just not something they really do in practice.

But neither of those have one whit to do with a change in any policies. Bottom line of it all, there have been no changes of any sort to their cancellation policies for either room only or packages. Not now and not for many years. OP was mistaken. OP also happens to have not returned to this thread since it was pointed out that the policy has not changed.

Yes, AngiTN, you are exactly right!!! Nothing to see here folks. WDW didn't change anything. OP was simply misinformed about WDW reservation terms and conditions and, unfortunately, seems to have spoken to a CM who was as misinformed as OP was.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Moral of the story, book online.

Er, actually I've usually had better getting what I want via calling, especially when looking up discounts. Sometimes they don't show up as available online.