Originally Posted By skidca Ok, I know this has been discussed before but I'm still trying to find out if there's a way to get a specific suite. This is our 4 annual summer trip to DL and staying at the DLH. We always had a 1-bedroom suite with 1-1/2 baths. Works great with our teenage daughter and a friend of hers with us. The first two years we got the same suite in the Marina tower, 10th floor with pool view and loved it. Last year my wife requested the same room and they noted it. When we checked in, they had us in a parking lot view, which didn't excite me. They switched us into an upper floor pool view suite in Bonita. When we got into the room that afternoon we hated it. Only one bath and much smaller than we've had before. After many calls and finally talking the manager we did get switch back to the parking lot view suite in the Marina tower. We had a great view of the fireworks but the general view was not great. Here's the deal. This year my wife booked a two-bedroom suite. We're going early Aug from Sunday - Thursday. When she called in April to make our reservations no one she talked to seem to know anything about the different suites. We still want the Marina tower with pool view. I would love to get in the Sierra tower with either a pool or DTD view. Here's my question. Does anyone know of a CM in reservations at DLH who we can call direct to help get us what we would like to have? When spending around $700.00 a night I would think Disney should be more helpful. Thanks for any help anyone can give us.
Originally Posted By DisneyDana There are a few reasons as to why they cannot guarantee a specific suite. The biggest one is that perhaps there is already someone in it. They may have arrived a few days before you and do not check out until a few days after you arrive. The hotel cannot hold a suite empty for a request. If they can sell it, they will. Also taken into concern is bedding. What type of bedding are you requesting in the 2 bedrooms? Most of the suites at DLH are in the Bonita Tower. It was built last and additional suites were one of the main reasons for building it. You can call Vacation Planning at 714-300-PLAN and advise them of your requests. JUst remember, it is JUST a request and room locations, towers, views, are never guaranteed.
Originally Posted By MickeyMommy I have only stayed in a suite at the DLH once, last may, but requested thru vacation planning that our suite have DTD view. John (who for those who haven't heard, passed away earlier this year. I never met him in person, but I was so very sorry to hear this very bad news.) was very nice, and said he would make the request, but that it would only be a request. Well, we DID get a beutiful suite on the top floor of the Sierra Tower with DTD view. I would think making a request with Vacation Planning would be helpful for you too. No guarantee, but another nudge for your request. Our suite had two bedrooms plus a living room. One bedroom was just like the regular rooms we have had in the Sierra tower; two queen beds plus a day bed, plus bathroom with two sinks and seperate room for the toilet. The living room had a half bath. The second bedroom was quite a bit smaller, with a king size bed, and smaller bathroom. But it fit our needs perfectly. And it was on the same floor as the Concierge lounge, so that was very convienent.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>When spending around $700.00 a night I would think Disney should be more helpful.<< Phew! $700 a night! I wonder what the demographic is for DLH suites? Households with annual incomes of $250K+? We got two rooms at the BW Anaheim Inn for $144 a night! Not as posh as the DLH, but just as close.
Originally Posted By skidca Thanks for the information. We’ll call Vacation Planning and see what they can do. Will they also make reservations for BB and other things for us? Wow, I wish 250k, not even close. Remember, this is our vacation. We could go to Hawaii or something like that for around the same amount but my wife’s not a great flyer. We so enjoy DLH. As we live about an hour from the park and have AP’s we do go down for a day now and then so being in the parks from 8:00 to 11:00 is not our plan. We go over for a few hours in the morning and back to the suite to hang out. Girls go swimming, my wife might take a nap and I might go over to ESPN for a beer or two and hang out. Have a nice dinner in DTD and back into the parks for the evening. We do bring along an ice chest with milk, oj and other things and also a large wheeled duffle with many snacks, water, cold drinks and beer to put into the refrigerator so basically our only other expenses is shopping, light lunch in the parks and splurge with dinners. I would still like to have a suite in the Sierra tower but it’s hard to beat the Marina tower. Even though the rooms are a bit dated we love going down and being in the main lobby. The ambiance is hard to beat.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Wow, I wish 250k, not even close.<< The question was rhetorical. Our HHI is in the low 100K's and we would never consider staying in a $700 hotel room. Even $200 a night for a room is stiff for us. I'm not saying that the suite isn't worth $700 a night. I just wonder how ordinary middle class people can afford to stay in one.
Originally Posted By debtee < we would never consider staying in a $700 hotel room. I just wonder how ordinary middle class people can afford to stay in one.> People said simular to me last year when we choose to stay in a suite at the GCH for Christmas. As I said then and say now just because one family chooses not to do that doesn't mean another family won't, neither is wrong. People choose to have a nice vacation and save harder throughout the year and miss out on some other things in order to afford it. I know for us it's not buying lunch, but taking it from home, not going out to dinner as much throughtout the year, letting magazines go and not buying them etc. It's Amazing where you can pull some exctra $$$'s when you want something! We had a ball in our Suite, I felt like a princess and I would do it all again in a flash!
Originally Posted By fkurucz I don't know. Scrimping and saving only go so far. I suppose that if we only drove old junky cars and never went out to eat, we might be able to swing for $700 rooms. For instance: we will have visited DLR 3 times in a 12 month period by next October, for a total of 18 nights. At $700 a night that would be $12,600 just for the rooms, which is $1050 a month. That amount is more than we are currently spending on car payments, auto insurance and orthodontia payments. Not eating out and skipping magazines would never cover it. Now I do understand that some people (such as those overseas) might only visit DLR once very few years. I suppose that if one were to skip vacations for 3-4 years and save the money, that one could afford the Bill Gates suite, but I wouldn't want to do that. I get 4 weeks vacation year (plus two weeks of paid holidays), and I don't want to spend all of them visiting relatives. Different strokes for different folks I suppose. But still, I wonder what the average suite occupant's income actually is?
Originally Posted By debtee Yes I understand what you are saying. I would not want to go without for years at a time to afford a suite. We are from overseas and I do budget more for my hotel in DL then what I would pay for one in Sydney or travelling around Australia. We only stayed 8 nights in the suite, we could not afford 18 nights!
Originally Posted By skidca Please remember this is our annual vacation. Only for four nights. Not 3 trips, 18 nights or one trip, 8 nights. My, that’s way out of our budget. We live in Pasadena and we have AP’s so we make day runs a few times during the year. This is our special time and we enjoy it so much. One thing I so much enjoy is at the end of the day. We can take the Monorail back, which we sometimes do, but I so much love walking down Main Street, stopping into a few stores and out the main entrance. Turning right and out to DTD, I look over to all the people lining up to the tram to get to the parking structure and then the long drive home. All I have is a short 10 minute walk to DLH and up to our suite to talk about our day’s activities and then a restful sleep. Can it get any better? I think not.
Originally Posted By deadmentellnotales I can sort of see where Disney is comming from but if you were to reserve the room on a credit cards there shouldn't be a problem with reserving spec. suites, after all what do they do at other large resort destinations that do take reservations for certain rooms? For the premium they charge I'd think it wasn't asking too much either. I mean you get what you pay for but you also pay for what you recieve.
Originally Posted By MickeyMommy I don't know if things have changed since May 2005, but then, they assigned the suites about 2 weeks in advance. I was able to call and ask where we were placed. So I knew what we got before we got there.
Originally Posted By atinkfan My mom recently told me that DLH 'says' they have Queen beds in their rooms but the beds are really Doubles. Can anyone verify? We normally stay at the Grand, but wanted to try someplace new in Sept. We've got a group of 11 going so the bigger beds will be needed!!
Originally Posted By MickeyMommy Maybe some rooms have doubles, but we have always gotten two queens and a daybed in the Sierra Tower. Doubles are way too slim of a fit to sleep two comfortably, but these were definetly queens. Very comfortable beds too.
Originally Posted By fkurucz Hotel 'queens' in hotels are often smaller than the Queen bed in your room badck home. Sometimes they are barely bigger than a double.
Originally Posted By atinkfan Thanks for the reply MickeyMommy & fkurucz. I will pass that info along. The 2 queens and a daybed would definitely work for us!
Originally Posted By RoJo They DO NOT assign suites 2 weeks in advance. Two years ago on our annual Xmas trip we stayed in a 2 bedroom suite in the Sierra tower overlooking DTD.The next year we arrived VERY early to see if we could get a suite in the same general area. Upon check-in at 8o am we were told,yes, we have a suite in the Sierra,DTD view,but to check back after 3:00.Well ,to make a long story short,3:00 comes along and to our surprise we are assigned a suite in the Bonita tower and are told the Sierra has no suites available!So don't count on anything until your actually in your room!
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 Up until our last trip we have always had a king or 2 queen beds (some with the daybed) at DLH, always very comfy. Last week we had booked 3 rooms with 2 adults in each room. We asked for connecting rooms. We received, 1 room with a king bed (not connecting but on the other side of the housekeeping elevator), 1 room with 2 DOUBLE beds and the room was really tiny (I guess because of the elevator) and one room with 2 queens and a daybed. We had booked them all at the same time with an AP discount (not AP rate). Each room was $248 per night. It wasn't great because the 2 connecting rooms were meant for our DD's family and ours so we could babysit our grandson during naps and such (our offer). There was no way they could fit in that tiny room with the 2 double beds and they would have been bumping into a pack and play. They ended up in the non connecting room. Also, when we were given our room keys, we were told we had 1 room with the 2 queens and daybed and 2 rooms with Kings all connecting. That wasn't what we got when saw when we entered the rooms. DH took one look at my face and called the front desk. As usual, we were told the hotel was booked and that was the best they could do. We should have questioned why the tiny room with 2 doubles cost the same as the MUCH larger room with the queens and daybed. We had a great time regardless. So that is my long winded answer to "yes they do have some rooms with double beds at DLH" Oh...........we were told that they were phasing the doubles out. Last July on check in at DLH we had 3 adults. The CM said "oh you don't want doubles, you need queens for 3 adults, right?" From now on I'm going to put "no double beds" on our requests I mean if I'm going to pay the same price, I'd like a more comfortable bed.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Last week we had booked 3 rooms with 2 adults in each room. We asked for connecting rooms. We received, 1 room with a king bed (not connecting but on the other side of the housekeeping elevator), 1 room with 2 DOUBLE beds and the room was really tiny (I guess because of the elevator) and one room with 2 queens and a daybed. We had booked them all at the same time with an AP discount (not AP rate). Each room was $248 per night. << That's a raw deal if you ask me.
