Great news for my OCD: linked direct Swan booking in MDE! - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Great news for my OCD: linked direct Swan booking in MDE!
My mom booked our Swan stay directly using SPG points (free nights!). I tried to link her Starwood reservation number in MDE - to no avail. I asked her to call Disney to see if they could link it, but they told her it wasn't possible unless she'd booked through Disney reservations.
This was disappointing, but I tried to move on with life. I entered a note about the Swan reservation in MDE. Notes don't show up on the main itinerary page, though, and the big hole in-between our first and last reservations really, really irked my OCD.
Every so often, I'd enter that darn Swan reservation number, willing it to work. Surprise! Today it worked! While the reservation is not eligible for a Magic Band, it's there! I couldn't be more pleased to see that irksome gap filled in.
Not sure what this means for other 3rd party (OTA etc.) Disney resort reservations, but it's worth a try to attempt to link them.
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Swolphin stays may not entitle a Guest to a FREE Magic Band - but magic Bands are now on sale at all four theme parks and Downtown Disney for $12.99.
You won't be able to charge things to your room, or use it on the door locks, but you'll be able to link your park pass to your MDX account, and make advance FastPass selections, and when you buy a Magic Band at WDW, the cashier will help you to link it to your existing MDX account and it will be able to access your park pass and FPs.
Great news for my OCD: linked direct Swan booking in MDE!
My main point was linking a reservation not made through Disney in MDE seems a recent improvement. My experience could be a fluke though, I suppose. I'm very happy either way!
I just mentioned the Magic Band thing to point out you'll not get one for customised/free even though Disney will apparently link your Swan reservation.
We'll already be getting 3 bands each (1st and last ressies and AP), so no great loss.
That's correct, Swan and Dolphin are not eligible for DME service.
I just noticed a news item today from DIS. Swan and Dolphin guests are now eligible for 60 day advance FP+ reservations -- this could explain why the system is now accepting Starwood reservation numbers in MDE.
We won't be able to make any of our FP+ bookings until 30 days out, though, anyhow. We won't have our Premier Passports until the end of October.
That's correct, Swan and Dolphin are not eligible for DME service.
I just noticed a news item today from DIS. Swan and Dolphin guests are now eligible for 60 day advance FP+ reservations -- this could explain why the system is now accepting Starwood reservation numbers in MDE.
We won't be able to make any of our FP+ bookings until 30 days out, though, anyhow. We won't have our Premier Passports until the end of October.
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Will you be pre-purchasing your PAPs? If you pre-purchase, you'll get a voucher, and you can add the voucher number to DMX in place of the actual PAP number, which will enable the 60-day advance FP selection for you.
Pre-purchasing tickets and APs, rather than buying at the gate, doesn't get you a discount any more (dangit), but it does have three major advantages:
1) Pre-purchasing enables 60-day advance FPs (for those who also have on-site reservations)
2) Pre-purchasing is a nige hedge against potential ticket price increases; i.e. if you buy in June, and the price goes up in Oct, and your trip is in Nov, you've saved a few bucks by buying before the price went up (**Probably not applicable in your case, since there has already been one price increase this year and I don't think there will be one between now and Oct, but it's good to keep in mind)
3) Pre-purchasing allows you to spread ticket purchases out, buying one or two passes at a time instead of the whole family's passes (**again, probably not applicable to you since there are only two of you, but even so you can buy your passes in advance of the trip so they're not in the actual trip budget)
Since I don't book WDW packages (when I stay on-site I book room-only), I've been pre-purchasing my tickets for many years. There used to be a pre-purchase discount, prior to about 2005 or 2006 or so, but that's gone. Even so, I like being able to get my pass from UCT or my travel agent and secure it in my safe at home, knowing that it's already paid for and won't have to come out of my trip savings or go on my credit card at the beginning of my trip.
It also saves me a little bit of time when I arrive at WDW - I don't have to stand in a line at the Ticket Sales window, or add another item to my check-in procedure at an on-site resort, before heading straight to the parks.
You can't pre-purchase Premier Passports, sadly. And since we're going to DL first, the option of buying an AP voucher and upgrading at the gate only seems easy if we buy Disneyland APs, which wouldn't help us at all with the WDW FP+ situation. (Though it may hedge against a price increase.)
I'm not sure whether it's even possible to upgrade a WDW AP voucher to a Premier Passport while at Disneyland...but if it is, I can't imagine it would be without hassle. I'm OK waiting until 30 days...we have a good amount of time at WDW and we have a pretty casual touring style.
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