Has anyone actually lucked out and got an upgrade for the same price and if so whas it down time there?

I've gotten upgrades for free before. I always travel during relative down-times. The most notable was just before thanksgiving (leaving the day before thanksgiving) a few years ago...got upgraded from standard view to a two bedroom executive suite at Coronado Springs. All I do is be very polite and happy to be there (not hard to do as I love Disney) and ask if there's anything available for an upgrade.... works out sometimes...

I got two "upgrades" during the off season without asking.
- Got upgraded to bunk beds at WL one time. (Not sure this was a real "upgrade" rate-wise, but it was presented to us as an upgrade.)
- Got a view upgrade to a "water view" at WL. (It was a joke because it was on the ground floor and the only water view we had was the pool at WLV - through the bushes.)

While it was a nice touch of magic upon check in and was very much appreciated, I would not have called them true upgrades, per se. To me, an upgrade is going from a standard room to one with a real view or even a suite, junior or otherwise.

Its one of those things where it never hurts to ask, much like what Kwahati mentioned. The best thing to do is expect an answer of "no" and consider it magical when it does happen.

We stayed at Wilderness Lodge for our most recent trip (Dec. 2-6, 2007). I'd heard view upgrades were plentiful here for slow times, so I booked a standard view. Upon checking in, the friendly CM noticed our anniversary note on the reservation, and gave us what she called a courtyard view on the 6th floor. What a beautiful view! Straight ahead and to the right, we saw trees and the villas, a little to the left were the quiet pool and more trees, and way over to the left was a lovely view of the lake, and more trees. It was a wonderful, completely silent location. I feel like it was a real upgrade.

We have been upgraded twice on our trips to Florida. Both were in relatively slow periods, middle of August. We were upgraded from a water view to a conceirge room at the Grand Floridian and we were upgraded from a studio to a 1 bedroom with a beautiful view of Downtown Disney at Saratoga Springs. We were not vacation club members at the time just paying cash for the room. We didn't ask for either upgrade either we just happened to luck out! The Saratoga Springs upgrade was really nice and we are now vacation club owners because of it. After staying in a 1 bedroom, who wants to go back to a regular room! Disney got their money's worth for that upgrade :fez:!

three years ago we got upgraded from a "standard" view room to a "savannah" view room for no cost at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. we didn't even ask or anything - guess it was very slow mid/late feb.

I had added three days on at the last minute for our trip in 2002. We were staying at the beach club but they didn't have anything available so we booked just those three days at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We booked a savannah view concierge room and were very excited when we arrived they had upgraded up to a two bedroom suite. It was gorgeous and nice to stretch out. This was over July 4th.

My husband and I once were upgraded to a Concierge suite at Grand Floridian. I can't remember what we booked, but it wasn't a suite!

The room was completely amazing, too. An amazing view of the castle and the whole bit. We felt guilty because there were two rooms in the suite and we'd left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa!

My wife and I were upgraded to a Savannah room at AKL during our October, 2006 vacation. We were celebrating my wife's birthday and our wedding anniversary. We only paid $130 per night for the room. The next day I asked to stay another night and they let us! HA! The CM behind the desk said he'd never seen a price that low for AKL and that he was "amazed." WOOHOO!