Is there a trick to booking campsites?

[AntePrincess]

I'm having no luck getting quotes from Disney for a two week stay at FW, every time I put in dates it says that there are none available and it tries to sell me on a cabin that is way out of our league for a possible semi-spontaneous autumn trip. Do FW tent campsites fill up very fast or are campsites "released" for reservation a few at a time? Would I have better luck if I tried to work through my AAA agent or another travel agent? Help me experts!

I'm also a bit confused about discount rates. We're looking at possibly becoming AP holders and they hint that you can get nice discounts on your "rooms" through AP, and AAA says the same, but I'm not getting any hard numbers. Any advice on this one?

TIA!

 

[Mcert01]

Best advice is to call the reservation line to see what is available. The website has never been my favorite way to make ressies. Disney's strength is making your trip "magical", but the only way to truly do that is through personal interaction with a cast member.

 

[AntePrincess]

Best advice is to call the reservation line to see what is available. The website has never been my favorite way to make ressies. Disney's strength is making your trip "magical", but the only way to truly do that is through personal interaction with a cast member.

Ok, looks like that's what I'll have to do once I've narrowed down when I want to go a little more. In your experience, have they been any help with turning up discounts when you call?

 

[djblu883]

Disney seldom discounts campsites, you might get a tiny one through AAA but since that is already their cheapest stay on premise, no. Even if there is no availability when you call, keep trying because there are always cancellations! If you can afford to call daily, I would. Good Luck!!!

 

[amylevan]

My parents usually have luck getting an AP discount (but they usually stay premium, I don't know if there are as many tent AP discounts).

You can book an AP discount site without having the AP yet, so you can ask if there are any available, and then decide if it's worth it based on what/if any the discount is.

 

[SoccerDad]

I discovered what appears to be a "bug" with the reservation website that can result in what you are seeing (no campsites appear to be available, only cabins).

The "bug" shows up for me if I (1) do an Advanced Search in order to specify my resort, (2) choose "Campground" under resort category, and then (3) leave the default "No Preference" selected under the Disney Campground section. If I do it this way then it says there are no campsites available. If I do (1) and (2) again but this time choose "The Campsites at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort" under the Disney Campground section, then sites are shown as available.

I just tried doing it both ways for the 3 week period of Oct. 13 to Nov. 3. Doing it the "No Preference" way results in "The Resort or Resort Category you requested is unavailable for the dates and party size selected. An alternate has been provided.", with the alternate being a cabin for a cost of $7,695. Doing it the "The Campsites at ..." way results in a Full Hook-up site for a cost of $1,579.

Hope this helps.

 

[sweet maxine]

I'm not sure if this is the problem, but I have a thought that might help.

On the left hand side of the screen, in the box that shows choice of resort, make sure you are scrolling all the way down to "Campsites", instead of just "Campground". I noticed that the campsites don't show up when choosing the "Campground" option---only the cabins will show up as available that way. So scroll all the way down to the bottom of the selection box to "Campsites", and the availability should show for you.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[kcp1377]

Interesting! The website worked for us this year, but last year when we booked it wouldn't show any available so we called and set it up that way. I wish I could go back and see if I had done any of those things!

 

[allielew]

Campsites have AAA (a few dollars a night off) and AP discounts which are larger than the AAA discount. The AP discounts go in a seasonal rotation. Right now is a summer discount, I'm waiting for Aug when they will release their fall discount. We go in December and I had to call 3 times (once in Jan, once in Feb and than finally Mar) to get my AAA discount, it is just very busy at FW that time of the year. When they release AP discounts I will start to call again, Disney will change your ressie. The CM's will tell you to just keep trying, due to cancelations and Disney sometimes realeasing more sites/rooms. Just keep trying.

 

[AntePrincess]

I tried again and I don't know what I did differently, or if there were cancellations, but it seems to be working now. I did try to be specific and specify that I wanted campsites and not cabins.

 

[Scarlett81]

2 wks ago I tried to make an online ressie for a campsite and it said there were none available, although the day before there had been plenty available. I wondered if FW had an overnight sale on sites that I didn't know about or something!
I called and the cast member I spoke with said it was an error-there were plenty left and I booked one. Lesson-do not trust the site. It doesn't work.

 

[Sally]

I just switched our trip from POP to campsites and the quote from reservations was about $50. cheaper than listed on the website. So happy I made the call.

 

[JWimberley]

We are here on a 3-week stay that I originally booked over the phone with no discounts because the AP rates hadn't been released back in February. I kept calling every month to see what the AP rate was going to be and never had a rate released for our Premium Site.

The guy we are renting the 5th wheel from got us in touch with an agent that was able to get us her AAA corporate rate and we saved about $300 on our reservation. She didn't have to rebook us, she just took over our existing reservation and applied the appropriate discount.

If you would like her number send me a PM and I'll get it for you.

Joshua

 

[PJ]

I had the same experience just yesterday when trying to check availability for a week starting 11/25 before calling to book directly. The on-line system showed no availability and said it was "defaulting" to cabins.

What was frustrating is that I brought up the on-line chat person for help, and she said that it probably meant there were no campsites available. We normally book in February so I figured we might be out of luck, but I decided tocall, and found out there absolutely was availability.

I agree that the design of the search was confusing - I never figured out how to get anything but the cabin default. Thanks for posting the trick!

Now if I could just get an Ohana's reservation...

 

[iuki]

Campsites have AAA (a few dollars a night off) and AP discounts which are larger than the AAA discount. The AP discounts go in a seasonal rotation. Right now is a summer discount, I'm waiting for Aug when they will release their fall discount. We go in December and I had to call 3 times (once in Jan, once in Feb and than finally Mar) to get my AAA discount, it is just very busy at FW that time of the year. When they release AP discounts I will start to call again, Disney will change your ressie. The CM's will tell you to just keep trying, due to cancelations and Disney sometimes realeasing more sites/rooms. Just keep trying.

We have been AP holders for 2 years and have never found a discount for campsites. Where can I find the info? I've even checked the AP portion on WDW's website.