Anyone else using the military rate have a hard time getting a room?

[monkeybug]

We are going at the end of November, but our dates are flexible so a very sweet CM checked basically the entire month of November and much of December for me, and for my family of 5 the pickings were very slim! This is the 6th time we've used this discount, and due to my husband's sometimes unpredictable schedule we usually book closer to our trip, so I was surprised how few options there were.
I'm wondering if they reduced the number of rooms available for the military rate? Or maybe this time of year is much busier than I was expecting?
We ended up with a split stay between the YC and BC for November 25th-December 1st, but I'm hoping something opens up on the monorail for at least a portion of that before we arrive.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I haven't checked lately, but I will say that the last couple of times I've booked the military rates, they were not easy to come by. A couple of years ago I wanted to book for Veterans Day weekend and when I tried to get the Friday night, there was no availability, but when I changed to just Saturday-Tuesday, I was able to get a room. Last year I booked rooms for my family and my sister's family for a weekend in late Sept, and was able to get our first choice. Good luck!

 

[Lynne M]

Moved to the Discount Codes and Rates forum.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

We are going at the end of November, but our dates are flexible so a very sweet CM checked basically the entire month of November and much of December for me, and for my family of 5 the pickings were very slim! This is the 6th time we've used this discount, and due to my husband's sometimes unpredictable schedule we usually book closer to our trip, so I was surprised how few options there were.
I'm wondering if they reduced the number of rooms available for the military rate? Or maybe this time of year is much busier than I was expecting?
We ended up with a split stay between the YC and BC for November 25th-December 1st, but I'm hoping something opens up on the monorail for at least a portion of that before we arrive.

For the last 3 years we have had to be very flexible and this year was no different. We wanted AKL the 2nd week in Oct. and had to get Oct. 30-Nov 2. for a standard room. It seems the rooms are very limited and could be because of other offers.

 

[VAfamily1998]

Most of the time when I book, it seems only higher end rooms are available. I'm never able to get just a standard room at a deluxe resort--the only things available are usually club level or special views.
I tried to book for marathon weekend 2017 with the military discount, for just Dh and I last year. I wanted to stay at either BC, YC, or BWI--and of those three resorts the ONLY room available with a military discount was the garden suites at BWI for $600+/night. We ended up doing that, but we would have preferred to just stay in a standard room at one of those resorts and save more money.

 

[uccats97]

It could have to do with you being a party of 5, too. There are a limited number of rooms that sleep 5 available. Plus, free dining is going on during your travel dates and people book up rooms during that promotion like crazy.

 

[monkeybug]

It sounds like I should be very grateful that even though I didn't get what we were hoping for, we still got something very close to what we were hoping for!
I'm wondering if the reason we've had such good luck in the past snagging standard rooms at our first pick resorts is because we usually book closer to our trip? Maybe they open stuff up that hasn't sold?

 

[wanderingdee]

It sounds like I should be very grateful that even though I didn't get what we were hoping for, we still got something very close to what we were hoping for!
I'm wondering if the reason we've had such good luck in the past snagging standard rooms at our first pick resorts is because we usually book closer to our trip? Maybe they open stuff up that hasn't sold?

We ended up doing a split stay. It opened up some options. There wasn't an entire week available with the discount where we wanted. So we booked half at that resort and half at another.

I'll say that we have changed our resort several times and as we got closer fewer and fewer options were available. So I think that they have a certain number of rooms and once they're gone that's it.

 

[simplestar]

I actually was just coming to post this same topic. We are trying to go this fall and also have a hard time planning too far in advance because of scheduling. I tried the entire month of September at any deluxe and according to the cast member I spoke to there were no military discounts available for the entire month. I guess it's back to Shades of Green.

 

[DLgal]

I had no luck for 5 days in October. They only had AoA suites or AKL Club Level, and I'm going solo and didn't want to spend that much. I'll be at the Swan or Dolphin. Same happened last year in early November.