campground reservations modifications changes in the works starting Oct 2022 to ???

[bama_ed]

Just yesterday, I added 10/22 and 10/23 to a reservation that begins 10/16. I've been working on this reservation every day for almost 2 months. It's taken awhile to build it for 8 nights. DONE and HAPPY!

Persistence pays off, doesn't it @ScarletFire? You're proof (again) that when we tell people to take what you can get, keep checking for the missing piece parts, and be persistent in doing so, thing work out (given enough lead time-this is 3 months out).

Happy for you! Congrats!

Bama ED

PS - those of us stuck at home will expect pictures, of course .....

 

[Marionnette]

I have no specific knowledge, but I kinda think not. The purpose of the new rule is to stop people from snatching up inventory, knowing they aren't going to stay all those dates, only to cancel part of it later. 'Date snatching' stops others from booking campsites, at least until the 'un-needed' dates are released by the reservation holder. Combining reservations isn't really affecting 'inventory' in that way, it's still the same number of nights whether it's one ressie or two.

I think combining reservations would have more to do with the dates 'aligning' to allow 9 nights in one spot.

I'd call Disney and ask what the policy is now on combining ressies.

I called this morning and it was a no-go. I had the CM put a note on both reservations that it is a continuing stay but that's the best he could do.

I'm going to keep trying to modify one or the other to get it down to one reservation. It seems like such an odd policy (not being able to merge two reservations). We DVC owners have to do it all of the time when we pick up nights to complete a reservation. I don't know why it should be an issue for the campground.

 

[jkh36619]

People have been abusing FW reservations for years going back to reserving FP+ 60 days out. Why fix it now....

I also remember last Halloween was screwed up being overbooked. Maybe it has something to do with that.

 

[bama_ed]

Why fix it now....

Apparently new Fort Wilderness management decided to decisively address the problem. It had been allowed to run on too long under previous regimes. Halloween time had been particularly egregious.

 

[jkh36619]

Apparently new Fort Wilderness management decided to decisively address the problem. It had been allowed to run on too long under previous regimes. Halloween time had been particularly egregious.

About time.

 

[Teamubr]

It will be interesting to see how many sites on October 30 or 31st suddenly become available when the people that booked every possible option for Halloween 400+ days ago, try to drop the days they really didn't want and find out it's all or nothing.

I read it all the time on other groups. "I'm only going for a week, but I booked October 9th-November 5th to make sure I get the days I want. A few weeks out, I'll just call and drop the days on the ends that I don't want."

j

 

[bama_ed]

It will be interesting to see how many sites on October 30 or 31st suddenly become available when the people that booked every possible option for Halloween 400+ days ago, try to drop the days they really didn't want and find out it's all or nothing.

I read it all the time on other groups. "I'm only going for a week, but I booked October 9th-November 5th to make sure I get the days I want. A few weeks out, I'll just call and drop the days on the ends that I don't want."

j

So you're telling me I should have the Aliner prepped and ready to roll on as little as one day's notice? Interesting.....

 

[gadget118]

Just commenting here to confirm this is still the case- you cannot merge consecutive bookings at this time. I started planning a 14-day trip about a month ago for the crazy busy time around Christmas/New year's, and had to piece the campsite bookings together a few days here and there until I had completed the stay that I wanted. (all Full hookup basic sites) Finally bought park tickets a few days ago and called to merge the Fort bookings, but was not allowed. It is so frustrating in combination with Park Reservations because I really don't want to be worried about moving the camper on days we are going to the theme parks- rope drop is hard enough without unhooking/relocating to the parking lot. Then of course park reservations affect dining reservations... I can't finalize anything. Appreciate all the advice on here- I'll try modifying from both sides of each booking for now.

 

[bama_ed]

If they are all Full site reservations, you will be fine.

I am at the Fort now in a 2-week stay and I have a 2nd stay for a day right after it (both Preferred sites). When you check in for your first stay, tell them you have multiple subsequent reservations and those are "Continuing Stays" (those are the keywords to use). The CM checking you in will see that and block out the same site number for the later stays that you get on the first one.

That's what I did.

You don't want to have to move.

They don't want you to have to move because it creates a domino effect in the reservation system.

You'll be fine.

About the only thing these back-to-back same level reservations mess up is the dining reservations going to 60+10 or such. Every reservation has its own 60+ number. But other than that, it's a wash.

Bama Ed

 

[amcc]

My NYE trip is a mess of 3 reservations covering 6 nights. I'm not moving. I've done my best to get the consecutive days, playing by the weird rules their website sets up and now I've got a full site for all the days. I'll do as Ed says on the first day but that's it. The ability for them to link consecutive reservations should not be a difficult line of code to write in their reservation program.

 

[gadget118]

My NYE trip is a mess of 3 reservations covering 6 nights. I'm not moving. I've done my best to get the consecutive days, playing by the weird rules their website sets up and now I've got a tent site for all the days. I'll do as Ed says on the first day but that's it. The ability for them to link consecutive reservations should not be a difficult line of code to write in their reservation program.

I have five reservations over 14 nights. I'll report back on how it goes.

 

[Sjm9911]

I think ed hit it with they must be in the same catagory. If you have diffrent categories you might be out of luck.

 

[mightyexplorers]

It is ten. I also think it's way too high because people abuse it by adding all their friends, family, and a few strangers as well... and that leads to a variety of other issues: too many vehicles in the loops, too many people crowding the main pool, restaurants, and boats to MK, etc. which impacts everyone's overall experience at the Fort.

10 is not a ridiculous number especially if, like us, you have 8 children.
That is why we started coming to the fort in the first place. So we could all be together as a family.

 

[skyp4WDW]

10 is not a ridiculous number especially if, like us, you have 8 children.
That is why we started coming to the fort in the first place. So we could all be together as a family.

Obviously I do not think anyone would begrudge your "single family of ten/ 2 adults and 8 minor children" a campsite at Fort Wilderness.... I also think it's fair to say that MOST of the people who have 10 or more at their campsites are not the proud parents of 8 children. The problems arise when multiple families or other large groups squeeze into one campsite to save money. It might work for them but perhaps NOT for their camping neighbors. They simply do not consider the impact of their actions on those around them (extra noise, vehicles, visual congestion, wait times at comfort stations, etc.)

 

[gadget118]

Alright- so the 'change reservation' button was not working for me at all today on the website resort reservation system, even though it has worked in the past. (Just a few days ago I extended a one night ressie to two nights) It all looks like it is going to work, then unfortunately it is doing some kind of error where I click 'checkout', and the changed reservation reverts to my original reservation. They were not able to fix this issue over the phone. They refused to report this to IT because they were not allowed to 'escalate the issue.' I haven't tried to call IT myself to report website errors- not sure this is even a possibility.

However, I did get clarification on what the CM can do when it comes to modifying reservations. If you find an open reservation that starts at the end of a reservation you already have, they can add that on, even when the website won't let you. (which is currently going on- my issue today- with experimentation it looks like I cannot add to the beginning or end of a stay, cannot even modify to a completely open booking. It looks like I could, however, double book myself with a brand new ressie and then drop the previous bookings, if that helped me) They CANNOT add days to the beginning of your reservation, even if you find open days on the website reservation system- in other words no change to start dates.

I just need some peace of mind, so I'll probably keep looking for open days like this. I am not comfortable having 5-6 different reservations right now over a 14-15 day period Even though it is likely that 'continuing stay' should take care of the problem, the CM said this is not guaranteed.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

It will be interesting to see how many sites on October 30 or 31st suddenly become available when the people that booked every possible option for Halloween 400+ days ago, try to drop the days they really didn't want and find out it's all or nothing.

I read it all the time on other groups. "I'm only going for a week, but I booked October 9th-November 5th to make sure I get the days I want. A few weeks out, I'll just call and drop the days on the ends that I don't want."

j

Here right now and have been here since the 30th, Halloween was packed but had a handful of empty sites that we saw. Not a huge amount but there was definitely open sites....HOWEVER....they were not able to be booked. They were kept open because people had already checked in and were on their way OR we left open to move people in case there was an issue with their site.
I had a handful of reservations to deal with, so I was at the front desk a long time and heard a lot of conversations going on, including someone wanting to extend and someone wanting to move sites and someone wanting a second site because the one next to theirs was empty and since they had 3 golf carts, they wanted it for golf cart parking and to put a tent on! LOL.

Just commenting here to confirm this is still the case- you cannot merge consecutive bookings at this time. I started planning a 14-day trip about a month ago for the crazy busy time around Christmas/New year's, and had to piece the campsite bookings together a few days here and there until I had completed the stay that I wanted. (all Full hookup basic sites) Finally bought park tickets a few days ago and called to merge the Fort bookings, but was not allowed. It is so frustrating in combination with Park Reservations because I really don't want to be worried about moving the camper on days we are going to the theme parks- rope drop is hard enough without unhooking/relocating to the parking lot. Then of course park reservations affect dining reservations... I can't finalize anything. Appreciate all the advice on here- I'll try modifying from both sides of each booking for now.

The good thing is that once you arrive with your list of confirmation numbers and information, the front desk can help you merge them and link them all together so that you can stay in the same site. They do require that you have to 'check-in' each check-in day, but each time I did they always looked at me like I was nuts and then sent me on my merry way, but even then they told me to keep doing it. LOL!

The magicbands only had an issue with 1 reservation so far but all in all it's been easy since we checked in.

I think ed hit it with they must be in the same catagory. If you have diffrent categories you might be out of luck.

Nope, it's beneficial and easier for them BUT even on 'sold out' nights they ask you which category you prefer to stay in and then they will check if anyone has in particular requested an actual site number and work around that. I had FHU, Premium and even a few Meadows Premium booked and I told them I would take whatever would not require me to move for all of my 6 reservations and this included Halloween and Thanksgiving etc. I told them I don't care about any refunds if it's FHU and that I would pay the difference if it was Meadows but they found us a spot in the clover and I noticed the difference refunded anyway.
I am not going to say that it's guaranteed for anyone, just giving my experience. I told them I didn't mind moving, I just asked if it was possible. I think if you are nice and don't demand and are willing to agree with whatever happens, they will work with you as much as possible.

Obviously I do not think anyone would begrudge your "single family of ten/ 2 adults and 8 minor children" a campsite at Fort Wilderness.... I also think it's fair to say that MOST of the people who have 10 or more at their campsites are not the proud parents of 8 children. The problems arise when multiple families or other large groups squeeze into one campsite to save money. It might work for them but perhaps NOT for their camping neighbors. They simply do not consider the impact of their actions on those around them (extra noise, vehicles, visual congestion, wait times at comfort stations, etc.)

We've had many new neighbors, not many stay as long as we are here for, but on a few occasions we've had sites surrounding us with 10+ people on them (camper plus multiple tents, 3 tents and a van, huge RV and a tent...etc.) and they have all been fine and quite friendly (definitely no one enforcing any rules about what can be on a site) and one thing that I did notice was that the dogs left in their RVs all day are worse than any group of 10+, especially those howlers, barkers and yappy types. Now THAT is annoying.


All in all it seems to just be the same as always, depends on who you get for who will do what, just standing at the check in desk there was so much drama with many different resolutions going on. During the storm was even more interesting to see what was happening and how it was being handled for different people.

 

[Teamubr]

Here right now and have been here since the 30th, Halloween was packed but had a handful of empty sites that we saw. Not a huge amount but there was definitely open sites....HOWEVER....they were not able to be booked.

All in all it seems to just be the same as always, depends on who you get for who will do what, just standing at the check in desk there was so much drama with many different resolutions going on.

I'm interested to see how full things will be this week. There are numerous comments on verious Fb groups about all the sudden availability at the Fort.

Just curious, did all your reservations add up to more than 30 continuous days. I see the Belmores are back in 401 this year. I talked to them last January when they had been there for well over a month. It looks like they are setup for the long haul again. I'm wondering if the 30 day rule is being enforced.

j

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

I'm interested to see how full things will be this week. There are numerous comments on verious Fb groups about all the sudden availability at the Fort.

Just curious, did all your reservations add up to more than 30 continuous days. I see the Belmores are back in 401 this year. I talked to them last January when they had been there for well over a month. It looks like they are setup for the long haul again. I'm wondering if the 30 day rule is being enforced.

j

Yes and they did call us to get us to change it due to their policy but I told them that they had in fact been the ones I was speaking to to get all the days I wanted and never once told me about this new thing. They looked up my reservation and noted that all reservations were in fact booked by them and not online and 'grandfathered' me in. 401 has been there since before we showed up and yes, definitely there for the long haul. We were looking to book our family into a resort for this upcoming week, since they decided to come at the last minute (insert eye roll here) and when we looked at the ALL RESORTS button, the Fort has openings at all levels except the tents, but we looked for a full week.
I will say though that in our loop, there have been empty sites consistently since we've been here and a lot of one nighters (which is surprising since you can rarely get those online! LOL)

 

[bama_ed]

Yeah I think weasel words I use like "might", "likely", etc. are a product of my contract law dealings (not as a lawyer but as a seller) in the past. In a user base the size of Fort Wilderness' capacity, there's nearly (there I go again) always some slack capacity with people who's plans change, are coming in late, and so on. The Front Desk and Site Assigner have the most accurate info in that regard.

@DisneyMommyMichelle I was not surprised CM (Reservation or Front Desk) tried to implement the 30-day limit on you. It has to be a human because I doubt the IT is ready to catch/check something like that (will take years). Disney might have had certain intentions when creating that policy, but unless it consistently and accurately applied with only limited exceptions, then it essentially doesn't exist.

They'll get it eventually though.

Bama Ed

 

[bama_ed]

My NYE trip is a mess of 3 reservations covering 6 nights. I'm not moving. I've done my best to get the consecutive days, playing by the weird rules their website sets up and now I've got a full site for all the days. I'll do as Ed says on the first day but that's it. The ability for them to link consecutive reservations should not be a difficult line of code to write in their reservation program.

Just to follow up on my experience on "continuing reservations" ......

So I had an initial Fort reservation of 16 nights for a Preferred and then a subsequent 2 night Preferred reservation (back-to-back nights, no calendar gaps).

When I checked in for the 16-night stay, the CM taking care of me in the Fort lobby could see the 2-night stay but could only take care of me for the initial 16-night stay. I took care of all the site haggling (wanted specific sites in 100) and even when I got my assigned site and drove down to it, was less than desirable, called the Front Desk, and ended up getting reassigned to a better location.

As part of the first reservation check-in, I was told to come back to the lobby on the morning of the 2nd checkin to take care of it (I wanted to shorten it to only 1 night for one thing) and to stay at the same site. I showed up about 7am before running DS2 to the airport to check out/in again. Since sites are pre-assigned before arrival, there is a WHOLE set of Dominos of when-you-are-leaving-your-site and who-will-be-assigned-that-site-when-you-leave and do they have continuing stays behind them, etc.

As @DisneyMommyMichelle mentioned, the Fort lobby CM was very aware of the length of my initial stay and saw subsequent continuing stays but would only work with me on the stay starting that day. It tells me that Disney wants the Resort CM's to implement the 30 day max stay new rule since the IT can't do it. And she did the right thing to push back to say "if it's Disney's rule then why did Disney let me book a beyond 30-day continuous stay?". Eventually they make get it mechanized (in IT). Until then, keep on keeping on.

TLDR: continuing stays work but I was asked/required to show up at the office/lobby to check in each time in person (prolly becuz I wanted to drop a night). YMMV.

Bama Ed

PS - if your "continuing stay" is already set up to keep you on the same site number (which I was able to do on my first check-in) AND you don't have to alter check in/out dates, you MAY be able to do the ONLINE checkin for the second stay (or subsequent) and avoid having to go physically into the office on the checkout/in day. It's worth asking the question. I was headed to the airport in the early AM so it was no difference to me but it may be to you. Even if things went sideways, I wouldn't move. "Possession is 9/10ths of the law".