Can you tell if a resort is full...

[chancellor]

I've got ressies for CBR May 16-19. On the official Disney site, if you try to book a room for that period, it says there are none available (if you narrow the search the only unavailable date is Friday the 17th). Does that mean the resort is booked solid? Expedia and Travelocity claim to have availability for those dates. It seems unlikely to me that a huge resort like CBR would be packed in the middle of May. Could it just be a glitch in Disney's web site (like their May park hours)?

Any help to alleviate my paranoia of 8,000 people at the CBR food court will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bstanley]

I don't think there is any way to precisely predict how crowded a resort will be by gauging the availability from the various on-line hotel booking sites.

Now - having said that - it's a fact that historically Disney resorts (even CBR with it's 2,000 rooms) have run at very high occupancy rates (compared to offsite hotels) and know how to deal with it. I have heard occupancy rates in the 85 - 95% rate.

So basically even if it is close to full - it'll be ok. The resort is laid out and organized to handle the number of folks that could possibly stay there. I was at DxL (also a 2000 room resort) during Spring Break a couple of years ago and you could definitely tell that it was very busy, but the lines at the Food Court were not like those at Splash Mountain Perhaps 3-4 people at worst. Even the buses were ok. I think it's as simple as the fact that people get up at all different times, and have plans to go to all kinds of different places.

 

[chancellor]

Thanks, Bstanley. I've stayed at ASSp over Christmas, so I know how busy it can get (though crowds at the hotel were really not that big of a deal, esp. compared to the parks). I was just hoping that going in May this time would be a more sedate trip, especially at CBR. Since I've got a small child, we just "go with the flow" anyway (plus we live close by so we can go a couple times a year if we have the time and money).

I know from watching these boards that WDW was insanely crowded over spring break, so I strategically planned to go after spring break and before Memorial Day. But, the best laid plans of mice and men... (pun intended).

 

[eeyore0062]

Disney releases rooms to places like Expedia and Travelocity for them to rent for them, so check them out. That may be why the Disney site says that the resort is full.

 

[StevieD]

I would not trust anything from Expedia or Travelocity regarding availability of rooms. We had a situation recently where we found rooms at the WL on Expedia, booked the rooms online, and were instructed to call Expedia for confirmation. When we called, Expedia said that there was no availability - they told me that I would have to call the CRO directly to get reservations and check on availability. When I enquired as to why they show availability on their website, I was told that they show the information on their website about the resort as a "courtesy to our customers" - however any information with regard to "availability" is not accurate. I spoke with several supervisors and managers (my usual bull in a china shop "let me speak to your supervisor" method) and got the same answer. I checked on travelocity and orbitz and found the same situation.

Perhaps someone has a different experience, but our experience tells us to not trust availability info. on their websites.

 

[chancellor]

I've had problems with on-line booking also. About 3 years ago, my wife and I planned our belated honeymoon trip to Europe on the internet. We booked rooms in London and Paris online. When we called to confirm, the London ressie was fine, but the hotel in Paris had never even heard of internet reservations. They were booked solid, and we wound up having to switch hotels. So I know the internet is dicey at best (always, always call to confirm after you make ressies online). I was just trying to use the room availability as a barometer for how crowded the resort would be. I'm now thinking that internet booking info is so inaccurate that I should forget about relying on it in any sense.

Good thing I'm not going on May 11th, when Disney's "accurate" web site says the MK is only open for 20 minutes....

35 Days 0 Hrs 39 Mins 30 Secs!

 

[minniek]

I checked the Disney site to pretend I was booking a room the week we went and it was full. I panicked too...it was during spring break...but Carribean was great...they can handle alot of people. Everything went fine. We got into our room by 11:30 am...got non smoking...food court was well maintained and cleaned. Don't worry about the crowds...

 

[chancellor]

Thanks, minniek. Sounds like you were in the same situation I'm in now. Its time to stop worrying and learn to love the mouse...

34 Days 4 Hrs 17 Mins 27 Secs

 

[chancellor]

Just for fun I checked the Disney site again today, and lo and behold! there are rooms now availabe for the days it wouldn't let me book just 2 days ago. Clearly the computerized reservation system is totally inaccurate, and I will use this as a warning not only to get worked up about how crowded it will be, but also to never use it to book a room. If someone was trying to stay at CBR on May 17th and looked online 2 days ago, they couldn't get a room. I bet a call to CRO would have had rooms no problem.

 

[Bstanley]

Speaking as someone who makes a decent living out of trying to design, maintain, improve, etc. a computer system so that it provides 'sanitized' data (accurate, up to date, appropriate) to a body of 75 users or so I can only marvel that the systems that are used at WDW manage it as well as they do.

WDW has what? Hundreds of (underpaid) CRO reps? 25 resorts with 25,000 rooms, 10 million or so customers a year from around the world, room requests coming in from individuals, travel agents, the web and god knows where else. People making 2 or 3 reservations - using different sources - and then cancelling them when they finally settle on what they want. LOL it's funny just trying to describe it...

Never trust anything until you get your 'Yellow Sheet'

There may still be a screw-up at that point - but at least when you arrive and find out about it you can wave your Yellow Sheet around until the resort manager waves their Magic Wand and upgrades you to Lagoon View!

 

[seashoreCM]

If you are trying to avoid crowded conditions, think twice before booking if any of the channels (CRO, Travelocity, AAA) show the resort to be full. If any of the channels show the resort to be full, chances are it is going to be at least 90% full when you get there if you succeed in booking.

If you are trying to book your favorite resort anyway despite a peak time, try all of the channels to see which one succeeds in booking the room.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm