CR booked in December 2005!

[chevitz5]

I can't believe this...I tried to book a standard room at the CR for either of the first two weeks of December - the only rooms available are their Hospitality Suites!!! The CM I spoke to said that there could be a convention but he wasn't certain and found it quite odd.

Does anyone know if there is something scheduled for either of those weeks? Has any one ever had this happen and then seen rooms open as it gets closer??

 

[purple73]

Maybe it is due to the renovations that are occuring through the next year. That would be my best guess due to that being a value season.

 

[Minky]

Something is going on, I am having the same problems with october, nothing but suites avilable, no concierge floor, tower rooms nothin....I am going to call Monday and see whats going on, I will be heartbroken if we cant stay there....Id have to settle for that lousy Grand Floridian or poly
jus kiddin

 

[n2mm]

Standard rooms at the CR are always hard to come by. I booked 2 standard rooms for September at CR last July 2004. I tried about 6 months ago to add another room and nothing. I know they are being refurbished, so that is causing a slight shortage, but I also have a weekend booked at WDW and there was not much to choose from in the delux catagory for the first and second weekends of December, so I think it's just the timeframe too. I was in WDW last December 10-13 and the crowd was unbelieveable (but Pop warner was the weekend before and was worse). Granted we get discounted CM rooms, but I have checked online, and availability for early december is going quickly even at rack rate. I'm sure during the week is fine, but the weekends are getting crowded. Keep in mind that in addition to conventions and folks coming in for the holidays, they also make great holiday discounts to CM's families so that they can spend the holidays with their loved ones too.

 

[swilphil]

The South Wing renovations are supposed to be done in October, and they will probably start renovating the North Wing right after that. Could it be that the renovated rooms aren't considered standard? Can you book a garden view wing room?

 

[cajunfan]

I know that the south farden wing is completely shut down for refurbishment through October. They are supposed to do the same with the north garden wing when the south is finished. Therefor, your standard wing rooms are already cut in half...makes it hard to get anything there...especially if there is a convention for that time frame.

We were lucky enough to get a standard wing room for July, but have been unsuccessful in getting an AP discount.

Lynn

 

[SB in KY]

The CR seems to stay booked at incredibly odd times...never sure why...but they will block rooms for conventions, generally those are only held until 45 days before convention date and so some may be released at that point, but I wouldn't hold my breath...because most conventions only get a percentage of their projected needs held, and they will book overflow to available resorts....so there are rarely CR rooms returned to CRO at the 45 day mark.

If they do have 1 wing closed for renovations during your dates I think there would be practically NO chance of snagging something later on....since that is 1/2 of the wing rooms closed already (and 25% of the entire hotel inventory).

For 3 or 4 years I waited to book our fall trip (early Nov or early Dec) until AP rates came out and I was NEVER able to get anything at the CR, although I never had trouble booking at other deluxes....this year I gave up and booked CR with the AAA discount back before Easter so we could get what we wanted.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

The Christmas Parade is taped the first weekend in Dec. Also, a lot of Floridians come the 1st two weekends of Dec. to see the Christmas decorations. Some of your days may be available but not all of them. You could ask the CM to check day by day and possibly do a split stay with another resort.

Lori

 

[chevitz5]

The South Wing renovations are supposed to be done in October, and they will probably start renovating the North Wing right after that. Could it be that the renovated rooms aren't considered standard? Can you book a garden view wing room?

There wasn't anything except the Hospitality Suites...those are 1 bedrooms suites that sleep 7. NOTHING else; not one single thing. It doesn't sound like we will get into CR - so now on to making other choices.

I guess we need to rethink our December plans if a few people in this thread seem to think it might be busy then. I was under the impression that the first 2 weeks of December is a great time to go crowd wise.

 

[skuttle]

Are you doing this online on the WDW site? Did you try other resorts? The other day I was on the WDW site "booking" different kinds of packages, room views, etc at the WL to see the price differences. A few times it kept telling me there were no rooms available at the WL except for suites, but then at other times there were rooms availabe. I was so confused...did it book that fast?? So then I tried a few other resorts, and it kept doing the same thing so I think it was a computer problem. That same night I put in a request for a quote with DU and I was able to get a normal room at the WL, so the WDW site info was not correct.

 

[chevitz5]

Are you doing this online on the WDW site? Did you try other resorts? The other day I was on the WDW site "booking" different kinds of packages, room views, etc at the WL to see the price differences. A few times it kept telling me there were no rooms available at the WL except for suites, but then at other times there were rooms availabe. I was so confused...did it book that fast?? So then I tried a few other resorts, and it kept doing the same thing so I think it was a computer problem. That same night I put in a request for a quote with DU and I was able to get a normal room at the WL, so the WDW site info was not correct.

Yep - I tried online. But I then also called to see if it was just an error. I could get into just about any other resort I tried for those dates (that a family of 5 can fit in!) except for CR. The CM I spoke to said some travel agents may have chunks of rooms reserved since the renovations will be "coming up" as he put it. So, maybe I will contact a travel agent and see if I have any lick that way.