Does WDW "freeze" rooms ?

[kinggoofy]

Is it possible for CRO or WDWTC to "freeze" rooms.?

We have POR booked for November 24 - 28th. Thanksgiving weekend. AP Rate $352 total for 4 nights.

I have called and called and called since September to see if anything was available at WL or any other deluxe. The answer is ALWAYS no.

There are 30,000 + rooms on Disney property ...its hard to believe ALL are booked for that weekend. !!!!!!!!!

I would like to hear some of your responses and / or any hints on how to possibly get a deluxe ( if possible.)

Thanks
KG

 

[EpcotBill]

Do they say there are no rooms or just no AP rates available?

 

[kinggoofy]

Bill

They told me NOTHING was available. Zip, Zilch, Nada.

No regular rates or AP rates.

 

[ILoveWDW2003]

Is it possible for CRO or WDWTC to "freeze" rooms.?

Yes, and they also sell blocks of rooms to Expedia and Hotels.com and others.

They also sometimes close some buildings in a resort for "renovation". I was at ASMu in Sept 2001, and the front desk said they were near 100% capacity, which I found hard to believe, since it was 2 weeks after 9/11. I found out later that 5 of the 10 buildings were closed, and the 5 remaining were 'at capacity'....

I just ran your dates thru Expedia and the only Deluxe I saw with availability for all of your nights was the WL for $250 per night.

There were nights here and there for other Deluxe resorts.

The Dolphin has availability also.

There are 30,000 + rooms on Disney property ...its hard to believe ALL are booked for that weekend.

Why do you find this hard to believe?

I have a friend that knows someone that was trying to book a Presidential Suite anywhere on Disney property in early May 2005 and there were no high level suites anywhere on Disney property available! (except the Swan and Dolphin) -- these suites go for $1400+++ a night, and they were all booked!

-Joe

 

[kinggoofy]

Thanks Joe for checking Expedia..( never thought of that.)
For the $250 per night...( no AP rate) I would just assume stay at POR for $352 total.

This leads me to another question then......

If Expedia does not sell these rooms...does Disney take them back and if so, when and would there be a discount ????

As far as finding it hard to believe ALL rooms are booked for that Thanksgiving weekend.....
its just my opinion. there must be ALOT of locals going to WDW that weekend.

Thanks
KG

 

[DizMom11]

You can also keep checking the Disney website itself for any availability

 

[LibertyBelle]

Originally posted by kinggoofy
There are 30,000 + rooms on Disney property ...its hard to believe ALL are booked for that weekend. !!!!!!!!!
KG

Why is it hard to believe that they would all be booked for Thanksgiving weeked??? Just curious seems logical to me being a holiday weekend (when kids are out of school).

 

[boswellnakia]

A group from my area is going to Disney that week to play in youth basketball tourny. They had rooms at AllStarsSports. The htoel called them a few weeks ago and told them they were overbooked and that we didn't have two of the rooms we needed.

The crowdedness may be from something related to the sports tourny that Disney is hosting.

 

[DebbieB]

Don't forget alot of people cancelled trips due to the hurricanes. It's possible many rescheduled for this time. Also the locals come out for long weekends and this is a holiday weekend. I think it is entirely possible they are totally sold out.

 

[spiceycat]

THanksgiving over the years have become more and more popularity.

Next year it and all of Oct/NOV will be in the regular season not the value season anymore.

Oct/Nov will be because of the food/wine festavial - but it is gone by Thanksgiving.

more and more schools now have out the entire week - not just the last 2 days - so it will become more popular not less.

lots of time the CM you talk you - think you want the whole time nothing less - if you can handle changing hotels - call again and tell them you want any time at all in your stay.

I though all the outside sources Expedia, Travelocity, AAA would give up their hotels to WDW in the last 30 days - otherwise I think they get a charge from WDW???? did this policy change?

also - I have made a reservation before using Expedia for a room - when it got down to selecting the room - got told that nothing was availability.....tell me I wasn't mad!!!!

 

[boswellnakia]

Originally posted by spiceycat

Next year it and all of Oct/NOV will be in the regular season not the value season anymore.

Thanks for making me aware of this. I didn't realize they changed the dates for seasonal rates. This could make a difference when we go.

 

[kathy carleton]

I too have been trying to modify my value ASMU with AKL or WL AP rate for 11/24-11/27, and have been told nothing is available. I believe it. And am glad i have value booked for a week. I do think if we call 5-6 days prior, that many who hoped to travel will cancel due to the 5 days prior cancellation policy. When i called 2 months ago to book for thanksgiving week, i was quoted no avail for AKL, WL had a courtyard and the only mod available at that time was CSR and ASMU. I could not pass up ap rate of $49, but hope to hop to AKL for last 2-3 days. if not, i am ok!! just feel lucky to have a room!! it is usually quite crowded that week.

 

[akrake]

Next year it and all of Oct/NOV will be in the regular season not the value season anymore

i wonder if they'll offer more codes in the next few years when they realize that the reason this time is so popular is because it's in value time........i know it's not as busy as summer or spring break, but if there isn't a discount, i'd rather go when it was a bit warmer (esp since i'll take the kids out of school for it anyway).

noticed that the value starts back up after thanksgivning.
amie

 

[EpcotBill]

Originally posted by kinggoofy
Bill

They told me NOTHING was available. Zip, Zilch, Nada.

No regular rates or AP rates.

WOW!

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by kinggoofy
Thanks Joe for checking Expedia..( never thought of that.)
For the $250 per night...( no AP rate) I would just assume stay at POR for $352 total.

This leads me to another question then......

If Expedia does not sell these rooms...does Disney take them back and if so, when and would there be a discount ????

As far as finding it hard to believe ALL rooms are booked for that Thanksgiving weekend.....
its just my opinion. there must be ALOT of locals going to WDW that weekend.

Thanks
KG

It is just not locals that are going. Read through the many, many posts on this forum about people spending Thanksgiving week at Disney World. This is a very popular time to go, one of the busiests, especially Thanksgiving Day through the weekend after.

There are many times during the year where there will be no rooms available. Discounts have been a draw, the Food and Wine Festivial and the Halloween party have drawn such crowds that rates went from value to regular for October.

The beginning of the Christmas season which draws huge crowds will start Thanksgiving weekend.

There are millions of people who live within a one day drive of Disney. As stated many schools give longer holidays now for Thanksgiving, also.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by akrake
i wonder if they'll offer more codes in the next few years when they realize that the reason this time is so popular is because it's in value time........i know it's not as busy as summer or spring break, but if there isn't a discount, i'd rather go when it was a bit warmer (esp since i'll take the kids out of school for it anyway).

noticed that the value starts back up after thanksgivning.
amie

Discounts are offered when rooms are not booking at rack rate. If occupancy levels continue to grow back to what it was before 9-11, then I forsee fewer and fewer discounts availalble. There was a time at Disney, discounts were few and far between.

 

[cjsmom5]

I may be wrong but I thought the week before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving weekend were at the holiday rate. Anyways, we always arrive on Thanksgiving Day and have to pay full rate or AAA rate for Thursday, Friday and Sat night. Starting on Sunday night we can typically get great AP rates ... as low as $149 for AKL one year and somewhat close to that for the last four years. Typically though, in normal years, most Disney Resort hotels are pretty much at capacity. Finding a discount at that time is often very hard. But finding rooms at 5 days out is often much easier.

 

[DebbieB]

Originally posted by cjsmom5
I may be wrong but I thought the week before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving weekend were at the holiday rate.

No, it's value this year.

2004 Seasons

Value Season: 1/1 - 2/11, 7/5 - 9/29, 10/31 - 12/19
Regular Season: 4/18 - 7/4, 9/30 - 10/30
Peak Season: 2/12 - 4/17
Holiday Season: 12/20 - 12/31