FD NEWS: Length of Stay Affects Room Availability ?? Maybe?

[CanadianGuy]

Movies is available.. But get THIS..

It's available for one continuous booking from 09/06 to 09/21.

It's ALSO available for bookings of 5 nights or longer between 9/06 thru 09/21.

BUT.. if you try to book fewer than 5 or in some cases 6 or 7 nights on some date ranges WITHIN that range above.. ASMo show no availability!

So it would appear that the length of your stay affects in some way whether or not you can book a particular resort ... or not.

Ya learn something new every day.

Knox

 

[CanadianGuy]

Ok.. I maybe got this wrong.. It appears your check-in date is actually the variable here.. not the length of stay.

A little more playing reveals.. if you check-in prior to 09/11 .. you can stay up to the 21st with no problem. Any check-in after 9/11 has a problem finding a value room valid for free dining.

This stuff fascinates me.

Random Discovery:
- Pop Century available for checkin starting 09/01 and staying till 09/07.
- Pop Century available for checkin starting 09/16 and staying till 09/21.

Knox

 

[mrzrich]

This has been the case for a long time and its not just your arrival date that effects it. And its not just for packages. Last Oct I wanted a site at FW for Oct 13-16...couldn't get it to save my life...a wise DISer said "add a day" so I did...I asked for Oct 13-17 and magically availability was open wide. The think what really got me was that once I arrived my camping loop was only half full.

Don't know why they book like this, but they then free up more rooms/sites as the date gets closer. Don't know if this will be the case for Free dining though.

 

[GrumpyOne]

This has been the case for a long time and its not just your arrival date that effects it. And its not just for packages. Last Oct I wanted a site at FW for Oct 13-16...couldn't get it to save my life...a wise DISer said "add a day" so I did...I asked for Oct 13-17 and magically availability was open wide. The think that really got me was that once I arrived my camping loop was only half full.

Don't know why they book like this, but they then free up more rooms/sites as the date gets closer. Don't know if this will be the case for Free dining though.

"Yes, I'd like a spot in the FW campgrounds from Oct 13-16. No availability? How about Oct 13-17? Okay, book it please. Oh, I may need to cancel one of those nights, dunno yet which one. Will that cause a problem? Not as long as I cancel more than 6 days out? Okay, can do. Would you mind noting that in the reservation?"

Call back a few hours later

"Yes, I need to cancel one day on reservation xxxyyyzzz. Which day? Oct 17th..."

 

[CanadianGuy]

Ha! That's great GrumpyOne.

I never knew about this... it was all news to me yesterday.

Knox

 

[Ladybugsy]

I'm trying for a POP preferred room...2 actually...for the 8th to the 22nd of September, and it's a no go anyway I try it. Any advice? Right now I'm just going to keep calling every morning...6am...(YAWN!!!!!) We are booked at CSR right now, but we just started a new business, and I want to spend as little as possible on accomodations. I really was looking forward to CSR

 

[nurse.darcy]

I'm trying for a POP preferred room...2 actually...for the 8th to the 22nd of September, and it's a no go anyway I try it. Any advice? Right now I'm just going to keep calling every morning...6am...(YAWN!!!!!) We are booked at CSR right now, but we just started a new business, and I want to spend as little as possible on accomodations. I really was looking forward to CSR

Well, I was having trouble with those travel dates so I tried different ones. I can book Pop from the 21st through the 27th with no issues. . .I am continuing to check. . .Like CanadianGuy, this stuff fascinates me. . .lol. Okay, so I put in the 8th to the 21st of September and I couldn't get Pop but got ASSp. Hmmmmm. . .

D

 

[CanadianGuy]

All Star Sports is available today for that full date range : 09/08 - 09-22

That's the only value for that FULL date range.

Here's what I found for availability today

Today's Notable Availability:

08/26 - 09/01 - FW Cabins, CSR, SSR available
08/29 - 09/04 - FW Cabins & WL Woods View available!!
08/30 - 09/06 - FW Cabins & WL Woods View available!!
09/01 - 09/07 - WL Woods View & VWL Studio available!!
09/01 - 09/07 - ASMu & ASMo available
09/03 - 09/10 - ASMu & ASMo & AKL & GF & FW Cabins available
09/04 - 09/11 - ASMu & ASMo & FW Cabins available
09/05 - 09/11 - ASSp and ASMo available
09/05 - 09/12 - FW Cabins & WL Concierge available
09/07 - 09/13 - ASSp and ASMu available
09/07 - 09/13 - FW Cabins & WL concierge available
09/10 - 09/16 - FW Cabins & ASSp available
09/12 - 09/18 - FW Cabins, POR, CBR and CSR available
09/14 - 09/20 - FW Cabins, CBR and CSR available
09/16 - 09/22 - FW Cabins, CBR, CSR available
09/19 - 09/25 - ASMu Available
09/21 - 09/26 - Pop Century available

That list of availability is by NO means complete.. And of course it goes without saying it changes frequently.

Play around with the dates at the online booking tool and resort level.. you can see what's available to pick from at each resort level.

Knox

 

[Ladybugsy]

I just put in 2 weeks from Sept. 7-21, and also from the 10-24 and got availability for ASmu preferred and ASsp.
There is no rhyme or reason to this...lol.

 

[clkelley]

That happens all the time. They are trying to keep their resorts as full as possible.

Especially weekends at the Fort. If they didn't restrict it, then Fri/Sat would be full and Wed/Thur and Sunday/Monday nights would be dead empty.

Lots of other resorts do it also.

For our quick May trip, tried to get Fri/Sat night in May at Passholder rate at Value resort, nothing doing.

Added Thursday, all kinds of Value Resort availability showed up.

I was going to drop Thursday night after booking, but they sucked us in, we're taking an extra day

I also just noticed they are limith availability for the "start in Value Season, continue on to higher season" Was playing around the website looking for Ft. Wilderness for somebody right before Christmas.

I could get the 19th by itself, I could get the 20th - 24th, could not get the 19th - 24th. (Holiday season stars on the 20th).

 

[C_leen]

Wow!

I agree things are changing on an hourly basis! It's fascinating how adding a day might score you a bigger hotel selection! My dates are 9/21-9/27. I keep checking the system looking for WL to open up! Lo & behold today POR and POFQ are back in my selection. CBR gone. It is entertaining, but still no WL! Also, POFQ was my second choice hotel. I'm wondering do I wait, or do I bite? Hmm, puns.

 

[nbodyhome]

I discovered that about a year ago, by accident checking availability for a guest. Longer stays might be available, but not shorter ones.

 

[n2mm]

I saw that too. If you put in for a 4 day stay over Labor day weekend you did not get Pop, but if you made it a 6 or 7 day stay, Pop would show up as available. This was a little strange. So folks need to work with the dates.

 

[disneymom06]

Are you doing this on line or on the phone? I have gotten a few wonderful CM's and some not so nice. I am pleasant to all but since I neeed 2 rooms at POP, (4 chidren), I am getting discouraged. I can't get POP and have only turned up one room at ASMovies. I am looking at dates of 8/26 to 9/3. I did try less days to see availablility but nothing came up. I will be on the phone tomorrow at 7am but does anyone have any advice? I call about 3 times a day. I am afraid now they will think that I am crazy but I really would like a value resort.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Right now on the online booking tool for FREE DINING.

All Star Music is available checking in 8/26 but you must stay till 9/05.

All Star Movies is available for the same date range.

You can not book multiple rooms online so I can't tell you if multiple rooms are available for that date range at either resort.

 

[nbodyhome]

For something like that, I look online.

Disney does it to encourage the stays to be longer. Sometimes it might be 3 days instead of 2, or 4 days instead of 3. Or 10 instead of 7. It just depends.
You just have to play with the dates.

 

[Mamalisa58]

Found this out last Easter. Trying to book 2 nights at AS, no room available, but when I changed it to 3 nights room was available. Tried for days to get room for the 2 nights, no success. Made ressie for the 3 nights, called back a week before check in and cancelled the third night (which happened to be the first one).

 

[sorul82?]

I needed a Pop room for 3/30 at the AP rate. Nothing was available. The CM kept backing up the dates all the way to 3/19, and what do ya know? I could stay 3/19-3/31, but not 3/30-3/31. I booked 3/19-3/31 and just called back a few days later to change the date.

 

[cocowum]

Knox, I have a question for you...

I wanted POP from 8/26-9/2, I had POP from 8/26-8/31

I kept trying to get 8/26-9/2 no luck.

After reading this thread, I called back and asked for 8/26-9/5 and got it!!!

Now, here's my question... Can I call back (after SW releases Sept's dates) and shorten my trip to 8/26-9/3??? obviously, I would call to make the change before I was at the 45 day mark.

What do you think?

BTW thanks for being such an awesome mod!!!

 

[Ladybugsy]

Cocowum, I've read about several others here doing the same thing. It didn't seem to be a problem.