Frustration with booking for 10

[FlintTown2000]

I've been excited to go to Disney with my extended family. I have two nieces that are the same age my daughter were when we first took them. We tried to book 4 rooms between Christmas and New Years. I've never been more frustrated with Disney.

Only a few options to choose from, and even fewer since we wanted a mid tier resort.

• Pop Century - Value resort that was very expensive
• Coronado Springs - Only king rooms available
• Art of Animation - Only suites

Thats it, those were my options. Deluxe was available, but that too much money. Tried calling and it was only an 8 minute wait!! However the first try wasn't helpful. Was told I could only do 3 rooms at a time, and we have to hope there would be space for the 4th. And if not we could have to cancel and try another resort. It was also limited to the same resorts listed above.

Tried doing to ourselves again and gave Swan/Dolphin a shot. Ran into the 3 room issue again so I ended up calling a second time. This time I got a cast member that was able to book us in the Swan for the rooms we needed.

This was the first time in the 10+ times I've been to Disney where I had these issues. I was told that its a super busy time, thats why resorts are not available, but then why am I able to pick any park I want to visit? Why is it so hard to book for groups? Its not even a big group, its just 4 rooms!

Just wanted to vent, enjoy your day.

 

[Marthasor]

I understand your frustration. I will say, though, you will be thanking yourself for booking the Swan during that crazy-busy week. Being able to walk to two parks during a week where transportation is jam-packed will be a great perk.

 

[Chris Rivera]

I've been excited to go to Disney with my extended family. I have two nieces that are the same age my daughter were when we first took them. We tried to book 4 rooms between Christmas and New Years. I've never been more frustrated with Disney.

Only a few options to choose from, and even fewer since we wanted a mid tier resort.

• Pop Century - Value resort that was very expensive
• Coronado Springs - Only king rooms available
• Art of Animation - Only suites

Thats it, those were my options. Deluxe was available, but that too much money. Tried calling and it was only an 8 minute wait!! However the first try wasn't helpful. Was told I could only do 3 rooms at a time, and we have to hope there would be space for the 4th. And if not we could have to cancel and try another resort. It was also limited to the same resorts listed above.

Tried doing to ourselves again and gave Swan/Dolphin a shot. Ran into the 3 room issue again so I ended up calling a second time. This time I got a cast member that was able to book us in the Swan for the rooms we needed.

This was the first time in the 10+ times I've been to Disney where I had these issues. I was told that its a super busy time, thats why resorts are not available, but then why am I able to pick any park I want to visit? Why is it so hard to book for groups? Its not even a big group, its just 4 rooms!

Just wanted to vent, enjoy your day.

Have you considered renting points for a DVC? or doing multiple rooms?

 

[03GirlsMom]

That's definitely frustrating. We have 7 of us that will be going this fall and we ran into some issues with availability (for what we wanted, at least) as well.

With so many of the resorts still closed, that has really impacted a lot of the more affordable options. Someone else mentioned it above but you might be able to rent DVC points. The 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom units will give you more space and you might not need as many separate rooms. With your dates, it may still be slim pickings, however.

 

[nkereina]

Room availability only shows for the date range you're searching for. If one night is sold out at a resort in the middle of the date range you're searching, the search results will not return that resort as an option. If you're flexible in your dates, you may want to search one night at a time to see what else is available and then adjust accordingly.

FWIW, the week between Christmas and New Years is the busiest week of the year at any time. But compound that with it being the 50th anniversary this year, more normalcy since Covid, and people who have postponed trips because of Covid, its no wonder availability is limited. Its not uncommon for people to book their trips 12+ months out, but even more so in the current environment where people are pushing things out hoping to have more normalcy. Parks aren't booked up yet because they have a higher capacity and people have to have tickets purchased before they can make a park reservation, so that is not indicative of how busy or not busy it will be then. I don't think you'll find a better location than Swan, but the only other thing I'd suggest is keeping an eye on resorts that have yet to re-open - they may very well re-open this year and that will increase room inventory.

 

[Best Aunt]

"Revenge travel." I think that's a ridiculous term which has been coined for saying, "We've been stuck in our town for a year due to the pandemic and we want to get the heck out of here."

But also, I think the time you've picked is the absolute busiest time of the year, even pre-COVID.

And, some of the Disney hotels have not re-opened yet. I believe All Star Sports, All Star Music, Port Orleans Riverside, Port Orleans French Quarter, and the hotel rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House are all still closed, with no re-opening date set yet.

I think you'll be happy with the Swan because you can walk to 2 parks rather than deal with transportation. The Epcot resort area is beautiful, and there are other hotels within walking distance, giving you restaurant and shopping options. You were smart to book there.

 

[FlintTown2000]

Have you considered renting points for a DVC? or doing multiple rooms?

We did, and I was filling out the information on a DVC reseller when we got the Swan/Dolphin. Its something that will be looking to do at Disney soon.

 

[Heather07438]

I understand your frustration. I will say, though, you will be thanking yourself for booking the Swan during that crazy-busy week. Being able to walk to two parks during a week where transportation is jam-packed will be a great perk.

Great point. It’s only going to get even harder for holidays this year. Won’t be long before Swan is booked up and there’s nothing within good proximity that’s not insane $.

 

[sponica]

Also, the timing of the holidays this year increases the odds for travel, even if there wasn't a pandemic to recover from. Given that Christmas is on a Saturday, most places will give the 24th as the holiday and you don't have to be back in the office until January 3.

 

[focusondisney]

Agree, that is the busiest week of the year. Lots of hotels are pretty booked up for the rest of the year. But people don’t seem to be making park reservations til about 2 months out, with some exceptions, like Oct 1 & Halloween. So definitely don‘t count on that as an indicator of crowd size.

 

[kinkin201]

I'm glad you found something that worked for you! Just wait until you have to do ADRs, it won't be any easier. I had to make reservations for 11 people and it was impossible to do under 1 MDE account when the bookings opened at 6am. My mom and I had to make reservations for parties of 5 and 6 everywhere we wanted to eat. It's doable but something you may want to consider if you're the only one with an MDE account. You can always call at 7am but who knows what will be available by then.

 

[Buzzsgramma]

I'm glad you found something that worked for you! Just wait until you have to do ADRs, it won't be any easier. I had to make reservations for 11 people and it was impossible to do under 1 MDE account when the bookings opened at 6am. My mom and I had to make reservations for parties of 5 and 6 everywhere we wanted to eat. It's doable but something you may want to consider if you're the only one with an MDE account. You can always call at 7am but who knows what will be available by then.

 

[Buzzsgramma]

For 21 years there has been one account with all 12 of ur family listed on it..all adults now...I discuss with the family and then I do all the planning...yes last Feb...booking a few mths before I had to split the group for dining..6+6 or 6+ 2+4...etc if we were all dining together...you can ask at the podium to be seated close by each other...they will try...park ressies, villas, DME, airfare and of course tickets...i had to put some dining under my sons name and daughter...its okay cause we were treating anyway....call to schedule archery for 2..lightsabers, it was exhausting getting thur to MS back then...I do ALL I can on line!!!

 

[kinkin201]

For 21 years there has been one account with all 12 of ur family listed on it..all adults now...I discuss with the family and then I do all the planning...yes last Feb...booking a few mths before I had to split the group for dining..6+6 or 6+ 2+4...etc if we were all dining together...you can ask at the podium to be seated close by each other...they will try...park ressies, villas, DME, airfare and of course tickets...i had to put some dining under my sons name and daughter...its okay cause we were treating anyway....call to schedule archery for 2..lightsabers, it was exhausting getting thur to MS back then...I do ALL I can on line!!!

I know what you mean, we travel with 6-14 people depending who is available. I had no problems making reservations pre-pandemic online for a party of 14. Sadly that was not the case this week due to the limited restaurants and their limited capacity. For the reservations we have booked at the same time, I have thought about calling MDE to get in merged into 1 reservation... I just don't have 2hrs to wait on hold during the week.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Have you considered renting points for a DVC? or doing multiple rooms?

Probably too late for that except for maybe OKW and SSR. If you want multiple villas, it can't be determined on line if multiples are available, only single units.