Harder to get FPs when trip starts on Sunday?

[Disney_and_Wine]

Working in the hotel industry from what I have experienced most people arrive Fridays-Sundays. Of course this changes depending on the seasons.

My brother managed an onsite resort for a decade and I recall him saying that Sundays were the biggest turnover days. Sometimes 70% of the rooms. It's not that the people arriving want to arrive on Sunday, mind you. It is because the people already there don't leave until Sunday and there is simply no vacancy for the arriving people until the departing people make room for them. Disney resorts operate at such a high occupancy rate that most arriving guests simply can't dictate their arrival date. They can only check in when rooms open up and with so many people staying until Sunday to maximize their vacation, it seems logical that this is the day when people find open slots. But as I noted above, I don't have any confirmation on this. Just a hunch and a good bit of deductive reasoning.

 

[mtemm]

I was worried about our July trip because we arrive on a Monday. Had no trouble getting anything I wanted, including FOP.

 

[Lightsoutx12]

My brother managed an onsite resort for a decade and I recall him saying that Sundays were the biggest turnover days. Sometimes 70% of the rooms. It's not that the people arriving want to arrive on Sunday, mind you. It is because the people already there don't leave until Sunday and there is simply no vacancy for the arriving people until the departing people make room for them. Disney resorts operate at such a high occupancy rate that most arriving guests simply can't dictate their arrival date. They can only check in when rooms open up and with so many people staying until Sunday to maximize their vacation, it seems logical that this is the day when people find open slots. But as I noted above, I don't have any confirmation on this. Just a hunch and a good bit of deductive reasoning.

Yeah I work at one of the Disney hotels on property, it's interesting to see everyone arriving different days so it does make it hard to see and exact busier day. Disney properties are a complete different entity than other hotels so there are many differences in terms of "busy days".

 

[AngiTN]

I suppose statistically there has to be a day of the week that is the most frequent for arrivals but I don't know what that is. Nevertheless, I doubt it is so significant as to have a material impact on FP availability. There will always be more people looking for popular FPs than there are FPs to hand out.

My brother managed an onsite resort for a decade and I recall him saying that Sundays were the biggest turnover days. Sometimes 70% of the rooms. It's not that the people arriving want to arrive on Sunday, mind you. It is because the people already there don't leave until Sunday and there is simply no vacancy for the arriving people until the departing people make room for them. Disney resorts operate at such a high occupancy rate that most arriving guests simply can't dictate their arrival date. They can only check in when rooms open up and with so many people staying until Sunday to maximize their vacation, it seems logical that this is the day when people find open slots. But as I noted above, I don't have any confirmation on this. Just a hunch and a good bit of deductive reasoning.

I am sure there is a day of the week that statistically has more arrivals than others. I just think the number is so very small it's not enough to have any impact on anything related to getting your FP, ADR, anything.

Not sure how long ago your brother managed an on site resort but in the past 3 years we've sure never had trouble finding a room available no matter what day we wanted to arrive. I've never had to change our trip plans because there were no rooms available.

I'd dare anyone to hang around a Disney lobby for any length of time and not see guests checking in and out all the time, every time you are there. I know I have. Just look at home many ME buses you see coming and going, and that's just for air travel.

No stats, I just read it in an Econoguide WDW travel guide book. Unless things have changed a lot since that book came out (in 2007), I have no reason to doubt the info. It makes sense to me; don't most people's vacations start on a Saturday, after the workweek is done? But many wouldn't leave on Saturday, because they would have last minute stuff to do first. Isn't that why people on these boards often say "don't go to the MK on a Monday"? The kids want to go there first.

I don't see why arriving on Sunday "wastes the weekend." Most people spend a week or more in the parks, and you're on vacation anyway; what's the difference if you're having fun in the parks on the weekend or on a weekday? Actually, everything else being equal, a weekday is better because it will probably be less crowded.

Tons has changed at Disney since 2007 so yeah, I'd say that's outdated info, if it ever was accurate.
Even the "don't go to MK on a Monday" has changed. Crowd patterns in general have changed just in the past 3 years and one of them is related to the fact that people now arrive every day of the week.

Sunday wastes half the Weekend because you wasted Saturday, half of your weekend. We always arrive so we spend both of our "free" days off at Disney, reducing the number of vacation days we have to take. I sure don't want to spend one of my free vacation days at home and add more work vacation days that I need to take. That doesn't make any sense to me. But I guess I'm alone in that

DH and I do our trips so we arrive either Thursday night after work or Friday morning (depends on when the flight is cheaper) and then come home last flight out Tuesday night. That way we are only taking 3 days off work and get 5 full days at Disney. When we bring DGD we add a week to that and come home the following Monday on the last flight out and we end up only taking 7 days off work, 6 if we can make it over a Holiday like we did with Memorial Day this year. The fewer days off each trip equals more trips we get to take, win-win for us

 

[Disney_and_Wine]

I am sure there is a day of the week that statistically has more arrivals than others. I just think the number is so very small it's not enough to have any impact on anything related to getting your FP, ADR, anything.

It's not that the difference in arrivals is so very small. It is that the number of FPs available for popular rides is so very small that no difference is seen. The difference between Sunday arrivals and Tuesday arrivals is by no means small. But both numbers can overwhelm the FP situation for Soarin'

 

[AngiTN]

It's not that the difference in arrivals is so very small. It is that the number of FPs available for popular rides is so very small that no difference is seen. The difference between Sunday arrivals and Tuesday arrivals is by no means small. But both numbers can overwhelm the FP situation for Soarin'

Well, then how's this. We have never not found a FP for any ride when I booked them at 60 days. They have never been gone, even for FoP and definitely not for 7DMT, Soarin', FEA, TT, etc. So I still maintain the day you arrive will not affect the FP you can get.

 

[Disney_and_Wine]

Well, then how's this. We have never not found a FP for any ride when I booked them at 60 days. They have never been gone, even for FoP and definitely not for 7DMT, Soarin', FEA, TT, etc. So I still maintain the day you arrive will not affect the FP you can get.

You seem to be contending that our conclusions are different but they are not. These are two independent concepts.
1) FP availability will not be impacted by arrival dates; and
2) Arrival volume does vary greatly by day of the week.

Irrespective of your successes, all FoP FPs will be gone within minutes of 7:00 for the 60 days hence and that doesn't change based on arrival rate. Even if a Sunday is 3x of a Tuesday, the Tuesday will still see enough arrivals to drain the FP availability. But going on line at exactly 7:00 and securing one of those FPs is not proof that your arrival day is not statistically different from any other day. The concepts are not interdependent.

 

[AngiTN]

You seem to be contending that our conclusions are different but they are not. These are two independent concepts.
1) FP availability will not be impacted by arrival dates; and
2) Arrival volume does vary greatly by day of the week.

Irrespective of your successes, all FoP FPs will be gone within minutes of 7:00 for the 60 days hence and that doesn't change based on arrival rate. Even if a Sunday is 3x of a Tuesday, the Tuesday will still see enough arrivals to drain the FP availability. But going on line at exactly 7:00 and securing one of those FPs is not proof that your arrival day is not statistically different from any other day. The concepts are not interdependent.

No, sorry, I wasn't intending to. That last post was meant to the OP more than anything.
I disagree about arrival volume varying by significant amount day by day but agree that no matter what, FP availability will not be impacted

 

[DisneyOma]

My brother managed an onsite resort for a decade and I recall him saying that Sundays were the biggest turnover days. Sometimes 70% of the rooms. It's not that the people arriving want to arrive on Sunday, mind you. It is because the people already there don't leave until Sunday and there is simply no vacancy for the arriving people until the departing people make room for them. Disney resorts operate at such a high occupancy rate that most arriving guests simply can't dictate their arrival date. They can only check in when rooms open up and with so many people staying until Sunday to maximize their vacation, it seems logical that this is the day when people find open slots. But as I noted above, I don't have any confirmation on this. Just a hunch and a good bit of deductive reasoning.

But people check in and out all the time. We've never had any trouble booking the dates we want, and we've gone over a dozen times. We've booked 6 rooms together once, and got all six adjoining, at CBR. People that arrive on Sunday don't always stay until the next Sunday either. So the deductive reasoning is off a bit, IMO.

 

[GoofysNCCrew]

Really impossible to gage this simply by looking at a hotel turnover stat. While it may play into the equation, the real insight is extremely complex. While there may be a statistical correlation with hotel turnover alone, it is probably slight. Time of year and other factors would come into play as well.

The real power is not in a hard to glean statistic of turnover, but in a different kind of knowledge. The number of highly informed park guests (people on the DIS, other informative venues) who are totally intuned to the hottest attractions, booking windows etc. remains a relatively low number. Some people only work on their vacation at home, some only at work, some on their own, some through a travel agent, etc. In my opinion only, based on my reading and talking with others, a very small window of people relative to the totals are online at 7 am at exactly their 60 day mark booking their fastpasses. If I simply watched the ads on TV, I would think I could just show up at my hotel upon arrival, mention what we wanted to do to the clerk and everything would magically be a walkon.

Your best bet if you are concerned is simply to be one of those few highly informed visitors taking advantage of your knowledge based on what your budget, work schedule etc. can accommodate. Be one of the few booking at your earliest available window. Many will tell you to use a last day first priotization. Personally, I use a different system, ranking by toughest and most critical to least. ymmv.

 

[Disney_and_Wine]

But people check in and out all the time. We've never had any trouble booking the dates we want, and we've gone over a dozen times. We've booked 6 rooms together once, and got all six adjoining, at CBR. People that arrive on Sunday don't always stay until the next Sunday either. So the deductive reasoning is off a bit, IMO.

You are falling prey to the fallacy that "if it happens to me it is the norm". For whatever reason you read my post as suggesting that Disney resorts are booked to capacity at all times, that all rooms turn over on Sundays, and that unless you plan to arrive on a Sunday you will not get a room. Nowhere did I suggest ANY of those things. Of course rooms are available throughout the week. There is no "all" or "always" here. There is simply "more". Each of the days has its own percentage of arrivals and it is not split up 1/7 for each day. It simply isn't. And Sunday has more arrivals. It just does. And it isn't by a little. But that doesn't mean that you can't book a block of 6 rooms arriving on a Wednesday. Why would it?

 

[AntJulie]

Sunday wastes half the Weekend because you wasted Saturday, half of your weekend. We always arrive so we spend both of our "free" days off at Disney, reducing the number of vacation days we have to take.

Not everyone has Saturdays and Sundays off. We have never checked in on a Saturday or Sunday, only weekdays. Also, the airfare seems to be lower on weekdays compared to weekends. Never had a problem getting FP that we wanted for any day. People check in and out on a daily basis. Not everyone is checking in on Saturday or Sunday. Should be able to get FP no matter what your check in day is without a problem (exception being FOP right now).

 

[AngiTN]

Not everyone has Saturdays and Sundays off. We have never checked in on a Saturday or Sunday, only weekdays. Also, the airfare seems to be lower on weekdays compared to weekends. Never had a problem getting FP that we wanted for any day. People check in and out on a daily basis. Not everyone is checking in on Saturday or Sunday. Should be able to get FP no matter what your check in day is without a problem (exception being FOP right now).

Good point. This adds yet another layer of complication in trying to figure out if any one day has a higher turnover than another day does.

 

[DisneyOma]

You are falling prey to the fallacy that "if it happens to me it is the norm". For whatever reason you read my post as suggesting that Disney resorts are booked to capacity at all times, that all rooms turn over on Sundays, and that unless you plan to arrive on a Sunday you will not get a room. Nowhere did I suggest ANY of those things. Of course rooms are available throughout the week. There is no "all" or "always" here. There is simply "more". Each of the days has its own percentage of arrivals and it is not split up 1/7 for each day. It simply isn't. And Sunday has more arrivals. It just does. And it isn't by a little. But that doesn't mean that you can't book a block of 6 rooms arriving on a Wednesday. Why would it?

I read your post, don't fret. You said more people leave on Sunday, and that causes more people to have to book arrival on Sunday. And I stated that those people don't necessarily stay until the following Sunday, so there are plenty of openings for bookings. Of all the people I know who go to WDW, and the dozen trips my family has taken, we have never heard or experienced a problem with booking on any day of the week.

 

[Davey Jones II]

No stats, I just read it in an Econoguide WDW travel guide book. Unless things have changed a lot since that book came out (in 2007), I have no reason to doubt the info. It makes sense to me; don't most people's vacations start on a Saturday, after the workweek is done? But many wouldn't leave on Saturday, because they would have last minute stuff to do first. Isn't that why people on these boards often say "don't go to the MK on a Monday"? The kids want to go there first.

I don't see why arriving on Sunday "wastes the weekend." Most people spend a week or more in the parks, and you're on vacation anyway; what's the difference if you're having fun in the parks on the weekend or on a weekday? Actually, everything else being equal, a weekday is better because it will probably be less crowded.

I am sure there is a day of the week that statistically has more arrivals than others. I just think the number is so very small it's not enough to have any impact on anything related to getting your FP, ADR, anything.

Not sure how long ago your brother managed an on site resort but in the past 3 years we've sure never had trouble finding a room available no matter what day we wanted to arrive. I've never had to change our trip plans because there were no rooms available.

I'd dare anyone to hang around a Disney lobby for any length of time and not see guests checking in and out all the time, every time you are there. I know I have. Just look at home many ME buses you see coming and going, and that's just for air travel.


Tons has changed at Disney since 2007 so yeah, I'd say that's outdated info, if it ever was accurate.
Even the "don't go to MK on a Monday" has changed. Crowd patterns in general have changed just in the past 3 years and one of them is related to the fact that people now arrive every day of the week.

Sunday wastes half the Weekend because you wasted Saturday, half of your weekend. We always arrive so we spend both of our "free" days off at Disney, reducing the number of vacation days we have to take. I sure don't want to spend one of my free vacation days at home and add more work vacation days that I need to take. That doesn't make any sense to me. But I guess I'm alone in that

DH and I do our trips so we arrive either Thursday night after work or Friday morning (depends on when the flight is cheaper) and then come home last flight out Tuesday night. That way we are only taking 3 days off work and get 5 full days at Disney. When we bring DGD we add a week to that and come home the following Monday on the last flight out and we end up only taking 7 days off work, 6 if we can make it over a Holiday like we did with Memorial Day this year. The fewer days off each trip equals more trips we get to take, win-win for us

Yes a lot has changed, but there's no reason to think that the most common arrival date has changed. We've already seen a lot of corroboration on this thread, from people who've actually worked in that domain. Your anecdotal evidence is far more compelling than that, of course. 70%, oh yeah that's such a tiny, statistically insignificant number

I don't understand the endless game of devil's advocate that people play on these boards. This is not a court of law. We don't need evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. If a lot of signs are pointing in one direction, then what they are pointing to is probably the case, in the absence of compelling stats from Disney. That's simply common sense.