How Often Have You Seen Cancellations?

[Christine]

I know no one can really, truly answer this but some of you do a lot of booking and monitoring things on line so I thought someone might have some insight. I've posted over the last few weeks with my desire to plan a somewhat "last minute" trip in 2019 to WDW with a large group.

The history is that my aunt has ovarian cancer. She is in her 70s. She's doing well right now and the family wants to take advantage of the fact that she's feeling good to take a multi-generational, extended family trip. We will need 5-6 rooms. Two members have mobility issues (my aunt is one of them). My aunt will spend a lot of time at the resort, which is something she enjoys so a Deluxe is what we want and we want to be on the monorail line. It would also be nice to get a discount (most of the party is military). Got a very good military discount last year in July. Contemporary is #1 choice.

So, ideally we want to go over her birthday which is 11/2. Proposed trip is 11/2 or 11/3 through the following week. Ran into problems weeks ago with CR being full. That has not changed at all. It seems I *can* get the GF with any sort of date range over that time, but prices are about $670 per night. I spoke with the reservations line CM today and she said there are no discounts out right now after 8/28. She sees that I have a "unique code" associated with my profile but it's only good through 8/28. She said I could book now at full price and I would be eligible for any discounts that come up provided I find them and call them back to ask they be added.

I'm almost prepared to hit the button on the GF; however, man if there are no discounts we are paying a LOT of money. My aunt and her daughter also REALLY want the CR. I'm sure it's booked up because of the marathon, Jersey week, and goodness knows what else. What do you think the chances are that there could be some openings coming up? Also due to the large number of people in the group, there are a lot of schedule conflicts so we aren't really able to move the trip around much at all.

Probably very hard to answer but I'd love your thoughts.

Thanks!

 

[epcotobsessed]

I would book whatever you can now so that you can be sure the trip will happen. Then it's a matter of continuously checking. With your dates and party size I am doubtful that you will find that many rooms opening up in CR but perhaps you will find 1-2 rooms there for your aunt and her daughter. Good luck!

 

[Christine]

I would book whatever you can now so that you can be sure the trip will happen. Then it's a matter of continuously checking. With your dates and party size I am doubtful that you will find that many rooms opening up in CR but perhaps you will find 1-2 rooms there for your aunt and her daughter. Good luck!

Thank you.

Do you happen to know how Disney is about switching? For instance if a book all my rooms at the GF and then I see some CR come open, can I move them with no $$$ issues?

 

[sponica]

Thank you.

Do you happen to know how Disney is about switching? For instance if a book all my rooms at the GF and then I see some CR come open, can I move them with no $$$ issues?

As long as the dates are the same, it's usually not an issue and can generally be done online. But if it's a package make the changes before the 30 day penalty period, especially if it's going to drop your price.

 

[J'aime Paris]

I tried to add just one additional night to my reservation at the Poly last fall in late October. I checked daily for months....never had even one night open up!
Fall has become an unbelievably popular time.

Never say never....and good luck!!

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

I'm kind of weird in that I like to see my cancellations reappear on the site, and with ADRs for popular restaurants, see how long it takes for them to get snatched up. I don't cancel resorts often at all, but my parents and I cancelled our rooms at Movies and rebooked at CSR. Neither room ever came available. I know this because Movies is completely unavailable during my dates, and remained unavailable after the cancellations, which each happened a day apart. My thinking is that Disney purposely overbooks some resorts expecting cancellations. I don't this for sure, just seems likely.

 

[Sandiz08]

I'm kind of weird in that I like to see my cancellations reappear on the site, and with ADRs for popular restaurants, see how long it takes for them to get snatched up. I don't cancel resorts often at all, but my parents and I cancelled our rooms at Movies and rebooked at CSR. Neither room ever came available. I know this because Movies is completely unavailable during my dates, and remained unavailable after the cancellations, which each happened a day apart. My thinking is that Disney purposely overbooks some resorts expecting cancellations. I don't this for sure, just seems likely.

I think you're onto something, this is probably why sometimes people get upgraded and/or moved to different resorts. It probably happens more than you think. It doesn't make any sense that I couldn't book the resort I wanted on the day of release unless I moved my trip a week forward. There are probably holds for conventions, events, travel agencies, and offers so there is hope you can eventually get the rooms you are looking for.

 

[KayKayJS]

I would book GF now while you can, then wait to see if you can get a discount to apply later or if CF opens up.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

I think you're onto something, this is probably why sometimes people get upgraded and/or moved to different resorts. It probably happens more than you think. It doesn't make any sense that I couldn't book the resort I wanted on the day of release unless I moved my trip a week forward. There are probably holds for conventions, events, travel agencies, and offers so there is hope you can eventually get the rooms you are looking for.

they're also using an algorithm now to keep from having single nights that are not booked. So adjusting your dates by a single day can affect availability. If I choose one day before my arrival date, there is availability at resorts that are supposedly booked if I choose my actual check-in date.

 

[Christine]

Thanks everyone. In the 30 minutes that I posted this, I had my cousin call Disney booking (I've already called once today to be told "no military discounts). I told her that maybe she'd have better luck.

Well, apparently she got some fantastic CM who was able to offer her the military discount at GF which makes it very doable for us. She has one room booked, has his email and phone number, and we are going to conference call with him tomorrow morning to book the remaining rooms. I just can't believe the different answers she got.

 

[Sandiz08]

they're also using an algorithm now to keep from having single nights that are not booked. So adjusting your dates by a single day can affect availability. If I choose one day before my arrival date, there is availability at resorts that are supposedly booked if I choose my actual check-in date.

Yep, maybe the poster should try playing around with the arrival and departure dates. I would have to move our trip three days forward, not backwards, to get what I wanted, but my son wants to be at DisneyWorld on his actual birthday, so I'm willing to wait around.

 

[Christine]

Yep, maybe the poster should try playing around with the arrival and departure dates. I would have to move our trip three days forward, not backwards, to get what I wanted, but my son wants to be at DisneyWorld on his actual birthday, so I'm willing to wait around.

In order for me to get the Contemporary, I had to back the trip up in the last part of October and some members of our party just couldn't go then. We were really only flexible for a day or so in either direction. I even tried a split stay thinking maybe I could get CR for 3 nights or so, but it is booked SOLID.