I GOT IT! Pieced together a 2.5 week Christmas 2019 reservation!!

elaine amj

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 26, 2012
WOOT!!! Gotta share in the only place that would understand :)

About a week ago, I was trying to book a tent site for Christmas 2019 and kept running into difficulties. I eventually ended up with Dec 21 - 26 and then Dec 26 - 27. Could not get anything after that at all.

Tonight I gave it another shot and decided to split up Christmas Day so I can book DDP for just one night. I had zero issues getting a one night reservation on Christmas Day. I had several screens going and kept having to search for the reservation again because I kept messing up number of adults and kids (my kids will be just turning 17 and 18 then so I kept getting confused how many Disney kids I had haha)
So I got:
Dec 21 - 25
Dec 25-26

Then...I tried for the Dec 26 - Jan 7 part and got nowhere, even searching for single day reservations, upping our numbers to 8 people, etc etc etc.

Finally, the magic. I accidentally searched for a reservation for Jan 1-8 2019 (i.e. just a couple of weeks away!). A tent site popped up and fingers trembling, I BOOKED IT! After it all went through, it finally hit me that I booked the wrong year!! OOPS!! So I went on to change it and amazingly enough, Dec 26 2019 to Jan 7 2020 popped up with no problems whatsoever!

Don't know if this will work for anyone else trying for a hard to get reservation - but may be worth a shot?

I have 3 reservations now - just what I want and I won't even have to call to get my reservations combined. Will just fax the campground a couple of weeks ahead.
 
I had several screens going ....

Ha ha, elaine, I have a mental image of you as the Maestro Minnie Mouse conducting a search with multiple WDW reservation windows open at the same time trying to make them all work together. And you did it.

minnie2.jpg


The old timers on this board have said that if you have a long enough time window and keep trying, you can generally piece together the dates you want. I admit I haven't heard of the book-then-modify approach so I learn something new everyday.

Good idea to have a separate reservation for the Christmas Day one for the Dining Plan.

Congrats again. Now you have a whole year to have fun just planning.

Bama Ed

PS - and yes, you came to the right place. We DO understand. :goodvibes
 
The old timers on this board have said that if you have a long enough time window and keep trying, you can generally piece together the dates you want. I admit I haven't heard of the book-then-modify approach so I learn something new everyday.

I spent some time here researching old posts for tips on piecing together reservations and didn't come across it either. It was a complete accident that I booked the wrong reservation and then decided to modify it.

BTW - the week after this coming New Years seems wide open. Wonder if last minute is the way to go for hard to get dates?
 


I spent some time here researching old posts for tips on piecing together reservations and didn't come across it either. It was a complete accident that I booked the wrong reservation and then decided to modify it.

BTW - the week after this coming New Years seems wide open. Wonder if last minute is the way to go for hard to get dates?

Well last minute you can get some dates, as people who booked way ahead of time realize they can't go due to a change of plans. So if one has the freedom to just take off, it can work.
 
That is awesome!
I was telling my hubby that 2019 is already booked at the Fort so if we are planning on 2020, we should reserve our site as soon as we come back. Too bad there are not any bounce back offers for campsites.
 
That is awesome!
I was telling my hubby that 2019 is already booked at the Fort so if we are planning on 2020, we should reserve our site as soon as we come back. Too bad there are not any bounce back offers for campsites.

2020 in October come join the Dismeet....
 


elaine- I admire you. Several months ago, Bama_ed told me how to do this, and instead of being diligent like you were, I switched our dates to a month that had easy to book dates.

bama-_ed-Am I correct? You are going to let us know when we can book reservations for October 2020.


Wishing everyone a happy holiday !!!
 
This is like Rocky making it to the top of the stairs and holding his hands up victory moment!
 
elaine- I admire you. Several months ago, Bama_ed told me how to do this, and instead of being diligent like you were, I switched our dates to a month that had easy to book dates.

bama-_ed-Am I correct? You are going to let us know when we can book reservations for October 2020.


Wishing everyone a happy holiday !!!

spud,

The 500-day booking window opens in early June 2019 (exact day depends on when you plan to leave the Fort in Oct 2020). But I am going to be down on a day visit to the Fort this week (see my Manatee camping TR on the Camping Community Board) and plan to stop by the FW lobby, seek out a manager, and ask a few pertinent questions.

Some info hopefully will be forthcoming well in advance.

Bama Ed
 
But I am going to be down on a day visit to the Fort this week

Ed, what day are you planning on being at the Fort? We will be at Disney for a day at AoA checking in early on the 27. Have a cart rented so we can tour the loops and see the decorations and met some new Dis members. Have a TE ressie on the 28 for breakfast before heading over to Destin to see me parents and sister.
 
We have an ADR at TE at 9am for Saturday Dec 29. Friday the 28th is our first full day at Blue Spring SP and we were hoping to do the boat cruise that day.

Bama Ed
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top