Oct 16-19 Disney hotels booked up, Why?

[zuko3984]

I was thinking of taking a short trip to Disney October 16th to the 19th. All the crowd tracking/calendar websites I check list those dates as being below average to average crowd levels. I went to the Disney site to book a room and just about every hotel is sold out for those dates. Only two hotels come up with any rooms available. All Star Music and Animal Kingdom Lodge. Every other Disney hotel comes up with no availability. I would stay at All Star Music but if every other Disney hotel is full it got me thinking that it might be super super crowded at the parks and i may not want to go that week.
Anyone know if something is going on that week to make it so crowded or why most of the hotels are booked up. I know they don't really have any time where it's empty and i don't mind some crowds but i don't want to go if the crowd level is going to be insane 10/10 level and that's the feeling I'm getting just from the amount of hotels that seem to be booked up. Any one have any thoughts?
thanks

 

[Capitalangel]

Gartner IT conference is that week and uses large blocks at the Deluxes and some moderates, which forces people who would have booked those rooms normally to have to change categories/ resorts.

 

[FCDub]

Because it's a popular time?

 

[Alesia]

This is a great example of how crowd calendars aren't particularly reliable. Mid octOcto has been pretty busy for the last few years. This year, there's a very large convention on top of that

 

[_19disnA]

^^ I agree and those 3rd party websites don't have realtime access to the Disney reservation system, so they are simply educated guesses/formulas based on historical trends. A large convention or other special event can easily take up a lot of rooms even at what last year was a 'slow' period.

 

[Pmm_]

Food and wine and Halloween party are both going on--along with Gartner's conference they do in October.

It's also a month away from today, so it makes sense that a lot of places are booked up. We ran into the same issue last year in September, booking a three-night stay for the first week of October with only a few weeks to spare. Had to shell out some extra $$ and stay at beach club (which was incredible).

 

[Shanti]

October is one of the busiest months of the year, and your dates are less than two months away.

 

[Lynne M]

Crowd estimates aren't a good indicator of resort occupancy. For instance, Disney sells large blocks of rooms to groups that are there for conventions and sports competitions, not for the theme parks. October has a been an extremely busy time for resort reservations for several years now.

Have you looked at sites like Orbitz? They get room blocks from Disney, and their rooms won't show up in Disney's site.

 

[cakebaker]

I booked the Yacht Club back in March and was unable to get my last day, 10/14. Being near HS was a must and all 3 resorts were booked for that last night. It's the convention that's causing the problem- starts the 15th as I recall. I ended up booking a DTD hotel for my last night.

 

[sugar and spice1]

Less people want to travel internationally these days. We are going to WDW from Oct 1 - 7, 2018, and we had to book our package almost a year ago to get a room at the Port Orleans French Quarter. I am finding that travel to all places needs to be booked earlier and earlier.

 

[toonaspie]

I know in my area (at least) many schools will have Fall Break precisely around Mid-October. (Taking off Mon+Tues or Thurs+Fri depending on said school.) So there's that in addition to any planned conferences.

 

[Shanti]

Some Disney-focused travel agencies book their own inventory and rent it out to clients. See what you can find by checking different agencies.

 

[2DisPrincesses]

Some Disney-focused travel agencies book their own inventory and rent it out to clients. See what you can find by checking different agencies.

That’s how I got a room for October 18-22 and it was cheaper than booking through Disney!

 

[Dave006]

I booked the Yacht Club back in March and was unable to get my last day, 10/14. Being near HS was a must and all 3 resorts were booked for that last night. It's the convention that's causing the problem- starts the 15th as I recall. I ended up booking a DTD hotel for my last night.

The Gartner IT conference is scheduled for Oct. 14-18 and is centered at the Swan / Dolphin Complex and they have blocks of rooms at all the Epcot resorts as well as moderates and even the MK Deluxe resorts. The good news is the bulk of these guests will be attending the conference activities.

Dave

 

[cakebaker]

The Gartner IT conference is scheduled for Oct. 14-18 and is centered at the Swan / Dolphin Complex and they have blocks of rooms at all the Epcot resorts as well as moderates and even the MK Deluxe resorts. The good news is the bulk of these guests will be attending the conference activities.

Dave

That would explain why I couldn't get the 14th as our last night. Good timing for me I guess that I booked for the week before!

 

[Princessclab]

Crowd estimates aren't a good indicator of resort occupancy. For instance, Disney sells large blocks of rooms to groups that are there for conventions and sports competitions, not for the theme parks. October has a been an extremely busy time for resort reservations for several years now.

Have you looked at sites like Orbitz? They get room blocks from Disney, and their rooms won't show up in Disney's site.

Since this is the case very often, is there someplace that would tell us what conventions etc. are scheduled when at WDW?
How does a person know?

 

[Lynne M]

Since this is the case very often, is there someplace that would tell us what conventions etc. are scheduled when at WDW?
How does a person know?

There's not a website that tracks conventions at WDW and it's not something that Disney publicizes.You can find some by googling, if the group is big enough to have a web site, or by watching sites like this.

I'd question the usefulness of knowing the details of Disney's convention schedule, anyway. The bigger picture is that Disney tries very hard to keep their hotels at maximum occupancy all year long, and they've come up with numerous ways to do that. Yes, conventions and youth groups, but also events like the Food & Wine Festival, the marathons, the holiday parties, promotions like free dining, promotions for visitors from other countries - the list is endless.

The lesson to take away is that WDW is busy year-round these days, and booking as early as possible gives you the best chance of getting the resort and room type that you want. There used to be pretty well-defined busy seasons and quieter seasons, but that's not really the case anymore. It's more like busy season and OMG-this-is-insane season.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Gartner, more than any other, is going to impact multiple resorts. Most conventions are smaller, and tend to impact mostly BWI/YC/BC, or Contemporary GW, or Coronado. Because Gartner is so big, it impacts All Of The Above, plus Poly, plus GF, and there's even a block at AKL. There are also room blocks at Bonnet Creek and a few others.

This, of course, is not classifying cheer and dance as conventions, but as competitions. They tend to impact the All Stars above all else.

 

[Princessclab]

There's not a website that tracks conventions at WDW and it's not something that Disney publicizes.You can find some by googling, if the group is big enough to have a web site, or by watching sites like this.

I'd question the usefulness of knowing the details of Disney's convention schedule, anyway. The bigger picture is that Disney tries very hard to keep their hotels at maximum occupancy all year long, and they've come up with numerous ways to do that. Yes, conventions and youth groups, but also events like the Food & Wine Festival, the marathons, the holiday parties, promotions like free dining, promotions for visitors from other countries - the list is endless.

The lesson to take away is that WDW is busy year-round these days, and booking as early as possible gives you the best chance of getting the resort and room type that you want. There used to be pretty well-defined busy seasons and quieter seasons, but that's not really the case anymore. It's more like busy season and OMG-this-is-insane season.

This would be very valuable information, IMO.

I am not talking about the planned events etc that Disney plans, everyone knows this when they book.
It is the nightmare of groups taking over every aspect of a Disney vacation where other vacationers are pushed aside, inconvenienced and often dismissed and told 'too bad' or that is just the way it is, even though they have more than likely paid more for their vacation (no group rate). A lot of us have experienced this and weren't aware this was happening.

If it can be planned around it would make a much more enjoyable vacation for lots of good Disney World customers.

 

[zuko3984]

I've gone many many times in October before including last year. I've actually usually found the crowd calendars to be pretty accurate all the other times i have gone. I've always booked no more then a month maybe 2 in advance and I've just never ran into this where just about every Disney hotel from the value all the way to the deluxe hotels are all booked. That's why i was wondering if something special was going on that week. I guess that conference explains it. Still deciding if i should go or not. That's the only week i can go during food and wine festival and Halloween horror nights at Universal which are the two things i really want to go for. I wonder how much the conference will impact park crowds. Probably not much during the day but evenings may be more crowded. I guess i have to make a decision soon.