Resort Booking Strategy and Timing Help Needed....

[Shana Banana]

We are planning a trip for mid-Oct 2022 for a group of 9 (5 adults, 2 teens, 2 kids) and I was originally thinking 2 Cars Suites at AOA but now I'm considering some other options as well.

1. I keep getting "nothing is available for the group size" for AOA unless I split it and book the rooms separately. Is there a trick to looking for multiple rooms that I'm not aware of? My last booking was in 2015 for just 5 ppl so I did not have this issue.

2. I was thinking I needed to get things booked this summer but now that I am considering other resort options, should I wait until 11 months out? or even fewer? Will my options increase?

3. Maybe I'm in over my head and need a travel agent? I booked all the previous trip myself but I'm feeling more pressure this time since my mom is paying for ALL of us. I don't want to cost her money or regrets unnecessarily.

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated!!

 

[VandVsmama]

You consider using a Dreams Unlimited Travel agent for your trip. I've used one of their agents for 2 trips so far and in both cases, when Disney released a discount package promotion, my agent got the discounted rate applied to our package...it was really great. Saved us several hundred dollars both times. The agent did it without even asking.

 

[garris3404]

You might consider renting an entire house through Airbnb. Plenty of space, and will probably save you a lot of money.

 

[dreamit]

I’ve noticed that availability changes almost daily. I have a split stay coming up in a few weeks where we have two rooms at each resort. I made a number of changes to the reservations. Every time I found availability pop up, I was always able to get two run rooms versus just one. Too, my understanding is that the current room availability is based on their current capacity levels, so availability is slim. I wouldn’t worry.

 

[Shana Banana]

That makes perfect sense regarding current capacity! Thanks. I feel better. I totally thought I was missing something by putting in the group size and getting no results. I thought it would only allow 1 room to be booked at a time and that seemed so inefficient!

 

[Shana Banana]

You consider using a Dreams Unlimited Travel agent for your trip. I've used one of their agents for 2 trips so far and in both cases, when Disney released a discount package promotion, my agent got the discounted rate applied to our package...it was really great. Saved us several hundred dollars both times. The agent did it without even asking.

The more I worry/stress the more I think using a professional might be the way to go. Besides spending an exorbitant amount of my mom's money.... This will be BIL, nephew 8 and niece 11s, first and probably only visit to WDW due to financial situation. I want it done right.... But I'm such a control freak it's hard to pull the trigger

 

[Marthasor]

We are planning a trip for mid-Oct 2022 for a group of 9 (5 adults, 2 teens, 2 kids) and I was originally thinking 2 Cars Suites at AOA but now I'm considering some other options as well.

1. I keep getting "nothing is available for the group size" for AOA unless I split it and book the rooms separately. Is there a trick to looking for multiple rooms that I'm not aware of? My last booking was in 2015 for just 5 ppl so I did not have this issue.

2. I was thinking I needed to get things booked this summer but now that I am considering other resort options, should I wait until 11 months out? or even fewer? Will my options increase?

3. Maybe I'm in over my head and need a travel agent? I booked all the previous trip myself but I'm feeling more pressure this time since my mom is paying for ALL of us. I don't want to cost her money or regrets unnecessarily.

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated!!

If you put 9 guests in the hotel search on the WDW site, AoA will not show as available as you can only put a maximum of 6 plus one child under 3 in a family suite at that resort. You will have to book two rooms. You can either do that yourself by breaking up your party and booking two suites with two separate confirmation numbers on the WDW site or call WDW directly and book the two rooms and ask the booking CM to link the reservations so WDW knows you are all traveling together. If you want the rooms to be close to each other, you need to note that request on the reservation. If you know where you want to stay, you are better off booking sooner rather than later. If you feel you are in over your head, working with an Earmarked Agency, like Dreams Unlimited, may be the way to go. A good agent will do all of this legwork for you and will look for discounts for you when they are released. If you all want to be in the same room, you could look for availability in a DVC grand villa or a SSR Treehouse (more likely available than a grand villa).

 

[_19disnA]

You could also trying calling Disney to get a live person on the phone to help find what is available for that large of a group. Call wait times seem excessively long currently from some other threads I was reading, but call at some off hour and you might get lucky.

Also consider renting a house using VRBO that would be large enough to fit your entire party. Likely more economical then 2 rooms at any of the Disney properties.

 

[Shana Banana]

If you put 9 guests in the hotel search on the WDW site, AoA will not show as available as you can only put a maximum of 6 plus one child under 3 in a family suite at that resort. You will have to book two rooms. You can either do that yourself by breaking up your party and booking two suites with two separate confirmation numbers on the WDW site or call WDW directly and book the two rooms and ask the booking CM to link the reservations so WDW knows you are all traveling together. If you want the rooms to be close to each other, you need to note that request on the reservation. If you know where you want to stay, you are better off booking sooner rather than later. If you feel you are in over your head, working with an Earmarked Agency, like Dreams Unlimited, may be the way to go. A good agent will do all of this legwork for you and will look for discounts for you when they are released. If you all want to be in the same room, you could look for availability in a DVC grand villa or a SSR Treehouse (more likely available than a grand villa).

Thank you! The separate bookings and then linking them is exactly what I needed to know!

We certainly don't all want to be in the same room but now that I'm back reading these boards I'm thinking we could try for a 2 bedroom and a studio at a deluxe by renting dvc points and spend about the same amount? I was going with AOA mostly because I've stayed there, liked the food court and the 3 pools (plus when it was 5 of us it was the most cost effective). I was ready to book the 2 suites this month just to make sure I got what I wanted.... Now with EMH only for Deluxe, not knowing what else will come up regarding fastpass+, etc, I am second guessing jumping into a booking so quickly.