So frustrating… need advice.

[Cierese]

So! Here is my dilemma…

We booked a full hook up site from Black Friday through 21 December for several reasons. First we weren’t 100% sure which two to three weeks we would be staying but knew the time of year. Second we thought my son and his family were going to be joining us and this was the only time his wife can get off work and my grandson get out of school. Third I was unaware of my husband not being able to combine vacation time with holiday pay.

So now it looks like the dates that we can go are basically December 3 or fourth through whenever in December. But we cannot go any earlier before that or my husband would get charged vacation days and not get his holiday pay for Thanksgiving. Also to throw another wrench in it, my son and his family cannot go due to expenses (they had to buy a new vehicle and my daughter-in-law will be giving birth soon and they don’t want to take an infant to Disney/she was not pregnant when we booked the trip and the car worked fine)

So instead my daughter and her fiancé will be joining us as well as my parents so it’s still the same amount of people that’s not a problem I’ve already gotten that situation fixed through Disney. Now our problem has not been able to shape the first couple of days off of our trip Because there’s no full hook up sites available. I get that we’re not trying to change anything except for give Disney back some days for other people to enjoy. They will happily shave days off the end of my trip, but not the beginning. They told me it was because no other full hook up sites were available during the time. And then told me to call back in July?

 

[ScarletFire]

You have plenty of time! It's my experience that dates always come available. You can try to modify your dates on the original reservation on the website. Make it part of your daily to-do list. Or, try for a new reservation and when it comes available, cancel the original reservation. You can even try for the dates you need and modify that reservation. Sometimes, I can add one day at a time.

It'll work out. It's happened to me more than once. Check every single day! Good Luck!!

 

[StormyCA]

So! Here is my dilemma…

We booked a full hook up site from Black Friday through 21 December for several reasons. First we weren’t 100% sure which two to three weeks we would be staying but knew the time of year. Second we thought my son and his family were going to be joining us and this was the only time his wife can get off work and my grandson get out of school. Third I was unaware of my husband not being able to combine vacation time with holiday pay.

So now it looks like the dates that we can go are basically December 3 or fourth through whenever in December. But we cannot go any earlier before that or my husband would get charged vacation days and not get his holiday pay for Thanksgiving. Also to throw another wrench in it, my son and his family cannot go due to expenses (they had to buy a new vehicle and my daughter-in-law will be giving birth soon and they don’t want to take an infant to Disney/she was not pregnant when we booked the trip and the car worked fine)

So instead my daughter and her fiancé will be joining us as well as my parents so it’s still the same amount of people that’s not a problem I’ve already gotten that situation fixed through Disney. Now our problem has not been able to shape the first couple of days off of our trip Because there’s no full hook up sites available. I get that we’re not trying to change anything except for give Disney back some days for other people to enjoy. They will happily shave days off the end of my trip, but not the beginning. They told me it was because no other full hook up sites were available during the time. And then told me to call back in July?

IIRC a couple of years back they had a policy that wouldn't allow for adjustment of reservations. The policy was that if you wanted to change dates, you had to cancel the whole shebang and rebook. I don't know if this policy is still in force.

The policy was enacted because people were reserving large blocks of time to 'save a site' until they'd firmed up their vacation plans then they'd cancel the extra days. Doing so made it hard for others to book sites and the Fort ended up with a lot of openings for 'a few days here and there' that nobody could really use since most people stay longer than just a few days.

As far as them saying you can't shave days off the front end because there were no full hook ups available, I don't see how adjusting your arrival would affect that, unless it's because it would create a 2 day slot that would probably not get booked since most people are there for longer than that.

 

[Cierese]

IIRC a couple of years back they had a policy that wouldn't allow for adjustment of reservations. The policy was that if you wanted to change dates, you had to cancel the whole shebang and rebook. I don't know if this policy is still in force.

The policy was enacted because people were reserving large blocks of time to 'save a site' until they'd firmed up their vacation plans then they'd cancel the extra days. Doing so made it hard for others to book sites and the Fort ended up with a lot of openings for 'a few days here and there' that nobody could really use since most people stay longer than just a few days.

As far as them saying you can't shave days off the front end because there were no full hook ups available, I don't see how adjusting your arrival would affect that, unless it's because it would create a 2 day slot that would probably not get booked since most people are there for longer than that.

It's possible. They said I can't because there were no available spots for the time frame we are trying to reduce it to. I mean, I COULD stay the whole time and had originally planned to do that, but with the crazy rules at my husbands job and the change in who is coming makes it a pain in the rear. I do get it as to why they might have had that rule in place. I'm just curious as to if something new has been put into place since Oct? We were just there and had to modify our nights a little bit because my son dislocated his knee just a week before we were due to be there and needed a follow-up Dr appt...and had zero issues.

 

[Cierese]

You have plenty of time! It's my experience that dates always come available. You can try to modify your dates on the original reservation on the website. Make it part of your daily to-do list. Or, try for a new reservation and when it comes available, cancel the original reservation. You can even try for the dates you need and modify that reservation. Sometimes, I can add one day at a time.

It'll work out. It's happened to me more than once. Check every single day! Good Luck!!

Believe me, I'm a stalker! LOL!!

There is availability for the exact dates for a Premium Meadows site... it's tempting, we are literally two 10x10 Tents and a 40ft travel trailer. We stayed Premium last year with the same set-up, and it wasn't awful.

 

[Teamubr]

I'm just curious as to if something new has been put into place since Oct?

As others have said, Disney changed the ability to modify existing reservations a couple of years ago. At busy times (mid- November- Post New Years I think), you can't modify (remove or add days) to an existing reservation. The only option is to completely cancel and hope the days you really want show as available. I know this is frustrating when you have to book more than a year in advance for the busiest times, often guessing at when you can actually get time off, but it did address a chronic problem of people booking 30 day stays over a year out, only having to provide 1 nights deposit, knowing they really only wanted 7 or 8 days of the 30. Often, they would hold onto all 30 days until either the 30 day window to pay in full for packages or the 1 day for site only to drop the days they didn't really want. This prevented people that actually wanted the days the others didn't intend on using and made it hard for Disney to fill everything that was dropped at the last minute.

Unfortunately, others hoarding nights ruined it for those of us that really didn't know what days we could go, but modified as soon as we had things more solid. I was down for 16 days last November. Part of that stay was into the restricted reservation window. I called down to add a day to my existing reservation that I had for 499 days. I was told I would have to cancel the entire stay and try to rebook for the 17 nights I wanted. All 17 days were not showing available before I would cancel so I didn't. I did try to pick up the one night, but the reservation system would not show single nights only. Lovely Disney IT. I ended up just staying somewhere north of Disney on that 1st night I was trying to add and came in early in the morning of my original start day.

j

 

[Cierese]

Honestly, I'm curious as to why they specified to 'Try in July'? That seems odd.

 

[Cierese]

As others have said, Disney changed the ability to modify existing reservations a couple of years ago. At busy times (mid- November- Post New Years I think), you can't modify (remove or add days) to an existing reservation. The only option is to completely cancel and hope the days you really want show as available. I know this is frustrating when you have to book more than a year in advance for the busiest times, often guessing at when you can actually get time off, but it did address a chronic problem of people booking 30 day stays over a year out, only having to provide 1 nights deposit, knowing they really only wanted 7 or 8 days of the 30. Often, they would hold onto all 30 days until either the 30 day window to pay in full for packages or the 1 day for site only to drop the days they didn't really want. This prevented people that actually wanted the days the others didn't intend on using and made it hard for Disney to fill everything that was dropped at the last minute.

Unfortunately, others hoarding nights ruined it for those of us that really didn't know what days we could go, but modified as soon as we had things more solid. I was down for 16 days last November. Part of that stay was into the restricted reservation window. I called down to add a day to my existing reservation that I had for 499 days. I was told I would have to cancel the entire stay and try to rebook for the 17 nights I wanted. All 17 days were not showing available before I would cancel so I didn't. I did try to pick up the one night, but the reservation system would not show single nights only. Lovely Disney IT. I ended up just staying somewhere north of Disney on that 1st night I was trying to add and came in early in the morning of my original start day.

j

Yeah... they have no problem shaving days off the backside.. said I just couldn't' modify the check-in date. I'll keep checking on the daily, probably go ahead and book the other site that's available and hopefully when I do get brave enough to cancel and rebook, by dates are not taken as soon as I attempt the switcharoo.

 

[StormyCA]

Honestly, I'm curious as to why they specified to 'Try in July'? That seems odd.

Pure speculation on my part, but that used to be around the time of year that the following 12 months' reservations were released at Disneyland. WDW changed their release date to match DLR a couple of years ago. I'm not sure exactly when the following years rates will be released these days. I've heard early Spring, I've heard late Spring. It'd be nice if Disney didn't keep us in the dark so we could make plans, but it is what it is.

It would kinda make sense to tell someone to check after the new bookings open. Maximum availability to change dates without creating those pesky 1-2 day slots. It's just that you'll be competing with everyone else trying to make new bookings.