Super Soap Weekend 2008?

[Mischa]

... WDW has these dates set aside for months, what is the reason not to release them?

Is anyone else frustrated that Disney hasn't released the November hours yet? They ought to know by now that we NEED them to plan things .

I absolutely agree! I'm just as frustrated - I have some points I need to use (DVC) and am trying to make plans, but not knowing the dates exactly is driving me nuts. They have to know the dates. Why not release them already???

 

[2goofykids]

It is NOT an official WDW site.

According to that site's terms of use it is an official site used for the media. Here's a quote from the site:

Welcome to the wdwnews.com website (the "Site"). This Site is owned and operated by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, LLC from its offices within the State of Florida, United States of America (referred to herein as "WDPR", "we," "us," or "our").

It would work out better for us if SSW is on the 15 & 16. I do wish they would post the hours and event info so we could make our plans.

 

[abcsoaps]

I am hoping the 15 & 16 is not the actual dates. Geez, I wish they would hurry up & announce it already!

 

[TeamStitch]

Okay....here we go. I know some are not going to be happy, but here it is:

I got the Unofficial Official word from my contacts and SSW was originally scheduled for the 2nd weekend of November. However, it appears that more and more people are wising up to the fact that ABC always schedules it for this weekend because Disney and ABC had trouble blocking the rooms for the 8th&9th. They couldn't get the room availablility that they needed. So now they have switched out the weekends and postponed it a week. On the 14th is Susan Lucci's annual Breakfast and then the 15th and 16th is SSW.

 

[mrsksomeday]

We booked our trip to cover both weekends thank goodness.

 

[Poohbear123]

I personally do not think it will be the 15 and 16th, as that is too close to Thanksgiving, and MVMCP will be going on at the same time, how are they going to adjust everything? I am still looking at Nov. 8 and 9th as the actual dates, and will be booking a room soon.

 

[dischick4778]

This is terrible. I keep calling Disney and they don't know. I assumed it was the 8th & 9th because it usually coincides with the end of F&WF. And is usually the weekend before Veteran's Day. Why would it be later this year?

 

[TeamStitch]

I personally do not think it will be the 15 and 16th, as that is too close to Thanksgiving, and MVMCP will be going on at the same time, how are they going to adjust everything? I am still looking at Nov. 8 and 9th as the actual dates, and will be booking a room soon.

They had trouble blocking rooms for SSW for that weekend because fans are catching onto when it will be and taking the room availability from them. Normally the hotels just bump the guests for the celebrities, but there is just not enough availability....they have already moved the room blocks.

 

[TeamStitch]

This is terrible. I keep calling Disney and they don't know. I assumed it was the 8th & 9th because it usually coincides with the end of F&WF. And is usually the weekend before Veteran's Day. Why would it be later this year?

It all comes down to room availability. If they can't get the rooms for the actors, they're not going to stick them in a Days Inn, lol.

Disney won't give you the dates yet. It's not "official" information for cast members to give out. I just happen to have the right contacts

 

[Poohbear123]

They had trouble blocking rooms for SSW for that weekend because fans are catching onto when it will be and taking the room availability from them. Normally the hotels just bump the guests for the celebrities, but there is just not enough availability....they have already moved the room blocks.

WOW! That really bites! NOW we will ALL have to pay RACK RATE!!! Thats a LOT of Moola! No discount for me, and anyone else, that whole week will be blocked out! That really bites!

 

[LuvAriel]

It all comes down to room availability. If they can't get the rooms for the actors, they're not going to stick them in a Days Inn, lol.

Disney won't give you the dates yet. It's not "official" information for cast members to give out. I just happen to have the right contacts

I guess my question is this...

Don't you think with an operation as BIG as Disney, the rooms would have been blocked off months ago?
I see your point, just having a hard time thinking Disney wasn't proactive as this is an annula event??

 

[dischick4778]

I guess my question is this...

Don't you think with an operation as BIG as Disney, the rooms would have been blocked off months ago?
I see your point, just having a hard time thinking Disney wasn't proactive as this is an annula event??

Exactly. They must have been planning this for quite some time. Wouldn't they block out the rooms they need for stars. Why would they wait until now to think of it.

 

[TeamStitch]

I guess my question is this...

Don't you think with an operation as BIG as Disney, the rooms would have been blocked off months ago?
I see your point, just having a hard time thinking Disney wasn't proactive as this is an annula event??

They do. However, I have had the 8th and 9th booked for SSW since December because I was told that's when it will be. Everyone else figured the same thing. I know Disney blocks them well in advance, but as proactive as Disney can be, SSW is one of the handful of times that any of the Disney parks reach maximum capacity. That's a lot of people and every year the number of visitors for SSW gets bigger. People come from all over and most of them stay at the Disney hotels because it's more convenient. PEople know when to book for. It only figures that Disney will run out of blocks of rooms. Now, I know they usually go to 4 different hotels, but aside from the celebrities, you have a lot of the VPs of Daytime going too. This is the first time Disney has run into a problem with blocking the rooms. I suppose next year they'll learn from this and be more proactive.

 

[LuvAriel]

They do. However, I have had the 8th and 9th booked for SSW since December because I was told that's when it will be. Everyone else figured the same thing. I know Disney blocks them well in advance, but as proactive as Disney can be, SSW is one of the handful of times that any of the Disney parks reach maximum capacity. That's a lot of people and every year the number of visitors for SSW gets bigger. People come from all over and most of them stay at the Disney hotels because it's more convenient. PEople know when to book for. It only figures that Disney will run out of blocks of rooms. Now, I know they usually go to 4 different hotels, but aside from the celebrities, you have a lot of the VPs of Daytime going too. This is the first time Disney has run into a problem with blocking the rooms. I suppose next year they'll learn from this and be more proactive.

Interesting...I also know this was the only week in Nov. that they offered the 40% room code, could be another reason why they are at room capacity. We will just have to wait to see until the hours are posted. Thanks for your feedback

 

[TeamStitch]

Interesting...I also know this was the only week in Nov. that they offered the 40% room code, could be another reason why they are at room capacity. We will just have to wait to see until the hours are posted. Thanks for your feedback

Also, Festival of the Masters is going on, which doesn't cause room capacity to fill up, but usually during the last weekend of F&WF space fills up too for reasons I was told, but didn't quite understand because I really only cared about SSW.

 

[Poohbear123]

Also, Festival of the Masters is going on, which doesn't cause room capacity to fill up, but usually during the last weekend of F&WF space fills up too for reasons I was told, but didn't quite understand because I really only cared about SSW.

I attended the Festival of the Masters last year, and it was great! Too bad I will miss it this year, if its the weekend before SSW. Well, better go and check rates for Nov. 14.

 

[mearshon]

For what its worth. I read the story located at "wdwnews.com/ViewPressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=109715" about the SSW being November 15th and 16th. Not knowing if this was an official site or not I then looked the website up on the whois internet database and the website is owned by Disney.
I am pretty new on these boards so I don't know if this information will help anyone or duplicated. If so, sorry for double posting.

 

[missesdisney]

No offense to TeamStitch who is clearly just passing on information received, but how many people are we talking about for rooms for celebrities for SSW? 50? 100? Disney is huge - I would think that is not even a blip on the radar for them, even if the hotels used are limited to a few. Now there are probably a lot of other execs etc involved as well but the logic doesn't make sense to me. It is also not a busy time of year, notwithstanding the added people for SSW and F&W. The 8th/9th is the end of Jersey week this year but I think it's that way most years anyway - Jersey week is usually the week of election day.

I find it interesting that Disney owns that site with the later dates so that is a possibility but if there has been a press release how long would it take for the reservations agents to get the info? Just my 2 cents. Personally hoping for the earlier weekend since I've never attended and always wanted to but we have to plan our trips around school so we get the most days taking our son out only a few days so I can't worry about it. It stinks that we are nearly 6 months away and ther are people waiting to book around the dates though.

Someone mentioned they use 4 hotels - which 4?

 

[DebbyLof428]

Don't know about all 4 hotels used but last year Susan Lucci was staying at the Beach Club

 

[TeamStitch]

No offense to TeamStitch who is clearly just passing on information received, but how many people are we talking about for rooms for celebrities for SSW? 50? 100? Disney is huge - I would think that is not even a blip on the radar for them, even if the hotels used are limited to a few. Now there are probably a lot of other execs etc involved as well but the logic doesn't make sense to me. It is also not a busy time of year, notwithstanding the added people for SSW and F&W. The 8th/9th is the end of Jersey week this year but I think it's that way most years anyway - Jersey week is usually the week of election day.

I find it interesting that Disney owns that site with the later dates so that is a possibility but if there has been a press release how long would it take for the reservations agents to get the info? Just my 2 cents. Personally hoping for the earlier weekend since I've never attended and always wanted to but we have to plan our trips around school so we get the most days taking our son out only a few days so I can't worry about it. It stinks that we are nearly 6 months away and ther are people waiting to book around the dates though.

Someone mentioned they use 4 hotels - which 4?

I am not taking any offense at all. However, I am a little more than "passing along info". Some things I can't discuss and others I can. Disney had problems blocking the room. period. People, like myself, had their rooms booked already. I had mine booked since December because I Was told that's when it was going to be. However, things didn't work out that way. Lots of other people who are used to it being that weekend booked it too. The guests took the availability away. Normally, Disney will just bump a guest to another hotel. It happens year after year.

Also, not a busy time of year? You said you've never been to Disney during SSW....that said, wait until you attend and see how busy it is. Are you aware that last year Disney-MGM Studios reached maximum capacity on Saturday morning and stopped access into the park for a good hour until some people cleared out? Have you seen how long these fast pass lines are? They go all the way out past the parking lot! I said before in my other posts that execs attend every year as well. In addition, celebrities will often bring their families and they will block rooms for them as well. Becky Herbst from GH goes every year and brings her family with her because after SSW ends, she takes an extended vacation.

Pure and simple, Disney can't make rooms magically appear if they are all booked up. This is the problem that they faced. I was just doing a favor by confirming the dates - even though I have a personal interest in it as well.

The reservation agents will not give the info until they are told to. Trust and believe, many reservation agents know, but until they are given their agent update they can not - and no one is going to give the answer out until Disney is ready to release it. No agent will give that info out over the phone. I understand your impatience, but just book a room for the 15th and 16th. That is when it will be. You don't have to believe me, but I have my hotel booked already.

I was the one who mentioned the 4 hotels that they block.