Too late to book for December 2021?

[CSPAGHETTI]

I was playing around with some potential dates for a trip, looking at 12/4 - 12/10 of 2021, but there is practically no availability at Disney resorts for these dates (Coronado for $858, GF for $1,600, Yacht Club for even more, and Boardwalk.) I was under the impression that early December is a lower crowd time, but I know that there are rebound trips due to Covid cancellations and also higher booking for the 50th anniversary year. But are the hotels really fully booked and I'm way late to the game, or has Disney not yet released inventory at all of their resorts for those dates yet?

 

[Meglen]

Have you looked into swan and dolphin?

 

[CSPAGHETTI]

Have you looked into swan and dolphin?

Not yet!

 

[maryj11]

They seem pretty booked. Unless they are going to release more rooms.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

With roughly 34% of Disney’s hotel room inventory unavailable to book with no reopening dates, it’s leading to really tough availability later in the year. A lot of the traditional ebbs and flows of demand don’t seem to fit anymore given increasing travel demand and reduced supply.

I don’t think it’s too late to book - people change plans all the time, a lot of people have placeholder trips they may not ultimately be able to make, or any number of reasons. Keep checking - lots of things can happen between now and December.

 

[SalandJeff]

We are booking December now as well. Try looking on sites other than Disney where they have their own inventory (UT, Expedia, Orbitz, Costco, etc.). You may have to package the room with a car or flight. Also if flying, look at packages on your airlines site.

 

[rangerxenos]

I was playing around with some potential dates for a trip, looking at 12/4 - 12/10 of 2021, but there is practically no availability at Disney resorts for these dates (Coronado for $858, GF for $1,600, Yacht Club for even more, and Boardwalk.) I was under the impression that early December is a lower crowd time, but I know that there are rebound trips due to Covid cancellations and also higher booking for the 50th anniversary year. But are the hotels really fully booked and I'm way late to the game, or has Disney not yet released inventory at all of their resorts for those dates yet?

I keep checking, hoping that more resorts will open up as I really want to stay at AKL. I'm so happy I booked in April, managed to find a Standard room at CSR. I have seen Preferred rooms show up occasionally for early December at CSR, but that's it unless you want to pay $600 plus a night at Boardwalk or Beach Club.

 

[wdw71]

I don’t think it’s too late to book - people change plans all the time, a lot of people have placeholder trips they may not ultimately be able to make, or any number of reasons. Keep checking - lots of things can happen between now and December.

I just said something similar on another post. We changed to CSR when a room popped up that wasn't there before. We released our CBR room a couple days later. So just keep checking.

 

[CSPAGHETTI]

For some reason that I can't determine, the Disney website gives me different room results if I search for reservations for 2 adults, 2 children ages 10 and 4 versus changing the child's ages to 9 and 4. With the 10 & 4 option, I get results for a Coronado Springs preferred room, but with 9 and 4, that room disappears.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

For some reason that I can't determine, the Disney website gives me different room results if I search for reservations for 2 adults, 2 children ages 10 and 4 versus changing the child's ages to 9 and 4. With the 10 & 4 option, I get results for a Coronado Springs preferred room, but with 9 and 4, that room disappears.

Same - though not just for the age difference, but for all sorts of tiny factors. If I look for 12/2-12/5, it shows nothing; if I look for 11/30-12/5, it shows several different options. Their website is insane.

 

[CSPAGHETTI]

Same - though not just for the age difference, but for all sorts of tiny factors. If I look for 12/2-12/5, it shows nothing; if I look for 11/30-12/5, it shows several different options. Their website is insane.

It sure is!! LOL. I wish they had a simple date calendar that you could look and see availability for the entire month, rather than randomly guessing at dates and seeing what resorts/rooms pop up for the range you've selected.

 

[Debbie Jean]

Have you looked into swan and dolphin?

Booked a great passholder rate at the Dolphin, second week of December.

 

[jimmymc]

At this point, Disney hasn't released all hotel availability for the fall because of the current capacity limits. You can book something that's offsite for now and change later if Disney opens up space.

 

[CSPAGHETTI]

I ended up booking Coronado for dates that weren't my first choice, but they'll do. If something better pops up, do I just cancel/rebook or is there a way to simply switch it using the same $200 deposit?

 

[rangerxenos]

I ended up booking Coronado for dates that weren't my first choice, but they'll do. If something better pops up, do I just cancel/rebook or is there a way to simply switch it using the same $200 deposit?

If you booked directly through Disney, I think if you switch the Deposit goes with the new reservation, and if you need a larger deposit on the new one, you pay the difference. Unless something's changed from the last time I did that.

 

[Heather07438]

For some reason that I can't determine, the Disney website gives me different room results if I search for reservations for 2 adults, 2 children ages 10 and 4 versus changing the child's ages to 9 and 4. With the 10 & 4 option, I get results for a Coronado Springs preferred room, but with 9 and 4, that room disappears.

Same - though not just for the age difference, but for all sorts of tiny factors. If I look for 12/2-12/5, it shows nothing; if I look for 11/30-12/5, it shows several different options. Their website is insane.

We’ve seen weird things too. Even though most rooms hold at least 4 guests, I’ve gotten different availability results when looking for 2, 3 or 4 guests (for years). I’ve also been surprised to see a huge price jump when adding our son as a third person from 2ppl, well beyond the 1 extra adult charge. The price hike disappeared when I changed his age from 18 to 17 lol.

Another thing is dates… WDW site sometimes blocks out shorter trips, the days show available with a longer date span.

I’d try searching slightly different party size and dates. Sometimes playing with the system helps expand what options appear. You can modify the resvation later to cut off some days and add guests.

 

[Cheburashka]

I was under the impression that early December is a lower crowd time

This hasn't been true for the past 3 or 4 years at least. It's unfortunate that Internet posters don't update their travel advice. They keep telling people that October and early December are great, lower-crowd times to visit. Um, not anymore, since everyone has read those posts & planned trips accordingly lol. They're now both very busy times. Midsummer is actually less crowded, although the weather isn't as nice then as in the late fall.

 

[CSPAGHETTI]

This hasn't been true for the past 3 or 4 years. It's unfortunate that Internet posters don't update their travel advice. They keep telling people that October and early December are great, lower-crowd times to visit. Um, not anymore, since everyone has read those posts & planned trips accordingly lol.

haha, well, I was basing off of UT and Touring Plans, which do seem to at least attempt to update their predictions each year.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

This hasn't been true for the past 3 or 4 years at least. It's unfortunate that Internet posters don't update their travel advice. They keep telling people that October and early December are great, lower-crowd times to visit. Um, not anymore, since everyone has read those posts & planned trips accordingly lol. They're now both very busy times. Midsummer is actually less crowded, although the weather isn't as nice then as in the late fall.

"Lower" is a relative term. It's definitely lower than both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and for that matter it's lower than early November (Jersey week) or October (fall break/Halloween/this year the anniversary) or mid-January (races weekend). It's not nearly as "dead" as it was years ago, but it's still less crowded than other weeks within a couple months in either direction. It's when we usually go for that reason.

 

[jujubiee4]

I was playing around with some potential dates for a trip, looking at 12/4 - 12/10 of 2021, but there is practically no availability at Disney resorts for these dates (Coronado for $858, GF for $1,600, Yacht Club for even more, and Boardwalk.) I was under the impression that early December is a lower crowd time, but I know that there are rebound trips due to Covid cancellations and also higher booking for the 50th anniversary year. But are the hotels really fully booked and I'm way late to the game, or has Disney not yet released inventory at all of their resorts for those dates yet?

Please please keep checking the site. I had to stalk it for the last FOUR days constantly(early morning
late night etc). Yesterday finally i got our hotel booked. Gran Destino tower. I wanted the Boardwalk
but could not get the whole week. It was like 2days here or there. Changed to Destino and got
same unavailable or day here or there and i kept refreshing and finally got some consecutive days.

I guarantee that site is glitchy. I was getting all kind of weird things popping up like 11k for 2 nights