Value Resorts Sold Out [12/6/2019 - 12/10/2019]?

[cmarsh31]

That time-frame was included in the Free Dining Bounceback offer last summer/fall. Between that and the booking speculation for the opening of SWGE, PLUS the cheerleading, I wonder if this is how it all came to be.

 

[Hopefully]

Yep, you are probably 100% wrong. Disney does not hold back rooms. They want resorts booked & deposits paid. They won’t gamble on turning away a customer who may not change to a Disney resort from offsite later. If they have a room open & you want to book, you can.

Pop warner does indeed take a huge chunk of the value & moderate resort rooms. Every year. In addition, last years free dining bounceback promo included dates starting Dec 6th. And the room discount bounceback that has been in effect since October also included these dates. Many people booked early December in anticipation of Galaxy’s Edge opening then, before the actual date was announced. Those people may be staying put in December. There are not even many deluxe rooms available then either. For example, Yacht Club is also completely sold out for most of that week. And has been for quite awhile.

In addition to all that, Thanksgiving is late this year, meaning there is 1 less week between Thanksgiving & Christmas. So everyone who wants to go between those 2 holidays really only have 3 full weeks to visit. That in itself can have a huge impact on resort bookings. Early December bookings have been increasing for years. This year just seems worse than normal.

@mreynoldsDisney I totally agree with this. I think you are 100% wrong for all these reasons.
It is a phenomenon that has been emerging for several years. It is just worse this year. Summer is quieter and December is busier

 

[mreynoldsDisney]

Yep, you are probably 100% wrong. Disney does not hold back rooms. They want resorts booked & deposits paid. They won’t gamble on turning away a customer who may not change to a Disney resort from offsite later. If they have a room open & you want to book, you can.

Pop warner does indeed take a huge chunk of the value & moderate resort rooms. Every year. In addition, last years free dining bounceback promo included dates starting Dec 6th. And the room discount bounceback that has been in effect since October also included these dates. Many people booked early December in anticipation of Galaxy’s Edge opening then, before the actual date was announced. Those people may be staying put in December. There are not even many deluxe rooms available then either. For example, Yacht Club is also completely sold out for most of that week. And has been for quite awhile.

In addition to all that, Thanksgiving is late this year, meaning there is 1 less week between Thanksgiving & Christmas. So everyone who wants to go between those 2 holidays really only have 3 full weeks to visit. That in itself can have a huge impact on resort bookings. Early December bookings have been increasing for years. This year just seems worse than normal.

In the spirit of the movie Trading Places I would be willing to wager on it (a $1 max though, lol)

Doing some random test bookings, the dates of 12/2 - 12/6 range Disney is showing zero properties have a single room available on any of those nights.
Any price range, any part size.

Yet historically this is a slow time to visit.

Compare that to checking availability on Christmas Week, Thanksgiving Week and you will find available rooms at Disney's website for multiple properties, price points, etc... yet historically these are MUCH busier weeks in the park. It doesn't add up to me.
So yes Star Wars changes things for this year and the trends are increasing for this time period, but none of that explains how there could be availability Christmas Week and Thanksgiving Week.
You can book today also with many options the week just before Christmas and New Years Week both of which are much more popular times to stay at Disney.
Disney's tiered pricing tells me that if nothing else.

Without kids off of school anywhere, I just don't believe Disney has sold out every on property room, the first week of December 6 months in advance.
I hope I am 100% wrong though as we will be there from the 4th to the 12th on property (already have lodging booked, but don't want those kind of crowds).

 

[shamu21]

Isn't SWGE already open?

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will open at Walt Disney World Resort August 29, 2019. At opening, the land will include dining, shopping and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will open later this year.

Are you referring to the Rise of the Resistance?

I kind of agree with @mreynoldsDisney

 

[MomOTwins]

Isn't SWGE already open?

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will open at Walt Disney World Resort August 29, 2019. At opening, the land will include dining, shopping and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will open later this year.

Are you referring to the Rise of the Resistance?

I kind of agree with @mreynoldsDisney

Yes but before the August date was announced, Disney was publicly stating that it projected a "late 2019" opening for SWGE. A lot of people interpreted that to mean "Thanksgiving" and booked late November and early December stays accordingly.

In the spirit of the movie Trading Places I would be willing to wager on it (a $1 max though, lol)

Doing some random test bookings, the dates of 12/2 - 12/6 range Disney is showing zero properties have a single room available on any of those nights.
Any price range, any part size.

Yet historically this is a slow time to visit.

Compare that to checking availability on Christmas Week, Thanksgiving Week and you will find available rooms at Disney's website for multiple properties, price points, etc... yet historically these are MUCH busier weeks in the park. It doesn't add up to me.
So yes Star Wars changes things for this year and the trends are increasing for this time period, but none of that explains how there could be availability Christmas Week and Thanksgiving Week.
You can book today also with many options the week just before Christmas and New Years Week both of which are much more popular times to stay at Disney.
Disney's tiered pricing tells me that if nothing else.

Without kids off of school anywhere, I just don't believe Disney has sold out every on property room, the first week of December 6 months in advance.
I hope I am 100% wrong though as we will be there from the 4th to the 12th on property (already have lodging booked, but don't want those kind of crowds).

I think "historically" is the key word here. While that may have been true 5/10 years ago, for the past few years early December has consistently been one of the busiest times of year. It was trumpeted online and by travel agents and word of mouth so often as the "best time to visit" with low crowds and cooler weather. Add Pop Warner, free dining, lower ticket prices and room rates compared to later in December, and it's not to hard to see why early December is selling out and Christmas week (one of the most expensive times to visit) is not.

 

[mreynoldsDisney]

Yes but before the August date was announced, Disney was publicly stating that it projected a "late 2019" opening for SWGE. A lot of people interpreted that to mean "Thanksgiving" and booked late November and early December stays accordingly.



I think "historically" is the key word here. While that may have been true 5/10 years ago, for the past few years early December has consistently been one of the busiest times of year. It was trumpeted online and by travel agents and word of mouth so often as the "best time to visit" with low crowds and cooler weather. Add Pop Warner, free dining, lower ticket prices and room rates compared to later in December, and it's not to hard to see why early December is selling out and Christmas week (one of the most expensive times to visit) is not.

My only counter to that would be:
Disney knows more than us and has staff who are paid to know what is happening now, in 6 months and even more than a year ahead ; if they saw this trend happening pricing would adjust accordingly and would have been higher months ago in anticipation.
The list prices are still lower for 1st week of Dec than the periods I mentioned previously.
The prices are lower for a reason, Disney does tiered pricing on different days to maximize profitability just like the airlines do.
If they did in fact sell out of every on property room 6 months in advance it means Disney's forecasting department did a terrible job and they way underpriced the week. So am guessing that is not the case.

Just to clarify: I have heard free dining mentioned but that is talking about last year, correct? Not sure why that has affected this year's bookings.

 

[RaySharpton]

I had the same problem making a Pop Century Resort standard roll-in shower room at 12-months out. I have been working on it since then and I am down to needing only one day.

I have been checking a couple of times each day for months with no availability for any...any Pop Century resort rooms.

It is getting harder to make reservations.

I am just hoping that one day will open up for me sometime.

I just hope that I don't have to wait until November.

As a matter of fact, none of the Value resorts have availability for the one day that I need on December 8, 2019.

 

[shamu21]

I can't agree with you guys more - either something is going on (more likely) or Disney underpriced their rooms (probably not possible). What do you guys plan on doing? Are you waiting it out? Or do you just plan on booking for some hotels in the Disney Spring area?

 

[Allison]

Disney is not holding back rooms.

 

[shamu21]

Could it be some third party (such as the cheer championship) holding back a block of rooms and are reserving those rooms for attendees?

 

[DebbieB]

I’ve been going at the beginning of December most years since 1998. It’s always booked up. Pop Warner takes a lot of rooms and people like to stay onsite to see the holiday decorations. Every year you see these same posts. I’d say crowds are moderate, not bad.

 

[shamu21]

@DebbieB Would you recommend that we book now? If it's busy, is it only Disney resorts or will the non-Disney resorts be overbooked too? Thanks for the help!

 

[DebbieB]

@DebbieB Would you recommend that we book now? If it's busy, is it only Disney resorts or will the non-Disney resorts be overbooked too? Thanks for the help!

Yes, it’s always good to have it booked. I’ve never done non-Disney so can’t answer that. I’m DVC now, I booked right at 11 months in January.

 

[focusondisney]

Doing some random test bookings, the dates of 12/2 - 12/6 range Disney is showing zero properties have a single room available on any of those nights.
Any price range, any part size.

So that is different than the OPs original question which was about value resorts for 12/6 - 12/10. I was responding to that question. And yes, it is absolutely possible that value resorts are booked for those dates, for the reasons already listed. Those dates were also included in both the free dining & room discount bounceback offers, so people have been offered incentives for booking them since last August.

Now not one onsite room available for booking for 12/2-6 is a different issue. Those dates were outside both the free dining & room discount bounceback offers. That means Disney did not see a need to discount rooms for those dates, so bookings were probably high already. I am not sure I believe every onsite room, including all suites, is booked for those 4 nights either. But is it a glitch? We know Disney’s website has them regularly. Have you called to check for availability? And how long have you been checking? Just today? Might change by tomorrow.

But there is one thing for absolutely sure, Disney does not hold back rooms to be released in “blocks”. If they have a room open, it is available to be booked. Otherwise, why, out of the whole year, would they only have these 4 dates held back?????