Availability for Cabins at Christmas!

[mommyarewegoingback]

There’s availability for the Cabins during Christmas…. With a discount! I checked for 12/21 a 12/26. What? What’s going on? Is there something I’m missing? What do you think?

 

[wdw_dine_junkie]

Not sure about the cabins, but your post prompted me to check my Halloween reservation and I was able to combine my dates to one reservation and change to a Preferred site, so thanks for that

 

[StormyCA]

I had a similar reaction when I moved our Oct trip to Mar the other day. I was concerned about there not being any campsites (March is Easter month next year), but there was availability for every type. In previous years when we've gone sites are all booked out when I've checked online to see about adding days or just randomly checking to see how busy it'll be.

Could this partly be the effect the 'no fees' for TAs? I know it's been said here that there have been TAs who book multiple sites so they have 'inventory' for clients. Maybe it was more widespread than suspected.

 

[Teamubr]

Could this partly be the effect the 'no fees' for TAs? I know it's been said here that there have been TAs who book multiple sites so they have 'inventory' for clients. Maybe it was more widespread than suspected.

Maybe the TAs were booking and holding more sites in the past, but I think it is more a reflection of people getting caught up on post pandemic travel and Disney may have finally hit a price point where people are going elsewhere. There have been a number of people at work that said they were considering a Disney trip next year, but the price is making it hard to justify and they are going to the mountains, islands or the beach. A few are considering California Disneyland because it is cheaper to fly out and stay there.

j

 

[StormyCA]

Maybe the TAs were booking and holding more sites in the past, but I think it is more a reflection of people getting caught up on post pandemic travel and Disney may have finally hit a price point where people are going elsewhere. There have been a number of people at work that said they were considering a Disney trip next year, but the price is making it hard to justify and they are going to the mountains, islands or the beach. A few are considering California Disneyland because it is cheaper to fly out and stay there.

j

You may be on to something there! I know there are now dates where you can get a 'budget' onsite for less than a preferred campsite, some people may be opting for that. I think if we ever get priced out of the Fort, we'll probably call it a day for WDW since travel would be too complicated with the dog.

I'm not so sure about DLR being cheaper, at least not if you're wanting to stay onsite. A standard room before tax at 'budget' Paradise Pier/Pixar Place starts at 546.00, 'moderate' Disneyland Hotel $701.00, and 'deluxe' Calif Grand $948.00. Of course these are 'rack rates' so there may be specials and 'deals' at times. I put the quotes around budget, moderate, deluxe because DLR doesn't really 'class' the 3 onsites like WDW is able to do. Plenty of offsites in the area though. But it's not quite the same as being 'in the bubble'.

We drive the 400 miles to DLR so I have no idea what airfare would be, especially from east of the Rockies. But I know that SouthWest prices haven't been as good as they were before the pandemic.

 

[bama_ed]

IMO opinion the situation is mostly two-fold as touched on here already:

1. the pent up demand to travel ("revenge travel") has been satiated by this time and
2. Disney jacking up prices into the stratosphere beyond inflation and wage increases

With regards to #2, I'm of the opinion that Disney is forcing the Theme Parks division (more than ever) to cover huge losses in other divisions of this corporate conglomerate. ABC (linear tv), streaming (D+), ESPN (cord cutting), movies that cost hundreds of million$ and/or don't make any profit back, all are bleeding out cash while theme parks are (were) still making money (#1 above might be diminishing).

Disney has NEVER been one to reduce rates (saw this post-9/11) and will just discount/free dining/bounce-back etc. at whatever discount rates they can until demand catches up to regular rates at some time in the future. If it goes on too long, though, they will enter a slow spiral downward of higher rates ===> lower attendance and promotions/discounts will become even more pronounced and aggressive. My two cents.

Ed

PS - the TA angle may play a role at peak times (Xmas, Spring Break, Halloween/Thanksgiving) but Steve's photos (@JETS70 current trip report thread) of his loop show 1700 VERY empty-looking. Late August has been traditionally been a slow time with a general discount offered but this looks much slower.

 

[Teamubr]

I'm not so sure about DLR being cheaper, at least not if you're wanting to stay onsite. A standard room before tax at 'budget' Paradise Pier/Pixar Place starts at 546.00, 'moderate' Disneyland Hotel $701.00, and 'deluxe' Calif Grand $948.00. Of course these are 'rack rates' so there may be specials and 'deals' at times. I put the quotes around budget, moderate, deluxe because DLR doesn't really 'class' the 3 onsites like WDW is able to do. Plenty of offsites in the area though. But it's not quite the same as being 'in the bubble'.

The biggest reason DLR is cheaper is the length of stay. Most people around me go to WDW for a week. Most people seem to do 2-4 days at DLR. Airfare is a big tossup from STL. It can vary from $300-$500+ depending on the time of year. I was looking at 3 or 4 days at DLR for this fall and a Good Neighbor hotel was $1600-$1700 with tickets. A DLR hotel was about $2700 (Paradise Pier). My WDW reservation for November 2024 at the Fort is $2200 for site only (no tickets yet).

j

 

[mco65]

We just got back on Sunday from 2 weeks at the Fort. I can say it was way less crowded than i am used to seeing. Since i had never been in August, i didn't have much to compare it to and after a struggle with the heat (at times) i don't expect to be going back in Aug any time soon. I wouldn't totally discount an August trip due to heat but Sept is sooooo much better and easier to deal with.

That being said, less crowds was really only limited to the Fort. The parks, at least the 1st week we were there were super packed... especially that first Monday Aug 7th at MK.. the 2nd week was much better crowd wise at the parks and weather wise at the fort. We only went to the parks 6 days (Mon, Wed, Fri of both weeks). I really enjoy that day in between and weekends off especially that weekend in the middle.

I do know that sometime in July we added a day (Sat Aug 5th) to your reservation without any issues. I wouldn't be surprised if you could book a fort site for Sept today... of course it is too soon for me to be thinking about that. We took another family with us and I will be a few months digging out of the budget hole i have dug. ugh!

 

[mommyarewegoingback]

the rack rates was over $700 and I got it for $534. I'm getting pop for the week prior at $277. It's booked under the disney+ rates. these rates are great for Christmas. previous years at Christmas have been more. I will say I did my mini protest for a year. I was sick of all the nit pick price increases (especially genie+) that we cancelled a couple trips earlier in the year and didn't renew our APs. But in the end I'm a sucker and I miss our second home. I lasted from October 2022 until December 2023. I mean... got to ride Iron, right