Hotels are all booked in October?

[Melanie230]

We are set to go on a Carnival cruise in October. We are going to MNSSHP on October 15, then going home Monday the 16th. Well with the current situation in the Atlantic I thought we should try looking into a back up vacation. I have tried to look at rates for the week October 8. Nothing is available. Not one single room. Anyone know what is going on at Disney that week? That seems strange that nothing is available that week at all.

 

[KyleAfterAWhile]

Yes, this has been the case for months actually. Disney is saying this will be the busiest October in years. The crowds are coming from the Food and Wine Festival, Halloween goers, Conventions, fall breaks and a competition. Crowds are predicted to be very heavy. Not peak, but very heavy.

 

[Melanie230]

WOW...Well I guess we will just keep our one night at The Contemporary for MNSSHP. We used to go to Disney in October and it was NEVER busy. Oh well...guess we will start looking for other months. We like the quieter times...Disney is too expensive to deal with crowds. Hopefully our MNSSHP won't be too crazy! With every single room booked during that week...I am betting that is peak crowd levels. YIKES!

 

[avic77]

Also that is Columbus day week. That puts all those fall breaks right there in that week

 

[Melanie230]

Also that is Columbus day week. That puts all those fall breaks right there in that week

There is some availability that last weekend...Friday-Sunday. But if the parks will be that busy I think we will just stick to the MNSSHP on 10/15 and pray that our cruise will still sail.

 

[Farro]

Yes, this has been the case for months actually. Disney is saying this will be the busiest October in years. The crowds are coming from the Food and Wine Festival, Halloween goers, Conventions, fall breaks and a competition. Crowds are predicted to be very heavy. Not peak, but very heavy.

Where did Disney say this would be the busiest October in years?

It will be busy OP, but still fun!!!

 

[Shanti]

We are set to go on a Carnival cruise in October. We are going to MNSSHP on October 15, then going home Monday the 16th. Well with the current situation in the Atlantic I thought we should try looking into a back up vacation. I have tried to look at rates for the week October 8. Nothing is available. Not one single room. Anyone know what is going on at Disney that week? That seems strange that nothing is available that week at all.

October is now one of Disney's very busiest months. That explains the lack of availability.

 

[Farro]

I would be curious at this point to see the numbers for October compared to all the other months.

Busier than it used to be? Sure, but so is every other month that used to be considered slow.

I will be sure to report on my experience this year.

From reading this board I'm preparing for nothing less than the apocalypse.

 

[stinkpickle]

Wow. The site isn't showing a single room available for even one night stays during the week. 10/8-10/9, nothing. 10/9-10/10, nothing....

NEVER MIND! For some reason, the site was searching on some mystery promotion that doesn't appear to exist anymore.

 

[Babsy]

I would be curious at this point to see the numbers for October compared to all the other months.

Busier than it used to be? Sure, but so is every other month that used to be considered slow.

I will be sure to report on my experience this year.

From reading this board I'm preparing for nothing less than the apocalypse.

LOL!!! Hopefully not quite the apocalypse!

Yes, October is now unofficially busy.

I have been trying to switch up our dates in October today. It is a challenge to find availability at this point. We did manage to get something but with changing rooms, so not as ideal as I might have hoped.

Good luck, OP!

 

[Jennasis]

Don't forget that a lot of people who were supposed to visit last week had to postpone their trips (due to Hurricane Irma) and may have moved their trips to October.

 

[PSUGuy]

We learned the hard way to avoid Columbus Day and the weekend prior. Also cancellations from Irma pushed some folks into this time frame. As for the rest of Oct., except for WS on Saturdays Oct still seems lighter than our previous WDW week, the first week in March.

Bill From PA

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Yep, it's going to be crazy. I've been going Columbus day weekend for the past 3 years (I get that Monday off work) and it's so slammed. Saturday is especially crazy. For the past 6 months I keep seeing people being like "Whoa why is everyone going in October?!", so I think a lot of people are trying out the fall for the first time and don't realize it's busy too. School breaks & the federal holiday make it busier now. The unofficial crowd calendars are saying all red for October. The interesting part is now, folks who went over the summer said it was less crazy than usual! So the slower times may be shifting as schools changes their breaks and word gets around that the "best" time to go is in the fall & winter. Also lots of people who had to reschedule because of Irma picked Columbus Day weekend, and it's a popular food & wine festival time.

All that being said, have you tried searching without discounts? The discounted rooms have been very unavailable since the day the discounts came out, but some people have had luck with rack rates! CBR shows up when I search too, though it's like $223/night with a "discount". It doesn't mean you shouldn't come! You just need to treat it like the high season that it is and plan properly. Fastpasses and maybe make lunch reservations instead of dinner because midday will be the most crowded time. If you want to do Food & wine, hit it early instead of wandering in around lunch time with the locals. Good luck!

 

[goofyintoronto]

I'd avoid the week before and after Columbus day (also the Canadian thanksgiving, if youre Canadian). Oct is a very busy month! Last year I went for a week, right after Columbus day. It was insane. It turned me off from Oct so much that I made a point to book my next trip in Nov. I simply want to avoid mnsshp. Early MK closures (due to the mnsshp) were starting to get on my nerves. Basically, MK would close the usual time (or late EMH) only TWICE during that week ....and those two particular nights would be slammed. So im going once mnsshp ends and just before mvmcp begins. Wish me luck.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

You might be able to get cheaper resorts by doing a split stay, but for months now they aren't showing anything cheaper than BLT if I plug in several days. I did see availability (last time I checked) when I did 1-2 night stays and/or switched to Rack Rate. For some reason, Disney doesn't always show you rooms that are available only at rack rate if you have a discounted rate selected (Florida Resident, Passholder, etc...)

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

You might be able to get cheaper resorts by doing a split stay, but for months now they aren't showing anything cheaper than BLT if I plug in several days. I did see availability (last time I checked) when I did 1-2 night stays and/or switched to Rack Rate. For some reason, Disney doesn't always show you rooms that are available only at rack rate if you have a discounted rate selected (Florida Resident, Passholder, etc...)

It's true and that's so annoying! I have to sign in & out of my different MDE accounts to clear out the discounts so I can search for rack rates.

 

[AngiTN]

This might explain some of it (see the bold)

Here's what we (TouringPlans) are doing to update the crowd calendar:

1. We've started surveying large travel agencies to get a sense of how many people cancelled their trips outright and how many rescheduled.
2. For those guests that have rescheduled, we're asking for the dates to when they rescheduled.
3. We're added data to our models that take into account the park impacts from storms Hermine ('16), Colin ('16), Matthew ('16), Beryl ('12) and Irene ('11), including their severity and proximity to the parks.

That update should be available in the next couple of days.

Beyond that we're also looking at two other things:

1. The possibility that Disney may announce non-hurricane-related parks & resorts layoffs in the next few weeks. I'm told this is likely.
2. An issue with Disney's reservation system that's incorrectly showing lower room availability. I'm told a summer update to the reservation system is causing 1 reservation request to reserve rooms at 2 separate resorts. That's causing the second resort to show artificially low occupancy. I was able to confirm this in person a couple of weeks ago.

Their crowd predictions haven't changed for the week we are going

 

[Nicole786]

Disney also plays games with their hotel availability. Try to extend your check in or check out date and watch the rooms magically show up. They don't want to release a room for one night.

Ive been playing this hotel game for many years and if you check my disboards history, ive asked this question in the past, only to have people chime in about how its going to be sooo busy because of this reason or another reason. This is true, its going to be busy...because its always busy. This week is no exception. Just play with the dates a little bit and you'll see what I mean

 

[writerguyfl]

Disney also plays games with their hotel availability. Try to extend your check in or check out date and watch the rooms magically show up. They don't want to release a room for one night.

FYI: This is not "playing games", it's something called Revenue Management. Pretty much every hotel on the planet uses it to maximize occupancy and profit.

While it clearly benefits the hotel, it also benefits any guest who stays for more than one night. Without Revenue Management, most weekends at Disney World would sell out with locals. People who want to stay 3 nights or more probably wouldn't be able to make reservations unless Disney saved rooms through the use of Revenue Management.

 

[Nicole786]

FYI: This is not "playing games", it's something called Revenue Management. Pretty much every hotel on the planet uses it to maximize occupancy and profit.

While it clearly benefits the hotel, it also benefits any guest who stays for more than one night. Without Revenue Management, most weekends at Disney World would sell out with locals. People who want to stay 3 nights or more probably wouldn't be able to make reservations unless Disney saved rooms through the use of Revenue Management.

Ah, interesting! Learned something new tonight