Crazy! Tried booking for Dec. 2019

[Carrie Ellis]

I know next year will be busy and I know the closer you get to Christmas the busier it gets. That is why my sis and I were going to go ahead and book a RV spot for my mom and dad at the 499 day mark. Our dates are Dec 14-22, 2019. We were on a family vacation last week and planned on calling while we were together but it got busy and we did not do it. Now that I am back home, I thought, yesterday, I better do this (it is now less than 499). Last night I called and I could not book the entire week. She said that i had to wait until Friday to book the entire week. The is not what I was told by a WDW employee a few months ago. I had a military question so I emailed Disney. Someone actually called me to answer! While I was talking to him I asked him about the 499 day booking and when it starts. He said at the first day not the last.

Anyway....I wanted a premium site for them so the site was not so tight for them this time. There were no premium sites left for the night of the 18th???? Already??

I could only book Dec. 14-19th for now (preferred). I decided to go ahead and do it since I was on the phone and then call back with the additional 4 nights. But, I could only do preferred. I did and thought I would call and check back on premiums too.

So ya'll really think they are already getting booked up 1 1/2 years from now? Or are they just maybe holding back on some sites?

She did confirm that any overflow parking will be $19/night. She did not state the number of vehicles that could be at the site just that they must fit on the concrete slab.

I am having to just not think about the price per night for the sites. I know it is supply and demand but part of me wonders where it will stop. I even wonder at what point I/we will have to stop. We can not all fit in our RV anymore. I looked into renting an extra RV and pulling our RV last time. The two RV spots, the rental and the extra diesel to get ours to FL just could not be justified. The two RV spots alone would run us $300-$400/night.

Anyway! back to the original question! do you think they are already booking up?

 

[bama_ed]

Carrie,

The 499/500 rule applies to your check-out day. 500 days from today Aug 7 takes you to Dec 20, 2019 and you want the 22nd. So it will take 2-3 days before you can and that's if all the inventory gets loaded.

See what you can get then and then clean up or change your existing, shorter reservation.

Good luck!

Bama Ed

PS - that WDW CM who told you it's based off the start date was simply wrong. It's been well established on this board that your ENTIRE stay must fit within the 500 day booking window. That's why people about this time of year start calling EVERY day and booking ONE day at a time to string together those prime Christmas-New Year dates.

 

[morrik5]

Carrie,

The 499/500 rule applies to your check-out day. 500 days from today Aug 7 takes you to Dec 20, 2019 and you want the 22nd. So it will take 2-3 days before you can and that's if all the inventory gets loaded.

See what you can get then and then clean up or change your existing, shorter reservation.

Good luck!

Bama Ed

PS - that WDW CM who told you it's based off the start date was simply wrong. It's been well established on this board that your ENTIRE stay must fit within the 500 day booking window. That's why people about this time of year start calling EVERY day and booking ONE day at a time to string together those prime Christmas-New Year dates.

Great clarification Bama Ed, nice and simple to understand as we all get so many different responses.

 

[Carrie Ellis]

Yes great explanation from Bama Ed! It is kind of scary when you can get more correct information from Disboards than actual employees! ha Hopefully my main question was correctly answered from when I called. I was trying to get exact so we knew when to call since we were up in the Ozarks last week. It would not have mattered because now we know that we could not have done the entire week.

I was not able to book all the dates possible (up to the 499/500 date) for a premium site the other day. So I booked preferred. I called the next day (yesterday) to add another night and I was able to get a premium site all the way to the date possible (up to 499/500)! So FYI for anyone trying to book for Dec. 2019. I am unsure if they are beginning to get booked up or the sites were not released yet.

It seems so crazy to book so early but I sure don't want to be trying to piece a week together later for them. I am going to book another night in a second. We booked our VRBO 6 months ago just to make sure we got that week. She already has her other VRBO booked for that week too.