This has been an extremely helpful thread of information. I bow to all those that have figured this all out for the rest of us!!
Trip Dates: 10/1-10/5
Leading Reservation Dates: 9/21-10/5 (or 6??)
Two People for all Reservations
I am thinking of deep sixing our park reservation for EPCOT on 10/1 and going to AK instead. We won’t be able to rope drop, but we can deal with that for significantly lower crowds. Currently we have:
10/1 - EPCOT
10/2 - MK
10/3 - DHS
10/4 - AK
10/5 - MK
If I swap EPCOT and AK, the predicted CL for EPCOT drops from a 10 to a 5 (AK will be a 3 instead of 6). We will only have one full day at each park so I am worried that we won’t be able to do much on the anniversary day at EPCOT with a CL of 10.
Also, if I swap out those days, we could think about trying to grab a dinner ADR on 10/1 for California Grill and we could watch the new fireworks from there.
At first I wasn’t considering using a leading reservation…but if I want to swing an ADR for CG…I don’t see any other way to be able to get one.
So our new plan would be
10/1 - AK
10/2 - MK
10/3 - DHS
10/4 - EPCOT
10/5 - MK (or DHS for a second RotR chance).
The two “must have” ADRs for us right now are CG on the first day and Olga’s on the third …but I am sure that I can find a few others that I would be happy to have a solid chance of landing. Hmm, maybe a dinner seating for somewhere in EPCOT for fireworks on the fourth day?
I just took a look at what I could book from 9/21 to 10/5 and I have a choice between GF, AK, or BC (AK is the least expensive)…nothing else is available.
2 Questions:
I would guess I would need to snag the leading reservation soon before everything is booked up on property for the anniversary, correct? Even though it means carrying the deposit for a couple of months.
Do I book the leading reservation until the 5th (check out day) or the 6th (I have seen some recommendations to do one day longer?)?
Do they fuss about really really long reservations? We will be there for two weeks starting 1/23. Our last park day is 2/4, so I assume a leading reservation would end 2/4. 10 days before would be 1/12. So almost 3.5 weeks. Would they fuss about that?
I made my reservation through checkout day with no problems. I’m not sure what having the extra day would accomplish other than giving you a buffer if something went wrong or if you changed your plans? I dunno.
Yes, I would recommend doing so soon. You never know with those dates.
Also, a shame you are giving up your 10/1 EP since it is so coveted, but I think it’s the right decision. I wouldn’t want to be caught up in that mess, especially with Remy opening. Better to give it at least a few days, though it will still probably be madness on the 4th.
Yeah I’d definitely snag one soon if you can - the only room available for ours in December was AKL.
We’re a party of 9 with a split stay across 8 days booked using our DVC points. First time doing this, but hoping it’ll help given all those complications and the 60-day madness.
I booked a leading res for late September thru early October recently and interestingly, there were more resorts available for the 15-night stay at that time than for my actual trip in early October even though it includes the entirety of my trip. In other words, my actual dates were available as part of a 15-night stay at some resorts but not for just the 6 nights I wanted. Led me to wonder, if I tried to shorten my leading res later to my actual dates would they hassle me about that, since it’s probably obvious what I was doing?
The rate shouldn’t be any different, it’s standard rate (although maybe I could have booked it with the 25% off deal…). It looks like maybe there is a separate bucket of availability for longer stays vs shorter stays.
The standard rate CAN actually vary within a few days. I was booked at Pop for my birthday stay at $208/night for July 19-24 - wanted to add one night (the 25th) and the rate changed to $211/night.
(Turns out my TA got me CSR Standard View for $203/night with the late summer discount, so pop is so yesterday now.)
It was a little crazy - I am going during a popular week (and the leading is Nov - Dec, so a popular time), but they only had Coronado @ $700/night, AKL @ $450 and Boardwalk at $1,000+ for the 15 nights I wanted
I have made a leading reservation for dining for our trip in November. Assuming the Bippity Boppity Boutique comes back, would this also work for this experience?
I called for the cabana. However I waited until I could cancel my leading reservation to do it. I was less concerned about not getting a cabana and was worried about exactly that. I’m sure my worries were unfounded. Can you do BBB online or is it phone only like the cabana?
Pre-COVID, I believe you could book online. Not sure about now and I’m not even sure if BBB is open. Our trip is November, so I still have a bit of time.
It occurred to me that the ones most polite to book for a leading reservation might have changed with the Deluxe evening hours. Seems like some moderate people might upgrade to deluxe.
I see CSR often in the Hotwire/Priceline blog posts. Does that seem like a reasonable choice? I’d like to pick something that won’t disadvantage planners, and also that won’t cause Disney to notice that rooms are vacant because of leading reservations. I don’t really care about the deposit cost, because we’d just turn around and spend that money in-park anyway.
I’d honestly just choose whatever is cheapest and there are a ton of rooms. I did All Stars I think but there were less resorts at the time. Coronado Springs, Pop and All Stars are often in Hotwire and they are huge resorts.
Hmm, maybe a dinner seating for somewhere in EPCOT for fireworks on the fourth day?