My family of 6 is mulling over a trip for 6 nights with 5 days in parks in January, probably a Sunday to Saturday. We actually are pretty flexible, at this point though. It kills me that Disney doesnt have a way to search for 2 standard rooms for a party of 6, and that theres no way to express that you are flexible on dates, to try to get any additional options that would be available with even just a little alteration to the entered dates and party size. I’ve been punching in as many different combos as i can think of in the resort search on disneyworld.com for basically each week in January, entering just 3 of our party, to try to see if more options become available and no matter what changes i make, im not finding any availability at value resorts, outside of family suites. I realize a family suite would be a good option for all 6 of us and we are strongly considering that, but we also wanted to price out two all star or pop rooms, just to see what the difference would be. I cant find any available to even price for just half of us.
Are the standard value resort rooms really consistently selling completely out these days? Even in non peak seasons? Am i likely messing something up? Does anyone else get as frustrated as I do just punching in possible configurations and checking different resorts, one scenario at a time, for hours, and still coming away unconfident that you’ve seen all the possibilities available?
As an FYI - there is a big cheer competition at the end of January and the all stars are booked for that. I would recommend trying for Wednesday-Wednesday or Thursday-Thursday. The weekend availability at the end of the month is slim.
[and yes, I also feel your pain with searching, it is annoying.]
Thanks for the suggestions. We have been at the value resorts during cheer competitions in Jan or Feb before and i was wondering if that was part of what I was seeing this time. I think our preference is to go Jan 5 through 11 so we could go to MK on 1/5 and get a ride on BTMR before it closes for a long time. But there doesnt seem to be any all star or pop availability that week or the second week of January either. Looks like the Marathon is the 9th - 12th so that may have an impact too. I might play with the Thursday to Thursday thing a bit. Right now leaning toward 1/5 - 1/11 at AoA family suite. Hoping its safe to assume Skyliner wont go down that early in Jan.
January is kind of “last minute” by now, so I’m not shocked that you’re finding limited availability. I hope you’re able to find something suitable to your party size and budget needs. You can always book one room and then go back in to book the second one; if you’re unlucky to find a match you can cancel for a full refund
Yeah, we’ve gone back and forth on whether to do this one in January, or wait another year. We’ve always been folks who have to save up Disney card reward points and build up our savings for a couple of years or more to be able to go back. But we have saved up enough to do it, now, and after getting through the worst of the Hurricane Helene aftermath here in WNC, we just were feeling like we might try to give it a go somewhat last minute. I know January at Disney isnt what it was when we started going that time of year 20 years ago, but just had not realized that its to the point of basically selling out all the standard value rooms. I think we can go with a family suite at AoA. We’ve only stayed there once but i really enjoyed it and I like having Skyliner as an option. If we switch to 1/12 - 1/18 there is a family suite at ASM available, though for a bit less money. But lose a chance to ride BTMR and Skyliner.
Do yall have a grasp on whether the marathon effects attendance the week before or the week after more? I feel like i recall reading that the marathon doesnt have much impact on park attendance, just roads and accommodations. Not sure though. Crowd calendar seems to predict both weeks basically equally moderate attendance.
The marathon can impact travel around WDW on the Saturday & Sunday, especially if you plan to rope drop. Using Disney transport is a good idea, as is keeping up to date with road closures. The Skyliner would be good - unless the race is ending at Epcot or DHS. The routes vary year to year.
Thanks for the advice! I think we’ll stick with AoA for the first week then. We wouldnt be attending parks Saturday and out of town by Sunday in that scenario.
I’m unable to take a week off work in April or May. Thats our busiest season in Horticulture at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. Even if I could, I dont think my wife and middle son would be up for Central FL at that point. They both despise anything close to hot. I think late Nov - February is their window of acceptable weather down there.
In keeping with @Len 's observance of Not Negative November, I would like to thank Disney IT’s most helpful handling of revisions to the date range when searching for room availability. When I could not find availability for, as an example, 1/27 → 1/31, and wanted to try for the shorter 1/28 → 1/31 they actually changed the search to 1/28 → 2/4, knowing that deep down I really wanted those extra days. You might think this would have upset me, but before I caught on to what was happening, I got shut out a different deluxe booking I would have made and instead booked a moderate. So thank you Disney IT for saving me money.
FYI … I have gone back and tested this multiple times and verified the behavior is repeatable.
You’re right about that @linsalt ! It’s a very frustrating part of the booking engine and I have to be very mindful of paying attention to that happening when I modify my searches!
Yeah, I really enjoy my job. I’ve been there about 11 years and am very grateful for it.
Yes, my family and our home were very blessed. We lost 6 large trees on our property, but they didnt damage any structures ( one narrowly missed the front porch ) and we had a couple of inches of water seep into the front half of our basement but we kept it out of the finished areas and got it out and dried it up relatively quickly. We fared so much better than many in our area.
Biltmore has required a ton of work to reopen, but its been, of course, a blessing to still have a job and good to have a place to be making things better and beautiful again each day.
Two rooms at CSR (non-tower) are basically the same price. I don’t know how likely you are to get connecting rooms, and obviously no Skyliner access, but I wanted to mention.
You could keep an eye on JJT’s DVC confirmed reservations thread in case something comes up there, if you’re willing to rent points? There are a pair of OKW studios that are close to what you’re looking for (I think they start 1/4 and go for 7 days), but the price is higher right now. Some rental companies will take offers back to the owners, but I have never tried that. If you could get them to ~$20 / point, that would be in range of the family suite as well.
Thanks for the additional suggestions. I must admit I’ve heard dvc point purchasing mentioned but I dont know anything about it and I dont feel like I have the mental space to take on an entire new frontier for me at this time. Maybe someday. I will check out the CSR options, but I’m skeptical of the multistop bus service with no Skyliner.
