Is there an advantage to reserving your room early?

[woodys_girl]

So I'm looking at taking a trip next spring (2025). I know my approximate dates within 2 or 3 days, but won't know my exact dates until we are much closer. Is there any advantage to booking my room now given there is a high probability I would have to change it by a day or two? Am I correct that if I need to add or remove a day that I'll need the whole reservation to be available separate from my current reservation? For example if I book from the 2-5 of April and then decide I want the 2-4 of April but at the same resort, same room type, there would need to be another room available for the 2-4 besides the room I have currently booked? Or if I wanted the 2-6 of April I wouldn't just need a room available on the 6th, but another room available for the entire window? Or am I completely wrong about that and it's very easy to add or take away a day and I should book as soon as I've decided on a resort?

 

[WinterSolider]

You can book for the widest possible date range (i.e. the earliest possible date to the latest possible date) and then cut nights off when your plans firm up. Availability isn't going to disappear out from under you when you go to reduce your dates.

I'm not sure why you would think there would need to be a second room available for dates you already had booked?

The exception to this would be if you booked under a particular promotion. Promotion inventory is different than regular inventory and you would need specific availability within that promotion to keep it.

 

[woodys_girl]

I'm not sure why you would think there would need to be a second room available for dates you already had booked?

I could have sworn I read an anecdote (some time ago) about someone who had a specific room type of which there is a smallish amount total who was trying to reduce their stay and found out there were no rooms available when they tried to shorten their stay. Perhaps I'm mis-remembering or I mis-understood the situation in the first place. I thought it would be odd for it to not let me drop dates, but Disney can be odd sometimes.

 

[WinterSolider]

I could have sworn I read an anecdote (some time ago) about someone who had a specific room type of which there is a smallish amount total who was trying to reduce their stay and found out there were no rooms available when they tried to shorten their stay. Perhaps I'm mis-remembering or I mis-understood the situation in the first place. I thought it would be odd for it to not let me drop dates, but Disney can be odd sometimes.

My only guess is that they had some kind of promotion booked, and changing dates would have lost them the promotional rate because the promotional inventory was sold out. But if you're booking your placeholder reservation at full price, there shouldn't be any risk.

 

[woodys_girl]

My only guess is that they had some kind of promotion booked, and changing dates would have lost them the promotional rate because the promotional inventory was sold out. But if you're booking your placeholder reservation at full price, there shouldn't be any risk.

Thanks. That may have been the issue.
I guess that means I'll try to be more certain of dates by the time next Spring's promotions come out.

 

[Dave006]

I know my approximate dates within 2 or 3 days, but won't know my exact dates until we are much closer. Is there any advantage to booking my room now given there is a high probability I would have to change it by a day or two?

Only advantage is that you will have a confirmed reservation at today's pricing as long as you don't need to make changes.

Yes you are correct about needing room inventory showing as available if you do self-serve modifications in MDE or a via a regular reservation CM on the phone. However a Guest Services CM can make discrete changes to your existing reservation to add or drop a day or 2. Promotions have the same rule. There needs to be inventory available for your new dates under the Promotion with no guarantee of availability.

Please note that any changes will cause your reservation to be adjusted for any pricing increases on the day the changes are made to your reservation.

Dave

 

[woodys_girl]

Only advantage is that you will have a confirmed reservation at today's pricing as long as you don't need to make changes.

Yes you are correct about needing room inventory showing as available if you do self-serve modifications in MDE or a via a regular reservation CM on the phone. However a Guest Services CM can make discrete changes to your existing reservation to add or drop a day or 2. Promotions have the same rule. There needs to be inventory available for your new dates under the Promotion with no guarantee of availability.

Please note that any changes will cause your reservation to be adjusted for any pricing increases on the day the changes are made to your reservation.

Dave

So, just to confirm, both adding a day and dropping a day you would need to have inventory AND you would be subject to current pricing?

 

[2vets]

You are best off booking a timeframe that encompasses all your possible dates (so for the above, April 2-6). The computer system doesn't (always) seem to be able to add or subtract a day from an existing reservation, it has usually seemed to me to require the room to be otherwise available (as in, a completely separate room aside from what you have booked). Also, they also sometimes put in length-of-stay things online that make finding a single day in a specific room type impossible. When you decide on your dates, if the system won't allow you to update as you'd like, call and ask a CM to shorten the stay as appropriate. You may need to call more than once, I have occasionally had someone grouse a bit, but it's always been possible.

 

[djbogue]

Let me get this straight. I made a reservation for Nov 30-Dec 5, but I only want it for Dec 2 - 5 because their was no availability for the Dec2-5. I can call a CM to shorten the stay. Is this correct?

 

[dansdad]

Let me get this straight. I made a reservation for Nov 30-Dec 5, but I only want it for Dec 2 - 5 because their was no availability for the Dec2-5. I can call a CM to shorten the stay. Is this correct?

Maybe. It may take some time and multiple calls/CM's.

 

[_19disnA]

I have no idea if you can shorten a reservation and still keep the same price. Different days may be at separate prices. Specials may only apply to certain days. Have to call Disney to see what can be done.

The main advantage to booking early is that specific room category may be sold out if you wait too long to reserve it, particularly during peak times of the year.

 

[focusondisney]

Re: shortening a stay…. For a long time this was no problem at all. Many people booked longer stays & adjusted down after their plans finalized. However, about 8-10 years ago, Disney started using a booking algorithm to prevent single room nights. At that time they also made it harder to cut nights off your stay. Since then most regular CRO agents can’t drop nights but have to go thru guest services to do it. Before the pandemic some people reported being told no their reservations couldn’t be adjusted. I haven’t read any reports like that the last 4 years tho. Everything I’ve read recently the poster was able to drop nights as needed. If you try to adjust the reservation yourself online, the new dates need to be available. (That booking algorithm may not allow the change). If it doesn’t let you, calling CRO you *should* be able to drop the nights you don’t need. But it is not guaranteed.

 

[Dave006]

So, just to confirm, both adding a day and dropping a day you would need to have inventory AND you would be subject to current pricing?

Yes and there is a basic reason for this method.

To modify your reservation the system actually needs available inventory to make a new reservation and then process the change and keeping your reservation number and deposit. This is to protect your existing reservation days. If the update were to fail the agent will not lose your existing reserved days since they were not released.

There is not a pool of extra days to add or drop. The current booking system as mentioned above is optimized to not leave orphan days (random 1 night stays). That's why it may be almost impossible for you to "Modify" your reservation in MDE or by calling and speaking to a phone CM. In almost all cases the CM will need to put you on hold and get a Guest Services CM to modify the reservation.

If you book today and then want to add or drop days tomorrow the pricing is the same. However if you book now and then want to add or drop days in 6 or 8 months there are often pricing changes mostly higher but they could also be lower as new offers may be available.

Promotional Offers have a limited inventory of rooms at each resort. Once the inventory is book the pricing is not available. Making a change to this type of reservation requires that there be Promotional Inventory available at the time of the change and the Promotion needs to still be active.

See a very simple process is really quite complex...

Dave

 

[woodys_girl]

Yes and there is a basic reason for this method.

To modify your reservation the system actually needs available inventory to make a new reservation and then process the change and keeping your reservation number and deposit. This is to protect your existing reservation days. If the update were to fail the agent will not lose your existing reserved days since they were not released.

There is not a pool of extra days to add or drop. The current booking system as mentioned above is optimized to not leave orphan days (random 1 night stays). That's why it may be almost impossible for you to "Modify" your reservation in MDE or by calling and speaking to a phone CM. In almost all cases the CM will need to put you on hold and get a Guest Services CM to modify the reservation.

If you book today and then want to add or drop days tomorrow the pricing is the same. However if you book now and then want to add or drop days in 6 or 8 months there are often pricing changes mostly higher but they could also be lower as new offers may be available.

Promotional Offers have a limited inventory of rooms at each resort. Once the inventory is book the pricing is not available. Making a change to this type of reservation requires that there be Promotional Inventory available at the time of the change and the Promotion needs to still be active.

See a very simple process is really quite complex...

Dave

Thank you. That is really interesting.

 

[Becky Mouse]

So I'm looking at taking a trip next spring (2025). I know my approximate dates within 2 or 3 days, but won't know my exact dates until we are much closer. Is there any advantage to booking my room now given there is a high probability I would have to change it by a day or two? Am I correct that if I need to add or remove a day that I'll need the whole reservation to be available separate from my current reservation? For example if I book from the 2-5 of April and then decide I want the 2-4 of April but at the same resort, same room type, there would need to be another room available for the 2-4 besides the room I have currently booked? Or if I wanted the 2-6 of April I wouldn't just need a room available on the 6th, but another room available for the entire window? Or am I completely wrong about that and it's very easy to add or take away a day and I should book as soon as I've decided on a resort?

I personally find modifying reservations to be not worth the hassle. Half the time, if you book a room, you get a note on your reservation that you can't modify online and need to call. Since your dates for next spring aren't near Easter and aren't peak spring break time, I would just wait and book this fall once discounts are available and once you know your travel dates.