[johnkimv]

I just thought I would vent and see if anyone had a good replys to justify the stupidity of the way you have to book a site at Fort Wilderness.

I am booked for a preferred site at Fort Wilderness 8/28-9/2. My SIL was going to join us on our campsite with her husband and friend, but she is no longer married and blah, blah, blah!

She asked me to book another site just for her and her friends so she wouldn't be so cramped. Fine. I went online and there was NOTHING available. I decided to call and again NOTHING available. I understand that it is Labor Day weekend, but I also know that there are a lot of tent sites at Disney and it is the dead heat of the summer at this time and I am sure they have a tent site SOMEWHERE!!. The CM said NO.

So I got the bright idea today to try and book a reservation for her group for each night individually that we would be there. I decided before I do this, that I will try the original dates online. Nothing, of course, was available. So, I then decided to try to extend the vacation one more day, from 5 nights to six nights.

Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding!!! It worked!!! Before booking, I open a new tab and try the original dates and NO, they are not available. How funny it is that I can book for 6 nights, but it is not available for 5 nights!! This is not the first time either. Anytime I try to book a preferred campsite, I can't get it unless I am there atleast 5 nights.

This makes me soooo angry. You would think they would rather book it for 5 nights than for nothing at all.

I am on to their little scam!!

So I print out her confirmation and call Disney to say I made an error when I booked and need to leave a day earlier. The CM fixed it and all is well, but what a pain in the neck. I have much better things to do than to play Disney booking games, like play on MouseBuzz!!

Sorry for the long post, I don't really feel better- BUT We are going to Disney World and I don't have to share my campsite!!

[brebre_51]

My goodness. That doesn't make any sense at all.

When we went down in January '08, we got the preferred campsite for three nights with no problem. It looks like they would want to fill up their campsites. No matter if it was for 2, 5 or 7 days or however long. I wonder if there is someone higher up that you can speak with about this.

[HappyCamper]

I'm not sure if this is related, but a couple of weeks ago I tried to make reservations for a campsite for Dec 2009 (yes, at the time it was 495 days before the trip!)...and the only days (after four days of trying) I could book were the night of the 21st, 22nd, and the night of the 25th of December. (I, too, tried to do the whole vacation at once and then resorted to trying each date separately.) After SEVERAL (long) phone calls with many different folks in reservations, I was finally told that the updates being made at FW may have delayed updates in the computer system. This meant that, as sites were being converted to premium sites, they couldn't be listed at all, so they were left off altogether until completed. Sooo, I waited two additional days, booked the 21-29 all in one call and, as of this morning, booked the last three days of our vacation.

So, bottom line, I'm curious to know if this is why you had problems with online booking too. I KNOW how much of a pain I was having and how time consuming it is to get those separate little dates strung together on one reservation #...yuck.

In the long run, when we're all there and happy, it'll be well worth all the effort!

Enjoy your trip!

[johnkimv]

I thought the upgrades were to be completed by the end of this year not next year. I have gone through this booking game with them many times and I think it is just ridiculous. I love it there, so I put up with it and keep making reservations!!

I will be there on Thursday so hopefully I will be able to check back in with the udates and such.

[mairinmaureen]

Yes, that would be frustrating. I am glad that you finally got it situated though and very glad that you are going to DISNEY! Once you arrive, it will be like it never happened. Have a fantastic trip!

[brebre_51]

Originally Posted by johnkimv

I thought the upgrades were to be completed by the end of this year not next year. I have gone through this booking game with them many times and I think it is just ridiculous. I love it there, so I put up with it and keep making reservations!!

I will be there on Thursday so hopefully I will be able to check back in with the udates and such.

Please, let us know about the up-grades/changes at the FWCG as we have reservations in early October. I hate unpleasant surprises.

[WishUponAStar]

Wow, that's a little crazy. hmm. very weird. I am glad you got it worked out though!

[leslieh]

You were smart to be so persistent and creative!