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Am I the only one who misses the old way we made reservations at the fort?  I can remember getting reservations for Christmas most anytime during the year. Yes you had to be creative but you could get a site.  
 

Now they give all the sites to travel agents and they are gone in one day. I just liked the old way where I controlled my reservations.  
 

sorry to ramble just my 2 cents

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51 minutes ago, Disneybishops said:

Am I the only one who misses the old way we made reservations at the fort?  I can remember getting reservations for Christmas most anytime during the year. Yes you had to be creative but you could get a site.  
 

Now they give all the sites to travel agents and they are gone in one day. I just liked the old way where I controlled my reservations.  
 

sorry to ramble just my 2 cents

I liked the real old way. 

When you drove into World Drive just before the parking ticket booth, there was a sign on the right that would say that the Fort had campsites available for that night.

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50 minutes ago, Disneybishops said:

Am I the only one who misses the old way we made reservations at the fort?  I can remember getting reservations for Christmas most anytime during the year. Yes you had to be creative but you could get a site.  
 

Now they give all the sites to travel agents and they are gone in one day. I just liked the old way where I controlled my reservations.  
 

sorry to ramble just my 2 cents

The inability to get reservations is a complaint on every RV forum I follow and it is at all levels, State, County and even private CG.  The RV sales boom started in 2016 and has just gotten worse so you have many more competing for what's out there.  People say that if you don't start looking the day the reservation window opens you probably won't get one.

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I do object to the wording of giving all the sites to travel agents. Speaking on a personal level I work friggin hard to get my clients the sites they ask for on the first day of availability and throughout the year. Not a single thing has been "given" to me. 

The problem is the popularity of the Fort combined with, in some cases, the min/max booking system. 

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6 hours ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

The inability to get reservations is a complaint on every RV forum I follow and it is at all levels, State, County and even private CG.  The RV sales boom started in 2016 and has just gotten worse so you have many more competing for what's out there.  People say that if you don't start looking the day the reservation window opens you probably won't get one.

The pandemic hasn't helped much either. The two state campgrounds we could always go to on the spur of the moment even last spring are now booked solid months ahead. The rangers say it is mostly families with their kids who are on remote learning. My RV dealer also said they've seen an uptick in sales since the pandemic as families use camping as a way to get away from the house without having to be close to a lot of people.

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Oh and even if you use a travel agent such as myself you still have control, we just do the tedious work of sitting on the phone with Disney for you. Yes any changes or payments have to go through us after we book for you but we work for you. At least I do. I try to respond to all of my clients in as quick of a timeframe as possible. 

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Just now, keith_h said:

The pandemic hasn't helped much either. The two state campgrounds we could always go to on the spur of the moment even last spring are now booked solid months ahead. The rangers say it is mostly families with their kids who are on remote learning. My RV dealer also said they've seen an uptick in sales since the pandemic as families use camping as a way to get away from the house without having to be close to a lot of people.

I am actually hoping to take advantage of the sell off that will inevitably happen when people get to go back to their normal vacations. 

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33 minutes ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

I am actually hoping to take advantage of the sell off that will inevitably happen when people get to go back to their normal vacations. 

It's already started, went by the auction lot near Lakeland, more RV'S there than ever before.  Should be even.more repos than we've seen in a long time too.

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1 minute ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

It's already started, went by the auction lot near Lakeland, more RV'S there than ever before.  Should be even.more repos than we've seen in a long time too.

Not happy about the repo's for what should be obvious reasons. 2020 was a tough year for a lot of people.  :(

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4 hours ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

Not happy about the repo's for what should be obvious reasons. 2020 was a tough year for a lot of people.  :(

It will be those who bought and then decided to get out after COVID and didn't do their homework when they bought. They figured they could sell it for what they owed not realizing the RV market doesn't work that way.  

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17 hours ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

I do object to the wording of giving all the sites to travel agents. Speaking on a personal level I work friggin hard to get my clients the sites they ask for on the first day of availability and throughout the year. Not a single thing has been "given" to me. 

The problem is the popularity of the Fort combined with, in some cases, the min/max booking system. 

Don’t mean to offend anyone.  It’s just that certain travel agents gobble up all the sites. I’ve been told they get availability before the window opens to normal folks.  I just like the way it was done in the past. 
 

And it didn’t start this year either

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17 hours ago, keith_h said:

The pandemic hasn't helped much either. The two state campgrounds we could always go to on the spur of the moment even last spring are now booked solid months ahead. The rangers say it is mostly families with their kids who are on remote learning. My RV dealer also said they've seen an uptick in sales since the pandemic as families use camping as a way to get away from the house without having to be close to a lot of people.

It’s not because of covid at the Fort.  I can see the state cg’s filling up as they are reality inexpensive.  At the Fort the site are more than 100.00 year round. 
 

also yesterday I booked Memorial Day. 4th of July and Labor Day

its only Christmas and if you don’t o through a travel agent you are out of luck

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1 hour ago, Disneybishops said:

 It’s just that certain travel agents gobble up all the sites. I’ve been told they get availability before the window opens to normal folks.

I think Jason will probably disagree with that. If that was the case he wouldn't be up at 12:01 am looking for reservations.  He always posts when reservations will open up and tells everybody to let him know so he can book.

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23 minutes ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

I think Jason will probably disagree with that. If that was the case he wouldn't be up at 12:01 am looking for reservations.  He always posts when reservations will open up and tells everybody to let him know so he can book.

I think some of the TAs have a large amount of staff members that all start booking sites as soon as they open.

 

So they do scoop up a bunch of reservations as soon as they can.

 

I'm sure if Jason can get that lazy cat of his trained to use a PC, he could book more sites... :lol:

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8 minutes ago, Travisma said:

I think some of the TAs have a large amount of staff members that all start booking sites as soon as they open.

I'm sure if Jason can get that lazy cat of his trained to use a PC, he could book more sites... :lol:

But they don't get them any earlier than anybody else.      He could sleep in then too!  

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1 hour ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

But they don't get them any earlier than anybody else.      He could sleep in then too!  

True, they probably (but who really knows with Disney) don't get them earlier.

But with multiple people booking for clients, they can process a lot more requests then one person in the same amount of time.

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  • 2 months later...

It was so much nicer when The Fort made their own reservations.  Now, you have to book too many days and then cancel what you don't want.  The large TA companies seem to have a monopoly of getting reservations.  Jason does a great job, but there is a TA in particular that seems to get the reservations and I have met her.  She isn't a nice person.

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  • 1 month later...
On 1/5/2021 at 2:34 PM, Katman1356...Jason said:

I do object to the wording of giving all the sites to travel agents. Speaking on a personal level I work friggin hard to get my clients the sites they ask for on the first day of availability and throughout the year. Not a single thing has been "given" to me. 

The problem is the popularity of the Fort combined with, in some cases, the min/max booking system. 

You are a great travel agent, but there is a travel agent that seems to have the market on Fort Wilderness sites.  I have met this person and they are not very friendly in person.

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  • 1 month later...
On 1/5/2021 at 2:37 PM, Katman1356...Jason said:

I am actually hoping to take advantage of the sell off that will inevitably happen when people get to go back to their normal vacations. 

Jason, First I'm happy to still see you here.

 

Second, I am anxiously awaiting that fast approaching time myself. Would love to upgrade to a younger truck camper.

On 3/8/2021 at 6:21 PM, disneylitch......Debbie said:

It was so much nicer when The Fort made their own reservations.  Now, you have to book too many days and then cancel what you don't want.  The large TA companies seem to have a monopoly of getting reservations.  Jason does a great job, but there is a TA in particular that seems to get the reservations and I have met her.  She isn't a nice person.

Debbie, like many other campgrounds they will eventually catch on and if you drop of to many days, they will dump your whole reservation. I've been searching my available vacation times(we have certain dates available) finding we cannot book 7 day anywhere. i was lucky to find 5 days. The loss of 7 days worth of rental's for people reducing to 2 days on just a weekend will eventually catch up.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 1/5/2021 at 2:34 PM, Katman1356...Jason said:

I do object to the wording of giving all the sites to travel agents. Speaking on a personal level I work friggin hard to get my clients the sites they ask for on the first day of availability and throughout the year. Not a single thing has been "given" to me. 

The problem is the popularity of the Fort combined with, in some cases, the min/max booking system. 

You are a great travel agent and work very hard.  There is a particular travel agent that seems to have the market on Fort Wilderness reservations.  There is a facebook group that I recommended you on and I was told that I couldn't recommend you because there was only 1 travel agent that was allowed and she isn't even nice.

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On 5/29/2021 at 12:53 PM, Campingdad said:

Jason, First I'm happy to still see you here.

 

Second, I am anxiously awaiting that fast approaching time myself. Would love to upgrade to a younger truck camper.

Debbie, like many other campgrounds they will eventually catch on and if you drop of to many days, they will dump your whole reservation. I've been searching my available vacation times(we have certain dates available) finding we cannot book 7 day anywhere. i was lucky to find 5 days. The loss of 7 days worth of rental's for people reducing to 2 days on just a weekend will eventually catch up.

I have had CM's make reservations for me this way.  They made the reservations and told me to cancel out the days I don't want.  

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  • 2 months later...

Maybe I'm just getting slower in my advancing age.  But, I'm getting POed at the constant changing of the rules at WDW.  We tried booking the Fort last summer for February 2022, and got closed out.  I have checked several times since, but always the same, not available.  So, we booked a nearby off-site hotel for Feb., and frankly, the cost per night is cheaper than a site at the Fort.

So, trying to book the Fort, for Feb. 2023 within the 500 day booking window and found out that option has been changed as well.  I ask the CM, when can I book for Feb. 2023.  His answer, I don't know.  Maybe next summer.  What a bunch of crap!  Does anyone here know?

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