re: Any of y’all ever been to Yosemite ?

Sharing my experience from yesterday.

I called the Yosemite lodging number last week because I knew that they opened up reservations exactly 366 days in advance, and we are planning a Yosemite trip for next summer. The rep told me that my dates would open sometime between 12 AM and 6 AM Mountain time on Sunday the 19th, depending on when their system cleared the previous night’s reservations and that I would just need to refresh until I saw availability. I set my alarm for 1:55 AM Eastern yesterday morning, and started refreshing.

*SIX* hours of constantly refreshing later, at 8:13 AM Eastern, I finally saw the availability pop up on my phone and went flying into my home office to reserve. I got a room at Yosemite Valley Lodge, but not the exact room I wanted. (I live way out in the country, and that sold out to people with faster internet.) Out of curiosity, before FINALLY heading back to bed, I kept refreshing and watched until all Lodge availability was completely sold out, at 8:24 AM, eleven minutes after it opened.

Why can't they just open it at a fixed time when they're sure they will have had time to clear the previous reservations?!?! That's how it worked when I made El Tovar (Grand Canyon) reservations in April 2021 for our stay in April 2022.

Also, I think their cancellation policy is too liberal and that a nominal non-refundable charge of even $10-20 dollars per night (or reservation) may make a difference in what I know is a phenomenon of making a bunch of tentative reservations and cancelling at the last minute. That makes it difficult for others to plan. (Even a measly quarter makes people return their buggies at Aldi!)