do you reserve at your "home" 11 mos ahead then change to somewhere else?

[imgoingtodisney]

Im brand new at this reserving using points. Do most people reserve at their "home" 11 months from when they would go? And then change to what they really want?
In other words if I would like to be on the Disney Magic 7day cruise in Dec instead of waiting till the beginning of Jan should I actually reserve now for VWL if Im planning on going there if I cant get on the boat? Or is there never a problem reserving for the boat? thanks

[Pluto4President]

I never have. I've always just reserved where and when I could.

[jel0511]

I'm a little confused about your post. From what I do understand you're asking if you should book at VWL to reserve space, then switch to DCL. You would only be able to call for next Dec at VWL in Jan, just like DCL, they also have an 11 month booking window, hence there is no difference with home resort with DCL or The Disney Collection. I hope that answered your question. If I was planning on staying somewhere else than my home of VWL, I'd book at VWL and then try to change at the 7 month window to ensure I had somewhere to stay when I wanted to stay.

[imgoingtodisney]

That answers my question. I didnt realize that people paying with cash also cannot book their Disney cruise until 11 months prior. So using points has the same chance on getting on the boat as people paying with cash. Some posts list them as going those dates instead of tentative. To me its tentative until they are booked.

[Pluto4President]

No cash ressies for DCL are 2 years? Right now you can book DCL on line through 2003.

[dianeschlicht]

mildly confused here. Are you booking a cruise with points? If so, you can do that 11 months out. If you are paying cash, that is another story. The only time you would book your home resort and change is if you wanted to stay in a different DVC resort.

[sueg]

Our home resort is OKW. For our trip in Oct., we wanted to stay at BWV, but would have happily stayed at OKW. So I booked at the 11 mo. window for OKW, but at the 7 mo. window, I attempted to book BW. We couldn't get a ressie, so I booked VWL (cancelling OKW)and went on the waiting list for BW. The wait list came thru and automatically cancelled my WL ressie. It was alittle more work this way, but it worked out in the end.

[imgoingtodisney]

Yes, Disney cruise would be with points. For Dec cruise I could reserve this coming Jan. However, if we didnt get on the cruise we'd go to VWL in Oct. For this I could reserve now. Just wondering chances are very good that we would be able to get onto the Dec cruise. People paying cash have already been able to reserve.

[reneesam]

Barb-

In this uncertain travel climate, I would imagine you would have no trouble booking a cruise on points 11 months out. In fact, as was pointed out by another poster, the cash prices keep falling, so your better value might be cash rather than points for the cruise.

Since your plans for travel to WDW is for October versus a possible December cruise, you could book VWL at 11 months out and then switch. However, you would still be in the 4 month home resort advantage period if you waited two months and would likely still get a VWL ressie for October if the cruise were not available. Also, if you book VWL and cancel, you have to return those vacation points to your account before turning them into reservation points to book your cruise. This should happen immediately, but also can take more time (I speak from experience on this one.) Reservation points cannot be converted back to vacation points, so you want to be sure about the cruise.

I was able to book a cruise on three months notice last year (three category 5 staterooms, all adjoining.) Good luck.

[imgoingtodisney]

Thank you