Trouble booking 7 months out?

[bnewman27]

I'm looking into buying a DVC resale. I was planning on having BWV as my home resort, until another member advised me to buy into SS instead. The membership would last 12 years longer, the price per point would be less, and the annual dues would be less. His home resort is SS and he has never had a problem getting a 1br villa at the other resorts at the 7 month out point. Outside of Christmas week, has anyone had trouble getting a reservation at a resort that was different than their home resort? Thanks for your help!

[tink_n_pooh]

I've never had a problem getting a one-bedroom at 7 months out, then again we almost always go in the value season. Last year we had an issue finding exactly what we wanted at about 2 months out but never had a problem at 7 months out

[granolacruncher11]

Buy where you want to stay! That is the recurring advice given to potential owners and I wish I would have listened!

[bobbiwoz]

Just where do you want to stay? If you're happy with anything other than SSR, you could be alright. If you have to have a particular resort, you may not be. Plus, 1 bedrooms seem to book last, they cost more than studios, and still only hold 4 in most cases. MS will let you book 5 in them, but in the resorts that don't have the sleeping chair for that 5th person, housekeeping will not provide bedding for the 5th.

Bobbi

PS. We have a bid in for SSR points as an add on. We will use these points most frequently at SSR, for a treehouse, but we will also try to use some of the points at other resorts at the 7 month mark. There will be lots of competition for the other resorts at 7 months. If you really want to stay at another resort, I would not buy SSR points if I were you.

[mccathy]

We like boardwalk too, but just bought at Bay Lake. My reasoning was - if I can't get boardwalk I'd want Bay Lake because of location. We love the fact that we can get to at least two parks from each resort without a bus. At SSR you will not have that option - it's buses for all!

I couldn't justify paying $106/point for boardwalk via Disney when you can get it at resale for around $80/point. If you've got the cash to do it that way - do it! Otherwise, I'd advice buying SSR or BLT via Disney for the financing option.

[n2mm]

It is not easy to get BCV or BWV at the 7 month window during Oct/Food and Wine. Also, it is nearly impossible to get any resort during the first 2 weeks of December booking at the 7 month window. During those 2 times I always choose one of my homes and book at the 11 month window. Other than that, I don't travel during Christmas, Easter, July 4th, Memorial Day weekend, NYE. So I can't comment on those. Calling after the 7 month window opens, I have found availability at OKW and SSR for short planned trips. I called this week for the first week of May, and got into the BWV standard view (which is a harder reservation to get during the 7 month window). I was lucky.

[DebbieB]

If you want the boardwalk view at BWV, I would buy there. That's why I did. It can be hard to get at 7 months. You probably would be able to get pool/garden at 7 months most of the year.

[El&Asmom]

In our experience, it seems one bedrooms are much easier than studios or 2bds. We just booked a pool view at BWV for a 2bd the third week of April. We wanted a boardwalk view or SV but it wasn't available. BCV 2bds weren't available either. We're waitlisted for the other views at BWV.
Last year during the same week, we had basically every choice at every resort except CL at AKV available in a 1bd.

FWIW, we have had great success with waitlists, especially if you book right at the 7m window. However as already mentioned, if you HAVE to have a specific room at a specific resort every time you travel, buy where you want to stay.
We haven't met a DVC we didn't like, so we're fine with SSR and booking either there or another resort if we want to try something new.

(ETA: Our WL for a BW view came through last week!)

[crisi]

Look at it this way - when BWV was built they sold enough points to BWV members to fill the resort. At that time there were less than 100,000 members.

There are the same number of rooms at BWV (actually a few more from when they converted the sales center, but they sold points for them) and now 400,000 members - and more resorts yet to open.

So the 50,000 or so DVC members who can book up BWV get a priority window. At seven months - 350,000 more people can book there. While there are plenty of people who prefer other resorts, there are a lot of people who occasionally want to stay at BWV.

Answer - at the smaller resorts people DO have problems booking seven months out (we always book eleven months out and have always stayed 'home.' But plenty of people do have luck as well. If your heart is set on staying at a location - or if you want a popular time (obviously, a lot of people want to be near Epcot for F&W), you are well served buying your points there. If you aren't so picky, SSR is a great value.

[danielle782001]

I have had trouble booking the first two weeks of December three years in a row and this year we could not get Thanksgiving week at 7 months.

[suzyqqq27]

Boardwalk is our home resort and we always stay in October during Food and Wine Festival. This year, I couldn't even get what I wanted before it opened up at the 7-month window. I had to wait for my husband's schedule to come out before I booked so I wasn't at 11 months out but still at like 8 or 9 months before it opened up to all DVC members and I was still waitlisted for our first night's stay. The waitlist never came through by the way.

I would buy at Boardwalk if you want to stay at Boardwalk.

Suzanne

[tjkraz]

I still think that "DON'T buy where you DON'T want to stay" is the best advice for most members.

Many DVC members plan more than 7 months in advance and will book their Home just to lock-in a set of dates and a room. Then at 7 months you can try to move elsewhere.

If you're of the mindset that any trip spent at SSR would be a disappointment, then don't buy there. Period. On the other hand if you don't mind keeping the SSR reservation on the rare occasion that another resort is not available, then there's nothing wrong with owning SSR.

It's also worth nothing that One Bedroom villas are reportedly among the last rooms to fill up on average. A couple posters here have mentioned repeated success booking 1B villas at 7 months. I wouldn't count on that same success translating to Studio or 2B villas.

You also can't count on getting the hard-to-book room categories at 7 months. At BWV, the Standard View and BoardWalk View are rarely available at 7 months. It's usually the Garden/Pool View available at 7 mos.

[dclfun]

I agree that it will become harder and harder as time goes by to get a non-home resort at 7 months out, just due to increasing numbers of members and their desire to also get a non-home resort. Many people bought at SSR thinking that they'd get another resort at 7 months out so will all be trying along with you. I also agree that getting a 1 bedroom at 7 months out is MUCH easier than getting a studio or 2 bedroom. It's even harder to get grand villas at 7 months since they are more limited. When I called to get one at OKW ( one of my "homes") for the week before Christmas right at 11 months out, I got the last one, for instance. AKL concierge is extremely hard to get even at 11 months out, if you think you'd like to stay there but not own there. So...think about whether or not you'd be satisfied if all that was available was SSR, think about the size villa you'd want, and the times of year that you prefer to travel. I still say buy where you want to stay but if you're flexible and don't mind SSR, then it IS a good value for your money.---Kathy

[laura-k]

Buy where you want to stay! I also believe that it's only going to get harder to book at the 11 month window as the membership grows and they also want to try different resorts every year -Look how hard it is sometimes to even get a ADR on the day you want.
So my advice would be the same as some of the pp only buy at SSR if you will be genuinely
happy there and not be let down if you can't book elsewhere at 7 months-
Good Luck !

[Donna M]

We own at SSR and have found it easier to get a 2bd at VWL and BCV in the past three years than it was in the past. We also got into BLT. We have gone the third week in Feb. and the 26th of Dec. We have also stayed in OKW and AKV without any problem.

I think when you go plays a key in your availability. We have always enjoyed our SSR stays too.