General Discussion Thread

[The DIS-DVC Team]

Welcome to the RRA board General Discussion thread

General Rules:
1. Since we will be using automated computer software to process data submitted by yourselves, it is necessary to limit all discussions to this single thread. We cannot allow any new threads to be started. If you attempt to start a new thread, it will not post to the board and will be automatically deleted by our software.

2. You may post in this thread if you have questions about how the Resort Reservation Availability Board works, have trouble interpreting the results or have suggestions for changes and improvements. Do not post your reservation results in this thread as it will not be found by the automated software.

3. Comments and/or questions on topics such as availability or waitlist chances or DVC Reservation Policies should continue to be posted on the Planning Forum.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Q & A (this list will be updated as more questions are discussed and added)

Q: Does the format have to be exactly as illustrated?
A: Yes. While a moderator could interpret what you mean, a computer can only evaluate an exact phrase. If you do not write your response exactly as required, the computer will ignore it and your information will not be included.

Q: DVC said there are no Studios at all for my dates. Can I just use "ALL" in the code.
A: No, the only Resort Codes allowed are as shown in the listings. We do not allow "All" because there can be a mistake in understanding what MS says. "All" could mean no Studios at all at a specific resort, or none at all in a specific category, or none at all in all of WDW, or none at all at VB, or HH.

Q: Can I add personal comments to the posting?
A: Please do not. The computer will try to interpret your comments as a report of resort availability. Since all submissions will be removed once they are processed and added to the report, any comments you make will not be seen anyway.

Q: Can I report multiple dates. For example if OKW has no Studios available for the 5-6 and also 12-13 can I combine them into a single 'code' such as OKW,A,5-6,12-13?
A: At this time, they cannot be combined as described. You will need to make two full inputs, either on the same line or on different lines. There are directions in the 'welcome' post. In this example your post could look like this: 8/14/08,OKW,A,5-6;8/14/08,OKW,A,12-13 and use a semicolon to distinguish between the two reports each of which contains the basic information.

We'll take a look and see about a future enhancement so a person can report multiple dates in a more simple format.

Q: Can I report dates for two months in one line? For example if BCV has no Studios available for Sep 28 through Oct 3rd, can I do it like this: 8/16/08,BCV,A,9/28-10/3
A: No since there is a separate thread for each month. Report Sep 28-30 in the September thread, and report Oct 1-3 in the October thread.

[mcorbo]

I have a question on this. Say for example, I called for availability for Oct 1-3 at AKV in a Studio and it is not available, I did not ask for just 1 or 2 or 3 (Lets say in this example, even though I did not ask, my selection was available for 1 and 2). Will his be reported as no availability for all 3 days, even though 2 of them are available?

So I report in the October thread, based on my inquiry

8/15/08,AKV,A,1-3

To make the database more accurate, i should have asked MS if any of the days were available and only reported

8/15/08.AKV,A,3

[Caskbill]

Originally Posted by mcorbo

I have a question on this. Say for example, I called for availability for Oct 1-3 at AKV in a Studio and it is not available, I did not ask for just 1 or 2 or 3 (Lets say in this example, even though I did not ask, my selection was available for 1 and 2). Will his be reported as no availability for all 3 days, even though 2 of them are available?

So I report in the October thread, based on my inquiry

8/15/08,AKV,A,1-3

To make the database more accurate, i should have asked MS if any of the days were available and only reported

8/15/08.AKV,A,3

To be accurate only report days you know for certain are not available. If you did the first example (1-3) the program would mark all 3 as not available. So if you know for sure that only the last day is not available, then only report it, as in your second example above.

If you know ahead of time about this board and plan to submit, then it would be helpful to ask if the other two days were also not available. If not, then the first example you gave would be correct.

BTW, you had a typo in your 2nd example where you used a period instead of a comma. Unfortunately, if used that way, our program would 'read' it as an error so it's important everyone be aware of even a minor thing like that and be very careful in posting the correct 'code' so the computer can properly interpret it.

Thanks for your input.

[mcorbo]

Just out of curiosity, how often are the posts added to the master list for each month?

[Caskbill]

Originally Posted by mcorbo

Just out of curiosity, how often are the posts added to the master list for each month?

Right now we're doing it daily. It all depends on how often people make reply posts. We're currently 'semi-automated' but expect to be fully automated in about a month.

The plan is to process the information daily, but at most it might just be once every 3 days or so.


Even when fully automated, it will take a moderator to 'initiate' the processor program.

[dzorn]

I think I found my answer. Sorry

Denise in MI

[jdg345]

This is excellent! Thank you all for your hard work! I think this will be a huge help for planning vacations going forward especially with the new booking policy in play!

[lilsydney]

Not sure how to report this-

Called for Oct 16-20 2008 at ANY WDW DVC resort- studio
nothing available (AK, SSRS, BCV, BWI, WLV)

wait listing at this time- will book direct without points

[Caskbill]

Originally Posted by lilsydney

Not sure how to report this-

Called for Oct 16-20 2008 at ANY WDW DVC resort- studio
nothing available (AK, SSRS, BCV, BWI, WLV)

wait listing at this time- will book direct without points

At this time it's necessary to list each combination separately. It's also important to use the correct abbreviation. AKV, SSR, BCV, BWV, VWL. You did not mention OKW so I assume there is still availability at that resort for your dates, unless you meant to include it.

When MS says there's no availability it's important to be sure you understand exactly what they are including. For example if you're saying there's nothing available at AKV, does that mean nothing in any of the 4 different categories for Studios, from Value to Concierge?

If that's the case then you can report each, but each requires a separate input.

8/23/08,AKV,A,16-20
8/23/08,AKV,D,16-20
8/23/08,AKV,G,16-20
8/23/08,AKV,K,16-20

The same would be done for the other resorts. There would be a total of 10 to 12 lines reporting.

We do expect future program enhancements where multiple resorts or dates can be reported more easily.

For now we're letting everyone report separately to help avoid mistakes. Even with this, I see a member reported no December availability for some AKV Kidani villas. Which of course don't even open until next spring/summer.

Thanks for asking, and for contributing.

[tomandrobin]

BCV had 1 bedroom availability for 1/31 thru 2/7, and 2/22 thru 3/1.

[MLC2002]

I posted on the October thread this afternoon. I apologize for the first post, as I added spaces after the commas. Hopefully my second post was done correctly.

We currently have a reservation for the nights of 9/28-10/3 (checking out 10/4) for a 1BR at OKW. We are on the WL for a 1BR at BCV, BWV, and VWL for these same dates. When I called today, I asked about individual nights at each of these resorts during my stay. In addition to finding out about no availability on the October dates mentioned in my post on the October thread, I was also informed that there IS some availability for a couple of dates in September at BWV (dates which are currently listed as NOT available on the September thread).

As of this afternoon, a 1BR Std at BWV is available on 9/28 and a 1BR BW view at BWV is available on 9/30.

Seeing that availability is always changing due to cancellations, it seems impossible to keep an accurate list of what is/isn't available. Thus, I'm a little confised as to the purpose of these threads. Can you shed a little light on what the data obtained via these threads is used for? (My guess is that the data is not to be used as a way to check availability but, that you are hoping to track approximately when unit types tend to fill at each resort... for example, at 11 months, 7 months, 5 months prior, etc.)

Thanks for compiling the info... no matter what the purpose, I'm sure it will be helpful to us all in some way!

[poohj80]

I only see one thread for November 2008. How about starting one for Dec please?

[vicki_c]

You must have missed it -- there's lots of reports for December in this thread for December:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1920559

[poohj80]

DUH! I forgot that the default setting was to show threads with posts from teh last day only. Sorry!

[ArtieMcD]

Is there way to correct the reporting? IE, the board shows October 20th as booked for a studio at SSR, but this date is available.