Not Feeling The 11 Month Home Resort Love at BWV :-(

[Lurch]

This weekend was my first time attempting to book my home resort at the opening of the 11 month window. I am a new DVC member and received my points well after the booking window last year so I had to take what I could get. I attempted to book our 2016 trip 9/30/16-10/9/16 the moment the window opened each day. I was able to get my arrival day no problem, but the next day was booked with Sunday available. I was not able to book Monday yet. I thought something must be going on Saturday so I booked Friday and waitlisted Saturday figuring something has a good chance of opening up 11 months from now. Worst case i would stay Friday and Saturday at POR and finish up at my home resort BWV.

Well, starting at 7:40 EST, I was on the page refreshing until the new day was available. Lo and behold when it became available to book it was immediately not available! To say that I am steamed is an understatement. The whole point of me purchasing at BWV is so that I could book the room I wanted for my vacations and not leave it up to the luck of the draw through David's DVC.

It may just be frustration speaking but I am ready to dump my BWV contract and stick to renting. If I can't get a room as a member, I should just stick to renting as I am not getting what I want anyway. I have heard others say they have this trouble at small resorts like Grand Floridian, but BWV is huge!

I am wondering if there is a large conference and Disney is hold rooms as cash for that. Calling member services the moment they open for an explanation.

Between the new AP policy, half the darn parks are closed, lousy room maintenance (my room at BWV this September reeked of mold and was very beat up), and the TIW crazy price increase perhaps I should just pass on Disney World, rent my points and go somewhere else until they get their act together.

It appears that whenever someone has a gripe valid or not about DVC people always seem to respond that all they promised you is a room. Well, I don't even get a room.

 

[wilma-bride]

You can book up to 7 days from the date of check-in. No need to wait for the window to open daily. Basically, if you are booking day by day, you are already behind the curve as all other BWV owners will be able to book immediately for the week too. That is a busy time, with the start of the Food & Wine Festival, so demand will be high. Did you waitlist as you might stand a good chance when people switch at the 7 month mark.

 

[disneynutz]

What room size and category were you trying to book? Did you talk to an MS manager to confirm that there isn't another website issue?

Bill

 

[Lurch]

Thanks, I booked the Friday but since there is no availability Saturday or Sunday I can't book Monday through Sunday yet. Since I can't get an "anchor" day booked I think I may be out of luck for the whole week. I haven't had much luck waitlisting the entire trip as it seems days pop up here and there but never the whole time.

 

[Lurch]

I am on hold with MS. Since I am rather new to this the odds of a user error are high . Sincerely hoping that is the case. Attempting to book standard view studio at BWV. Last time I rented I was forced into the more expensive pool view, but all I got was the noise of the pool and a tree blocking the entire "view".

 

[LauraLea]

Yesterday at about 8:10 AM I booked a 1 br standard view. Then about 8:30 I booked a standard view studio. I was quite surprised the studio was still available. It was much easier this year then It had been in the past.

Laura

 

[wilma-bride]

I guess you are trying to book standard view. It is only partially available for your stay but preferred/Boardwalk view are both available. Standard view rooms are highly sought after as they are obviously less points. I think your options here will be to waitlist for standard view for the nights you are missing or book preferred/Boardwalk view and waitlist for standard.

ETA: We posted at the same time. If you are worried about noise with pool/garden view, you can request a quieter area.

 

[cvjw]

There just aren't that many standard view studios to go around. If every BWV owner tried to book them at the same time of year (food and wine), some owners are destined to be disappointed.

We are also BWV owners and will try and book a standard view studio for a later food and wine trip for 2016. I know that I am not guaranteed the coveted standard view - just not enough to go around. I may very well have to book a different view and use more points.

Being a BWV owner does not guarantee you a standard view room

 

[Lurch]

MS told me that if I want to stay in October book sometime in September and just roll the days forward each day until I end up with the days I want. Since there is no availability the second night of my trip I don't get the benefit of the 7 night advanced booking so I will be blocked out this year. Seems like to many games being played. I have come to the realization that this is just the way it is and if I want to utilize my points I'll have to play games or stay at one of the "offsite" DVC resorts like OKW or SSR. How naive was I expecting with 11 month to the second advance planning I could get the room I wanted at my home resort.

I will try again tomorrow, maybe I'll get lucky. If not, I'm sure David's can put my points to use.

 

[imaginiff]

Thanks, I booked the Friday but since there is no availability Saturday or Sunday I can't book Monday through Sunday yet. Since I can't get an "anchor" day booked I think I may be out of luck for the whole week. I haven't had much luck waitlisting the entire trip as it seems days pop up here and there but never the whole time.

You are trying to get one of the most sought after rooms in the most sought after resort during Food and Wine Festival. Standard studio = probably the cheapest points for a theme park resort. Do you have enough points for preferred view? I was fooling with the member website earlier this morning and saw that both standard view studios were gone for Saturday and 2-bedroom lockoffs. Hopefully member services can guide you. Maybe get preferred view for a few consecutive days and switching to standard...and waitlisting for standard on the days you had to take preferred. I was going to say that maybe you can buy one use points, but I am pretty sure you have to wait until the seven month mark to do so.....ask member services. And if you feel the person you are speaking to doesn't "get" what you are trying to do, ask to speak with a supervisor.

I am setting up reminder notes and post-it notes to remind me to get ready soon for our reservations. Good luck, I hope you can string something together. I guess a one-bedroom standard would be too many points for you?

 

[imaginiff]

Oh sorry, we were posting at the same time. Since F&W has become so popular, Saturday nights are very hard to come by. Back when we didn't have enough points, we would spend a couple nights at a value and then use our points for a one bedroom standard for the cheaper nights (Sun - Thursday). Saturdays are a travel day, so we didn't feel too badly about staying at a value...Sat. nights were very pointy for us before we added on to our BoardWalk contract. So, one or two nights at the Pop or All Stars, and then the rest of the week in BWV.

We are fortunate that we were able to add on before the big price increase. It is very hard to stay in a value once you become spoiled by a DVC room. But....we had to work with what we had if we wanted to vacation at BWV during F&W. Doing a split stay with a value at the beginning and DVC at the end worked for us.

Don't be discouraged. Get on some waiting lists and make the best plans you can with what you have to work with. It took me years and years to fully understand the ins and outs of my DVC. I ended up losing points a couple of times. A very sad experience....but it was because I didn't quite understand holding and use years.

 

[Deb & Bill]

MS told me that if I want to stay in October book sometime in September and just roll the days forward each day until I end up with the days I want. Since there is no availability the second night of my trip I don't get the benefit of the 7 night advanced booking so I will be blocked out this year. Seems like to many games being played. I have come to the realization that this is just the way it is and if I want to utilize my points I'll have to play games or stay at one of the "offsite" DVC resorts like OKW or SSR. How naive was I expecting with 11 month to the second advance planning I could get the room I wanted at my home resort.

I will try again tomorrow, maybe I'll get lucky. If not, I'm sure David's can put my points to use.

I wouldn't call OKW an offsite DVC resort. It is only about 10 minutes from Epcot by bus. We were there about two weeks ago and did F&W every day. It was perfect.

 

[Lurch]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! To answer an earlier question we only have 100 pts at BWV. We have an additional 50 at VWL, but had to borrow those due to being able to find only an expensive room for our trip this past September.

I thought about it and booked the week earlier as it was open. We would just be missing Saturday night so I can find other arrangements for one night if needed (I do have it waitlisted). I have a year to figure out how to work around my work and school. Unfortunately, because of our annual pass strategy (we buy them to get two years of our annual trips by going a week earlier the subsequent year) we will miss F&W the following year but still be able to visit MNSSHP.

 

[Sammie]

While BWV might be huge, the room category and the time you are wanting is in high demand and short supply. Someone has probably walked that reservation to get exactly what they want. While it is discouraging, it is the nature of the beast. DVC even at 11 months will not provide you with exactly what you want, size of room and time of year all the time.

As Deb said, while not your first choice, SSR and OKW are not far from Epcot at all and bus service is quick and often.

Definitely try wait list.

 

[bumbershoot]

You can book up to 7 days from the date of check-in.

Isn't that what they were doing?

I attempted to book our 2016 trip 9/30/16-10/9/16 the moment the window opened each day. I was able to get my arrival day no problem, but the next day was booked

I think that they were TRYING to get it all, but the day after arrival wasn't available, which caused them to have to go day by day.

Having that second day NOT open shouldn't happen, right?

I'm not an expert on all of this and my eyes start to go blurry when I read too much, but I swear I keep reading this scenario. That SOMEtimes someone is trying to get their trip, but that SECOND day is blocked. And it seems like that should NOT be happening. But no one ever has an answer. (mainly b/c often the posters are posing it as a "DVC is up to something" post, and people get side-tracked, I think)

It seems odd.

 

[DisDadDVC]

Isn't that what they were doing?



I think that they were TRYING to get it all, but the day after arrival wasn't available, which caused them to have to go day by day.

Having that second day NOT open shouldn't happen, right?

I'm not an expert on all of this and my eyes start to go blurry when I read too much, but I swear I keep reading this scenario. That SOMEtimes someone is trying to get their trip, but that SECOND day is blocked. And it seems like that should NOT be happening. But no one ever has an answer. (mainly b/c often the posters are posing it as a "DVC is up to something" post, and people get side-tracked, I think)

It seems odd.

Yes, that can happen. Their 2nd day could have been someone elses 7th day.

 

[bumbershoot]

Yes, that can happen. Their 2nd day could have been someone elses 7th day.

Other people have explained that if you book that first day, you get the next 6. The other person I quoted said it, too, basically. I've seen it many times, and your post is the first to refute that. That someone else had their 6th day on the OP's 1st day...so shouldn't they have been locked out of that, too?

 

[imaginiff]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! To answer an earlier question we only have 100 pts at BWV. We have an additional 50 at VWL, but had to borrow those due to being able to find only an expensive room for our trip this past September.

I thought about it and booked the week earlier as it was open. We would just be missing Saturday night so I can find other arrangements for one night if needed (I do have it waitlisted). I have a year to figure out how to work around my work and school. Unfortunately, because of our annual pass strategy (we buy them to get two years of our annual trips by going a week earlier the subsequent year) we will miss F&W the following year but still be able to visit MNSSHP.

How about pool/garden view for your first three nights (starting 9/30) ...BoardWalk view is now booked too...and standard view for the balance (as of now it is available). It will be less than 100 points (unless I am not understanding you correctly).

Edited to add: oops, I think I need to check my math. YOu might be a few over, but could you borrow from next year? I feel really bad for you. This "walking" thing is frustrating and hard to understand, but now that word of it has spread all over these boards, it now makes it necessary to get what you want during F&W at BVW....and maybe BCV, I'm not sure.

 

[DisDadDVC]

Other people have explained that if you book that first day, you get the next 6. The other person I quoted said it, too, basically. I've seen it many times, and your post is the first to refute that. That someone else had their 6th day on the OP's 1st day...so shouldn't they have been locked out of that, too?

In that case, I may be mistaken.

 

[suebeelin]

Wow. This post makes me really nervous about our planned vacation dec 1-14, 2016.

I need BWV std 2 bd. I usually stay in a 1bd but that isn't an option bc bringing a friends family.

I guess a good way to look at it is...as an owner, you are at least guaranteed staying at BWV during F&W, despite not getting a std studio....