Thanksgiving 2016 - Need advice

[DisneyMotherOf2]

Sorry in advance - this may be long. We're planning a family reunion for Thanksgiving 2016. There will be 11 to 13 of us going (5 kids total). We own 150 points at both BCV and BWV. We're planning on staying at BWV because I have 610 points to play with and two 2 bedroom Standard units there will cost a total of 598 points (299 each). We can always have 2 studios vs. the second 2 bedroom if need be. My question is ... I only have enough points to book 1 of the 2 bedrooms at the 11 month window and only at BWV. BCV is 353 for a 2 bedroom and I only have 300. Even if I did a one time purchase of the max 24 points I'd still be short. So - I'll be sweating it out until we reach the 7 month window. I need atleast one 2 bedroom villa for this trip. We really want the Epcot resort area - not AKV or somewhere else (non-Epcot resort area will be a last ditch effort if need be). We plan on arriving on Friday Nov 18th and departing the following Saturday after Thanksgiving. What are your opinions on me being lucky enough to acquire the 2nd two bedroom (std) unit at 7 months? I'm not sure how sold out they are at Thanksgiving? Sadly, I won't have enough points to upgrade to a more expensive room if push comes to shove. I've heard of garden views, but am not seeing it listed (unless boardwalk/preferred also includes the same rates for Garden view?). Any thoughts, suggestions of how to get around this would be greatly appreciated. I'd love to have a transfer from another BWV owner (I could trade my 300 BCV points for their 300 BWV points), but it just seems so risky and my understanding is it only works at the 11 month booking window if the transferred points have the same UY. I could be wrong about this and am really not very knowledgeable about transfers or renting extra points. Any guidance you can offer would be greatly appreciate. TIA! Especially if there's a safe way to transfer points or swap like that. I'm not sure if a place like Dave's Vacation Rentals does stuff like that? I believe BCV can be in pretty high demand. It's my favorite resort, but I think my guests prefer the 2 bedroom villa vs. 2 studios. I could do 2 studios instead of the 2 bedroom villa at BCV and only need to buy an additional 10 points from Disney. Just a thought, but I think we'll be hanging our hats at BWV if we can swing it.... Thanks everyone. I appreciate any thoughts you'd like to share.

 

[cvjw]

You would be extremely lucky if you get a 2 bedroom standard view at BWV at the 7 month mark for Thanksgiving. You might have luck waitlisting it, but I would not hold my breath. 1 bedroom standard views at BWV are sometimes available at the 7 month mark, but I have never been able to book a 2 bedroom standard view at the 7 month mark - even for lesser crowded times like May. That was the reason we bought a BWV contract.

I would book the one standard 2 bedroom villa at the 11 month mark, and hope to reserve 2 pool/garden view studios at the 7 month mark and request them to be close together.

I just booked a 2 bedroom standard view at BWV for the week before Christmas - the 18th of December. The 2 bedroom standard views were gone right at the 11 month mark. I would assume that the week of Thanksgiving would be the same - very high demand for the standard view villas.

 

[nalajms]

Here's my experience for 2014 Thanksgiving. I booked the 2b Standard view at 11m, starting the Friday before Thanksgiving. Wed -Fri booked up right at 11m. Sun - Tues took about a week to book up. Sat took a bit longer, and Fri I could have gotten at 7m. By booked up, that means when I randomly checked, rooms were unavailable but one could have popped up and I just missed it.

In short, your chances for Sun - Sat are very low. Your chances for Fri before Thanksgiving is good, Sat before Thanksgiving is somewhat possible.

I would consider a split stay - book the dates you can at 11m, then move to OKW or AKV standard view rooms for the other dates.

 

[drusba]

Thanksgiving time is an extremely high DVC demand time. Your chances of getting BWV standard view studios or 2BRs at 7 months out are next to zero. In fact, your chances of getting any studio or 2BR at BWV or BCV are low. And for BWV standard view studios and 2 BRs, safety dictates that you reserve exactly 11 months out for that time of year to assure getting it. Moreover, there is even a risk that AKV could be missing two to three nights in Thanksgiving week before 7 months out.

In other words, you need a plan B. Choosing to use both BCV and BWV with 11 month reservations is one possibility. You could look for a transfer of the additonal BCV points needed on the Rent/Trade board on the is site. The transferred points do not have to have the same use year as yours. They just need to be usable based on their own use year for that Thanksgiving time. Transferred points cannot be borrowed but they can be banked and thus you would need points with a 2015 Oct or before use year that you could bank after transfer, or ones with a Dec 2015 or a 2016 use year before Dec 2016 to be able to use them for a Thanksgiving trip in 2016. You could also look for a swap of BCV for BWV points and then reserve BWV studios in additon to the 2BR. Nevertheless, finding a swap will be significantly harder to do than finding a transfer for cash. However, even that may be difficult. Another option is to rent a reservation which will be somewhat easier to find. You could find a BWV owner who would use his own points to reserve in your name the additonal room or rooms you need at BW at 11 months out. You could also contact a broker such as David's, a sponsor of these boards, dvcrequest.com and seek that extra reservation you need at BWV. Of course, you will need to pay cash for any straight up transfer or going through a broker. To limit the loss, if you can get a rental as needed at BWV, you could then offer your own BCV points for rent or transfer possibly even through the same broker that you use to get the BWV rental.

As to seeing the different point categories at BWV, the point charts show only standard and preferred view. Both Boardwalk view and pool/garden view rooms at BWV are in the preferred view category and have the same points. Where you will see the distinction is on the DVC member official site, DVCMember.com, in its resort availability tool or reservation section.

 

[River Country]

You own at 2 of the most in demand resorts and want one of the most popular times of year. I would use your 11m advantage to make the reservations that you can in order to secure the week. I would book your 2 BR at the BWV and I would book the 2 studios at BCV and then at 7 months try to modify but the chances are really low that you will get those dates at those resorts in the category you want 7 months out. Good Luck

 

[DisneyMotherOf2]

Thank you for your responses. We want to be at the same resort, so we find ourselves in a bit of a pickle... Any other creative ideas would be appreciated! Unfortunately the 600 points I'm using are 2016 and 2017 points. If transfers are an option - when's the earliest I'd be allowed to transfer my 2017 points?

 

[DisneyMotherOf2]

I called Dave's DVC Rentals. They'll give me $13/point for my 300 BCV points, but would charge me $16 to rent BWV points. That would be a cost of $897 out of pocket and unfortunately I can't do that. I'm thinking my only option is to find someone who wants to do an even trade 300 BCV for 300 BWV (I'd trade away my BCV for their BWV) - and that may be extremely difficult.

 

[nalajms]

You can probably do better going with the rent/trade boards. I'd keep an eye out for BWV transfers, then rent out the BCV points with David's.

 

[JaimeA]

We booked BWV 2 bed std for Thanksgiving in 2013. I watched the availability dwindle quickly at the 11 month mark. I would book the 2 bed std at 11m then at 7m try to get 2 studios(less pts) garden view and ask that they be close to each other. I don't think you will see a 2 bed std come available but you never know. Hope it works out but definitely have a back up plan.

 

[drusba]

I called Dave's DVC Rentals. They'll give me $13/point for my 300 BCV points, but would charge me $16 to rent BWV points. That would be a cost of $897 out of pocket and unfortunately I can't do that. I'm thinking my only option is to find someone who wants to do an even trade 300 BCV for 300 BWV (I'd trade away my BCV for their BWV) - and that may be extremely difficult.

You will not be able to transfer any 2017 use year points until the beginning of your 2016 use year. (The rule foillowed by MS is that you can transfer points from the current use year you are in at the time of transfer or the next use year.) You can transfer 2016 points beginning at your 2015 use year. Finding that even trade for 2017 use year points would be pointless because if you receive 2017 use year points they will not be usable for a trip in 2016 because transferred points cannot be borrowed.

If you are looking for a transaction that is not going cost money, the equal transfer for 2016 points is it and that is one that is going to be difficult to find but can be attempted on the rent/trade board (see instructions on that board for swaps). If you want the rooms at the same resort, you will be needing a different back-up plan than even one you are contemplating at this point. What will most likely likely be open at 7 months out is SSR. OKW may be open (likely but definitely not certain as to 2BRs, less so for studios) and with points you have available, you could get two 2BRs there. AKV standard (for which you could also get two 2BRs) and savanna view at Kidani have a decent chance of being open although a real risk otherwise, particularly for studios for the Wed thru Fri nights of Thanksgiving week (Jambo has only a very low chance of being open and Jambo value rooms have no chance at all). In other words, if you are telling others where you will likely be staying, I would leave out at this point any near park resort.

 

[DisneyMotherOf2]

I think I'll probably end up booking the two bedroom Std @ BWV. Then I'll book 2 studios at BCV. When the 7 month window opens I'll be praying any 2 studios - I don't care about the view - be open at BWV and I'll switch the ressies from BCV to BWV. I'm sure that will make some BCV wait listers happy. If we can't switch, then atleast we'd be within walking distance and 2 of the 4 families in our party would still be together. If the others are unhappy with this arrangement, then we can look into AKV - MAYBE OKW (we could even do a Grand Villa there if available and we're not over 12). But not SSR. SSR is nice, but it's just not my cup of tea. I'm going to try my best not to stress about this moving forward. It is what it is. But I'm hoping for a little Christmas Mickey Magic! In the end we'll still all be there together and that's what counts the most.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I think you have a good plan!

I first bought into DVC to have an 85th birthday celebration for my mom one December. I was booking at 11 months, and I needed 1 two bedroom and 3 studios, and like you, wanted BWV standard. This was a long time ago, 2004 was the celebration. It worked out for me, I hope it works for you! One couple decided late they could come, and at 7 months I did add another studio, preferred view. If you change right at 7 months, I think you will get the 2 studios, most likely preferred view.

 

[DisneyMotherOf2]

Thanks bobbiwoz! I'm going to hope I have some pixie dust, unless I figure out how to work things out with getting BWV points for 11 months. I'm racking my brains for other DVC owners of BWV I know who would accept a trade over 2 years from me. I'm not holding my breath on this one though.... lol Wing and a Prayer..