It is funny in some ways how much thought went into this. Originally not so much. I actually booked a room at the 11 month window at my home resort. (OKW). My thought way back in November was that since it was just Steve and I, it would not be bad to stay there (after all, I do love my home resort) If however I could switch us to say BWV or BCV at the 7 month mark, I would.
Then we had the addition of travelers and what they needed, what I wanted for them..etc.
Honestly, most of my "what if'ing" in regards to where to book had to do more with what I wanted for everyone else not with what they each needed.
MIL and FIL needed their own beds. Kira and Zoe needed their own beds as well as the dining plan. Beyond that everything else was "gravy".
I wanted everyone comfortable and if I am honest, impressed. Steve's family do not go to Disney. I really do not think they understand why we do. I suspect that they think a Disney vacation is all about loud and colorful characters. (not that some of it isn't and not that there is anything wrong with over the top theming) However, I wanted them to see that not everything at Disney is... well...Disney. That theming can be wonderful and not overpowering. Then there was the trouble with also not having it be "fake". I know that Steve would LOVE to stay again at WL, but when we stayed there his family saw pictures they scoffed about how we should just go to the real yellowstone lodge...and laughed at the fake rocks.
So I had some options. Too many options.
One was for 3 separate studios for the ranging date (remember mil and fil won't be there the entire trip) at a OKW with waitlisting at BWV or AKL value (which isn't a host resort so that moved down on the list fast) Ultimately, this option didn't really save us any points so I considered other options.
Another was just two studios. In this option we could have stayed at AKV in a savannah room. This was a tad more tempting because the view, but again..not a host resort. Of course, there was the option of OKW too. Ultimately the need to not cram 4 of us into a studio - on what was suppose to be an anniversary trip for Steve and I caused me to decide I needed to expand the search to include one bedrooms.
This option would mean a one bedroom and a studio. This gave us an option of staying OKW or BCV. (but if we did the one bedroom at BC then the inlaws would have to do a studio at OKW) I was tempted by this. BCV? However THEN Steve decided he just didn't want to share with Kira for the entire week -which I think is what I was looking at. (I tried so many scenarios it was crazy) So while there was the option of a couple different resorts in a one bedroom, we moved on...especially when I realized a 2 bedroom would save points over a 1bedroom and a studio as well as the fact the inlaws would have to be at OKW.
Moving on to that idea of the two bedroom.... We would do it for just 4 nights. That way all of us would be together when mil and fil were there. We had two options. OKW or AKL. I was soo sooo very tempted by AKL. If only it had been a host resort. I could have handled driving to the expo. I could have even handled driving to WWOS for the race starts. What would be an issue is driving back after the villians bash. Running it by Kira and Steve - they both felt that the villa would be too far from everything (especially Epcot) so that was that. OKW in a 2 bedroom for 4 nights near hospitality house. However we still wanted to be close to epcot and possibly walk back from the villians bash. SO, I waitlisted BWV in a 2 bedroom.
That left the remaining 4 nights. Since at this point I was not yet to the 7 month window on those nights, I booked at 2 studios at OKW. One near hospitality and one not (waitlisting "near hospitality" for the second studio).
As the 7 month window approached, I began to contemplate other options.
First, would a 2 bedroom at BWV really suit our needs? Steve and his parents plan to hang out in the room and most likely on the balcony. BWV has a "normal" balcony where as OKW has a large one with a table that everyone could sit around. BWV also does not have a sleeper chair in the living room for Zoe. This would be an issue given that Kira will not share a bed with her. So that would mean that we would have to bring an air mattress. So I decided that I needed to take the waitlist off of that room and be happy.
SOOOO officially we have a 2 bedroom near hospitality for 4 nights. (10/1 to 10/5)
This meant that we would be doing a split stay at OKW.
So again I looked at options. (cause how boring... a split stay at the same resort)
Now a one bedroom for the remaining 4 nights at BWV was available. This time Steve thought it was a good idea. The extra space, the washer and dryer in the room, the jacuzzi tub.... not to mention KNOWING we will be near epcot was appealing. I was all set to book it this morning when member services opened up. Then I got in the way. I realized that Steve and I didn't want the dining plan for those last 4 nights. I also remembered the issue with there not being a sleeper chair.
I certainly can make myself crazy at times.
Luckily, Kira was up and on her way to work. We chatted a bit. One of my concerns with keeping the OKW studios and waitlisting the BWV studios was that it is unlikely that one will come through... IMPOSSIBLE that both will. Kira was very sweet. She told me that she didn't have a problem with that. She was feeling bad that this had become so complicated for me. That if she, Zoe and the grandparents were not coming I would have booked a room at BCV or BWV without hesitation because even a room that cost more points would have been doable considering it was just 1 room and not essentially 3.
So with that we are now OFFICIALLY staying in 2 studios at OKW (waitlisting the BWV) for 4 nights (10/5 to 10/9)
Funny how I could have saved myself a lot of headache if I just stuck with my plan of OKW from the very beginning.
Lets just hope I don't go through this all over again in January. I do have a room "booked" for marathon weekend. But I do want to switch.... It is just 3 of us though so I am only on the hunt for ONE studio.
While I was reading through your post I was thinking that hopefully you checked the hotel sites themselves as most of the booking sites usually only offer part of the inventory and when its gone ... its GONE, but there might be lots left at the hotel itself. And when I read Desert Inn and Suites you put a HUGE smile on my face. We stayed there in 2006 and would go back. Not that it was the most overwhelming hotel experience (as you very well know) but you cannot beat how close it is to DL itself. And I have to admit we never used their breakfast, were able to watch fireworks from our balcony (walkway in front of the room) and only went there to sleep. Perfect decisions you made - I salute you! (I have time to do that - being home with the flu 
)
Just getting caught up on your report...thanks again for the shout-out in your intro post! 
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I definitely see where having points... just means you spend them. 
But when it comes to booking and figuring out what amount of points it will take I use this 
