Wait list December

[Diz22]

I'm a long time owner at OKW, over 20 years. Since we joined DVC has changed a lot and my booking patterns have had to change too.
I've never really used wait list and I've never booked nights on the off chance I may need them and then cancelled.
I'm realising now that this is clearly what I need to do.
I'm looking for a stay in a studio from December 8 to December 17 I have a WL at OKW and a few nights at SS with the remainder wait listed.
I had both stays waitlisted for a few days before realising that available nights popping up did not go to part fulfill my WL I don't really mind which resort just want to be threat that time.
Any advice on getting those additional nights much appreciated.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

What are the dates you are looking to go? (you typed 12/8 to 17/8).

The waitlist does not save days in order to fill a longer waitlist - it will go down and fill the first waitlist that it can complete. So individual nights are often the way to go plus you should be watching the website and booking nights that open up at the locations you are looking at. The nights all have to be in the exact same room type and then MS will be able to merge all the nights into a single reservation (or into two since you're looking at OKW then SSR).

 

[lisaviolet]

What Kathy said. Especially scanning the website and grabbing.

 

[Diz22]

What Kathy said. Especially scanning the website and grabbing.

Thanks. I've amended the dates - you know we weird English folks write them the opposite way
I've been scanning the website all day with no luck. Just wondered if I was missing something.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thanks. I've amended the dates - you know we weird English folks write them the opposite way
I've been scanning the website all day with no luck. Just wondered if I was missing something.

No, not missing anything. Unfortunately that's a long stay you're trying to book less than 2 months out at one of the absolute busiest times for DVC bookings. Checking the website and using some shorter waitlists will be the way to go IMO.

 

[lisaviolet]

you know we weird English folks write them the opposite way

Totally OT:

I began to write British?, Australian?, New Zealand? etc. etc. on my first post cause I'm a weird Canadian and I also caught the "s" in realising. But I think you went for writing the date partially their way and then the hybrid read August to me. And I got all sheepish.

I learned a long time ago to stick to our special ways! Early on my hand stopped every time I had a different word or spelling. That's long gone. Last trip I asked the CM in the BW DVC sales centre if they changed the type of bed chesterfield with the refurbishment and she stared at me like I was the strangest creature ever. Took me a moment to go to sofa bed.

____________________________________________________________

For scanning ---

*refresh button is your friend if you are not using it
*do not avoid checking popular resorts if you're interested - BLT LV, BW P/G, Polynesian SV, Kidani SV all have a lot of inventory to cancel. It is not just OKW and SSR.
*Wednesdays are very active - don't know why
*you have your best bet the days before the 6th or 7th of November - any time around the 31 day penalty will be active
*also people do cancel very - days/day of - close to arrival so you never know

But Kathy's right - most popular time so besides scanning use shorter waitlists. And weirdly enough, because it is such a small property, I have had two VGF waitlists come through late in the game. Makes me wonder if a lot of people avoid waitlisting VGF because they think it is an absolute pipe dream.

 

[Diz22]

Totally OT:

I began to write British?, Australian?, New Zealand? etc. etc. on my first post cause I'm a weird Canadian and I also caught the "s" in realising. But I think you went for writing the date partially their way and then the hybrid read August to me. And I got all sheepish.

I learned a long time ago to stick to our special ways! Early on my hand stopped every time I had a different word or spelling. That's long gone. Last trip I asked the CM in the BW DVC sales centre if they changed the type of bed chesterfield with the refurbishment and she stared at me like I was the strangest creature ever. Took me a moment to go to sofa bed.

____________________________________________________________

For scanning ---

*refresh button is your friend if you are not using it
*do not avoid checking popular resorts if you're interested - BLT LV, BW P/G, Polynesian SV, Kidani SV all have a lot of inventory to cancel. It is not just OKW and SSR.
*Wednesdays are very active - don't know why
*you have your best bet the days before the 6th or 7th of November - any time around the 31 day penalty will be active
*also people do cancel very - days/day of - close to arrival so you never know

But Kathy's right - most popular time so besides scanning use shorter waitlists. And weirdly enough, because it is such a small property, I have had two VGF waitlists come through late in the game. Makes me wonder if a lot of people avoid waitlisting VGF because they think it is an absolute pipe dream.

 

[Diz22]

That's very helpful. Made easier by the new 60 day out tool. I can see not much work being done in the next few weeks! A couple of years ago I got an easy 2 week stay at SS for the same period, guess it's got busier since then.
We normally go to DLP at Christmas but with the dire state of the £ I convinced myself WDW was more economical.
Here we go then .......refresh sleep refresh!

 

[lisaviolet]

refresh sleep refresh!

___________________________________

I have always chosen to use the regular search engine and have been very lucky with it, multiple times.

Good luck.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

That's very helpful. Made easier by the new 60 day out tool. I can see not much work being done in the next few weeks! A couple of years ago I got an easy 2 week stay at SS for the same period, guess it's got busier since then.
We normally go to DLP at Christmas but with the dire state of the £ I convinced myself WDW was more economical.
Here we go then .......refresh sleep refresh!

The 60 day tool is not kept current. I haven't paid attention to how often it's updated but last I saw it could be days to a week in between updates.

Using the Resort Availability tool is the way to go.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

The 60 day tool is not kept current. I haven't paid attention to how often it's updated but last I saw it could be days to a week in between updates.

Using the Resort Availability tool is the way to go.

I agree. The 60 day tool does not list everything available!

 

[sndral]

Search as often as you can and if you see a day that you need grab it. If a better option comes up you can always switch. Assume that you'll probably have to do a split stay switching resorts a bit & you may have to fill in a day or two w/ a cash reservation.
If you can afford the extra points try also searching for 1 Br.s, as they tend to be less popular, for example when I just took a look only AKV had any studios available & that was only for one night, but SSR had a 1 br. for 4 nights in a row for part of your stay.
Good luck.

 

[Diz22]

Seems an age since I wrote this, thanks for all the advice.
After stalking the RAT at all hours of the day and night I put together the last 6 days at SS. After a few days of nothing I lost my nerve, realised I'd done nothing else for days and booked a few nights at POP - my DGS is delighted!
Lesson learned, gone are my last minute trips and reserve what I think I want!