We have always been lucky enough to get what we want at 7 months as well (so far anyway). I usually try to have a "2nd choice" in mind tho just in case so that we're not shut out and so that we're not as disappointed. I just about ALWAYS call ON our 7 mo. booking window tho. If I call anytime beyond that then I just hope I can find something open. The shortest time that we've tried to plan so far was last Feb. for Memorial Day weekend - so at around 3 months. There was availability at SSR, AKV & OKW. We don't care for OKW, had stayed at AKV on our previous trip and so SSR was perfect for us and we were happy to find availability for a holiday weekend on short notice.
When we booked for BCV last year I called ON our 7 mo. booking window but not until like 10:00 or 10:30 am. MOST of the week was available but there were a couple of days that weren't so I went ahead & booked BWV as our 2nd choice and waitlisted BCV. It came thru within just a few days!
My cousin bought
DVC last summer thinking they would try HHI sometimes in the summer in addition to their Marathon week in January that they like. I had told her that was a tough one - book it early. She did not. She called a week or two ago trying to get a week at HHI at the end of June...of course nothing was available. Then she said she wanted to go to WDW over Thanksgiving. I don't know how quickly that week books up but I told her to book her SSR NOW so that she has something then to call ON her 7 mo. window to try to switch it. I think she said they wanted to try BCV & since it's smaller I figure she might be disappointed. I just called right at 9:00 on Thurs. and got a studio at HHI for a week starting Aug. 14.
One of the DVC CM's had told me that HHI often books up within about 5 min. of opening the phones so I wasn't going to piddle around about it.
I even set a timer to go off at 8:55 so I wouldn't lose track of time & I'd be ready! I held my breath while she checked and I guess we got lucky. After that one time of waiting for 10:00 or so to call for BCV I learned my lesson. I did wait until about 6 1/2 mo. out to book for spring break...but we were flexible as to where we wanted to stay. There was availability at all but a couple of resorts. But even that says the difference 2 weeks had made with me waiting from 7 mo. to 6 1/2 to call.
Tinkrbell - if you only inquired about availability at the 3 resorts that you mentioned for July then IMO you really should try to be more open to try some of the other DVC resorts. I am sure that
one of them would have something open still. We truely enjoy trying a different resort every time we go so that each trip is unique in some way. I'm sorry your first call wasn't as you'd hoped, but if you didn't ask them to check all the resorts then you can't say nothing was available. Can you go toward the end of July or early August? Keep trying and as others have said, you could always waitlist something. People cancel all the time. Good luck - give it another try & don't be so down about it. Most all of the DVC resorts are lovely. Try again!
Then again we try to visit in the off season.
