A Good Walk Spoiled

[djnrook]

Been walking a reservation at the 11-month window for the last couple of weeks. I have four nights booked at a time, and every day or two I log on and move it. Has been a seamless process. Friday I booked the room from June 7, 2024 to June 11, 2024, no problem. Today I logged on with the expectation of booking it from June 9, 2024, to June 13, 2024, and I am told online the night of the June 11th - 12th, 2024 is not available. I was a bit surprised, so I called member services. They had no explanation other than someone else must have booked it. I asked how someone could book the room for the 11th if I have it the nights of the 9th and 10th, but they just said "someone can book it today if they check in on June 9, 2024." And then she hung up on me. Awesome.

Makes no sense to me since I have the room booked on the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, so now questioning my understanding of DVC booking windows.

Double-checked the room type is the same and the dates are the same, and confirmed my existing reservation is still valid for June 7, 2024 to June 11, 2024. So now I hope for waitlist I guess.

Bizarre.

 

[davidhr]

It might be refurbishment. If the number of units available are now less than the dates you have booked, other owners walking/booking might have booked those units before you tried to modify yours.

 

[Bearval]

Been walking a reservation at the 11-month window for the last couple of weeks. I have four nights booked at a time, and every day or two I log on and move it. Has been a seamless process. Friday I booked the room from June 7, 2024 to June 11, 2024, no problem. Today I logged on with the expectation of booking it from June 9, 2024, to June 13, 2024, and I am told online the night of the June 11th - 12th, 2024 is not available. I was a bit surprised, so I called member services. They had no explanation other than someone else must have booked it. I asked how someone could book the room for the 11th if I have it the nights of the 9th and 10th, but they just said "someone can book it today if they check in on June 9, 2024." And then she hung up on me. Awesome.

Makes no sense to me since I have the room booked on the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, so now questioning my understanding of DVC booking windows.

Double-checked the room type is the same and the dates are the same, and confirmed my existing reservation is still valid for June 7, 2024 to June 11, 2024. So now I hope for waitlist I guess.

Bizarre.

The may have scheduled a room in the category of what you are walking out of inventory for that date for some reason and the number of walkers was greater than the remaining rooms available to continue the walk.

 

[djnrook]

Yep, both of those scenarios make sense. Thanks.

 

[sndral]

Not sure it applies in this case, but I’d assume that w/ the resorts w/ fixed weeks a walker might get blocked by walking into a fixed week?

 

[Bearval]

Not sure it applies in this case, but I’d assume that w/ the resorts w/ fixed weeks a walker might get blocked by walking into a fixed week?

That is also a possibility I didn’t even think of but makes sense.

 

[djnrook]

w/ the resorts w/ fixed weeks

Thanks - I have so much to learn. Although it's not for a stay at one of the fixed week resorts. They are only Aulani, VGF, Poly, CCV, and Riviera I believe.

Regardless, first-world problems.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

Just curious, what was the room type?

 

[djnrook]

Just curious, what was the room type?

Wasn’t sure if I could post that given I used exact dates, but I guess without resort I am fine. It’s a grand villa with a specific view.

 

[Sandisw]

I would try again tomorrow as it could just be a glitch or there is something going on with refurbishment that took some of the rooms out of service.

It should have worked today for you.

 

[djnrook]

I would try again tomorrow as it could just be a glitch or there is something going on with refurbishment that took some of the rooms out of service.

It should have worked today for you.

Thanks - yes I knew I had an extra day so wasn’t really sweating it yet. If it’s not there tomorrow I’ll call back and see if I get someone who understands the “walking” concept. Others have posted rational reasons for it not to be available, but in the past I’ve had member services give answers that at least made sense.

And we are at 11 months so I have other options. I’m confident if this doesn’t work out the world will not end and we’ll still have a great trip.

Thanks to all.

 

[Flash_Sloth]

Not sure it applies in this case, but I’d assume that w/ the resorts w/ fixed weeks a walker might get blocked by walking into a fixed week?

I think that fixed week reservations are always Sunday-Sunday check-in/check-out, so it wouldn't apply in this case for Tuesday June 11, 2024. As others suggested, probably a room was taken out of inventory for scheduled maintenance. As annoying as it is, if walking a reservation, it is probably best to book it for a week and walk it every day.

 

[Sandisw]

I think that fixed week reservations are always Sunday-Sunday check-in/check-out, so it wouldn't apply in this case for Tuesday June 11, 2024. As others suggested, probably a room was taken out of inventory for scheduled maintenance. As annoying as it is, if walking a reservation, it is probably best to book it for a week and walk it every day.

If a room is gone for service, length of walk won’t matter. And the OP booked 7 days with the ending date he had, it still would have been blocked.

 

[Flash_Sloth]

If a room is gone for service, length of walk won’t matter. And the OP booked 7 days with the ending date he had, it still would have been blocked.

I agree that it would have been blocked for somebody. But those are tips to try and stay ahead of other walkers.

 

[Genie+]

Have you found availability since?

 

[djnrook]

Have you found availability since?

Interesting outcome. Short story - still no availability online, so I called member services and at first they said no availability. I asked if there was a room out for maintenance or other reasons since I had walked the reservations. This cast member understood walking and was also perplexed so asked me to hold. She came back 3 or 4 more times and said “still working on it” and then finally after about a hour there was a room. So reservation was secured.

Long story - I am using both my own points and transferred points for this reservation, and have been walking 4 nights at a time using my own points (since transferred points can’t be used online at 11 month window).

However on Friday July 7 I booked the room with my points for the four nights and figured I was good. Just for simple math’s sake the room for those 4 nights was 90 points a night, so 360 points for 4 nights. I have 360 of my own points so no problem. My reservation confirmed and said booked June 7 - June 11, 360 points total.

As mentioned I have transferred points as well, and eventually want a longer stay so I figured I would try to book the entire 6 nights I need. So I attempted to remodify the reservation (again reserving on July 7 for check in June 7) for the full 6 nights. It let me choose my points to cover the full 6 nights INCLUDING the transferred in points. So I modified for June 7-June 13, chose all the points (mine and transferred), and made it to the confirm screen showing 6 nights, 540 points. I clicked accept terms, and then confirm reservation. After the system spun about 10 seconds I got that seven dwarves page that says “we’re working on it” claiming something went wrong. Went back the the dashboard, went through the same process again, got the same error page. Ok doesn’t work.

However, when I went back to my dashboard the second time it had the reservation stating I was booked June 7 - June 13 but that the reservation ONLY used 360 points (reflecting only my points). 6 nights booked only 4 nights of points. Weird.

Then then on Sunday when I went to move check in from June 7 to June 9, I tried only to book the 4 nights June 9 - June 12 with my own points and got the “room not available”. Tried that twice (again for just 4 nights) and couldn’t get it to work. Made calls as outlined in original post to no avail.

According to todays cast member, apparently when I tried to book the room and got the seven dwarves page, it still blocked the room for the extra few nights. The cast member said it was some glitch since the room I was trying to reserve for the 11th was blocked by me when I tried to book online with my transferred points.

Regardless, got the situation resolved and my walk continues. Won’t be playing around with transferred points other than by phone from here on out.

Thanks to all for the help.

 

[Genie+]

Thanks for sharing your experience. We all know the system is not immune to glitches, as well as some anomalies with availability at 11 months +7 days. Maybe this situation with transferred points is responsible for at least some of it.

 

[Sandisw]

Interesting outcome. Short story - still no availability online, so I called member services and at first they said no availability. I asked if there was a room out for maintenance or other reasons since I had walked the reservations. This cast member understood walking and was also perplexed so asked me to hold. She came back 3 or 4 more times and said “still working on it” and then finally after about a hour there was a room. So reservation was secured.

Long story - I am using both my own points and transferred points for this reservation, and have been walking 4 nights at a time using my own points (since transferred points can’t be used online at 11 month window).

However on Friday July 7 I booked the room with my points for the four nights and figured I was good. Just for simple math’s sake the room for those 4 nights was 90 points a night, so 360 points for 4 nights. I have 360 of my own points so no problem. My reservation confirmed and said booked June 7 - June 11, 360 points total.

As mentioned I have transferred points as well, and eventually want a longer stay so I figured I would try to book the entire 6 nights I need. So I attempted to remodify the reservation (again reserving on July 7 for check in June 7) for the full 6 nights. It let me choose my points to cover the full 6 nights INCLUDING the transferred in points. So I modified for June 7-June 13, chose all the points (mine and transferred), and made it to the confirm screen showing 6 nights, 540 points. I clicked accept terms, and then confirm reservation. After the system spun about 10 seconds I got that seven dwarves page that says “we’re working on it” claiming something went wrong. Went back the the dashboard, went through the same process again, got the same error page. Ok doesn’t work.

However, when I went back to my dashboard the second time it had the reservation stating I was booked June 7 - June 13 but that the reservation ONLY used 360 points (reflecting only my points). 6 nights booked only 4 nights of points. Weird.

Then then on Sunday when I went to move check in from June 7 to June 9, I tried only to book the 4 nights June 9 - June 12 with my own points and got the “room not available”. Tried that twice (again for just 4 nights) and couldn’t get it to work. Made calls as outlined in original post to no avail.

According to todays cast member, apparently when I tried to book the room and got the seven dwarves page, it still blocked the room for the extra few nights. The cast member said it was some glitch since the room I was trying to reserve for the 11th was blocked by me when I tried to book online with my transferred points.

Regardless, got the situation resolved and my walk continues. Won’t be playing around with transferred points other than by phone from here on out.

Thanks to all for the help.

I have had this happen. Got the dwarves when booking, room gone, even CM couldn't see it and then 20 minutes later it was there.

The system had it held from the initial try! Glad it all worked out!

 

[JELLYROLLS4LIFE]

Been walking a reservation at the 11-month window for the last couple of weeks. I have four nights booked at a time, and every day or two I log on and move it. Has been a seamless process. Friday I booked the room from June 7, 2024 to June 11, 2024, no problem. Today I logged on with the expectation of booking it from June 9, 2024, to June 13, 2024, and I am told online the night of the June 11th - 12th, 2024 is not available. I was a bit surprised, so I called member services. They had no explanation other than someone else must have booked it. I asked how someone could book the room for the 11th if I have it the nights of the 9th and 10th, but they just said "someone can book it today if they check in on June 9, 2024." And then she hung up on me. Awesome.

Makes no sense to me since I have the room booked on the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, so now questioning my understanding of DVC booking windows.

Double-checked the room type is the same and the dates are the same, and confirmed my existing reservation is still valid for June 7, 2024 to June 11, 2024. So now I hope for waitlist I guess.

Bizarre.

Really typically the only way that happens is that Disney has taken some rooms out of service on that date. I remember last year when all the Boardwalk view rooms were unbookable for Sept/Oct of 2023.

It is also possibly a glitch of some sort, so keep checking over the next few days.

 

[Ms.Minnie]

Interesting outcome. Short story - still no availability online, so I called member services and at first they said no availability. I asked if there was a room out for maintenance or other reasons since I had walked the reservations. This cast member understood walking and was also perplexed so asked me to hold. She came back 3 or 4 more times and said “still working on it” and then finally after about a hour there was a room. So reservation was secured.

Long story - I am using both my own points and transferred points for this reservation, and have been walking 4 nights at a time using my own points (since transferred points can’t be used online at 11 month window).

However on Friday July 7 I booked the room with my points for the four nights and figured I was good. Just for simple math’s sake the room for those 4 nights was 90 points a night, so 360 points for 4 nights. I have 360 of my own points so no problem. My reservation confirmed and said booked June 7 - June 11, 360 points total.

As mentioned I have transferred points as well, and eventually want a longer stay so I figured I would try to book the entire 6 nights I need. So I attempted to remodify the reservation (again reserving on July 7 for check in June 7) for the full 6 nights. It let me choose my points to cover the full 6 nights INCLUDING the transferred in points. So I modified for June 7-June 13, chose all the points (mine and transferred), and made it to the confirm screen showing 6 nights, 540 points. I clicked accept terms, and then confirm reservation. After the system spun about 10 seconds I got that seven dwarves page that says “we’re working on it” claiming something went wrong. Went back the the dashboard, went through the same process again, got the same error page. Ok doesn’t work.

However, when I went back to my dashboard the second time it had the reservation stating I was booked June 7 - June 13 but that the reservation ONLY used 360 points (reflecting only my points). 6 nights booked only 4 nights of points. Weird.

Then then on Sunday when I went to move check in from June 7 to June 9, I tried only to book the 4 nights June 9 - June 12 with my own points and got the “room not available”. Tried that twice (again for just 4 nights) and couldn’t get it to work. Made calls as outlined in original post to no avail.

According to todays cast member, apparently when I tried to book the room and got the seven dwarves page, it still blocked the room for the extra few nights. The cast member said it was some glitch since the room I was trying to reserve for the 11th was blocked by me when I tried to book online with my transferred points.

Regardless, got the situation resolved and my walk continues. Won’t be playing around with transferred points other than by phone from here on out.

Thanks to all for the help.

This is why I always call member services when doing a split stay. I book my home resort for the entire stay at the 11-month window. When I get to the 7-month window I call member services to book and unbook for the needed week at another resort. I'm afraid that if I cancel the week from my original booking and then go back and try to book the week at the other resort it might not be there. At which point I would be out of luck.

I know this isn't exactly your situation but sometimes it's better to go through member services. Hopefully you get someone who know what they are doing. I have always had very good luck with all the cast members I have encountered