Advice for last minute travelers needed

[Rpsemont]

We're thinking about buying at DVC since we've become such WDW fans but the reality is that we never plan much farther than 3-4 months out. Last trips planned as follows:
Planned Travel Dates
7/25/01 12/7/01
1/15/02 3/17/02
8/6/02 11/7/02
10/15/02 2/18/03

Planning ALWAYS revolves around the cheap arifares. Would we be able to use our points or would it really be a toss up based on when we went. I keep seeing comments about the importance of the 11 month window, but we just don't plan that far ahead.

Anyone else out there always doing last minute planning?

 

[kem330]

It's really hard to say what you can get at short notice, sometimes it's easy and others not . I have to point out that most of your travel dates were at Peak DVC times-
12/07 is over the very popular holiday time for dvc'ers
1/15 may fall aroung MLK holiday
3/17 not exactly spring break but still high season
11/7 might be okay except it is during food and wine fest and BWV and BCV fill quickly.
2/18 Presidents week holiday
As far as planning is concerned- You can always make a reservation and cancel 31 days out or sooner. I have found predictably there is some kind of airfare sale that will cover my travel dates it is just a matter of monitoring fares and jumping when they become available. Sounds like you are flexible and could work around it

 

[llp479]

We've done both. Booked at BWV at the 11 mo window, and called with as little as 60 days for OKW. We usually get a 2 bdrm so I'm not sure how this plays into the availability. We've never had a problem getting a room.

As for the airfare, I search daily until I find a good fare. I actually do this weekly even when I've already got air fare so I can gage what's a good deal for our next trip, or those unexpected trips, like this Jan 1 - 6 (great deal on AA - we're out of here!). For our March 29 - April 4 trip next year, I booked the airfare a couple of months after we had the ressies at BWV. It's still the cheapest fare out there.

As long as you're flexible about which "home" you'll stay in, you shouldn't have any problems.

Best of luck with your decision.

 

[sjpvac]

You sound like my sister...Every year I make my ressie 8-11 months in advance. Then, after I have banked whatever points I haven't used, my sister calls me and wants to know if I can get her something in the next two weeks. Most times I can get her something, but the point cost may be doubled and it may only be a room in one of the WDW hotels. If you are not concerned about paying a premium point cost for the accommodation, you can usually find something inside WDW, but not necessarily at the timeshare.