Advice needed: 2BR for part of stay, down to 1 BR

[JennG]

Looking for some expert advice on how to handle this situation and I'll apologize in advance if this gets a little long.

Situation:We are currently booked 1BR MKV at BLT for a week in November. We invited MIL & FIL to go with us, and they told us they would like to join us for 3-4 days on the front end. Unfortunately, we do not currently have the points to cover their stay as well. They just want to stay near us. I'm trying to figure out the best way to book and/or pay for this (even though they will actually be paying).

Options:
Here are the options I've come up with on how to handle this.
1) Leave our reservation as is and book a cash reservation for them for a MK View studio (if available) with our 25% DVC discount.
2) Modify our reservation to only the days just my family will be there as points (same 1BR view), and the remainder days as cash reservation as a 2BR lockoff
3) Modify our reservation to a 3-split stay: Pay cash for 2 nights on a 2 BR MKV lockoff, points for 1-2 nights as a 2BR MKV lockoff, and points for 1BR MKV
4) Look for points to "buy" for transfer and hope and pray a room is available once I find points
5) Have MIL book a room at the Contemporary separately
6) Book a room at the Contemporary now and keep fingers crossed AP rates will cover our dates and a room will be available

I am not willing to rent points as I am too much of a control freak and I think it's complicated enough with ILs only being here part of the trip LOL Am I missing any other options?

TIA for all your help and advice!
Jenn

 

[disneynutz]

I would book a cash reservation through MS. If a TP view isn't available, book a lake view and they can be across the hall. Should a better discount get offered from Disney, you could always switch.

I possibility exists that they could cancel and if they do, just cancel their reservation and it won't affect yours.

Bill

 

[JennG]

Thanks - anyone else?

 

[lovin'fl]

Well, I selected have MIL book Contemporary resie now (I didn't know what you meant by the other Contemporary option...book and hope available...AP...whatever). The Contemporary is awesome, they will enjoy. Do they expect to pay for their lodging? I ask this because you said that you invited them along? If they offered to pay whatever was necessary, then have them book the Contemporary. It will be a nice seperation from you guys.

I don't know how many more points you'd need, but you can buy up to 15 one-time use points from DVC and there is always borrowing. Another option you did not mention (and you may not like it) is to downgrade the view, though I don't know if a standard view would be available at this time or if that would give you enough points to switch to a 2BR.

 

[Brian Noble]

even though they will actually be paying

If they are paying, I would just hook them up with a Disney Specialist travel agent (one who will retroactively apply discounts as they come up) and let them deal with it.

 

[JennG]

Well, since they are only coming for part of the trip (their decision) they said they want to be close to us as possible. We'd love to have them at BLT with us and I think they would want that, although I'm not sure if the price will be too much. I looked at the normal WDW website to price out rooms and the only room available at the CR is a Tower TPV room which is even more than a BLT TPV studio.

Yes, they are fine for paying. We'd like to pay for it but we can't cover the costs or the points. Unfortunately, the few extra points we could buy won't be enough without downgrading the view. DH is dead set on MK view (don't ask), and I checked and SV wasn't available (just for kicks).

Thanks all for the responses.

 

[Brian Noble]

If worse comes to worst, if they were at another monorail resort it would not be the end of the world.

 

[SINK]

book cash and points and utilize the lock off option as you have mentioned.

 

[Sandisw]

I agree with Bill--leave your reservation like it is and call and see if you can get a TP view studio--if not, go with LV and then ask DVC to simply note that you are "traveling with" them.

I think that MS is trying to do a better job with this so that parties stay together. And, as mentioned, you can be in a TP view studio and they can be in LV and still be right across from each other!