All About Fixed Weeks (RIV/CCV/AUL/VGF/POLY/TOWER/VHD/FWC Charts)

[Lorana]

I would ask for a point of contact either on your recent booking or future one that you can directly reach out to if its not done.

You might find someone is willing to take that on but not sure.

Separately if nothing else I would save the previous email chain and just email back on that one the following year saying you need help again with this same issue.

That’s what I’ve done as of last year - replied back to the prior email chain once registration dates are known. We may not go this year as we’re going over Thanksgiving but I don’t want to lose out on this benefit.

 

[Kenito]

I’m not sure if this has been asked, but can you walk a fixed week? There’s a certain resort I’m considering (I’m too embarrassed to say which one due to it’s high fees, lack of 1 bedroom laundry, and need of golf carts to get around) so I’m going to keep the name of the resort on the DL. Anyway, this resort that shall not be named is popular around Halloween. Looks like week 43 works best. But as there will be years when the week ends before Halloween, am I able to walk that fixed reservation at the 11 month window a day or 2 to cover Halloween?

I guess the alternative (if I have enough points) is to walk a regular reservation and cancel the fixed one if I get the days I want. A fixed week reservation has the normal cancellation timeline?

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

I’m not sure if this has been asked, but can you walk a fixed week? There’s a certain resort I’m considering (I’m too embarrassed to say which one due to it’s high fees, lack of 1 bedroom laundy, and need of golf carts to get around) so I’m going to keep the name of the resort on the DL. Anyway, this resort that shall not be named is popular around Halloween. Looks like week 43 works best. But as there will be years when the week ends before Halloween, am I able to walk that fixed reservation at the 11 month window a day or 2 to cover Halloween?

I guess the alternative (if I have enough points) is to walk a regular reservation and cancel the fixed one if I get the days I want. A fixed week reservation has the normal cancellation timeline?

Nailed it on the cover up

I believe FWs are very much fixed and can’t be moved, shortened, lengthened or walked in anyway… well except for the rare (and no longer available to purchase) runDisney weeks but that was an automatic shift to fit that particular race weekend. Your plan to use other points to walk/reserve the week you wan and then cancel the FW is definitely feasible though.

 

[davidhr]

I’m not sure if this has been asked, but can you walk a fixed week? There’s a certain resort I’m considering (I’m too embarrassed to say which one due to it’s high fees, lack of 1 bedroom laundry, and need of golf carts to get around) so I’m going to keep the name of the resort on the DL. Anyway, this resort that shall not be named is popular around Halloween. Looks like week 43 works best. But as there will be years when the week ends before Halloween, am I able to walk that fixed reservation at the 11 month window a day or 2 to cover Halloween?

I guess the alternative (if I have enough points) is to walk a regular reservation and cancel the fixed one if I get the days I want. A fixed week reservation has the normal cancellation timeline?

FWs are take it or leave it. Can’t be modified. You need to cancel and rebook.

 

[Flash_Sloth]

That's one of the reasons I bought a small 50pt RIV contract in addition to the FW that sometimes hits & sometimes misses my b-day. On a year where the FW misses, I can try to manually book a few adjacent nights. And for 2025, I'll get a free waterpark day on my split-stay "arrival" day between the FW & manual reservation.

 

[EYL]

I’m not sure if this has been asked, but can you walk a fixed week? There’s a certain resort I’m considering (I’m too embarrassed to say which one due to it’s high fees, lack of 1 bedroom laundry, and need of golf carts to get around) so I’m going to keep the name of the resort on the DL. Anyway, this resort that shall not be named is popular around Halloween. Looks like week 43 works best. But as there will be years when the week ends before Halloween, am I able to walk that fixed reservation at the 11 month window a day or 2 to cover Halloween?

I guess the alternative (if I have enough points) is to walk a regular reservation and cancel the fixed one if I get the days I want. A fixed week reservation has the normal cancellation timeline?

Fixed weeks are by definition "fixed" and are typically booked for you about 12 months in advance. But if you use any points in that use year BEFORE, they won't book the FW for you. So if you want to walk that week instead, just start 12 months before and you should be okay. Or, even if they book it for you, cancel it by calling MS ASAP and start the walk using the points.

 

[Kenito]

Fixed weeks are by definition "fixed" and are typically booked for you about 12 months in advance. But if you use any points in that use year BEFORE, they won't book the FW for you. So if you want to walk that week instead, just start 12 months before and you should be okay. Or, even if they book it for you, cancel it by calling MS ASAP and start the walk using the points.

Fixed. No changes. Got it! But not sure what you mean here: MS won’t book the FW if I use any points in that use year before. I’m assuming you mean that I can’t touch the allocated points to be used for the FW or they won't create the FW reservation? Once they do create the reservation, I can cancel it if I want and then walk as normal.

But since they’re making the reservation 12 months in advance, and I can’t book/use the points until 11 months in advance, I can’t really screw this up can I?

 

[Mikey15]

Fixed. No changes. Got it! But not sure what you mean here: MS won’t book the FW if I use any points in that use year before. I’m assuming you mean that I can’t touch the allocated points to be used for the FW or they won't create the FW reservation? Once they do create the reservation, I can cancel it if I want and then walk as normal.

But since they’re making the reservation 12 months in advance, and I can’t book/use the points until 11 months in advance, I can’t really screw this up can I?

I believe what they’re saying is say it’s November year 1 and you want to stay Halloween year 2. Even if your W43 has already been booked, call and get it cancelled, and you can start “walking” by booking Oct 1-7, etc, and then keep modifying until you get to the dates you actually want.

 

[Flash_Sloth]

Fixed. No changes. Got it! But not sure what you mean here: MS won’t book the FW if I use any points in that use year before. I’m assuming you mean that I can’t touch the allocated points to be used for the FW or they won't create the FW reservation? Once they do create the reservation, I can cancel it if I want and then walk as normal.

But since they’re making the reservation 12 months in advance, and I can’t book/use the points until 11 months in advance, I can’t really screw this up can I?

MS will only book the FW using the full allotment of current year points (they never use banked or borrowed points) if your full allotment of current year points is available. If you've already booked something with those points, they won't make your FW reservation.

And yes, once they make your FW reservation, you can cancel it, but you can't do that by yourself. You have to call or chat with MS to cancel a FW reservation and they'll make sure you get your full contracts points back. Once that is done, they're just normal DVC points you can use to make reservations with.

The odds may be low, but yes, it is possible to screw this up, even if you are booking right at 11 months and/or walking it at 11 months. There might be enough other people walking a reservation that you can never grab the first day. Also, even if you get the first day, it is possible that you walk into somebody else's FW reservation and you get blocked. If walking, always try to add the Sunday ASAP because FW reservations begin/end on Sundays.

 

[EYL]

MS will only book the FW using the full allotment of current year points (they never use banked or borrowed points) if your full allotment of current year points is available. If you've already booked something with those points, they won't make your FW reservation.

And yes, once they make your FW reservation, you can cancel it, but you can't do that by yourself. You have to call or chat with MS to cancel a FW reservation and they'll make sure you get your full contracts points back. Once that is done, they're just normal DVC points you can use to make reservations with.

The odds may be low, but yes, it is possible to screw this up, even if you are booking right at 11 months and/or walking it at 11 months. There might be enough other people walking a reservation that you can never grab the first day. Also, even if you get the first day, it is possible that you walk into somebody else's FW reservation and you get blocked. If walking, always try to add the Sunday ASAP because FW reservations begin/end on Sundays.

Thanks for being more descriptive than I was in my post.

But since they’re making the reservation 12 months in advance, and I can’t book/use the points until 11 months in advance, I can’t really screw this up can I?

Another way that complications can occur is can't walk across Use Years. For example, if you have a FW in late-October and your UY *is* October, then you can't walk with that UY's points until October 1st. I actually have a Week 43 FW but have a June UY, so this would work out well for me.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

Thanks for being more descriptive than I was in my post.



Another way that complications can occur is can't walk across Use Years. For example, if you have a FW in late-October and your UY *is* October, then you can't walk with that UY's points until October 1st. I actually have a Week 43 FW but have a June UY, so this would work out well for me.

This is an important point that often gets lost - my CCV FW52 is in a Dec UY. When I use the FW, it’s a non-issue but if I opt out to use for earlier in the month (which I’ll need to do on the years FW52 includes Christmas) it’s virtually impossible for me to get a CCV studio bc everyone is walking them from Nov or earlier. My contract was resale so I didn’t have a choice but definitely a consideration if buying direct.

 

[lyric_rains]

Does anyone have any experience with purchasing a FW and needing an accessible room? We may not need an accessible room for the life of the contract but for the last 5 years and into the foreseeable future, we book/need only roll in showers. Wonder if that can be a flexible request each year as Disney makes your reservation.

 

[sethschroeder]

I have updated Post #1, #9, #13 with FW charts with the help of @eticketplease

Post #1 will always be the "current" FW charts if you buy today. The other posts will retain old Fixed Week charts so if you need to track down the date range you purchased you are able to.

 

[sethschroeder]

Does anyone have any experience with purchasing a FW and needing an accessible room? We may not need an accessible room for the life of the contract but for the last 5 years and into the foreseeable future, we book/need only roll in showers. Wonder if that can be a flexible request each year as Disney makes your reservation.

I do not but possibly someone does. I might start a post on the main DVC section as well as in the DISabilities section of the forum to see if you can get information.

I will say though asking a DVC guide about that specific need should return proper information. The guides don't always know everything but something that specific I would verify with them.

There is chance though it might be something DVC can do its just you would have to contact them each year. One reason it might not be possible though is that DVC can only declare a subset percentage of rooms to Fixed Weeks and there wouldn't be enough of the accessible rooms to make that happen possibly.

EDIT: I looked it up as an example VGF they can only sell 35% of the room category in a specific week as Fixed Week. So if there were 3 accessible rooms it would be possible then that it could legally be allowed.

 

[lyric_rains]

I do not but possibly someone does. I might start a post on the main DVC section as well as in the DISabilities section of the forum to see if you can get information.

I will say though asking a DVC guide about that specific need should return proper information. The guides don't always know everything but something that specific I would verify with them.

There is chance though it might be something DVC can do its just you would have to contact them each year. One reason it might not be possible though is that DVC can only declare a subset percentage of rooms to Fixed Weeks and there wouldn't be enough of the accessible rooms to make that happen possibly.

EDIT: I looked it up as an example VGF they can only sell 35% of the room category in a specific week as Fixed Week. So if there were 3 accessible rooms it would be possible then that it could legally be allowed.

Thanks for this insight! I was wondering about the limited roll in shower being a specific FW room type, but then not sure what happens over time, when it is not needed. I have a call into my guide.

 

[Mikey15]

The Poly FW chart still shows the longhouses on there. Will they really still sell me a Moorea lagoon view FW? Or only Tower?

I know historically longhouses don’t go as quickly as the Island Tower categories most certainly will, but if you’re buying a fixed week, I suppose it’d pay to choose your preferred view & room type vs canceling the FW each year,

 

[Sandisw]

The Poly FW chart still shows the longhouses on there. Will they really still sell me a Moorea lagoon view FW? Or only Tower?

I know historically longhouses don’t go as quickly as the Island Tower categories most certainly will, but if you’re buying a fixed week, I suppose it’d pay to choose your preferred view & room type vs canceling the FW each year,

Since the longhouses were sold out, I don’t know if they can go back and sell a FW attached to those units. When BPK went on sale, you could not get a FW at the original building.

 

[Flash_Sloth]

Since the longhouses were sold out, I don’t know if they can go back and sell a FW attached to those units. When BPK went on sale, you could not get a FW at the original building.

When we were first buying into DVC, it was a little before they announced VGF2 at the BPK building, and my guide said that they couldn't sell me any VGF. I guess they didn't have enough points to spare vs the 2% that they're required to hold. And when VGF2 went on sale, I don't think they were ROFRing any VGF. Therefore, they probably didn't have enough spare points available in the original VGF building to sell FWs there.

But with Poly, even though it has been a "sold out" resort, they've still been selling a few contracts of it every month. On top of that, they've ROFRed a few contracts in the months leading up to PIT. I'm guessing that they probably have enough spare points in the longhouses to sell you a FW there if you really want one.

But that's just my guess. A guide could confirm if they are or aren't available.

 

[emchen]

Yes, my fixed week 39 has not been booked yet. The calendar shows no availability for some of the days as well. I’ve called MS several times but they assure me it will be booked, but may not be until the start of my UY… which is June!

Bookings have been delayed at times but never heard it being delayed that long. Instead of calling I would submit a comment on the DVC site. It goes to a different team it seems and they might look in to it more.

Who you get on the phone likely just have a call script saying if someone is fixed week it will be taken care of and nothing more.

My ‘24 FW49-50 VGF and RIV respectively didn’t show up till Feb 2024.

Something is up with MS.

Since the longhouses were sold out, I don’t know if they can go back and sell a FW attached to those units. When BPK went on sale, you could not get a FW at the original building.

It is worth someone asking.

Re sold out properties…Last month I asked my guide about runDisney FW at CC (a sold out resort) and he said FW44 was available!

The issue might be actively selling vs not actively selling. If someone went back to their guide asking about FW at VGF now, maybe there will be availability now.

 

[atthebeachclub]

My ‘24 FW49-50 VGF and RIV respectively didn’t show up till Feb 2024.

Something is up with MS.

It is worth someone asking.

Re sold out properties…Last month I asked my guide about runDisney FW at CC (a sold out resort) and he said FW44 was available!

The issue might be actively selling vs not actively selling. If someone went back to their guide asking about FW at VGF now, maybe there will be availability now.

Were RunDisney weeks available still? Or just regular fixed week 44?