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

[pzw90]

Been able to cancel both of my favorite week 50 reservations at 11 months and rebook them using 10% less points than my contract, which is great so I keep the difference. Now waiting for the 7 month window to try and book the same week in the same room type, but using my SAP points instead. If that works, I would just cancel the week’s reservation booked using my 11 month home resort contract points and hang onto those for some other time, or bank them. If it works!

But… if booking the week with my SAP works…. Why did I need a fixed week contract to begin with? I suddenly cannot remember why I thought I needed this? Must be because I assumed availability would be too hard at 7 months for a peak time like week 50…. But, if I am wrong about that and the rooms (PIT 2 bdrm villa and CFW cabin) can be had at 7 months anyway… I guess buying the week was really about the convenience of member services booking my reservation at 11 months?

If you see something I’m missing please let me know?

I love the polar opposites of 2 bd PIT and CFW. Why did you choose to get them the same week?

 

[ah10is]

Finally connected with my guide. So standard view studios for both weeks FW19 & 49 are sold out at the Riviera but they still have preferred view. FW 19 is 157 points and FW 49 is 167 points. I'm now leaning towards FW 49 as I feel that will be a much more desired week in the long run. I'll probably sell my little 50 point Riviera Resale to help pay for it.

If the FW was less than 150 points and I got a 25 point contract to get over that 150 point mark.... to get magical beginnings, the 25 point contract couldn't be financed.

Still crunching numbers but have a call set up tomorrow to get all my questions answered instead of back and forth emails.

 

[CarolynFH]

If you see something I’m missing please let me know?

All speculation on my part:

Both Poly and CFW are in active sales, so 11 month availability now may not accurately forecast 11 month availability once they’re sold out.

Maybe DVC has declared or expects to declare more villas/cabins for week 50 in 2026, thus creating more availability.

And maybe the actual week 50 in 2026 is not as desirable as it will be in future years. It’s kind of the 3rd week of December this year, not the first or second week of December, isn’t it? I’m not sure, haven’t looked at the FW calendar at all.

ETA - i had to correct myself, I wrote 7 month availability above when it’s 11 month you’re dealing with now. Wait until the 7 month window opens.

 

[Sandisw]

Been able to cancel both of my favorite week 50 reservations at 11 months and rebook them using 10% less points than my contract, which is great so I keep the difference. Now waiting for the 7 month window to try and book the same week in the same room type, but using my SAP points instead. If that works, I would just cancel the week’s reservation booked using my 11 month home resort contract points and hang onto those for some other time, or bank them. If it works!

But… if booking the week with my SAP works…. Why did I need a fixed week contract to begin with? I suddenly cannot remember why I thought I needed this? Must be because I assumed availability would be too hard at 7 months for a peak time like week 50…. But, if I am wrong about that and the rooms (PIT 2 bdrm villa and CFW cabin) can be had at 7 months anyway… I guess buying the week was really about the convenience of member services booking my reservation at 11 months?

If you see something I’m missing please let me know?

There are some who believe one should buy a FW because it will help with resale?

Could you have thought that? But, yes, if you can’t get it regularly, it seems like it wasn’t needed.

However, over time, what can be gotten today might not be that way in 10 years so having it ensures you will have it if availability patterns change!

 

[juliebee]

Why did I need a fixed week contract to begin with? I suddenly cannot remember why I thought I needed this? Must be because I assumed availability would be too hard at 7 months for a peak time like week 50…. But, if I am wrong about that and the rooms (PIT 2 bdrm villa and CFW cabin) can be had at 7 months anyway… I guess buying the week was really about the convenience of member services booking my reservation at 11 months?

If you see something I’m missing please let me know?

I'm considering it an insurance policy to ensure if reservations become difficult to book in the future then at least I don't have to be in that fight. We hear SO MANY people that say "just a few years ago, I had no problem booking in December" or "Until recently, I was always able to book my home resort anytime before 7 months and never had a problem getting the room I wanted". It is perceived that it's been more difficult lately to get the reservation you want at certain resorts.

I already have that problem at Boulder Ridge for December. I didn't want to deal with that again in a second resort, so a favorite week was my easy insurance policy. And I actually hope I don't have to use the favorite week and can cancel to book it myself and save a few points and even make the travel dates work better for me. But it's there if I need it.

 

[intamin]

All speculation on my part:

Both Poly and CFW are in active sales, so 11 month availability now may not accurately forecast 11 month availability once they’re sold out.

Maybe DVC has declared or expects to declare more villas/cabins for week 50 in 2026, thus creating more availability.

And maybe the actual week 50 in 2026 is not as desirable as it will be in future years. It’s kind of the 3rd week of December this year, not the first or second week of December, isn’t it? I’m not sure, haven’t looked at the FW calendar at all.

ETA - i had to correct myself, I wrote 7 month availability above when it’s 11 month you’re dealing with now. Wait until the 7 month window opens.

I'm glad I purchased a week 50 since that is a time we are actually likely to go but it is less in demand than week 48 and week 49 for sure. That's why with my most recent purchase I decided to go with week 49 to immediately precede my other FW and it's also more in demand.

I think it has to do with the sorcerer pass being blocked out for a part of week 50 at times. Crowds are also starting to ramp up towards mid December which is where week 50 typically falls

 

[Brian Noble]

Why did I need a fixed week contract to begin with? I

It's a hedge with no downside. In a year you really need it, you will be glad you have it. If that year never comes to pass, who cares? You have points to spend.

I also think that if you are looking for a longer stay, CFW might be very hard at seven months for a period that includes the low-point early December, and the PIT 2BR might also.

 

[ShaneDJ]

It's a hedge with no downside.

Perfect description of a Fixed Week.

We didn’t know about FW’s when we first bought DVC. After I learned about FW’s, I couldn’t believe what a great option they are. Especially for the hard-to-book weeks.

I hate walking reservations. And the FW totally solves that problem.

I wish that all of our contracts were FW, and we’ll buy more FW’s in the future.

 

[atthebeachclub]

The only downside I see about fixed weeks is that sometimes CMs don’t seem to fully understand them. That’s just a training issue though. Hopefully as more are issued they will understand them better.

 

[Brian Noble]

I'm pretty sure my Guide had never sold one before.

 

[juliebee]

I'm pretty sure my Guide had never sold one before.

Same, but my guide is Disneyland-based and that might have been a factor in why he hadn't before.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Perfect description of a Fixed Week.

We didn’t know about FW’s when we first bought DVC. After I learned about FW’s, I couldn’t believe what a great option they are. Especially for the hard-to-book weeks.

I hate walking reservations. And the FW totally solves that problem.

I wish that all of our contracts were FW, and we’ll buy more FW’s in the future.

Is what we did. After purchasing week #49 at CCV there was no looking back. Last year we purchased week #36 at PIT. A traditionally slow time except lately because it is the cheapest timeframe at Poly. So other factors ( like the points chart) also determine booking availability, not just time of year

 

[ah10is]

Well....I am officially a proud owner of FW 49 in a preferred studio at Disney's Riviera!!!!

 

[JackosinDIS]

Well....I am officially a proud owner of FW 49 in a preferred studio at Disney's Riviera!!!!

Congrats!

 

[juliebee]

Well....I am officially a proud owner of FW 49 in a preferred studio at Disney's Riviera!!!!

Congrats!! Welcome to Club 49!

 

[Tatebeck]

Hmm that stinks that they are out of Week 49 standard at RIV. If I was going to add on more there before it sells out that is probably what I would have chosen, to go with my Week 50 (and 39) for the most flexibility. Oh well, maybe they will open up when they declare the last rooms. Or maybe we will fall in love with Poly Tower when we stay there for a few nights starting tomorrow. Or perhaps LL will be amazing and I can snag one there. I'd like to have both popular weeks in early Dec locked down for something eventually if booking is going to continue to get even worse for those two weeks.

 

[intamin]

Hmm that stinks that they are out of Week 49 standard at RIV. If I was going to add on more there before it sells out that is probably what I would have chosen, to go with my Week 50 (and 39) for the most flexibility. Oh well, maybe they will open up when they declare the last rooms. Or maybe we will fall in love with Poly Tower when we stay there for a few nights starting tomorrow. Or perhaps LL will be amazing and I can snag one there. I'd like to have both popular weeks in early Dec locked down for something eventually if booking is going to continue to get even worse for those two weeks.

Come join us at Poly! I toured the Poly 1BR while in Canada today while heading out of Epcot due to weather and it made me very happy to have added on at Poly. Even though the preview area has a completely different layout than the actual thing it really was very nice. Even my wife who hates my addiction to DVC and how often I talk about it/listen to DVC podcasts or am on here talking about it was very happy with the room and excited to stay there with our new points.

 

[Tatebeck]

Come join us at Poly! I toured the Poly 1BR while in Canada today while heading out Epcot due to weather and it made me very happy to have added on at Poly. Even though the preview area has a completely different layout than the actual thing it really was very nice. Even my wife who hates my addiction to DVC and how often I talk about it/listen to DVC podcasts or am on here talking about it was very happy with the room and excited to stay there with our new points.

1BR is what we have! Theme Park View for 3 nights (all that was available), followed by 3 more at Beach Club. Hopefully we like it! If so I could see doing a 1BR Standard view week 49 or something. We like 1BRs but our other FW are studios because those are usually the harder room to book, but 1BR may end up being harder at Poly due to the super low numbers of them.

We didn't love the studio we stayed in previously a couple years ago now and the resort always seems so busy. Hopefully a trip in a slower season and in the Island Tower can fix that!

Not sure we need more total points, but I could see us selling our resale BLT, BWV, or AKV to upgrade to something else we really fall in love with.

 

[intamin]

1BR is what we have! Theme Park View for 3 nights (all that was available), followed by 3 more at Beach Club. Hopefully we like it! If so I could see doing a 1BR Standard view week 49 or something. We like 1BRs but our other FW are studios because those are usually the harder room to book, but 1BR may end up being harder at Poly due to the super low numbers of them.

We didn't love the studio we stayed in previously a couple years ago now and the resort always seems so busy. Hopefully a trip in a slower season and in the Island Tower can fix that!

Not sure we need more total points, but I could see us selling our resale BLT, BWV, or AKV to upgrade to something else we really fall in love with.

If they don't shaft you with the room view like they did to me when I tried out PIT in my TPV studio, you may be leaving with a few hundred more points.. I'd get a week 49 1BR but as things are I think we're nearing our point maximum where we may be going into excess soon if we haven't already. We've started doing international trips annually so that's less PTO for Disney. We did Japan the past 2 years and this year it's Paris to knock out another Disney park.

 

[Tatebeck]

If they don't shaft you with the room view like they did to me when I tried out PIT in my TPV studio, you may be leaving with a few hundred more points.. I'd get a week 49 1BR but as things are I think we're nearing our point maximum where we may be going into excess soon if we haven't already. We've started doing international trips annually so that's less PTO for Disney. We did Japan the past 2 years and this year it's Paris to knock out another Disney park.

Oh yeah if the view is bad I am going to immediately complain and ask for either a room change or refund of the point difference since I would have done one of the other views if they were available. Especially as it is a known issue and they are even reassigning room views. If I can't see the park, I'm not going to stop bugging them

It's like an extra 20ish points a night for the 3 nights. That's around a week long stay in OKW or BWV in a cheap season studio!