Am I confused about walking?

[DisneyRegulars]

This morning I went to book August 8-15 2020 in a value animal kingdom studio. The 7th was not available last night, and it wasn’t available this morning right at 8am. After making my reservation I went back in (around 8:03) to add a waitlist for the 7th. Low and behold it was available, so i booked it.

My question is, if it was made available by someone walking a reservation, why were they walking the reservation right at 8:00am? Isn’t this unnecessary? If I’m walking a reservation by one day, let’s say dropping the 7th and picking up the night of the 14th, don’t I have all the time until the 11 month window opens up on the 14th to make this change (so 7:59am on the 14th)? Why get up and do the walking right at 8:00am? I’ve seen this happen multiple times of apparent 8:00am walking syndrome and I just want to make sure I’m not missing something.

 

[Sandisw]

Yes, you are right that if booking at the 11 month window, you don’t need to adjust until closer to the end. But with online booking, it is just as easy now to go in and modify day by day vs the when you had to call.

So you are not confused!

 

[jberndt10]

Would you mind explaining “walking”?

 

[crisi]

Some of us are just better off doing things every day when we sit down with our coffee than risk forgetting. (I don't walk, but I have forgotten to call and make my reservation when I should....)

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

... I just want to make sure I’m not missing something.

You're not issing anything. They are.

 

[chalee94]

Would you mind explaining “walking”?

You could do a search for more details but the short answer is that walking is when you book a stay earlier than your intended stay and walk it forward to your actual dates to give you the best shot at getting a tough reservation. (It only really works at 11 months out.)

 

[CarolMN]

Walk it forward means each day you modify the reservation to drop the first night and add a night to the end of the reservation. Eventually, you end up with the desired dates.

If you do it properly at 11 months, you are virtually guaranteed to be able to get what you want as no one else can book a reservation if the first night they want is not available.

 

[zavandor]

There is actually a remote possibility that walking early could be useful: if DVC plans to remove a number (but not all) units from inventory for maintenance.
When the walk reaches the dates when the maintenance starts, if only 10 rooms are available, then only the first 10 people will be able to continue the walk.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

There is actually a remote possibility that walking early could be useful: if DVC plans to remove a number (but not all) units from inventory for maintenance.
When the walk reaches the dates when the maintenance starts, if only 10 rooms are available, then only the first 10 people will be able to continue the walk.

Ah! Good point. Better safe than sorry.

 

[ziravan]

There is actually a remote possibility that walking early could be useful: if DVC plans to remove a number (but not all) units from inventory for maintenance.
When the walk reaches the dates when the maintenance starts, if only 10 rooms are available, then only the first 10 people will be able to continue the walk.

Had that happen to me last year when they took concierge rooms out of service. I wasn’t one of the fast ones and my walk was interrupted.

I was able to get back into a walk before my dates came up. And I have the room I wanted for this Dec. But that threw me for a loop for a bit.

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

I am still confused about walking, how far in advance of your desired dates should you start "walking". For an eleven month reservation, would you start at, say, eleven and a half months before your desired dates? Thanks!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I am still confused about walking, how far in advance of your desired dates should you start "walking". For an eleven month reservation, would you start at, say, eleven and a half months before your desired dates? Thanks!

First question would be what you are trying to book and for when?

 

[chalee94]

I am still confused about walking, how far in advance of your desired dates should you start "walking". For an eleven month reservation, would you start at, say, eleven and a half months before your desired dates? Thanks!

When the first DVC owners figured out walking, they realized that if they wanted Dec 25 (for example) for 7 nights, they could lock it up early by booking Dec 19 for 7 nights on Jan 19 to get to Dec 25 first - then no one could book Dec 25 except them (or the nights after that until Jan 26.) So as long as they canceled the first 6 nights of the original reservation and added Dec 26-31 by Jan 25, Bob was their uncle.

As more owners have found out about walking, it gets more and more ridiculous. How competitive do you want to get?

If you want to book club level or value AKV in the fall, you should start pretty early. (11.5 months probably won't cut it.) But really, there are only a very, very few situations where walking is needed.

 

[robinb]

I am still confused about walking, how far in advance of your desired dates should you start "walking". For an eleven month reservation, would you start at, say, eleven and a half months before your desired dates? Thanks!

You start walking once you start looking and there is availability.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

You start walking once you start looking and there is availability.

Maybe. But there's little that even needs walking the majority of the time.

 

[robinb]

Maybe. But there's little that even needs walking the majority of the time.

True. But I hold an AKV Concierge studio reservation and walking was the only way I got it.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

True. But I hold an AKV Concierge studio reservation and walking was the only way I got it.

I just book them after the walkers walk past. Concierge that is.

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

Thanks all, each of you answered my question in a different way. Currently I am hoping to book AKL concierge for a birthday trip in Sept 2021 but I am also interested in the more general answer. We tend to visit WDW off season so walking has never been an issue but with wanting to target a particular date for a particular season, it may be good to have this information.