Any Success Stories?

[Teepsman]

Thank you for all your input concerning DVC planning. After listening and reading this board carefully, I have to wonder why anyone would put up with these booking nightmares. Are there any success stories out there?

What I hear is as follows:

1. You generally can't book the room & resort you want for the dates you want unless you're in the 11-month window.

2. If you are outside the 11-month window, you "could get lucky" and find a week in the room & resort you want.

3. If you are unlucky, you can still get the week you want to about 5 or 6 months out, but you need to be prepared to room-hop.

4. No booking 2-3 months out unless you room-hop a lot and spend points on larger rooms, even if you don't really need the space. And even then its dicey.

5. Forget about special events like F&W, Christmas, Thanksgiving, NYE.

6. Be prepared to stay during Disney's peak times, because DVC is full at off-peak times.

Why in the world would anyone buy into DVC under those circumstances? Why not just book a regular room at the Grand Floridian or even a value resort?

 

[Claire L]

We bought in August 07 and we able to get a studio at SSR for 14 consecutive nights for October 07 and it was great. Also got AKV at 7 months in November for this May and VB at 7 months for June. Only little glitch, probably my own fault is not booking AKV at 11 month window for first week of December, I did this at 10mth 1wk. I am now on the waitlist for a few popular nights, hoping with the 7 month window movements that the waitlist will come through if not may go for OKW or SSR as they are larger resorts with more availability.

Claire

 

[Monorail Purple&Gold]

IMHO DVC requires planning in advance. What I've noticed is a number of folks who have booking issues are trying to get in a trip "spur of the moment" so to speak.

We booked at 7 months and got a ressie because we were flexible with where we were willing to stay and the dates. Being able to have the 11-month window at your home resort is the advantage of buying in there. Also keep in mind that at the 60 day mark unused inventory gets turned over to CRO for cash ressies, making somewhat less availability <2 months out.

I don't personally know about peak vs. "off season" for DVC, we're new. But I've seen many a post here of folks that got what they wanted for peak times and non-peak times at 11 and 7 months. Keep reading, there are plenty of good booking posts here to offset the bad!

 

[Meliechick]

Thank you for all your input concerning DVC planning. After listening and reading this board carefully, I have to wonder why anyone would put up with these booking nightmares. Are there any success stories out there?

What I hear is as follows:

1. You generally can't book the room & resort you want for the dates you want unless you're in the 11-month window.

2. If you are outside the 11-month window, you "could get lucky" and find a week in the room & resort you want.

3. If you are unlucky, you can still get the week you want to about 5 or 6 months out, but you need to be prepared to room-hop.

4. No booking 2-3 months out unless you room-hop a lot and spend points on larger rooms, even if you don't really need the space. And even then its dicey.

5. Forget about special events like F&W, Christmas, Thanksgiving, NYE.

6. Be prepared to stay during Disney's peak times, because DVC is full at off-peak times.

Why in the world would anyone buy into DVC under those circumstances? Why not just book a regular room at the Grand Floridian or even a value resort?

I think what you have listed for the most part worst case scenario. For the "special events" I would certainly plan ahead because rooms do book quickly. I've booked most of our stays at the 7-mth mark or less. But I am also flexible as to when we go and the room size. We have taken several trips that we booked within 3-wks or less. But when we book those we have the attitude of if there is a room we will go and if not then we won't go. No biggie. I've booked a value studio at AKV less than 7 mths out and I've booked BWV with a boardwalk view about a month out during Star Wars weekend. I can almost always get a studio at SSR. I've been a member since 2004 with most of these trips within the last 2 yrs. We are just really flexible.

Now with all of that said, we did take 1 trip in early Dec that I booked at the 11-mth mark because I really wanted to see the Christmas decorations. If there is a trip that I really have my heart set on then I would book at the 11-mth mark so I could start planning the other components of the trip.

We love our DVC and I know it has flaws but it is right for us.

 

[4Pluto]

I think, but just my opinion, that:

1. Alot of the current discussion is from members sharing their experience that reserving rooms this year is more difficult than prior years-whether that's a result of developer points, the status of current sales, or members collectively reserving rooms earlier is the subject of debate.

2. Much of the difficulty involves the high demand times (f/w, tksgiving to xmas, school holidays). There have been lots of posts of short notice success at other times of the year.

3. Unlike hotel reservations, the system is designed so that occupancy is near 100% all of the time. You pay more for a hotel reservation but you have more flexibility to cancel or to make late reservations. You could book at the GF/YC but you couldn't get the equivalent of a 2BR villa for the same cost as getting a BVC 2BR through DVC. Whether the cost of purchasing the DVC points up front, the availability of discounts and promotions for cash reservations or the increase in rack rates makes the purchase worthwhile is also highly debated on the boards.

4. If you are comparing timeshares to timeshares, the reservation system at DVC is more flexible than most other timeshare resorts. You can reserve the number of days that you want to vacation (less or more than a week). You can reserve different kinds of accommodations each year (studio, 1 or 2 BR, or grand villa). You can reserve at all different times of the year. While you can reserve 11 months out, at this point it is not required to get a room and and you have the flexibility to use points at different resorts at a 7 month window. And all of this flexibility without having to do a formal trade. Compare that to a fixed week timeshare. For a number of those resorts, deciding what you want to do for vacation 11 months out is too late.

 

[lisaviolet]

Here's my experience:

What I hear is as follows:

1. You generally can't book the room & resort you want for the dates you want unless you're in the 11-month window. I have owned for three years. I have booked eleven or twelve trips. Besides one, I have never even used my 7-11 month booking window!!!!!!!

2. If you are outside the 11-month window, you "could get lucky" and find a week in the room & resort you want. Call me lucky because out of those 10 or 11 trips I"ve probably got exactly what I want at least 70% of the time on resort and 100% on room size. I'm not super picky on resort but I have stayed at every DVC besides VB so I do want some of the more popular pickings.

3. If you are unlucky, you can still get the week you want to about 5 or 6 months out, but you need to be prepared to room-hop. Never room hopped.

4. No booking 2-3 months out unless you room-hop a lot and spend points on larger rooms, even if you don't really need the space. And even then its dicey. At least five of those trips have been less than three months out. Two out the five were in prime times. Granted it will get worse I think, not better. However, don't forget to use the less than 7 days out if you don't get what you want. There is no waitlist and you'd be surprised how many cancel at the last minute.

5. Forget about special events like F&W, Christmas, Thanksgiving, NYE. Did F&W twice at the last minute. Studio too. Not at BWV/BCV however. This NYE is the only time I used my booking window since I've had DVC (whoops once for a renter)

6. Be prepared to stay during Disney's peak times, because DVC is full at off-peak times. There's a mixture of both anyway. Early December is hard (not a WDW peak - yet!) but NYE is hard (WDW peak as well)

Why in the world would anyone buy into DVC under those circumstances? Why not just book a regular room at the Grand Floridian or even a value resort? I've never had most of these issues. If you always had to use a booking window, well, as you can see I'd be in big trouble.

Well, I don't know what to say besides the above. Good luck on your decision.

Lisa

 

[ZekeKelso]

Quite simply, you aren't reading carefully enough. The points you make just aren't true (other than special days can be tough, and near impossible without an 11-month window).

PS - For what it's worth, I just booked my first choice - BWV - for a busy summer weekend 4 months out. True, they had no standard view rooms left, but I was able to get boardwalk-view.

 

[a cape lad]

we have been members for 3 years. we've booked 7 trips and never have had an issue.

have stayed at BWV (2 months out and 2 weeks out), BCV (4 months out), SSR, and OKW twice (7 months out).

we have gone in april, march, november, and early dec.

 

[wedance6]

we have been members for 3 years. we've booked 7 trips and never have had an issue.

have stayed at BWV (2 months out and 2 weeks out), BCV (4 months out), SSR, and OKW twice (7 months out).

we have gone in april, march, november, and early dec.

I wish I could say the same. WE just joined and can't get AKV during the first 2 weeks of Dec. Hopefully it is because of developer points and limited rooms right now. I hope for another resort at the 7mo. mark. This is putting a sour taste in my mouth with this whole process, since I was so excited about the purchase.

 

[DoOverDreams]

I'm pretty much a newbie myself (we just bought in January and have already added on!) but we haven't had any problems with reservations so far. We've done a few trips so far and haven't had any problems to speak of. Heck, we've even been able to call the weekend before and gotten exactly what we wanted! And these reservations were all made less then 11 months out, and most of them less then 7 months out.

I think some of the previous posts have got it exactly right. As long as you aren't too picky about where you're staying you shouldn't have a problem. This year, we've been to SSR once (one bedroom), DL Grand Californian once (3 standard view hotel rooms), and have scheduled (gulp) 5 more trips! One bedroom at WL in May combined with a studio at SSR (added on and couldn't get another night at WL), one bedroom at BWV in August combined with a one bedroom at AKV in August (added on one night and couldn't get at AKV so what the heck), 2 Park view rooms at DL Grand Californian in September, a one bedroom at SSR in October, and a one bedroom at SSR in December. Whew! I had not idea it was that much until I just wrote this out. A lot of those points used were the wonderful developer points and also the 2007 use year points from SSR. We are loving the heck out of DVC!

For us, it was the best possible thing we could have ever done. Now, if I only had more vacation days (and more points)...

 

[MikeyNS]

I wish I could say the same. WE just joined and can't get AKV during the first 2 weeks of Dec. Hopefully it is because of developer points and limited rooms right now. I hope for another resort at the 7mo. mark. This is putting a sour taste in my mouth with this whole process, since I was so excited about the purchase.

Again that's because the first 2 weeks of December are about the busiest time of year for DVC, and you really need to make your reservation at 11 months out (3-4 months ago), especially with the limited availablity of rooms and the "newness" of AKV.

I've been lucky to get all my reservations that I've wanted in the past 4 years, but I'm not picky at where I stay, and I've been able to stay at every resort but OKW, even AKV at a few months out in September.

 

[TriMom]

Success stories:

I will leave out my regular plain old booking success stories, but there are some of those too:

OKW 2 bedroom at 3 months out
BCV durning F&W 2 bedroom at 7 months, did not call day by day
SSR studio at 2 weeks out
SSR studio at 1 week out

The only thing I did not get was a studio in January at 3 days out, but I didn't really expect to get that either

When I was making my less than a month ressies, I asked for any available room, I understand that you can't be picky with that short of notice.

 

[wildernessDad]

In a lot of cases threads focus on failures instead of successes. I hope that the tales given to you above gives you a better idea of how it works.

 

[global_mom]

We have been members for one year and have taken five trips to WDW DVCs. We have gotten what we wanted every time I have called. We have never booked at 11 months out but have booked a couple of times around the 7 month mark. The other trips have been booked around 2 or 3 months ahead.

We are flexible with our resorts of choice and I am happy to say that we have stayed in all DVC resorts at WDW and have also stayed at HHI. We still need to try Vero but I would certainly consider our experience to be a "success story"!

PS - have also done DCL and a Concierge collection ressie and got exactly what we wanted when planning about 4 months ahead. yea!!

 

[Inkmahm]

I wish I could say the same. WE just joined and can't get AKV during the first 2 weeks of Dec. Hopefully it is because of developer points and limited rooms right now. I hope for another resort at the 7mo. mark. This is putting a sour taste in my mouth with this whole process, since I was so excited about the purchase.

The first two weeks of Dec were booked LONG ago, most likely almost 100% back in the first two weeks of January. That's the most popular time of the year for DVC. It won't change in the future, but now that you're members, you will be able to book in early January, too, to get the time in early December.

 

[eva]

We've been members for 11 years now and really haven't found any of those statements to be true. This trip coming up is the first one we have had to change rooms. But I made the reservation only 7 weeks out. It's really no big deal. We are still staying all week at SSR. I've even been able to book a GV at OKW about 5 months out before and I have never had to use the wait list before. The only statement I agree somewhat with is that there are some times of year that it is wise to use the 11-month window. But most times you can get something 5 or 6 months out. You just may have to be open to any resort.

 

[Jaaron2]

We booked 2 months out and got the resort we wanted (BCV) for the dates we wanted (April 3rd -7th)!

So far we have not had any problems! Our room was even ready when we got there at 12:00 (4 hrs ahead of schedule!).

 

[Quiksilvr]

I just booked a trip for September at OKW (I'm a member at AKV). We wanted a large 2BR and the OKW rooms are the biggest, so it was our first choice. We got the room with no problem. I did, however, ask about availability at AKV and BWV just for kicks, and there were no 2BRs available for that time at either resort. So, for booking 5 months out, things were pretty limited (they did have plenty of rooms at SSR). I anticipate that it will get a little better at AKV once Kidani is finished, but the popular resorts will always book fast.

I don't really like planning my vacations 11 months out because that's just not how my business works. I'm a lawyer, and stuff comes up. My wife and I aren't really that picky about which resort we stay at though, so I don't think booking at seven months is going to be much of a problem for the times we're most likely to want to go.

 

[crisi]

In a lot of cases threads focus on failures instead of successes. I hope that the tales given to you above gives you a better idea of how it works.

And a lot of time we focus on successes instead of failures as well.

DVC rooms are a limited commodity designed to be used at capacity. That simply means that your chances of getting exactly what you want eleven months out are much better than getting exactly what you want a week from now - with every day from eleven months to travel day lowering your chances in a more or less linear fashion. There are a couple of times where there is a break in the line - seven months has a huge contraction as people move around and try and stay non home and availability tightens even more. 30 days out the waitlist frees and anyone needing to cancel who knows does, so there is often more availability within 30 days than at 45 days. That doesn't mean there is a zero chance at any point in the timeline - unfortunately it also means that there isn't a sure thing (as anyone trying to get a BWV Grand Villa on NYE knows).

This isn't that different from making ADRs - you want LeCellier, your best chance is 180 days out. Want Marrakesh - you can probably walk in many times of the year, but maybe not with a party of 12 at 6:00pm. Still, there are people who don't want the structure of ADRs and perfer offsite, or counterservice, or winging it.

As to why people put up with this - well, a lot of us can plan and work within the system. And if you can do that, DVC can be a very good value.

 

[PIERCEDRN]

Thank you for all your input concerning DVC planning. After listening and reading this board carefully, I have to wonder why anyone would put up with these booking nightmares. Are there any success stories out there?

What I hear is as follows:

1. You generally can't book the room & resort you want for the dates you want unless you're in the 11-month window.
We got everything we wanted at 7months except one cash day at VWL(Disney DVC Cruise arrived that day) This year booked studios for 2 VWL nights, 4 AKV, 5 SSR, 5 BCV, and 3 BWV nights... so 18 for 19 ain't bad.2. If you are outside the 11-month window, you "could get lucky" and find a week in the room & resort you want.
No probs with this so far

3. If you are unlucky, you can still get the week you want to about 5 or 6 months out, but you need to be prepared to room-hop.
Only by choice to get to stay at brand new AKV
4. No booking 2-3 months out unless you room-hop a lot and spend points on larger rooms, even if you don't really need the space. And even then its dicey.
I have no sympathy for people who complain about no rooms at 2-3 months.
Learn to plan... we are on the dis!
5. Forget about special events like F&W, Christmas, Thanksgiving, NYE.
During events we got everything,... We are never going on holidays so we don't need to worry. Again no sympathy for difficulty for rooms, crowds on holidays.
6. Be prepared to stay during Disney's peak times, because DVC is full at off-peak times.
Not a chance, never ever go on peak times...why waste points and time in lines?
Why in the world would anyone buy into DVC under those circumstances?
Cause it totally rocks and we are going on 2-3 trips off peak every year until I am 82.
Why not just book a regular room at the Grand Floridian or even a value resort?
We stretch our 150 points to 3 trips a year thats why! Deluxe rooms at value price!

DVC was our best decision we made and thanks to the Disboards we will be getting the most out of it for a LOOOONG long time.
We use all the perks too, annual pass discount, spa discount, Deluxe Dining plan and I am Golfing for $35.00 on Osprey Ridge in May with my DVC membership...
BOB