Anyone else have trouble getting reservations?

[tinkerbellmom1]

Hi All,

We bought the DVC last November and were so excited. We used some points to go to Disneyland in February and had an easy time making reservations.

This past week I tried to make reservations to go to Hawaii 9 months in advance-couldn't get a reservation, the hotel was booked two days in the middle of the week; then I tried to use some points to pay toward a DCL vacation we already booked (which you can do up to a category 2) but I wasn't able to (was told to read the member handbook for clarification); then I tried to make reservations on the West coast for the same 9 month time frame and was told that Disney has not contracted for rates yet at a lot of resorts-so I couldn't make a reservation! AAARRRGGGH!

As I type this, I have the contract for purchasing additional points on the table next to me. I'm wondering if that is a mistake. If it is always this hard to stay off Disney property, I'm not sure we'll get as much use out of DVC as we originally thought.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I sure would appreciate it!

 

[Chuck S]

Using points to stay anywhere that is not a DVC resort is problematical, and truthfully, not a financially wise thing to do, as the value of those may actually be more than the non-DVC resort would cost you in cash. While it is nice to have the ability for an occasional trade out, the best use of DVC points is at a DVC resort. If you are buying DVC points for the purpose of annual trade outs to other locations, remember that we can be restricted to using our points ONLY at our home resort. Any trade out options, in theory, could be discontinued at anytime.

 

[Doctor P]

Your expectations are unrealistic, and your knowledge of the product your purchased is not yet at the level that will allow you to take full advantage of your membership (read these boards a lot, read the documents you got with your purchase, and ask questions when you are confused). If you want to trade out to a popular place, 9 months in advance is probably too short a time frame. In addition, there are some quirks with respect to the timing with which outside opportunities become available--points schedules for Concierge and some outside Disney Collections often don't become available until a few months before the start of each calendar year. Be patient and I think you will have greater success in the future.