Are the Days of Walking a DVC Reservation Numbered?

[Rochester Disney Fan]

My idea for a solution to walking is after the first modification, there would be a 3 day wait for a subsequent modification.

 

[DonMacGregor]

Gotta love the pot stirring posts by DVCFan, I am here for it.

I get a bigger kick out of the “if DVC was concerned, they’d do something about it” responses in a thread created specifically as a result of DVC saying they know about it and are looking at ways to do something about it.

 

[BlueGreen5]

My idea for a solution to walking is after the first modification, there would be a 3 day wait for a subsequent modification.

It would need to be 11 days. 3 days wouldn't really be too significant except in the most extreme cases. A lot of walkers will only modify every few days already. The exception being if literally all of the inventory is being walked (AKL value studios, I'm looking at you).

 

[Rochester Disney Fan]

It would need to be 11 days. 3 days wouldn't really be too significant except in the most extreme cases. A lot of walkers will only modify every few days already. The exception being if literally all of the inventory is being walked (AKL value studios, I'm looking at you).

Whatever the amount of waiting to make a modification after the first modification is all I'm after. Just something to throw a wrench in the plan.

 

[Brian Noble]

I'm of two minds on walking.

On the one hand, an educated and dedicated owner should welcome walking, because it gives said owner an advantage over someone who doesn't know how to do it or isn't willing to make it happen. On the other hand, it's one of those "too much sugar for a dime" things that Disney people do because they have to have the Best Vacation Ever, and those things drive me banana-cakes.

Wyndham's approach to this strikes me as at least semi-reasonable. You can modify a reservation once without having to cancel it. The modification can add up to three days on either end, and they recently added the ability to drop days on either end as well. But, last I knew, this was a one-shot deal: you can't do it a second time, and would have to cancel it if you wanted to modify it again.

This preserves most of the common use cases of reservation modification---flights are cheaper if I stay an extra night, Aunt Florence wants us to come to the family reunion so we have to come a day late, etc. It would allow a very limited form of walking, but only over a window of three days, which seems like it would at least make things more tolerable.

 

[Brian Noble]

Also: it is probably not a coincidence that they are thinking about the unintended consequences of ending walking while they are also thinking about large-scale point rental outfits. If you just straight up ended walking by no longer allowing modifications, that means there is more inventory at 8AM each morning for the bots.

Just sayin'

 

[Cfabar1]

Walking is allowed, and DVC doesn't really mind it too much I think....

To me @Brian Noble is on the right path... I'd personally be willing to allow for some modifications, say maybe 3 over the duration of the reservation or some other number. Any beyond that, you need to make a new reservation, or call in to adjust it maybe after begging to speak with a supervisor.... if we want to be Disney nice....

 

[Sandisw]

I noticed that someone in the comments said (or I interpreted it as) she remembered a time when you could only book one day at a time at 11 months, meaning that for a 14 day reservation, you'd have to reserve 14 times! But I don't remember that situation, and we've been members since 2002, long before you could book on-line. Do I have a bad memory? Does anyone else remember that?

It was booking from check out day vs check in day. What ended up happening was people were calling and booking day by day to ensure the didn’t have gaps…which was happening.

That is why they changed it to 11 months plus 7 so people didn’t feel the need to do day by day..

Which wasn’t required but the consequence of it being 11 months from check out day.

That’s why at todays meetings they made sure to emphasize that changes to curb walking would be carefully considered not to have other unintended consequences that would be detrimental to membership as a whole.

My personal take… keeping the flexibility to make and change reservations will remain the priority in any decisions moving forward.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Get rid of bots and commercial renters…. leave the rest of us alone……

 

[Kailunkat]

Get rid of bots and commercial renters…. leave the rest of us alone……

This. Fix one thing at a time. It might fix both problems at once.

Also, if the concern is bots, wouldn't an "are you a human?" authentication box work? It seems like a pretty simple solution.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

This. Fix one thing at a time. It might fix both problems at once.

Also, if the concern is bots, wouldn't an "are you a human?" authentication box work? It seems like a pretty simple solution.

I agree that eliminating the programs that sweep at 8:00:00 might reduce the need/desire of many others to walk, and also if you can’t rent commercially will there be as much demand right at the 11m mark?

I would guess that technology exists to defeat most “are you a human” type verifications these days— and it’s extremely frustrating for real humans to guess some of them.

I’m not sure there’s a purely technological fix, but if they limit renting to 25-40% of all point use over a 3 year period, I would imagine most commercial owners would simply sell.

 

[TCRAIG]

I think there are some easy fixes here. No matter what system you implement, someone, somewhere will find a way to exploit it, and someone will always be unhappy with how it works. I dislike walking, I think it’s unfair and annoying. I would rather lose a reservation because I am just too slow on booking day, then lose it because I cant dedicate time every day for a week or more to walk a reservation.

1) If you make a reservation at 11 months (or anytime between 11 months and 7 months), you cannot modify or cancel that reservation until 7 months and 1 day. Then you can do anything you want with that reservation. This still allows changes before the est of the masses get access, you can modify into anything that is still open and available. This would include modifying names, so it dissuades people from booking at 11 months for reservations they know they wont use just to try and market those weeks for sale. You can still book with someone else’s name on the reservation from the get go, but cant change it til the 7 month and 1 day mark. I don’t see this being a major problem for most people.

2) You can book as many days as you have points at Day 1 at the 11 months mark. You hav enough points and want to do a 3 week stay? No problem, book it. Option 1 protects against abusing this.

Just some thoughts, I look forward to the discussion about this idea, don’t come at me if you don’t agree but I would love to hear why you think this would or wouldn’t work.

I am not a walker (no need as I book 1Brs) - but I find this to be way too restrictive. I’ve had to make multiple changes to my ressies made for just myself within the 11 month window…

 

[lilsonicfan]

1) If you make a reservation at 11 months (or anytime between 11 months and 7 months), you cannot modify or cancel that reservation until 7 months and 1 day. Then you can do anything you want with that reservation. This still allows changes before the est of the masses get access, you can modify into anything that is still open and available. This would include modifying names, so it dissuades people from booking at 11 months for reservations they know they wont use just to try and market those weeks for sale. You can still book with someone else’s name on the reservation from the get go, but cant change it til the 7 month and 1 day mark. I don’t see this being a major problem for most people.

Imagine that you booked a reservation in 11 months on the dot, say in January you do this... but two weeks later you realize those dates won't work, but what will work is a date 12 months away, ordinarily you'd book in Feb, i.e. another 11 mth reso. But due to this incredibly restrictive rule, you instead have to wait until the end of 7 months 1 day, so, a date in April?? to try to modify your reservation, but because you couldn't book in Feb, someone else grabbed dates that were still part of your home resort advantage. This makes no sense and the membership would revolt (I hope.)

 

[BlueGreen5]

This. Fix one thing at a time. It might fix both problems at once.

Also, if the concern is bots, wouldn't an "are you a human?" authentication box work? It seems like a pretty simple solution.

That, or machines are really bad when there isn't predictability. Knowing that the reservations open at exactly 8:00:00 is predictable and it makes writing a script really easy. If you open them at some random time that changes every day between 08:00:00 and 08:10:00, humans can adapt to the unknown much easier than the machines. I'm fine sitting clicking "refresh" for up to 10 minutes if it means the bots are effectively rendered useless. This is a common strategy in IT system security.

 

[AstroBlasters]

That, or machines are really bad when there isn't predictability. Knowing that the reservations open at exactly 8:00:00 is predictable and it makes writing a script really easy. If you open them at some random time that changes every day between 08:00:00 and 08:10:00, humans can adapt to the unknown much easier than the machines. I'm fine sitting clicking "refresh" for up to 10 minutes if it means the bots are effectively rendered useless. This is a common strategy in IT system security.

That just makes things even more awful for those of us on the West Coast.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

That just makes things even more awful for those of us on the West Coast.

I’m also not certain it’s accurate. There are several (unauthorized?) services that constantly crawl for availability at WDW and DLR restaurants to alert people to snag them, I assume that something similar could handle an unpredictable booking opening time?

 

[Sandisw]

That, or machines are really bad when there isn't predictability. Knowing that the reservations open at exactly 8:00:00 is predictable and it makes writing a script really easy. If you open them at some random time that changes every day between 08:00:00 and 08:10:00, humans can adapt to the unknown much easier than the machines. I'm fine sitting clicking "refresh" for up to 10 minutes if it means the bots are effectively rendered useless. This is a common strategy in IT system security.

Years ago, there was a site that was accessing and publishing real time availability.

It was stopped by DVC.

 

[Disneybuckeye]

I agree they need to find a way to stop bots from grabbing inventory.

I have our ressie booked for wine & dine weekend next year. I may be changing it slightly due to the OSU football schedule and airline fares. The flexibility to change reservations needs to stay.

 

[Sandisw]

I agree they need to find a way to stop bots from grabbing inventory.

I have our ressie booked for wine & dine weekend next year. I may be changing it slightly due to the OSU football schedule and airline fares. The flexibility to change reservations needs to stay.

Which is why I think the comment about unintentional consequences was made and I walked away feeling optimistic that the changes that could come will not be restrictive to the degree that it impacts owners flexibility to modify that has nothing to do with walking.

 

[JOLT]

Years ago, there was a site that was accessing and publishing real time availability.

It was stopped by DVC.

was that the site that would txt you when availability popped up? I miss that site it let me not stalk the reservation tool for reservations.