Best chance of waitlist coming through - BWV Garden/Pool or BCV?

[ruzer28]

I'm hoping to stay at one of these two from December 3 - December 11 in a 2-bedroom. Neither is my home resort, so I'll need to book what's available at the 7 month mark and waitlist the rest. Eventually if the waitlist doesn't come through I'll go book at OKW or SSR to be sure that I have something. What I'm wondering is which one I should try for. I realize that this is a very busy week and it may not work out, but we're ok with staying at OKW or SSR if we have to. Just wondering if any of you can give me advice on which one is most likely to work out.

Thanks!!

 

[CMNJ]

BWV is a much larger resort (and pool/garden is the majority of rooms there) so there would be more potential rooms to match your wait list than BCV

 

[crisi]

Check the availability - see which resorts have the most availability left that week. That might give you an idea of how deep the waitlist will be where.

 

[drusba]

You can have two wait lists so you could do both. BWV pool/garden view has more 2BRs than BCV. Moreover, the problem with wait listing a 2BR at BCV is that you have to choose among the 2BR lock-off, the dedicated 2BR, or the dedicated 2BR with 2 queens and thus regardless of which one you choose, you will be significantly limiting the 2BRs to which your wait list applies. BWV has only lock-offs and thus your wait list would apply to all pool/garden 2BRs. Based on the foregoing, your chances are likely better at BWV.

It sounds like from your post that you intend at 7 months out to try for BCV and BWV and if you have to wait list, you will at that time reserve OKW or SSR for part or all of your trip. If that is your intent, be aware that for the time of year you are looking at, OKW can be gone for a number of the days you want before 7 months out and if that is your home resort, you best reserve it now. Moreover if SSR is your home resort, you should reserve it now to assure you will have a room. Finally, do not assume that even SSR will stay open for any significant period past 7 months out for the time you want.

 

[ruzer28]

BWV is a much larger resort (and pool/garden is the majority of rooms there) so there would be more potential rooms to match your wait list than BCV

Thanks, I thought this was the case but wasn't sure.

Check the availability - see which resorts have the most availability left that week. That might give you an idea of how deep the waitlist will be where.

I did do this - right now they're both about the same with a slight edge to BCV.

You can have two wait lists so you could do both. BWV pool/garden view has more 2BRs than BCV. Moreover, the problem with wait listing a 2BR at BCV is that you have to choose among the 2BR lock-off, the dedicated 2BR, or the dedicated 2BR with 2 queens and thus regardless of which one you choose, you will be significantly limiting the 2BRs to which your wait list applies. BWV has only lock-offs and thus your wait list would apply to all pool/garden 2BRs. Based on the foregoing, your chances are likely better at BWV.

It sounds like from your post that you intend at 7 months out to try for BCV and BWV and if you have to wait list, you will at that time reserve OKW or SSR for part or all of your trip. If that is your intent, be aware that for the time of year you are looking at, OKW can be gone for a number of the days you want before 7 months out and if that is your home resort, you best reserve it now. Moreover if SSR is your home resort, you should reserve it now to assure you will have a room. Finally, do not assume that even SSR will stay open for any significant period past 7 months out for the time you want.

Good point on having to narrow the BCV wait list by the room type. I hadn't thought of that, but of course that will definitely affect things. You're correct that my intent is to try at 7 months for BCV and BWV. I know that I can have more than one waitlist, but I was going to book the available rooms at either BCV or BWV, then waitlist the rooms not available. My understanding is that I have a much better chance at having a waitlist filled if I don't waitlist the entire stay. This would take up both of my waitlists in one shot. I don't have enough points to both book the available rooms at BCV or BLT, plus the entire time at OKW or SSR. I am, however, concerned about availability at SSR (my home resort), considering the time that we're going. It sounds from your post that you would recommend booking SSR now (which I already have), and then waitlisting the entire stay at both BCV and BWV on the off-chance that the entire stay will come through.

As you all may have guessed, I'm a recent owner. I've rented for years (always at 11 months for what I wanted), but we just purchased at BLT and SSR recently, so managing waitlists and availability myself is new to me. Thanks for all of your help!

 

[drusba]

You are correct in that the fewer days of a trip that you need to wait list, the higher the chance it will succeed. However, for the time of year you are seeking, which is the highest DVC demand time of the year at WDW, you should not operate on any assumption that you will be able to get even SSR much beyond the 7 month window. Moreover, I do not think you are going to be able to reserve the majority of nights you want and wait list a small number at BCV or BWV because, when May 3 rolls around, it is likely that both the boardwalk pool/garden view 2BRs and the BCV 2BRs will be missing most, if not all, of the nights you want.

Because the wait list may not come through and because it may be difficult to get anything at all at WDW for that peirod much beyond the 7 month window, I would not do any combination of reserving some nights and wait listing others unless you actually have all nights booked at 7 month outs with a combination of SSR and the Epcot Resort and moving would not be required more than once. For example, if at 7 months out you could end up with your first 5 nights at SSR and the last 3 at BWV, and do not mind doing a split stay, then you could retain both resorts and wait list those first 5 nights at BWV. However, if the split you could get at 7 months out were worse, such as you could end up with BWV on Dec 3, 7, and 8, with the rest at SSR, I would likely just keep SSR and wait list all nights at BWV.

 

[ruzer28]

Thanks, this is exactly the type of advice I was looking for. I'm going to follow your advice above. I'll keep SSR booked for the entire time and wait list the entire stay at BWV so that only if all 8 nights (hahaha) are available will my SSR be cancelled. Thanks again.