Best Way to Book When Planning on Modifying at 7 Months Out--Update: I may modify this year's trip too!

[DisneyStarWisher]

My DH and I have not been to WDW for a few years. We have just been going to HHI using our HHI points. We have been allowing friends and family to go on our AKV points, but now we are thinking of using them ourselves at HHI instead starting in 2026. I know it's a while before I can book, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about this. In 2025, we have 53 HHI points and 82 AKV points which will all be banked into 2026. What I'd like to do is book 5 nights in October 2026 in a 1-BR. I know there are fewer of those than 2-BRs but it's off-season so I'm hoping it won't be too hard at 7 months out. I'd like to book all 5 nights on HHI points at 11 months out and then modify to use 81 banked AKV points for 3 of the nights. What would be the best way to book at 11 months out? Two reservations--one with 3 nights and one with 2 nights? My worry with this is that one or two of the 3-night reservation might be missing at 7 months out. So I wondered if it would be better to book all separate nights so if there are 3 non-consecutive nights I could still modify. But then I worry that MS will merge the 5 separate reservations before the 7-month mark. Can you tell me the best way to do this?

EDITED AT ADD: Thinking about modifying this year's trip to use AKV points, but one night is missing. See Post #6 to see if what I'm about to do will work. TIA!

 

[drusba]

You would use the HHI points to make two separate reservations at 11-months out, one for two nights and then, a couple days later, one for the following three nights (i.e., the departure date for the first one would be the same as the arrival date on the second one). Do not do anything to request that the reservations be merged. You will then do one of the following:

1. At 7-months out from the start date of the three night reservation, you make a new three-night reservation for the same time using only AKV points when doing the reservation by designating only the AKV contract as the one to be used. If you get that reservation, you then cancel the original 3-night reservation, and then contact MS and have it link the 2-day and now new 3-day reservations so you will not have to change rooms (MS will not allow an actual merger in that situation of the two reservations).

2. At 7-months out from the start date of that first two-night reservation, you modify that reservation online to five nights. using both the HHI and AKV points (while designating the AKV contract as the first one to be used when doing the modification). You can do that at 7-months out from the start date of that first reservation because MS will allow you to add nights using those AKV points to that reservation at 7-months out from the start date of that reservation, i.e., you do not have to wait in that situation to make the change until 7-months out from the nights you are adding. If you can make that change at 7-months out because there is availability, you then cancel that second three-day reservation that you originally made.

MS should not merge your two original reservations before 7-months out unless you request that to be done. However, there have been instances reported when such mergers took place without permission. A way to avoid that if you have at least two people on the reservation would be to make the lead name on that original three-night reservation a person other than you but designating your email and phone number as the one applicable to that person. If later at 7-months out you are not able to add AKV nights to your first two-night reservation and thus must keep what you already have, you can contact MS and have the names changed on that three-night reservation to the same lead and other names as the two-night reservation, after which you can have MSmerge them.

I would not do just single night reservations at 11-months out to be later changed. If you follow method 2 above and only find one or two days available to add with AKV points, you will have the option to add only that number of nights using AKV points and then changing the second three night reservation to fewer nights.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

You would use the HHI points to make two separate reservations at 11-months out, one for two nights and then, a couple days later, one for the following three nights (i.e., the departure date for the first one would be the same as the arrival date on the second one). Do not do anything to request that the reservations be merged. You will then do one of the following:

1. At 7-months out from the start date of the three night reservation, you make a new three-night reservation for the same time using only AKV points when doing the reservation by designating only the AKV contract as the one to be used. If you get that reservation, you then cancel the original 3-night reservation, and then contact MS and have it link the 2-day and now new 3-day reservations so you will not have to change rooms (MS will not allow an actual merger in that situation of the two reservations).

2. At 7-months out from the start date of that first two-night reservation, you modify that reservation online to five nights. using both the HHI and AKV points (while designating the AKV contract as the first one to be used when doing the modification). You can do that at 7-months out from the start date of that first reservation because MS will allow you to add nights using those AKV points to that reservation at 7-months out from the start date of that reservation, i.e., you do not have to wait in that situation to make the change until 7-months out from the nights you are adding. If you can make that change at 7-months out because there is availability, you then cancel that second three-day reservation that you originally made.

MS should not merge your two original reservations before 7-months out unless you request that to be done. However, there have been instances reported when such mergers took place without permission. A way to avoid that if you have at least two people on the reservation would be to make the lead name on that original three-night reservation a person other than you but designating your email and phone number as the one applicable to that person. If later at 7-months out you are not able to add AKV nights to your first two-night reservation and thus must keep what you already have, you can contact MS and have the names changed on that three-night reservation to the same lead and other names as the two-night reservation, after which you can have MSmerge them.

I would not do just single night reservations at 11-months out to be later changed. If you follow method 2 above and only find one or two days available to add with AKV points, you will have the option to add only that number of nights using AKV points and then changing the second three night reservation to fewer nights.

Question about #2:
If I designate AKV 1st and HHI 2nd, would it use all the banked 82 AKV first and then move to banked 53 HHI points next? In other words, no current points would be used, correct?

Also can you clarify your last paragraph? I'm super worried about non-consecutive nights being available.

Edited to add: Also I just realized my AKV points are actually 2026 points (not 2025 banked ones). Sorry! This may change things.

 

[drusba]

That sort of changes things. The key is that you want to definitely use the 53 banked HHI points in the reservation. I am assuming the 5 nights you want in Oct are for a 1BR from a Sunday thru Thursday, for which the points needed are 27 a night, and thus 54 for 2 nights and 81 for the other three nights.

Then to do that, you would make that first 2-night reservation using all the banked HHI points plus one.Then make that following three night reservation using 2026 HHI points. Come 7-months out from the first reservation. and if the additional three nights are still available, you would modify the two night reservation by adding three nights using the AKV points as the lead contract for use. The system should not take out any of those HHI banked points from the reservation (or even the one 2026 HHI point) not just because it usually uses banked points first but also simply because the system will not take out any of those HHI points that were used for the 11-month reservation when adding three nights at 7-months out using AKV points. If that change is made, you could then cancel the original three night reservation that used only 2026 HHI points.

The alternative is to just call MS to do the change to assure less chance of anything going wrong, but with an online mofification, when you get to the end before accepting the change, it should tell you whether those AKV points have been used, and, if not, you can cancel the change in the reservation without going beyond that last page.

Adding: you mention the possibility that AKV may not show consecutive nights open, but instead, for example, possibly just two of the 3 nights. If that is the case , you do not want to use the modification method. Unless all the nights at HHI that you want to change to AKV are open, you should not use method 2 but instead method 1. You can make a separate reservation using only AKV points for those nights of the three that may be open, while keeping both your original HHI reservations, and then waitlist and just keep checking to see if you can add nights to that reservation using AKV points. If you get lucky and end up with all three nights, you can then just cancel the 3-night night HHI reservation made with HHI points, and then have MS link the two night HHI reservation with the new three night reservation made with AKV points. You would still have two separate reservations but with them linked you should not have to change rooms at the resort. The limitations on how long you can wait to see if you can get all three nights separately with AKV points and thus cancel the three night reservation made with 2026 HHI points are the holding rule and banking deadline, i.e., any changes must be made more than 30-days from date of arrival to avoid points coming out of any reservation going into holding, and any changes must be made before the banking deadlines for your 2026 AKV or HHI points so you can bank such points coming out any reservation.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

That sort of changes things. The key is that you want to definitely use the 53 banked HHI points in the reservation. I am assuming the 5 nights you want in Oct are for a 1BR from a Sunday thru Thursday, for which the points needed are 27 a night, and thus 54 for 2 nights and 81 for the other three nights.

Then to do that, you would make that first 2-night reservation using all the banked HHI points plus one.Then make that following three night reservation using 2026 HHI points. Come 7-months out from the first reservation. and if the additional three nights are still available, you would modify the two night reservation by adding three nights using the AKV points as the lead contract for use. The system should not take out any of those HHI banked points from the reservation (or even the one 2026 HHI point) not just because it usually uses banked points first but also simply because the system will not take out any of those HHI points that were used for the 11-month reservation when adding three nights at 7-months out using AKV points. If that change is made, you could then cancel the original three night reservation that used only 2026 HHI points.

The alternative is to just call MS to do the change to assure less chance of anything going wrong, but with an online mofification, when you get to the end before accepting the change, it should tell you whether those AKV points have been used, and, if not, you can cancel the change in the reservation without going beyond that last page.

Makes sense. Yes, I am planning on Sunday through Thursday in a 1-BR for 135 points. When I modify to 5 nights though, I would prefer it to use the 82 current AKV points plus the 53 banked HHI points (thus freeing up the 1 current HHI point). Will it do that?

Also, again this is all dependent on if Tuesday through Thursday is available. How would I be able to use AKV points if say Wednesday was not available?

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

Ok, so I was hoping for more responses. I want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly. After thinking about it some more, I realized that I need to go ahead and try to use some AKV points for this year's trip. There is still availability in a 2-BR at HHI for our last night, and we are less than 5 months out. Right now, we have a cash reservation for a Sunday night followed by 4 nights on HHI points (85 banked + 47 current). What I think I might do is borrow 33 AKV points from 2026 and book the last night of our trip. Then modify the original 4-night reservation to drop the last night. MS said they can merge the points reservations so we would not have to move rooms. This will allow 33 current HHI points to be moved back into our 2025 points, and with the 53 we already have, we can bank 86 HHI points into 2026. It will leave 49 AKV points in 2026. So next year, when I'm booking a 1-BR at 11 months out, I'll book 3 nights using 81 banked HHI points, and then 3 days later, I'll book 2 nights using 5 banked HHI and 49 current HHI. At 7 months out, I'll try to modify the 3-night reservation to a 5-night reservation and use the 49 AKV points (thus returning the 49 current HHI points), but if there is a missing day on the 3-night reservation, I'll try to modify the 2-night reservation (maybe less chance of it missing one of the two nights) to use the 49 AKV points and the 5 banked HHI points (thus returning the 49 current HHI points). Do I have this right?