Booking Our Christmas Trip

[jara1528]

Okay...so I need someone to tell me I am on the right track. We are approaching the 11 month booking window for our home resort (BWV). We are planning an 11 night stay with a change of villas (not resorts) about half way through.

On the 23rd I am going to go online to book the first week. I can only book the first 7 nights, right? I want to book a studio for the first 6 night and then move to a 1 bedroom for the 7th night. Can I do that online? My guess in no because of the change on the last night. If I am able to do it online I will need to borrow from 2014 points. I believe the system will ask me if I want to borrow, right?

Do I have a handle on things so far? Are you still with me?

So for the next part of the trip...I have to wait until the 30th to book the last 4 days correct? I wasn’t sure if I could add a day on one at a time by calling member services. By this point I will book the same size villa and will need to borrow points. I have a pretty good grasp on that part just wanted to confirm the date.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[TSMMANIAC]

You can book the first 6 nights on the 23rd online. You will have to wait for the 11 month window to book the 1BR. You can borrow points online to make reservations. The first night of each individaul reservation must be within the 11 month window.

 

[jara1528]

Thanks for your help!

 

[kenly777]

I am currently waiting to hear on our rofr for a bwv contract and was wondering about the ease of making a Christmas week vacation.

Did this work out easily for you? Were there options available or was it difficult for you to get something?

I'd be interested to hear any info you have on the initial booking and when you add on the additional reservation.

Thanks!

 

[TSMMANIAC]

The week of Christmas and New Years is a very busy time for DVC. There are some room categories and views at the BWV that are presently becoming unavailable by 9am of their 11month window. It may be difficult for you to book that time of year if you are not in the system very soon.

 

[jara1528]

kenly777~
I forgot that yesterday was the day I could book the first half of the trip so I logged on at 7:08 am central time and there weren't any standard view studios available. BUMMER! I booked a garden/pool view studio (31 additional points) and spent the day making a new plan.

So today I log on at 6:50 and I cancel the garden/pool view and wait patiently for the clock to strike 7:00 and I am able to book a standard view studio for December 24-29th. Wahoo! I waitlisted the 23rd standard view studio. Just for the sake of checking I logged back on at about 7:10 and all of the standard view studios were gone.

I will be sure to log in early on the 29th in hopes of getting a standard view 1 bedroom for the rest of the trip. You can bet I won't forget!

I agree with TSMMANIAC that the difficulty with booking will depend on the villa size and view.

***Wanted to give you a little encouragement. We went this past year from Dec. 28-Jan. 4. We closed on our AKV contract a couple weeks past the 7th month booking window. At the time of closing we were only able to book SSR. I kept checking and we moved to a 1 bedroom at OKW. It was fantastic! Keep you fingers crossed and remember, no matter where you are staying the holidays at Disney truly are magical!

 

[eandesmom]

kenly777~
I forgot that yesterday was the day I could book the first half of the trip so I logged on at 7:08 am central time and there weren't any standard view studios available. BUMMER! I booked a garden/pool view studio (31 additional points) and spent the day making a new plan.

So today I log on at 6:50 and I cancel the garden/pool view and wait patiently for the clock to strike 7:00 and I am able to book a standard view studio for December 24-29th. Wahoo! I waitlisted the 23rd standard view studio. Just for the sake of checking I logged back on at about 7:10 and all of the standard view studios were gone.

I will be sure to log in early on the 29th in hopes of getting a standard view 1 bedroom for the rest of the trip. You can bet I won't forget!

I agree with TSMMANIAC that the difficulty with booking will depend on the villa size and view.

Question for you, did you cancel the pool/garden view first as you could easily see you'd be able to rebook it if needed? I am somewhat of a similar boat and will need to decide whether or not to book something that isn't the view I want

 

[jara1528]

Question for you, did you cancel the pool/garden view first as you could easily see you'd be able to rebook it if needed? I am somewhat of a similar boat and will need to decide whether or not to book something that isn't the view I want

That is exactly what I did! I thought I probably wouldn't have a problem booking the pool/garden view but I needed the points to be available if a standard view was available.


Good News...I just checked on the member website and the waitlist for the 23rd that I put in this morning has already been filled!!

 

[kenly777]

Thanks for all the great info! Good luck getting the rest of your trip the way that you need it
I agree that the holidays at Disney are magical no matter which view/resort Due to my families work schedule Christmas week is the only time that we can all go together, so it would be nice to get into our home resort. Our first Christmas visit as dvc members will be in 2014.

 

[eandesmom]

That is exactly what I did! I thought I probably wouldn't have a problem booking the pool/garden view but I needed the points to be available if a standard view was available.


Good News...I just checked on the member website and the waitlist for the 23rd that I put in this morning has already been filled!!

That is great news, and encouraging! Filled the same day

 

[jara1528]

So today was the day I could book the last part of our trip. Signed on shortly after 7 this morning and easily booked a 1 bedroom standard view.
I thought I would have to call and link the first night with the next 5 (all in a studio) but those reservations were automatically combined. I am guessing that it was because it was the same names on the reservation with the same size and view villa.

One more question...should I call to link the studio reservation to the 1 bedroom reservation? Is that even possible?

 

[Deb & Bill]

...One more question...should I call to link the studio reservation to the 1 bedroom reservation? Is that even possible?

No, you have to check out and check in to another villa. Two separate reservations.

 

[jara1528]

No, you have to check out and check in to another villa. Two separate reservations.

That is what I thought. Thanks for the confirmation!

 

[bobbiwoz]

So, does on line booking begin at 7 or 8, EST?

 

[TSMMANIAC]

8am EST

 

[jara1528]

Online booking starts at 8:00 EST. I am near Chicago. Sorry, I should have mentioned that in my posts.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Online booking starts at 8:00 EST. I am near Chicago. Sorry, I should have mentioned that in my posts.

Ok, thanks!

On the 29th, I could not get a SV studio at the BWV for 3 nights, just the 30&31 were available, but couldn't book them. On the 30th, the 30&31 were still available, so I booked them & wait listed the 29. I am surprised that it's the Sunday that is so hard to get and not the 31st.

I thought maybe I was going on line too late & that was the reason I am 1 night short for the reservation. This is the first year in 6 that I couldn't get exactly what I wanted for NYE!

 

[CarolMN]

...(snip)..... I am surprised that it's the Sunday that is so hard to get and not the 31st.

I thought maybe I was going on line too late & that was the reason I am 1 night short for the reservation. This is the first year in 6 that I couldn't get exactly what I wanted for NYE!

That does seem odd.

Hope your waitlist is filled quickly!

 

[bobbiwoz]

That does seem odd.

Hope your waitlist is filled quickly!

Thank you. DH and I are not going this NYE, it is for DSis. We've gone to WDW for the past 5 NYE's, and we hve found that it's just too stressful getting there if we spend Christmas in Cape May with my mom (now 93). This year the weather was awful going and coming home. Plus we found out that if we host Coast Guard recruits for Christmas, we are also invited to their graduation which usually happens within 2 weeks.

So, we are going to stay in Cape May a bit longer, and then arrive at WDW just for the Marathon weekend.

DSis is happy with even just the 2 nights. She says that I must have told too many people just how special NYE at WDW was, and now everyone wants to be there!

 

[bobbiwoz]

The night of the 29th came!