Booking our first DVC vacation

[darly2004]

We have recently become DVC owners and are super excited! We bought at AKV but for our first stay, we thought it would be best to try to book at a monorail resort since we have younger kids. There are 5 of us, so Poly studio will probably work out best. So, my question is should we try to book something at our home resort at the 11 month mark and then make changes at 7 month or just wait to try at the 7 month mark at Poly? I am not sure how difficult it would be to make changes at the 7 month mark. We definitely do not have excessive points, so would we need to cancel before booking the new room? Does that mean we would have to call instead of booking online? Our 11 month window is coming up, so any input is appreciated. This is actually our first trip to Disney World (but I am a long-time Disney lover), so would like to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible. Thank you!

 

[McCrae]

We always book our home resort at the 11 months mark and then switch at 7 months if we want to visit another resort.
Providing you do any switches on the day of the 7th month to your visit you have a good chance of securing most options.

The only reason for me not to book at 11 months would be if I was not certain about the dates I planned to travel.

Have you considered BLT ..... The ability to walk to MK, especially with young kids is a huge bonus..... Avoiding the monorail at the end of a busy day when it's packed is pretty good.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I second McCrae we also always book home resort just in case at 11 months. That way if the worst happens and your monorail resort is not available you have a back up plan. Also you can consider a spilt stay. Sometimes it is only partially available. Say you want 10 nights and it only has 5 you can do 5 at AK and 5 at Poly or BLT.

Then you can either waitlist the remaining nights at Poly/BLT to have an entire stay there or leave it as a spilt stay. We often spilt stay. We come from the UK so come for 2 weeks. It is nice to break up the vacation with different resort offerings.

We have been successful with waitlisting. This means if there is no availabilty at 7 months you can waitlist a resort and if it comes up ( somebody cancels basically ) you get allocated it. We got VWL at Christmas last year we were thrilled.

 

[n2mm]

Since a BLT can't sleep 5, I agree poly would be your choice, but if my math is correct, you are looking at June 2017, which is a busy time, so poly may not be available for the entire stay. For a party of 5 in a studio you are looking at grand Floridian, poly, wlv, BWV, bcv. Since you are going during a busy time, I would book your home, but AKV studios don't sleep 5 ?? Confused....is one of your kids under 3? So you're looking at a 1 bedroom at AKV. The bad part of booking at 11 months then switching is that hour you lose waiting for MS to open. I find the whole booking scenario during busy times to be stressful. Good luck.

 

[darly2004]

Thank you for the replies, everyone.

We always book our home resort at the 11 months mark and then switch at 7 months if we want to visit another resort.
Providing you do any switches on the day of the 7th month to your visit you have a good chance of securing most options.

The only reason for me not to book at 11 months would be if I was not certain about the dates I planned to travel.

Have you considered BLT ..... The ability to walk to MK, especially with young kids is a huge bonus..... Avoiding the monorail at the end of a busy day when it's packed is pretty good.

I guess I figured that maybe we can wait since our home resort until the 7 month mark since it is AKV? From what I've heard, they don't fill up quickly. We would be looking at savannah view studio. Thought about BLT, but heard studio is really small. Also we like to 2 baths in Poly and the pool looks nicer at Poly as well.

I second McCrae we also always book home resort just in case at 11 months. That way if the worst happens and your monorail resort is not available you have a back up plan. Also you can consider a spilt stay. Sometimes it is only partially available. Say you want 10 nights and it only has 5 you can do 5 at AK and 5 at Poly or BLT.

Then you can either waitlist the remaining nights at Poly/BLT to have an entire stay there or leave it as a spilt stay. We often spilt stay. We come from the UK so come for 2 weeks. It is nice to break up the vacation with different resort offerings.

We have been successful with waitlisting. This means if there is no availabilty at 7 months you can waitlist a resort and if it comes up ( somebody cancels basically ) you get allocated it. We got VWL at Christmas last year we were thrilled.

Hmmm... haven't considered a split stay. Our concern is packing up to go to a different room. We did that this last trip to Hawaii and not too fun, especially if you only have a week or so. I will think about it. Maybe we can go to Animal Kingdom and something else that is close by on those days.

Since a BLT can't sleep 5, I agree poly would be your choice, but if my math is correct, you are looking at June 2017, which is a busy time, so poly may not be available for the entire stay. For a party of 5 in a studio you are looking at grand Floridian, poly, wlv, BWV, bcv. Since you are going during a busy time, I would book your home, but AKV studios don't sleep 5 ?? Confused....is one of your kids under 3? So you're looking at a 1 bedroom at AKV. The bad part of booking at 11 months then switching is that hour you lose waiting for MS to open. I find the whole booking scenario during busy times to be stressful. Good luck.

We are looking at end of May to early June. My kids get out the Friday before Memorial Day and we usually leave on vacation then. There are 5 of us and youngest will be one, so studio will still work for us.

We are thinking 9 days for this trip. So what do I do for the 8th and 9th day? Thanks again!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Ebag packing cubes are your friend for spilt stays...

 

[n2mm]

Thank you for the replies, everyone

We are looking at end of May to early June. My kids get out the Friday before Memorial Day and we usually leave on vacation then. There are 5 of us and youngest will be one, so studio will still work for us.

We are thinking 9 days for this trip. So what do I do for the 8th and 9th day? Thanks again!

You book 7 nights then call the next morning at 9:00am and add the next day, then repeat the next morning.

 

[BillPA]

The studio at AK is only for 4 people, unless one is under 3.
You may also look into VWL, their studio will hold 5, and it's a short boat ride to MK. Also good bus service to the other parks.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I would definitely evaluate the points you have. AKV Studio does not sleep 5 legally.

 

[darly2004]

I thought AKV sleeps 4 and a child under 3? Our youngest will be one (almost two) at that time. Am I wrong?

 

[drusba]

For the last two years:

Poly studios have been open from late May (including Memorial Day weekend) through June at 7 months out; likewise AKV standard and savanna view (but not AKV value and club level which generally fill at 11 months out). Moreover, there has been no rush at the seven month window for those during that time in that both Poly studios (standard and lake view) and AKV standard and savanna view (all room sizes except GVs) were available even two weeks beyond the seven month window for all dates during the time you want.

Nevertheless, reserving home resort at 11 months out and then trying to switch at 7 is always the safe course to assure having a room (e.g., though unlikely, Disney could do something like add a race weekend to the time you want that could suddenly greatly increase demand and fill rooms). The AKV studios allow 4 plus one under three. The BLT studios allow the same but you are correct that they are small. BLT lake view has also been easy to get at 7 months out during the time you want.

 

[BillPA]

I thought AKV sleeps 4 and a child under 3? Our youngest will be one (almost two) at that time. Am I wrong?

You are correct, all studios will allow at least 4 + 1 under 3.