booking stay at both 11 month and 7 month ?

[cropper]

We have 2 contracts - BWV and OKW.
We are planning a trip Dec 12-19, 2026, 2 bdrm
I only have enough points for 4 nights at 11 months... maybe 5 nights depending on the answer to this question.

The question....what are the hardest nights to get? Should I book those nights at 11 months and then easier to get at 7 months?
Are there any magic charts showing this type if info?

Would love a BW view at BWV. Would settle for a pool/garden view.
I would love to stay at Wilderness Lodge in a Villa at Boulder Ridge or Copper Creek due to Christmas decor.
May consider OKW depending on what is available at 7 months.

 

[CarolynFH]

BWV 2BR are harder to get than OKW 2BR, especially if you want a BW view, because there are no lock off 2BR at BWV. Every studio that’s booked takes a 2BR out of inventory, and people are already walking those dates in early December. So you can hope for BW view, but expect to book Preferred view. Then waitlist BW view, if you want. Book as many nights as you have points for, including banking and borrowing if you can. If you book only 4-5 nights now, the remaining nights might not be available at 7 months. Sorry, but that’s the reality of booking early December at BWV.

 

[CarolynFH]

I would love to stay at Wilderness Lodge in a Villa at Boulder Ridge or Copper Creek due to Christmas decor.

I forgot to respond to this. BRV and CCV are even more difficult to book for December, due to that Christmas decor. You can try at 7 months, but most likely you’ll need to waitlist it and hope.

Good luck!

 

[cropper]

What what days are hardest/easiest to get? Saturdays, Fridays, Wednesdays?

 

[sndral]

Book a split stay at 11 months -4 (or 5) nights at BWV followed by the 3 (or 2 nights) at OKW. When 7 months rolls around modify the 3/2 OKW nights to BWV if available, waitlist & stalk if not. I’d probably start w/ pool/garden view for BWVs, since they’re more likely to be available at 7 months than Boardwalk view will be when you try to modify the OKW nights.
You’ll have a better shot at switching your BWV nights to OKW at 7 months if you don’t want to do a split stay.
As for either of the Wilderness Lodge resort villas, that’s very unlikely. Here’s a chart that shows availability https://dvcfieldguide.com/availability-tables

 

[CarolynFH]

What what days are hardest/easiest to get? Saturdays, Fridays, Wednesdays?

They’re all equally difficult. So on January 19, book all 4 or 5 nights that you feel you can afford. Don’t try to book individual days - you’d have to wait until 11 months before each individual day.

Booking a split stay as suggested by @sndral above is a good idea.

 

[cropper]

Thank you all for the advice and the website

 

[sndral]

They’re all equally difficult. So on January 19, book all 4 or 5 nights that you feel you can afford. Don’t try to book individual days - you’d have to wait until 11 months before each individual day.

Booking a split stay as suggested by @sndral above is a good idea.

W/ OP’s stay starting 12/12/26 - I’d not wait until 1/19 to book, though. I’d book the 4 or 5 BWV nights on 1/12/26 & then on 1/16 (or 17) 2026, I’d book the 2 or 3 OKW nights.

 

[cropper]

W/ OP’s stay starting 12/12/26 - I’d not wait until 1/19 to book, though. I’d book the 4 or 5 BWV nights on 1/12/26 & then on 1/16 (or 17) 2026, I’d book the 2 or 3 OKW nights.

I did realize that booking date was wrong. I am sitting on pins & needles for the 12th and 2nd guessing myself on what to book

 

[CarolynFH]

W/ OP’s stay starting 12/12/26 - I’d not wait until 1/19 to book, though. I’d book the 4 or 5 BWV nights on 1/12/26 & then on 1/16 (or 17) 2026, I’d book the 2 or 3 OKW nights.

Oops, sorry, I didn’t look at the first post when I typed that, and I obviously remembered OP’s dates wrong.

 

[CarolynFH]

I did realize that booking date was wrong. I am sitting on pins & needles for the 12th and 2nd guessing myself on what to book

I haven’t looked at BWV 2BR availability - we prefer 1BR which are easier to get - but if it’s as competitive as it often is, good luck! Be ready to click Check Availability at 8 AM on 1/12.

 

[Genie+]

In my limited experience owning BWV and VGF for a few years, I have found Sat nights the most challenging during high demand weeks. Multiple times where we’ve kept checking for months to add a Sat night with no success, while other nights were popping up. The nights that most frequently pop open seem to be a Mon, Tues or Wed.

Based on that, it makes Sat-Sat booking a bit tricky trying to split in 2 parts.

Are your dates at all flexible?

Like if you had a Tues-Tues, then I’d try booking Fri-Tues BWV P/G 2BR, and waitlist asap if unavailable. Then book OKW 2BR Tues to Fri, and immediately get on the 7 month waitlist for BWV P/G 2BR asap. (You may also want to consider adding a hybrid stalk and waitlist strategy here.)

 

[sndral]

Oops, sorry, I didn’t look at the first post when I typed that, and I obviously remembered OP’s dates wrong.

Well, up until mid year 2014 (according to google) when they switched to + 7 nights, you did have to wait until the last day of your stay if you wanted to book the whole thing at once or you had to book each day as the window opened for that day. I’m glad those days are gone!

 

[CarolynFH]

Well, up until mid year 2014 (according to google) when they switched to + 7 nights, you did have to wait until the last day of your stay if you wanted to book the whole thing at once or you had to book each day as the window opened for that day. I’m glad those days are gone!

Was it 2014? No earlier? I guess that was quite some years ago! We well remember the years we had to call based on check out day, or every day if there were dates you really, really had to have.

 

[sndral]

Was it 2014? No earlier? I guess that was quite some years ago! We well remember the years we had to call based on check out day, or every day if there were dates you really, really had to have.

You are right & google’s AI is wrong DIS was discussing the switch to +7 back in 2010 so it happened before then https://www.disboards.com/threads/i...qual-shot-at-getting-my-reservations.2586071/

 

[Genie+]

Yeah it’s hard to find the date of original change!

https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program-men...licy-news/482-major-change-to-booking-windows



It looks like the 2008 article was updated in 2014 and that tripped up AI.

The article states,
“Member Services has confirmed that this new policy has been put into effect immediately. Beginning Friday, June 20th members can book all resorts, all dates 11 months in advance of their arrival date for their Home resorts and 7 month ahead of arrival for non-Home resorts.”

But that doesn’t make much sense with the article being updated in Feb of 2014? Looks like 2008?

 

[CarolynFH]

Yeah it’s hard to find the date of original change!

The article talks about calling in to book, so was 2014 when online booking started? I can’t remember when that was, and the start of online booking may or may not have been the reason the article was updated, can’t tell.

 

[sndral]

The article talks about calling in to book, so was 2014 when online booking started? I can’t remember when that was, and the start of online booking may or may not have been the reason the article was updated, can’t tell.

https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program-men.../dvc-policy-news/1849-online-reservation-faqs - online booking started late January 2012 per DVC news in this article (article was also updated in Feb. 2014.) Note to self - anytime AI says something happened at DVC in 2014, dig deeper .

 

[Sandisw]

Yeah it’s hard to find the date of original change!

https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program-men...licy-news/482-major-change-to-booking-windows

View attachment 1035620

It looks like the 2008 article was updated in 2014 and that tripped up AI.

The article states,
“Member Services has confirmed that this new policy has been put into effect immediately. Beginning Friday, June 20th members can book all resorts, all dates 11 months in advance of their arrival date for their Home resorts and 7 month ahead of arrival for non-Home resorts.”

But that doesn’t make much sense with the article being updated in Feb of 2014? Looks like 2008?

It definitely was in place when we bought in 2009!

 

[Judique]

I did realize that booking date was wrong. I am sitting on pins & needles for the 12th and 2nd guessing myself on what to book

I'd try booking BW Garden view (most likely) or BW view starting tomorrow to see if you can get a room. If you can get a room started tomorrow at BWV, then you will almost know that you can get it for the 4 nights starting Dec 12. You can walk the 4 nights forward towards the 12th until the 12th becomes your first night. From what I can see your best bet is a garden view, with BW view slightly possible.

Once you get or if you get your first 4 nights at BW, then continue and use your OKW points to book the last 3 nights. At 7 months if BW has any 2 bedroom availability for your last three nights book it. Very doubtful. You can waitlist but it's a difficult catch.

From the 5th to the 12th you are trying to get your foot in the door. If you are lucky enough to get that, then you would use the 'Modify' function to move up to the actual nights you want.

You will need to book at 8am as quickly as your fingers can fly.