Cause for Concern

[Tdisney]

Only two weeks left and heading to the Dis with a caravan of people. cant wait. But anyway ive been scouring these boards for as much info as possible before we buy into DVC (only BCV will do). So one of the biggest problems i keep hearing is people not getting into the resort they want, so we want BCV so we are gonna make that our home resort. Well ive also read post where people cant even get what they want in there home resort still booking more then 7 months out. !st id like to know if this is true for alot of people or just a rare happening. So i did some research and many of you may know this but it seems ridiculous. Disney allows non members to stay in DVC resorts if you pay a rack rate. That seems absurd if they have allowed so many points for so many people to fill up the resorts 365 to be sold. So i was reading a post where a family couldnt get a BCV in september. So i called Dis reservations (not MS) and low and behold guess what was available? Now to me that tells me Dis is holding a block of rooms of the DVCs resorts for cash paying people. Now what would prevent them rom holding more and more DVC resort rooms for cash paying people in the future. Now again I know this is for the smaller resorts BCV BWV that this is a problem with but if Im that is my home resort I should 1st dibs over cash paying people!

Any thoughts or was this just me trying to be the pessimist before I sign lol.

 

[mikesmom]

The rooms for cash are from a different inventory. I'm sure someone else can give a more exact explanation, but this is roughly how it works:

Say you buy into BCV and it's your home resort. You have several trips there. then somewhere down the line you decide you want to take a cruise, go to San Francisco, or take another trip available to you for trading in the Concierge Collection. You don't want to pay cash for your cruise, you want to use your DVC points. So, you call Member services, and book a cruise using 500 points. To pay for your cruise, member services "pays" CRO 500 points worth of room that CRO now can rent out for cash . CRO then pays cash for your cruise. You now have a cruise and CRO has 500 points of room that they can rent in order to recoup the money they bought your cruise with.

It is actually to your advantage that there are occassionally rooms available through CRO - it gives you all that trading flexibility. I hope this explanation made sense.

 

[RobDoc]

Disney owns 2-4% at each DVC resort. They maintain this ownership for the occasions when rooms are taken out of service for maintenance, but can rent them thru CRO whenever they aren't needed for maintenance issues.

In addition, whenever DVC members use points for non-DVC options (like stays at DL, the Disney Cruise Line or reservations at other WDW resorts), those points are used for cash reservations to pay for the other options. These rooms are also rented thru CRO.

There are times when there are no rooms available thru MS using points (yet cash rooms are available) and other times when there are no rooms available for cash , but plenty for point reservations.

Have a great trip!

 

[Dreamfinder2]

At our house, DVC was a major purchase, any way you slice it. So pessimism (or at least prudence) isn't a bad thing.

We own at SSR and BWV. I think the latest I waited to score some BWV ressies was 6 months out, and this was for 6 days in late June. But DVC is not exactly designed for "spur of the moment" trips, and the longer range your plans, the happier you're gonna be. But I snagged four nights at BCV 1 BR in late May the first of March ... granted, that's a slower time, but I was still pleasantly surprised.

Go for it.

Mikesmom, your explanation made great sense.

 

[WOW]

It is fair to say that in order to get exactly what you want you must book at the 11 month window. We have been members for 12 years now and have been able to book DVC every time, but we also have been flexable if it was a last minute vacation. We have changed the way we visit....we used to book very early, but that doesn't work for us anymore....we generally book at the most 4 months out.....have never had a problem....we were even there for the millinium at our home resort. Booking early is no longer an option for us as our family has been spread out a bit and it is very hard to plan so far out. So we basically go with the flow and have never been dissapointed. We go every year anywhere between 2 to 5 trips. The way I see it, it really doesn't matter if we don't get our "favorite" resort, they are all great in their own way. I have really "lightened up" on vacation stress....."Hakuna Matata" is now my motto. Good luck with your decision!!!!!!

 

[rocketriter]

It's likely that as DVC grows larger, the competition for BCV rooms at 7 months or less will grow more intense. However, since BCV has a fixed number of owner points, the number of families trying to book between 11 and 7 months will never significantly increase. In other words, if you plan far enough ahead to book at 11 or even 10 months, you'll do pretty well.

As for the times when you can only travel on shorter notice, well, the other DVC resorts are all wonderful in their own way and you're likely to get into one somewhere. The only time you might have trouble is Autumn (Food & Wine Festival) and Christmas, and even then advance planning will work.

 

[Blue&Gold]

So one of the biggest problems i keep hearing is people not getting into the resort they want, so we want BCV so we are gonna make that our home resort. Well ive also read post where people cant even get what they want in there home resort still booking more then 7 months out. !st id like to know if this is true for alot of people or just a rare happening

It is the nature of forums like this that people are more disposed to make note of negatives than the positives.

I've made 5 different reservations for a total of 29 room nights over the last 14 months and have gotten exactly what I asked for each time. I haven't posted "I Got What I Wanted" once... Don't think many people post like that, unfortunately.

 

[Doug Wolfe]

I have booked BCV twice in the summer and gotten a 2-bedroom villa without a problem.

But I made sure I booked the very day my 11-month window opened up...which I believe is 11-months from your day of check-out.

I simply did not allow anyone to beat me out for a room. So, if you can, book when the 11-month window opens, that's the advantage of having BCV as your home resort.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We made reservations for VWL in a one bedroom for four nights and a studio for three nights for Thanksgiving week at 11 months out. We did not have enough VWL points to make all seven nights in a one bedroom. This week we used non-VWL points to make the Sat night and used the VWL points we used for the Sat to get the other two nights. So we now have 7 nights at VWL for Thanksgiving.

There was only one time when we could not get the reservation we wanted. It was BCV one bedroom or studio in early June. We tried to make this reservation in late January. We got another DVC resort instead.

 

[lisareniff]

I am a BCV owner and have made reservations for BCV for the two previous years at 11 months, day-by-day for President's week (I'm a tad type A) Now Pres. week is considered the 4th busiest week at WDW (not sure about DVC). this year we didn't decide what we wanted to do and ended up calling at 10 months out and expected to waitlist to get all the days (8 nights). No waitlist needed! All 8 in a 2 bedroom dedicated w/2 queens in the second! I thought we wouldn't have a chance for one of those (only 25 available) without calling at 11 months out. So I believe as long as you are before the 7 month mark you will beable to get what you want at your home resort or at least have it come through on the waitlist soon after.

 

[Boston5602]

Just adding my NEW experience: Called for a Boardwalk Studio in mid March for end of Aug got a pref studio no problem . 1 month later after figuring out next years family/friends trip called and got cash ressies for 1st night w/ members discount and saved sat night points ( 29 points vs. $228 + tax cash )

 

[Cruelladeville]

Just adding my NEW experience: Called for a Boardwalk Studio in mid March for end of Aug got a pref studio no problem . 1 month later after figuring out next years family/friends trip called and got cash ressies for 1st night w/ members discount and saved sat night points ( 29 points vs. $228 + tax cash )

You may have paid the same "cost" if the tax was around $50-$60.

 

[Disney Doll]

The sooner you plan your vacation at a small, well-located resort such as BCV, the better off you will be.

That isn't to say that you can't get something there within a short period of time...it depends on the time of year etc., and, quite frankly, a little bit of luck.

Last October we were going for the F&W Festival. We wanted to be near Epcot. Our home resort is OKW. I booked OKW at 11 months so we'd have somewhere to stay. I then got on the waitlist for BWVs at the 7 month window. Slowly but surely, over the next 7 months, each night came through at the BWVs. The day before I was leaving for the vacation, the last night came through. To us, having to stay at OKW for a portion of the nights wouldn't have been a tragedy. I like all the DVC resorts. We just wanted the BWVs this time for peoximity to Epcot and for the fact that my DSIL & DBIL who were coming with us had never stayed there, and we had all stayed at OKW and BCV before. But staying at OKW again for all or a portion of the stay wouldn't have been a tragedy, nor would it have ruined the vacation.


But I still maintain that the sooner you book your vacation, the better chance you have of getting what you want.

 

[carlos1117]

Don't worry, be happy!

 

[OneMoreTry]

From what I've gathered hanging around these boards for a couple of years, and my own experience, it would be pretty rare to not get what you want more than 7 months out except at certain times of year or certain rooms.

Consider booking at 11 mos for:

Xmas/New Years (there may be some other holidays/events)
GV -- OKW notorious for this, I don't know about BWV, HH, SSR
Boardwalk view at BWV

I think you can pretty much cross that concern off your list.

 

[Inkmahm]

And I called at about 8 1/2 months to get a room at BWV for early December and I still got a one bedroom BW view that late in the game. I was surprised, but happy!