Checking availibility online

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Does anyone know a way of checking availability online of a resort that is not your home resort that is more than 7 months away? I wanted to see if there is an accessible room available for my birthday but because its not my home resort it wont let me see if there are any rooms left. I realise I wont be able to book yet unless I rent points from somebody else but I just wanted to see in theory otherwise I wont get my hopes up!

 

[erionm]

Can't be done until the booking window opens. MS won't check for if you call because you are outside your booking window. Also, board rules do not allow posts asking to check availability.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Chuck S]

It would be pointless to check before you can actually book. The system would not show you how many of any type of unit is available, only that ONE is available. And that could change within a few seconds.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Thanks. I was wondering if it was worth renting points but wanted to check availability first.

 

[luckyman_apd]

Thanks. I was wondering if it was worth renting points but wanted to check availability first.

I have thought about it, but it really makes no sense to even try. It will only help you if you know it is booked up solid. Otherwise, things could change at any points leading up to your 7 month mark. The best you can do is view the first day you want a week ahead of your 7 month window as you can view 7 months +6 days. Other than that, it's just a matter of patience.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I have thought about it, but it really makes no sense to even try. It will only help you if you know it is booked up solid. Otherwise, things could change at any points leading up to your 7 month mark. The best you can do is view the first day you want a week ahead of your 7 month window as you can view 7 months +6 days. Other than that, it's just a matter of patience.

Thanks. Sadly patience and my love of coming to Disney dont mix lol.

 

[JWG]

I just want to say how frustrating this is. While I understand the reasoning and such, it's also difficult for those of us trying to plan something greater than 7 days.

For example, we are planning to go to Aulani over Christmas and New Years. Not our home resort. So, obviously, I can only see availabiliy through 12/21 today. However, I did want to understand what was available in that 12/23-12/27 space and 12/30-1/2 space to know what view to book.

They wouldn't tell me.

I know people say it doesn't matter as much at the 7-month mark, but I'm still walking this reservation to make sure I have those dates as they're available. This is a big trip with my sister and family from AK, my parents and us. First Christmas for my parents with the kids and grand kids on both sides, their 40th annisversary and 70th birthdays. I don't want to risk not getting it.

I just booked Island view assuming Standard view wouldn't be available the whole time and hoping Island view is.

 

[Sandisw]

I just want to say how frustrating this is. While I understand the reasoning and such, it's also difficult for those of us trying to plan something greater than 7 days.

For example, we are planning to go to Aulani over Christmas and New Years. Not our home resort. So, obviously, I can only see availabiliy through 12/21 today. However, I did want to understand what was available in that 12/23-12/27 space and 12/30-1/2 space to know what view to book.

They wouldn't tell me.

I know people say it doesn't matter as much at the 7-month mark, but I'm still walking this reservation to make sure I have those dates as they're available. This is a big trip with my sister and family from AK, my parents and us. First Christmas for my parents with the kids and grand kids on both sides, their 40th annisversary and 70th birthdays. I don't want to risk not getting it.

I just booked Island view assuming Standard view wouldn't be available the whole time and hoping Island view is.

I understand feeling frustrated but can you imagine the potential problems it could cause if someone is told something, only to find out its not when they go to book and then complaining about it. And while many of us might not take that approach, I am sure there are members out there that would, simply because they don't understand.

And, with lots of people changing at 7 months, what's gone today could very well be available in two days when someone else changes. I do hope you get what you need!!!

 

[JWG]

I understand feeling frustrated but can you imagine the potential problems it could cause if someone is told something, only to find out its not when they go to book and then complaining about it. And while many of us might not take that approach, I am sure there are members out there that would, simply because they don't understand.

And, with lots of people changing at 7 months, what's gone today could very well be available in two days when someone else changes. I do hope you get what you need!!!

Oh I get it. And they didn't have to tell me what was available, but it would have been nice if they would have just said what (if anything) wasn't available. I'm worried that we'll get what we want up to 12/24 then all of a sudden that view isn't available (or 12/31).

Also, we pay for MS, so limiting non-booking related activity will help keep costs down.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Oh I get it. And they didn't have to tell me what was available, but it would have been nice if they would have just said what (if anything) wasn't available. I'm worried that we'll get what we want up to 12/24 then all of a sudden that view isn't available (or 12/31).

Also, we pay for MS, so limiting non-booking related activity will help keep costs down.

There isn't any point in them telling you what is or is not available before you can book it. It's a waste of time.

 

[CarolMN]

The ability to see non-home resort availability would be much more valuable if we could see the number of villas available and could see if there were waitlist requests for any of the dates.

But we can't.

If we could, you can guarantee that there would be a much larger demand on the booking engine as many, many of us would be on it every day. Probably not in the best interest of the membership as a whole.

I like the system as it is - the only real perk home resort owners have is the 4 month booking advantage. IMO, this is part of it. YMMV.

 

[disneynutz]

Twice over the years prior to online booking, inventory has disappeared while MS was in the middle of making a reservation for us.

Availability can change in an instant.

Bill

 

[crisi]

The ability to see non-home resort availability would be much more valuable if we could see the number of villas available and could see if there were waitlist requests for any of the dates.

But we can't.

If we could, you can guarantee that there would be a much larger demand on the booking engine as many, many of us would be on it every day. Probably not in the best interest of the membership as a whole.

I like the system as it is - the only real perk home resort owners have is the 4 month booking advantage. IMO, this is part of it. YMMV.

It would also give us too much insight into the sausage being made.

Does anyone doubt that there are circumstances where someone is bumped to the top of the waitlist - for instance, when Disney screws up? Probably some (like when Disney screws up) are good reasons, and some are bad reasons. But Disney doesn't want to explain every action. Or does anyone doubt that its possible to sneak in under the waitlist with a phone call? Happens too often - there must be a hole in the system. They have no desire to give us geeks that are analyzing them data.

 

[castleri]

I can attest to how quickly things change. We just decided to go to WDW the week including Aug 21-29. I was able to get SSR studio- no surprise there. I booked it. Then checked for BLT studio - the first and last two days were available and having plenty of points this year I booked those four nights on two different reservations. I then was able to waitlist the other 4 nights individually since I have two contracts to work with. The next morning I had an email saying I had a reservation for the 3rd night. Today I got one for the 5th and 6th nights. Now I only need the 4th night. Although I told them not to cancel my SSR nights they did for one of the nights. Now I need to decide if I want to do a split stay with 4 nights at each resort or wait and see what happens with that last night we need. I have cancelled the rest of the SSR reservation and will wait a couple of days before I make a decision. This all happened within a 48 hour period so as others have said things change rapidly and knowing now what is or is not available really doesn't help until you can actually make that reservation. I don't think I would have had such good luck if I had tried to waitlist the 4 days together.

Will hope it all works out for you and you are able to get the room you need.