December '08... book day by day?

[Dizney73]

We are relatively new to the DVC and although we have booked before we have never tried to book during the 1st two weeks of December. In the past I have never found that a day by day reservation was needed to be made but after reading some posts about this being a very busy time of the year for DVCers... is a day by day ressie suggested??? We are planning to book 2 studios or 1 two bedroom for 5 nights including a weekend at AKV (our home resort). Should I book day by day or wait until final checkout day and book the whole ressie??? I just don't want to do the wrong thing. Please tell me what you would do!

Ann

 

[SuzanneSLO]

We are relatively new to the DVC and although we have booked before we have never tried to book during the 1st two weeks of December. In the past I have never found that a day by day reservation was needed to be made but after reading some posts about this being a very busy time of the year for DVCers... is a day by day ressie suggested??? We are planning to book 2 studios or 1 two bedroom for 5 nights including a weekend at AKV (our home resort). Should I book day by day or wait until final checkout day and book the whole ressie??? I just don't want to do the wrong thing. Please tell me what you would do!

Ann

If you are already worrying about it and you have the option, go ahead and book day-by-day. I admit that I am a big believer in day-by-day reservations, but then again, we have never stayed in anything other than a standard view or Boardwalk view room at BWV.

AKV is still so new that there really is no booking history that is meaningful. Even if there was, each year may be different for other reasons. For example, next year, December 1 is the Monday following the Thanksgiving weekend. Will this make that week more popular or less so? Who knows?

To me, the extra time needed to book every day is worth it when it lowers my stress level. Booking day-by-day is clearly allowed and there is nothing inherantly wrong with it. The time you spend talking to MS to make your day-by-day booking will probably far less than if you need to go on a waitlist and then call multiple times to see if it has come through and if not, what your other options might be.

Best of luck to you -- Suzanne

 

[CarolMN]

You shouldn't need to do day by day for the AKV as long as you call when the 11 month window opens. You certainly may, but IMHO, unless you are trying for concierge or possibly the value category, it isn't necessary.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I agree with Carol. I see no reason to go through the hassle of day by day booking unless it is for a low inventory type of ressie like Concierge, value, or a GV.

 

[pilferk]

We are relatively new to the DVC and although we have booked before we have never tried to book during the 1st two weeks of December. In the past I have never found that a day by day reservation was needed to be made but after reading some posts about this being a very busy time of the year for DVCers... is a day by day ressie suggested??? We are planning to book 2 studios or 1 two bedroom for 5 nights including a weekend at AKV (our home resort). Should I book day by day or wait until final checkout day and book the whole ressie??? I just don't want to do the wrong thing. Please tell me what you would do!

Ann

I'm not sure you NEED to, but....

We're planning a trip from Dec 5th - 12th. We've booked an AS Family Suite for the night of December 5th and we'll be calling day by day, from Jan 7th - Jan 12th, to book our AKV 1BR. Whether it's necessary or not, the piece of mind is worth the 5 minutes phone calls each morning (in the interest of full disclosure, the FIRST call will take about 15 min or so, probably).

 

[lisareniff]

Like another poster mentioned, it is hard to know with AKV yet since there is no history and they are adding units to the inventory every month.

I might do something inbetween. We know that the weekends are not as popular as the weekdays, so I would not call at the 11 month mark for those but wait until the next days reservation.

 

[OKW Lover]

I wouldn't worry about booking day-by-day for rooms in early December, no matter which resort you are trying for.

 

[disney54us]

Early December has become quite popular. I found out the hard way this year and we were unable to get a reservation anywhere. So, if you have your heart set on a particular date I would go day by day. The other thing is more and more members book this way throughout the year, so better safe then sorry.

 

[DMKEDM]

Just finished a Sun-Fri T-giving week reservation, booking day-by-day (still have 3 days to go on an accompanying ressie for my DS and I who are staying 3 extra days)...we'll be staying at SSR

I asked the CM if day-by-day was really required (it is a bigger pain than it sounds like for me this week...I have house guests and two hospitalized friends and making those 9 a.m. phone calls, while do-able, is a pain)...

Anyway...the CM said there's tons of availability at SSR (this was this morning which is the first day of the 11-month window for T-giving night)...

Of course, not sure this would hold true for the smaller resorts, and as previous posters noted, there's no "history" for AKV yet...

I'm still doing the day-by-day, because the peace of mind knowing our whole traveling party will be at SSR together makes it worth it...but while the CM made a point of telling me there were no guarantees, she clearly didn't think day-by-day was necessary this week...

And, as popular as December is for DVC, my sense is that T-giving is even more in demand...

So...FWIW...

Good luck!

 

[DebbieB]

I wouldn't worry about booking day-by-day for rooms in early December, no matter which resort you are trying for.

If you want to do a BWV standard or boardwalk view, definitely go day by day for early December.

 

[Dizney73]

Thanks to everyone who helped me out. We are definitely looking at specific days since my husband and the other couple who will be going with us have already had to choose vacations for next year. So with their vacation dates already in place I think I will use some suggestions and call day by day for the weekdays and then book the two weekend nights together as one call. If it were just my husband and I going it would not matter as much... but when others are planning on me being their travel agent I would hate to dissapoint.

So how do I go about booking day by day??? Do I tell them when I call that I will be doing so????
Thanks again,
J. Ann

 

[DebbieB]

Yes, when you call the first day tell them you are doing a day by day. They will ask what your final checkout date is, they will note it to hold the confirmation until then. Then the rest of the days just say you are adding a night to your December 08 reservation, it only takes a minute.

 

[disney54us]

Yes, when you call the first day tell them you are doing a day by day. They will ask what your final checkout date is, they will note it to hold the confirmation until then. Then the rest of the days just say you are adding a night to your December 08 reservation, it only takes a minute.

She's right I've been doing it since Wed. As long as you tell them you are booking day by day they will hold the res. # and when you call each day it takes a minute. Though I've been a member for 10 yrs. this is the first time I've done it this way and when you call the next day I'm still surprised when they say okay your booked for in all of 60 seconds. They make it quite easy and many people do it that way!

 

[Dizney73]

If I book two studios. One for our family and one for our friends... do I have to give a DVC members' name for each room??? I suppose I could also book a one bedroom... there will only 5 of us and our daughter will only be 2. Does a standard 1 bedroom in Jambo house at AKV hold 5??? ... I am supposing that the smaller size of a value 1 bedroom would only hold 4????

Wow... There are just two many decisions to make!

 

[danielle782001]

I wouldn't worry about booking day-by-day for rooms in early December, no matter which resort you are trying for.

Not my experience.... Our 2006 trip to Disney was a big problem. I was told not to worry about booking day to day, so I didn't. I called the morning exactly seven months before the trip we wanted to take for the 1st week of December. We got locked out of WL, Beach and Boardwalk. We decided to go the second week of December and I called day by day (got what we wanted in terms of room and resort). We did not get the dates we wanted because we did not go day to day. We really did not want to be there so close to Christmas. We missed three important events at home to be in Disney. The 1st week would have been much better for us. I would never book any other way after that experience.

 

[disneydenisel]

Just finished a Sun-Fri T-giving week reservation, booking day-by-day (still have 3 days to go on an accompanying ressie for my DS and I who are staying 3 extra days)...we'll be staying at SSR

I asked the CM if day-by-day was really required (it is a bigger pain than it sounds like for me this week...I have house guests and two hospitalized friends and making those 9 a.m. phone calls, while do-able, is a pain)...

I also finished a Sat-Fri Thanksgiving week reservation, but at BCV, booking day-by-day. I had to get up at 6am Pacific time for 4 days, and it was very annoying and messed up my holiday sleeping . The CMs were helpful and cheerful, which made it tolerable . The last CM laughed and told me that there was plenty of availability at BCV, except for the dedicated 2 bedrooms with 2 queens. All the other CMs said that it was a good idea to call day-by-day.

Will I do it day-by-day again? Probably .