Disgusted?

[Lisa01]

Is anyone else completely disgusted that it is next to impossible to get a reservation at any of the DVC resorts through the end of the year? It used to be that you could always count on Saratoga Springs, if all else failed. We live locally and would sometimes just like to get away for a couple of days. With the park reservation system, lack of rooms, and exorbitant prices, we are rethinking our membership sadly after almost 20 years.

 

[WIll C]

This year is extremely busy now. People using saved points, pent up travel demands and still the popularity of the parks is high. I'm going in a about 10 days and expect really busy times at all the parks (and Universal). Hopefully January will be quieter when we do our normal trip but last minute trips seems to be hard to do right now.

 

[Sunnyore]

I only bought in in 2020 so I always thought /was told that with DVC you need to plan ahead. As the other poster had said, there’s a lot of extra points too in the system due to the pandemic so perhaps that’s the difference you’re see with availability. What I wasn’t aware of when I bought in was that I would be competing against a lot of renters who are picking up the most popular dates to rent out for profit. So far I’ve been able to get the dates I wanted but it definitely requires planning.

 

[n2mm]

I agree that so many folks are burning through their excess points, esp once the international dvc members were allowed to return. Plus letting folks borrow again hit hard too.

 

[kes601]

Not really. You have Halloween Season, Wine and Dine, Jersey Week / Veteran's Day weekend, Thanksgiving, early Dec (busy DVC time) and Winter holidays pretty much consuming every date for the rest of the year. I would expect it to be busy and full.

 

[Chuck S]

It is an extremely busy year with the 50th Anniversary and the pent up post COVID travel demand, plus many non-US members may still be trying to use up COVID banked points, as their points were extended because there was no international travel. A few months ago early December reservations disappeared for studios (I was looking for a studio to use up a few points). I was able to book the last week of January. October, Novermber, December has always been busy, and you really should be booking that timeframe much further out than a month or two. DVC has always been best for those who book early, especially with the ability to cook online, instead of calling, like we used to have to do.

 

[Her Dotness]

I agree that so many folks are burning through their excess points, esp once the international dvc members were allowed to return. Plus letting folks borrow again hit hard too.

Heartily agreed.

I suspect booking within 7 months will gradually ease up in another year or so.

Also, I think some of the early December crowd may switch to early May if as points-poor as we used to be. The next-to-cheapest time the first two December weeks has shifted to those weeks of May in 2023. Perhaps that will free up a few more bookings.

 

[n2mm]

Heartily agreed.

I suspect booking within 7 months will gradually ease up in another year or so.

Also, I think some of the early December crowd may switch to early May if as points-poor as we used to be. The next-to-cheapest time the first two December weeks has shifted to those weeks of May in 2023. Perhaps that will free up a few more bookings.

i agree about patterns changing. I have a cruise in October and need to book my room. I was shocked to see how high october points are.

 

[crisi]

The last quarter of the year has been tough if you are booking short notice for the 22 years we've owned - even SSR. Short notice being anything inside of three or four months. If you've been able to do this in the past, you've been lucky.

But yes, WDW has never been very flexible and has required a lot of pre-planning - and its always been expensive. But its gotten far more expensive and far less flexible. Our vacation dollars are getting spent other places.

 

[Sandisw]

Unfortunately, October through December are extremely popular times of the year and they have been booked up pretty solid, except a night here or there for many many months.

You also have to remember that within 60 days, all unused rooms can be taken by DVC and used for a few different reasons, most often to offer via Disney to create breakage income. So, any planning inside those 60 days is always going to be tough going.

 

[sndral]

Is anyone else completely disgusted that it is next to impossible to get a reservation at any of the DVC resorts through the end of the year? It used to be that you could always count on Saratoga Springs, if all else failed. We live locally and would sometimes just like to get away for a couple of days. With the park reservation system, lack of rooms, and exorbitant prices, we are rethinking our membership sadly after almost 20 years.

“Disgusted”? No, we typically travel in December & even when I first bought a decade ago I read how difficult it would be to get reservations during fall frenzy & the holidays. Thus I book at my home resorts very early. I do think the point rental market has grown exponentially, partly driven by renters wanting to beat Disney’s very high room rates, which has resulted in even high demand times becoming even harder to get.
BTW, I just paid cash for a room at the GC, talk about sticker shock - it did remind me of why I first bought DVC.

 

[tjkraz]

"Disgusted" is an odd choice of words. We're all members with equal booking rights. DVC itself doesn't really do anything to control availability. The lack of rooms simply means that your fellow members beat you to the punch. This year in particular, member demand is heavily influenced by covid-delayed travel, lifting of the temporary borrowing limit, 50th anniversary, new attractions, etc.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Fall Frenzy isn't a new thing.

 

[RoseGold]

Is anyone else completely disgusted that it is next to impossible to get a reservation at any of the DVC resorts through the end of the year? It used to be that you could always count on Saratoga Springs, if all else failed. We live locally and would sometimes just like to get away for a couple of days. With the park reservation system, lack of rooms, and exorbitant prices, we are rethinking our membership sadly after almost 20 years.

I was actually thinking Spring looked more open than usual. But yea, last minute, DVC, and holidays don't go great together.

 

[jimim]

Been a member for over 13 years now and I always. . . always. . . even if i'm not even sure we are going to travel book at some random 11 month window dates just to be safe. Then when things solidify for trips I drop the ones I don't need. You have to even years ago or you aren't going to have those full trips without a split stay especially if you are running longer than 7 days.

 

[Genie+]

Fall is DVC high season, so popular people often buy a second resort specific contract for their fall visits. Beyond that this fall aligned with borrow restrictions lifted, plus many postponed ‘20 and ‘21 fall trips due to covid surges and found themselves with extra points to spend in ‘22. By late Aug ‘22 DVC was already near fully booked for the year outside a few straggler days here and there.

Like Dotness mentioned earlier, May could also be extra hard. We were planning a May ‘24 trip so I looked a few times around 11 months this year and sure enough, the most popular rooms/resorts were booking up asap. The DVC crowd values avoiding the worst weather, stretching points, and festivals/events.

DVC continues to evolve. We pretty much need to book before 4 months to find something, 6-8 months to find something exciting, 11 months for the popular picks, and learn to waitlist as it becomes more and more useful and necessary.

 

[castle1]

Shouldn't these Covid banked points be expiring soon?

 

[Genie+]

Shouldn't these Covid banked points be expiring soon?

Most but not all of them have. I think we’re now seeing the effects of cancelled trips from the Delta and Omicron surges, and that caused an increase in points and interest to visit this fall, on top of already being a popular season. Pandemic related stuff should wrinkle out by the end of next year.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Shouldn't these Covid banked points be expiring soon?

Sort of?

For some people it is starting a banking cycle. Banked the 2020, used late, banked the 2021 because the 2020 were sitting there, used those and banked 2022...

Not everyone is going for the bungalow. Some have just created a forward cycle. Which probably does weird stuff to the demand cycle on its own.

 

[sndral]

Shouldn't these Covid banked points be expiring soon?

Sort of?

For some people it is starting a banking cycle. Banked the 2020, used late, banked the 2021 because the 2020 were sitting there, used those and banked 2022...

Not everyone is going for the bungalow. Some have just created a forward cycle. Which probably does weird stuff to the demand cycle on its own.

This is basically what happened w/ us - had a trip booked when WDW closed & they canceled our trip, which changed us from a chronically borrowing situation to suddenly sitting on banked points & it’ll likely take a couple years before we run out of banked/current points & are back to borrowing.
Plus the 50% borrowing measure just ended - so people who might have wanted to borrow 100% were forced to not touch half their points & likely had to economize their point usage - now the floodgates are open again & that has to have some near term impact.