As much as I hate the idea of walking reservations, I really think for the dates and locations you need, it would be best...as long as you have enough points to walk it. Especially for two treehouse villas.
Thanks. With both ressies I would only be able to walk 1 day early, not sure how much that would help. After I relooked at things I wouldn't be borrowing though so that part is good. I am hoping as the THV's aren't till Jan, it won't be so hard to snag 2.
I would not want to borrow to walk. I haven't tried to walking thing, yet. But I have noticed that I wasn't able to get BLT 2BR Std view for Tgiving (2012) or NYE (2011-2012). So, I think certain really popular categories are going to be tougher to get.
On the other hand, I made a ressie for THV 27-29 Dec 2012 and BCV 2BR/2Qu for 12/29-1/1 right at the 11 month booking window and did not have any trouble getting either one, but who knows what the demand will be when you try?
(Though, maybe the point reallocation will make it easier to get THV).
I would assume standard or value would be hard at most (BLT, BWV and AKV) for the holidays so that does not surprise me. The Point reallocation is why THV is at the end, not the start of the trip lol! I could only walk by one day for all of them, and I'm not sure that's worth the hassle but don't want to kick myself later.
I did not even think that at 11 months someone would have to walk it ...
I will be trying for two bcv studios for 12/30/13 till 1/6/14. We are pretty new to
dvc, how do I "walk" that and can such be done online at 8 AM each day. I will be using my points from different years in a certian way. All 2013 pts for one room and then some 2012 pts along with 2013 and 2014 pts for the other.
To walk, you would book the ressie (either online or by phone) and then call the next day, or later, to move it out. You'd walk for a couple of reasons. 1, you are staying for more than 7 nights. DVC will only let you book 7 consecutive at once. So you might need to walk to get all your nights, starting the ressie earlier than you really want and adding on at the end as days go on to get the dates you want.
The other reason would be to ensure you get a very popular night, like NYE. I've not booked at that time of year before so haven't run into booking concerns either. We've been able to get what we want at 7 months, or even 6 weeks. However with NYE, some folks will be doing both xmas and NYE and tying up that whole week so I worry about NYE availability based on ressies arriving earlier than we will.
Walking can't be done online. You could add nights online but dropping them, without cancelling a whole ressie, can only be done by calling and that's at 9am.
If you do online, you'd book the 2 rooms separately anyway so it should be relatively easy to do the first studio with all 2013 years points, if that's the current use year for you and then mix up the rest on the next booking. You'll have to bank the 2012 first if you haven't already but I believe you do that as part of the same transaction with the booking, I know that's how it works with borrowing. However if you have banked already, the first ressie might try to pull the banked points first so I'd just really watch how it allocates, it will show where each is coming from.
The problem with walking at that time of year for me is those earlier nights are obviously more points (weekend nights). So in my case, I could book 12/28-1/1 on the 28th at 8am online to lock up NYE. Which is only 5 nights and not the nights I want. I could then call on the 29th, drop the 28th and add the 2nd and 3rd to get the 6 I want. But I can't call to do that till 9am so there is one hour there where others could snag the 2nd and 3rd. It may well be a non issue. Then again, for BW view, it might be. I just don't know.
On the treehouse side, same scenario. I want 2, one for 1/4/12-1/7/12 and one for 1/4/12-1/6/12. To walk I could book 2 on the 3rd, each for 2 nights. Then call on the 4th, drop the 3rd and add the 5th&6th on one, add just the 5th on the other. Will that one day help ensure I get both? I have no idea!
