Don't know if this is a possibility but....

[WDWalways]

If you want a studio at either the VWL or BCV and they are not available, instead of waitlisting could you request a regular room in the resort??? I noticed on the list of other WDW properties available thru the Disney Collection that the regular WL and BC are not listed. I don't see why we wouldn't have the option of staying at the regular hotel if we wanted to. Does anyone know for sure or ran into this situation?? Thanks!! Also, same goes for BWV vs. BWI -- BWI not listed either as an option.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Since DVC properties exist at WL, BW, and BC they do not offer the regular hotels for reservations with points through the Disney Collection. Just the way the program is set up. Perhaps someone can fill in the details on the reasons.

 

[Peggy Sue]

Sorry, you can only request the DVC resort at these properties.

Prior to a DVC property being available at BC and WL, you could request a Disney Collection (much higher points) through MS, however, once the DVC resort was available, these resorts were no longer an available option. I don't believe the Disney collection was an available option before BWV was built, however the same restriction is in place for BWV today too. Bottom line, the Disney Collection is only available at the resorts that DO NOT have DVC villas.

Your only other option is to rent a regular room through CRO for cash.

You can also check with MS to see if there are any cash reservations available at the DVC resort. (again, not the WDW resort..just the DVC portion of the property)

Hope this helps!

 

[DVCDAVE]

The WL, BC, and Boardwalk Inn, are NOT Disney Collection options, due to their DVC counterparts. It would be nice though to have them as Disney collction options if there was no availibility in the DVC buildings. In this I agree with you......

 

[DVCDAVE]

Keep in mind that you can BANK your DVC points, and then use the CRO system. Maybe that works for you.

 

[PamOKW]

I don't believe the Disney collection was an available option before BWV was built

Just a history lesson. The option to stay at Disney resorts has always been part of DVC. The deluxe resorts were always included. In fact, very early on when the pass program was in effect, you got two passes to use when staying at WDW resorts. This perk ended early on. I think the moderates and Ft. Wilderness cabins may have fluctuated in availability for point stays.

Beach Club is available for stays up until the end of August. The Yacht Club will continue to be available.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Staying in a regular room at a deluxe WDW resort, such as the Poly or AKL, takes far more points per night than staying in a DVC studio. Of course, you get daily housekeeping at the deluxe resorts, but it still seems like a poor use of points to me.

If you could stay at WL, BWI, and BC with points, the difference in point level would between the deluxe rooms and the DVC studios at VWL, BWV, and BCV, respectively, would be glaring.

The deluxe resorts are not part of the DVC inventory. When you book outside of DVC inventory, a comparable amount (in points) of DVC inventory is turned over to Disney CRO. This inventory is then available to the general public. CRO faces the costs associated with "selling" this inventory to nightly guests, as well as the risk that the nights will be sold at a substantial discount or go entirely unsold. Back when WDW resort occupancy was extremely high, this additional CRO inventory from DVC members was probably quite welcome. Now that occupancy levels are down, this additional CRO inventory is likely to increase the the number of unsold room nights. This is less of an issue when it comes to WDW Disney Collection transactions, where there's a corresponding reduction in room inventory at the Disney Collection resort, but for Concierge Collection, Disney is paying real money to the Concierge Collection hotels while not necessarily recovering that money by renting out DVC inventory on a nightly basis.

 

[WDWalways]

Originally posted by Horace Horsecollar
Staying in a regular room at a deluxe WDW resort, such as the Poly or AKL, takes far more points per night than staying in a DVC studio. Of course, you get daily housekeeping at the deluxe resorts, but it still seems like a poor use of points to me.
If you could stay at WL, BWI, and BC with points, the difference in point level would between the deluxe rooms and the DVC studios at VWL, BWV, and BCV, respectively, would be glaring.

Well, that was my point actually. A studio is almost equivalent to a regular room at WL, BC and BWI except no kitchenette but having maid service would make up for that SO what I would like DVC to do is offer you a regular room if studios are sold out rather than take a chance on a waitlist -- of course, you could just waitlist the studio anyway if you prefer -- but I think the regular room should be the same amount of points as a studio -- definitely not more. I'm surprised this isn't an option because it makes perfect sense to me.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by WDWalways
but I think the regular room should be the same amount of points as a studio -- definitely not more. I'm surprised this isn't an option because it makes perfect sense to me.

I've tried to explain why it has to be more points when DVC needs to reach outside of DVC inventory. WDW resort operations doesn't just provide those Disney Collection rooms to DVC out if the goodness of their hearts. They need to turn those rooms into money, just as if they rented the rooms out for cash. Because it's an indirect process, with risks and overhead, the point cost has to be higher.

One could argue about how much of a premium is legitimate, and whether Disney is breaking even or making big profits at current Disney Collection point levels.

But I can see that there's no way to make the deluxe resort room point levels identical to DVC studio levels, even if the deluxe resort rooms were provided to DVC members without daily housekeeping.

 

[PamOKW]

A studio is almost equivalent to a regular room at WL, BC and BWI except no kitchenette but having maid service would make up for that

I'm not sure how much maid service is worth.

It's a little hard to compare resort seasons to DVC seasons but let's compare Regular Season at a Resort to Magic Season at DVC.

A studio at BCV would be 14 points weekdays and 32 points Fri-Sat.

A standard room at BC would be 34/61 and a water view would be 40/72.

Regular season also includes October when the point difference at DVC would drop to 12/23. Is maid service worth double or triple the points?

There may also be some other difficulty in trading out rooms within the same resort. Somehow DVC has to make "money" to pay Disney for use of the resort rooms. I'm not sure how that all technically works but there could be a problem exchanging within the same resort that we can't see.