DVC at Christmas

[3dog2kidmom]

Hi! Once again we're talking about DVC. Not in the immediate future, but next year I hope! My question is how hard is it to get DVC reservations at Christmas? We would be buying primarily so we could spend Christmas at WDW. Not sure which resort would be easiest to get into, for example December 22-28 if we were to do this in 2007.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

You can get into any of the DVC resorts at Christmas if you make your reservation 11 months in advance. Your problem is that you don't own yet and Christmas reservations are being made right now (tomorrow for Christmas night) for Christmas 2007. If you buy SSR from Disney you would have your current year points quickly and should be able to get into SSR without a problem. If you purchase resale, it will take a while for you to close and you may have trouble or may have to wait list.

HBC

 

[Granny]

Since you said you aren't looking to purchase DVC until next year, I'm assuming the December 2007 dates were hypothetical?

HBC is right. Getting reservations at that time of year is not bad as long as:

1. Nail down your vacation dates early
2. Book exactly at the 11 month window
3. and be happy to spend Christmas at your home resort.

Switching to a non-home DVC resort at the 7 month window is iffy at best for that time of the year. Sure, you can waitlist and possibly even be fortunate to get the other resort from time to time. But if you plan on vacationing often during that high-demand time of the year, I'd urge you to purchase at the resort you'd most like to spend your Christmas at.

 

[Cruelladeville]

This is exactly the 11 month window for Christmas, and the GV's at OKW are sold out for the 23-24. So, any special accommodations are difficult to get, even at exactly 11 months. Last year I waited for a two bedroom villa for exactly 11 months, and never did get it, so if you want a particular resort, you had better get moving. Welcome to the Christmas rat race.

 

[3dog2kidmom]

Thanks -- Granny is right. The 2007 dates are hypothetical because I know my vacation days, kids' schedule, and could calculate points needed for various resorts this year but not next.

I appreciate hearing everyone's experience. We'll only need a studio or eventually a one-bedroom. As long as I know we should be able to get our home resort at the 11-month window we'll be happy. If that were near to impossible we might reconsider the purchase altogether. Any experiences where you weren't able to get your home resort in a studio or 1BR at 11 months during Christmas week? Is Thanksgiving harder or easier?

Thanks so much!

 

[dianeschlicht]

If you own at one of the larger resorts (SSR, OKW and in the future AKV) you should be able to get something at the 11 month window booking day by day for the holidays. ANY holiday is going to need day by day booking at 11 months out though. It is why it is important to pick your home resort at the place you prefer to stay all the time.

 

[Starr W.]

Thanks -- Granny is right. The 2007 dates are hypothetical because I know my vacation days, kids' schedule, and could calculate points needed for various resorts this year but not next.

I appreciate hearing everyone's experience. We'll only need a studio or eventually a one-bedroom. As long as I know we should be able to get our home resort at the 11-month window we'll be happy. If that were near to impossible we might reconsider the purchase altogether. Any experiences where you weren't able to get your home resort in a studio or 1BR at 11 months during Christmas week? Is Thanksgiving harder or easier?

Thanks so much!

I didn't book day by day for Thanksgiving(11/17-11/23), called 12/23 and got a 2br at our "home" SSR, no sweat. Though it was a Sat. and I probably had a 10 min wait(called exactly at opening time).

If anyone else called that day, I am sorry as I had a great CM and we chatted a bit and she booked my ADR's for my May trip. Just realized I could have been the cause of those "Busy signal at MS" Threads.

 

[Teancum]

You can get Christmas at your home resort with little difficulty; day by day calling is required for special accommodations like a BW view or standard view or GV. It is doubtful you will get it at another resort without waitlisting. I will say that You can sometimes get lucky (I just booked 2 BR HH for 4th of July Week, which is a tough week to get), but that is the exception, not the rule.

 

[cdnsluvdisney]

Called in at 9:00 this morning and put on hold, by the time the call was answered, all the Grand Villas were booked for Christmas Day. We are now on the waiting list for this day.

 

[JulieWent]

I've been calling day-by-day this week to get Christmas week at BWV. It's been so easy I've been wondering if something was wrong. I've gotten through on the first try, not had to wait on hold, and gotten my request -- studio, Board Walk view, and of course, request only, non-smoking. I've had each day booked by 8:02 a.m. central time each day. (I warned my co-teacher that I might need as much as 20 minutes to wait on hold. She had our class while I went to make my calls. I was very surprised when I was able to walk back into the room less than five minutes later.) Of course, I'm not looking for a GV or anything larger, but it seems to be pretty easy to get in at Christmas as long as you're willing to plan in advance.

Julie

 

[cdnsluvdisney]

There are only 27 Grand Villas at OKW and in high demand as they are the biggest villas and use the least amount of points of all the resorts. This is probably a rare exception to the 11 month rule. I know of others that have been booking for Christmas at BWV and haven't had any problems.

 

[daisyduck123]

We're booked for Christmas 2007 at SSR.
Right now we've got Dec. 20-25 booked.


We're doing it day-by-day.
Later today, (MS opens at 1:00 pm on Sat.) DH will call to add Dec. 26.

 

[app2msm]

Its a family tradition to go for Christmas. I have good luck getting a studio at Old Key West and Saratoga Springs a month before. We also go the week before Christmas

 

[tinkermell]

I've been calling day-by-day this week to get Christmas week at BWV. It's been so easy I've been wondering if something was wrong. I've gotten through on the first try, not had to wait on hold, and gotten my request -- studio, Board Walk view, and of course, request only, non-smoking. I've had each day booked by 8:02 a.m. central time each day. (I warned my co-teacher that I might need as much as 20 minutes to wait on hold. She had our class while I went to make my calls. I was very surprised when I was able to walk back into the room less than five minutes later.) Of course, I'm not looking for a GV or anything larger, but it seems to be pretty easy to get in at Christmas as long as you're willing to plan in advance.

Julie

Very new to all of this and in the same boat as 3dogkid2mom. I'm a little confused. Do you have to call in everyday that you want a reservation for? Can't you just call and make a request for like say, " Do you have a room for Dec. 22-28th?" A week at a time if that's what you want? Please clarify. Thanks!

 

[JulieWent]

Most times of the year, you can just call in at your 11 month window -- 11 months before your check out day -- and book. Right now, though, I'm booking Christmas week (December 23 - 28). That's one of the absolutely busiest times of the year, and my family just loves being ON the Board Walk with the view of everything that's going on for the holidays. So I call day-by-day to make sure that I get exactly what I want. (If I just wanted a preferred view, for instance, it wouldn't be a problem. But looking over the pool at Christmas time isn't what we want.) Also, if you were at BWV and wanted a standard view, you'd have to call day-by-day at the busiest times. This is something people do for grand villas as well because there are so few of them. For normal bookings, though, it's not the normal way of booking. (And it IS a pain. I'm getting tired of making those calls every day. Fortunately I only have one more day. Unfortunately it's Monday, the busiest day of the week at MS.)

Does that make sense?

Julie

 

[mbrowninc]

Julie

I am also new to DVC and had questions about day by day booking. Do you just tell MS you will be calling tomorrow? Do you ask to add on a day to your current reservation? Do they link all this together so you do not have to change room?

Off the subject of holiday booking but I recently made a reservation and wanted to try and add a day but I don't want to change rooms.

Thanks!
Melanie

 

[JulieWent]

Yes, when I start a day-by-day booking I tell the MS rep that I am doing so. He or she usually makes a notation of it and even asks me for my target end date. The first thing I tell the MS rep on the next day is, "I'm adding a day to a day-by-day booking I'm making." When they pull up my member number, they just add. It's pretty easy. Then they just link all the day together onto one reservation number -- hence one room. (The only problem that might arise would be if a room was not available one of the days that I called. That hasn't happened so far. Keep your fingers crossed for me for Monday.)

As long as there are days available on a ressie you've already made, it shouldn't be a problem to link an old ressie to a new day.

Julie