DVC Vacation Club

[JeJecm]

Would be interested in this if there was guarantee that I could stay at Beach Club. How does it work with choosing your resort?

 

[peace_all]

From what I understand if you had BCV as your home resort you can book at 11months ahead, and 7 months for the other resorts. However you can find a lot more information about this on the DVC threads.

 

[Lynne M]

I'm going to move this over to our DVC boards, but first, I'll answer your question.

There are no guarantees. If you own at BCV, you can book at 11 months from your travel date. Other members who do not own at BCV can book BCV at 7 months from their travel dates.

If you book at exactly 11 months out, you should be successful more often than not. Keep in mind, though, BCV is a very small and very popular resort, especially during the Food and Wine Festival from the end of Sept to mid-Nov, and then through the end of the year (holiday stuff going on). The longer you wait to book after your window opens, the less your chances of getting what you want.

Just adding personal experience, I've tried to book BCV in September/October (F&W) several times when the 7 month window opens. Never been successful. So you really do need to book as early as possible if you want to travel during that period.

 

[bwvBound]

There are no guarantees. If you own at BCV, you can book at 11 months from your travel date. Other members who do not own at BCV can book BCV at 7 months from their travel dates.

If you book at exactly 11 months out, you should be successful more often than not. Keep in mind, though, BCV is a very small and very popular resort, especially during the Food and Wine Festival from the end of Sept to mid-Nov, and then through the end of the year (holiday stuff going on). The longer you wait to book after your window opens, the less your chances of getting what you want.

Exactly this!

 

[chalee94]

Would be interested in this if there was guarantee that I could stay at Beach Club. How does it work with choosing your resort?

if you own BCV and book exactly 11 months out, i think you'll get this to work out very well.

but keep in mind that you would always be staying in the beach club villas section and not in the beach club hotel rooms. they are refurbed and maintained separately.

BCV contracts expire in 2042 and can be purchased resale for less than direct prices, but BCV is still very popular so don't expect too good of a deal.

 

[cwdefouw]

Since the OP seems to be looking for general information, I will add this. Owning DVC and expecting to get exactly the reservation you need, REQUIRES advance planning. By advanced, I mean at least planning 12-15 months out, (minimum 11 months out). We usually plan 18-24 months out. If planning this far out does not fit your lifestyle, you may want to either reconsider your potential purchase or plan on being happy with staying in another DVC property, (Still requires some advance planning). Even with advance planning of a year or more, there are some accommodations and dates that are difficult to get. Consequently DVC ownership almost always requires some sort of flexibility, whether that be in travel seasons/dates, room type, etc. I will say that planning the way that we do, in 15 years of ownership, we have always been able to get exactly the DVC accommodation we wanted, but we do travel in off season and always book within 5 minutes of 11/7 month window opening. I will also say that I always have a backup plan, I just haven't needed to use it yet.

 

[drusba]

The only way to guarantee with certainty that you will always get exactly what you want with DVC without having to worry about reserving exactly 11 months out is to buy (and use) a set week at one of the two resorts that offer it, Villas of Grand Floridian or Aulani. When Polynesian goes on sale, the set week may also be offered there.

Otherwise, reservations are always first come first served and owners at a resort can start reserving up to 7 nights exactly 11 months from date of arrival at 8 a.m. Eastern online. If you do that, you are highly likely to get what you want at BCV year round. However, there are a few times of year, such as the first week of December, where you could actually be blocked out at 11 months if, for example, you wait until noon to try to reserve a studio at BCV.

 

[crisi]

The only way to guarantee with certainty that you will always get exactly what you want with DVC without having to worry about reserving exactly 11 months out is to buy (and use) a set week at one of the two resorts that offer it, Villas of Grand Floridian or Aulani. When Polynesian goes on sale, the set week may also be offered there.

Otherwise, reservations are always first come first served and owners at a resort can start reserving up to 7 nights exactly 11 months from date of arrival at 8 a.m. Eastern online. If you do that, you are highly likely to get what you want at BCV year round. However, there are a few times of year, such as the first week of December, where you could actually be blocked out at 11 months if, for example, you wait until noon to try to reserve a studio at BCV.

Though early on the waitlist and haunting the website reservation system will probably work (one or the other) that far out. But it is stress and bother than someone who wants what they want when they want it might not be willing to accept when its pretty easy to call Disney and get a room at the Beach Club without a problem.

 

[bakerworld]

Would be interested in this if there was guarantee that I could stay at Beach Club. How does it work with choosing your resort?

Buy it, making sure the use year works with possible cancellations
Reserve at 11 months, knowing that you have until 31 days before to cancel without reprisal

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I have never been blocked out of anything except AKV club level at 11 months. And that includes my annual week at BCV.during food and wine.


Not saying it won't happen but



That said if you book late you are very unlikely to get BCV IMHO

 

[CarolMN]

While there are no iron-clad guarantees, if you book online when your 11 month window opens, it is virtually certain that you will get a BCV reservation.

FWIW, I've been on the DIS since late 1998 and do not recall anyone posting that they lost out on an 11 month reservation for BCV. (So it must be rare, right)?

Have fun doing all your research.

 

[drusba]

FWIW, I've been on the DIS since late 1998 and do not recall anyone posting that they lost out on an 11 month reservation for BCV. (So it must be rare, right?

I recall four reports of BCV owners being blocked out at 11 months out since the reservation system switched to booking up to 7 nights from date of arrival. Two of them were members trying to get studios for nigts that included NYE and NYE was booked. In both cases the members had an arrival date of Dec 28 or after and thus were blocked out by members with earlier arrival dates during Christmas week. The other two reports involved members trying to get studios during first week of Dec and, similarly, they had arrival dates later in that week. In any event, it is a low risk occurrence with the risk of it happening only a few, very high demand times of the year.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Well, I was not blocked out of a studio at BCV for this NYE, and we are beginning that stay on the 29! Booked at 11 months!

 

[gonzalj1]

Since the OP seems to be looking for general information, I will add this. Owning DVC and expecting to get exactly the reservation you need, REQUIRES advance planning. By advanced, I mean at least planning 12-15 months out, (minimum 11 months out). We usually plan 18-24 months out. If planning this far out does not fit your lifestyle, you may want to either reconsider your potential purchase or plan on being happy with staying in another DVC property, (Still requires some advance planning). Even with advance planning of a year or more, there are some accommodations and dates that are difficult to get. Consequently DVC ownership almost always requires some sort of flexibility, whether that be in travel seasons/dates, room type, etc. I will say that planning the way that we do, in 15 years of ownership, we have always been able to get exactly the DVC accommodation we wanted, but we do travel in off season and always book within 5 minutes of 11/7 month window opening. I will also say that I always have a backup plan, I just haven't needed to use it yet.

Agreed - advanced planning is definitely required to have the best chance of getting what you want. When staying in your home resort 11 months out with ALMOST guarantee you get what you want. At the 7 month window for non-home resorts its usually all bets are off and you need to be flexible. Not that you can't get what you want bu there is a higher likelihood of not getting it.

That being said - we are enormous planners and have our vacations planned out usually 3-4 years in advance. And we always have a backup plan for those times we want to stay at non-home resorts. Usually a plan B, C and D just in case.

So - if you can't plan well in advance then you may want to consider if DVC is right for your family. You are right to be doing your research and this site is a treasure trove of information. Lots of great folks with a ton of experience using the system who can give you the pros and cons. Feel free to ask any question that comes to mind. The only silly question is the one that goes unasked.