DVC Waitlist - how it works

[MarriedAtDisney]

We have a seven day waitlist at a resort in November. We opened the waitlist on the first possible day - and at the time it showed five of the seven days available.

I'm just curious how the waitlist matching actually works. Does it 'hold' those five days and wait to see if the other two open up - or does it wait (pun intended) for the entire seven days to open before locking in the reservation. If it's the latter - I can pretty much assume that's not going to happen - given the resort popularity and holiday proximity.

Thanks all!

 

[robndani]

Did you book the 5 days? If not then you are waiting for all 7 to match. We are wait listed for 5 nights in November and we also did it on the first day possible.

Good luck!

 

[MarriedAtDisney]

We have a booked vacation for 8 days/7 nights. and we waitlisted for the same days at a different resort.

 

[tjkraz]

No days are held unless there is a 100% match. For that reason, shorter trips have a much higher rate of waitlist success than longer ones.

The DVC waitlist process also appears to be largely manual. When a match is made, dates are supposed to be immediately removed from inventory and flagged for a Cast Member to make the reservation. However there are consistent reports of members checking the website and finding their desired dates available without the waitlist match ever having occurred.

The waitlist system DOES actually work. There are countless reports of success. But as owners, we still have no clear understanding of the level of "realtime" integration and/or why these apparent glitches occur.

 

[MarriedAtDisney]

well, I can forget this waitlist then. not much of a chance of it happening. Next time I should go ahead and double book the days available and waitlist for the remaining days. Thanks for the info!

 

[tjkraz]

well, I can forget this waitlist then. not much of a chance of it happening. Next time I should go ahead and double book the days available and waitlist for the remaining days. Thanks for the info!

If you have enough points to book both without borrowing, that's the ideal approach.

If points are in short supply, I think many would roll the dice and book 5 nights at the preferred resorts + 2 nights at another location just to guarantee a room. Worst case, you may have to switch if the 2 night waitlist never comes thru. (Everyone has to decide for themselves if a potential resort switch is a worthwhile sacrifice to improve odds of getting preferred location.)

Bottom line: It's much easier to get 2 nights off waitlist than 7. It's entirely possible that your 7-night request will eventually come thru, but it would have been easier to just wait on the 2 nights.