Early Dec -- 7 months availability

[mustinjourney]

Hi everyone,

I've got a big family trip coming up early December 2017, and I'm trying to figure out what the availability will be like for 2BR villas.

home resort is VGF -- and the plan is to do a 6-7 night stay and spend at least 4 or 5 nights at VGF...but I was also thinking it might be nice to do a split stay with two nights being at AKV or BWV/BCV, since we will likely do AK/DHS the first two days of the trip. I think those resorts are also more my parents' style, so it might be more fun for them. VWL would also be a great choice at XMAS, but I'm assuming that is a complete no-go without 11 month availability.

So I know studios fill up very quickly at that time of the year. But what about 2 BR villas? What is the likelihood I would be able to book AKV for 2 nights 7 months out? Are BWV or BCV easier or harder?

I do have a 25 point contract at BCV, and with banking/borrowing, I can make it work so long the first day is in November (I have a DEC UY and I will have 25 points from 2015 banked -- Su/M is 76 points -- so I would have to buy 1 point from Disney as one time use) -- however, I was hoping to use that for a F&W trip earlier fall 2017.

As such, I'd prefer to just use my VGF points (I'll have at least 363 points available to use) -- but I'm not sure if either AKV or BCV would be available in a 2BR for the first 2 nights of the trip.

Is it possible to book 7 nights at VGF and then chop off the first 2 nights if the other two spots become available at 7 months? If so, is that something that can only be done over the phone?

Is there an optimal way to handle this?

 

[zavandor]

Yes, you can book 7 nights at 11 month at you home restort and then remove a few nights later if you find availability. Only MS can edit a reservation, either over the phone or through website email. You just have to be aware of borrowed points: if you borrow points to make a reservation and the new one is cheaper, you cannot put points back after you cancel the extra nights.
Also, how you do this depends on how many points you have.
Let's say that to book the first 7 nights you have used all your points. At 11 months, to book the two nights at AKV you can either:
1) if you don't have extra points, wait for 9:00 when MS open. Ask them to remove the first two nights and book the two nights at AKV
2) if you have the extra points, book yourself online at 8:00 and then call MS to remove the extra nights from the VGF booking

2 is much better, because by the time you can call MS at 9:00, availability might be gone. Also, it is thought that MS cannot hold a reservation while they book another one with the same set of points. By the time they cancel your reservation and book the new one, availability may be gone and you may end up missing 2 nights.
But if you have to borrow points to make this reservation, then there is the small problem that those points cannot be unborrowed later. You can ask MS to reallocate them: for the existing reservations they would use borrowed points first, but then you would end with more points in the current UY that need to be banked and then expire the next year.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The first two weeks of December are the most requested weeks of the entire year for DVC members. I think BCV and BWV are going to be hard to book at seven months out.

 

[drusba]

If you are considering five nights at VGF and two at another resort, the way to set up your orginal reservation is to reserve at 11 months out the five nights you want at VGF and make a separate reservation for the other two nights at VGF and do nothing to link those reservations before 7 months out. Then at 7 months out, you can do everything online at 8 a.m. if the other resort is available, both canceling the two nights you have at VGF and booking the other resort. If nothing is available, keep what you have and eventually call MS and have them combine your two VGF reservations into one.

As to availability, getting any 2BR at a near park resort during early Dec will be very difficult and even AKV will have issues. But since you are looking only for two nights, chances are somewhat better. As an example at what you might be looking at, for this year at 7 months out at 8 a.m. for the first full week of Dec beginning on a Saturday, Dec 3-10, you would have found that the the BWV 2BRs, all views, were gone for the week; the BCV 2BRs, all classes, were gone 6 of the 7 nights; BLT standard 2BRs, both lock-off and dedicated, were gone for the week, theme Park view six of the nights, and lake view six of the nights for the lock-off and five for the dedicated 2BRs (and the two open nights were not consecutive); AKV Jambo standard 2BR was gone 6 of the nights and the savanna view all 7: the Kidani standard view 2BRs, both lock-off and dedicated, and savanna view lock-off 2BRs, were gone 6 of the nights, but the Kidani dedicated 2BR was actually open for the entire week. However, by May 5, that dedicated 2BR was missing Dec 4,5,6, and 8.

 

[mustinjourney]

If you are considering five nights at VGF and two at another resort, the way to set up your orginal reservation is to reserve at 11 months out the five nights you want at VGF and make a separate reservation for the other two nights at VGF and do nothing to link those reservations before 7 month out. Then at 7 months out, you can do everything online at 8 a.m. if the other resort is available, both canceling the two nights you have at VGF and booking the other resort. If nothing is available, keep what you have and eventually call MS and have them combine your two VGF reservations into one.

As to availability, getting any 2BR at a near park resort during early Dec will be very difficult and even AKV will have issues. But since you are looking only for two nights, chances are somewhat better. As an example at what you might be looking at, for this year at 7 months out at 8 a.m. for the first full week of Dec beginning on a Saturday, Dec 3-10, you would have found that the the BWV 2BRs, all views, were gone for the week; the BCV 2BRs, all classes, were gone 6 of the 7 nights; BLT standard 2BRs, both lock-off and dedicated, were gone for the week, theme Park view six of the nights, and lake view six of the nights for the lock-off and five for the dedicated 2BRs (and the two open nights were not consecutive); AKV Jambo standard 2BR was gone 6 of the nights and the savanna view all 7: the Kidani standard view 2BRs, both lock-off and dedicated, and savanna view lock-off 2BRs, were gone 6 of the nights, but the Kidani dedicated 2BR was actually open for the entire week. However, by May 5, that dedicated 2BR was missing Dec 4,5,6, and 8.

That is exactly the information I was looking for!

Thanks!

 

[Pirate Granny]

You have great points, rent out enough of your GFV points and rent in for a 2 bedroom that you want, at the 11 month mark. We are doing that for our AKV GV for one night

 

[mustinjourney]

You have great points, rent out enough of your GFV points and rent in for a 2 bedroom that you want, at the 11 month mark. We are doing that for our AKV GV for one night

I hadn't thought of trading points with someone. Not a bad idea.

 

[crisi]

Trading will be hard - you have to find someone who wants the points you have in the quantity that makes a trade attractive to both of you - the match is difficult.

However, it will be easy to rent your VGF points, and then use that cash to rent BWV points - so you'll have three people involved in the transaction (at least). I did this two years ago for HHI in the Summer. I rented out my BWV points at $11.50 a point through David, and rented HHI points at $15 a point through David. Obviously, I either threw in a little cash or rented a few more points than I would have needed had I booked the reservation myself at seven months - but the assurance was worth the delta.

 

[kristenrice]

I hadn't thought of trading points with someone. Not a bad idea.

I think this would be risky because you lose YOUR ability to confirm a reservation at 11 months. You are concerned about availability at 7 months out as an OWNER, but by doing a "points trade", you are making yourself a RENTER, who is subject to the same availability issues, but now at the mercy of someone else to find the reservation. As previously mentioned, the first two weeks of December are the hardest to book. I would try to keep every edge possible, including using the position as an owner vs a renter.

 

[crisi]

Not the same availability issues - since if s/he finds an owner, s/he'll have a jump. But I would plan on BWV Preferred View - standard view and BW View may book too quickly and the best availability is probably BWV Preferred View over BCV or the other BWV options.

 

[NotAMouse]

If you are considering five nights at VGF and two at another resort, the way to set up your orginal reservation is to reserve at 11 months out the five nights you want at VGF and make a separate reservation for the other two nights at VGF and do nothing to link those reservations before 7 months out. Then at 7 months out, you can do everything online at 8 a.m. if the other resort is available, both canceling the two nights you have at VGF and booking the other resort. If nothing is available, keep what you have and eventually call MS and have them combine your two VGF reservations into one.

If you follow drusba's suggestion and the two nights you want at the other resorts are not available at the 7-month window, you can waitlist those nights at two other resorts. (If you don't have enough points for a reservation at the VGF and the other resort, you can designate the 2-night VGF reservation to be cancelled if the waitlist comes through.)

 

[kristenrice]

Not the same availability issues - since if s/he finds an owner, s/he'll have a jump. But I would plan on BWV Preferred View - standard view and BW View may book too quickly and the best availability is probably BWV Preferred View over BCV or the other BWV options.

I see what you are saying...but my concern would be that because they are trying to book at such a high-demand period, they may not be able to get their desired reservation at 7 months via renting. If they are dealing with their own points, they can waitlist and/or stalk the website themselves to try and secure what they want. Finding an owner to rent from that is willing to deal with a waittlist might be difficult, not to mention the fact that they may not have a back up.

 

[crisi]

Yep, which is why they'd want to find a BWV owner and book at eleven months. Even then its a good idea to go for BWV Preferred View at that time of year. There shouldn't be an issue in getting those rooms at eleven months, but standard might disappear before even a willing owner can get the reservation done.

I suspect we are seeing more of that sort of behavior which is one of the reasons availability at seven months is so tight. I didn't risk my HHI Summer vacation being bookable with my BWV points - I used a strangers HHI points, then rented out my BWV points to someone who wanted my eleven month window for a standard view.

 

[kristenrice]

Yep, which is why they'd want to find a BWV owner and book at eleven months. Even then its a good idea to go for BWV Preferred View at that time of year. There shouldn't be an issue in getting those rooms at eleven months, but standard might disappear before even a willing owner can get the reservation done.

I suspect we are seeing more of that sort of behavior which is one of the reasons availability at seven months is so tight. I didn't risk my HHI Summer vacation being bookable with my BWV points - I used a strangers HHI points, then rented out my BWV points to someone who wanted my eleven month window for a standard view.

Right....but didn't the OP say that they wanted to do 4-5 nights at the GFV? They would need their home resort points to book that part of their stay so they couldn't rent them out. I guess they could rent out the few that they would need to book those last nights at BWV or AKV, but don't the brokers have a minimum number? If they wanted to do their entire stay at BWV, then I completely agree with your plan, but for just a few nights, I would take my chances at 7 months and book my home resort at 11.

 

[mustinjourney]

Yep, which is why they'd want to find a BWV owner and book at eleven months. Even then its a good idea to go for BWV Preferred View at that time of year. There shouldn't be an issue in getting those rooms at eleven months, but standard might disappear before even a willing owner can get the reservation done.

I suspect we are seeing more of that sort of behavior which is one of the reasons availability at seven months is so tight. I didn't risk my HHI Summer vacation being bookable with my BWV points - I used a strangers HHI points, then rented out my BWV points to someone who wanted my eleven month window for a standard view.

The only way I'd rent is to get the 11 month window. And I'd be looking at a 2 BR. no interest in studios.

 

[mustinjourney]

Right....but didn't the OP say that they wanted to do 4-5 nights at the GFV? They would need their home resort points to book that part of their stay so they couldn't rent them out. I guess they could rent out the few that they would need to book those last nights at BWV or AKV, but don't the brokers have a minimum number? If they wanted to do their entire stay at BWV, then I completely agree with your plan, but for just a few nights, I would take my chances at 7 months and book my home resort at 11.

I've got 363 points at VGF available for this trip. 4 or 5 nights would only be around 200 or so points, so I'd still have another 160+ to trade or rent out. I like the idea of trading since it gives you more control. I also have two UYs so I have more flexibility in my trades.

 

[kristenrice]

I've got 363 points at VGF available for this trip. 4 or 5 nights would only be around 200 or so points, so I'd still have another 160+ to trade or rent out. I like the idea of trading since it gives you more control. I also have two UYs so I have more flexibility in my trades.

Just remember, in order for you to retain control of your reservations, you will have to transfer your points OUT of one of your contracts and IN to the other since your are limited to only one transfer per UY. Also, when it comes time to book, you will have to call MS to book with the transferred points which means you have to wait until 9am, instead of booking online at 8am. Other than that, you plan is sound and you are in a good position to get exactly what you want. I went through a similar situation last November when I tried to get a standard 2BR for my parents and sister's family at the BWV for a week in October. I had to waitlist one day but it filled within a week.

 

[Dean]

If you are considering five nights at VGF and two at another resort, the way to set up your orginal reservation is to reserve at 11 months out the five nights you want at VGF and make a separate reservation for the other two nights at VGF and do nothing to link those reservations before 7 months out. Then at 7 months out, you can do everything online at 8 a.m. if the other resort is available, both canceling the two nights you have at VGF and booking the other resort. If nothing is available, keep what you have and eventually call MS and have them combine your two VGF reservations into one.

As to availability, getting any 2BR at a near park resort during early Dec will be very difficult and even AKV will have issues. But since you are looking only for two nights, chances are somewhat better. As an example at what you might be looking at, for this year at 7 months out at 8 a.m. for the first full week of Dec beginning on a Saturday, Dec 3-10, you would have found that the the BWV 2BRs, all views, were gone for the week; the BCV 2BRs, all classes, were gone 6 of the 7 nights; BLT standard 2BRs, both lock-off and dedicated, were gone for the week, theme Park view six of the nights, and lake view six of the nights for the lock-off and five for the dedicated 2BRs (and the two open nights were not consecutive); AKV Jambo standard 2BR was gone 6 of the nights and the savanna view all 7: the Kidani standard view 2BRs, both lock-off and dedicated, and savanna view lock-off 2BRs, were gone 6 of the nights, but the Kidani dedicated 2BR was actually open for the entire week. However, by May 5, that dedicated 2BR was missing Dec 4,5,6, and 8.

One issue with that approach (delaying reserving if I'm reading it correctly) with wanting 4-5 days at VGF and 2 days (at the start) for a 2 BR elsewhere is that one will be delaying the more difficult to reserve 4-5 night reservation by 2 days when others could have reserved it. That could be a problem esp if wanting standard view, GF may be difficult to reserve unto itself for that time and doing them as separate reservations decreases the chance of success at GF. So to spark some thought processes, I'll post some variations albeit fairly convoluted ones in some cases.

IF the OP had enough points to reserve VGF the entire time plus a second reservation in a different name for the first 2 nights they want to change as well, that'd be my first thought. They're actually very close if they only do 6 nights and get VGF standard. Some other options include book the VGF standard view day 1 at 8 am for the 6 or 7 nights plus a second reservation for the 2 nights at VGF planning to change that one and drop 2 nights from the longer one once set at AKV or BCV but it assumes borrowing VGF points in addition to the 363 and these might not be available. Book the 7 nights as a unit and call at 7 months out to change over if available. Do the 7 nights at VGF planning to drop days later and bank and borrow for the BCV 2 BR though if either of those are a weekend, 75 points wouldn't be enough but one could book 1 night and wait list the other at 7 months.

If the 363 includes banked and all points that might be borrowed, that does limit these choices somewhat. Another approach is to reserve VGF for 5 nights AND 2 nights from day 1 then walk the 5 night reservation for 2 nights effectively ending up with drusba's suggestion secondarily. For me personally I wouldn't do a split stay in this situation. So I'd reserve VGF then change to AKV or BCV at 7 months out or just stay at GF. AKV is likely to be available but might require a wait list, BCV not likely and if so, would almost certainly be the 2 BR with a pullout in the second. IF I were going to do a split stay with the choices laid out, I'd reserve VGF and take my chances on AKV at 7 months out calling to reserve so I could reserve new and drop old without borrowing. IF it were important to me to get the specific 7 month choice, I'd borrow to do so if points were available. There will be 2 BR options at 7 months out but it might end up being only SSR or OKW.

There are other variations if one opens up to other villa sizes or other resort for the 2 nights elsewhere, esp two 1BR villas instead of a 2 BR. Transfer points to use the 7 month window at BCV or VGF. IMO the trading issue sounds good on the surface but when you get down to it, it's just a rental for each person and more hassle than it's worth.

 

[mustinjourney]

One issue with that approach (delaying reserving if I'm reading it correctly) with wanting 4-5 days at VGF and 2 days (at the start) for a 2 BR elsewhere is that one will be delaying the more difficult to reserve 4-5 night reservation by 2 days when others could have reserved it. That could be a problem esp if wanting standard view, GF may be difficult to reserve unto itself for that time and doing them as separate reservations decreases the chance of success at GF. So to spark some thought processes, I'll post some variations albeit fairly convoluted ones in some cases.

IF the OP had enough points to reserve VGF the entire time plus a second reservation in a different name for the first 2 nights they want to change as well, that'd be my first thought. They're actually very close if they only do 6 nights and get VGF standard. Some other options include book the VGF standard view day 1 at 8 am for the 6 or 7 nights plus a second reservation for the 2 nights at VGF planning to change that one and drop 2 nights from the longer one once set at AKV or BCV but it assumes borrowing VGF points in addition to the 363 and these might not be available. Book the 7 nights as a unit and call at 7 months out to change over if available. Do the 7 nights at VGF planning to drop days later and bank and borrow for the BCV 2 BR though if either of those are a weekend, 75 points wouldn't be enough but one could book 1 night and wait list the other at 7 months.

If the 363 includes banked and all points that might be borrowed, that does limit these choices somewhat. Another approach is to reserve VGF for 5 nights AND 2 nights from day 1 then walk the 5 night reservation for 2 nights effectively ending up with drusba's suggestion secondarily. For me personally I wouldn't do a split stay in this situation. So I'd reserve VGF then change to AKV or BCV at 7 months out or just stay at GF. AKV is likely to be available but might require a wait list, BCV not likely and if so, would almost certainly be the 2 BR with a pullout in the second. IF I were going to do a split stay with the choices laid out, I'd reserve VGF and take my chances on AKV at 7 months out calling to reserve so I could reserve new and drop old without borrowing. IF it were important to me to get the specific 7 month choice, I'd borrow to do so if points were available. There will be 2 BR options at 7 months out but it might end up being only SSR or OKW.

There are other variations if one opens up to other villa sizes or other resort for the 2 nights elsewhere, esp two 1BR villas instead of a 2 BR. Transfer points to use the 7 month window at BCV or VGF. IMO the trading issue sounds good on the surface but when you get down to it, it's just a rental for each person and more hassle than it's worth.

Wow. That's a lot of information! If it changes your theory at all, I have the following:

DEC UY VGF
103-2017
150-2018

Apr UY VGF
130-2016
130-2017
130-2018

DEC UY BCV
50-2016 (25 banked from 2015)
25-2017
25-2018

 

[Dean]

Wow. That's a lot of information! If it changes your theory at all, I have the following:

DEC UY VGF
103-2017
150-2018

Apr UY VGF
130-2016
130-2017
130-2018

DEC UY BCV
50-2016 (25 banked from 2015)
25-2017
25-2018

Somewhat, if I count correctly you'll have 406 points to work with in the 2017 UY between VGF & BCV including banked and current but not borrowing. The 25 banked BCV points are not in play unless you can start your trip in Nov and use them then. If you could and straddle the UY with the BCV portion it would solve at least part of your problem allowing you to amass a full 100 points if you start on 30 Nov for BCV for 2 nights (81 points). On top of that you have the issue of 2 UY at VGF which will likely force you to call MS rather than book online for a portion of the time. With those dates GF will be 239 points if I counted correctly in my head. I'd bank the 130 2016 points and use those to reserve GF and I'd likely walk that reservation back to 2 Dec if you can do those exact dates. That way you can book online for both 11 months out with only the walking issue to worry about.

If those exact dates don't work out, I'd reserve the same for the 5 nights at VGF as above then the first 2 nights at GF with the Dec GF contract, roughly 100 points. That way you can do it all online other than if you decide to walk any of it. And you're not borrowing anything or banking anything you wouldn't need to anyway. Then when you get to 7 months out you can revisit the options including using 7 month BCV points for most of the non GF 2 nights. You'll still have to deal with the 25 GF points that are banked and will expire on 30 Nov, 2016.

I'd rather have VGF points available than BCV if I had to rent or transfer them. I'd rather not borrow points if I can easily work it out and I think you can. Personally I'm OK with taking the chance at 7 months out because I think you can get something but it might not be your preferred option. Another approach is to transfer the April 16 & 17 points to the Dec UY banking the 16 after transfer but you'll likely have to call rather than reserving on line at least for part of the reservation. Good luck and let us know how it ends u.