First Waitlist Experience - Advice

[malonefamily]

Howdy DVC wizards!

Our home resort is Saratoga Sprints, and we stayed there near Christmas last year (we liked it fine). We have also stayed as hotel guests (not DVC) at the Beach Club, and liked that resort even better (2004).

This year we're going during the week of Thanksgiving, and wanted to go back to an Epcot resort. Sadly, both BCV and BWV are booked during 2 or 3 of the nights we'll be there. (We need a 2BR, but don't care whether it's preferred or standard view)

Currently I have a reservation at BWV for 11/18-11/22, moving to SSR for the rest of our stay 11/22-11/26...

My question is this: If you're waitlisting for 2 days in the middle of your vacation, do you continue flipping your dates to the desired resort and risk switching resorts 2x during your vacation? If I understood member services correctly, only two days are going to wind up unavailable-- you'd think there would be a good chance they'd open up, but I have zero experience with waitlisting.

Thanks for the advice,
Dylan

 

[CarolMN]

MS probably thinks you will end up getting the Friday and Saturday nights, but will have trouble with the Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Assume you do not have enough points to keep the last 4 nights at SSR as a back up (in case you don't get all the nights you want at BWV. If you do, you can waitlist for each day separately and wait until the last minute to give up). FWIW, if you haven't already, I'd forget about BCV this year. BWV has more rooms than BCV and you already have the first 4 nights at BWV.

Here's what I would do.

Waitlist for the Wednesday night separately, all by itself. If you get it, you'd still only have to move once.

If you get the Wednesday, tell MS that you want to waitlist for the Thursday night all by itself. (Don't waitlist for the Friday and Saturday unless you are willing to move back and forth more than once.

If you are lucky enough to get Thursday, then waitlist for the last two nights. The higher cost nights are easier to get than the lower cost nights.

You could also ask MS to waitlist you for all four nights to become available at once (Wednesday - Saturday). I think you can do this at the same time you waitlist for Wednesday by itself.

I suggest you ask for MS to call you if something comes through to avoid getting "double booked" - and especially if you'll need to cancel an SSR night to book the BWV nights

Decide ahead of time how long you are willing to waitlist - at some point, you may just want to give up and plan on moving to SSR on 11/22. I agree with MS, that 11/22 & 11/23 are going to be hard to get. Good luck, though, because you never know until you try!

Best wishes -

 

[malonefamily]

Good luck, though, because you never know until you try!

Fantastic advice thank you! MS says that Friday and Saturday night are available now, no waitlist needed (but I can't reserve that far out for a couple more days).

Thursday is Thanksgiving, so after thinking about it, I doubt anyone will cancel their holiday plans...

My wife can live with switching resorts once, but really isn't wanting to do it twice... and you guessed right, we don't have the points to hold both (we'd have to borrow them all, and then wouldn't have a good way to use them before they expire in Feb).

I'll probably just take the first four nights that I have now at BWV and be happy to try someplace new... then 'go home' to SSR, rather than risk two moves. Thanks again!

Now, if only I knew how to get Thanksgiving Day Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern!.....