hard to reserve out of "home" resort?

[my3boys]

Considering buying and am left with a question...

Is it difficult to book at a resort other than the home one?

Thanks!

 

[spiceycat]

depends upon when you want to go - the first two weeks of Dec - probably the more difficult

the wine and food festavial in Oct/Nov makes the BWV and BCV kindna difficult

the garden flower show in April/may and early June - does finally seem to be effecting BWV and BCV - so your guess is to how much it really does.

Thanksgiving - low points - so this is probably going to be hard to get.

Spring break - just depends upon how many kids are out of school when your are.

if you are willing to go anytime and any of the DVC resorts - you should be able to stay at all of them in year (with enough points).

 

[JimC]

Generally the answer is no. Here are the exceptions now and likely in the future.

1. The traditional holiday periods at WDW and the entire month between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day are very popular and the 11 month window is quite useful to secure the dates and unit sizes you want. Expect to wait list, particularly at the smaller resorts (VWL and BCV) if booking closer to arrival.

2. As SSR sells out the 11 month advantage at BCV and VWL may become even more important as it will be harder to absorb the ever larger membership if those resorts remain popular.

3. I believe Grand Villas are hard to book within the seven month window generally and next to impossible during peak times.

4. The counter argument to 1 and 2 above is that OKW and SSR should be relatively easy to book into when other resorts are far more difficult (with Grand Villas likely remaining difficult to find within seven months).

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

And when it is difficult to book, the wait list most often seems to work for members who report about it here.

As long as you aren't looking for many of the examples listed by spiceycat and JimC and are somewhat flexible, you will be fine.

There is some debate over how hard it will be to book the smaller resorts like the VWL and the BCV after the 7 month window opens. There are currently roughly 80,000 DVC members and it is the opinion of many (including myself) that the 7 month window is going to get more important and more competetive, especially for the smaller locations.

HBC

 

[spiceycat]

I disagree with the smaller resorts being harder to get in the future - first of all most people brought where they want to stay - that is why DVC offers such a wide variety of style and types - now I could be wrong here - but I don't think so.

I think that is one reason why DVC has been surprised at how fast SSR is selling - but hey if I were in my 20 or 30 and I loved to party at PI - I would definitely buy there....

My niece (who is 13) loves OKW - I have make she stay in the BC, Polyn, WL, VWL, POFQ, POR, CSR, BWV - but she LOVES OKW. and that is where she wants to stay.

I think that is generally the case - you find a resort (DVC or WDW) and that is where you will stay unless you are like me and like DIFFERENT....but most people seem to like the same.

there are actually people who have owned at OKW since 93 and have NEVER stayed at other DVC resorts much less other places.

I could say that OKW is going to have a bunch of people there because it is the cheapest point wise to stay at -

people have different taste and think they has more to do with where they stay than convience.

 

[crisi]

first of all most people brought where they want to stay

I think most people bought whatever DVD was selling at the time. If they got lucky and hit at a time where there was overlap, they may have bought where they want to stay. But really, only those aware of the resale market have had a lot of choice, and even those people are limited to what is open at the moment....i.e. if you bought when they were selling VWL and really like SSR, you have VWL points, or maybe BWV or OKW points purchased resale, but you only have BCV or SSR points if you've bought more points.

(BWV standard view rooms are also difficult to get if you aren't booking early).

 

[Patty3]

When we bought at the BWV in 1998, we bought there because we love the location and could use Storm Along Bay at the YC/BC. Since our children were older, we visited MGM and Epcot more than the MK, which is still my personal favorite. I remember one summer leaving Epcot after Illuminations and waiting over an hour just to go on the monorail to get back to the Contemporary. Having the BWV made it so easy to just walk to both MGM and Epcot. Then when the BCV came along, we just had to add on since the YC was my favorite resort. Now with Grandkids, the tide is turning and we are spending more time at the MK. But, we have always stayed at either one of our home resorts and we bought there because that is where we wanted to stay. Now, if another DVC opens up on the monorail, we will sell one of our DVC properties and buy one there without a doubt.

 

[offtheice]

Originally posted by crisi
I think most people bought whatever DVD was selling at the time. If they got lucky and hit at a time where there was overlap, they may have bought where they want to stay. But really, only those aware of the resale market have had a lot of choice, and even those people are limited to what is open at the moment....i.e. if you bought when they were selling VWL and really like SSR, you have VWL points, or maybe BWV or OKW points purchased resale, but you only have BCV or SSR points if you've bought more points.

(BWV standard view rooms are also difficult to get if you aren't booking early).

Have to agree 100% .. I orginally bought the Ssr just to get in. They have a great offer to buy right now. Only problem is I am 35 with 2 small kids and rather be at the BCV Or BWV because of location. Well thank god they opened up more space and was able to change over to the BWV .. I gave up the very good offer and 10 yrs,but location was too hard to turn down. Now if I had to do this now and Ssr was the only thing left , I would have no problem with going there ..

 

[my3boys]

Thanks for all the information. I am just "itching" to buy one.

 

[Pa@okw95]

I would not buy Hilton Head or Vero Beach if you want to go to WDW, also it is best to buy where you want to stay.

 

[raparker13]

I see this mantra "buy where you want to stay" all the time, but I must disagree. We own at HH, but use our points at WDW resorts most of the time. We rarely have any trouble getting what we want. Now we are fairly flexible on dates, but we booked an OKW 1BR for last Christmas in July or August with no problem.

 

[lsutigger2]

I agree with raparker13. We own at VB and have not stayed there yet. Never had a problem booking at WDW. Always got what we want. For examples, see my signature. We are "kidless" and usually do not go at busy times of the year. So it works for us! Each person needs to look at their travel patterns and decide what works for them. Ask lots of questions on the board. You'll get lots of information.

 

[JimC]

Buying where you want to stay is all about getting the 11 month window, which for certain resorts and certain times of the year are quite helpful. This could be more important as DVC grows. I suspect it will, but others differ.

I also guess DVC could limit or eliminate availability for non-owners. I consider this very, very unlikely. But I believe it is within their powers.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Buying where you want to stay is all about getting the 11 month window

I agree. If I want a Boardwalk view for New Year's eve, it's important to buy at the BWV. If all I want is a place to stay, then it usually doesn't matter as long as I call close to the 7 month window opening. I'm in the first group that wants a specific resort at a specific time of year.

HBC

 

[MDonley]

If you're the planning type, I'd think that you can get ressies at any resort if you start early enough. Then, there's "wait list" too. However, if you're not that type, even your home resort can be difficult at certain times.
The moral of this? Everything's easier when you plan ahead!

 

[disneymom2one]

Our experience : we just bought into SSR. We were able to immediately (in early June) get a studio at BWV for four nights in August (second week). Just called this week and got a studio at BCV for Dec 20-24. Those are generally our travel times (August and the week before Christmas) and so far so good. That being said, we toured SSR and loved it. So if that was all we could get it would be fine.

 

[crisi]

My two cents is thats the key. Buy where you won't be disappointed if that is where you end up. Especially if you can plan more than seven months ahead.

Most HH and VB owners seem to have never had a problem getting into WDW DVC resorts. As there are more rooms on property, the flexibility of switching around at seven months will tighten - it only makes sense that there will be more competition for the 136 units at VWL when there are more people to desire that location, but some of those VWL will want to stay somewhere else and will swap out - will they swap out in the same numbers as the more populous SSR/OKW/BCV/BWV owners want to swap in? But if you aren't too picky about which resort you stay in, if you don't NEED a two bedroom, if you can switch vacations by a week, etc, you'll probably be fine.

 

[Mickmse2002]

"Buy where you want to stay" really only works on the re-sale market. When we bought the only on property resort DVC was selling was BWV therefore we had no real choice. We have stayed at other properties using the 7 month window without a problem. We have had to waitlist once and it came through.

 

[d-r]

One thing that I've learned is that "DVC seasons" don't exactly match on to "WDW seasons." By that I mean times when the DVC resorts are very busy are not necessarily the same as times when the whole wdw is busy. A time like spring break will be busy everywhere, but there are some times when WDW is relatively low in terms of crowds, but the DVC resorts are packed. I think this is for a couple of reasons, but I'm only speculating. One factor is, I think, that because DVC members are such return guests they know the best times to go, in terms of overall crowds. So they may be more likely to pull the kids out of school to go during an off season time. Also, because they are long-term folks, DVC members overall might be a little more likely than general wdw visitors overall to travel without kids (but I don't know about that, just a thought). This dovetails with the fact that point costs are low for the "off-season" times - so people might want to travel in May for the garden festival, because crowds are lower and points are less. Or during October for the food and wine festival. So the DVC resorts, and I think especially the two epcot resorts, fill up during those times. It is my experience, and that's all I'm saying, that the point cost per night doesn't really reflect the level of stay on a given night (although it may be a very good reflection of the desirability of a given night - DVC owners are just savvy enough to understand that and react to it). What I mean is, I remember that there were many openings over Easter Weekend, which cost a ton of points. In fact, we were able to get a very good discount for cash reservations those night rather than use the ton of points. In contrast, in Oct. we are taking a large group. We own points at WLV and BCV and SSR. Using the 11 month window, we booked one two-bedroom at WLV, and two and BCV. When we hit the seven-month window we would have liked to move the one at WLV to BCV, but no room at the inn. So we've been wait listed ever since. Now we'd like to take some of those SSR points and book a studio, but no room at either inn. Well, even BWV would be close to BCV. No rooms. But if you call up, there are plenty of hotel rooms on property in Oct, no problem. But the DVC rooms are booked very tight. So even though it is a slow season, it is not slow at DVC resorts. The point costs, combined with the off-season crowds, have made some "off-season" times "on-season" for DVC, and I think that the 11-month window is important for those times, and I think the growing membership of SSR will only exacerbate that. I've also noticed that it is easier to book a Saturday night than a Sunday night, ymmv. Personally, I wouldn't mind an 11/3 or 11/4 month window, but it wouldn't have made a difference in the example I described above. People who prefer to stay at their "home" resort should prefer a window like that, imho.