Help-Trying to Decide

[Forever a Princess]

Hi All!

Thanks for your site. DH and I are trying to decide on DVC and I have a few questions.

1. Availability.
My annum schedule at work goes from July to June. I find out my schedule for the next year in April or May prior to the new annum. Each year is always different. Some years I do "double duty" at work in May or June. Same goes for November or December.

We usually go in the month that I am not doing doulble duty. For example in 2003 we went in June and December.

Thus I would be able to book the May/June trip 11 months out but not the November/December one as we would be less than 8 months out at this point. We really enjoy going in December.

I should mention that we would plan on passing cash for our trip in November or December. As the years go by we would purchase more points but for now we would have enough cash to pay for enough points for one week. Since we live in Omaha three to four days are not economical for us. When we fly down we like to stay for a week. We possilbly would pay cash for our Friday night stay when we use (if) our DVC points

I have heard that you HAVE to book at 11 months out to get anything, is this true? We would plan on purchasing VWL resale but would be willing to stay at any of the disney resorts close to the parks.

2. Spontaneous trips
Is it possible to book on short term notice or is it based on luck that you would get a ressie at 2 months out?

3. I have heard that DVC members can use their points for the other non DVC resorts on property. If possible please post the points required to do this. (I know that many think that this option is not worthwhile but DH says that he still wants the option to stay at the AKL. The second love of his life.)



Thanks for answering some or all of the questions in advance!
Renee

 

[chrissyk]

My DH and I pretty much only book short-notice trips. So far, we've never had a problem getting a reservation at one of the DVC resorts, and we've had 100% success waitlisting for our desired resort too As for using points for non-DVC resorts, I think that that's an expensive way to go. They cost a lot of points. The AKL can be had pretty cheaply with an AP rate or other discounts, so I wouldn't use points there if I could help it. That's just my opinion, though

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Forever a Princess
Hi All!

Thanks for your site. DH and I are trying to decide on DVC and I have a few questions.

1. Availability.
My annum schedule at work goes from July to June. I find out my schedule for the next year in April or May prior to the new annum. Each year is always different. Some years I do "double duty" at work in May or June. Same goes for November or December.

We usually go in the month that I am not doing doulble duty. For example in 2003 we went in June and December.

Thus I would be able to book the May/June trip 11 months out but not the November/December one as we would be less than 8 months out at this point. We really enjoy going in December.

I should mention that we would plan on passing cash for our trip in November or December. As the years go by we would purchase more points but for now we would have enough cash to pay for enough points for one week. Since we live in Omaha three to four days are not economical for us. When we fly down we like to stay for a week. We possilbly would pay cash for our Friday night stay when we use (if) our DVC points

If you will pay cash for the November/December trip, booking 11months ahead isn't really relevant. The non-DVC resorts just don't book up that quickly. You could use these 4Qtr trips as opportunities to try out some of the other WDW resorts or to stay at your DH's favorite - the AKL. FWIW, Just got back 12/12 and made a special trip to AKL to eat at BOMA. AKL is especially awesome at Christmas!

Booking a cash stay 7-8 months ahead of time should be plenty of time to get your first choice of accomodations. You could even "guess" your dates ahead of your schedule and just change/cancel as needed after the work schedule comes out. It's relatively painless to make changes or cancel when you book for cash through CRO/WDWTC. No point banking deadlines or other "restrictions" to worry about.

Living in Minneapolis/St.Paul, I completely understand your desire to go for a week or more at a time - airfare can be really expensive!

I have heard that you HAVE to book at 11 months out to get anything, is this true? We would plan on purchasing VWL resale but would be willing to stay at any of the disney resorts close to the parks.

That's really only true for certain times of the year and certain types of rooms. For example, it's hard to book the first two weeks of December at all of the onsite DVC resorts, weekday nights in a Grand Villa anytime and standard view rooms at BWV anytime. And even then, many here report that they are able to get their desired accomodations/dates by using the waitlist.

I am not a VWL owner, but as far as I know, the only really tough times to book there are the weeks around the Holidays and the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I've not heard that January through mid-November (excluding Holiday weeks such as Easter) is tough to book at VWL 7- 8 months ahead of time. I'm sure someone who frequently books VWL will correct me if I am mistaken.

Since you are willing to stay at any DVC resort, I personally do not think you will have a problem booking - especially if you can stand the "stress" of using the waitlist if you can't get everything you need on the first attempt.

2. Spontaneous trips
Is it possible to book on short term notice or is it based on luck that you would get a ressie at 2 months out?

Yes, many report success at getting reservations on short notice - especially if they are flexible with respect to resort. Of course, you never know until you call! [/B][/QUOTE]

3. I have heard that DVC members can use their points for the other non DVC resorts on property. If possible please post the points required to do this. (I know that many think that this option is not worthwhile but DH says that he still wants the option to stay at the AKL. The second love of his life.)

Thanks for answering some or all of the questions in advance!
Renee

The points required vary with type of room, the resort and time of year you want to visit. At the top of the Forum, you will see a link for the DVC Calculator. You can enter your options and see how many points are required for a specific visit for either a DVC resort or a non-DVC resort.

Do keep in mind that the points required for the non-DVC resorts can (and have) changed yearly. In fact, for nearly all resorts and rooms, the points requirements ifor the non-DVC options seem to increase every year. It's a nice option to have, but as you already know, most here prefer to pay cash for non-DVC stays as they do not see this use of DVC points as an economical value. YMMV.

Hope that helps! Good luck with your decision.

 

[mikesmom]

Another difficult time to book 7 months out is the time during the Food & Wine Festival (in 2004, I believe it will be Oct 1 thru Nov 15, or close to thst). The Epcot resorts go quickly, the others book up behind them. Already I see people on the boards saying that certain types of rooms are unavailable at BWV for next year.

 

[Laurabearz]

We have had success booking trips at the last minute..... 37 days out, 56 days out, 5 months out, 6 months out..... As long as your not set on a particular resort, you should be fine booking last minute..... except during the times of year already mentioned above....

You already said you can book 11 months out for the spring point trip, so your in good shape! And in the future, you will have about 8 month window to book the nov/dec trip... you should be able to book even early decembe 8 months out, although you may have to waitlist (but would prolly get it)

As for staying at other resorts on points... we have done that, but we are in the 1000 point club. If your thinking about buying a weeks worth of points, then using points to stay at a Disney resort for a night it would take 2 or 3 nights off that weeks trip. I would suggest buying at least one AP and try and get the AP discount for fri/sat hotel stay on cash, then book the dvc portion with points. Cheaper in the long run....

I think your a great canidate for DVC. You go twice a year, you can book in advance (7-8 months out is great, 11 months even better) and love Disney!

Good luck deciding! And keep us posted!

 

[Forever a Princess]

Thank you all for your posts.

Renee

 

[flyingchef]

Please make sure u eat at Boma........and try everything.....


Tj