holding account

[mellormousee]

I'm so sad, I should be in WDW right now. Was booked from 11/4 to 11/11 at SSR in a 2 bedroom with another family. Well the other family backed out 5 days before arrival. I tried to get a 1 bedroom anywhere, but nothing was available. So DH and I decided to cancel. Now I'm going crazy trying to get a new ressi in Jan. Has anyone had this experience? I have 255 points to burn up. I call MS just about everyday. Also has is the weather and crowds in Jan?

 

[rocketriter]

What a bummer! Has the other family picked up any of the responsibility for torpedoing your vacation and your points account?

 

[dianeschlicht]

So sorry you are having to deal with this because of deadbeat friends who don't know how to value true friendship. I probably would have been inclined to have kept the original reservation and waitlisted for a 1 bedroo or studio just in case. That way you wouldn't have quite so many points in holding. I'm going to say your chances are pretty slim for finding anything at this late date, but the best you can do is try. Can holding points be put on a last minute waitlist? Not sure about that one. At any rate, you might have had way more room than you needed by keeping the original ressie, but it would be infinitely better than losing the points all together.

 

[mellormousee]

No they haven't. I guess I learned my lesson the hard way, never again.

 

[Olaf]

Boy, if I had a dollar for every message like this I've read over the last six years. What is it with people?

I would waitlist for a 1-bedroom and a studio. Good luck.

 

[dumbo71]

Sorry to hear about your situation.

I still don't quite understand why you cancelled. Why didn't you guys just go on the trip? You had a 2 bedroom that, even though might have beed more than you needed, you wouldn't have been playing the holding account game? Now you are scrambling for a ressie in January?

Weather in January is iffy at best. It could be 70 or 50, just depends. Swiming is out with the new colder pools compliments of DVC and WDW. Park crowds aren't bad except during MLK holiday.

Good luck.

 

[Caskbill]

You didn't mention what your use year month is. If it's February, then you're correct in that January(or December) is your only chance to use the points.

But if it's a different UY month, then you have more time. You can only book 60 days or less, it doesn't mean you have to book right away.

Let's say you have a June UY month, with these holding points.

In that case you could call in December to book something for February,

or call in January to book March, or call in February to book April. And so on.

 

[JimMIA]

Sorry to hear about the difficulties with your ex-friends. In Florida, I believe their behavior would tip the scales in favor of justifiable homicide.

I should know the answer to this, but I don't, so I'll ask the question.

When you have points in holding account, do you have to use them first? Or can you use other non-holding points to book future ressies?

 

[mellormousee]

I was wondering that too. I wonder if I could hold a ressie and then modify it by staying longer with the holding acct points when the 60 days are in range. We usually go in late Aug/Sept. We planned this trip totally around our friends work schedule.

 

[knothead180]

If you are desperate to use these points before you lose them, you do have some other options. From the DVC member site:

"You can use these (holding acount) Vacation Points for an exchange through The Disney Collection, Concierge Collection, Adventurer Collection, and World Passport Collection if you make the reservation 60 or less days before the new arrival date and more than 60 days before the end of your Use Year."

Best of luck!

 

[CarolMN]

I was wondering that too. I wonder if I could hold a ressie and then modify it by staying longer with the holding acct points when the 60 days are in range. We usually go in late Aug/Sept. We planned this trip totally around our friends work schedule.

Sure, you can use holding account points to extend an existing reservation if there is availability at the 60 day mark for the extra days.

But you can't just substitute holding account points for "regular" points on an existing reservation when the 60 day mark rolls around. You can only do that if there is still availability for the same dates and Unit type/size. Essentially, you would be making a new reservation with the holding points and cancelling the reservation made with the "regular" points. To do otherwise would defeat the purpose of the holidng account.

Jim - You can always tell MS which points to use for a particular reservation. You don't have to "use up" holding points" or banked points or borrowed points before you can use current use year points. It's usually a good idea to do so, but it is not required.