Homeless at WDW

[Iggipolka]

The wife and I are really trying hard to get to DisneyWorld over New Years, December 29th - Jan 3rd. I know it's pretty much an impossibility at this point, but we're trying. My wife's father died recently and I really want to get her to Disney to help her get through the holidays.

Right now, we've got a 1 bedroom at SSR December 29th and a studio at SSR on January 1st. We're homeless December 30th, 31st and January 2nd! Maybe we can crash out in the lobby of SSR during that time.

I'm calling every day to see about getting our missing days, but I'm not very confident that we'll get them. We've even tried the non-DVC Disney Resorts, but everything is sold out. It's going to be a very, very busy time at the park.
Keep your fingers crossed for us!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I think it's nice that you're trying to do something nice for your DW. I hope you get something. (I'll press luck and hope you can get a few nights in the same villa! )

Bobbi

 

[WOW]

It has been my experience that at 31 days out people who have the ressies can't make it and they cancel them (points remain for them)........I would recommend that you call exactly at that date.....not 100% sure if it is still 31 days....call member services for exact advise and timeframe.....then I think you will need to call day by day. We did this December 1999 and were able to get the entire time we wanted. Good Luck!!!!! So nice of you to be such a kind hubby!!!!

 

[RLRDA]

Good luck getting your missing dates....hope it works out and you get to spend New Year's at WDW!

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Maybe we can crash out in the lobby of SSR during that time.

With a sign that says... HOMELESS... WILL WORK FOR RESSIES!

 

[castleri]

You say you are calling every day - have you also put in a waitlist for those days- if not do it on a day by day basis. You can also waitlist for a couple of resorts but you may end up doing a lot of room changing. Any rooms that become available for that time frame "should" go to the waitlist first although we know that doesn't always happen from reports here on the board. I got reservations for a studio at SSR for last NYE through Jan 4 by doing a waitlist day by day. It came in between the 45-31 day out time frame. I put in the waitlist in Oct or Nov so was really lucky but it can work if you are flexible. Good luck - Christmas at WDW is awesome even with all the crowds.

 

[Iggipolka]

You say you are calling every day - have you also put in a waitlist for those days- if not do it on a day by day basis.

We are using Developer Points so MS told me that we couldn't be put on the wait list.
So, I am calling every day to see if I can get the missing days. When I call tomorrow, I'll find out exactly when the 31 day window is. I counted myself and got November 28th, but I'll ask them just to be sure.
If it doesn't happen, it's ok. I just priced out airfare and it would cost us a little over $1000 to fly from San Francisco to Orlando and back over the holiday. Yuck!

I had to let the wife in on my surprise because she had started talking about making plans for New Years. She checked online to pay cash for a room at SSR and there is availability at $400 a night! Now she's angry that Disney is letting cash reservations happen at a DVC resort during a high demand time. It does seem strange to me as well. I can understand the non-DVC resorts being booked by cash paying guests, but why wouldn't Disney reserve a DVC resort for owners only during peak times!?

 

[castleri]

The reservations that are available on line are due to the portion of DVC that is owned by Disney. That inventory is not available to DVC members on points. It is composed of the part owned by Disney and of the points available from those members who traded out to other than DVC resorts. Those points are used for reservations to pay for the reservations the members traded out to such as cruises, II trades and the Disney Collection.
Hope you atr able to get your days. It seems the use of developer points is creating some problems getting reservations at a number of times that are not so popular also. I have a waitlist out there for Jan20-25 because there were no studios available for that week at any of the resorts just random days here and there. For the dates you want it could be even harder I am afraid. I considered the staying in the lobby scenario last year myself until my waitlist for NYE came through. Finally ended up staying off site for the 29th and 30th because of the high weekend points and did the non park things like typhoon lagoon and shopping so it worked out well.

Can you use the points at DL - maybe a few days at the GC would be possible and since you are already on the West Coast it wouldn't be such high airfare. Not the same as WDW but it might help with what you are hoping to accomplish.