uncforever
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2026
- Messages
- 22
Maybe I missed something but searched older threads and the DVC resource list and did not really see *how best* to stalk for reservation availability. Stalking is recommended in lots of threads, but no step by step instructions. Here is what I've found, but others please chime in if I am missing strategies here.
On a computer, Chrome browser:
Log into account. Book a Resort screen. Pick dates, Resort(s), Room Type(s). Click Update.
If you leave the screen up and just click the Update button over and over throughout the day, it does not always seem to pull from the servers again. I get the Almost There balloon notification, but I can tell it hasn't updated. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I don't think I trust that Update button.
So then if you refresh the whole screen, you often lose the selected parameters and have to start over. Often this also means de-selecting many resort names, esp the non WDW and DL ones.
I've also noticed if I only switch one of the parameters -- normally the date -- and I click Update, I actually am getting search results from the prior dates and not my new ones.
On a mobile phone:
Same screen and steps as above, but seems to allow a quicker refresh if your search criteria do not change. There is no Update button so I just refresh the page. Generally I've found I have to log in more often and totally start over, but once I'm in, the pull down to refresh does hit the servers again every time. Changing search parameters does seem to work.
Anyone else notice these quirks? Do people just start over every single time you are stalking?
There are also other websites showing availability like DVC Availability Tool, but I haven't been watching those long enough to discern how quickly they show newly available nights compared to the primary DVC site. Seems like a slight delay would inherently exist.
And I know not everyone thinks stalking is needed and that waitlists do this work for us. I am just curious and have been learning the past few months and these are my observations.
On a computer, Chrome browser:
Log into account. Book a Resort screen. Pick dates, Resort(s), Room Type(s). Click Update.
If you leave the screen up and just click the Update button over and over throughout the day, it does not always seem to pull from the servers again. I get the Almost There balloon notification, but I can tell it hasn't updated. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I don't think I trust that Update button.
So then if you refresh the whole screen, you often lose the selected parameters and have to start over. Often this also means de-selecting many resort names, esp the non WDW and DL ones.
I've also noticed if I only switch one of the parameters -- normally the date -- and I click Update, I actually am getting search results from the prior dates and not my new ones.
On a mobile phone:
Same screen and steps as above, but seems to allow a quicker refresh if your search criteria do not change. There is no Update button so I just refresh the page. Generally I've found I have to log in more often and totally start over, but once I'm in, the pull down to refresh does hit the servers again every time. Changing search parameters does seem to work.
Anyone else notice these quirks? Do people just start over every single time you are stalking?
There are also other websites showing availability like DVC Availability Tool, but I haven't been watching those long enough to discern how quickly they show newly available nights compared to the primary DVC site. Seems like a slight delay would inherently exist.
And I know not everyone thinks stalking is needed and that waitlists do this work for us. I am just curious and have been learning the past few months and these are my observations.
