How hard is it to book outside your resort 7 months out.

[Lou Rindner]

I was just curious. We are considering in the summer booking outside the SSR which is our home base. Have you ever booked outside your home resort in the summer and had a tough time finding a resort outside your home resort? I have had some suggestions to book my home resort and then transfer. Has anyone found it tough to book 7 month out during any part of the year. I know the holiday times are hard like XMAS. But in general is it difficult? How a room faces or room location is not really a concern. We would need a studio or one bedroom normally one or two weeks.

 

[mikesmom88]

Hi Lou,

It depends on the resort and the time of year you are looking to travel.

We own at BWV and we like to try different resorts when we travel. We book our home resort of BWV in the 11 month window and then we call at the 7 month to see if there is availability. We have booked HH within the 7 months for travel in February.
VB for travel in August. OKW for travel in August. BCV for travel in August. And are going to try VWL this year for travel in August.

So far, the only request I didn;t get was for a Beach Cottage in VB (there are only 5 or 6 available) in August so we booked a 2 bedroom and a studio.

Gook luck!

 

[tjkraz]

Lou,

IMO, the best thing you can do to guarantee success is to just be prepared to call right at 7 months. Some limited room categories will fill up before the 7-month window during peak occupancy periods. But even here we're talking about things like Standard View rooms at BWV, Boardwalk View at BWV or Grand Villas at OKW.

And, to be honest, there have been more than a few reports of people getting these hard to come by rooms inside 7 months.

If you just want to be able to get a room--any room--at BCV/BWV/VWL, etc. at 7 months, you will rarely (if ever) be disappointed. Entire resorts just don't fill up prior to 7 months with any regularity.

Booking your Home resort as soon as you've confirmed your travel dates is always a smart move. That way at least you've got the security of knowing you DO have a room that matches your airline reservations, vacation request, etc. Since DVC doesn't charge anything for cancellations before 31 days, there's little inconvenience involved in booking one resort at 11 months and the second at 7 months.

 

[DebbieB]

I've booked a 1 bedroom at OKW in early May the past 6 years with no problem at 7 months. I've even added cash nights 2 months before (weekends).

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Even New Year's eve, the traditionally hardest day to book was available this year inside the 7 month window, so it's fairly easy. Just don't set your heart on a specific resort. Take what you can get but generally there is something.

HBC

 

[Pig Pen]

I had a problem getting BWV for 9 nights so decided to split my stay between BWV and VWL...and went on the waiting list for BWV.

A couple days later they called me to say something opened up, but I decided to keep my split stay. Good thing. My family much preferred VWL so we were very happy.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Lou Rindner
I was just curious. We are considering in the summer booking outside the SSR which is our home base. Have you ever booked outside your home resort in the summer and had a tough time finding a resort outside your home resort? I have had some suggestions to book my home resort and then transfer. Has anyone found it tough to book 7 month out during any part of the year. I know the holiday times are hard like XMAS. But in general is it difficult? How a room faces or room location is not really a concern. We would need a studio or one bedroom normally one or two weeks.

Believe it or not, summertime is among the easier times to book a WDW DVC resort at 7 months. Unless you have your heart set on a Grand Villa (anywhere), a standard view at BWV or a guaranteed Boardwalk view room at BWV, you should not have a problem. It's still a good idea to call as soon as your 7 month window opens, though - especially if you want BCV. Because of SAB (feature pool complex), BCV seems to be a little more difficult to book in the summer than the other on site DVC resorts.

HHI is said to be very diffiuclt to book at 7 months for the summertime. I don't know how hard it is to get VB during the summer.

Best wishes -

 

[KelNottAt]

We were successful getting a HH 2br in June by calling day by day at the 7 mo window.

 

[Goofyzgurl]

I just called last week to book a studio at okw for 12/15-12/19. There was no need to waitlist or anything. I'm sure if I had tried to do some where more popular like vwl during that time period, there wouldn't have been any availability. We just wanted to be there so we took anything.

 

[Harley-Mouse]

Last year we got a 2 BDR at HHI on a day to day call in that was a great trip and also there most crowed time of year

 

[Doctor P]

A 1BR or Studio at HH tends to be difficult to get at 7 months, especially during the summertime. Since we like to conserve points and find studios more than adequate for our needs, we just added on at HH to assure an 11 month window when we want to get a studio there.