How long should I wait to give up on wait list?

[butsy113]

I just decided to book a birthday trip for me and a girlfriend of mine. We are about 8 months out from our February 6th check in. Surprisingly, I was able to book 6-10th in a AKV value studio and then also the 12th. So I am missing two nights in the middle, the 10th and 11th. I wait listed each night separately and check the site several times per day. I don't want to switch rooms twice, so if it comes down to it, I will either drop the 12th and split stay with OKW or drop the whole reservation and switch to a standard view at AKV.

My question is how long do I give my wait list a chance to come through? I don't want to not be able to get my other choices because I wait too long. I have noticed quite a fluctuation in the value studios for that time. They have been opening up and closing frequently. All except for those two days, lol! Any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[Nanajo1]

It would depend on if you will use the same number of points no matter which way you go. If not would you still be able to bank the extra points. I hate to lose points. I have a WL for Nov on a 7 day list. If it comes through great but I made other plans that don't involve points. Good luck.

 

[disneynutz]

Don't expect a waitlist to come through, you will have better luck checking and booking on your own.

Bill

 

[rlovew]

I certainly wouldn't wait more than just past the 7 month mark- any movement that might possible happen would probably happen then and if you wait very long after that your other options will dissipate.

 

[butsy113]

Woohoo!! I don't have to wait!! I just got home and checked my email before I was going to check availability (I've been checking almost hourly, lol), I had an email that my wait list came through!!!

I have heard a lot of people say that wait lists don't work, but this was my second and third waitlist (listed each day separately) and the third one that has come through. Neither was at peak times, but it can work! The other one that came through for me was a 2bd Boardwalk view room for 2 nights. That being said I also checked availability frequently, just in case

 

[bobbiwoz]

Glad it worked out for you!

 

[Wenny]

That's awesome! Sounds like it will be a great trip.

I had a waitlist come through for an entire week at BCV during F&W a couple years ago. It was the first time I tried it and I never imagined it would work.

 

[caracarn]

Glad it worked out.

To answer the original question for others who come and look later though, I think the wait list works just fine. Not sure what poor experiences the others have had but I was surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative and pessimistic answers. I almost always use a wait list. What I do however is to make sure I have somewhere booked for every day of my trip. Then I allow each day to be individual on the waitlist because if you demand a block, I agree your chances go down a lot, but if you let them move a day at a time (and believe me I have had reservations for a 10 days stay that would have had us flopping back and forth 5 times if all the days had not moved) I think you will be fine. I have had wait lists come in several months ahead of our trip with everything moved over as I wanted at places like BCV and others that tend to be popular. The previous poster who waitlisted for the week is what I would avoid. Waitlist those 7 days, but let them move a day at a time instead of insisting that the whole week needs to come available at once.

 

[ErinC]

We have always had pretty good luck with our wait lists. So happy it worked out for you!