How often are you NOT able to get into your home resort at the 11 month window?

[invalid_char]

I had pretty much thought that if you called exactly at the 11 month window that you should NOT have a problem getting into your home resort.

I have recently read several posts where people have done this and have not been able to get the dates they wanted. I thought there were supposed to be enough checks and balances that this would happen only extremely rarely, if at all.

Once our kids are in school, we will pretty much have to go during spring break. If we cannot go then, then we will likely not be able to go at all, and I will need to rethink our purchase because it will be of no use to us.

Can any veterans out there tell me how common it is to not get your res at exactly the 11 month window? Does it seem like this is happening more frequently and if so, why? (i.e. does DVC need to rearrange the point charts to reflect changing habits).

If I can't reliably get in at the 11 month window, then I can't really do this.

 

[EROS]

I can't speak for others, but we have NEVER had difficulties booking BWV at the 11 month window. If we are traveling there during peak season, I'll usually book day by day. We HAVE had trouble getting standard views there at even the 10 month mark.......those go quickly .......

 

[spruce]

We have alway gotten what we wanted without a wait list at the 11 month mark. When we book NYE week we call day by day. We also called each day when we wanted an OKW GV in Oct. Other then these times, we've called at the end of our reservation for all the days and never had any problems.
As for a reallocation of points,christmas, NYE, spring break, thanksgiving and the 1st few weeks of Dec (because the decorations are up and crowds are smaller) will always be busy at DVC no matter how many points it costs.
The "subject to availlability" worried me too when we bought but it hasn't proved to be a problem since I always book at 11 months trouble free......spruce

 

[DebbieB]

If you want to go during a popular time, you may want to do a day by day reservation to be sure to get it.

We stay at BWV the first or second week of December (1 bedroom). This is a popular time because it's in the lowest point season and the Christmas activities are in full swing. I had no problem calling at the 11 month mark of checkout for a preferred view in 2000. Last year I called for a standard view right at 9:00 on the 11 month mark of checkout and got it. However, people on this board posted that they called later in the day for the same dates and had to waitlist for some of the first days. So this year, I called day by day for a standard view and got it with no problem. After I made the last day reservation I asked the cm if it was really necessary to call day by day, he said for a standard view yes, for a preferred view no. OKW is easier to get because there are many more rooms, I've had no problem getting a reservation for May at 7 months.

 

[ncligs]

We have never had a problem at the 11 month window at OKW. Even for a GV. Also at HH we booked 2 GV's at the same time for this past July. We did call day by day for HH though.

 

[invalid_char]

Thank you both. This is very reassuring. From what you are saying it seems that, if you call day by day, there should not be a problem. I feel better now!

 

[drusba]

We have always gotten what we wanted at BWV calling between 10 and 11 months; have never done day by day. Times have included Easter, summer, and Thanksgiving.

 

[danky1234]

Originally posted by DebbieB
If you want to go during a popular time, you may want to do a day by day reservation to be sure to get it.

We stay at BWV the first or second week of December (1 bedroom). This is a popular time because it's in the lowest point season and the Christmas activities are in full swing. I had no problem calling at the 11 month mark of checkout for a preferred view in 2000. Last year I called for a standard view right at 9:00 on the 11 month mark of checkout and got it. However, people on this board posted that they called later in the day for the same dates and had to waitlist for some of the first days. So this year, I called day by day for a standard view and got it with no problem. After I made the last day reservation I asked the cm if it was really necessary to call day by day, he said for a standard view yes, for a preferred view no. OKW is easier to get because there are many more rooms, I've had no problem getting a reservation for May at 7 months.

Can you explain day by day reservation, i am unfamiliar with this. Thank you. A new DCV memeber

 

[Pluto4President]

I have never had a problem at the 11 month window.

Day by day means that you call and book one day at a time, 7 or 11 months prior to that check out day. This is sometimes done for holidays, or expected busy times.

I haven't had problems at 2 months out either. It just depends, as said, when you are trying to go.

 

[Uncleromulus]

We've been going both in May and in Sept. each year since 1992 and never had any problem at OKW when making reservations 11 months out.

 

[DebbieB]

I did day by day for December 7 to 13. December 7 checks out on December 8, so I called on January 8 for that night, then on January 9 added on December 8, then January 10 added on December 9, etc. It's a pain, but sometimes necessary to be sure to get what you want. For my May reservation at OKW at 7 months, I call on the first day and ask what availability looks like. They told me each time that there were plenty of rooms left, so I just wait until the last day and reserve all the nights.

 

[chris1gill]

We are on our fourth reservation & we've never had a problem booking day by day... this is a Standard view @ BW the first two weeks of December & over Thanksgiving as well... I don't think I've ever seen a complaint where someone calling day by day at 11 months out has had a problem... I have seen people that incorrectly did their math & were late in booking their reservation, thus resulting in their preferred resort not having availability... I've also seen occasions when the BW has sold out for early December at the 10.5 month mark... If you are going over school vacation, just plan on dialing at the 11 month mark at 9am....

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We have never had a problem and we book the most sought after days in the year. Because of school vacations we only go on Presidents' Week, Easter and Christmas/New Years. This has been for BWV and VWL. We do day by day calling to make sure all goes well.

 

[Richyams]

Using the eleven month window will always get you what you want.

Calling day by day is only required on a very tiny number of reservation types. You can always call at the end of your stay and book the whole thing at once.

The few exceptions are:

Standard View rooms at BWV at any time.

Grand Villas at OKW, these don't even need day by day calling anymore.

The first two weeks of December at BWV and possibly the new resorts.

Other than those cases, day by day calling is never needed.

 

[Lhargus]

I booked the first week of December at VWL at the 11 month window without a problem. I didn't need to use the day by day method. No problem.

 

[cswans]

"Grand Villas at OKW, these don't even need day by day calling anymore."

Do you mean that it is so easy to get GVs at OKW that you don't ever need to do day-by-day or that it is so hard to get GVs at OKW that it's not worth bothering to even try getting them day by day? I couldn't figure which way you meant it! Probably a lazy Sunday morning brain problem!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We have always gotten our home resort at 11 months out. For 2002 Christmas, my husband called each day for the reservation (we wanted 8 days in a studio at OKW). He got what we needed, but noticed that at times the wait was a bit longer. Usually he called first thing in thing in the morning and sometimes it took 15 times to get through to the calling queue. MS agreed that he should call day by day for Christmas.

If you had a problem getting in at 11 months. get on the waitlist or try exactly 7 months out to see if anyone is changing their reservation to a non-home resort.

We always call 11 months out, no matter if we are going during a busy time or not as busy time. It just makes sense to us.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Duplicate post. Sorry

 

[Stinson]

Never had a problem booking 11 months out with either Boardwalk or OKW. In addition, we've never had a problem booking any reservation seven months out, including some of the most difficult weeks of the year. Maybe we've just been lucky, but we've been there 17 times!

 

[littlestar]

Hi.

We're new members. We joined about a month ago.

We booked an October trip at nine months out at VWL. We also are going the week of March 11th for eight days at Old Key West.

We originally were going to split our stay between Old Key West and Caribbean Beach, but last week I decided I wanted to stay the entire time at Old Key West. The reservation at Old Key West was booked this way - (1) The first four days on our own points at about a two-month window (2) I got a DVC 25% discount and am staying on cash for the Friday and Saturday nights (3) I rented points from another DVC member for the last two nights (which were just rented on Friday, so that's at about the five-week booking window for those other two nights I needed).