How Often Is 7-Month Window a No-Go?

[bwbuddy5]

I've watched most all of the DVC you tube videos, and I love all of the resorts in their own way. Having said that, if I purchased a resale at one of the lower price-point resorts, which other resorts would I find it difficult to reserve a couple of 2BR's at the 7-month window? We will often be 9-10 total family members: 2 60ish grandparents (that's me), three additional married couples 28-32yo, 1-3 grandkids 2-5YO.

We're actually Hilton Head fans as well, go at least every other year, so I'm leaning that way.

 

[crisi]

It completely depends on the resort and the time of year. But two villas are going to be harder to book than one when things get tight.

Generally, the lower priced resorts are - guess what - the easier ones to get into at seven months. People are paying the premium for something - and its the ability to book BCV/BWV/Poly/BLT/GF when its still bookable.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Poly would actually require 3-4 studios, most likely, if you would typically be seeking out 2 2BRs.

While dependent on time of year, the more of any given unit you want, the harder it gets. Always.

 

[disneynutz]

http://www.disboards.com/threads/pr...-some-1-bedrooms-vgc-update-10-21-15.3419112/

Bill

 

[Lynne M]

It depends very much on the time of year. If you're going between Thanksgiving and the end of the year, you'll probably have difficulty booking any resort at 7 months. We generally recommend that you book your home resort right at 11 months if you're traveling during that period.

Food & Wine is very tough at 7 months for the Epcot area resorts (BCV, BWV). Smaller resorts like VWL also go quickly at that time.

 

[DebbieB]

I own at BWV and have stayed at all the WDW DVC resorts except SSR. To get into other resorts, I plan it for my spring trips at 7 months. Spring typically is easier to get vs the fall. My fall trips I plan at BWV and book at 11 months.

 

[Supplanter]

Here's the availability at 7 months out from today for 2br's:
Aulani- available
Bay lake- available
Animal kingdom- all available except club concierge
Beach club- partial availablity
Boardwalk- available
Hilton head- available
Old key west- available
Polynesian- not offered
Saratoga springs- available
Vero beach-available
Grand californian-available
Grand floridian-available
Wilderness lodge-available

At least for spring break time/ march 1-17th was the range I ran, you'd only have an issue with beach club villas. There were good stretches of time available just not full availability.

 

[disneynutz]

What's available today has little bearing on the dates that the OP may need and checking availability I believe is against DIS policy. The thread that I provided above should give a good picture of what inventory is like all year long.

Bill

 

[CarolMN]

To clarify - DIS policy is that posters not request availability checks for a specific set of dates. Supplanter's post is fine.

I do agree that what's available today has no bearing on what may be available for other dates and very little bearing on what will be available for those exact dates when someone actually goes to book. When booking at 7 months, it's always good to have back up plan(s) in case what you want is not available to be booked.

The thread Bill posted (by skier_pete) does give an idea of year-round availability for studios and 1 bedrooms for the WDW DVC resorts as does the post (#3) by drusba in this thread:

Any resource to see historical availability for days 7/11 months out

You might also find drusba's post #12 in this thread interesting:

Easiest 7 month reservations

 

[bwbuddy5]

Thanks for all of the info. I really liked the links, especially the one mentioned in post #4. I noticed the OP at that link showed studio availability at AK, which I like for theming, and OKW, which I like for spaciousness, at the 7-month window, and even later. The OP also mentioned that 1BR and 2BR are normally more available than studios.

So, I'm encouraged. Do you feel much as changed since that October 2015 post, or did the OP leave anything out that should be mentioned?

 

[DenLo]

It is getting harder to get a reservation at the 7 month during food and wine, late September through mid November. I would think it would be near impossible to get two 2BRs during that period.

Personally I believe in the buy where you want to stay. We always book our home resort at 11 months and then at the 7 month mark try to switch. And when we do a big family trip, we never switch, we stay at one of our home resorts. For ourselves we will book at 11 months and then try to switch at the 7 month mark.

The problem with two villas, you can only book one at a time. So you could cancel the 11 month reservation on one 2BR and then at 7 months you book one of the 2 BRs at the new resort. And then when you try to book the second 2BR at 7 months nothing is available at the new resort for those same dates you just got on the first 2BR. So you end up with one 2BR at the new resort and if you have already cancelled the other reservation to do the switch, you might not have the second 2BR anywhere. Or if you are lucky you didn't cancel the other reservation yet and half the family is at a different resort.

 

[Supplanter]

Thanks for all of the info. I really liked the links, especially the one mentioned in post #4. I noticed the OP at that link showed studio availability at AK, which I like for theming, and OKW, which I like for spaciousness, at the 7-month window, and even later. The OP also mentioned that 1BR and 2BR are normally more available than studios.

So, I'm encouraged. Do you feel much as changed since that October 2015 post, or did the OP leave anything out that should be mentioned?

I was so nervous I wasnt going to be able to get anything when I was buying my membership because of how people talked on here.

Then I actually got access to the site and there was a good amount of availability for a trip we just planned in November, the time when many would tell you it's nearly impossible to get a room. Some of the more popular resorts weren't available but I was also booking at 3 months out.
If you go to the 60 day availability page (as of yesterday when I was just looking) https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/vacation-planning/resort-availability-stays/ you'll still see wilderness lodge, aulani, saratoga springs, bay lake, old key west, boardwalk, and Hilton head all have some availability over the next two months.
Of course it's not a guarantee they will always have that availability and those other linked posts are helpful in seeing long term booking patterns but the tendency here has always felt very negative to me about availability.

I bought ssr because my normal vacation will be to aulani and they are generally easy to book and saratoga springs is a cheaper way to go there. Already though we've booked a tree house in november, the grand Californian for a thurs- sun Valentine's day weekend, and aulani in March. If staying at ssr or old key west would disappoint you, then just be sure to book at 7 months. Otherwise buy somewhere you like or you can almost always count on those two having something available for you even up to a couple weeks ahead of time.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The OP also mentioned that 1BR and 2BR are normally more available than studios.

I wouldn't say that 2BR are "normally more available." So many of them are lock-offs that you need to expect 2BR availability to largely follow studio availability at many resorts. 1BR are usually last to book, since they're significantly more points than a studio, but often sleep the same (or fewer) than a studio.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

I've watched most all of the DVC you tube videos, and I love all of the resorts in their own way. Having said that, if I purchased a resale at one of the lower price-point resorts, which other resorts would I find it difficult to reserve a couple of 2BR's at the 7-month window? We will often be 9-10 total family members: 2 60ish grandparents (that's me), three additional married couples 28-32yo, 1-3 grandkids 2-5YO.

We're actually Hilton Head fans as well, go at least every other year, so I'm leaning that way.

How often are you going to go to WDW? If you go to HHI every other year, does that mean you will be going to WDW the other years, or you only plan to vacation every 2 years at HHI and occasionally might replace an HHI trip with WDW?

The reason I ask is that you could consider getting 2 separate contracts depending on how you plan to use them. One contact at HHI , one contract at a WDW resort.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I was so nervous I wasnt going to be able to get anything when I was buying my membership because of how people talked on here.

Part of the issue is that people are often referring to the smaller resorts or the ones in walking distance to the parks. If someone likes SSR or even AKV then at most times of the year it's fine. And then it starts getting into the specifics of the dates with a few times meaning that even those resorts will be difficult. But the devil is in the detail and expectations. If one is flexible in resort, room size and dates then 7 months is much easier.

 

[bwbuddy5]

How often are you going to go to WDW? If you go to HHI every other year, does that mean you will be going to WDW the other years, or you only plan to vacation every 2 years at HHI and occasionally might replace an HHI trip with WDW?.

High probability we'll go to HHI much more often, and mix other vacations in there annually in addition to WDW. We enjoy cruising too.

If one is flexible in resort, room size and dates then 7 months is much easier.

That describes me to a tee. We've actually stayed at Caribbean Beach, Dixie Landings. Contemporary, Boardwalk, OKW, and Beach Club over the years and haven't been disappointed in any of them. Wouldn't bother me to keep visiting different resorts.

For the record, there's a couple of teachers in our party, so we're stuck with vacationing in June or July.

 

[crisi]

One thing to be aware of is that it will be almost impossible to regularly get TWO two bedrooms at HHI in June or July unless you own there. Its a really lovely resort, so if that is where you are going to spend your time - and anywhere at WDW when you decide to take your June July trip will make you happy - buying HHI is absolutely the right decision.

June July currently isn't DVC busy time, so you should have options - maybe not your first choice resort for every trip, but I'm willing to bet you won't have to go too far down your list before you are successful.

 

[Deb & Bill]

One villa is always easier to get than two of them. And you can't see how many villas are available on the website, only that there is at least one villa available. I think late Sept through the Disney marathon, plus any half marathon weekends (and, thus the beginning or end of a week with that time frame) and Spring break would be tough at seven months out. SSR and AKV might be the easier resorts at seven months out. OKW is getting harder because it requires fewer points.

Buy where you don't mind staying if you can't get anything else at seven months out.

 

[Popouri DVC]

Part of the issue is that people are often referring to the smaller resorts or the ones in walking distance to the parks. If someone likes SSR or even AKV then at most times of the year it's fine. And then it starts getting into the specifics of the dates with a few times meaning that even those resorts will be difficult. But the devil is in the detail and expectations. If one is flexible in resort, room size and dates then 7 months is much easier.

I agree with Kat. Plus the times that you have stated you will travel will generally be easier to get than fall/ December.

Having not been to Hilton Head, I do not know, but would assume summer bookings could be a challenge. I like the suggestion above about buying HHI for that and then maybe SSR for your WDW stays. Those wouldn't even need to be the same use years, most likely.

 

[bwbuddy5]

You folks are the best, and have been very helpful. So, I'm concluding since we go to Hilton Head often, and WDW less often, and since I would be happy whatever WDW DVC resort I would get at the 7-month window, and don't really mind if it's a GV, combo of other villas, then I would be smart to purchase points at Hilton Head?

Am I also understanding that it may actually be more difficult to book HH at the 7-month window than WDW resorts, since we vacation in June or July most every year? So, if I want to be a true cheapskate and buy points at Vero Beach, then I may find it difficult to get my ideal villa(s) at HH at 7 months?