How Successful Booking a DVC Resort Other Than Your Home Resort

[Gary Smiley]

Hello Everyone

We are planning our next trip for July 2018.
Our Home resort is the Wilderness Lodge but we would like to switch things up and stay at the Beach & Yacht Club DVC Villas

I know you can only book 7 months out opposed to the 11 month mark as your Home resort

Has anyone had experiences where they ended up being locked out of getting a reservation other than their home resort at the 7 month booking window or have you had success

Thank you

 

[Marionnette]

Hello Everyone

We are planning our next trip for July 2018.
Our Home resort is the Wilderness Lodge but we would like to switch things up and stay at the Beach & Yacht Club DVC Villas

I know you can only book 7 months out opposed to the 11 month mark as your Home resort

Has anyone had experiences where they ended up being locked out of getting a reservation other than their home resort at the 7 month booking window or have you had success

Thank you

Check out these threads:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/easiest-7-month-reservations.3480684/#post-55102505
https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...tudios-some-1-bedrooms-prepared-2015.3419112/

My personal experience is that certain resorts book quickly and are hard to find more than a couple nights here and there by the time the 7-month window opens for non-home resort booking. Studios are harder than 1-bedrooms and the smaller resorts (BCV, BWV, VGF) have lesser chances of success than the larger ones. Time of year is a huge factor with fall thru marathon weekend being the hardest. Using the wait list and stalking the RAT helps if you need to fill gaps between reservations that you were able to book.

FWIW, there is no DVC at Yacht Club, only at BC.

 

[CarolMN]

drusba's predictions are from late 2016 and IMO, are still right on!

drusba's 7 month Availability Summary posted 10 13 2016 (This is a newer version of the first thread Marionette posted).

drusba's 11 month Availability Summary posted 9 23 2016the first thread

drusba's GRAND Villa Availability posted 12 9 2016

These are good threads to bookmark - can't begin to count the times I've referred to them for my own information! Thanks, drusba!

 

[Geomom]

With our OKW contract, we always book right at 7 mths out, at 8AM online, to book a non-home resort. We book for either February or April vacation. We may not always get our first choice, but usually within the top 3. We have also waitlisted in the past, and have received them, so if BCV isn't available, book something else and waitlist it.

Our BWV contract, we book at 11 mths, to use at BWV in the Fall, and to either get standard or boardwalk view.

 

[jo-jo]

Past 8 years, we've been booking at BLT for the first week in Dec. and at 7 months switch several days to BCV/BWV. Not this year. To be honest , perhaps I could have gotten a day here or there, but we won't move unless we have at least 2 nights and then hope for more.

I think when you sell 8 million contracts and 75 % of them want to use their points during the same 1/3 of the year, there has to be problems. I'm just guessing at those numbers.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

So much about the ease of booking at 7 months depends on the time of the year you are trying. But yes, I'm often using our points for non-home resort bookings. Studios are the most difficult and BCV is popular during the summer. If you are thinking of a larger villa the odds will increase as otherwise July is easier to book at 7 months than other times of the year.

 

[crisi]

We had success with a late August BCV switch several years ago...with the following caveats....

It was several years ago - since then DVC has sold more BLT, VGF and the Poly, plus more Aulani points - and those people are part of the switching pool now.
It was late August - after much of the country starts school again. Park traffic is lower than earlier in the Summer.
We booked exactly at 7 months, first thing in the morning.
We booked a two bedroom - in more demand than a one bedroom, but easier to book than a studio.

BCV is one of the smallest DVC resorts - and SAB creates a lot of demand. People who own BCV usually bought it to use their points there, which further restricts availability. It isn't impossible, but have a backup plan and make your waitlist/split stay tolerance decisions now.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We own at AKV and SSR and currently have an October BCV stay that we needed to piece together one night at a time, and a January BWV stay(super low season). In the past few years we have stayed at all the resorts with the exception of the new CCV, but many of our stays have been split stays. Sometimes full weeks are hard to find at seven months.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I have had success getting a studio at BCV in May at 7 months.

 

[AdamsMum]

stalking the RAT

I love that!

 

[NicoleLarson]

So I'll put it this way, we joined in 2009 and own at BLT. We have 20+ stays under our belt and have stayed everywhere on property EXCEPT BLT, so go figure. We do waitlist a lot but get pretty lucky. We go at all different times of the year.

 

[Donna M]

We have owed at SSR since 2004. We usually get either 1 or 2 bd and just about always use the points at other WDW resorts. For the past 10 years or so we haven't had any trouble getting what I want. So much will depend on when you want to go, for us it was Feb and April school vacations.

 

[Travel60]

Home resort is Hilton Head where we always book as soon as possible about every third year. Other trips seem to be more spontaneous, especially when we realize some points are going to expire if we don't use them. We can almost always get Vero Beach on short notice. For WDW area, we are usually shut out of everything except SSR. That is a fine resort and we love being close to Disney Springs, but would occasionally like to stay somewhere else. Need to up our planning. Vacation becomes work (sigh)

 

[DebbieB]

I own at BWV and typically book there at 11 months for October-December. I've been 100% booking other resorts at 7 months, except SSR and CC, haven't tried there. Stays typically spring-summer.

 

[alldiz]

Welcome to the dis
I have been very successful at 7 months so far. If you are not flexible with your dates book your home resort so you know you have a room.
Be online at 8am and you should not have a problem getting something else you want.
And if you don't waitlist.
I love DVC because I get to stay at so many great resorts. I also love split stays if there a solid week. I have been able to try all the resorts this way and
for me split stays feels like 2 vacations. We just go to the park on change day and come back to a different resort. I love that.
Kerri

 

[holden]

We've only done it a few times, but we have always gotten what we want. We own at BLT and don't mind staying there if we can't move.

 

[Castillo Mom]

We've only done it a few times, but we have always gotten what we want. We own at BLT and don't mind staying there if we can't move.

Ditto. The trip we just returned from consisted of two studios at PVB, 16 nights for my two sons and I and another for six nights for extended family. Both were booked using my AKV points at the seven month mark. Not for the faint of heart as I live in California (meaning I had to get up three hours earlier than my eastern competitors), but I was successful in getting all of the nights I needed by walking the reservation. I was surprised at this since I'd read that monorail resorts are second in popularity after Epcot area properties during F&W.

That being said, I don't have to worry about that now since I just added on at PVB. I love both AKV and PVB and wouldn't mind staying there in the event I'm unable to get in at another non-home resort in the future. I concur with the "buy where you want to stay" motto.

 

[Dean Marino]

Not even trying . Good luck to others .

 

[Ellester]

We’ve booked 2br’s at VWL twice for January and Kidani for October at 7 months. We’ve also stayed at HHI 5+ times, all booked at 7 months.

 

[senadler]

We have not had any issues booking at other resorts. Our home resort is BCV, which would probably be the most difficult to book for our October trips, so we do book that close to 11 months. Otherwise, we have been able to book Poly, BLT, and AKL with no issues in both October and March at 7 months.