I always have trouble booking at other DVCs except SSR

[goodcook5]

I called to get a one or two bedroom in october. The ONLY availability for my four nights was at SSR. This has often been the case recently when I call. I could understand if it was next month and last minute. But six months away? I waitlisted, of course. But will this be the case usually because of the enormity of SSR? As time goes by and phase 3 begins, it seems that the 11 month booking window will become more valuable at other locations other than ssr. hmmmm...maybe I had better add on....hee hee

 

[Dean]

I called to get a one or two bedroom in october. The ONLY availability for my four nights was at SSR. This has often been the case recently when I call. I could understand if it was next month and last minute. But six months away? I waitlisted, of course. But will this be the case usually because of the enormity of SSR? As time goes by and phase 3 begins, it seems that the 11 month booking window will become more valuable at other locations other than ssr. hmmmm...maybe I had better add on....hee hee

As I've predicted many times. The home resort window for all resorts other than HH out of summer, OKW and SSR (except 3 BR for those) will be more and more important as the member base grows unless DVC adds other true destination resorts.

 

[Doug7856]

I called to get a one or two bedroom in october. The ONLY availability for my four nights was at SSR. This has often been the case recently when I call. I could understand if it was next month and last minute. But six months away? I waitlisted, of course. But will this be the case usually because of the enormity of SSR? As time goes by and phase 3 begins, it seems that the 11 month booking window will become more valuable at other locations other than ssr. hmmmm...maybe I had better add on....hee hee

Remember that this is during the popular food and wine festival. I don’t know how sales of SSR are going, but it seems to me that if DVC is really opening one building a month, that they probably have more room inventory than members hence more availability.

 

[BuzzandWoody]

We called today and booked a studio. Wanted BCV only one night avail out of 3.
We booked at SSR and waitlisted at BCV for the whole stay. If it happens fine, if not SSR is fine with us! BWV was booked up to.

I didn't even ask about VWL. OKW has the two beds and we don't like that when we are slumming it in a studio.

Maybe they are just pushing SSR? Or it is first on the list they check?
Either way we are happy
MNSSHP and Food and Wine. Can't wait!!

 

[CarolMN]

If you want to stay somewhere besides your home resort during a popular time, you need to call as soon as your 7 month window opens. You may even need to call day by day (and waitlist for one or mor of the days). Food & Wine Festival time (October - mid-November) is very popular - it also overlaps with the very popular MNSSHP events at the MK.

As mentioned, when a resort is new and still under construction / selling, the developers are continuously adding inventory into the "points pool of rooms". It is often surprisingly easy to get reservations during this time. It's happened with all of the DVC resorts. IMHO, that is why SSR is availble right now.

I'm a little surprised that OKW is not available for your dates 6 months out, but that goes to show how popular October and November have become. FWIW, both of those months are now considered "regular" season by CRO for the non -DVC WDW resorts.

Eventually, SSR will end up to be the largest resort on site. IMHO, after it is completely built out, it will be easier to get SSR reservations than OKW reservations - just because it is the largest.

Best wishes -

P.S. It won't help to add on if you wait until 6 months prior to your stay to make the reservation. (But then, you already knew that, right)?

 

[tjkraz]

I'm a little surprised that OKW is not available for your dates 6 months out...

I am, too. I'd call back and speak to another MS rep. Having ALL of the 1B and 2B units at 4 resorts booked 6mos out seems a bit fishy to me, even with the F&W Festival.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it's at least worth another phone call.

 

[Tramp68]

I was just on the phone with MS last night and there was availability of a 1BR at BWV or BCV for the the last week of october and 1st week of november...

 

[childsplay]

As others have pointed out, it really does depend on the time of the year, I called yesterday for a 1 bdroom for the middle of June (about 2 months from now) and had my choice of all the resorts except BCV...we grabbed BW (standard view) because we have never tried BW and we are staying at OKW the following week when the rest of the family comes in. So it just depends.

 

[Daitcher]

As I've predicted many times. The home resort window for all resorts other than HH out of summer, OKW and SSR (except 3 BR for those) will be more and more important as the member base grows unless DVC adds other true destination resorts.

Dean, let me start by saying that there hasn't been many posts of yours that I disagree with. This one I'm not so sure about. Paranoia always seems to set in when a new resort opens. "I won't be able to book at 7 months", All the SSR owners will stay at my home resort" and on and on. Peak times at popular resorts will always be tough. I would assume that owners at other DVC properties will stay at SSR. This will open up spaces at their home resort. The number of members grows in proportion to the numbers of rooms they add. In theory this shouldn't impact 7 month booking window or anything else for that matter. More members comes with more rooms to accomodate them. Only time will tell but my guess is things will be the same as they have always been. If you must travel at peak times plan as far ahead as you can.

DAVE

 

[Pa@okw95]

One of many things about being a DVC member is being able to book at the 11 month mark or soon after. If a person can not make reservations between the 11 month and the 7 month then serious consideration should be given to not being a member. Also being a member at where you want to stay. As Dean has said this will become even more important as the membership grows.

 

[crisi]

Dean, let me start by saying that there hasn't been many posts of yours that I disagree with. This one I'm not so sure about. Paranoia always seems to set in when a new resort opens. "I won't be able to book at 7 months", All the SSR owners will stay at my home resort" and on and on. Peak times at popular resorts will always be tough. I would assume that owners at other DVC properties will stay at SSR. This will open up spaces at their home resort. The number of members grows in proportion to the numbers of rooms they add. In theory this shouldn't impact 7 month booking window or anything else for that matter. More members comes with more rooms to accomodate them. Only time will tell but my guess is things will be the same as they have always been. If you must travel at peak times plan as far ahead as you can.

DAVE

Only if all the resorts are the same size....I've posted something like this before but...

For simplicity sake lets say there are two DVC resorts: SSR has 600 rooms at BCVs has 200 rooms. At seven months 10% of each resorts owners want to book the other resort. That means that 60 SSR owners have 20 rooms available, and 20 BCV owners have 60 rooms available.

Of course, those aren't real numbers, and the situation is much more complicated than that. Add to that the fact that while all the DVC resorts are appealling destinations year round, the smaller resorts have special appeal at certain times of year - Epcot resorts during F&W, VWL around Christmas. So the demand for these resorts will peak during these times. At those times maybe only 5% of the owners want to book a different resort, but the non-owners may want to book there at a 15% rate (once again, not real numbers) - so now 10 BCV rooms are available over F&W, and there are 90 SSR owners wanting those rooms.

It only makes mathematical sense that booking the smaller resorts will be harder as larger resorts open, and that larger resorts will always be easier to book (unless they build a large resort that has a lot of appeal). This hold even if the resorts are all equally appealling. Unless DVC builds a large resort with a huge draw, there will always be this imbalance in the system.

 

[Saratoga Souris]

My home is SSR and so far it is the only place I have stayed but I called last week to book a late August/Early September vacation and had no trouble booking time a combination of VWL and BW. BCV was also available! Maybe you just picked a bad time

 

[Dean]

Dean, let me start by saying that there hasn't been many posts of yours that I disagree with. This one I'm not so sure about. Paranoia always seems to set in when a new resort opens. "I won't be able to book at 7 months", All the SSR owners will stay at my home resort" and on and on. Peak times at popular resorts will always be tough. I would assume that owners at other DVC properties will stay at SSR. This will open up spaces at their home resort. The number of members grows in proportion to the numbers of rooms they add. In theory this shouldn't impact 7 month booking window or anything else for that matter. More members comes with more rooms to accomodate them. Only time will tell but my guess is things will be the same as they have always been. If you must travel at peak times plan as far ahead as you can.

DAVE

It's OK to disagree but here's the thinking. IMO, OKW and SSR have a larger proportion of people buying just to get into the system, plus they are much larger resorts with more owners. I do not believe for a second that as many BCV, BWV and VWL owners will want SSR as the reverse. Some will prefer SSR and OKW but on the whole many will own there to stay other places far more than the reverse. That's not to say it will be impossible, just that it will be more difficult and certain times, unit types and the like WILL be impossible. Of course if DVC adds on another 500 units at what I call destination resorts, things will shift to a degree. Remember you've also got a large percentage of both HH and VB owners that are chasing the same non home resorts options as SSR/OKW owners and it's entirely possible that the percentage of owners at HH and VB that are trying to get WDW resorts will be additive to the rest under discussion.

 

[Safari Queen]

I booked a 2-bedroom for the Oct holiday weekend (Fri-Mon) with my SSR points at 11 months and waitlisted for BWV at 7 months. It came through within 10 days. I've been offered a BWV standard view 1 bedroom a month out, easily got OKW for an impromptu trip, and have friends who were able to book Thanksgiving week at WLV just two weeks prior. The wait list seems to work quite well and there's some luck involved, too. Have faith and hope for the best.

 

[Daitcher]

It's OK to disagree but here's the thinking. IMO, OKW and SSR have a larger proportion of people buying just to get into the system, plus they are much larger resorts with more owners. I do not believe for a second that as many BCV, BWV and VWL owners will want SSR as the reverse. Some will prefer SSR and OKW but on the whole many will own there to stay other places far more than the reverse. That's not to say it will be impossible, just that it will be more difficult and certain times, unit types and the like WILL be impossible. Of course if DVC adds on another 500 units at what I call destination resorts, things will shift to a degree. Remember you've also got a large percentage of both HH and VB owners that are chasing the same non home resorts options as SSR/OKW owners and it's entirely possible that the percentage of owners at HH and VB that are trying to get WDW resorts will be additive to the rest under discussion.

Dean, You guys are starting to sway me a little bit on this. Maybe it will become more difficult to book at 7 months. It is actually funny I posted that it won't be tougher to book. I am a SSR owner and I will always stay elsewhere. Only time will tell. You mention a destination resort. What exactly are your ideas?

DAVE

 

[Dean]

Dean, You guys are starting to sway me a little bit on this. Maybe it will become more difficult to book at 7 months. It is actually funny I posted that it won't be tougher to book. I am a SSR owner and I will always stay elsewhere. Only time will tell. You mention a destination resort. What exactly are your ideas?

DAVE

Frankly, even if the demand is the same in percentage, BWV, VWL and BCV as well as VB for certain times of the year and HH for summer, will be MUCH harder to book. For SSR and OKW, it's likely the GV will be the toughies, esp for OKW due to the lessor numbers and the lower points costs. IMO, a larger percentage of SSR and OKW owners as well as HH and VB owners, will want to stay at the 3 above significantly more than the reverse. Even if the spread is small, the impact will be large due to the number of owners and points and I suspect the spread will be somewhat large. I'm sure there are some that will truly want SSR just like there are those of us that prefer OKW. But the advantage OKW has over SSR is that the points are still significantly lower and the units are larger and more comfortable for parties that approach the occupancy. I doubt you'll see many posts for those that bought BCV, BWV, or VWL and really wanted SSR but we've seen a lot of the reverse for both SSR and OKW. And I think there are many that have convinced themselves this is what they want simply because it's what's available from DVC.

Truthfully, I was somewhat ashamed of the group here when we had a fellow owner post they bought OKW to use at the other resorts. They were blasted pretty good, the one and only time I remember that happening, especially since we've recommended that approach to many and DVC does many times as well, currently with SSR. The flames were not for the poor decision but essentially how dare you buy a cheaper resort to use at my better resort, much like the strong feelings of those who feel high demand weeks shouldn't be rented. It was doubly worse because it was someone who at times has problems expressing themselves, I really felt sorry for him.

 

[Disney4ever4569]

I called for BCV at the 7 window for the end of October for 4 nights for (2) 2 bedrooms and a studio. I got 3 out of 4 nights immediately and got the 4th night for all three rooms within a week. It seemed pretty easy to me. Maybe I just lucky who knows.

 

[Dean]

I called for BCV at the 7 window for the end of October for 4 nights for (2) 2 bedrooms and a studio. I got 3 out of 4 nights immediately and got the 4th night for all three rooms within a week. It seemed pretty easy to me. Maybe I just lucky who knows.

There will always be times when it's no problem. Oct is a low season overall and SSR still have a LOT more points to sell. One should look about 5 years down the road minimum to judge this issue. By that time a lot of the SSR points will be sold and many of the owners there will have stayed at their home resort and be looking elsewhere.

 

[WithDisneySpirit]

To the OP, I am surprised by this also, since my mom called for ressies at OKW and was told by MS that there were 100 2 br villas available at OKW(adding that these 2br are for mid-OCT). This was ten days ago. You did say ONLY SSR, correct? I would call back.

 

[Doug7856]

. . . And I think there are many that have convinced themselves this is what they want simply because it's what's available from DVC. . .

Dean, I don't often disagree with your opinion on the timeshare industry and DVC, but I've seen you hint at this for some time and I would like to share my perspective. I've looked at DVC for about 10 years, but I simply did not like the accommodations enough to buy in -- particularly when compared to other Disney resorts. With the exception of BWV, I simply do not like the rooms (even though I may like the host resort such as Wilderness Lodge). When we saw the artist renderings of SSR we knew that Disney had finally built a DVC resort that we would enjoy. We like the landscaping and the small town resort feel that is unique to SSR (we feel that OKW is very spread out -- more so than SSR -- and doesn't have a complete resort feel), and most importantly we like the rooms. All of this is subjective and depends upon the likes and dislikes of the perspective buyers -- but for us SSR is a hit and the reason we purchased a membership in DVC.