I have never booked online before.......

[mimmiepnp]

My 7 month window opens tomorrow and I do not have time to call MS from work so I have a few questions......

What is the earliest time that I can book online?

I need to borrow 12 points from my next use year...can I do that online?

Is there any advantages or disadvantages to booking online?

Thank you

Mimmie

 

[disneynutz]

Opens 8AM Eastern, you can borrow points online, you get an hour jump on others who call in.

Bill

 

[kda]

I booked at 8 AM EST and also borrowed points. Can't recall exactly, but I believe I was asked if I wanted to borrow points and I had to confirm that YES, I did. There was the opportunity to review my request so I could see exactly where my points were coming from and what I was booking. It was easy, and it was an advantage to be able to book at 8 AM. The dedicated 2 BRs at BLT were gone by 9:30 that day. Good luck!

I wouldn't hesitate to book on line, but was too chicken to modify the reservation on line when I needed to drop and add a couple of days.

 

[drusba]

I wouldn't hesitate to book on line, but was too chicken to modify the reservation on line when I needed to drop and add a couple of days.

Actually, you would need to call to drop or add days to an existing reservation. The on-line system is not set up to allow any modification of a reservation already made. The only way to change on-line is to cancel the entire reservation and make a new one.

 

[heynowirv]

I love on line booking for all the reasons that everyone else has mentioned. It's very easy ,probably the easiest thing Disney has done on a computer." Try It You'll Like It"
.

 

[Msmithmd]

I have booked a week at VGF, on the website at 0800, on the first day of open booking for non-owners. Checking in on New Year's Day.

I also booked a week at VGC at the seven month window, at 0800. Both reservations were sold out for other members wanting to book by 0900 (I rechecked then online, just out of curiosity). Had I waited to call, I would have been disappointed.

There are certainly plenty other members who have had similar experiences. My experience is by no means special. But there are also lots of folks who post on here, bemoaning how these resorts are so hard to get.

I know some folks are computer-averse. (It's unlikely they are reading this, but who knows...). But for a high-demand resort at seven months, if you're not booking at 0800 on the website, you're potentially losing out to the many members who do.

In an environment where members compete for non-home resort bookings, it's unimaginable to me that some members choose to give others a full hour head start. Sure, this won't help one bit for the ultra-difficult categories that get booked solid by the resort's owners. For those few categories, one must own at that specific property and even then book early eleven month. For what I would call the "medium-difficult" bookings, seven month online is a necessity.

Now if you want SSR in July at the seven month window, by all means sleep in and call...but if you want Beach club in June right after schools let out for the summer, you'd better be online at 0800. Or I will get it before you do.

 

[magicaldisney]

I also have never booked online and have another question. If you have booked at your home resort at 11 months hoping to switch at 7 months. Does the online booking just let you cancel the first reservation and then let you book the new one? If you already used banked or borrowed points for the 11 month reservation does it put those points back? Then does it take those points for the 7 month?

 

[Kidanifan08]

I also have never booked online and have another question. If you have booked at your home resort at 11 months hoping to switch at 7 months. Does the online booking just let you cancel the first reservation and then let you book the new one? If you already used banked or borrowed points for the 11 month reservation does it put those points back? Then does it take those points for the 7 month?

You would have to cancel your home resort reservation before you can book the other resort if you don't have enough points for both reservations at the same time. The banked and borrowed points go back into the UY into which they were banked/borrowed for use on the new reservation.

There is some risk when doing this. Once you cancel your home resort reservation, there is no guarantee that you will get it back if you then can't get the new resort reservation to work. Of course, that depends on the demand during the time of year that you are trying to switch into. Most times of the year, owners at SSR, OKW and AKV could probably wait until 7 months before they travel to try to get BWV, BCV, BLT, and VGF, and if it does not work out, then book their home resort at that time. The first couple weeks of December might be risky and perhaps certain times during F&W and the holidays.

 

[Msmithmd]

I also have never booked online and have another question. If you have booked at your home resort at 11 months hoping to switch at 7 months. Does the online booking just let you cancel the first reservation and then let you book the new one? If you already used banked or borrowed points for the 11 month reservation does it put those points back? Then does it take those points for the 7 month?

You have to cancel the entire existing reservation first (unless you have enough points to have both reservations simultaneously.) Banked and borrowed points remain in the year they were moved to, they don't "go back," but they are returned to the account to make the new reservation. Then you make the new reservation using those points.

This is what people refer to as the risk of switching- you could theoretically drop the first reservation when you see that what you want is available, go to book the new reservation when your points are returned to the system, and have the new reservation already snagged by someone else. Then go back to try to get your old reservation back, and find someone different had already taken it. The likelihood of this seems low, as you are making this change in the course of maybe sixty seconds online-but it has apparently happened to some posters here.

The clear way to decrease this risk, is to check in the system for booking the reservation that you ALREADY have, before you cancel and try to switch. If what you already have is also available to book at the seven month window, then it's that much more likely to still be available in a minute- if the reservation you want fills up while you are doing the online transaction.

So, the obvious "safest" choice is to own where you want to stay and book there before seven months. Then you don't have to consider these scenarios at all. For folks like us who like to switch around and stay at different places, this is a part of using the system that you just have to accept-unless DVC decides to change their online booking procedures.

It seems like the majority of users would be in favor of a system where the online booking apparatus holds the current reservation until the instant it actually books the other reservation and then simultaneously cancels one and moves points to the new reservation. However, to date that sentiment appears to be ignored by DVC executive management.

 

[magicaldisney]

For all the reasons mentioned in the above two posts, I have always called to do my booking. When switching at 7 months, I've always had a CM who would tell me if there was a good number of the type of room I was looking for, then I knew if it was worth switching. Doing online reservations takes that little bit of knowledge away, which seems risky to me.

 

[disneynutz]

For all the reasons mentioned in the above two posts, I have always called to do my booking. When switching at 7 months, I've always had a CM who would tell me if there was a good number of the type of room I was looking for, then I knew if it was worth switching. Doing online reservations takes that little bit of knowledge away, which seems risky to me.

Excellent point, MS can see how many rooms are available before you switch, just make sure that you ask them to check!

Bill