Is 7 months out plenty of time to make reservations?

[Nlihte]

A one bedroom villa during the summer months would be ideal for our family of 4. If we purchase a home resort and would like to make reservations at other locations is it likely that if we reserve at the 7 month window there would be places availiable? Before I lay down 20,000 dollars I would like to understand that clearly.
Thanks for all the advice up till now. You all are great. Dennis

 

[jel0511]

I have booked 1 bedroom villas at BCV and BWV (got boardwalk view too) at 7 months out with no problems for July the last two years. I always book at VWL (at 11 months, my home resort) to ensure my on-site stay, but sometimes change it up with different resorts. If you're flexible on your dates, and call at exactly 7 months, I don't think it should be a problem. But again, everything is based on availability and you should always be prepared to stay at your home resort. If you're mainly planning on staying at WDW, buy at a WDW resort. I wouldn't want to risk owning at Vero or Hilton Head when I mainly planned on traveling to WDW.

Edited to add: If you plan on buying at SSR, remember that it takes more points to stay a week at VWL, BCV and BWV preferred view (usually all that's available at 7 months). so, if you plan on buying enough points for a week at SSR, it won't get you a week at these other properties, unless you buy enough points for it. OKW has a lower point requirement than SSR. We own 275 points at VWL, so we have enough for a week at all the resorts in a one bedroom during Magic Season (covers most of the summer) or 6 nights in a two bedroom when we want larger accomdations.

 

[Scoootch]

The rule of thumb around here is to buy your points where you think you'd like to stay the most. As far as availibility goes at the 7 mos. window. It all depends on which resort and how busy the time of year is you are trying to book. VWL for instance is the smallest DVC resort and close to MK so booking at the 7mos. window there is almost always difficult. Trying to book BCV's is also difficult because of it's popular location and SAB. OKW on the other hand may not be difficult at all at the same times of year because it is so much larger -- but then that all depends on what size villa you are looking for sometimes too. So if you think you'd like to stay most often at someplace other than SSR - I'd figure out which resort you would like to be at most and go with a resale.

HTH's

 

[crisi]

Worried you over there, did I?

Most people to date have had little problem booking seven months out - as long as they aren't too picky and can be flexible. Most of the time people have even gotten pretty much exactly what they wanted - with the exception of OKW Grand Villas and BW Standard Views (and perhaps now BW Views) and some other "hot commodities" (Epcot resorts during Food and Wine, VWL between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Vero Beach Cottages over Spring Break). Even then, some people have been fortunate to get these hot commodities at seven months.

Sometimes getting what you want involves some time on the wait list, sometimes it doesn't. And, of course, calling at seven months is better than waiting until five months out.

But if you have your heart set on a two bedroom at VWL in early December, you may discover there is a lot of availability outside your home resort, at OKW or BWV - just none of it at VWL. Or only one bedrooms available. Or you want to take advantage of an OKW Grand Villa for a family reunion - and you may need to take a studio and one bedroom.

However, as more and more DVC members join the program, the competition for the smaller resorts (and other limited commodities like GVs and SV rooms) at seven months should get hotter. SSR is a big resort, and if many of those owners take advantage of the flexibility of the program to stay outside their home resort (plus the OKW/BCV/BWV/VWL owners that already do) it is going to be harder to book. There are only a few hundred rooms at VWL and BCVs. I'd anticipate that VWL will always be hard to get in the Fall Winter (when the theming is really really nice) and that BCV is going to be really hard in the summer (when SAB has the most appeal and the theming works best), but I could be wrong.

 

[HookdonWDW]

Dennis,

That's a great question to ask, and honestly, it's almost impossible to answer it with 100% certainty. It just depends. You should be able to get reservations "somewhere" at 7 months, but there is no guarantee that you will get something specific.

For example, it might be hard to book a 1 BR at BCV around 4th of July, since it becomes crowded, and people like to use SAB when the weather is nice.

BWV and BCV are hard to get into during the F&W Festival

VB is crowded during Spring Break

It's almost impossible to book HH during the summer because they have very few studios and 1BRs, and summer is a busy time there.

VWL is really tough to get during Christmas because of that woodsy Christmas-y feel that so many love there.

If you want a GV during popular times of the year, it's almost impossible to get one w/out an 11 month priority.

That doesn't mean that no one has gotten these things - just that they are difficuly to get. I wouldn't purchase somewhere else if I had my heart set on doing one of the above things every year.

You're guaranteed of hearing stories about people who have gotten exactly what they wanted at 3 months out. It does happen. But there are others who didn't get what they wanted at 7 months out. It used to be somewhat easier to get reservations at BCV, since DVD was still adding units into the inventory as people were buying. Now that the resort is sold out, there are more owners to fill up the resort before the 7 month window opens. The same thing happened at the earlier resorts, and will happen at SSR when it opens.

 

[Nlihte]

Your promptness in responding to my questions amaze me.
I can't wait to part of your group. Hopefully in a week or so we can make an informed decision thanks to all of your help. Dennis

 

[ear_poppin]

Dennis

I have just booked a studio at BCV at exactly 7 months out for 5 nights for October. No problem at all. I own at SSR and booked that as well in January for my Oct trip.

But as said above BCV will still be the same size but DVC membership will grow! I would therefore imagine it can only become harder.