Is DVC practical if you generally book on short notice?

[goofy about mickey]

DW and I have are very interested in joining DVC, but are not sure it's right for us given our current circumstances. We'd appreciate any advice you might have for us:

We currently live in the Miami area, and make about 3 to 4 weekend trips to Disney each year. If we joined DVC, we'd probably continue these type of trips (where a studio would be ideal) and would also take one longer trip (perhaps 1 week in a 1 bedroom villa), each year.

The problem is that we currently book our weekend getaways on relatively short notice (3 months or less), and sometimes during popular times (Epcot F&W). Given our job situations, I suspect that, even for the longer trip, we wouldn't be able to finalize vacation dates more than six months in advance. We hope to have more flexibility in the future, but would prefer if possible not to wait until then to join DVC.

Is it unrealistic to hope to reserve a BLT studio or an Epcot resort during F&W for a weekend on three months notice? I realize I wouldn't be able to get my first or second choice all the time, but is reasonable to hope to get them 50% of the time? For our longer trips, we'd like to try lots of different DVC resorts over time. On five or six months notice, however, is it more likely that we would have to select the same resorts each year?

One reason I'm asking these question is that last week, I had no problem reserving an AKV Studio for this upcoming weekend, and a BCV studio for an October weekend (during F&W). Since these rooms were available to the general public, I assume these rooms were also available to DVC members using points. Was I just extremely lucky, or is this availability common?

Also: If I don't expect to make many reservations more than seven months in advance, should I just choose a home resort (from the secondary market) that minimizes sales and maintenance costs?

Thank you very much!

 

[castleri]

n general DVC does not work well for short notice stays. If you are flexible you can generally get something at 3-5 months notice but not always where you would pick as your first choice. Since you seem to travel on weekends you may also find it is not as good a deal for you since the points needed for weekend nights are close to double what is needed for a weeknight stay. It is possible that you can get shorter notice reservations for weekends because many members stay Sun thru Thurs nights only. Since you would be booking at 7 months or less you are correct in thinking that the lower price and lower maintenance for a home resort would be the way to go since all points are equal at 7 months or less and the home resort does not make a difference. Your ability to get the reservation with only a weeks notice is because Disney has a certain number or villas that are for cash reservations - these DO NOT come from the same inventory as member reservations so there may very well not be any available for a points resevation even though there are some that can be had for cash. If you think that someday you may be able to book further in advance and really prefer the EPCOT resort area you may want to buy your points there so you will have that home resort advntage for times like F&W. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Goofy DVC]

If you can't book more than 7 months out than home resort really doesn't matter. SSR has some great resale prices. Usually on short notice OKW and SSR are the resorts most likely to be available. Everything else is hit or miss. Just because you were able to rent BC doesn't mean that a DVC room was available on points. The room you rented could have come out of Disney's inventory. Also, if you only go on weekends check out the point charts, as weekends cost more points.If you do decide to do with DVC, you will find the rooms to be much bigger and nicer. The studio is most like a regular Disney room. Everything else is a Villa sleeping up to 12 depending on the size.
Good luck.

 

[Sammie]

Is it unrealistic to hope to reserve a BLT studio or an Epcot resort during F&W for a weekend on three months notice?

I think you will find this very difficult to do.

One reason I'm asking these question is that last week, I had no problem reserving an AKV Studio for this upcoming weekend, and a BCV studio for an October weekend (during F&W). Since these rooms were available to the general public, I assume these rooms were also available to DVC members using points. Was I just extremely lucky, or is this availability common?

Different inventory, has nothing to do with what is available to book on points.

Also: If I don't expect to make many reservations more than seven months in advance, should I just choose a home resort (from the secondary market) that minimizes sales and maintenance costs?

Yes if you know that you are going to have to deal with what is available at 7months than less, I would go for a bargain.

 

[crisi]

I do not think it is reasonable to hope for 50% of the time. 10% of the time? maybe. There are often waitlists in place for the Epcot resorts for F&W before the seven month window opens.

Also, 10% of the time I'd expect you to find no room at the Inn at all, not even OKW or SSR. That's been the case for some dates in early December already this year.

 

[brianm27]

I would buy enough points for your week in a 1 bedroom but plan on using regular room reservations for the quick weekends.

We have enough points for a week. Our weekend trips usually come via annual pass discounts at the last minute. I don't mind a moderate or a value for only a few nights on a quick weekend trip. We will be in FL just over 48 hours in October for MNSSHP and there won't be much to use the room for other than a place to sleep.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...One reason I'm asking these question is that last week, I had no problem reserving an AKV Studio for this upcoming weekend, and a BCV studio for an October weekend (during F&W). Since these rooms were available to the general public, I assume these rooms were also available to DVC members using points. Was I just extremely lucky, or is this availability common?...

Not even the same. What you see on the Disney website or through DRC are villas not available on points because either Disney hasn't sold out this resort, Disney may have bought back points from a Right of First Refusal, a member may have traded out for another Disney reservation like the DCL or one of the non-DVC resorts at DL or WDW or that might be part of th 5% that DVC owns and keeps for maintenance. Those rooms weren't available on points at all.

Last minute may work some of the time, but not most of the time and really not for longer periods of time. Weekends are often available because members didn't book up all those nights because of the higher points needed. And you you are a member using only weekend nights, you'll use a lot more of your points for Fri and Sat night than the rest of the week.

 

[Sandisw]

Unfortunately, I think you will find that BLT or BWV will be difficult on such short notice.

As PP's have said, you will probably be able to get rooms at the bigger resorts regularly (SSR and OKW) and then could wait list for those other resorts. Since you are looking at weekends, you might have a change that the waitlists will come through.

If you feel that you could live with staying at those resorts, then you could end up getting a good deal since resale prices, especially for SSR, are good right now.

Good luck.

 

[Dean]

As noted, the chances on short notice are slim, esp for the higher demand resorts. Also, using for long weekends will not give you a significant ehough $$$ savings over just paying cash, IMO.

 

[CarolMN]

As noted, the chances on short notice are slim, esp for the higher demand resorts. Also, using for long weekends will not give you a significant ehough $$$ savings over just paying cash, IMO.

I agree with Dean and believe the plan to use the points for mostly weekend trips makes DVC a poor economic choice for you. Since you live in Florida, you can also take advantage of the resident discounts when they are avaiable.

 

[bumbershoot]

Since you seem to travel on weekends you may also find it is not as good a deal for you since the points needed for weekend nights are close to double what is needed for a weeknight stay.

Everything else aside, I am not sure that is true, once 2010 starts, right? That's what that whole point shift thing was all about...evening weekends and weekdays out. I thought.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Everything else aside, I am not sure that is true, once 2010 starts, right? That's what that whole point shift thing was all about...evening weekends and weekdays out. I thought.

But the weekend nights are still more than the weekday nights. Just not as bad as they were in the past.

 

[Dean]

Everything else aside, I am not sure that is true, once 2010 starts, right? That's what that whole point shift thing was all about...evening weekends and weekdays out. I thought.

The landscape is less tilted going forward but still a significant difference. Plus the new (1 yr old now) reservation system allows people to book a full week out and makes shorter stays a little harder to book unless you play games with the reservation. IMO, the savings and benefit is not there simply for long weekend stays. One option though for such a situation is to buy a 25 pt contract (or similar) resale and try for most days on cash with a member discount or a combo of points and MS cash options.

 

[rellabee]

I've had very good luck, and we are not able to plan much in advance either.

In October 2007, I decided to do a last minute trip in December, staying in a studio in the middle of the month from a Wednesday through Saturday (3 nights). The only option available was a studio at SSR, which the reservation agent even claimed was the last one available for those three dates. I waitlisted BCV, BWV, and VWL......and the BCV waitlist came through.

Then in January 2008, I planned our summer trip in early June 2008. 9 nights in a 2 BR. I booked (using developer points) the last 4 nights at BWV, but had to book the first 5 nights at SSR because BWV wasn't available. I again waitlisted (using regular points), and the BWV waitlist came through.

Just 2 weeks ago, we decided that we wanted to do a last minute add-on to our August vacation. The only availability for a studio for August 26-30 without changing resorts was OKW and SSR. I waitlisted VWL and BCV. The BCV waitlist came through yesterday! We also have a stay at an AKV Value 1 BR that I amended 2 weeks ago as well (to add on 1 day).

I always put in these waitlists because I keep hearing that some of these resorts are impossible to get so I waitlist them for each trip because I may never get them again...and I'm fine with the fact that on any given trip I need to plan on only having OKW and SSR available as choices. But so far, I've only used my DVC membership for stays at BCV and BWV, with an upcoming trip to BCV followed by AKV.

 

[crisi]

rellabee has a really good example of how this will work if it does. She is willing to waitlist - doesn't seem to think it a huge deal if she ends up at SSR or OKW - last minute is usually several months out. Puts more than one resort on her waitlist.

To a large extent the answer to "will this work" sort of depends on your own expectations, attitude and flexibility. If you are delighted when the waitlist comes through or there is availability and you aren't crushed and angry when you need to make less desireable plans (which may even involve paying cash) - this can work really great. If the first time the waitlist doesn't work and you end up at SSR - or the first time you call to add a night and need to move resorts- or the first time you call and can't get a reservation at all and find that there is CRO availability (which happens ALOT) - you are so disappointed you come here ranting about selling your DVC and this wasn't what you thought it would be - this won't work.

 

[JohnBJr]

I asked this same question about 6 years ago. Like you, we live less than 2 hours from Disney. We love the whole Disney thing but had never stayed on property (except once at Port Orleans) because of the prices. Instead, we stayed off-site, booking deals through AAA or others. But we finally got to where it made sense to lock in our vacation costs so we started with a HH resale purchase. We never once had any difficulty booking a night or two at any of the Orlando DVC resorts. And usually we did Sunday, Monday because of the point difference. We sold our HH contract 4 years ago (about broke even on that one) and bought at Boardwalk as that's the area we really liked. I have never booked any room with more than about four weeks notice and often within a week or two. We don't always get the exact room we want but we almost always can get a room. We buy annual passes (We used them 18 times last year!). Two years ago, with a 4 year old grandaughter, we bought another contract at Wilderness Lodge. The kids like that for MK access so I do book a 2 BR at 11 months to make sure we get that each year (will be there first of June 2010!). But my wife and I just spent 3 nights at SS, booked 2 weeks prior and actually changed the ressie the day before to add a day! What did we do? Never went to a park! Rode the bus to CR, did our monorail tour (that's where you have drinks at each hotel and we had sushi at the PR). Enjoyed the new food, drinks and music at the newest PI restaurant (highly recommended!). One caveat: We actually like studios although we have stayed in every type of room, we don't need much more than the mini-fridge for the drinks and a bed! So that makes it possible to take many mini-vacations on Disney property with all the benefits that go with that! I think the first year we got 14 nights with our 150 pt. contract.
Just don't expect to get a BLT MK view on 4 days notice. But I bet you could book a room almost any other time (holidays, F&W excepted). And when you get shut out, pay cash somewhere. Good luck and I hope that helps.