Is the 7 month window a problem?

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

I'm considering buying a resale SSR since it has the lowest buyin and maintenance fees... but probably will not stay at SSR often, if at all. I'm wondering how hard it is for other DVC members to get the resort they want at the 7 month window. We're pretty flexible with dates so I'm hoping that will help a lot. I'd hate to buy into SSR but never be able to stay at Akl, BC, VWL, BLT, etc

Thoughts???

It's all about flexibility. If you're able to change dates, don't plan to do a lot of holiday travel, aren't locked in to a specific resort, room size, or view, and are willing to do the occassional split stay, the 7 month window will work fine for you. However, it's all about going with the flow and being happy with the bookings you're able to get. If you're not as flexible in any of these regards, owning at a resort you don't enjoy is only going to turn into frustration for you.

We own at three different home resorts, and absolutely love each of them. (SSR is my absolute favorite resort. It always makes me cringe to hear others talking about getting "stuck" with a reservation there.) But not every resort is right for every family. We also have a few we prefer not to stay at. I certainly don't own at those non-preferred resorts, though.

I book early at our home resorts during the 11-month period, and then experiement to see what's available at the 7-month point. If it doesn't work out to try somewhere different/new in a particular year, we shrug it off and try again on the next trip. The worst case scenerio is that we have to stay at one of the home resorts we love.

Own where you want to stay and you won't go wrong.

 

[Anal Annie]

I'm considering buying a resale SSR since it has the lowest buyin and maintenance fees... but probably will not stay at SSR often, if at all. I'm wondering how hard it is for other DVC members to get the resort they want at the 7 month window. We're pretty flexible with dates so I'm hoping that will help a lot. I'd hate to buy into SSR but never be able to stay at Akl, BC, VWL, BLT, etc

Thoughts???

We own at SSR and have always been able to get what we want at 7 months BUT we are also flexible with where we stay and are OK with staying at SSR if that's all that's available but we do prefer to resort hop from trip to trip. We only book studios and have now tried all of the existing WDW DVC resorts plus HHI and VB. We will be staying at VGC and Aulani this summer. I usually book promptly as soon as the 7 mo. window opens. We have gone over spring break 2x, once over Memorial Day weekend, once over MLK weekend and always in late July or early-mid August. When we're planning a trip to WDW outside of staying at SSR we always approach it with a 1st, 2nd & 3rd choice attitude. We are just happy to be able to go and I think being flexible helps. We just mostly don't want to stay at the same resort on 2 consecutive trips - we like each trip to be different from the last.

 

[Anal Annie]

We did the same thing, spending 3 nights in VB, then back to WDW for an additional night. We didn't want to leave for MCO directly from Vero. First, I needed a convenient way to turn in our Owner's Locker, and second, I didn't want to wake up that much earlier to be on time for our morning flight.

In the future, we'll book with more WDW nights on either side, rather than putting the Vero nights so near the end of the trip. I really love the beach, and it was a great way to combine that with the WDW vacation.

We tacked on a few nights at VB after a week at BCV a few years ago and took our Owners Locker with us. For our return Brian met us at the car rental return at MCO to pick up the locker. We texted ETA's back & forth a couple of times that day...won't they do that any more?

 

[drusba]

At 7 months out, AKV concierge is gone about 98% of the year, AKV value 85%, BLT standard 90%, BWV standard and boardwalk view 70%. If you want any of those it is best to own at the one you want.

If you intend to go between the Tuesday after Marathon weekend in Jan to just before the end of Sep, you will usually find you can get many things including, for near park resorts, BLT lake view, BWV pool/garden, and VWL. BCV and BLT theme park view are also open almost all of that time and it is during that time that you can sometimes find an opening for AKV value and BWV standard or boardwalk view and on a rare occassion BLT standard.

If you intend to go between the end of Sep and the Tuesday after marathon weekend in Jan and you want a near park resort, then the advice to buy where you want to stay most is advice well taken . That is DVC's highest demand quarter -- the result of several factors including that most of the time is the lowest and second lowest point cost, there is the Food & Wine festival, the Halloween party, and Christmas decorations beginning in Nov. Even BLT lake view and BWV pool/garden view can often be gone particularly if you are looking for more than 2 or 3 nights,. and if you want the first or second week of Dec or Dec 23 to Jan 2, don't even expect to find those 2 or 3 nights. VWL tends to be open quite a bit until near Thanksgiving time and then is difficult the rest of the quearter. The exceptions are that you can usually find much open the third week of Nov and third week of Dec and between Jan 3 and the Wed before marathon weekend; also 1BRs are often open when nothing else is.

SSR is always open at 7 months out and except for some risk for first week of Dec, and possibly a few days in mid-Oct, so are AKV standard and savanna view and OKW except for Hospitality House area.

If you intend to live in the 7 month window, be aware that for many things many times of year, it will be important that you book exactly 7 months out because once the 7 month window opens anything at near park resorts can disappear quickly.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

We tacked on a few nights at VB after a week at BCV a few years ago and took our Owners Locker with us. For our return Brian met us at the car rental return at MCO to pick up the locker. We texted ETA's back & forth a couple of times that day...won't they do that any more?

I'm sure they do. It's so much easier to leave it with bell services and not mess with it at the airport, though. We were also on a 7 AM flight, so I'm not sure how thrilled he'd have been to meet me at 5.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

DVC member since 2001. I haven't had "much" problems booking seven months out except for The Californian @ Disneyland, which has the fewest amount of DVC accomodations. But I guess a lot of people complained, because you can now stay at the hotel part if the villas are booked. Couldn't do that before. I'm limited to vacation dates that my daughter is out of school which is typically the busiest times anywhere for Disney. I booked 7 months out twice @ Aulani in Hawaii without problem. I also booked 11 months out at my home resort at Disneyworld to be there Christmas many years ago. If you want more of a guarantee, book at your home resort. It doesn't help to buy points here and there at different resorts, it only matters where most of your points are. If you have 250 points at Boardwalk and 100 points @ Contemporary, it doesn't get you go book any sooner.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

If you have 250 points at Boardwalk and 100 points @ Contemporary, it doesn't get you go book any sooner.

Sure it does. You just have to be willing to do a split stay if you can't change it at the 7-month mark. I always lock in our dates and book at the 11-month mark, even if it means using different reservations at all three of our home resorts. Fortunately, with banking and borrowing it isn't usually that complex, though. I'm usually able to get it down to two reservations for our two-week trip. We actually enjoy split stays, so it isn't a problem for us one way or the other.

 

[AmyB2006]

I'm considering buying a resale SSR since it has the lowest buyin and maintenance fees... but probably will not stay at SSR often, if at all. I'm wondering how hard it is for other DVC members to get the resort they want at the 7 month window. We're pretty flexible with dates so I'm hoping that will help a lot. I'd hate to buy into SSR but never be able to stay at Akl, BC, VWL, BLT, etc

Thoughts???

As already said, yes, you can stay other places. But will you be able to stay at BLT the week of Christmas if you want? Probably not. Can you get BCV or BWV during Food and Wine Festival? Possibly, if you're flexible.

But for the most part, I've never had problems at the 7 month window. We own BCV and we've stayed there once.

 

[mdinme]

We just bought in Dec. at SSR. Managed to book ten consecutive. Nights at BCV at 7 mo. in late Aug. Studio. We were flexible and i had to waitlist 2 days. Also got 2 weekdays in Oct at bwv at 7 mo for fw.

We wouldnt care if only ssr or okw was available.

 

[CarolMN]

Unless someone is reporting success for the same type of villa and time of the year that you are interested in obtaining, it really means very little. For example, summer is usually much easier to book at 7 months than is fall and generally, studios book more quickly than two bedrooms which book more quickly than 1 bedrooms.

Success at the 7 month window is very dependent on booking category (resort, villa size, & view) and the time of the year.

See drusba's post above for the best info on 7 month booking.

 

[permavac]

All great info here about the times when you will find other resorts booked up. I would add that "stalking" is important when you're trying to get into other resorts at the 7-month window. Thank goodness for the introduction of on-line booking! I have been able to get what I wanted every time - but we only get studios, go in the slower months usually, and are willing to take the higher category room views if/when the standards are all gone. We have booked less than 7-months on 9 out of 10 DVC trips and we have only stayed at SSR once, which happened to be this past weekend. In this case, that was all that was available but I only booked the week before and April is a busier timeframe than when we usually go.

I would also say - don't get discouraged if everything "appears" to be booked up at the 7-month window. Case in point, I planned a large family trip for this past January (end of the month). I got a transfer in of BLT points but I really wanted BCV. I booked at BLT with the intention of switching over to BCV at the 7-month mark. When it was time to switch there was plenty of availability at BCV but then my DH and I decided it would probably be better to stay at BLT after all because of the young children in our party and the proximity to MK. We still needed to book a few more nights at BLT at that time (with our own home resort points) and we needed to change from a 1-bedroom reservation to a studio for one family. Nothing was available! I waitlisted and the waitlist came through within a few weeks. Then, as I checked periodically, there were rooms that popped up on-line here and there. I could have snagged another few reservations if I had needed them. I also ended up booking the week prior to that trip at BCV using "holding" points (60 days or less booking).

Bottom line, while I agree that you should buy where you "primarily" want to stay, I'm not sure what that means for us. BWV is my favorite resort but I can't say that we've stayed more there than the other resorts and we've actually booked a couple of trips only a few weeks in advance at BWV so owning there for the times of year we go isn't necessarily critical (although my add on was at BWV ).

Again, lots of good info on here. I suspect if you: go the slower times, aren't too picky with categories, anticipate staying at different resorts every year, and can spend ample time checking availability, you'll be happy with an SSR purchase. If you prefer staying at one particular resort most visits, then do yourself a favor and buy that resort.

Terri