Last-minute trip during marathon weekend

[squirk]

I have a last-minute business trip to Orlando the first full week of January. I will be staying at the Hilton Bonnet Creek, and will wrap up at noon on Wednesday the 8th.

I was thinking about booking a few extra nights - the 8th and the 9th - on-property to check out SWGE. As Jan. 8-12 is marathon “weekend”, the 8th and 9th have no occupancy at Values or Moderates. The cheapest cash room on the WDW site is $450 at AKL.

There‘s no availability at all using points. Everything is waitlisted. I was able to book a room off-site at a decent price, but would much prefer to stay on-site.

Given the proximity to marathon weekend, is waitlisting the 8th/9th a realistic strategy? I guess there’s no harm in trying, but what resort(s) have the best chance of a studio coming back into inventory? OKW, due to its size?

Any constructive suggestions would be much appreciated.

Please and thank you!

 

[zavandor]

Marathon week end is one of the busiest week ends for DVC. Rooms are booked 11 months in advance and even SSR may have availability problems at 7 months. People have booked and waitlisted months ago. It's not going to cost you anything to create a waitlist, but keep your plan B (the stay offisite). You can also try and stalk the website for cancellations, there's the chance that someone cancels and availability isn't picked up immediately by an existing waitlist. Your best chances for a WL are 1BR SSR preferred and OKW not near hospitality house.

 

[Novatrix]

Having been in your shoes both last year (was working insane hours in December, I had planned to be down wed-mon marathon weekend but my boss told me to take mon and Tues off as well 2 weeks out) and this year (just found out last Friday that I'm going to be sent for training in Orlando tying in to the MLK holiday) I say STALK. Waitlist a SSR or OKW studio too, 1 night at a time.

Keep your off site reservation just in case, but last year I ended up with 2 nights at beach club studio 2 nights at boardwalk studio.This year I ended up with a total of 4 nights at boardwalk, 1 night OKW. So it can be done.

 

[Novatrix]

Also, keep checking the cash site too. French Quarter just popped up for your dates. (8th-10th)

When I've done other last minute trips, I've seen values and moderates come and go as often as dvc.