Late June booking at the 7 month mark

[Jersey Brian]

We are thinking about a trip to Aulani for late June...... Is it "hard" to get a 1 bedroom or 2 studios at the 7 month date??? Thanks for the help.

 

[GooglyBear808]

Could be hard. That is summer and kids are out of school. We just booked 5 nights for June 2017 and Studios Island Garden view and higher were available. Didn't inquire for 1 bedroom. Please keep in mind that 1 bedroom has an occupancy of 5 and studios accomodate 4. But, we rented DVC points a little past the 11 month mark. 7 months out might be pushing it. Best of luck though!

 

[Elima2015]

It could be - we just tried to book a DVC villa for 6.5 months out in February 2017 and there was no availability for a studio, a 1 bedroom, or a 2 bedroom of any of the view categories except for one of the nights we will be there. I knew we were a little late in requesting, but we had just found out about going.

 

[Sepo]

We are thinking about a trip to Aulani for late June...... Is it "hard" to get a 1 bedroom or 2 studios at the 7 month date??? Thanks for the help.

JB:

We went through exactly this last year so I empathize. We were ready for a 1 BR or 2BR, whatever we could get. We wound up with a pool view 1 BR from 6/21 to 7/1, 10 days, which we were quite happy with.

It took us 4 days of trying and ultimately we moved our trip as a result. That is a difficult time classically and there are a finite number of DVC-assigned rooms. There are many posts elsewhere on optimal strategy. These include:

1) be online queued up (on two separate browsers (different IP recognition) for double the effect), with a precise clock, and click submit just as the seconds cross to the opening minute. If available, choose a party size of 1 and fix the reservation later.
2) Do a search for "walking up" a reservation and consider this. Understandably, there are mixed feelings about the kosherness of this strategy but it seems many people do this. In some respects, you have to "walk it up" anyway when extending a 7 day to longer anyway. If you try this, you will also get a feel for the difficulty of that time frame in the days before your target reservation and can hone your click-click skills. IM me and I can explain more if you want. We did not do this ultimately but I learned all about it during that desperate time.
3) Separately, consider using the rent/trade board in case another Aulani owner might be interested in your particular WDW points. Lower chance but simple ultimately and gets you at 7-11 months.
4) Lastly, if you need to work the waitlist route, put in the request early at the 7 month mark just as other folks are shuffling around their preferences too. Things can open up.

Good luck.

 

[Meriweather]

Good luck
We tried in June at 7 months for a studio and couldn't get a week......so had to back it up into May

 

[Soccerluvinmama]

It could be - we just tried to book a DVC villa for 6.5 months out in February 2017 and there was no availability for a studio, a 1 bedroom, or a 2 bedroom of any of the view categories except for one of the nights we will be there. I knew we were a little late in requesting, but we had just found out about going.

We will be there the same time! We will be there the 17th - 26th. We normally do Aulani every year (it's our home resort), but I was going to give it a break in 2017. Had second thoughts about 4 weeks ago so tried to book. It's only me and the kiddo now, and last time we stayed in one of the hotel rooms (I think there are only 8 available to DVC) and it was perfect for us, plus less points. Only had available a day here or there, so I took what I could and wait listed the rest. In fact, I wait listed the rest of the individual dates, then wait listed the entire 10 block. Welp, got notice about two weeks ago that my entire 10 wait list block was now confirmed. I've never done a wait list before, but it seemed to work out well for me....this time at least

 

[Jersey Brian]

Good luck
We tried in June at 7 months for a studio and couldn't get a week......so had to back it up into May

Thank... We will give it a try and hope for the best... We have some flexibility with dates.....

 

[Elima2015]

We will be there the same time! We will be there the 17th - 26th. We normally do Aulani every year (it's our home resort), but I was going to give it a break in 2017. Had second thoughts about 4 weeks ago so tried to book. It's only me and the kiddo now, and last time we stayed in one of the hotel rooms (I think there are only 8 available to DVC) and it was perfect for us, plus less points. Only had available a day here or there, so I took what I could and wait listed the rest. In fact, I wait listed the rest of the individual dates, then wait listed the entire 10 block. Welp, got notice about two weeks ago that my entire 10 wait list block was now confirmed. I've never done a wait list before, but it seemed to work out well for me....this time at least

That's fantastic!! I'm glad you were able to get your room.