Legit Booking, or Cheating?

[Fractal514]

Ok, to the folks out there who want to find ways of "beating the system." I had the following thought.

I want to book a trip that starts on Day X and ends on Day X+7....

Could I call down on 7 months prior to X-6, book for 7 days, and thereby secure my first date. The next day I call and say that my plans have changed, and I need to push the whole thing back one day...X-5 through X+1, and then repeat this every day until I have my reservation secured for X through X+7.

1. Would this work, or is there a mechanic in the reservation system that I don't know about, IE 2 rooms need to available in the system in order to do it.

2. Is there a mechanics in the point allocation I'm not thinking about.

3. If this works, would it be Jerky or Genius?

4. Has anyone done this before?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Hunclemarco]

Hello
Sounds like you're trying to "walk your reservation". This was regularly done till about a year ago, although some still do it now.
If i find more info on this, i'll edit this post.

Added:
The way that reservations are made now, you can include all seven days of your trip from the first date of your trip. Any days you need afterward can be called on a daily basis.
At one time, you needed to book day by day to secure your reservations...since your ending vacation date had to be within the 7 month period.
I couldn't find any information using the search, but i'm sure that there are more qualified people here that can help you with the legistics of your question.

 

[Fractal514]

My hope is to use this technique some year for a special trip during thanksgiving or a time period like that, when not having a home resort in FL will be a real hindrance. Curse you VGC for having lower rates and great incentives

 

[nunzia]

My hope is to use this technique some year for a special trip during thanksgiving or a time period like that, when not having a home resort in FL will be a real hindrance. Curse you VGC for having lower rates and great incentives :-)

I missed something. VGC has lower rates (than what?) and what incentives??

 

[88golf88]

My hope is to use this technique some year for a special trip during thanksgiving or a time period like that, when not having a home resort in FL will be a real hindrance. Curse you VGC for having lower rates and great incentives

Now you have me thinking about that...Im sure there Disney has to have something set up to guard against it, I would just have no idea what.

If anyone else knows, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[goofy4tink]

People have been 'walking' their reservations for awhile now. It isn't 'against' the rules, but is sure does make it hard for those who call and book for when their actual, and real, reservations are. It's probably not such a big deal at the 7 month window, but it sure is at the 11 month window.

It always pays to buy where you want to stay.

 

[DebbieB]

Someone recently reported that they called member services at exactly 11 months and was not able to get their reservation. The cm suggested that they should have booked it earlier and cancelled the unwanted days. So they are aware of the process and are even condoning it.

 

[Disneycouple99]

This does not work at the 7th month mark. Yes you could beat others trying to get your same dates at the 7th month mark, but the problem is a owner at that resort could have blocked any of the dates you need to get in the 4 month home booking window. The only way is to walk the reservation for 4 months and that will send up a BIG red flag.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

This does not work at the 7th month mark. Yes you could beat others trying to get your same dates at the 7th month mark, but the problem is a owner at that resort could have blocked any of the dates you need to get in the 4 month home booking window. The only way is to walk the reservation for 4 months and that will send up a BIG red flag.

For a non-home resort reservation, even starting to "walk" 4 months in advance won't help. If you want to stay on day X, the home resort owners can always call before you and completely book that day. When you try to book X after walking your reservation for months, you will still be shut out and have to call back and get on the waitlist like any other non-home resort owner when the 7 month window opens. Lots of effort for no result at the non-home resort. -- Suzanne

 

[Fractal514]

When we were down there, I wasn't the most informed DVC buyer ever, the options presented were Bay Lake, AKV, and VGC, AKV just doesn't appeal to me at all. VGC points were lower than Bay Lake and I got 2009 points for free for buying VGC. I needed to finance and so I went through Disney.

I know about the 11 month window and buy where you stay and all that. I didn't., So here I am trying to find out how to make the best out of this situation. I realize that trying to book Bay Lake for thanksgiving is going to be impossible unless it's my home, but that's ok. I'm just trying to understand all of the tricks of the system, so I can maximize what I DO have control over.

 

[Crystal_27]

I realize that trying to book Bay Lake for thanksgiving is going to be impossible unless it's my home, but that's ok.

I think that you may be pleasantly surprised there. Sure, you may not get a standard view at BLT for Thanksgiving (or a MK view) but you will more than likely be able to get a lake view, particularly because DVC is still declaring inventory for BLT as more contracts are sold. And, as far as "walking" reservations, it's completely legit (although calling every day is a pain). It probably doesn't work as well at the 7 month window, but certainly at the 11 month it can really put you ahead of the game. Happy trip planning!

 

[Chuck S]

The advantage to walking the reservation is only at exactly 11 months, where you are basically guaranteed a reservation. There are no such guarantees at 7 months. You could still easily not find a day available for the middle of your reservation because it was previously booked by an owner at that resort.

 

[jelwallace]

You can absolutely walk the reservation. I did it at the 11 month time period for Thanksgiving. I called every day for 1 week and got exactly what I wanted. During one of my calls the cast member and I started talking about it and he said that it is a very smart move to walk at both the 11 month and 7 months windows for the popular times (Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break) but probably isn't needed as much for other times. Good luck.

 

[dvcdisney]

There was a long discussion about this (over a year or so ago??? - sorry can't remember exactly when) when they changed the booking policy to 7 days. One of the concerns were that members would use this new policy (or some felt that they would be forced) to "walk their reservation".

The debate became quite large so they kept it all in one thread....which I cannot find now.

Anyways, I think most agreed that it probably isn't necessary for most bookings except for the very popular time of the year or popular room types etc.

I think a lot of people have done this. I'm not sure if it was necessary. Another large discussion about this was whether MS would allow this to happen and if not, what would they do about it. There were also many other issues involved.

Also, as a few have already mentioned, this would only work at 11 months prior. At 7 months, the advantage would not be there since any home resort owner could easily book that room before the end of your stay.

 

[Disneycouple99]

For a non-home resort reservation, even starting to "walk" 4 months in advance won't help. If you want to stay on day X, the home resort owners can always call before you and completely book that day. When you try to book X after walking your reservation for months, you will still be shut out and have to call back and get on the waitlist like any other non-home resort owner when the 7 month window opens. Lots of effort for no result at the non-home resort. -- Suzanne

Your 100% correct about this. Guess the brain was not in full planning mode yet.

 

[Fractal514]

First off,

Thanks everyone for your responses, I post on many message boards and find this one to be the most friendly and helpful.

To those who say there is no advantage at 7months, I have to disagree. It's not as big an advantage, but let's say I'm trying for a Treehouse at Thanksgiving. Yes anyone who is SSR would be able to stop me at ANY point, but that's only, what, <15% of the total DVC membership? At 7 Months I know I can't beat them, but I am trying to outfox the ~85% that remain.

Am I way off in my thinking or does that make sense?

 

[Disneycouple99]

First off,

Thanks everyone for your responses, I post on many message boards and find this one to be the most friendly and helpful.

To those who say there is no advantage at 7months, I have to disagree. It's not as big an advantage, but let's say I'm trying for a Treehouse at Thanksgiving. Yes anyone who is SSR would be able to stop me at ANY point, but that's only, what, <15% of the total DVC membership? At 7 Months I know I can't beat them, but I am trying to outfox the ~85% that remain.

Am I way off in my thinking or does that make sense?

15% of 350,000 members is 52,500 SSR members. 52,500 SSR members trying to book 30 THV and that is going by your numbers. SSR probably has more than just 15%.

In the end if you want to do this, go ahead and try. Either you will get the reservatoin you want or not. If you don't try and don't get the reservation, you will be second guessing yourself about it.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Someone recently reported that they called member services at exactly 11 months and was not able to get their reservation. The cm suggested that they should have booked it earlier and cancelled the unwanted days. So they are aware of the process and are even condoning it.

Sounds like MS is starting to suggest walking as they did DBD.
Good. I honestly hope this new system proves to be a failure.

MG

 

[bbluvsdis]

I must be the only one who wonders why everyone can't just follow the rules and not try to "outfox" everyone else. I hated the idea of having to call everyday to get a reservation. We are the ones who are paying MS to take all of the phone calls. I had hoped the new system would stop this but apparently not. I wouldn't have ever thought of these ways around the system if not for reading them here!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I must be the only one who wonders why everyone can't just follow the rules and not try to "outfox" everyone else. I hated the idea of having to call everyday to get a reservation. We are the ones who are paying MS to take all of the phone calls. I had hoped the new system would stop this but apparently not. I wouldn't have ever thought of these ways around the system if not for reading them here!

But walking IS within the rules..

Now, the question is- Would you rather call day by day and have a fair system, or call bay by day and have an unfair system?

MG