Legit Booking, or Cheating?

[Fractal514]

Not really. Say you want to reserve July 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 at 7 months via walking.

You call December 27, and reserve June 27, 28, 29, 30, July 1, 2, 3. You call December 28, but July 4 is already gone. You then can not call December 29 to add July 5, as it is then not a continuous reservation...you'd have to wait until January 5th to call and book July 5, 6, and 7. So there was no advantage to walking. The first "not available" day you hit ends your walking strategy. It just isn't much of a strategy to try to walk at 7 months.

Yes, I have acknowledged that in this instance the advantage would be lost. But that's only one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it is that out there is someone who wants to book a vacation that runs May 14th-18, I want something that runs the 15th-23. Now assuming we are both non homers, I do have an advantage. Assuming that no home resort owners book in that window, I would get the room over the other guy by walking, I would lose the room to him by not.

Do you see how in that situation there IS a clear advantage?

 

[Chuck S]

Yes, I have acknowledged that in this instance the advantage would be lost. But that's only one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it is that out there is someone who wants to book a vacation that runs May 14th-18, I want something that runs the 15th-23. Now assuming we are both non homers, I do have an advantage. Assuming that no home resort owners book in that window, I would get the room over the other guy by walking, I would lose the room to him by not.

Do you see how in that situation there IS a clear advantage?

Not really, because if room supply is that limited and you aren't the VERY FIRST caller that morning to extend/change your reservation, someone calling making a fresh reservation could still take it away. Even if you are first and just have a slow or friendly/chatty rep, you could lose it. I've lost a night while on the phone with MS when I was looking to stay an extra night (we were already at the resort) so we moved to POP.

I just depends upon which rep hit the enter key first.

A lot of work for a "maybe."

 

[Sandisw]

If you are walking a ressie or trying to get a ressie during a timeframe when other members are "walking", thus affecting YOUR availability, then you'll be calling every day.---Kathy

We are lucky that we travel in August and have flexibility in the dates. If I call at 11 months and my check in date is not available, I will move my trip up a until I can book the whole thing. I teach so have both July and August to play with and still like knowing that for the most part, the 11 month + 7 will work for me.

 

[Fractal514]

I think that either I am explaining my thought process poorly, or there is something I'm just not getting, but I'm not looking for an acknowledgment that this is a fool proof strategy, just that is would increase, even if it's minimally, you chances. Maybe it isn't an increase that is worth the effort, and maybe it's a trivial increase, but in the end, it would be an increase. Can I get that at least?

 

[Disneycouple99]

The origanl question remains is this a legit booking or cheating. As of now, this is a legit booking by MS standards. By the responses from this thread, some agree and some feel this is cheating. If it works at the 7th month mark or not is a personal preference. OP, feel free to try and here is some for you.

 

[crisi]

I think that either I am explaining my thought process poorly, or there is something I'm just not getting, but I'm not looking for an acknowledgment that this is a fool proof strategy, just that is would increase, even if it's minimally, you chances. Maybe it isn't an increase that is worth the effort, and maybe it's a trivial increase, but in the end, it would be an increase. Can I get that at least?

I'll give you at seven months its a trivial increase. But I wonder why someone who felt that strongly and wanted to do that much work for a reservation wouldn't own the resort in question - or rent points at that resort from another owner and rent or trade their points away - in order to have a BETTER chance at eleven months.

If I really wanted a THV, for example, I'd rent points from an SSR owner, then rent my own BWV points over F&W. I might even try a "trade" post over on the RT board - my eleven month window for F&W and BWV for your eleven month window at THV.

 

[Chuck S]

I'll give you at seven months its a trivial increase. But I wonder why someone who felt that strongly and wanted to do that much work for a reservation wouldn't own the resort in question - or rent points at that resort from another owner and rent or trade their points away - in order to have a BETTER chance at eleven months.

If I really wanted a THV, for example, I'd rent points from an SSR owner, then rent my own BWV points over F&W. I might even try a "trade" post over on the RT board - my eleven month window for F&W and BWV for your eleven month window at THV.

Exactly! If you're talking about "advantage" that is far, far superior to trying to walk at 7 months.

 

[Snurk71]

I think that either I am explaining my thought process poorly, or there is something I'm just not getting, but I'm not looking for an acknowledgment that this is a fool proof strategy, just that is would increase, even if it's minimally, you chances. Maybe it isn't an increase that is worth the effort, and maybe it's a trivial increase, but in the end, it would be an increase. Can I get that at least?

I understand what you're saying, and mathematically I think your walking theory at 7 months is valid. All we're talking about is an increase of odds at 7 months, if there is room availability at 7 months.

Here is a scenario that I think would work under your thought...

You want a trip Dec 1 - 7 at a non-home resort. It just so happens that home resort members have booked all but one room for that week. There are 99 other people that want to go Dec 1 - 7 at that non-home resort too. So instead of calling 7 months out of Dec 1 with odds of 100-1, you call a few days early and make a Nov 28 - Dec 4 reservation. then you call on the 29th and 30th to add/drop the days to where you have an 11/30 - 12/6 reservation. Now when the other 99 people call at their 7 month mark, MS tells them the room isn't available - they can only have the last night. So the other 99 people say no thanks and pick another resort. When you call you take the last night and drop 11/30, and you essentially blocked the 99 others from their choice and got your 12/1 - 12/7 trip.

Now, you can debate how likely that sequence of events is in reality. But unless I missed something on how the walking and MS goes, there is a statistical increase of odds trying to walk for 7 months.

 

[88golf88]

This thread seems to have gotten out of control a bit. For the OP, yes you can walk reservations. Is it against the rules? Not yet. Do some feel that it is wrong? Yes. Do some others feel that if it gives them an advantage, even if it is only a 2% advantage, they are going to take advantage of it? Yes.

There is no right or wrong answer here as far as "right or wrong". You obviously have people on both sides of the fence. And until Disney changes their policy, if they change their policy, it is your right to "walk" your reservation. Good luck with it.

For those who hate this rule and want it changed because you feel it is unfair and cheating. Write/email/call Disney until you are blue in the face and ask them to change it. At the rate that Disney changes things, you shouldnt count on a change anytime soon.

Sorry to vent, but people seem to be taking this a little to personal, IMO anyways. If I offended anyone, I sincerely apologize, just giving my 2 cents worth.

 

[Deb & Bill]

.... When you call you take the last night and drop 11/30, and you essentially blocked the 99 others from their choice and got your 12/1 - 12/7 trip.....

But the odds of getting that at 7 months out is very slim. And members with home resort reservations may be waiting for 7 months to change their resort. So the member not walking at 7 months may just get that reservation that wasn't even available seven days before.

And then there are the members who finally remember they need to book at their home resort seven months and eight days before the start of their trip.

 

[Tink6666]

I had no trouble calling at exactly 11 months before my first reservation date and booking my 6 day trip and then calling at the first day of the 7 month window and changing resorts. Even if the last 6 days did not hit the 7 month window yet.

 

[CarolMN]

I understand what you're saying, and mathematically I think your walking theory at 7 months is valid. All we're talking about is an increase of odds at 7 months, if there is room availability at 7 months.

Here is a scenario that I think would work under your thought...

You want a trip Dec 1 - 7 at a non-home resort. It just so happens that home resort members have booked all but one room for that week. There are 99 other people that want to go Dec 1 - 7 at that non-home resort too. So instead of calling 7 months out of Dec 1 with odds of 100-1, you call a few days early and make a Nov 28 - Dec 4 reservation. then you call on the 29th and 30th to add/drop the days to where you have an 11/30 - 12/6 reservation. Now when the other 99 people call at their 7 month mark, MS tells them the room isn't available - they can only have the last night. So the other 99 people say no thanks and pick another resort. When you call you take the last night and drop 11/30, and you essentially blocked the 99 others from their choice and got your 12/1 - 12/7 trip.

Now, you can debate how likely that sequence of events is in reality. But unless I missed something on how the walking and MS goes, there is a statistical increase of odds trying to walk for 7 months.

You picked a bad example, lol. The chances of 11/28 - 12/4 being available at 7 months is almost nil (unless you are trying for one of the less popular villas sizes at one of the larger resorts, and then the discussion is moot - no need to walk).

I grant you that if there was still availability for ALL of the days for the room size & view for the week prior to the time you planned to book, then walking would give you an advantage over someone who did not walk. That is a BIG IF and that is what everyone is saying. Even one missing day makes all the previous daily calls wasted effort.

If staying at a particular resort at a particular time in a particular villa is that important, the OP needs to find a way to take advantage of the home resort booking period, or use the waitlist and hope to get lucky.

 

[dvcdisney]

Yes, I have acknowledged that in this instance the advantage would be lost. But that's only one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it is that out there is someone who wants to book a vacation that runs May 14th-18, I want something that runs the 15th-23. Now assuming we are both non homers, I do have an advantage. Assuming that no home resort owners book in that window, I would get the room over the other guy by walking, I would lose the room to him by not.

Do you see how in that situation there IS a clear advantage?

As I mentioned in my pp, I will agree that there is an advantage, no matter how minimal it may be. However, I'm just wondering what the percentage of advantage it would be. This does come done to a personal choice-- whether you want to invest your time and effort. But if the purpose is to get the advantage over non-members, then you should determine how early you would need to start "walking".

Using your example, you may be able to book the room before that person who wants to book May 14-18th, but what if that person was actually booking May 4-18, then you should have started walking a week or so earlier in order to get a jump on this member. But where does it stop? Do you have to start walking months in advance?

Your point is clear, but, imo, the advantage seem insignificant. But, if after days of calling back to add and drop days, you are met with no availability for the next day, will this be okay? If so....then absolutely, go ahead and do it if you want.

By the way, I'm assuming that you are considering walking because it's a certain popular room type that you want or it's a very popular time of the year. And if this is the case, the advantage is even lower since there is a better chance that home resort members have snatched those up. I think most people have tried to purchase where they want to stay especially if it's a difficult to get reservation.

As an aside, about 2 years after we purchased our first set of points, we realized that getting into BCV during F&W festival was getting to be harder and harder at 7 mths. So we decided to purchase BCV points. I didn't have any problems getting those rooms from then on. I think the more people join DVC, the more discussion is out there and the more people are suggesting that you buy into the resort you want to stay in, especially for difficult to get reservations. Don't get me wrong, many of us still own at resort where home resort priority hasn't been used.

One last thing, being a member, I have learned that it's best to have at least one or two other places you would not mind staying in as a back up because at 7 mths, there's a chance you will not get your first choice. I will admit, it seems more difficult now than when I first became a member.

However you want to proceed...good luck.