Making my first Reservation!

[Paticake]

I will be calling next monday to reserve our first trip home for the week after Thanksgiving 2004. We are taking my siblings and niece and nephews. Truly a magical gathering as none of them have been.I will need to borrow about 40 points.Should I have any problems getting that week? How long can I expect to be on the phone with them,I`ll have to go to work late. Wish they opened earlier than 9. I am very excited and will have lots of ?s about planning for our age group who will range from 3 to 53. Thanks in advance.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

If you are calling 11 months out, you should have no problem getting your reservation. You didn't say which resort, but when you are on the phone with MS just ask them if you should book day by day or all at once.

The whole process should only take 5 minutes on the phone.

 

[Patricia721]

I just made our first reservations for 11 months out - SSR the week before Thanksgiving. I called around 5 - 5:15pm, never a wait, everything only took a couple of minutes. I did end up calling day by day (MS suggested that I do it that way), always in the late afternoon.

Something I didn't know is that if you do call day by day, you can tell MS that you are starting a reservation that you'll be adding on to -- that way you don't get separate confirmation letters for each day but will get one for the entire trip.

 

[Paticake]

I didn`t know that you could make yor resevation day by day. In that case I can call for SSR tomorrow!!!!!!!

 

[Ducky4Disney]

Wait a minute, what do you mean by that? I am slowly approaching the 11 month window to make my first reservations to go home and I want to understand.

Please excuse me if I talk about this like a four year old - but that's the only way I understand it! (Speak slowly and use pictures)

You can make your reservations 11 months from your check-out date. So if I want to go to WDW 12/5/04 - 12/15/04 then I can make reservations on 01/15/04, right? If I am understanding this day by day thing correctly... you are calling everyday to add a day onto your reservation? So I could call on 01/05/04 to secure the first day (12/5/04) and then calll back on 01/06/04 to add the next day, so on and so forth until all 10 days are there?

Is this really necessary? Is it THAT hard to make reservations or is that only for certain dates? You've got me worried about making my upcoming reservations. I don't know if I can dedicate myself to 10 days of calling!

D4D

 

[tootsiemolly]

I also haven't made my first reservation yet either. I also want to know if it is that difficult to get what I want? I also want to know, If I own at SSR, is it true that my first reservation needs to be for the amount of point I own or less? Because I can't borrow or bank any points until after I have closed on my unit? Any one? I also want to know how hard is it to get 3 bed units at OKW 7 mo. out? Also is it difficult to get into Vero, or HH at 7 mo out?

Thanks for everyones help

 

[jimmytammy]

We have made day by day ressies twice, the reason the 1st time was we were booking at VWL during first weeks of Dec., a very popular time at this particular resort. It is a little annoying doing this, but once MS knows this is what you are doing, they get you through promptly. Just let them know up front your intentions. They will help it go smooth from there.

Last time we booked day by day, I forgot to call for 5 straight days. I was so relieved to know that this was no problem. Our ressies were intact. We are going in Oct. during F&W festival and were concerned that our home resort would be booked as this seems to be a popular time among DVCers also.

Honestly, you will probably be OK calling and making ressies all at once, but if you dont want to risk it and be sure do the day by day and be safe. This wouldnt be a everytime you make a ressie occurence, just when pts are low and season is high. We just booked OKW for Mar. and were willing to travel whenever they could get us in. To our surprise, it was wide open,"which week do you want to come" was their reply. But the pts are pretty high then.

As for the day by day, call MS, ask them what you should do. If you get a knowledgeable CM, they will know exactly what you are talking about. Tell them the dates you want to make ressies for and they may even tell you the day you need to start calling. If not, there is a website that I cant recall, but I know someone on here will give you that info that can calculate the exact day you need to start calling.

Another little tidbit, when calling MS to make ressies, after dialing the #, touch 3, wait for the prompt, then touch 3 again. Also MS opens at 8am Mon-Fri. Call right then if possible, a lot less wait time.

Sorry for the long post. Good Luck!!

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Originally posted by Ducky4Disney
So if I want to go to WDW 12/5/04 - 12/15/04 then I can make reservations on 01/15/04, right? If I am understanding this day by day thing correctly... you are calling everyday to add a day onto your reservation? So I could call on 01/05/04 to secure the first day (12/5/04) and then calll back on 01/06/04 to add the next day, so on and so forth until all 10 days are there?

For your dates of your reservation 12/5 to 12/15, the first day you can call is Jan 6th if you are doing day by day. If MS tells you it is not neceasary to do day-by day, you can book it all at once on Jan 16th.

That time of the year(early December) is very popular for DVC members so it wouldn't hurt to do day by day to gaurantee your 10 day stay. If it is at OKW you probably can get away with 1 phone call for the whole reservation unless you wanted a GV.

 

[mikesmom88]

Originally posted by tootsiemolly
I also haven't made my first reservation yet either. I also want to know if it is that difficult to get what I want? I also want to know, If I own at SSR, is it true that my first reservation needs to be for the amount of point I own or less? Because I can't borrow or bank any points until after I have closed on my unit? Any one? I also want to know how hard is it to get 3 bed units at OKW 7 mo. out? Also is it difficult to get into Vero, or HH at 7 mo out?

Thanks for everyones help

I didn't see anyone answer tootsiemolly's question yet about banking or borrowing SSR points until you actually close. Can anyone confirm that?

Thanks

 

[DrTomorrow]

Originally posted by jimmytammy
Also MS opens at 8am Mon-Fri. Call right then if possible, a lot less wait time.

Is this new? I thought it was 9AM EST....

 

[BriarRose59]

MS opens at 8 a.m. Central Standard Time, which is 9 a.m. Eastern time. Yes, you can borrow against your SSR points, I did it this morning for a GV at SSR the week of Thanksgiving next year.

 

[Paticake]

I called member services this morning and booked my first night. The CM I spoke to said it was a really good idea for that time of year! SoI`ll be back on the phone tomorrow! Thanks again for this useful information!

 

[Granny]

I'm glad everything went smoothly for you. You will find that the calls for the rest of your nights average about 30 seconds each, and most of that is confirming your membership number!

I don't know if I can dedicate myself to 10 days of calling!

Ducky....it's really easy after the first call, since you tell them how many days you plan to call. And no, you don't have to do it, but many of us are in the "better safe than sorry" mode and make reservations this way during heavy DVC seasons such as early December. As noted above, other than the first call, the rest take almost no time at all.