Making Reservations - Partial Rant

[castleri]

As others have stated you are trying for a a very popular week at VWL. I know of one person who bought there just for the 11 month booking window because they want to go the exact time frame you are looking for each year. This was their first year of owning and she miscalculated the 11 month window and at 10 months out was put on the waitlist for a 2BR. You may have luck trying to change at the 7 month point for BWV or BCV but I would be flexible if I were you or be prepared to change your dates if you really want VWL. I made our Sept reservations a week ago and could have had VWL, AKV, OKW and SSR but not BWV or BCV. I took AKV and waitlisted for BCV - the sad thing is I own at BCV but didn't take advantage of the 11 month window.

 

[rellabee]

You really should try the waitlist.

We just bought DVC at the end of May 2007. In early June 2007, we booked our first DVC trip (10 days) in a studio, and I originally had 7 nights at SSR and 3 nights at BCV for late August 2007 --- we went on the waitlist for BCV, fully knowing that we were probably going to do a split stay. About 2 weeks before our trip, all of the pieces fell together and we were staying at BCV for the entire trip.

Then in November 2007, we decided to do a last minute Dec 2007 (2nd week in Dec) trip for 3 nights, again in a studio. When I called, the absolute only room available was a studio at SSR, which I happily took. I then waitlisted at AKV, VWL, BCV, and BWV just because. Never bothered checking the waitlist because I assumed there was no chance. Checked my reservations 3 days before our trip, and happily found that my BCV waitlist had come through!

For our next trip, we booked in January for an early June trip for 8 nights in a 2 Bedroom. We had a split stay booked due to lack of availability for all of my dates -- 5 nights at SSR, followed by 3 at BWV. I've been using the waitlist process to try to move my entire ressie over to BWV.....so far I'm at 3 nights SSR followed by 5 at BWV. Our last 2 waitlists have come through at the last minute.....so I'm cautiously optimistic that things may fall into place at the 30-day mark.

As you can tell, I'm not able to schedule our vacations at the 7 month mark, much less the 11 month mark. I anticipate that I'll be staying at SSR frequently, even though so far I haven't. I would have loved to own at BCV, but since I can't book early enough to use home resort advantage, then I'll just take what I can get. It's all good!!!

 

[kingrob76]

You guys have been very helpful in providing me "real world" information here - thanks to everyone (so far!).

 

[crisi]

Exactly. Own where you want to stay is my motto. I have Wilderness Lodge for December, BWV for October food and wine festival and Animal Kingdom for our March/April vacation. Other than not being able to get AKV concierge mostly due to MS system / CM screwups, I'm a happy camper making my reservations at 11 months and being able to get what I want.

As people own where they want to stay for these "draw to a specific resort/resorts" time of year, that makes those times of year even harder for people who don't own at that resort. But if you avoid the draw times, there are times for every resort that getting in as a non-owner really isn't problematic (except for certain room types at the resort).

 

[bblanch]

To me, these situations are the biggest support for having smaller multiple home resort contracts.

 

[DVCTiff]

We own at SSR and are heading down at the end of the month for our second stay at VWL. It definitely can be done!

 

[Tina]

I agree with everyone here. Definitely waitlist. Its early and you never know what might come through. I also own at SSR and have stayed at VWL twice (Oct & Nov). Good luck to you and have a great time!

 

[disneymomjcs]

I just booked 12/26 - 12/28 and 1/1. We are waitlisted 12/29 -12/31 for SSR.

I know they said this place is huge but its our home resort and I booked a studio at eight months out.

I asked them to check and all the resorts at this point are booked for studios.

We are staying 12/26 - 1/4 but the last two days might be Universal the weekend points are a killer. We've stayed in April/Oct/and early Dec with low points. These points are a shocker.

 

[Sheribo]

Our home resort is also SSR and we hope to stay at the others as well. On our last trip in March decided to book a week at BCV for November to see the Christmas decorations. We went to the 'Welcome Home Wednesday' at the BW and spoke to other members who suggested that we try the day-by-day method since BCV is a small resort and can get pretty busy near Thanksgiving. We did just that and am happy to say it worked. Yes, it's more work to call everyday but like most DVC members, it's all about the planning!

 

[ellenmiele]

Our home resort is also SSR and we just stayed there for the first time this past December 4th-9th. We have 6 in our family (8 if the grandparents travel with us) so we need a 2br. I think we decided to do this trip about 5 months before and when I first called I could not get all the nights I wanted so I had to waitlist for one night. So even SSR was busy at that time of year - and I heard that it is a very popular time of year for DVC members because the points are low, the holiday decorations are up, etc.... Our waitlist did come through and we had a lovely stay but I must admit that I do prefer the other resorts that are closer to the parks. What I have done on past trips is to book SSR at the 11 month window and try to switch over day by day to another resort at the 7 month window. It worked like a charm in 2007 and we were able to get BCV during Easter week. So far I haven't been able to convince DH to buy more points at another resort but I'm still working on him.

 

[CarolMN]

I just booked 12/26 - 12/28 and 1/1. We are waitlisted 12/29 -12/31 for SSR.

I know they said this place is huge but its our home resort and I booked a studio at eight months out.

I asked them to check and all the resorts at this point are booked for studios.

We are staying 12/26 - 1/4 but the last two days might be Universal the weekend points are a killer. We've stayed in April/Oct/and early Dec with low points. These points are a shocker.

New Year's Eve is the most difficult night of the year to book at the WDW DVC Resorts. IIRC, 12/31 was sold out several months ago - even at SSR. Good luck with the waitlist!

 

[kingrob76]

Update from the OP:

I've gotten two of my nights a VWL (learning the lingo quickly!) and waitlisted so far for the ones that I could at the 7 month window. it looks like I might be able to get 5 of my 8 nights at VWL, having to waitlist the other three.

I originally had 8 nights at SSR, now have 2 confirmed for VWL and 6 for SSR. At the 7 month window for the END of my stay I'm planning on moving my 6 nights to OKW (milk my points a bit more), while reserving / waitlisting VWL concurrently (yes, I have enough points to do that - I think). I'm not keen on switching resorts but resigned to it at this point, at least once. If VWL comes through for all 8 nights, my OKW reservation will go bye-bye.

Lots of people have chimed in with lots of good ideas and information. Thanks to everyone again (so far) for the input!

 

[Muushka]

Welcome to the DVC boards.

There are other resorts that I enjoy other than my home resort (your home resort happens to be one of them!).

But I don't get my heart set on being able to stay at BCV for food and wine time because I am pretty sure it won't happen.

We reserve non-home resorts at times when it is not so busy or popular and have been pretty happy. I love the planning aspect of DVC. It is like a game! You will be an expert in no time. Just stick with us!

 

[ellenmiele]

Update from the OP:

I've gotten two of my nights a VWL (learning the lingo quickly!) and waitlisted so far for the ones that I could at the 7 month window. it looks like I might be able to get 5 of my 8 nights at VWL, having to waitlist the other three.

I originally had 8 nights at SSR, now have 2 confirmed for VWL and 6 for SSR. At the 7 month window for the END of my stay I'm planning on moving my 6 nights to OKW (milk my points a bit more), while reserving / waitlisting VWL concurrently (yes, I have enough points to do that - I think). I'm not keen on switching resorts but resigned to it at this point, at least once. If VWL comes through for all 8 nights, my OKW reservation will go bye-bye.

Lots of people have chimed in with lots of good ideas and information. Thanks to everyone again (so far) for the input!

Good luck with the waitlist - and remember that you could also do a split stay - a few nights at VWL to enjoy their holiday ambience/proximity to MK and then move over to SSR. I think DTD has great holiday decorations - esp festive at night!
One more DVC holiday thing...when we were at WDW in Dec we attended a Merry Member Mixer (I had read about them on these boards) at the International Gateway EPCOT entrance. Food, entertainment, characters,etc - all for DVC members. No reservations required - I think last year they were on Wednesdays in early/mid December. GREAT FUN!!!!!

 

[OurDogCisco]

BCV has not been available for the last 6-7 trips we've done despite sitting on waitlists for June, July, Oct, & Feb. I think it's amazing that for 5 years straight BCV has never come through..

Just curious do you waitlist day by day or for your entire stay? Also, did you get on the waitlist right at 7 months or at a later date?

 

[eporter66]

Hi - completely and total new person to the board so be gentle

Presently, I have 250 points at Saratoga Springs. I've stayed there twice and it's been very nice, but, my wife and I want to stay someplace with a bit more feel of actually being on the property - Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club, or Boardwalk, specifically somewhere where we can get to a park by either walking or water taxi / monorail. My wife REALLY wants to stay in Wilderness Lodge. It's become a point of contention with her, actually.

Very soon will be the start of the 7 month window for our planned trip. I spoke with DVC today and found out there is NOTHING available at ANY of those properties for our planned stay. I was floored. Touringplans.com shows the crowd calendar to be between 4 and 7 (1 day) that week (8 days, actually) so I didn't think it would be *that* difficult to get into ONE of those properties.

I like my DVC membership, but honestly I was expecting to be able to stay somewhere other than Saratoga Springs, Old Key West, or Animal Kingdom once in a while. So my question to the board is, is this what I can expect? Yes, I can waitlist for one of those properties but I have very little faith in the waitlist process actually coming through. My wife is frustrated to the point of wanting to sell our membership, and for the first time I'm starting to share that frustration. Do I need to rent my points and try to pay cash for a room?

Any perspectives on this kind of issues are appreciated - thanks!

Let me start with Perspective :
1. You will be staying in deluxe accomodations at WDW, why the frustration?
2. Congrats on at least getting two nights so far at VWL. The waitlist does work, you will see on the boards a lot of people are successful.

I understand wanting to try different resorts, honestly. We have stayed at SSR, OKW, and BWV's. I would love to get to the VWL, AKV, and BCV's. But, for various reasons, we have not tried or been able to up to this point. I bought into DVC because we plan to go to Disney often, and it was so we could stay comfortable, and invite family to come with us.

DVC membership does not necessarily work with touringguide.com for times to go. DVC can be busy when the parks are not, because off season rates are cheaper.

If you love Disney, but are really that frustrated, then maybe you could sell your SSR points, and try to buy points at 1 or 2 resorts you like the best. Not sure how often VWL contracts come up, but you could check into that.

Ultimately (and I may be in the minority), I am always happy with whatever resort we get. The ones we have stayed at have been great, unique in their own way. Do we have favorites...sure. But, I am never bummed about where I will be staying when I am going to WDW, with DVC we are staying in great accomodations.

 

[DVC Mary]

The last poster has a very real suggestion that many of us may want to consider. If you have a favorite resort & are having an increasingly difficult time getting in there at the 7 month window, but perhaps buying resales of those contracts might be best especially if you can sell your contract at a possible profit. SSR is selling in the $80 range. VWL is selling in the high $70s - $80s. I have two contracts & I am starting to think that selling one of my smaller contracts (which sell at a higher price) and buying an AKL of VWL resale might be best to avoid these problems.

 

[disneynutz]

We felt the same way as the OP. It just so happens that our favorite times are the favorite times for most DVCers. Rather than fight the process we gave in and bought points where we like to stay.

We are now broke and in debt up to our eyeballs, but we always get our requested accommodations at 11 months.

 

[snowwhitemom]

have faith in the waitlist...... its not all bad, i always book my home resort SSR for Christmas holiday (day by day) and then I get waitlisted at 7 months for the resort of choice and so far so good, I have always been blessed with the ressie I want...but even if not I still have my vacation..which hasnt happened yet.

Good luck to you.

 

[dgaston]

Glad the waitlist has come thru for the OP for 2 days at least. SSR and AKV owner here. I have been lucky enough to fare well at the 7 month mark. In July (ok it's not as busy as Dec.) we're staying at VWL. I was able to get our Saturday night as a DVC discount with my first call. It's one of those quirky things where deluxes are in value season after July 20, even tho it's Magic Season for points. Sunday and Monday are on points.

For October I called at the 7 month mark and was able to book a BWV preferred studio for the F & W festival. BCV and BW views were not available, but I'm happy I can walk to Epcot.

For Feb I had to waitlist the Sunday of President's week at OKW (1 br) and that came through in a couple of weeks.

So while it's not a guarantee--good things can still happen with planning.