Need all sorts of help...do I do anything at 7 month window?

[discorsner]

I have posted on about my Thanksgiving trip a few times but now that the 7 month mark is approaching I am finding that I am confused again.

We are trying to stay for 10 nights November 16-26th in a 2 bedroom (any view) at BWV. I did not book at 11 month mark becuase we hadn't closed our resale yet. Once we closed I booked right away.

At first I was trying to get BW view but after awhile gave up on that. I was able to piece together all of my nights into a 2 bedroom Preferred view except for Thanksgiving night.

I paid for this night in cash through MS and also waitlisted it. They said if it came through I would be refunded. I also used my second waitlist on putting the whole stay as a Boardwalk view in the unlikely chance that people do some switching around and it becomes available.

Here is what I have right now. All in 2 bedroom preferred view at BWV. I have four travel plans!

November 16-20th on points
November 20-21st on points
November 21st-22nd cash ressie
November 22nd-26th on points

The reason there is so many is I was at first attempting to have some nights be Boardwalk view until I realized that it probably wouldn't come through and gave up on it and changed the nights I did have at BW view over to the preferred view so I can try to have one unit the whole time.

So.... Here are my questions (finally, I know.)

1. Do I do anything when my 7 month mark comes or just sit back and wait to see if any waitlist comes through?

2. Has anyone had any luck when calling to get their waitlist to come through (call me paranoid but I am not sure if the online system is really gonna work)

3. Will I be able to combine any of these travel plans into one? Like since I have 16-20 and then 20-21 right now on points and same room type can these just be combined? The whole four travel plan thing is freaking me out.

4. How can I make sure these are linked together with the highest chance of not having to move rooms at all? I am hoping since the 16th is quite a bit ahead of the holiday that maybe it won't be so crazy at check in and I will luck out with all my ducks in a row???

5. Even if I don't have to move will we have to check in and out?

6. We are still considering a dining plan purchase and debating it. If we end up going this route will we be able to get one plan for the whole time? If waitlist doesn't come through and there is a cash night in the middle can we still get the dining plan with it?

Thanks so much for all of your help! I really appreciate all the responses I always get on the dis! The dis has made our buying process and our first year of membership so much better!

 

[discorsner]

I'm sorry when I say preferred I meant Pool/Garden. All of our nights are in a 2 bedroom Pool/Garden view.

 

[bumbershoot]

The whole four travel plan thing is freaking me out.

Why is it freaking you out? I can see annoyed, but freaked?

We are still considering a dining plan purchase and debating it. If we end up going this route will we be able to get one plan for the whole time? If waitlist doesn't come through and there is a cash night in the middle can we still get the dining plan with it?

This is where the annoyance will show up. With different numbers it would probably be different dining plans. And the cash night, as far as I know, won't be possible to have a dining plan; when you have a cash room it has to be a package in order to have a dining plan.

With the rooms being the same and the people in the room being the same, I think it's possible they'll smush the first two plans together under one number (FYI they don't email you that they are doing that....one day your numbers just show up as cancelled, and you have a heart attack, and then you go looking on dvcmember and can breathe again), but the cash night and the last night wouldn't be together.


I suppose you wonder about the 7 month mark because people might be dropping nights there for what they really wanted? I can see that. yeah, I would probably check online, at the least, routinely to see if that night becomes available. I probably wouldn't rely on the wait list.

 

[Missyrose]

I would scour the Web site when the 7-month window opens to see if the villa you're waiting for comes available, then either book it online or call MS immediately. There have been lots of people who say they were able to book villas before it ever registered for their waitlists. So if you're not looking, you may lose out.

Good luck!

 

[Chuck S]

A cash night, if reserved through Member Services, can have the dining plan. Cash nights through regular Disney Reservations requires a package.

Likely, your stay is already under a single travel plan number...and since they are all the same room type, should be considered a single stay with a continuous dining plan...but you should call Member Services to confirm that, as the "new and improved" Disney reservation system has some quirks.

 

[mjc2003]

Answers are in bold below.

1. Do I do anything when my 7 month mark comes or just sit back and wait to see if any waitlist comes through? It never hurts to call and check in with MS about waitlist availability.

2. Has anyone had any luck when calling to get their waitlist to come through (call me paranoid but I am not sure if the online system is really gonna work) Like I said above, it's not being paranoid to be conscientious.

3. Will I be able to combine any of these travel plans into one? Like since I have 16-20 and then 20-21 right now on points and same room type can these just be combined? The whole four travel plan thing is freaking me out. We had a similar situation for our trip last November. MS should be able to link all the reservations, and as long as they are all in the same booking category you should be fine.

4. How can I make sure these are linked together with the highest chance of not having to move rooms at all? I am hoping since the 16th is quite a bit ahead of the holiday that maybe it won't be so crazy at check in and I will luck out with all my ducks in a row??? If all the reservations are for the same room category they won't guarantee that you won't be switching rooms, but they will make a note of it and there is no reason why they would need to switch you if you think about it (barring scheduled maintenance on the room, maybe). So they won't give you a guarantee, but that's just semantics.

5. Even if I don't have to move will we have to check in and out? Yes. At least we did. However, this simply entails going to the desk and getting new keys. We had to do it twice and it took about 2 minutes.

6. We are still considering a dining plan purchase and debating it. If we end up going this route will we be able to get one plan for the whole time? If waitlist doesn't come through and there is a cash night in the middle can we still get the dining plan with it? Not a dining plan guy, but I have read of various complications with linked reservations and the dining plan. Somebody else would be better versed in this area.

 

[discorsner]

Thanks for all the responses. I did call MS today and I was able to have the first two parts combined under one travel plan.

And when I posted above I had the dates wrong because it was Thanksgiving night (22nd) that I only have on cash right now.

So now it is

11/16-11/22 on points

11/22-11/23 on cash

11/23-11/26 on points.

Three is better than four so I am happy there. The CM said that they were noted as continuing reservations. Also, she said it would have to be separate dining plans with the three travel plans.

I still find this part odd. I am not sure if we are going to even do the plan but the way it is now they would be dishing out 18 refillable mugs if we bought the dining plan the whole time!!! (6 of us, 3 travel plans!)

What would we do with 18 mugs??? lol. You would think that they would want to come up with a way to offer one continuous dining plan throughout the whole stay so that they could save this cost.

Oh well, I am going to try to go with the flow a little more and not have anxiety about this big pieced together trip!

Thanks for the insights! I am still waiting for the 7 month mark for the off chance that people do enough switching and I am online at the right time to snag it, or that my waitlist comes throughby some miracle!

 

[mom of princessx2]

At least you got it down to 3!!

As far as the DDP, I wouldn't get it on the cash day. You have until 11:59pm on the 22nd to use credits from the first portion of your trip and your other credits would also kick in the morning of the 23rd. I think you could make it work and save a ton of money just giving up 1 day. Keep 6 mugs and take the other 6 home or just for go getting the other 6.

Keeping fingers crossed that waitlist for Thanksgiving comes thru and you won't have to worry about a thing!! Have a great trip!