Need reminder when 7 month window opens?

[las3888]

Hi all, it's been quite a while (literally years) since we have tried to book a reservation at the exact 7 month mark, can somebody remind me of when the window opens online? From what I recall, you could call MS early in the morning when they open but I thought they had an option to book online, some time ago it was maybe midnight and then it was 5am, I really have no idea what it is anymore. Any tips or info is appreciated!

 

[drusba]

Both the 11-month and 7-month windows open for online reservations at 8 a.m. eastern at 11/7 months from date of arrival. And MS is not available for phone calls to make reservations until 9 a.m. eastern.

There has never been a midnight or 5 a.m. option when reserving exactly 11 or 7 months out. If you are trying to reserve less than 11 or 7-months out, e.g., at 6 months out, the online system to allow that can be used after midnight and all night long except that the system is often down for maintenance for 3 or 4 hours during those wee hours.

 

[las3888]

Okay thank you, I seem to remember getting up extra early or something to book years ago, but it's been many years and memories are hazy! Do you know if I am able to snag the dates/resorts I want at 8am if it's on hold for some period of time (like a couple minutes)? I do know for a fact that I have called to book several times and as we are processing the reservations the availability has slipped through our fingers and the date we want is no longer available. I ask because I have to do some maneuvering, banking/borrowing, not that it takes a ton of time but it does take some thought. Just wondering if the room is truly blocked for me once I grab it, or until I press finish on the reservation. Thanks for your help!

 

[Sandisw]

With the 50% borrowing restrictions some people have difficulty on line. It’s not all owners or even all contracts but does seem to glitch most often with resale points.

What I might do is get banking done ahead of time and book what I could without borrowing first to get it secured.

Then go back in and modify to see if it will let you borrow. Or, call Ms and have them complete it for you with the borrowing since you won’t know if your account is impacted until you
Try to borrow and it glitches.

 

[drusba]

Okay thank you, I seem to remember getting up extra early or something to book years ago, but it's been many years and memories are hazy! Do you know if I am able to snag the dates/resorts I want at 8am if it's on hold for some period of time (like a couple minutes)? I do know for a fact that I have called to book several times and as we are processing the reservations the availability has slipped through our fingers and the date we want is no longer available. I ask because I have to do some maneuvering, banking/borrowing, not that it takes a ton of time but it does take some thought. Just wondering if the room is truly blocked for me once I grab it, or until I press finish on the reservation. Thanks for your help!

If you go online at 8 a.m. and the room is shown as open and you click to reserve it and doing so takes you to the pages you need to complete for the reservation, for which you have 20 minutes, your reservation should remain intact unless the system has a glitch (which for the DVC reservation system that has happened all too often lately).

Note, that the fact that you go online right at 8 a.m. and try to reserve does not itself mean you can do that initial click to reserve it because there are rooms that can be open at 8 a.m. and fill within nanoseconds after 8 a.m., meaning the one whose computer communicates fastest with Disney's computer right at 8 a.m. wins.

 

[las3888]

So I have more time today to poke around the website, just trying to check availability and sometimes when I see the resort available for the dates I have selected it allows me through to the calendar which shows the shaded or darkened dates as to what's available or not. But many times, I get the dwarves and the screen says "we're working on it...this page is temporarily unavailable." And once that happens I try and try and usually just get the dwarves. I have tried on my ipad, on microsoft edge, google chrome, same thing.

So in poking around this board I am seeing how people are having difficulty borrowing points, seems the system glitches in the process, seemingly while booking a reservation. I know I was given advice on this thread to borrow the points in advance and try to do my booking early in the morning at the 7 month mark. I also see how others are getting dwarves but they are getting the message that the system is down (which is a different message than I am getting). So couple questions...

-anybody else experiencing this particular glitch in just trying to check availability? If so, anybody find any workarounds?
-can I call MS just to borrow points or do I have to make a dummy reservation to borrow?
-I am also booking several nights spread out over 2 use years, when I have gotten far enough just testing, it tells me that I am booking a reservation involving 2 UY's and to call member services to have them help me with the reservation. I don't know that I have ever tried to book over 2 UY's, is this a thing? If I am booking online, will I have to do one reservation for the one UY, then wait for the day I can make the second part of the reservation for the other UY?
-all of this may be moot since I can't even check availability consistently. I am not confident in any way shape or form that I will login at 7am on my day and actually get through, if I get dwarves that tell me my page is temporarily unavailable I feel like I will be hosed and that very hard to get reservation will be gone asap (okay a gripe and not necessarily a question)
-and is it correct that you can book online at 8am ET but can't call MS until 9am? In my situation it is looking more and more like I am going to have to call MS to book this reservation and if I have to wait an hour I think my plans may be doomed.

???

 

[drusba]

The system has been having many glitches in the last several months and your getting the Dwarves is, unfortunately, becoming an all too common event. A month ago DVC shut down the online system for three days to apparently improve it and, true to Disney's usual computer-site form, the result has been far more glitches now than before.

You can borrow only when making a reservation, but borrowing can be done as part of your online reservation.

You cannot combine two use years when making a single online reservation. The only way to do it online is book the first part of your reservation that falls in the current use year as one reservation, and then at 11/7-months out from the end of that reservation, make a separate reservation for the remainder of the trip using your next use year, and then contact MS (by phone, email, or chat) to combine the reservations.

And yes, online booking begins exactly at 8 a.m. eastern 11 or 7 months out from date of arrival, and you cannot call MS until 9 a.m. because it does not open for calls until 9 a.m.