New member home resort/WL concern

[BeAKidAgain]

Hi All, I'm a new DVC member who purchased at VGF on Dec 23, 2013. My husband and I were excited to book our first trip and tried just yesterday, Jan 28, 2014 to book 6 nights stay 11/30/14-12/3/14 in a lake view studio at our home resort. To my surprise I was told there was no room availability in any category room smaller than a 2 bedroom villa. I agreed to put myself on a wait list for the requested dates. My questions are #1) is this usual?? I thought I was in the clear because of my 11 month window. #2) what is the point of buying at a specific hotel if it's already booked up within the 11 month window? #3) what is the chance of this wait list coming available?
Sorry this is so long. I was so upset after I got off the phone with MS yesterday! Hoping someone can sent my mind at ease. Thank you.

 

[lovin'fl]

I am not completely sure but what I do know is that: 1- it's a small resort with NO dedicated studios and only 47 2BR lock-offs and 2- it's 10 months out from your travel date, not 11 months. You are on the wait list pretty early so you have that going for you. I hope you get it. I got my BLT studio WL at 5 months out from our F&W trip last Oct (got it about 1-2 weeks after I went on WL).

 

[LisaS]

Hi All, I'm a new DVC member who purchased at VGF on Dec 23, 2013. My husband and I were excited to book our first trip and tried just yesterday, Jan 28, 2014 to book 6 nights stay 11/30/14-12/3/14 in a lake view studio at our home resort. To my surprise I was told there was no room availability in any category room smaller than a 2 bedroom villa. I agreed to put myself on a wait list for the requested dates. My questions are #1) is this usual?? I thought I was in the clear because of my 11 month window.

Early December is the busiest time of year for the DVC resorts. You need to book exactly 11 months out if you want to book a stay at that time of year, in this case that would have been at exactly 8am eastern time on Dec 30 online or 9am eastern by calling MS but waiting that extra hour to call MS could mean losing out on your reservation.

#2) what is the point of buying at a specific hotel if it's already booked up within the 11 month window?

Disney sells enough points to book every room in the entire resort all year round. Unfortunately demand is not spread out evenly, with the highest demand being in December. If you wanted to book a stay in early May you would probably have no problem booking 10 months out but that won't work if you want early December. And the reason for buying a specific resort is that if you don't own there, you don't have the option to book at 8am exactly 11 months out and therefore won't have any chance of staying there in early December.

#3) what is the chance of this wait list coming available?

I have no idea. VGF is new so it's probably not too likely that someone booked it as a backup and intends to try for another resort 7 months out. Cancellations do happen however due to illness or work issues so it might work out in the end but maybe not until a month or two from your travel dates.

 

[chukdotcom]

Hi All, I'm a new DVC member who purchased at VGF on Dec 23, 2013. My husband and I were excited to book our first trip and tried just yesterday, Jan 28, 2014 to book 6 nights stay 11/30/14-12/3/14 in a lake view studio at our home resort. To my surprise I was told there was no room availability in any category room smaller than a 2 bedroom villa. I agreed to put myself on a wait list for the requested dates. My questions are #1) is this usual?? I thought I was in the clear because of my 11 month window. #2) what is the point of buying at a specific hotel if it's already booked up within the 11 month window? #3) what is the chance of this wait list coming available?
Sorry this is so long. I was so upset after I got off the phone with MS yesterday! Hoping someone can sent my mind at ease. Thank you.

You said 6 nights, but I only see 3 listed. Were the other 3 nights over thanksgiving? If so, that is your answer. You need to book that AT 11 months.

 

[disneynutz]

Hi All, I'm a new DVC member who purchased at VGF on Dec 23, 2013. My husband and I were excited to book our first trip and tried just yesterday, Jan 28, 2014 to book 6 nights stay 11/30/14-12/3/14 in a lake view studio at our home resort. To my surprise I was told there was no room availability in any category room smaller than a 2 bedroom villa. I agreed to put myself on a wait list for the requested dates. My questions are #1) is this usual?? I thought I was in the clear because of my 11 month window. #2) what is the point of buying at a specific hotel if it's already booked up within the 11 month window? #3) what is the chance of this wait list coming available?
Sorry this is so long. I was so upset after I got off the phone with MS yesterday! Hoping someone can sent my mind at ease. Thank you.

Call your Guide and see if he/her can work some Disney magic and find you a room.

Bill

 

[LisaS]

Call your Guide and see if he/her can work some Disney magic and find you a room.

Bill

Great suggestion.

OP: for those who purchase directly from Disney, your guide can sometimes help you book your first reservation. It's worth a try.

 

[automaticsoap]

I booked a standard studio at VGF for 12/4-12/8 right at 8am ET on 1/4. Right after I booked it, I checked availability out of curiosity and found all standard and lake studios were gone.

 

[kristenrice]

Is the VGF sold out and are all the points declared into member inventory? If not, I would assume that the OP has a good chance of the WL filling as more points are sold/declared.

Good luck!

 

[lovin'fl]

I just read that it's 30% sold but pretty much all declared so I think that doesn't bode well.

 

[lions1995]

Great suggesting on checking with your guide. As a new buyer, they might be able to help, though it is not really their job.

If that does not work, take a look a few times a week, midday and see if what you want becomes available. If it does, book it. Waitlists do not match immediately, so your days could come up and someone else could book them before the Waitlist program runs.

 

[wdrl]

Is the VGF sold out and are all the points declared into member inventory? If not, I would assume that the OP has a good chance of the WL filling as more points are sold/declared.

Good luck!

VGF is not sold out nor is it fully declared for the DVC membership. As of January 22, 2014, 75.8% of the resort has been declared and 32.7% of its 2.5 million points have been sold to the general public.

Once more Units are declared for the DVC membership, members will have more accommodations that are available to be booked using points. However, there is an unknown variable at play: the effective date of the next declaration. DVD could be planning on declaring the remaining Units on a date in the future, say October 1, 2014, so that the resort will be 100% declared at that time. It could let members book 100% of VGF right now for stays that begin October 1 or later.

 

[twinsouvenirs]

another factor at play is the fixed week reservations. 30% owners may have those weeks locked in

 

[Dean]

Hi All, I'm a new DVC member who purchased at VGF on Dec 23, 2013. My husband and I were excited to book our first trip and tried just yesterday, Jan 28, 2014 to book 6 nights stay 11/30/14-12/3/14 in a lake view studio at our home resort. To my surprise I was told there was no room availability in any category room smaller than a 2 bedroom villa. I agreed to put myself on a wait list for the requested dates. My questions are #1) is this usual?? I thought I was in the clear because of my 11 month window. #2) what is the point of buying at a specific hotel if it's already booked up within the 11 month window? #3) what is the chance of this wait list coming available?
Sorry this is so long. I was so upset after I got off the phone with MS yesterday! Hoping someone can sent my mind at ease. Thank you.

I think this is going to be normal availability for VGF for much of the year. I think you're going to need to book right at 11 months out if you don't own a fixed week. When there isn't sufficient availability, the WL is your friend. Even then the WL isn't magic so there are often times when you can find the very option online that you have wait listed.

 

[mrsgoose8]

Definitely try calling again; they made magic happen for me and my first reservation last year when I booked marathon weekend less than 11 months out

 

[JessLCH]

The other harsh reality to know is that sometimes you cannot get what you want at your home resort 11 months in advance at 8 am!! I had this happen trying to book a standard view 2 bed at my home resort BLT over thanksgiving week. lots of people do this thing called walking a reservation which messed things up for me. I did book another room category and WL what I wanted. I also kept checking availability and was able to grab what I wanted before the WL came through. I learned many important DVC lessons through this experience.

 

[cvjw]

I also wonder if lots of new VGF members only bought enough points for a studio stay. If everyone is only wanting a studio reservation, without enough points for a 1 or 2 bedroom stay, some members aren't going to be happy. There simply won't be enough studios to go around for everyone who owns there and wants to reserve one.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Everyone is making good comments.

Please know that DVC usually works out very well or quite reasonably most of the time.

I'm not meaning to contradict everybody, but don't want to scare new owners away.

It really is a fine program.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I also wonder if lots of new VGF members only bought enough points for a studio stay. If everyone is only wanting a studio reservation, without enough points for a 1 or 2 bedroom stay, some members aren't going to be happy. There simply won't be enough studios to go around for everyone who owns there and wants to reserve one.

I think this is quite likely.

 

[DonnaL]

VGF is not our home resort....VWL and SSR are...however, I had no problem booking a 1 bdrm for 1/21 thru 1/25/14 when the booking window opened last summer...and it was a shorter booking window than 7 months due to the timing of the resort opening....so I feel the poster who made the comment about everyone wanting studios has a very valid point. My DH and I decided long ago we're more comfortable in a 1 bdrm for a variety of reasons....#1 we have a king size bed at home and it's difficult to downgrade to a queen size #2 we love having a w/d in our unit #3 we love having a full kitchen since we do have some meals in our room. However, I will say from experience, early Dec is a very difficult time to book at less than the 11 month home resort window....which is why we bought our home resort of VWL.....for the 11 month booking window.

 

[Minniesgal]

Hi All, I'm a new DVC member who purchased at VGF on Dec 23, 2013. My husband and I were excited to book our first trip and tried just yesterday, Jan 28, 2014 to book 6 nights stay 11/30/14-12/3/14 in a lake view studio at our home resort. To my surprise I was told there was no room availability in any category room smaller than a 2 bedroom villa. I agreed to put myself on a wait list for the requested dates. My questions are #1) is this usual?? I thought I was in the clear because of my 11 month window. #2) what is the point of buying at a specific hotel if it's already booked up within the 11 month window? #3) what is the chance of this wait list coming available? Sorry this is so long. I was so upset after I got off the phone with MS yesterday! Hoping someone can sent my mind at ease. Thank you.

You were trying to book with only a few weeks notice this is situation normal for last minute bookings. Where you have 11 months advantage it will work if you use it but it does nothing for you at this short notice.

Eta please ignore me I completely misread your post