Newbie: How hard is it to book summer months (at <7mo)?

[Carolc]

I've been looking at resales, and trying to decide which resort to purchase at. I really want to try all of them at some point, so I will not have the 'home' resort booking advantage most of the time.

Looking toward the future, we will most likely travel in the summer because of the kids' school schedules. How hard is it to book a 1 bedroom in the summer months if it is less than 7 months out? (in particular, BWV, BCV, and AKL Savannah). I think the first full week of August would be our first choice, but we could likely go anytime starting the third week of June. (not around July 4th, though). This question is not specific to 2009 since we may not go until 2010 - so I'm just wondering how hard it has been historically to get different resorts.

As a side question, would it be better to have a Dec UY in case we have to cancel a summer trip?

Thank you in advance

 

[daisyduck123]

I can't tell you about 1BRs...because we only stay in studios, but we've NEVER had a problem booking AKV & BCV for July/early August trips at 7 months out. We did this for summers 2007 & 2008.

In fact, we've just completed booking our Late July 2009 trip...we're staying 9 nights at BCV followed by 2 nights at AKV Savannah View in Kidani Village.

 

[spiceycat]

akv will be pretty big when Kidani is finished - so that one - you shouldn't have any problems

BWV would be okay too.

BCV might be - but studios are the most popular, then 2-bedrooms - so 1-bedrooms might work.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

I've been looking at resales, and trying to decide which resort to purchase at. I really want to try all of them at some point, so I will not have the 'home' resort booking advantage most of the time.

Looking toward the future, we will most likely travel in the summer because of the kids' school schedules. How hard is it to book a 1 bedroom in the summer months if it is less than 7 months out? (in particular, BWV, BCV, and AKL Savannah). I think the first full week of August would be our first choice, but we could likely go anytime starting the third week of June. (not around July 4th, though). This question is not specific to 2009 since we may not go until 2010 - so I'm just wondering how hard it has been historically to get different resorts.

As a side question, would it be better to have a Dec UY in case we have to cancel a summer trip?

Thank you in advance

Like you, we love hopping resorts!!! DH is a teacher, and with the exception of VB and HHI (never tried to book at HHI, and tried to book a week in a 2-BR at VB 2 years in a row with no luck), we have always been able to get a 1-BR at the 7 month mark in the summer. In fact, in '06 we stayed at OKW, and in '07, we stayed at BWV. This year we stayed at VWL, and I just made reservations for the last week of July at BCV for next summer. There's never a guarantee you'll always be able to get reservations, but so far, we've been very fortunate. I do call right at the 7 month mark, though.

As for UY, I wished we had a Dec UY. When we took the DVC tour, our guide recommended Dec, but when we ended up purchaseing resale, I didn't understand enough about it, and made an uninformed decision. If you schedule trips around the traditional school holidays (Christmas, spring break, or summer) December works WONDERFULLY! Any trips scheduled can be cancelled, and points can be used through the end of November, or banked through the end of July. The only downside would be if you had to cancel your August trip. By this point, it's too late to bank, and you would have to use the points by the end of November, or they would expire.

For me, I never worry about cancelling. Not that it will NEVER happen, but we've never cancelled a vacation in the 18 years we've been married. My bigger concern is when banked points expire. I don't want the expiration date dictating when I travel (like my UY does). We have an August UY, and if I bank points, I have to use them by the end of July or they expire. On the years we only take 1 trip, this presents a problem if we want to travel in early Aug instead of late July.

Best of luck on your decision!!!

 

[DebbieB]

I think summer is one of the slower DVC times of the year at WDW. October is popular for the Food & Wine Festival (especially BWV & BCV), early December is also very popular for DVC members. Summer is very popular at Hilton Head.

 

[crisi]

It won't be too difficult AT seven months - though there may be years you don't get your first choice and you may or may not have things like BW Standard View or BCV 2 bedrooms with 2 Qs available - it will get much harder if you put it off. Eventually, availability at all the resorts becomes sparse - its more a matter of when things book faster and which resorts book faster.