Newbie trying to figure it all out - VGC??

[DonMacGregor]

Is it just a typical holiday week for NJ and people like to come down to WDW during that time??

Jersey Week

 

[lilsonicfan]

A comprehensive set of availability tables here https://www.dvcfieldguide.com/availability-tables

I find this helpful bc looking at 7 month availability now is not great.

 

[CarolynFH]

I haven't bothered searching places I don't care to stay.

People who are most successful with SAP are those who don't care where they stay, they just want to be at WDW. After you've hung around here enough and read enough posts, you'll realize they also don't mind split stays either. SAP would not be good for us because we do care where we stay, and we hate split stays!

For this coming January, not only are you hoping to book two of the smaller resorts (BRV and BCV), BWV's availability is much less than usual because all of the standard view villas were blocked off for (we believe) exterior work. So if you really want to come in January, you might have to look at what is available "wherever" and then decide whether it will work for you.

I was under the impression that marathons were usually in early January. Is that not always the case? Since it's been 11 years since our last trip...I honestly have no idea what it's like out there now. We just like that time because weather-wise it's good while avoiding any holidays.

The biggie, WDW Marathon Weekend, is in early January, usually the Wednesday through Sunday a week before MLK weekend. There's another race, the Princess Half Marathon, in February, usually the Thursday through Sunday after Presidents' Day. If you want to check dates from time to time, you can bookmark the runDisney site, https://www.rundisney.com/. The other busy times are MLK weekend itself (parks get less crowded starting the Tuesday after MLK Day) and Presidents' Day (lots of schools in the Northeast have vacations then). So MOST of January and February aren't bad; January is better in terms of DVC availability (which is why it's in the 2nd cheapest points chart season).

 

[DonMacGregor]

The biggie, WDW Marathon Weekend, is in early January, usually the Wednesday through Sunday a week before MLK weekend. There's another race, the Princess Half Marathon, in February, usually the Thursday through Sunday after Presidents' Day. If you want to check dates from time to time, you can bookmark the runDisney site, https://www.rundisney.com/. The other busy times are MLK weekend itself (parks get less crowded starting the Tuesday after MLK Day) and Presidents' Day (lots of schools in the Northeast have vacations then). So MOST of January and February aren't bad; January is better in terms of DVC availability (which is why it's in the 2nd cheapest points chart season).

Like I said, it's "iffy" but definitely not impossible. There are just some weekends that are just out of the question and as long as you can thread the needle, you'll be ok. The crazy thing is the DVC seasons are tied to theme park attendance and the theme parks are definitely quieter during that period, but the hotels can be booked solid during one of the run weekends.

We have spent a week at WDW in February the last three years and definitely got what we were looking for, but did have to thread the needle picking our days.

 

[CarolynFH]

Like I said, it's "iffy" but definitely not impossible. There are just some weekends that are just out of the question and as long as you can thread the needle, you'll be ok. The crazy thing is the DVC seasons are tied to theme park attendance and the theme parks are definitely quieter during that period, but the hotels can be booked solid during one of the run weekends.

We have spent a week at WDW in February the last three years and definitely got what we were looking for, but did have to thread the needle picking our days.

Oh yes, I definitely agree, especially about February - between Presidents' Day, the Princess Half, Valentines Day, the Daytona 500, sometimes Mardi Gras - it's very difficult to find a less-busy time. That's the reason we usually visit in January!

 

[ClaraOswald]

People who are most successful with SAP are those who don't care where they stay, they just want to be at WDW. After you've hung around here enough and read enough posts, you'll realize they also don't mind split stays either. SAP would not be good for us because we do care where we stay, and we hate split stays!

For this coming January, not only are you hoping to book two of the smaller resorts (BRV and BCV), BWV's availability is much less than usual because all of the standard view villas were blocked off for (we believe) exterior work. So if you really want to come in January, you might have to look at what is available "wherever" and then decide whether it will work for you.


The biggie, WDW Marathon Weekend, is in early January, usually the Wednesday through Sunday a week before MLK weekend. There's another race, the Princess Half Marathon, in February, usually the Thursday through Sunday after Presidents' Day. If you want to check dates from time to time, you can bookmark the runDisney site, https://www.rundisney.com/. The other busy times are MLK weekend itself (parks get less crowded starting the Tuesday after MLK Day) and Presidents' Day (lots of schools in the Northeast have vacations then). So MOST of January and February aren't bad; January is better in terms of DVC availability (which is why it's in the 2nd cheapest points chart season).

Yeah...we avoid MLK and President's weekends...and really any holiday. For next January, if we go, I'm looking at Sunday 21st for 5 nights.

In general, we just stick to the time between MLK and Presidents for vacations. That when we did Disneyland this year (and back in 2015) and it was good.

And yeah...I don't think SAP would ever be good for us since we're super specific about when we like to travel. As for which resort...just based on videos and pictures, SSR is 4th on our list and seems to be pretty easy to get into, thankfully. But who knows...maybe we'll end up hating it there. I definitely think we'll try to squeeze in time to visit a couple resorts to get a feel for them. Then we'll have to decide if/when we want to buy more DVC. And which resort would be best for us. I do worry we'll love BRV but their contracts are so much shorter. I think I will love Beach Club but my husband seems more "meh" about it. And it might be too hectic for us anyway.

Sorry, I know I'm just repeating things I've already said in this thread before. I tend to do that because that's just how I process things. And I honestly just enjoy thinking about and "planning" for the future. It's a nice escape from reality. (That's why I'm trying to keep my ramblings mostly to this thread that I started instead of clogging up other ones. Ha!)

 

[CarolynFH]

For next January, if we go, I'm looking at Sunday 21st for 5 nights.

We're currently booked for BWV (1BR BW view) those same nights - but hope to modify to VGC or VDH for a visit to celebrate the 100th anniversary at DLR. Our last visit there was in September 2019, staying offsite.

 

[ClaraOswald]

We're currently booked for BWV (1BR BW view) those same nights - but hope to modify to VGC or VDH for a visit to celebrate the 100th anniversary at DLR. Our last visit there was in September 2019, staying offsite.

We actually thought about doing VGC those dates instead of going to WDW but then we decided we'd rather just stick to our drive out to CA next June. I hope you're able to make it out there! We had such a great trip this past February. Well, pretty much every Disneyland trip we've had has been great (with the exception of the time we caught covid and had to leave early. Ha!)

 

[nalabear]

Near park resorts are always going to go fast, especially for studios. And, as we are now less than 19 years left for use at the 2042 resorts, you have people buying there to specifically use them there....so, the 7 month access will slowly become harder and harder.

We bought 500 SSR points in 2017 to use as SAP, but it was for the intention of upgrading to 1 bedrooms at our favorite places...then RIV happened, fell in love there and sold BWV to buy.

Last year, we sold 200 SSR to replace with VGF points so that we could gain our home resort advantage as its our 2nd favorite and split stay with RIV every trip when we can. With all those resort studios, we didn't want to continue to chance the at 7 months that 1 bedrooms would still be there like in the past.

Curious - why RIV? Theming or convenience of skyline to HS+Epcot?

 

[Sandisw]

Curious - why RIV? Theming or convenience of skyline to HS+Epcot?

Everything! We find it so relaxing and it’s our style.

Plus, after time in the parks, it feels like we are someplace else. We also love Skyliner to Epcot

The rooms are nice and we usually do SV which has given us wonderful fireworks views at night.

Now, we split stay with VGF as much as possible so we get the best of all worlds.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I just put some countdowns on my phone for when my 7-month booking window will open for January and 11-month for next June. It's a shame it's the summertime when I'm usually able to sleep in! Ha! I'll have to force myself out of bed to book. This wait is going to be brutal! But it gives me time to convince my husband we should take this January trip. He's on the fence but the more I think about it, the more I want to go. I think if there ends up being decent direct flights, that might sway him. He and I both hate flying a lot and after our February trip we both were pretty much like, "let's not fly again for a while..." but it's still a long time from now so hopefully by then we'll be okay with it.

I just think a shorter WDW trip might be a good start for us since it's been over 10 years since we've been there. The original plan was to go in January 2025 with at least 6 park days. But maybe just 4 park days is a better place to start. And then if it goes well, we could still do 6 days in 2025. Or we might realize 4 or 5 is better for us.

That's kind of how things have gone for Disneyland since our son was born. We've been adjusting our days. The first couple trips, we did 5 park days and 2 non-park days. Then we were going to do 5 park days with 1 break day and instead decided to just add a 6th park day....then we got covid and had to cut that trip short. So on our recent trip we finally did 6 parks days. But we actually decided that we probably should have just done 5. So that's the plan for next time, with no non-park days. We'll see how it goes, I guess. I'm just grateful we're able to go as often as we have!

Anyway...just rambling again!

 

[ClaraOswald]

Another question....

Let's say at the 7-month mark I go to book a WDW trip. The thing is...we aren't sure if we'll want to arrive on a Saturday or on a Sunday. We also aren't sure if we will want to do 5 nights or 6 nights.

So I would book Saturday, January 20th - Saturday January 27th (8 nights.)

And then once we finalize our dates, just go chop a day or two off of the beginning and/or end? So our vacation dates would be something like Sunday 21st - 26th? (Or any other combination of days in those above dates)?

Is this easy to do? Are there any penalties or anything? Obviously this would be done well before the 30-day mark.

 

[FFMickey]

Another question....

Let's say at the 7-month mark I go to book a WDW trip. The thing is...we aren't sure if we'll want to arrive on a Saturday or on a Sunday. We also aren't sure if we will want to do 5 nights or 6 nights.

So I would book Saturday, January 20th - Saturday January 27th (8 nights.)

And then once we finalize our dates, just go chop a day or two off of the beginning and/or end? So our vacation dates would be something like Sunday 21st - 26th? (Or any other combination of days in those above dates)?

Is this easy to do? Are there any penalties or anything? Obviously this would be done well before the 30-day mark.

Easy, you would just modify your dates from your dashboard. Easier to drop days than to add. We always book for the whole week before finalizing our dates. You already know, you have to do it 31 days or more.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Thanks. Glad to hear it should be easy. My only issue is that whatever points we don't use, we'll want to bank for our June 2024 trip. Since that will be booked in July, I think I'll want everything for the January trip finalized so I know what I can bank over for booking 2024.

Or, I guess if I use mostly 2024 points and then bank later, I can just contact member services to swap which points are being used.

There are so many little confusing details about booking. Ugh.

 

[ClaraOswald]

More questions....(I just keep asking them here instead of starting 800 new threads.)

If we ever have to cancel a trip, last minute, the points go into holding. And then we have to use those before the UY is up. And only for trip 60 days or less in advance. Correct?

So can we use those points to book a stay anywhere with availability or does it have to be for our home resort?

And can the reservation made with points in holding be rented out if we aren't able to take the trip ourselves?

 

[FFMickey]

More questions....(I just keep asking them here instead of starting 800 new threads.)

If we ever have to cancel a trip, last minute, the points go into holding. And then we have to use those before the UY is up. And only for trip 60 days or less in advance. Correct?

So can we use those points to book a stay anywhere with availability or does it have to be for our home resort?

And can the reservation made with points in holding be rented out if we aren't able to take the trip ourselves?

Correct. You have until the end of your UY and they have to be booked within 60 days of check in. Since you bought a VGC contract, you can book anywhere with availablity at the original 14 resorts. If you had a fully restricted resale, then you would probably lose those points.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Yeah, the bummer is there would be no way to use those points for VGC with only 60 days in advance. So I figure we'd just book something at WDW and try to rent it if we are unable to travel.

Hopefully we'd never need to cancel last minute but you never know. I'd just be sad to be completely out of luck so at least we'd have to option to rent. Not sure how hard it is to rent out a reservation in a 60 day window.

 

[KalamityJane]

Yeah, the bummer is there would be no way to use those points for VGC with only 60 days in advance. So I figure we'd just book something at WDW and try to rent it if we are unable to travel.

Hopefully we'd never need to cancel last minute but you never know. I'd just be sad to be completely out of luck so at least we'd have to option to rent. Not sure how hard it is to rent out a reservation in a 60 day window.

It’s not hard to rent a confirmed VGC reservation within 60 days!

 

[DVChris]

Yeah, the bummer is there would be no way to use those points for VGC with only 60 days in advance. So I figure we'd just book something at WDW and try to rent it if we are unable to travel.

Hopefully we'd never need to cancel last minute but you never know. I'd just be sad to be completely out of luck so at least we'd have to option to rent. Not sure how hard it is to rent out a reservation in a 60 day window.

We had to cancel our weekend VGC Studio stay one day prior to check in due to illness in the family. I found someone to take the reservation within minutes of posting the reservation for rent and they paid enough to cover my dues + a few dollars per point. For VGC, I wouldn't worry about finding last minute renters if you needed to.

 

[ClaraOswald]

It’s not hard to rent a confirmed VGC reservation within 60 days!

We had to cancel our weekend VGC Studio stay one day prior to check in due to illness in the family. I found someone to take the reservation within minutes of posting the reservation for rent and they paid enough to cover my dues + a few dollars per point. For VGC, I wouldn't worry about finding last minute renters if you needed to.

If we had to cancel last minute...it would literally be a day or two before due to illness or something as well. We typically stay for 6-nights so I feel like that would be hard to rent out that quickly. We'd probably cancel and then rebook something at WDW to play it safe even if it means we don't get as much per point.

I haven't had to cancel any trips that close to departure date before but this February we got sooo close to having to do it. So now I'm super paranoid and just want to make sure I have a plan in the back of my mind, just in case.

Of course, I still don't have anything booked which is a bummer. I can't wait to finally make a DVC trip!