Columbus Day Weekend, Food & Wine, MNNSHP, many schools in the south have this week off, and many school in England have a 2 week break at that time of year.
if you found anything for Dec this late - you did very well.
with Dec you definitely need the 11 months.
Oct before the food/wine except for the golf week (not even sure if Disney still does this) was easy.
the food/wine is the majority - then Mnnshp - plus alot of schools now have an Oct - fall week. My SIL works for a school in Ga and they have off the following week.
Dec has ALWAYS been popular with DVC members - even when it was only OKW (then called DVC) - it would sell out quickly.
How could I forget that one? We only live 30 miles from Canada and have to monitor their holidays because of traffic at the border and outlet shopping.
It also depends on what type of accommodation you are looking for. We have been lucky enough to always get one bedroom units when studios and 2 bedrooms are sold out.
we had a hard time finding a studio during Oct-early Nov. 3 months ago. After F&W some things opened up but Oct-early Nov is F&W and there's a race in there as well. The last week in Nov is TG and 1st week in Dec is the DVC owner's meeting, then 2nd or 3rd week the Christmas crowds start coming in. When you look at it on a calendar, there aren't many "slow" weeks in the fall for DVC it seems. We were able to get a studio at VWL for Nov 3 months ago but there was little left at that time. Not sure what it looks like now. Certainly there will be some cancellations if you're willing to wait and chance it.