Not quite sure what to think....

[crisi]

Late July is actually a pretty easy DVC time - its a busy WDW time.

Generally, if you can call right at seven months, have a little flexibility, and have reasonable expectations (i.e. not wanting a Standard View room in early December), you'll be content booking at seven months more often than not - with some exceptions (October through early January in the Epcot area, Grand Villas, Thanksgiving through Christmas at Wilderness Lodge). That doesn't mean you'll never be disappointed, but I suspect it won't be that often if all three criteria are met. But each new member DVC adds to the system is more competition for the existing rooms out there - and for the smaller resorts that means a crunch. Who knows what the future will bring - but its unlikely to bring more rooms at BCVs - and almost certainly will bring more people who want to occationally stay at BCV but have a home somewhere else.

(ETA: Sometimes you'll even be delighted. People have gotten the most unlikely things - Standard View rooms in early December five months out, OKW Grand Villas during the summer on a few months notice. AKL Concierge less than seven months out. These aren't situations I'd set my heart on, but there is no harm in asking about availability - you could end up pleasantly surprised).

We almost always book eleven months out and stay "home" - which means we haven't had issues. Then again, since we've almost always been "home" in Standard View Boardwalk rooms over Food and Wine, that makes us part of someone else's problem - even if its another BWV owner who is slower on the draw.

 

[alldiz]

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this topic, but here goes....

We've been DVC owners for 5 years now. We've been making the pilgrimage to Walt Disney World every year (at least once a year) for almost 40 years now.

One of the main reasons we took the plunge was the idea that we could stay at other resorts and have a different Disney experience. What we are instead experiencing is that the availability of rooms at DVC resorts (other than our home resort) has slipped down to "virtually non-existent". To complicate matters we have noticed that every year it gets harder and harder to find a "slow" time of year. The crowds and lines seem to get worse every year, no matter what time of year we go. Quite frankly, spending eight days in Disney has become anything but "a dream come true".

We understand that Disney is a business and they have to keep their profits and shareholders in mind. We also believe that we have made a serious monetary commitment to Disney that includes having more fun than humanly possible.

Has anyone seen or heard of any threads, articles regarding overcrowded parks and DVC owners who feel like they aren't getting the vacation they bought into? Has anyone else experienced this?

Yours Truly,

Disillusioned Mouseketeer

I think with DVC's popularity it will be even more important to take advantage of the 11 month window. DVC is designed to make you plan ahead. Last minute trips will become even harder with all the new members.

I have planned all of my trips so far after the 7 mth window. I didn't care where I stayed because I want to try them all. I think if you are open to staying "anywhere" you will find a room available.

Since I bought DVC I don't worry about the crowds....the parks have become a place to go for a few hours....so if it is too crowded I'll leave.
I have been to disney a bunch in the last 2 yrs...still have not seen everything.

OP....40yrs is a long time. Why don't you try trading out for a while and see how you feel.
Kerri

 

[zorro77]

We have been going to Disney World since "86". In that time we missed one year. Bought into DVC in "93" and have 755 pts. We have traveled on holiday and non. You learn over the years which times are busy and decided when to go. We have used times in March/April, Oct and New Years as key times to travel. We travel with one of our party in a wheel chair and usually older members of the family. We talk about busy times but never seems to get worse than before. I think you can make decisions each day how you want to travel. Usually our stays are 7 to 10 days. We too have found that we are not having enough pts. each year to do what we want. Most years have been at least 2 times and some 3 and had to rent rooms. As the parks have grown and changed i think Disney try's grow for future to keep interest and handle more people visiting. Our home base is OKW and also stay with small groups at Saratoga. We have not had problem with dinner reservations but then we make them months in advance.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I do think it is certainly getting more difficult to book a non-home resort than it used to be, but I don't consider that to be a huge issue, since I own where I prefer to stay. We have been members for 11 years, and I can't get too uptight about not getting a specific thing at another resort if it isn't availble. Later this week I am going to try and switch my January OKW ressie to AKV savanna view. I don't have enough AKV points left to do anything much with, so I'm trying to use the OKW points that are already tied up in the January ressie. Will I be disappointed if I can't get it? Maybe a little, but it's no big deal, because I'll have OKW if it's not available. It's not like I wont have anywhere nice to stay.

 

[disneynutz]

The number of DVC memberships have doubled over the last 2 years. As more members are added, competition for the most popular vacation times will be affected. While in the past the 11 month booking advantage was nice, in the future, it will be mandatory.

 

[vandy]

For what it's worth, last year at the 7 month window only OKW and SSR were available for a 2 BR in early June, and for the middle of July this year for a 2BR only OKW and SSR are available again. It may depend on the room type that your are trying to reserve. No luck for us for a 2BR.

 

[Mtnman44]

It is just important to remember that for every new membership, there is also new room inventory, so there is ALWAYS the same amount of rooms available relative to membership. Thus, there is always about the same non-home resort availabilty, it just may not be the non-home resort you had in mind.

The popular smaller resorts, with special access to a park, will be harder to get at 7 months as more DVC resorts come online. I suspect that BLT may relieve some of the demand at BCV and BWV but who knows.

The number of DVC memberships have doubled over the last 2 years. As more members are added, competition for the most popular vacation times will be affected. While in the past the 11 month booking advantage was nice, in the future, it will be mandatory.

 

[lovinthemouse]

We have only been members for 3 years now and we have not had any trouble getting our accomodations for each visit. Last NYE week we had to waitlist for Dec. 31 in May but it came through in August. We can only travel when school is out, but we just plan ahead. We were even able to get OKW for Spring break week this year (1st week in April) in January. Really it was less than 4 months out. So as of yet we have not had any trouble with rooms. Now crowds for the Holidays it was crowded, but we just knew that was the way it was going to be. We used fastpasses and waited. The decorations were to beautiful to be upset with crowd sizes.

On a side note it has been said to buy where you want to stay. It is not hard to get any rooms at the 11 month window.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I've never had a problem in or out of the 7 to 11 month windows. My edge, I think comes from early planning. W/ a school age child I start planning and reserving the minute I get his school schedule. We always do a few short stays around in Feb, Oct and then longer in Jun and Aug. I, too, bought where I chose to stay but every once in while I'll stay at another resort. Disney is busy and busier but the lines and the crowds don't seem anyworse than the 80's or 90's. We do EMH, FP and ADR's and I really don't have any complaints, other than, "How could they close POTC the week that I was there?)

 

[disneyfinatics]

We own at Saratoga and have been wanting to try OKW, with no luck yet. We love our home place and can wait to try something new. We usually go in Dec. or Jan. and have noticed an increase in the crowds. We had heard that it's because other countries, such as Brazil have their summer break in that time. With the dollar being weak they get a great deal here. There was over an hour wait at Primeval Whirl. We only go during the week. I think the biggest problem is that when they get these lines they don't open up new ones. They opened up the other side for about 20 minutes, then closed it again. Didn't help much.