Nov 2015 - book now or wait?

[notrub98]

We are headed down November 2015 and we really want to have three beds....and as you know, choices are a little limited if you don't want to pay for a villa. That leaves us with booking a preferred room now at POR or one with bunkbeds at WL or AKL, or booking a preferred room at CBR and hope that by next year, they will use the same philosophy of preferred are guaranteed murphy beds. Yes, I know they are refurbing the standard rooms with murphy beds now, but I am wondering if they will use the term "preferred" once they allow booking those direct?

Anyway, the point of this looong story is.... would you book something now to secure the three beds, and just change it later if something better pops up? I would book POR now but I would like to try for free dining and I know it was excluded this year. Also, I strongly prefer CBR over POR anyday!

 

[wdwjeffc37]

Book now and make your requests. If something better comes up you can switch. If you are booking a package the deposit is $200.00 and you have up until 45 days out to cancel without penalty. If you are booking room only, the deposit is one nights stay and you can cancel 5 days out without penalty.

 

[aprilp]

The problem with booking early is that alot of people do it and then Disney does not offer the free dining for that week. This is what has happened recently re: POR. They didn't include POR at all for the fall free dining offer because it was booked up enough already (from everyone going ahead and booking their trips). Then the offer came out and everyone was out of luck. There was pandemonium on the POR threads. Probably the same reason they took out some of the weeks traditionally offered for free dining in the fall....those weeks were already booked up with people anticipating a trip with free dining. I remember in 2013 everyone who had scheduled for the first week of December being greatly disappointed and having to change their trip dates. Anyway, totally up to you but I wanted to put that out there.

 

[DisMama5]

If your hoping for a special promotion to be offered for your dates (for example free dining) wait it out. The more that book the less of a chance of a special promo being run because a certain amount of rooms are already booked so Disney doesn't need to offer extra incentive. If your not worried about hoping for a special promo such as free dining or room discount then I would book your room. But for example POR was excluded in this years fall dining because it had plenty of booking already full, not enough people held out and then ended up switching resorts because even though they booked early they wanted the free dining so, hold out if that's something you want if not book away

 

[Baptist]

The thought of waiting for a special deal sounds crazy to me. If you could somehow get together everyone who is going to book POR and hold off until they announce free dining, then do it. Of course, you can't do that. So, I would book the room you really want instead of missing out.

Personally, since you are 11 months out, I would look to rent DVC points. I think it's the best Disney value out there.

 

[princessmocha]

Personally I would book now, to make sure I don't get locked out of when and where I want to go. But having said that, what is more important to you, the room type or the the possibility of free dining. If it's free dining, then wait and see if it is offered, if it is room type then I would book it now. There is no guarantee of free dining and they could be locked out again, but then again perhaps they will offer it and you can change up your reservation when they do.

Good Luck!

 

[MomTo3PrincessesInNJ]

Like a previous poster mentioned, you can rent DVC points NOW.

We are a family of 5 and need 3 beds, so we rented points for a Deluxe Studio @ the Wilderness Lodge. I didn't even know they had the murphy bed like POR, but now that I know they do I think this will be the only place we stay. A deluxe for the price of a mod? Heck yeah!

The total cost (incl. a pay pal fee) was $207.50/night. That is 50% off of Disney rack rate. I found a private owner on Mouse Owners, David's Vacation Club prices are more expensive, but there's no risk.