Number of People Walking

[twinklebug]

Stalking worked and I grabbed the final night that I needed late last night! I have to say that I have never seen the first couple weeks n December book as quickly as it did this year. I wonder whether it has more to do with SW:GE or just how convenient walking has been made with the new booking tool.

Now, what am I going to do with all of my spare time? I suppose that I could work on cleaning out a closet or two.

NAH! I'll probably focus tweaking plans for my April trip now.

I have no doubt it's the opening of Star Wars land that's adding pressure to the first two, already popular weeks.

I said the same thing after I booked our rooms.... but old habits are hard to break and I'm still stalking the rat.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Could Disney put a lock on some of the rooms for hard to get times? You could book at the 11 month window but no modifications allowed. No idea if that's allowed through our contracts or not. Still sort of penalizes people who wait, but at least they'd have the option to book.

Just a wild idea, thought it might solve some of this issue. Walkers could try for the changeable block of rooms, people who wait until 11 months try for the locked rooms.

 

[John Wisniewski]

..I feel really stupid asking this but why do you mean when you sAy walking? I’ve read a whole bunch of comments and I still can’t figure it out. I’m a DVC member for 10 years (BLT) and this is something I have not heard of.

 

[craigkerstiens]

..I feel really stupid asking this but why do you mean when you sAy walking? I’ve read a whole bunch of comments and I still can’t figure it out. I’m a DVC member for 10 years (BLT) and this is something I have not heard of.

Taking an example... Lets say I want to go 12/22-12/28 over next Christmas. Right now we're a few days away from the 11 month window. If I were to start walking a reservation today I would book for 12/17-2/23, this way I've got a spot reserved for the 23rd. Tomorrow I would go and cancel that one but immediately after book for 12/18-12/24. Since the 24th and 25th could be especially hard to get I'd have them reserved a week out or so. Basically I'm cancelling and rebooking for potentially weeks leading up to it so that I can have the hard to get days. Hopefully that helps make a bit of sense.

 

[Mickeynutty]

Taking an example... Lets say I want to go 12/22-12/28 over next Christmas. Right now we're a few days away from the 11 month window. If I were to start walking a reservation today I would book for 12/17-2/23, this way I've got a spot reserved for the 23rd. Tomorrow I would go and cancel that one but immediately after book for 12/18-12/24. Since the 24th and 25th could be especially hard to get I'd have them reserved a week out or so. Basically I'm cancelling and rebooking for potentially weeks leading up to it so that I can have the hard to get days. Hopefully that helps make a bit of sense.

Here is my question. If someone is wanting a Sat - Sat and they book it a week early and then start “walking” by cancelling and booking day by day as mentioned above, isn’t it possible that in the process, they might get to a Wed - Wed. and then someone comes in and books the Thurs - Sat in the week that was wanted because they had the 11 month advantage. Wouldn’t that mess up the walking?

 

[JETSDAD]

Here is my question. If someone is wanting a Sat - Sat and they book it a week early and then start “walking” by cancelling and booking day by day as mentioned above, isn’t it possible that in the process, they might get to a Wed - Wed. and then someone comes in and books the Thurs - Sat in the week that was wanted because they had the 11 month advantage. Wouldn’t that mess up the walking?

If you're trying to walk at 7 months, sure. If you're booking at 11 months, no.

 

[Mickeynutty]

If you're trying to walk at 7 months, sure. If you're booking at 11 months, no.

Gotcha! Thanks.

 

[twinklebug]

Something very similar happened for AKL value studios back in August, I believe. It was not long after they introduced the online functionality and I remember mentioning to my wife that I hoped this was not going to be the new normal with being able to walk online versus needing to call in. It lasted a couple of weeks, I think. All of a sudden one day everything was available. No idea if Disney was taking the inventory out on purpose or if there was some sort of glitch. I would not be surprised if something similar happened again and all of a sudden there was availability, minus what are likely some significant waitlists at this point...

I'm known for being an overly patient person, but I'm beyond ticked off now. Disney still has all those rooms off the system and any attempt to get them to look into it or at least create an issue report is met with indifference.

Legally, what is Disney's obligation to us as far as putting rooms out and available at the 11 month window at our home resort? Surely if it were all of one of the larger categories of rooms such as SVs there would be an uproar from members.

 

[ziravan]

I'm known for being an overly patient person, but I'm beyond ticked off now. Disney still has all those rooms off the system and any attempt to get them to look into it or at least create an issue report is met with indifference.

Legally, what is Disney's obligation to us as far as putting rooms out and available at the 11 month window at our home resort? Surely if it were all of one of the larger categories of rooms such as SVs there would be an uproar from members.

Makes you wonder how many of the standard views are involved?

 

[Greg36]

I'm beyond ticked off now. Disney still has all those rooms off the system and any attempt to get them to look into it or at least create an issue report is met with indifference.

Legally, what is Disney's obligation to us as far as putting rooms out and available at the 11 month window at our home resort? Surely if it were all of one of the larger categories of rooms such as SVs there would be an uproar from members.

I totally agree with what you are saying. I can't believe this issue is still going on and they are not addressing it. I have been checking it every day (as I am sure many are) and sure enough they never show up. I wonder if anyone has got one through the waitlist. The thing is there are likely so many waitlists now we may not even know when/if they come back...

 

[Bearval]

Taking an example... Lets say I want to go 12/22-12/28 over next Christmas. Right now we're a few days away from the 11 month window. If I were to start walking a reservation today I would book for 12/17-2/23, this way I've got a spot reserved for the 23rd. Tomorrow I would go and cancel that one but immediately after book for 12/18-12/24. Since the 24th and 25th could be especially hard to get I'd have them reserved a week out or so. Basically I'm cancelling and rebooking for potentially weeks leading up to it so that I can have the hard to get days. Hopefully that helps make a bit of sense.

It is going to get to the point if you want to go 12/22-12/28 you are gonna have to start your walk 2/22

 

[twinklebug]

I totally agree with what you are saying. I can't believe this issue is still going on and they are not addressing it. I have been checking it every day (as I am sure many are) and sure enough they never show up. I wonder if anyone has got one through the waitlist. The thing is there are likely so many waitlists now we may not even know when/if they come back...

I experimented by creating a one day WL for a value studio on the day it was to become available so that I'd be 1st in line for that day, offset by anyone who had a number of consecutive days wait-listed which covered mine. There has been no movement on that, not that I trust the WL system as it has its own issues.

It's quite clear that the days have not been opened up though, we don't see that second shade of pale blue coming up on the days that are just out of reach prior to booking.

I went to the effort of pulling out the public offering statement and amendments to see what Disney's obligations to us are, and I have been bopped from document to document in search of anything telling us that they are obligated to anything other than allowing us home resort priority. Conveniently for them, I don't see any reference to the actual rooms.

 

[Greg36]

I experimented by creating a one day WL for a value studio on the day it was to become available, so I'd be 1st in line for that day, offset by anyone who had a number of consecutive days waitlisted which covered mine. There has been no movement on that, not that I trust the WL system as it has its own issues.

It's quite clear that the days have not been opened up though, we don't see that second shade of pale blue coming up on the days that are just out of reach prior to booking.

I went to the effort of pulling out the public offering statement and amendments to see what Disney's obligations to us are, and I have been bopped from document to document in search of anything telling us that they are obligated to anything other than allowing us home resort priority. conveniently for them, I don't see any reference to actual rooms.

That was a good move to grab a WL early for one day. Very telling... I really don't know what their obligations are but it seems very unfair that they could take an advantage over the members and have first dibs on all of these rooms. I still have a difficult time believing that they would be willing to do this just for the financial gain. I personally think there is more to it. There are likely people on these boards who have knowledge of what Disney can and can't do in terms of the 11 month booking window so maybe a new thread labelled differently would help get some further information/comments...

 

[twinklebug]

That was a good move to grab a WL early for one day. Very telling... I really don't know what their obligations are but it seems very unfair that they could take an advantage over the members and have first dibs on all of these rooms. I still have a difficult time believing that they would be willing to do this just for the financial gain. I personally think there is more to it. There are likely people on these boards who have knowledge of what Disney can and can't do in terms of the 11 month booking window so maybe a new thread labelled differently would help get some further information/comments...

I may open a thread over in the Member services forum, there are many knowledgeable folk over there. I just need to have the energy to explain the situation and ward off all those "you missed the rooms" and "you have to be online at 8am" smart remarks. I don't have the energy for that today. Also, do we want that amount of attention drawn to this if we are waiting for the days?

 

[Greg36]

I may open a thread over in the Member services forum, there are many knowledgeable folk over there. I just need to have the energy to explain the situation and ward off all those "you missed the rooms" and "you have to be online at 8am" smart remarks. I don't have the energy for that today. Also, do we want that amount of attention drawn to this if we are waiting for the days?

Yeah, I know what you mean... Hopefully we will have some movement on this soon and start to see some availability come back. It would be nice to know what is happening though and to get a response from Disney acknowledging that there is actually a problem or that they are taking the rooms, if that is what they are doing...

 

[ericar]

Is DVC getting rid of the value rooms and making them into standard view rooms?

 

[Marionnette]

Is DVC getting rid of the value rooms and making them into standard view rooms?

If they are, it would have to be in 2021 or later because the points charts for 2019 & 2020 already include them as a booking category.

 

[js]

Is DVC getting rid of the value rooms and making them into standard view rooms?

hhhmmmm, interesting. But as Marionnette said, it would have to be for 2021.

 

[rlduvall]

Is DVC getting rid of the value rooms and making them into standard view rooms?

Since value rooms are approximately 2' shorter than the standard rooms, would be a hard justification. Comes out to around 50' smaller. People would then be upset if they got the smaller room but cost the same amount of points.

 

[twinklebug]

Since value rooms are approximately 2' shorter than the standard rooms, would be a hard justification. Comes out to around 50' smaller. People would then be upset if they got the smaller room but cost the same amount of points.

Having split-stayed in the value/SV studios I can say the size definitely makes a difference when we have more than 2 people in the room. Less room = more clutter = a bit more stress, and I'm pretty good at keeping the room organized. I can't see them turning these into standards.