Online reservations do/do not show total availability?

[guppy1013]

Want to double check....

We are waiting for ROFR. Our contract "came with" 120 banked points, which we would like to use some in early December for a long weekend. I have checked availability through the "public" Disney online reservation system....are there rooms that are only available for DVC? When do those rooms get thrown into the available for everyone pool? Or they don't? Or after 7 months out? Just wondering. I have seen the numbers showing "dedicated" rooms but did not know if they are dedicated for a certain amount of time or no matter what.

Should be good to go by Aug 1. So excited!!!! (fingers crossed). Thanks to all, these boards are so helpful!

 

[nyck]

The rooms you see through the public WDW site are not the inventory of those available for DVC members. Every resort has rooms available for cash rates because members trade out of those resorts for somewhere else and they are made into cash inventory and not traded back. Therefore you can never see what is available for points on that site, only on the DVC member site

 

[vicki_c]

DVC rooms and Disney rooms that can be reserved through Disney are not related. There is no way to determine what DVC rooms are/aren't available by checking the regular Disney website.

 

[disneynutz]

In addition some or all rooms not booked on points 60 days before check in are turned over to Disney for cash bookings and they are removed from the DVC inventory.

Bill

 

[jekjones1558]

Be prepared to find very limited availability for an early December weekend. That is one of the most popular times for DVC members. Many, many people reserve at exactly 11 months. Good luck!

 

[TagsMissy]

I can attest to it being difficult, I think SSR was the only place I could find a week's stay at the beginning of Dec....it's a crazy busy time.

 

[LisaS]

I have seen the numbers showing "dedicated" rooms but did not know if they are dedicated for a certain amount of time or no matter what.

DVC 2BRs, 1BRs and Studios are of one of two types: Lockoff or Dedicated. A Lockoff 2BR is a 1BR plus a Studio with a set of two interior doors connecting the two rooms. It can be configured as a 2BR or can be "locked off" and rented as two separate villas, a 1BR and a Studio. A Dedicated 2BR is a 1BR plus a 2nd bedroom. It cannot be "locked off" and configured as two separate rooms.

Similarly, there are 1BRs that do not connect to a Studio and there are Studios that do not connect to a 1BR. These rooms are described as a Dedicated 1BR and a Dedicated Studio because they cannot be joined to another room and configured as part of a 2BR Lockoff.

So when you see a count of "dedicated" rooms, that refers to rooms that do not have interconnecting doors and cannot be made part of a larger villa. It does not mean that the rooms are dedicated to DVC members only.

As others have already said, early December is one of the busiest times for DVC. I hope your resale purchase goes through quickly and you manage to find something for your dates. Good luck!

 

[guppy1013]

So when you see a count of "dedicated" rooms, that refers to rooms that do not have interconnecting doors and cannot be made part of a larger villa. It does not mean that the rooms are dedicated to DVC members only.

As others have already said, early December is one of the busiest times for DVC. I hope your resale purchase goes through quickly and you manage to find something for your dates. Good luck!

Thanks that makes sense! We have gone twice that week and it was sooooo nice, I can see why its popular with DVC members. Maybe Halloween if we can't go then...

 

[Deb & Bill]

Thanks that makes sense! We have gone twice that week and it was sooooo nice, I can see why its popular with DVC members. Maybe Halloween if we can't go then...

October is another tough month to get this late.

 

[Dasha Hermosilla]

As you can see... The would of DVC is a world of advance planning. If you event "think" you might do, book it! Cancel later if your plans don't pan out. Much better to have something and cancel before the penalty than to not have something.

 

[brmillsy]

First off congratulations! Hope all goes smooth and you have your points as soon as possible. I'm assuming your a bit new to the ropes based on your questions but that's no problem at all, lots of help is here if you should want it.

As other have stated DVC is going to work best for you if you plan way in advance. Maybe more so than you have in the past. To me though the planning is one of the fun parts and it seems we are either on a trip or planning the next one at any given time.

Also as previously pointed out the Disney web site has nothing to do with the DVC inventory so it's not an indicator of what is available. Busy seasons for DVC renters are also not what you might think by looking at the points charts etc. Here is a quick summary of the general booking situation most times of the year. Just something to generally go by:

1-3 months out is a major crap shoot at any time of year and may be tough to get anything.

3-6 is doable at the bigger resorts especially SSR and in summer and winter

7 months exactly is often a winner at most resorts with the exception of the ultra busy seasons

11 months at your home resort is a virtual lock excluding some very specific categories (AKL Concierge...)

Ultra busy is Epcot resorts during food and wine (all of October), December at most resorts especially Wilderness Lodge

It is of course a lot more complicated than that but this is 90% of the deal. If you follow these principles you will love DVC, get to stay at any resort you want, take trips on fairy short notice and enjoy your membership immensely.

If you buck the trend you will be one of these members who say they can never get anything they want etc.

It looks like you bought resale so there probably was no "guide" involved which often creates bizarre expectations with new members

On a final note I just looked and there is pretty much nothing the first weekend of December anywhere. The second weekend looks available at SSR for now but that will change as time passes.

Also which resort did you buy at and which accommodation do you normally book (studio, 1BR, 2BD, ..)

Anyway hope this helps, congratulations and enjoy your membership.

 

[guppy1013]

120 pts resale at OKW - we have 120 banked points and 120 more coming 10/1/13 and the banked ones must be used by 10/1/14. We have two toddlers (3 and 2) and will just need a studio right now. I am a teacher so every long weekend I have off so does everyone and their brother. I am anxious for our first DVC trip but in reality probably won't get there til summer 2014. Not excited about Florida humidity in July but now that we are committed about every year I feel much more relaxed about what we have to do every time (no commando at all!)

We would probably love to stay at BLT or BCV. Next choices would be BWV, WLV...then OKW. With the girls in strollers it's much easier to not take a bus anywhere right now b

 

[luckyman_apd]

120 pts resale at OKW - we have 120 banked points and 120 more coming 10/1/13 and the banked ones must be used by 10/1/14. We have two toddlers (3 and 2) and will just need a studio right now. I am a teacher so every long weekend I have off so does everyone and their brother. I am anxious for our first DVC trip but in reality probably won't get there til summer 2014. Not excited about Florida humidity in July but now that we are committed about every year I feel much more relaxed about what we have to do every time (no commando at all!)

We would probably love to stay at BLT or BCV. Next choices would be BWV, WLV...then OKW. With the girls in strollers it's much easier to not take a bus anywhere right now b

I'm a teacher too. We have to schedule trips around school schedules as well. We used to think we'd only be able to go over the summer time or other school holidays, but a funny thing happened. We found airline deals to get down and back cheaper than ever, and we've become comfortable with just a few days rather than a 5 day or longer trip. Before ownership disney trip were a 2-3 year apart adventure. Now we've been to WDW 6 times and DL 1 time in the past 5 years. Now DL was added to a work trip, once was a treat from friends and once was just a resort only trip of 2 nights, but we've become a lot more familiar with the place. We know what we like and dislike. We don't ever feel the need the cram it all in. If we don't do something this time around, we know that we'll be back soon enough to do it next time. My old advice to disney vacationers was to go cheap as you can to stay longer. Now I've learned to relax and really enjoy the time I'm there rather than over do it. Just being there makes my kids happy. No need to run them into the ground anymore.

Just an FYI, as others have stated Dec 1-14 is one of the busiest DVC times, and this year is worse as the calendar is funny with thanksgiving so late this year. For the Dec 6,7,8 weekend, last time I checked there were only a handful of 1 bedrooms open on scattered nights. Nothing open for more than a single night. It's possible once your in to stalk the website several times a day and find something, good luck to you.

 

[com_op_2000]

(no commando at all!)

It usualy takes newbies awhile to figure this out. Good to see that you have that part of DVC worked out.