Planning Help!

[ChristieK0310]

Hi

I was hoping that some of you experts could give me some advice and let me know what I need to do as I am quite new to DVC!

We are off to Disney next Christmas and our plans are as follows:

Check in Fri 4 Dec - Check out Thur 17 Dec

Check in Sun 20 Dec - Check out Fri 25 Dec

We are going on a 3 night cruise (Thur/Fri/Sat Nights) 17-20 Dec.

I want to phone and book this but am not sure when to do it. I am also hoping (fingers crossed) to change to AKV for the first 13 nights before the cruise at the 7 month window but again am not sure when to do this as it is longer than 7 nights!

I also need to find out about what happens if I can change as the points are more (which is fine) and I am also booking now but my use year where the majority of my points are isn't until Feb 09. If I book it now do I have to borrow the points then if I have to cancel they go into holding??

I know its lots of questions but I really want to get this right!!!

Thanks for your time and help

Christie

 

[erionm]

The first day you could call would be 1/4/2009 and book the first 7 nights. You could then call back each day and extend the trip by one night until the first portion is booked. Or you could wait until 1/10/2009 and book the entire first portion of the trip.

The second portion could not be booked until 1/20/2009 and it can be booked in one call.

 

[5forDiz]

Hi

I was hoping that some of you experts could give me some advice and let me know what I need to do as I am quite new to DVC!

We are off to Disney next Christmas and our plans are as follows:

Check in Fri 4 Dec - Check out Thur 17 Dec

Check in Sun 20 Dec - Check out Fri 25 Dec

We are going on a 3 night cruise (Thur/Fri/Sat Nights) 17-20 Dec.

I want to phone and book this but am not sure when to do it. I am also hoping (fingers crossed) to change to AKV for the first 13 nights before the cruise at the 7 month window but again am not sure when to do this as it is longer than 7 nights!

I also need to find out about what happens if I can change as the points are more (which is fine) and I am also booking now but my use year where the majority of my points are isn't until Feb 09. If I book it now do I have to borrow the points then if I have to cancel they go into holding??

I know its lots of questions but I really want to get this right!!!

Thanks for your time and help

Christie

Last question first : Reservations are for during your 2009 Use Year so the
points that are from your 2009 UY allotment which would be available as of Feb 1 2009 do not need to be borrowed and if any sort of cancellation happened prior to your banking deadline of Sept. 30, 2009 then those points from 2009 UY allotment could be banked into your 2010 Use Year.

Points would not go into Holding Status unless you cancelled a reservation 30 days or less before check-in date.

If you've banked points from your Feb 2008 UY into 2009 UY those points would not be bankable again and would have to be used for the reservations or by Jan 31 2010 in event of cancellation.

If you borrow points from Feb 2010 UY into 2009 UY in order to have enough points to cover these two reservations ( and this borrowing would only be done by MS if at the time you call to make the reservations you do not have enough banked 2008 UY & current 2009 UY points to cover what you want to do ) those borrowed 2010 UY points would not be able to be "put back" into the 2010 UY in the event of cancellation, in other words, points that you borrow at the time you make reservations cannot be un-borrowed. It is IMPORTANT when you make these reservations to be very clear with MS about what points from which UY allotments are going towards the two reservations - - usually MS is very good about applying banked points to a resi first & then the current UY points & then if necessary borrowing points in but just be sure they and you are clear on things before you hang up !

~ Other questions on booking dates : since December is quite a busy time definitely call Jan 4 for first 7 nights and daily after to extend to the full 13 nights you want for first reservation and Jan 20 for second reservation.

If you want to try switching over to AKV the first 13 nights you'd need to wait until 7 month booking window which would be May 4. This could get tricky because at 7 mos a December resi may be difficult to get for 13 consecutive nights at any DVC resort.

Best wishes !!! Sounds like a great December !!

 

[ChristieK0310]

Thanks so much to both of you things are clearer now and I'll call MS in about 45 mins to make the first reservation - how exciting! All my points are from 2009 plus 14 banked 2008 points so no borrowing - yeah!

I am also excited at the prospect of hopefully staying at AKV (or another DVC resort) for some or all of the first part of our stay so will mark the date on the calender and get ready to phone at exactly 9am Florida time on May 4th.

Thanks Again

Christie

Edited to add - Can't believe MS don't open Sundays!!!! Will have to leave DH step by step instructions on calling tomorrow - sounds like a plan for disaster!

 

[ChristieK0310]

Sorry two more questions!

As I am not able to book my 7 nights from check in until tomorrow (when 11 months is today and MS is closed) can I book my first 8 nights in one go?

When I call daily to add would I call eg. To add on 12th Dec do I need to do it on 12th Jan or can I do it on 6th Jan? I'm confusing myself again!

Thanks,

Christie

 

[DMKEDM]

MS IS open on Sundays...so go ahead and call today...happy vacation!

 

[ChristieK0310]

Thank you so much!!!!!

Special thanks to DMKEDM - I looked at my handbook and it said MS wasn't open Sundays so I just took it as fact - thank goodness for Disboards!

I just called and booked the first 7 nights of my reservation

The lovely lady from MS said that I can call tomorrow and add on the 8th night, then the same the following day etc.... however stated that there really wasn't a need to do that just to call every few days and add a couple at a time as its a studio at SSR and there is lots of availability! She did also say that I was welcome to phone day by day if it makes me fel better lol!

Can't wait to tell DH now!

Thanks again!