Please be honest!

[hakepb]

What about those last minute spontaneous trips (when u must see the mouse). What is the likely hood of getting a reservation on a short notice? Say within 30 or 60 days, non peak times and flexibly dates.

I just did a sat-mon trip this July planned at 3 weeks. (Other than the 4th, I do not think July is peak DVC)
The only concurrent availability for a studio was SSR, but we got it and it was a wonderful trip! A spontaneous trip that would not of been possible without DVC: We had an active DVC discounted AP, and we had some DVC points, then we realized we could do a spontaneous DVC trip for "only" the added cost of airfare (free ME pickup) and food!

 

[jimmacmn]

even at your home resort is extremely difficult and that we shouldnt bother as it is easier to book without being a DVC member.

We have been members since 1994 and have never been shut out of a place to stay when we wanted to go. Many of the other posts have supported this fact, however, the quote from you friend does have a major flaw. Usually you will be able to book a DVC resort through CRO for cash, however, you will not have protected yourself against price increases! While maintenance fees will surely increase over the years, a large percentage of your overall costs will be locked into the purchase price of your DVC interest. In addition, while there is no guarantee the value of your ownership interest will grow, we could currently sell our ownership interest in our OKW contracts for substantially more than we paid for them in 1994 and 1996. In the mean time, we have enjoyed 14 years of Disney vacations for a bargain price.

 

[IAMaGR8DISMOM]

I would highly recommend buying DVC. We love it. My only advice would be to buy where you really enjoy staying most.

 

[chaoscent]

We really wanted to stay at AKV Concierge. We only own 200 points and I called at 11 months and got a 1 bedroom concierge for the week. There are only a few concierge rooms and supposedly hard to get. Last February I needed a 2 bedroom. We were waitlisted for a boardwalk standard (not my home resort) view and couldn't get it so we stayed at Old Key West. But I have had the same problem trying to book a regular room at certain times of the year. I am glad we are now DVC members. Penny

 

[DVC Jen]

We have been owners since 2001 and have NEVER had a problem booking at either the 11 or 7 month window.

You may have a harder time booking 7 months out if you are going during a special holiday or other special event... but that is to be expected DVC or not.

 

[Sarahtink]

We are new owners at AKV and have had no issue booking two vacations already, a week at VB in October and a week at AKV next July ... and currently have a search going on through II for a week in Dec 09. The DVC resort rooms we have reservations for were our first choice (1 bdrm and 2 bdrm, respectively) ... we had talked about DVC for about a year before finally purchasing it ... and what tipped the scale is AKV - we fell in love with AKL on our honeymoon and so purchased there when it became available.

Purchase where you love and then have fun trying out all the other resorts ... as often as you've gone to WDW, I bet you won't regret it at all...

 

[Rowaena]

We have owned for several years and have family that has owned since the mid 90s. We usually make our reservations about six months ahead. We have never been wait listed. The last few years we have stayed at BCV for the pool and Epcot access, but we have also stayed at SSR and OKW.

That said: we always go off-season because frankly we can't stand it when it's overly crowded. Disney just keeps building more and more lodging, but not more and more park space and restaurants (DDP has killed table service!). We are going next week, for example - and doing a lot of cooking in our unit because the free dining giveaways in September just make the restaurants insane. We are soooo hoping that next year's little hotel bounceback deal is counter service DDP only!

As much as I might enjoy celebrating the highly trafficked holidays at Disney, from everything I have heard about the crowds, my husband would probably lose his mind. I sincerely doubt that it is easy to get a Christmas-New Year reservation much past the window opening, for example.

So you have to decide what times of year you want to go, and buy your points according to how many you will need to stay when you want to go. And accept that you may not be able to stay anyplace but your home resort on those highest occupancy weeks of the year, since people will book their home resorts at 11 months for the most highly desirable weeks.

 

[eliza61]

My family is truly considering buying into DVC but a friend of ours just gave me some info that burst our bubble so to speak. She said that getting a room, even at your home resort is extremely difficult and that we shouldnt bother as it is easier to book without being a DVC member. Can you guys give me the nitty gritty on how making a ressie actually works and be honest on the difficulty of gettimg rooms and is it impossible to book multiple rooms? She also said they would take some ones reservation over ours if attempting to book the same nights because they own more points? Please help! thank you so much!!

Never heard that one before . I've never, ever had difficulty getting exactly the room I wanted at my home resort. Most of the time I book on line and don't even call MS. We generally travel late August, November and in 09 we are giving Mid May a try. I've also gotten every room I wanted at 3 other DVC resorts (WL in August, OKW in November and SSR in May of this year)
I've never tried booking multiple rooms so can't help you on that.