Question and advice please

[goaliewife]

Regarding Waitlist.....

We are in the process of planning our second trip to WDW since becoming DVC members. For our first trip we stayed at our home resort, SSR, but this time we would like to stay at BCV.

Our 7 month window for BCV would be in March, whereas our 11 month window for SSR is November. I am totally freaked out that if we wait until March to try to get in at BCV we will be waitlisted and the more I read about waitlisting I just don't know if this is an option for us. I have read that some WL'd people have not been confirmed even up to the date of their arrival and they either luck into something or they settle for something else. We are coming from California, and of course would not travel that far without a confirmed ressie. So if we wait until March to try for BCV and are WL'd, this will miss our 11-month home window and we would possibly not be able to get in there either..dilemma.

So I guess that my question is, how often are people actually WL'd, how do you handle a WL? Would we be better off taking the safer option of our home resort, with the economy the way it is are our chances of getting a ressie for BCV a little better?????

Maybe I have answered my own question, but it sure would be nice to stay at different resorts as well...

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

 

[cvjw]

Make your home resort reservation at 11 months, and then call at your 7 month window to try and change. I just did that very same thing this morning. I changed by May reservation from my home resort of VWL to a reservation at the BCV. I was willing to waitlist if the BCV were not available during my stay, and I would have been totally happy at the VWL if my waitlist did not come thru!

 

[MrShiny]

Here's how to do it - you book at your home at 11, then at 7 you either switch or wait list. Then you have a confirmed reservation no matter what. If the WL comes through, they automtically switch - just make sure you have enough points to cover the new reservation! If the WL is fewer points than you original, the points go back into your current UY I believe. That's something to note if you are using banked or borrowed points.

In your case, since BCV is generally (always?) more than SSR, you'll be fine as long as you have enough points available to make up the difference between SSR and BCV should your wait list come through.

Right now, I have reservations at AKV, SSR THV and SSR with a waitlist at THV. If that comes through, they'll swap my SSR for THV. At 7 months, I'm going to try to swap or waitlist AKV for BLT.

No telling what your chances are - but there are a lot of shifts going on! For instance if I have to WL BLT and it comes through, someone who was WL at AKV will get my old rooms when they are released!

If you kknow you are going. always book what you can at 11 months and take it from there!

 

[goaliewife]

Thank you both so much. I knew that I could count on my DVC family to ease my mind.

I think that sometimes I read too much on these boards and that is when I get freaked. In our case we would have to have a confirmed-in-stone ressie to fall back on because we will have to make our plane ressies so far in advance.

I guess that I didn't understand that I could have a reservation already and then try to change it without incurring a penality or something.

Good luck with your WL's.