Question for BLT Home Resort Owners

[montrealdisneylovers]

So far, we have been able to book TPV 2 bedroom dedicated from Dec 26-30 without any problem (probably due to the large number of points required)!!

At least if you own there you can get on the waitlist at 11 months if a couple of days are missing from the view you want.

Good luck!

 

[ElizabethG]

We are going in October this year for 7 nights. I called right at the 11 month mark for a 2-bdrm standard view. There were no dedicated, but I was able to book lock-off.

 

[Havana]

I have always gotten what we wanted at BLT by booking at 11 months out. We usually get the Standard View Studio

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Already had a few days booked after Thanksgiving on my remaining 2012 BLT points, just added a few nights to that this morning (7 month window using AKV points) for a 2 bedroom lake view. No issue there. Looked like once December started (lower point season), though, it was very booked up.

 

[mickeyplanner]

We closed on a DVC BLT resale in February 2012 just days shy of the 11 month window for our January 2013 trip and we were not able to get a standard view room. Those must be hard to come by, we were able to book lake view studios for a Labor Day trip and January 2013 trip. I am so glad we bought into BLT for availability, we contemplated on purchasing between there and BC.

 

[disneynutz]

So the consensus is that sometimes you can get the room category that you want and sometimes you can't.

Bill

 

[luckyman_apd]

I have a hard time believing a LV is not available exactly at 11 months unless you are talking Xmas, New years day, or Thanksgiving. Standard view seems like a hit or miss, and that make sense since there are only 2 floors with standard view. As a new owner I was able to get every night but 1 in a LV at 9 months out during F&W and Jersey week. The waitlist for that night even came through after the 7 month mark. (although like a dummy I canceled the night after it so I still end up with a split stay unless that waitlist goes through). BLT has a lot of rooms. Extremely busy times I can see having trouble getting all your days as people arriving before you by a day or 2 can book your days a day or 2 ahead of you, but to be completely booked is a stretch.

 

[mickeyplanner]

I have a hard time believing a LV is not available exactly at 11 months unless you are talking Xmas, New years day, or Thanksgiving. Standard view seems like a hit or miss, and that make sense since there are only 2 floors with standard view. As a new owner I was able to get every night but 1 in a LV at 9 months out during F&W and Jersey week. The waitlist for that night even came through after the 7 month mark. (although like a dummy I canceled the night after it so I still end up with a split stay unless that waitlist goes through). BLT has a lot of rooms. Extremely busy times I can see having trouble getting all your days as people arriving before you by a day or 2 can book your days a day or 2 ahead of you, but to be completely booked is a stretch.

Glad to see the waitlist came through for you.

 

[luckyman_apd]

Glad to see the waitlist came through for you.

Yeah, but I didn't want to rely on it coming through, so at the 7 month mark I cancelled the Sat night at BLT that I had and booked Fri & Sat at VWL. Then the friday night waitlist came through and I'm at BLT from Tues to Sat, and at VWL for Sat night. I have Sat night waitlisted for BLT now that it is unavailable, but I'm not banking on it coming through. If it does great, if it doesn't then oh well. It's our last night there so I'm sure we won't be spending a lot of time in the resort anyway. I think I made the smart choice. If the waitlist didn't work out, I'd have been stuck switching twice, or ending up at a resort farther from the parks. Rather than take the risk, we were happy to be VWL and waitout BLT.

 

[mickeyplanner]

This whole waitlist thing sounds complicated. I am glad you figured it out.
You are making a lot of progress being a new DVC member. I am trying to figure out our 2012 points since we had 2011 points to use first. When do you have to bank points by?

 

[luckyman_apd]

This whole waitlist thing sounds complicated. I am glad you figured it out.
You are making a lot of progress being a new DVC member. I am trying to figure out our 2012 points since we had 2011 points to use first. When do you have to bank points by?

8 month mark.....so if you are a Jan UY then you must bank by 8/31. If Feb then 9/30.....ect. So I'm a June UY and I must bank by 1/31. However, all our banked points that came with the contract, current 2012 pts, and 10 borrowed pts for our upcoming trip. We don't plan on going in 2013 so we are banking those for 2014. I had to figure this out because of our travel plans and travel times are restricted. Man, I'm gonna be calling at 11 months out and 7 months out on the dot to get what we need (plus maybe walking 7 monther if I can. I've done the calculations based on 2013 pts charts for the next 6 years at our planned trips of 2 times every three years. After that who knows what the kids will be up to or in to so we can reconfigure then.

 

[mickeyplanner]

You sound like me trying to figure out points and plans for awhile.

I just told my husband how quickly that 11 month window approaches. We will be making reservations in June for another BLT trip. That will be three trips reserved for the future. I love owning at blt

 

[luckyman_apd]

If you use an android phone, there is a nice widget called disney vacation countdown widget. You input the date of your trip, and on the screen it gives you the number of days left inside a silhouette of Mickey. Currently I have 186 days!

It's helpful for making ADR's in those extremely popular places that book up quickly like Cinderella's Royal table for breakfast. When you have your reservation for your room already booked, you are able to book at 180 from the first day of your reservation up to 10 extra days. So my wife was able to book a breakfast time yesterday for one of the days on our trip. If you aren't staying on property, or haven't booked a room yet, you have to wait until 180 days from the day you want a reservation. It gives you a few extra days jump on making a reservation, and the widget helps so you don't have to think about it.

 

[RachaelA]

I just told my husband how quickly that 11 month window approaches. We will be making reservations in June for another BLT trip. That will be three trips reserved for the future. I love owning at blt

We'll have 3 booked at the same time too once I book our May 2013 trip in June and our September 2013 trip in August.

Yay DVC

 

[ckpoodge]

We're owners at BLT for the last 3 years. We've also tried to book BLT 5 times in the last 3 years, to no avail. That being said, we've always tried to book a standard studio - there are just 2 of us, and we don't need anything fancy - just wanted to stay at our home resort.

Just this last time, we were able to find 2 nights, 9/12 and 9/13, but that was all they had. We took them, and plan to move just for those 2 nights. Fortunately, it's at the tail end of our trip, so Yay for us!

I imagine that it will always be hard for us to book, but that's not why we bought into DVC. We want to stay everywhere, so it's not usually a problem where we lay our head, as long as it's "home".

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this post, hopefully to get some insider tips!

 

[mickeyplanner]

We're owners at BLT for the last 3 years. We've also tried to book BLT 5 times in the last 3 years, to no avail. That being said, we've always tried to book a standard studio - there are just 2 of us, and we don't need anything fancy - just wanted to stay at our home resort.

Just this last time, we were able to find 2 nights, 9/12 and 9/13, but that was all they had. We took them, and plan to move just for those 2 nights. Fortunately, it's at the tail end of our trip, so Yay for us!

I imagine that it will always be hard for us to book, but that's not why we bought into DVC. We want to stay everywhere, so it's not usually a problem where we lay our head, as long as it's "home".

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this post, hopefully to get some insider tips!

How far out before your trips do you make reservations? I am surprised to hear that you have had difficulty for three years now.

 

[TinkTatoo]

If BLT is your home resort have you had any issues booking a trip 11 months out?

No, we've owned at BLT since it opened and have never had any problems getting what we want. We usually book an MK view but our last trip was 2 weeks in a 1 bed standard view and our next trip is 11 nights in a standard view one bed over Christmas and New Year. We always book exactly 11 months out though so that might make a difference. We blew a lot of points on the Christmas trip so unless we borrow we won't be staying at BLT again until 2014

 

[Deb & Bill]

We're owners at BLT for the last 3 years. We've also tried to book BLT 5 times in the last 3 years, to no avail. That being said, we've always tried to book a standard studio - there are just 2 of us, and we don't need anything fancy - just wanted to stay at our home resort.

Just this last time, we were able to find 2 nights, 9/12 and 9/13, but that was all they had. We took them, and plan to move just for those 2 nights. Fortunately, it's at the tail end of our trip, so Yay for us!

I imagine that it will always be hard for us to book, but that's not why we bought into DVC. We want to stay everywhere, so it's not usually a problem where we lay our head, as long as it's "home".

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this post, hopefully to get some insider tips!

You must be waiting to book at the last minute (and with DVC that can be six months out). I got nine nights at BLT in a lake view one bedroom for October at seven months out.

 

[YankeePrincess]

For this trip I am having in two weeks, I called at the 11 month mark early to get a 1 bedroom standard and they were sold out. I had to use the extra points for either a lake view or a tpv so I just decided that if I am using extra points I might as well go all in for a TPV. I think that even if you have points at BLT you will still have issues getting a room depending on the time of year you are going.

 

[RachaelA]

For this trip I am having in two weeks, I called at the 11 month mark early to get a 1 bedroom standard and they were sold out. I had to use the extra points for either a lake view or a tpv so I just decided that if I am using extra points I might as well go all in for a TPV. I think that even if you have points at BLT you will still have issues getting a room depending on the time of year you are going.

Is it spring break that week?

Our next 11 month window is in like 3 weeks (for the first week of May 2012) and we're trying for a standard studio. I'll have to either drop a day off that trip or drop a day off our September 2013 trip if we have to book a lake view.