RCI exchanging Disney RESORTS!!!!

[Pumpkin01]

Hey everyone,
I am new to this board, and I just wanted to let everyone know that rci has been slowly exchanging Disney resorts all day today and is still doing it now. They are going super fast, just looked and a couple of resorts for Dec and July were left. We booked and are so excited to take our 4 year old daughter for the first time as a birthday gift! Magical hunting!!

 

[kirkaliciasmom]

Hey everyone,
I am new to this board, and I just wanted to let everyone know that rci has been slowly exchanging Disney resorts all day today and is still doing it now. They are going super fast, just looked and a couple of resorts for Dec and July were left. We booked and are so excited to take our 4 year old daughter for the first time as a birthday gift! Magical hunting!!

Welcome! I booked at OKW through RCI for 11/10-17. I was so excited to find that resort available, I scooped it up. It's a 2 br too! It's my first exchange with RCI. I am a DVC member, but ALWAYS live in the future with my points..... Same as my Worldmark timeshare..... Gotta love vacations.

When are you going? She's going to love it!

 

[Pumpkin01]

Hey Diana! We booked into the same resort, we have never been lucky enough to book into Disney resorts through RCI but I obsessively have been searching the past week or so. We are going Nov 16-23, so maybe we will be neighbors, we are also in a 2br!!! We definitely should say hello. My husband and I are avid Disney lovers, and even spent our honeymoon there..so taking our baby for the first time is major!!! Thanks so much for the warm welcome!

 

[princessap]

my inlaws have rci and said we could try to get a place for out next trip in sept 2014. how often were you checking the website?? did you start checking right at 7 months??
any tips??

 

[Pumpkin01]

We actually decided to do Disney this past week, so I started looking at the Disney resorts only about 4 or 5 days ago. We got extremely lucky, for whatever reason all of these resorts were released. So, technically I booked 4 months out, but we do have an ongoing search which totally helps...BUT it only searches for weeks not points so I didn't get a hit until I found it myself. When points resorts are released there is no way for RCI to hold it for you, so you have to constantly and I mean CONSTANTLY check. If you are a lucky one and a "red week" reservation becomes available then they can contact you, but you must have red weeks to bank. Sorry for all of the confusing info, what really helped me was to call RCI and have them answer all of my questions, I called them several times over the past few days for help. I would keep checking everyday now, multiple times a day since they are exchanging points stuff, and call them and have them set up an ongoing WDW search for any red weeks! One last thing, the booking out 7 months thing is confusing to me, but you have to know when you are able to book out so you know when to stay on top of it. Just call and ask any questions, RCI is very helpful.Good Luck and I hope you are able to book something soon!

 

[princessap]

thanks. my inlaws are intrawest members but can exchange into rci if the imbalance is lifted. I will start checking around 8 months out to see. we are hoping for BLT though which I know is hard to get.

Have fun trip planning!!!

 

[Lisa P.]

my inlaws have rci and said we could try to get a place for out next trip in sept 2014. how often were you checking the website?? did you start checking right at 7 months?? any tips??

September is generally one of the easier months to secure an exchange into DVC resorts at WDW so your chances of a match are:
--- fair for a 2BR at one of the smaller DVC properties (BCV, BLT, BWV, VWL)
--- decent for a 1BR at one of the smaller DVC properties (BCV, BLT, BWV, VWL)
--- pretty good for a 2BR at one of the larger DVCs (AKV, OKW, SSR)
--- excellent for a 1BR at one of the larger DVCs (AKV, OKW, SSR).

To maximize your chance of a successful match, enter an ongoing search request as soon as you know the dates you want, up to 2 years out. When RCI receives deposited weeks, they are computer-matched to the requests which were entered the earliest and which have been running for the longest, at the top of the wait list. The more check-in dates (Fri/Sat/Sun) that you include in your search and the more resort ID's you include in your request, the better your chances of success as well.

DVC practices "bulk spacebanking", which is where they deposit a whole bunch of weeks with RCI all at once, then nothing for weeks or months. You want to be sure that your request is in place before the main builk spacebank of weeks (including your desired travel dates) is entered. DVC typically deposits most weeks between 5-7 months ahead of travel. After that, you'll only see occasional scattered weeks, which may be canceled exchanges.

If you want to make a rather narrow exchange request during a non-holiday period, when kids are usually in school (lower demand in RCI), you may try to get your first choice exchange. Then you may modify your search request at ~6 months out to include more options, if you haven't matched yet. When trying for school breaks, being less picky and more broad in your request will provide a better chance of success.

Make sure your ongoing search request does NOT include any "region" or area but ONLY the RCI Resort IDs for the specific resorts that interest you. Otherwise, you'll get a match to offsite resorts.

Since you're using your in-laws' account, you may not be able to look online for the "RCI Points" deposits and you may have to rely on an ongoing search in "RCI Weeks". For a September trip, it probably won't matter.

thanks. my inlaws are intrawest members but can exchange into rci if the imbalance is lifted. I will start checking around 8 months out to see. we are hoping for BLT though which I know is hard to get.

I don't know what this means... imbalance? You're right - BLT is a rare find in RCI but it's there occasionally, especially if you only need a 1BR and if any dates in the month of September would work. Hope you find success. You've got a bit of a wait still, before you'll know.

 

[MinnieTink]

Thanks for posting We did get a 2 BR at SSR for the first week of November but I continue to keep watching the website. We got Friday-Friday and were hoping for either Sat or Sun. Friday is not a deal breaker tho so I'm happy to have gotten it. I see you started your search a few days prior to having luck... That is VERY lucky. It took me from December, finally got a call from having an ongoing search in May. And I've been looking recently too and there has been nothing for a few weeks now, except for that one day. The beginning of November seems tough to get.

Anyway, have a wonderful trip!!!

 

[Junebugwv]

We were able to get the 2nd week of Sept for three years in a row. We had a 1 br at BCV, 1 br at SSR and a 2 br at VWL (!!!). This year we check in to a 1 br at OKW the first weekend in Sept. I checked our RCI history and we booked the exchanges in Feb, Mar and Apr.

When we had the 1 bedroom at BCV, we also rented points from a DVC owner for a studio the same week. There was no availability for a connecting room, but the studio was in the same hallway. We had older teen boys so that was no problem.

At SSR we rented "last-minute" points from David's for a studio and they were able to combine our reservations for the studio and 1-br into a dedicated 2-br.

 

[Pumpkin01]

NO problem at all, I am glad I could spread the information! I was told that booking through points is way easier then booking through weeks, so that is what we did. I totally did get lucky and we are so thankful. I will say that for whatever reason RCI was steadily spitting out Disney resorts last week, and I am sure there are more to come. Keep your eyes peeled for that Sat or Sun bc all of the units I saw available were those days. In any event I am glad you all were able to book, and I hope you have magical vacations!