reservation craziness at BWV!

[Lisa F]

This is just a word of warning for those of you who own at BWV and think you have plenty of time in that 4 month window to book a reservation...

I never thought it would be necessary to call day by day for reservations... not for January at least! When we called on Jan 1st figuring that inventory might be low because of special seasons preference list spillover we were glad to be able to get a standard studio at the BWV and the person I spoke to at MS recommended that we call every day. I thought it was crazy but I figured, they know what things look like there, so we called every morning.

On this past friday, we forgot to call in the morning and I called at around 12:30 pm. I asked to add a day onto my ongoing reservation, standard studio at the BWV. She said she had to check availability. I kind of chuckled to myself until she said "wow, it's a good thing you called now. we're almost fully booked in standards that day." I was stunned. There were 8 standard studios left and the day for that reservation had JUST opened up 3.5 hours ago. I asked how many there were in total and she said it was over 50... so within 3.5 hours of reservations being available over 80% of the reservations were booked! For the slowest time of the year! (yes, I realize that the low points are attractive, but I didn't realize it was that attractive!)

I also checked for a week in late august to see if there was any availability. Not only was BWV booked solid, but the wait list was closed. Considering August is a mere 6 months away this didn't surprise me too much... what DID surprise me is that not only was OKW wide open with availability (actually, that seems to be the norm when we try to book a studio relatively last minute, not sure about other room sizes) but so was the VWL. I really thought that with it being the newest resort, the VWL would be a hot item and difficult to get into (heck, I called the first day I could to switch over our BWV march reservations to VWL because I wanted to try it so badly!)

I guess the moral of the story is, if you have your heart set on BWV, book as early as possible and be persistant. I'm really glad MS told me to book on a daily basis because I never would've thought it necessary.
Lis

"You employ stone, wood, and concrete, and with these materials you build house and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly, you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say 'This is beautiful.' That is architecture. Art enters in."
-Le Corbusier

 

[Dumbo]

Just another fine example that Boardwalk Villas is DVC's most popular resort.

Dumbo

 

[eva]

I definitely believe it! We tried to change our reservation from OKW to BWV for this last November at the 7 month window. No luck even with the waitlist. We are going down the 3rd week of May and found the same problem. We are only staying 2 nights but still no room at BWV. We are on the waitlist. But I am not holding my breath. We are staying at the Dolphin for a conference beforehand so we really want BWV. Moving to OKW could be a real pain. We love OKW but sometimes you really need the BWV location. Does anyone have an idea on how we can get to OKW from the Dolphin?

 

[minnie mouse]

I know I called the first part of January for a standard view studio for a week anytime in October. And the best I could get was for five consecutive nights, so I took it and now I'm on the waiting list for the other two night.
So now I have my fingers crossed that something will open up.

 

[Don Carnage]

You can make reservations up to 11 months in advance at your home resort and up to 7 months at another resort?
This would save alot of headache in making reservations. I go in April at the BWV and am always booked in May--this saves me a big hassle. <IMG WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15" SRC="/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif" alt="razz">

Disney World 76,77,80,82,84,86,89,93,97,99,00.
DVC member since 93

 

[PamOKW]

Lisa, is the booked solid in August for all of BWV or just standard view?

 

[Ed T]

Our home resort is OKW and we had reservations their after the cruise. We were booked at OKW from Aug 30 - Sept 3 and made the ressie about 9 months ago. at the 7 month window I changed it to BWV and go in. What a surprise. We have been members since 1994. after the passes expired we decided to try other resorts ie BWV We have tried on 3 other occasion with out success. The 11 month window is becoming more and more important. If Buying at VB and HH are your choice than plan on staying there alot.

Ed
DVC 1994

 

[Lesley]

Wow!
So should I call day by day for my end of January ressies? I'm guessing that for preferred view it might not be necessary, but for the standard view? We're going to be in a pref studio for 5 nights and a standard 1 br for 5....I was thinking I'd call for each on the day we'd be checking out...for the studio, then 5 days later for the 1br...but should I call day by day for the one bedroom? It does make a difference in points if I wouldn't get it!
Any advice welcome...these will be our first DVC ressies.


Lesley


1979 Contemporary
1992 Off-site
1994 Carribean Beach
1999 Fort Wilderness and Coronado Springs
2000 Polynesian and Old Key West
2002 Boardwalk Villas

 

[CarolMN]

Lesley,

My advice is to call day by day for the standrad view reservation. I'm told that only 20% of the rooms are considered standard view, and I know from personal experience that they tend to go quickly, even in January. (We just got back from a January trip and had a great time. No waits for anything, but it was cold). Anyway, if you need the standard view to make the trip work (point wise), why take a chance? Good Luck!

Carol

 

[spiceycat]

winter birds were so bad one year that in the Magic vacation bulletin we were told that showing up at the DVC (then only OKW) would not get you a reservations. So January and February get booked fast. This has always been a problem. Your sales person should have told you.

 

[Nana Sue]

I guess the standard view studio is the hot item. I called January 29th for the following day -a January 30th through February 4th reservation and had no problem getting a preferred view studio. There were no standard views available.

 

[BillM]

Due to the desparity in points at BWV and also some of the "preferred" views are certainly not worth the points, it is no surprise that demand at the 11 month window for standard view is very high and coupled with studio choice for some people to conserve points makes for a bad situation. I don't think you can make a case that BWV is so wildly popular but the standard view studios are for the above reasons.

 

[eva]

I don't know Bill, we always ask for preferred view and still rarely can get it at the 7-month window. Our trip in May is for only 2 nights and we are still on the waitlist for a preferred 1-bedroom. OKW still seems to have no problems. I made reservations for a studio last year(MIL asked to come along) about 5 months out for Thanksgiving week and had no problems what so ever.

 

[kem330]

Has anyone tried for BW, PV, one or two BR, for 12/30/01- 01/03/02? We're waiting for final closing and won't be able to call for 10 days or so. Wondering what our chances are?

 

[Lisa F]

eva: Since the swan and dolphin offer so many of the other benefits of "real" disney resorts, perhaps they will move your luggage also. If they won't, perhaps OKW will send someone to the dolphin to pick you and your luggage up and bring you over to OKW. Worst case you could probably take a taxi, but I'm sure they've dealt with this issue before.

minnie mouse: I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you. We had good luck with the wait list trying to add another studio to our reservation for this past january at the 6 month mark. I think the wait list works pretty well, especially if you get on it early.

Don Carnage:Yes, I know I can book 11 months in advance. If it weren't for wanting that Jan 1st reservation, though, I probably would've tried to book the entire stay at the end and I probably wouldn't have been able to get it. I've had good luck calling day by day but I was just stunned to hear they were almost all gone a little after noon exactly 11 months out.

PamOKW:I didn't ask specifically for BWV preferred view but when she said there were no standards and the wait list was closed I asked if there were any rooms anywhere and she told me about availability at OKW and VWL. I assumed since she didn't mention it that there wasn't any in a preferred studio either, but I can't say for sure. There WAS standard studio availability for the following week (last week of august) though, and I didn't check for the rest of august.

Lesley:The point of my post was to say "if it is really important to you that you stay in a BWV standard, call day by day." I say, better safe than sorry. If I were in your situation (and I was!) I would probably be worrying so much day by day that my reservations would be gone that I might as well take the 5 minutes to call and get the reservation I absolutely want. At least it is an 800#!

spiceycat:We never told our guide that we were intending to go in January since we just decided to do that on NYE 2000 (when we decided we wanted to be at WDW for NYE 2001) and we loved it so much, we wanted to do it again. In fact, when I am done with my masters and don't have to be a slave to the university's schedule, I would love to go the last week in october and catch the food and wine festival as well as MK halloween happenings!

kem330:I wouldn't get my hopes up too high because that time period falls under the special seasons preference list. I think the holidays are the most difficult time to get into (next to January, apparantly)... on the other hand, never say never. I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Lisa

"You employ stone, wood, and concrete, and with these materials you build house and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly, you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say 'This is beautiful.' That is architecture. Art enters in."
-Le Corbusier

[This message was edited by Lisa F on 02-11-01 at 09:39 PM.]

 

[Mary Ellen]

We're going in early Dec - BWV 10 nights Std. view 1Br. I forgot and didn't call until several days after the 11 mo. window opened. When I called and made the ressies for the first 3 nights, the CM let me know I was VERY lucky to still have the nights available and that I should call first thing each morning for the rest of the nights I wanted. Figuring that she should know, I followed her advice and did get what I wanted.

Enjoy!

 

[DisneyCrazy]

We own OKW and last May while there we decided to make a ressie for BWV in December - there was nothing available (looking for 1BR, preferred or standard) so we booked OKW and went on the wait list. Not more than a week went by when MS called saying a preferred view 1BR opened up. For our stay this June (after a 3 day cruise) I called MS at the 7 month window and got a 2BR preferred view with no problem. I am going to try at the 7 month window for December again this year (I will have an OKW ressie as backup). Maybe I've just been lucky...

-Paul

 

[PamOKW]

Kem, just so you won't be disappointed I'll second Lisa's comment. NYE is probably the most coveted of all days at BWV. It's not impossible that something will come through but it's also far from a sure thing. In fact, getting anything at any WDW resort is pretty tricky.