Ressies at WLV in June No Problem

[Mooobooks]

I see a lot of people on the board asking if you really need to be able to use your home resort 11-month window in order to get the room you want when you want it.
I just made reservations for a 1 bedroom at the Wilderness Lodge Villas for June 4 to 11 with absolutely no problem: that's about 3 and a half months out.
Just FYI.
There were no studios available. If all of the 2 bedrooms are actually one bedrooms with studio lock-offs, that means there are no 2 bedrooms available either.
But several one bedrooms available.

 

[Granny]

I think it's just hit or miss. If I'm not mistaken, are you going the last week of the "Dream Season"...the points go up June 11th?

So I would have thought that might be a tough week. Sort of the latest you can go once school lets out without getting into the Magic Season.

True, it's only a couple of points per night increase, but over the course of a week....well, if you took the same trip a week later it would cost you about 18 or so more points. They all add up!

Hope you have a tremendous trip. We'll be checking out the day before you get there.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Looks like it depends on when you are going - and it changes.

I just checked for VWL ressies in a studio for the week after Thanksgiving. Nothing available, not even a 1 br. Looks like we will be trying to beat everyone to the phone 7 months before our trip so we can get BCV. Actually, we were looking for 8 nights starting the day after Thanksgiving. They had the first 3 nights in a studio at VWL and nothing after that. We were thinking of splitting our stay anyway just to see what BCV is like.

Yesterday I tried for a studio for 5 nights at VWL for Memorial Day weekend. There were only 1brs available for a couple of the nights. I called again today and they were able to take a studio out of cash inventory for all but one night. Hope the waitlist comes thru .

What is the point of my rambling..... the 11 month window is very important for some of the more popular times of the year.

 

[Mooobooks]

Granny: any idea what we can expect the temperature to be at the beginning of June? We've gone at all different times, but never June.
AND, if you're a guy, how come you're called Granny?
DisneyKidds: It's easy for me to make this recommendation because I have a large contract, but since we like to stay at different hotels anyway, during those busy times of the year we don't try to book the DVC resorts--we stay at one of the regular on-site hotels. We often take a shorter trip during those busy periods (can't fight the crowds for more than a long weekend), and it gives us a chance to sample the other resorts like Yacht and Beach Club, Poly, and Grand Floridian. A small contract might make that difficult because of the required points, but that is one advantage of a large contract.

 

[Granny]

Mooobooks....we've gone twice in June. The first time, Florida was in a drought and the temperatures were in the high 90's the whole time we were there. Last time, the temperatures were mostly high 80's with a couple days of low 90's....very pleasant actually.

I'm called Granny as a nickname since childhood. Derivative of my last name. When I first enrolled onto this board, it came naturally to mind as my "handle". Hey, you're lucky....the first month I didn't know how to change the description under my name so most people thought I was from the Beverly Hillbillies or Aunt Bea or something! Believe me, there are times when I wish I was MickeyVWL or something less strange!

 

[Luv2Dream]

We've been many times in early June/late May and it usually gets 90's a few days but mostly high 80's. It all depends on luck as to how hot it can really get. Our home is VWL but we'll be at BWV from 6/1 to 6/8.

 

[John.Disney]

<i>I see a lot of people on the board asking if you really need to be able to use your home resort 11-month window in order to get the room you want when you want it.
I just made reservations for a 1 bedroom at the Wilderness Lodge Villas for June 4 to 11 with absolutely no problem: that's about 3 and a half months out. </i>

I have seen a few of these anecdotes lately where people do not have a problem booking away from their home resort. I think though that you have to look long term. The more DVC resorts built off-site and not in the area of a specific theme park, the more members there will be vying for the limited rooms at VWL, BWV, and BCV.

It is not inconceivable that in under ten years there could be another 50,000 DVC members between HH/VB selling out and the new resorts at Eagle Pines and DI. That is a lot more competition than we are seeing today for the 'theme park' location DVC resorts. These are not large resorts (compared to OKW and proposed EP), and due to their locations there will always be more members trying to trade in than trying to trade out.

I think it is a mistake to buy at a resort with the assumption that you can stay elsewhere as long as you avoid busy times. Maybe now it's tough to get into VWL in the 7 month window for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But 5+ years from now it may be very difficult at any time of year.

Just my opinion of course, but something to consider before grabbing that cheap HH resale with the hopes of staying at VWL/BWV/BCV on a regular basis.

John

 

[fkj2]

I called MS yesterday for some time in the beginning of December (first two weeks). VWL are LIMITED for studios/one bedrooms and BWV is already BOOKED for EVERYTHING. The guide suggested I wait list but that's two months away. Maybe BCV will alleviate the situation.

 

[CRobin]

John, you raise an interesting point. I personally had not thought of OKW, EP, and DI as being less attractive from an "onsite" perspective than VWL, BWV, and BCV, but that may be the case for some. Certainly the location of BWV and BCV provides "walking times" which can beat Disney transportation, but unless they have put turbos on those VWL boats, I'd still give it a toss-up timewise with a bus from OKW. JMHO; when I go on vacation I don't carry a stopwatch and 5-10 minutes doesn't mean that much to me.

I still think that until we start getting into the waning years of DVC, the advent of new DVC resorts like EP and VI will open up MORE opportunities for those that are flexible in their dates, times, and accommodations.

I would wholeheartedly agree with you that someone picking up a contract at HH or VB with the intention of never staying there is taking on a fair amount of risk of always getting what they'd like at a WDW DVC resort.

 

[loribell]

I do know that the first week of June VWL was out of studios and 2 beds for Wed. & Thurs . We moved our trip up a week and had to book OKW for Sun - Thurs. Could have booked the first three days but didn't want to move twice.

Lori

 

[Laurabearz]

Originally posted by Granny


I'm called Granny as a nickname since childhood. Derivative of my last name.

My husband is Ozo.... also a nickname from childhood (11 letter last name too) For the first 9 months we dated I had no idea what his 'real' name was!!!

 

[Simba's Mom]

I just called yesterday to add a night to our ressies the third week of June (Father's Day week) and had no problem booking a studio also.

 

[chicago641]

the poster stated that she was able to get pts resv.from cash reserve.How do you do that?

 

[John.Disney]

<i>I'd still give it a toss-up timewise with a bus from OKW. JMHO; when I go on vacation I don't carry a stopwatch and 5-10 minutes doesn't mean that much to me. </i>

I have to agree with you there. But our opinions really don't matter when it comes to how hard it will be in the future to book there. The market says the points are the same as BCV/BWV (pref.) and the darn thing sold out in a year. There are an awful lot of people that put a similar if not larger premium on the VWL location than on the BCV/BWV location despite the fact that you are still a boat/bus ride away from MK. DW has been going to FW for 30 years and she's one of them. To her, MK is WDW and the rest is just icing on the cake; there will never be a better DVC location. We will be staying at both OKW <b>and</b> WL over the next two weeks, as well as checking out BCV. So we'll see what she thinks after that. By the time we make up our minds though we may be buying at Eagle Pines

<i>the advent of new DVC resorts like EP and VI will open up MORE opportunities for those that are flexible in their dates, times, and accommodations</i>

This is where we have to agree to disagree I think. My opinion is that these new resorts will be excellent options/opportunities for current members, true. But they will also create <b>a lot</b> more competition for getting into VWL/BCV/BWV. If you love your resort then you have nothing to worry about, I don't see anybody having to worry about ressies at EP/DI so these will be great options. But if you bought an OKW resale after reading all the posts about how easy it was to get into XYZ within the 7 month window, I see a lot of waitlists in your future trying to get into XYZ. I see getting into VWL as the biggest problem of all, as it is the smallest and BCV/BWV are interchangable location-wise.

John

 

[Mooobooks]

It would be interesting to go back to the beginning of DVC and see all the questions that people had in 1991 (?). Wonder how things have worked out in relation to everyone's worries about how things would actually operate.
Same thing in this discussion: it will all be clear as day in a few years--just a drop in the bucket of time when looking at another 40 years of vacations.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Chocago641 - I'm pretty new to DVC so I won't pretend I know how they run things. All I know is one day there was no availability. The next day I checked again, the CM said "I may be able to find a studio", put me on hold for a while, came back, said something about checking cash inventory, and, voila, we had a studio.

Here is what I think happens. Anyone can call WDW reservations and reserve a "home away from home" (DVC) resort for cash - just like any other room. DVC must allot a certain number of villas to WDW to rent out. I guess DVC can take some of these back under certain circumstances. Of course my wife thinks it is unfair that DVC members can not get a reservation with points if there are rooms that might be available for cash and that it is even unfair for DVC to allow any DVC rooms to be rented when there are members who want to use points and sometimes can't. However, I'm sure it is in the membership materials somewhere that by owning we agree to have this happen. I would imagine it is in all our best interests as DVC giving rooms to WDW to rent assures the resort will be booked as much as possible, and DVC gets some revenue from WDW that helps to keep our dues down. Still, it sucks when you call for a ressie with points and there is nothing.

I'm sure there are others on this board who can explain exactly how this works.

 

[fkj2]

Disney has access to only 4% of the available rooms (I think) to rent for cash and I think that also allows for rooms that are being refurbished as well, but certainly Doc or Dean would know for sure.