So sad....

[lisatx04]

Yesterday I called MS to book a stay at OKW for June. I thought we would have trouble getting a room on this short notice, but that is an understatement. NO studios, or 1BR at OKW. No studio's at SSR. They had 1 1BR. So then the very nice lady I was on the phone with checked all the DVC resorts-nothing. So then I said please check the Polynesian...no rooms at any of the luxury or moderate resorts. What is up with that?? She went on to say that although the economy is not the best, they are super busy down at WDW. In fact, she said this spring break was the busiest ever!

So, now we need to change our dates or skip the summer.

 

[auntsue]

Wow, that's pretty interesting! I would have thought bookings would be down. I would call back every few days. People are always canceling. Would a waitlist work for you or do you need to have a definite ressie in hand for reasons of airfare or whatever?

Good luck.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I'm confused - so you didn't take the 1 BR at SSR?

A couple of options - you could get on a waitlist and try to get your days. You could rent out your points and book a cash room for the exact days you want.

 

[karrit2000]

I was only able to book 3 nights out of the 7 I needed for June. Same story that nothing was available anywhere for most of the nights I needed. My banking window is the end of this month and no luck with the waitlist. I have a room booked at ASMu under the book 4 get 3 free just to cover myself. If the waitlist doesn't come through by Monday I will be cancelling my DVC reservation and slumming it at the Values. My fault for waiting so long to try to book. It's been a few years since I tried to book in June so I was a bit surprised this far out that I couldn't even get OKW or AKV.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I book for June at OKW at the 11 months mark, and at BWV at the 7 1/2, we always take 2 bedrooms, and at times add studios for guest to join us. Studios always go first, especially from Thu-Sun. Florida schools let out at the beginning of June, so we always go the second week while the humidity is still tolerable.

Yesterday, I called to add a studio at BWV for the 11th and the 12th, while we are there for the week in a 2br. Every resort had a studio for the Friday but none except, for the last one at SSR(which I booked) had an open studio for Thursday.

Next year when the 2010 point allocation takes place it may change things, but I still think that the studio accomodation will go first.

 

[going/again]

Next year when the 2010 point allocation takes place it may change things, but I still think that the studio accomodation will go first.

they will go quicker due to the change if anything

 

[bookwormde]

When you are asking (for x sequential days) are you also asking if any of them are available as individual days. Some MS personnel will offer this info and some will not unless you ask. If you are looking for say 8 days only one day needs to be missing to make the reservation unavailable.

Sometimes “digging” a little deeper is valuable especially if you do not rule out split reservations.

bookwormde

 

[lisatx04]

I didn't take the SSR 1 BR b/c I did not want to stay there. The dates were pretty firm due to plane reservations and other obligations. We are trying to change things around.

What is happening with the point allocation in 2010 that you referred to? Do not know what you are talking about.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

What is happening with the point allocation in 2010 that you referred to? Do not know what you are talking about.

Read this thread for the next few days and you'll understand: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2066946

HBC

 

[Opie100]

I book for June at OKW at the 11 months mark, and at BWV at the 7 1/2...

I'm a newbie at this - can non-home properties be booked at 7.5 months (I thought it was 7.0)?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I'm a newbie at this - can non-home properties be booked at 7.5 months (I thought it was 7.0)?

It is 7 months, not 7 1/2.

 

[JimC]

...She went on to say that although the economy is not the best, they are super busy down at WDW. In fact, she said this spring break was the busiest ever!...

I live here and we go to the parks most weekends. It is more crowded then a few weeks ago, but not as crowded as I would expect for spring break season. The discounts they are offering are very aggressive and they just added free meal plan offerings as well. So long as Disney is doing this it means that they are having trouble attracting visitors.

 

[hsteacher]

It has been crowded, crowded when I was there MLK weekend and then again when I was there in Feb. during President's Day weekend. So busy that we left MK by 11 am in Feb! My daughter is a CM and though a few weeks ago it was "slower", it has been busy. I hopped to 4 different resorts during a 5 day stay because I couldn't get any in a row. Though people talk about things being "slower" - personally, I haven't yet seen it when I've been there every month! (since daughter is a CM, I visit every month). It's like when I go to Woodfield Mall (one of the largest indoor malls) here in IL about 4 miles from my home and it's jammed, jammed, jammed and people are buying, buying, buying. We stand and say "where is this recession?" When at DW, people are buying, eating expensive food, and I haven't been able to get a ressie at Chef Mickey's, Cali Grill, etc. Everything is booked. With all the "gloom and doom" we hear about from the media, I really expected to have a more leisure vacation but THAT did not happen. AND - as we looked around on transportation, families with more than the 2.5 children are having no trouble traveling and spending $$$$. Kids had all the Disney toys, balloons, light up jewelry, BBB hair/dress up, etc. As long as I see a line for BBB at DW and a line out the door at the American Girl store here in downtown Chicago, I tend to believe what I see about this economy instead of what I hear. *90% of the families at the school I teach at were bugged out on vacation early for Spring Break. Many to Orlando but the others to Europe, Hawaii, Mexico, etc. O'Hare and Midway are jammed and the airport restaurants have a line.

 

[surfer_ed]

When I was first a DVC memeber, I had no issues with ressies. Now seems I am always waitlitsed anything less than 11 months.

 

[Lady V]

I think people are also using up the developer points they recieved if they purchased recently.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I think people are also using up the developer points they recieved if they purchased recently.

Yes, I think that is a lot of what is to blame.

 

[Laurabearz]

Read this thread for the next few days and you'll understand: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2066946

HBC

sad but true

I think people are also using up the developer points they recieved if they purchased recently.

Yes, I think that is a lot of what is to blame.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I think people are also using up the developer points they recieved if they purchased recently.

I'm sure they are, but the recent DP's are only good at SSR and that was the one place that the OP could have gotten a room but chose not to. Am I missing something on how the DP's would affect other resorts? If they were DP's that could be used for all resorts I could understand that. For some people that bought recently they may actually be putting off using their regular points and are using DP's at SSR. Now of course my thinking means that reservations might only be worse next year when all the DP's are gone!

I just looked at adding some days in May and for the two main nights I wanted I had the choice of 3 resorts - and there may have been more but we didn't go further. And I could have still gotten a full week at SSR and maybe others but we didn't look any further there either. At 6 weeks I didn't think that was bad at all even though my first choice was full (AKV).

 

[Dean]

DP really have little to do with this. DP were never extra points but points owned by DVC either from unsold inventory and/or ROFR contracts. Ressies were getting more difficult before DP were even on board and likely will cont to do so the next 2-3 years. After that it depends but assuming no new, large, lower demand resorts like SSR; the system should start to mature soon and reach a steady state. The other issue is that members have started to wake up and realize they need to plan earlier for various reasons. That's not to say 7 month and short notice availability is gone, only that it will be far more limited than it was even 2-3 years ago.

 

[lisatx04]

Thanks for the link to the other thread. We changed some things around so we could change our dates. We ended up at OKW, 1 BR, 8 nights, in July. Not really when we wanted to go, but due to other obligations, I feel lucky to be able to go at all.

Oh, and when I had originally called for the June stay, SSR had only 1 1BR available, so I am thinking developer points may have had something to do with the availability. Who knows. All I know is that I will start planning my vacations a little earlier, so I will be able to get the dates that work best for my family.