Special Season preference lists

[d-r]

Does anyone have any information / opinions about special season preference lists? It seems to me to be an attempt to limit commercial renters from booking holiday times, but could it be used to limit home resort access as well, especially for those that own at the smaller resorts?

I searched the dis boards but could not find this topic.

Thanks for any information.

DR

 

[DebbieB]

This hasn't been used in several years.

 

[Chuck S]

This hasn't been used in several years.

In the very early years of DVC,there was a lottery-type system for the Christmas holidays. Owners of all resorts that wanted to stay at WDW during that time could get on a list. THose whose names were chosen could make reservations regardless of home resort priority. If your were chosen and did not want to make a reservation, you could remain on the list for the following year. If you declined two years in a row, you were dropped from the list.

As Debbie said, it hasn't been used for many years, as it was deemed unnecessary as more and more DVC resorts (thus more DVC rooms) became available onsite. It is still an option for the future if DVC sees a need to reinstate it.

 

[CarolMN]

IIRC, 1999 was the last year the Special Seasons Preference list was used.

Briefly, it was used for the week of Christmas - New Year's. You put your name on the list up to two years ahead of time and about a year ahead, you got a call. You made a reservation if there was availability. There was no home resort priority - OKW owners could reserve at BWV and vice versa. Those were the only two WDW DVC resorts at the time. I don't remember for sure if HHI or VB owners could use the list, but I think so. They just kept going through the list until everything was sold out or until they made it through the list. As I recall, they found out the SSPL wasn't necessary since there was still availability left when they finished the list. It must have been a time-consuming labor-intensive process to call all those people.

FWIW, I did not like it because it ignored home resort booking priority - for example, it didn't feel right that OKW owners could book that week at BWV ahead of BWV owners. But now it is a moot point. I don't see them bringing it back.

I really don't think it ever had anything to do with commercial renters.

 

[d-r]

I thought it was something new, not something old. Cool, thanks.

 

[RobDoc]

As Carol mentioned, the last time the "list" was used was 1999. During the 7 years it was in place, that week (December 24 - 31) was never filled using the list. It was a lot of additional work for MS and was not necessary to get a reservation for that week.

I actually would not be surprised to see it used again in the future since that week is now frequently filled under the current system. As noted, it had nothing to do with renting and actually might assist those renting if brought back in the future unless some restrictions were put in place.

 

[DebbieB]

I could see the purpose of it when there was only OKW, to give members a fair shot at getting it. With several resorts available now, I don't think it would be fair that a non-home resort member could get a reservation before a member owning at that resort. I think it would only be fair if the list was only for your home resort.

 

[Dean]

There are actually 2 provisions, the special season preference list and the lottery option. The change of the millennium was using a lottery, the special season preference list was used for several years before but not since. Neither really limits renting unless they make change of name on the reservation a cancelation and rebooking which I believe they threatened with the 1999 lottery but didn't follow through on.