Stalking vs. Waitlist - Stalking Wins Again

I never knew about stalking! I wonder if that will help up? We are doing WDW, DCL, then back to WDW. We dock on 30th Dec and had hoped to spend a few nights at BLT (home resort). When booking opened at 11m window, I was only able to get 1BR-LV for 2-nights from 30th, (wanted 4-nights in ST-TPV). Current booking and waitlist were made at 11-month window. MS seemed pretty confident that I would get it, especially once the 7-month window rolled around. But still nothing. Now I am reading about stalking, and want to give that a try. My only issue is that my BLT contract is only small, and we have already used banked, borrowed and UY points to book the 1BR (ST for longer is pretty much the same points). So, I couldn't even book the ST if it came up on stalking. I don't want to cancel our current booking, only to find out that the new ST one has become unavailable. For those that have stalked with a current booking in place, does the system warn you that you already have a booking for that date, and does it ask you if you would like to cancel and use those points to book, or do you require additional points to book, then go back and cancel the original booking?

Also, phoning MS is nigh on impossible as the centre is only ever open whilst we are sleeping!
 
Just finished two last minute reservations that required a combination of stalking and wait listing...

First, my DS' honeymoon (decided on just 10 weeks prior to arrival!!!)--needed 6 nights at the Boardwalk last week of September (for Food & Wine)...I told DS "there's really no hope, but I'll try"...multiple changes later, we had 5 of the 6 nights at BWV, 2 snagged via stalking and 2 via the W/L...then, DS (who was also stalking; he's an associate member on my acc't) saw the last two nights of their trip in a concierge room at AKV...we grabbed that so now he has a split stay--4 nights at BWV; 2 at AKV/concierge...they couldn't be happier...and it was about 50-50 getting what we needed via W/L or stalking. Took lots of modifications, tho, to get there...

Second, my trip first week of September...again, multiple changes as this trip was put together about 8 weeks out...just completed my six nights in an OKW studio yesterday, and that last night came through via W/L--less than an hour after my previous check of the RAT (stalking)...I started w/SSR one-bed and studio mix; then found 3 of my 5 nights at OKW one-bed ... after that it was off to the races switching out one-bed's for studios a night here and then a night there--again, half accomplished via W/L and half via stalking and calling...

I so agree the whole W/L process is one gigantic mystery...no rhyme or reason to it at all--no patterns that I could see based on villa size, resort, time of day, anything!...but I'm VERY happy -- two "impossible" reservations put together, taking about two weeks total (and LOTS of website checks and follow-up phone calls--each w/at least a 10-minute on hold time (and often 20 minutes)...you do have to be persistent to make this kind of thing work...but I'm feeling sooooo lucky that both reservations worked out, and especially the one for DS' honeymoon...
 
I found this thread when I was doing a board search for "waitlists". My dad recently joined dvc and when I found out I really wanted to use some of his points to stay at the Grand Californian. We already had a trip planned to do the the halloween party on October 27 and the thought of being able to stay at the GCV was amazing. I have always wanted to stay there, but my husband was never interested in paying what they are charging. I realized this could be my chance! I placed a waitlist, but then I read this thread and started stalking too. Imagine my delight and surprise when one morning I checked and there it was:October 27 in a one bedroom! :cool1: I couldn't believe my eyes and quickly booked it. Then today October 25 showed up. Now all I need is October 26th. I have a feeling I am going to be checking constantly. If you need me, I'll be refreshing.
 
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I found this thread when I was doing a board search for "waitlists". My dad recently joined dvc and when I found out I really wanted to use some of his points to stay at the Grand Californian. We already had a trip planned to do the the halloween party on October 27 and the thought of being able to stay at the GCV was amazing. I have always wanted to stay there, but my husband was never interested in paying what they are charging. I realized this could be my chance! I placed a waitlist, but then I read this thread and started stalking too. Imagine my delight and surprise when one morning I checked and there it was:October 27 in a one bedroom! :cool1: I couldn't believe my eyes and quickly booked it. Then today October 25 showed up. Now all I need is October 26th. I have a feeling I am going to be checking constantly. If you need me, I'll be refreshing :rotfl2:

I check VGC several times per day, but usually the studios. Random nights show up all the time and then disappear just as quick. I am waitlisted for 1 more night in January for a studio. A 1BR showed up on the RAT for the night I need so I grabbed it. Still hoping for the studio so we don't have to change rooms and can save a few points. We pieced together 9 nights in September and another 6 in January. Hope you get October 26th.
 
I check VGC several times per day, but usually the studios. Random nights show up all the time and then disappear just as quick. I am waitlisted for 1 more night in January for a studio. A 1BR showed up on the RAT for the night I need so I grabbed it. Still hoping for the studio so we don't have to change rooms and can save a few points. We pieced together 9 nights in September and another 6 in January. Hope you get October 26th.

Thank you! I really hope so too. I have noticed that random nights come and go quickly. Good luck to you getting your studio.
 
Alright, I just wanted to put ina good word for the wait list. I was able to book a two bedroom villa at Beach Club for my last of four nights over Columbus Day weekend. I've put in single day wait lists, first for the second to last night, then for the third to last night. Both have come through via the waitlist despite aggressive stalking on my part. I only have one night left to get my full reservation at Beach Club during food and wine.

Curiously, when my second waitlist filled, giving me three nights in a row, member services updated that waitlist to be for the first night of my stay. I'm assuming they did this because they saw I also had a two night waitlist in the system, but I thought that was nifty.
 


Alright, I just wanted to put ina good word for the wait list. I was able to book a two bedroom villa at Beach Club for my last of four nights over Columbus Day weekend. I've put in single day wait lists, first for the second to last night, then for the third to last night. Both have come through via the waitlist despite aggressive stalking on my part. I only have one night left to get my full reservation at Beach Club during food and wine.

Curiously, when my second waitlist filled, giving me three nights in a row, member services updated that waitlist to be for the first night of my stay. I'm assuming they did this because they saw I also had a two night waitlist in the system, but I thought that was nifty.

I also have gotten 2 of 3 nights so far for a F&W trip via the waitlist. The one I'm waiting on is the night I expected to be the most difficult so I have fingers crossed we get it and won't have to move although that's not the end of the world either.
 
Over the last week I pieced together a 5 night stay in the 2nd week ofDecember at bwv studio boardwalk view by stalking . Even though I had 2 separate nights waitlisted they showed up In the rat. So I booked it myself. I have lost faith the waitlist. From how i was told by a cm. It shouldn't have gone to the rat but should have filled the waitlist first.
 
Stalked my way into my final night for later this month...though not the resort I would like I'll still take it over paying cash for a room.

I have two nights booked in a GF Studio room for August but needed one more night...a Friday night. There has been nothing available in a Studio or 1BR for the five of us for weeks, though I could get a studio at SSR that only holds 4 people a few times.

Friday night stalking found a studio (or 1BR) at Boardwalk and two 1BRs at AKL, one of them being a club level 1BR at Jambo House. We've never stayed at Jambo...and never club level...and it is only ONE night. Though it was more points then I wanted to spend, I decided to just splurge so we wouldn't be homeless that last night. So now we go from studio at Grand Floridian, to club level at AK Jambo, to 2 nights at Vero Beach all in one whirlwind trip.

I continue to stalk JUST IN CASE something opens at GF instead. Plus I also am looking for a few nights in early December and am on two waitlists but it isn't looking good there.



 
I was of the opinion that stalking the RAT was the way to go as that had worked for me before, but yesterday my waitlist for my missing night in a AKL value studio came through for March! I checked the RAT right before and there was nothing.
 
Just curious how easy it is to make changes to which points you have used after you book a reservation. For example, if you have a reservation booked as a back up, but then find something else you want so you book that new reservation (so now you have two reservations booked at the same time, assuming you have enough points). Lets say that first reservation was made using banked points that you have to use and your new reservation is made using points from the current use year that you don't have to use. After you cancel your first reservation is it possible to apply those banked points to the new reservation you want to keep? Thanks, Greg
 
We just got our points for our very first DVC on Monday. So I've been wait listing and stalking ever since. We are taking a 2 week trip to Florida over Christmas and wanted to tack a few days of Disney onto either end. Knowing it was a busy time we crossed our fingers. I was able to book Dec 22-24 at a studio in Saratoga Springs (wanted Dec 21 too) and also Jan 1-3 (wanted Jan 2-5). I wait listed Jan 3-5 (as individual days) that night before bed but not Dec 21. By the time I went to Dec 21 to wait list it the next day, it popped up on the RAT so I nabbed that real quick. Today I stalked and found the night of Jan 4 so grabbed that. Now only the night of Jan 3 remains so I can change that from Jan 2-5. Then the big decision becomes, Dec 21-24 or Jan 2-5. Decisions, decisions. But considering we didn't think we would be able to find anything, I'm happy to have potential options! Stalking for the win! Hopefully I can find Jan 3. Fingers crossed.
 
I continue to stalk JUST IN CASE something opens at GF instead. Plus I also am looking for a few nights in early December and am on two waitlists but it isn't looking good there.

I feel your pain there, as we want the end of December. I am pretty much going to give up all hope and be gratefully I was able to at least get part of what I wanted at the 11-month window :rotfl:
 
Stalking and Wait-listed 2 nights - October 28, and Nov. 3rd. I've got 29th to the 1st at Beach Club and the 2nd at VGF. Hoping to get the 28th at either Beach Club or Boardwalk and the 3rd at VGF.

I even tried making reservations through the regular WDW website, and the only time availability shows up is when you buy a package - but I have no interest in tickets (have an AP) or the DDP.
 
This is the 1st yr I have waitlisted & stalked without any luck. Trying to move Savannah View Studio from Kidani to Jambo on 10/7-12. :(
 
I just finished piecing together a 4 night standard studio stay at Poly in October. We were originally at Kidani, which had also been stitched together at 5-6 months out (including one night via the waitlist). I was watching the RAT, just to see what else might become available. Just over three months out I found two nights together at Poly, and decided to grab them. I then went to individually waitlist our other two nights, and was pleasantly surprised when the search for the third (consecutive) night showed immediate availability, rather than a "waitlist" button. So suddenly I had my first three nights at Poly, and the fourth waitlisted. Continued to stalk the RAT. A few days later I found a standard studio at Boardwalk, and switched our last night there. At that point I was pretty unconcerned about whether or not the last Poly night would come through. If it did, we wouldn't have to move - great! If it didn't, we would have a night at the Boardwalk during F&W - yay! Still continued to stalk the RAT, though somewhat less frequently. No studio rooms anywhere for that last night, and very little for any of our dates (saw SSR for a single day once or twice).

Then about two weeks ago I noticed that my Poly night had disappeared from my dashboard. Having read this thread, I knew that meant that my Poly waitlist had come through, and was just waiting to be processed, and began mentally adjusting my plans accordingly. Kept checking the RAT. Still nothing. After a week and a half, the Poly waitlist still had not been processed. I was just a few days before my 60 day mark, and beginning to doubt that the Poly waitlist had in fact matched. I called Member Services to have them combine my first three nights (booked as two reservations), and asked at that time about the waitlist request. I was told that it was still active. No indication that it had matched. Okay, so maybe we're moving to Boardwalk after all. Fine. Still not seeing anything in the RAT. Then, just when I'd about given up on Poly for that last night, the waitlist was processed. Boardwalk cancelled, reservation complete at 61 days out, and fully two weeks after the request disappeared from my dashboard.

So these are my take-aways from this experience:
  • It appears that the experienced members on this board were right, as usual. Presumably when the waitlist request disappeared from my dashboard, the request had matched, even if the CM I spoke to said otherwise.
  • A couple of people upthread have suggested that the number of people who are actually finding matches for individually waitlisted nights is probably (unintentionally) exaggerated; more likely these nights have already matched, and the nights people are finding in the RAT are actually further availability beyond the matched waitlist. If the gap between matching and processing can be up to two weeks (or maybe even more?), I can easily believe this to be true.
  • IME, if another reservation is found with the same dates and occupants when a waitlist is processed, that reservation will be cancelled, even if you choose "No, don't cancel my existing reservation" when placing the waitlist request. This happened to me with both of my successful waitlist requests. It's a little inconvenient if you're hoping to find/match multiple nights before giving up an existing reservation, so best to be aware of the possibility before going ahead with the waitlist request. (ETA: In both cases the waitlisted night completed my reservation; possibly the result would be different if a matched request covered a single night in the middle of a longer stay.)
 
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I just finished piecing together a 4 night standard studio stay at Poly in October. We were originally at Kidani, which had also been stitched together at 5-6 months out (including one night via the waitlist). I was watching the RAT, just to see what else might become available. Just over three months out I found two nights together at Poly, and decided to grab them. I then went to individually waitlist our other two nights, and was pleasantly surprised when the search for the third (consecutive) night showed immediate availability, rather than a "waitlist" button. So suddenly I had my first three nights at Poly, and the fourth waitlisted. Continued to stalk the RAT. A few days later I found a standard studio at Boardwalk, and switched our last night there. At that point I was pretty unconcerned about whether or not the last Poly night would come through. If it did, we wouldn't have to move - great! If it didn't, we would have a night at the Boardwalk during F&W - yay! Still continued to stalk the RAT, though somewhat less frequently. No studio rooms anywhere for that last night, and very little for any of our dates (saw SSR for a single day once or twice).

Then about two weeks ago I noticed that my Poly night had disappeared from my dashboard. Having read this thread, I knew that meant that my Poly waitlist had come through, and was just waiting to be processed, and began mentally adjusting my plans accordingly. Kept checking the RAT. Still nothing. After a week and a half, the Poly waitlist still had not been processed. I was just a few days before my 60 day mark, and beginning to doubt that the Poly waitlist had in fact matched. I called Member Services to have them combine my first three nights (booked as two reservations), and asked at that time about the waitlist request. I was told that it was still active. No indication that it had matched. Okay, so maybe we're moving to Boardwalk after all. Fine. Still not seeing anything in the RAT. Then, just when I'd about given up on Poly for that last night, the waitlist was processed. Boardwalk cancelled, reservation complete at 61 days out, and fully two weeks after the request disappeared from my dashboard.

So these are my take-aways from this experience:
  • It appears that the experienced members on this board were right, as usual. Presumably when the waitlist request disappeared from my dashboard, the request had matched, even if the CM I spoke to said otherwise.
  • A couple of people upthread have suggested that the number of people who are actually finding matches for individually waitlisted nights is probably (unintentionally) exaggerated; more likely these nights have already matched, and the nights people are finding in the RAT are actually further availability beyond the matched waitlist. If the gap between matching and processing can be up to two weeks (or maybe even more?), I can easily believe this to be true.
  • IME, if another reservation is found with the same dates and occupants when a waitlist is processed, that reservation will be cancelled, even if you choose "No, don't cancel my existing reservation" when placing the waitlist request. This happened to me with both of my successful waitlist requests. It's a little inconvenient if you're hoping to find/match multiple nights before giving up an existing reservation, so best to be aware of the possibility before going ahead with the waitlist request. (ETA: In both cases the waitlisted night completed my reservation; possibly the result would be different if a matched request covered a single night in the middle of a longer stay.)

Three or so weeks ago, after waiting at least 2 weeks for a match to be completed (per it disappearing from the dashboard), I finally called into MS to have it matched up. The CM saw it but needed to take another step to verify they could finalize the match. What was explained to me is that they were very behind in matching waitlists and actually were working thru a mess because room availability had been released to the system after it was thought there had been rooms missed but after doing that it was discovered it wasn't actually available! A rather big oops. I know that time as lots of people reported about all the sudden availability.
 
So as I was stalking my December waitlist today the night I was waiting for appeared. I quickly grabbed it but when I got to the reservation page it was no longer available. I checked my dashboard and saw that my waitlist was removed. I gave member services a call and they confirmed the match. So it could have been scooped up by someone else prior to the waitlist catching it. Luckily for me it was not.
 

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