Summer Demand?

[fumanchu2488]

I have only been a member for about 4 years, but I was flipping through demand for rooms over the summer and I noticed that there are a lot of rooms with wide open availability from mid-June through August. I don't have interest in visiting in the summer but thought this was odd. And these weren't crazy rooms, rooms like Poly studios, BLT studios, Riviera preferred view studios and AKL studios.

Is this typical? I have a trip in early May (during the school year) and if I wasn't on top of it exactly at 7 months they were gone.

 

[Cyberc1978]

Summer has always had good availability, this is most likely due to the heat and the high point cost.

A few years back DVC changed the point cost so May became among the cheapest seasons and now May is having less availability than before.

 

[Princess Merida]

Summer usually has pretty good availability as long as you aren't trying for BCV or HHI.

 

[Scalemaster34]

Yeah seasons at WDW have changed.... Summer use to be the high demand season, but now I think August has some of the best specials on rooms, and last Aug the wait times were lower than Sept.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

DVC has never been high demand in summer. Fall Frenzy, now, that's been a thing for a long time.

 

[supersnoop]

Summer is high demand for Disney, but not for DVC. We're a completely different type of visitor than the typical Disney guest. The point charts tend to mimic the traditional Disney demand, which shifts DVC owners to other, lower point cost times of year.

 

[Huskerpaul]

There has been very weak demand this summer for WDW.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

I have only been a member for about 4 years, but I was flipping through demand for rooms over the summer and I noticed that there are a lot of rooms with wide open availability from mid-June through August. I don't have interest in visiting in the summer but thought this was odd. And these weren't crazy rooms, rooms like Poly studios, BLT studios, Riviera preferred view studios and AKL studios.

Is this typical? I have a trip in early May (during the school year) and if I wasn't on top of it exactly at 7 months they were gone.

July & August are hotter than the surface of the sun in Orlando now. Much hotter than 20 years ago. Demand patterns have changed. The cooler months are the high-demand periods now, October - December & February-April.

 

[han22735]

We go every year in August and this year there's been the most availability ever. It's definitely looking like it may be less crowded this year. Fingers crossed. To still have BRV, RIV, BLT, POLY AND CCV available for our dates a week past the 7 months mark isn't normal even for the slower summer season.

 

[drusba]

DVC at WDW has long had two distinct demand seasons (measured by how long it takes to usually have rooms fill after reservations open beginning 11-months out): (a) the high to extremely high demand "fall" season from late Sep through marathon weekend in Jan, and (b) the more moderate demand season the rest of the year.

The extremely high demand times during that fall season have been first two weeks of Dec, Dec 23 to to Jan 2, Tues through Fri of Thanksgiving week, the Wednesday to Sunday of the Wine & Dine race weekend during first part of Nov, the Wed to Sun of Marathon weekend in Jan, and the Thurs before Columbus Day in October through the weekend after Columbus Day.

The lowest demand times of the year (all in the moderate season) have been Feb 1 to the Thurs before Presidents Day, July 7 to July 31, the Monday after the Princess half-marathon weekend in late Feb through first week of March, and the last week of April. June has, in the past, been the highest demand month in the moderate season (but stilll significantly lower than the fall season) and May has been higher than August and Sep. Times around holidays during the moderate season also have had higher demand than other times. The highest demand time during the moderate season has traditionally been the Thurs to Sun of the Princess half-marathon weekend in late Feb, but even for that weekend demand has been lower than anything in the fall season. How extreme has the differences been between the two seasons? By example: the demand for the first two weeks of Dec has traditionally made the two Easter weeks look like a slow off-season.

There appears to be some changes in demand going on as a result of DVC's recent shift (over a three-year period) of nightly points needed for reservations by increasing them in the fall season while decreasing them other times of the year, particularly May through Sep. There does not yet appear to be a major shift of overall demand taking place, but fall has become a little less high while times in the moderate season have seen some increases. The most noticeable change in demand I have seen thus far is the increase in demand for the first two weeks of May. As a result of the three-year point shift, those two weeks have gone from being in a higher point season to the second lowest. The full impact of the point shift on demand throughout the year will probably take at least a few more years to become clear.

 

[DonMacGregor]

As native Southern Californians, we've actually started scheduling our second trip of the year in early July (the other being in December for the holidays). Fortunately, we are used to face-of-the-sun hot, and the humidity in Orlando hasn't really ramped up too high in July. Points charts are reasonable, and 2BR's are surprisingly available at 7 months.

 

[RoseGold]

I booked several days for last summer with only a couple months notice, because of some drama. I also booked a trip for August I didn't end up taking. Lots of availability for sure.

 

[tjkraz]

Disney routinely ran "free dining" offers every summer just to fill its hotel rooms.

We were once reluctant to visit in the summer but it's really not a big deal. It's a good excuse to take a mid-day break and schedule pool time, both of which we always do anyway. Worst part is the daily thunderstorms but that's fairly predictable.

 

[DonMacGregor]

Disney routinely ran "free dining" offers every summer just to fill its hotel rooms.

We were once reluctant to visit in the summer but it's really not a big deal. It's a good excuse to take a mid-day break and schedule pool time, both of which we always do anyway. Worst part is the daily thunderstorms but that's fairly predictable.

For us, the funny thing is we only use the pools in the summer. We're sorta spoiled with our own weather, the beach, etc. When we visit in the winter, there's no way I'm jumping in a pool with weather in the 60's...LOL. People will always say "the pools are heated", especially if they're from a colder climate and 60 degrees is a winter heat wave for them. Yeah, the pools may be heated, but the air isn't.

When we see folks at the pools at hotels around our neck of the woods anytime between say October and April, the running quip is "they must be from Minneapolis"...

 

[tjkraz]

For us, the funny thing is we only use the pools in the summer. We're sorta spoiled with our own weather, the beach, etc. When we visit in the winter, there's no way I'm jumping in a pool with weather in the 60's...LOL. People will always say "the pools are heated", especially if they're from a colder climate and 60 degrees is a winter heat wave for them. Yeah, the pools may be heated, but the air isn't.

When we see folks at the pools at hotels around our neck of the woods anytime between say October and April, the running quip is "they must be from Minneapolis"...

Agree. When I see people at the pool in cold temps at WDW, it always feels like a "we promised our kids they could swim without realizing Florida gets cold in the winter" moment.

 

[DonMacGregor]

Agree. When I see people at the pool in cold temps at WDW, it always feels like a "we promised our kids they could swim without realizing Florida gets cold in the winter" moment.

It's even better at the beach. Tourists don't realize that while SoCal can get really warm in the fall and spring, the Pacific is a bit colder than you'd expect. You'll see pale white bodies ready to jump into waves next to surfers in full winter wetsuits and booties.

 

[crisi]

Agree. When I see people at the pool in cold temps at WDW, it always feels like a "we promised our kids they could swim without realizing Florida gets cold in the winter" moment.

As a Minneapolitian (by the way also the rest of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan), no, we know Florida gets cold. But 62 degrees is fine swimming weather when you've just left ten below zero and the pools are heated - it isn't like they heat our indoor pools to a balmy 85. I grew up on a lake in Minnesota, the ice would be off by the first week in April, we'd be in the water by May 1st. And this was before global warming pushed the dates earlier. Oh, and none of this wetsuit nonsense. The Pacific is not colder than Lake Superior.

(Only once, when I was much younger, did I polar bear plunge. And that was where there was a sauna on the beach)

 

[DonMacGregor]

Oh, and none of this wetsuit nonsense. The Pacific is not colder than Lake Superior.

Definitely not colder, but when it's there 24/7/365, you just wait for it to warm up...LOL In the interim, you watch Minneapolitians get lobstered on one side laying by the pool or on the sand and grin.

The swell on Lake Superior blows, by the way: knee-high with no shape....

 

[crisi]

No, you really can't surf Superior. In fact, unless you are very brave, you don't swim in it. I used to vacation on Superior near Canada - and we'd swim if it was hot - like in the 80s. The kids more often. But the water was ALWAYS cold.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

No, you really can't surf Superior. In fact, unless you are very brave, you don't swim in it. I used to vacation on Superior near Canada - and we'd swim if it was hot - like in the 80s. The kids more often. But the water was ALWAYS cold.

Oh but they do surf Superior! You can watch them up north side of Duluth in season off 61.

https://umdrsop.d.umn.edu/programs/...the wind blows over,to ride fresh water waves.