We used my mom's Hilton Grand points and traded through RCI for OKW this past February. We had a party of 7 and got a 2-bedroom. The search was in there for over a year. We had a search for OKW, BWV, BCV, & VWL because those were the ones we wanted a shot at. OKW came up first and we grabbed it. The experience itself was painless--except waiting to see what opened up and when. I want to say, but don't remember for sure, that it opened up about 7 months out. Once you're onsite you're treated just like a
DVC member. Actually, I met up with some friends while down there who were DVC members and our key cards/tickets looked exactly like theirs. The only thing I had "trouble" with was calling in advance for questions, reservations, Magical Express, etc. I almost always got conflicting answers on what department/company (DVC Member Services, RCI, etc.) I was "supposed to" talk to, even though DVC Member Services, I was told on my first call to them ever, could handle any request or inquiry I had--it was only on subsequent calls that the cast members would tell me that. You will also need to get a Disney confirmation number, which is not the same as the number you get from RCI--again, if I remember corrrectly. Once you have that Disney confirmation number, things will go much smoother if you have advanced needs/requests. Good luck! OKW was our first on-property resort experience, we FELL IN LOVE with the property and now we are planning on becoming DVC members and making OKW our "home."
