waitlist at BLT . . success rate?

[lauren817]

Hi All.
I am planning a vaca to WDW from December 4-10th. It was not set in stone until recently, so although BLT is my home resort, I was unable to get a res for my whole stay. Im somewhat restricted with points this year, and I ended up waitlisting BLT standard view 2 bedroom dedicated and lock off. lake and theme park view rooms are too many points. Anyone know the odds of this waitlist coming through?? I know there are not that many of these rooms available. I booked the entire stay at SSR just to ensure that we have something.
I've heard a lot of different results from waitlisting, and I know that the fact that its a 6 night stay makes it difficult, but I just wanted some info if anyone knows how likely this would be to come through.
Any help or info is appreciated

Thanks!
Lauren

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Sorry but I'd say that's virtually no chance. It's the busiest week for DVC reservations, there are likely waitlists in front of yours for some or all of those dates for a standard view and it's a lengthy waitlist of 6 nights to try and get. It's good that you have a back up and maybe you'll get very lucky but personally I'd not be planning on it happening.

 

[CarolMN]

Have to agree with Kat. Hope we're wrong. Good luck -

 

[lauren817]

Thanks for the info! I'm not really expecting it to go through but figured why not when waitlist exists. Just wanted to get the best picture possible so that the rest of my traveling group doesn't have unrealistic expectations.

 

[Shellyred8]

I was just trying to make a reservation at BLT this morning for a studio for Dec 15-17. It said it was available and I was going through the booking process, but by the time I got our names entered in, someone else apparently got my room. So, now I'm on the waitlist too.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I was just trying to make a reservation at BLT this morning for a studio for Dec 15-17. It said it was available and I was going through the booking process, but by the time I got our names entered in, someone else apparently got my room. So, now I'm on the waitlist too.

That shouldn't happen. Once you select the room from the search it is supposed to be held while you select the contracts you want to use and fill in the names.

 

[Shellyred8]

That shouldn't happen. Once you select the room from the search it is supposed to be held while you select the contracts you want to use and fill in the names.

That's what I thought too.

 

[cruisin5]

I've had too many problem entering all the info for the travelling party - often ending with "system unavailable". Now I only book the room for 1 person then email to add the others.

 

[DVC_B]

I very rarely see standard view come available on a waitlist. And lock off units even rarer because that's actually two units that would have to come available (studio+1br). Lake view comes through pretty often. My recommendation would be to keep the dedicated 2br active then consider moving your second wl to a location with higher success rate for wl like kidani. Old key west or Saratoga

 

[cigar95]

This raises a question I've wondered about for some time, and apologies if it's a frequent question. (I'm normally on the Theme Park and Restaurant boards.) Is there any way to find out where one is on the waitlist? There's a banking deadline coming up at the end of the month and I have a September waitlist that could be risky to keep with an October use year. Knowing where I am on the list would let me make a better decision.
Thanks.

 

[Wakey]

Stalk the RAT, I've seen numerous reports of people who were wait listed and they booked by stalking, their wait list hadn't come through but the RAT suddenly showed availibility.

 

[Deb & Bill]

This raises a question I've wondered about for some time, and apologies if it's a frequent question. (I'm normally on the Theme Park and Restaurant boards.) Is there any way to find out where one is on the waitlist? There's a banking deadline coming up at the end of the month and I have a September waitlist that could be risky to keep with an October use year. Knowing where I am on the list would let me make a better decision.
Thanks.

No, because not every waitlist is equal. You might need six night, another guest only four. Four comes in and they match. You don't.

 

[tjkraz]

This raises a question I've wondered about for some time, and apologies if it's a frequent question. (I'm normally on the Theme Park and Restaurant boards.) Is there any way to find out where one is on the waitlist? There's a banking deadline coming up at the end of the month and I have a September waitlist that could be risky to keep with an October use year. Knowing where I am on the list would let me make a better decision.
Thanks.

No, there is no way to know that. Mainly because it's not an easily answered question.

Different people's waitlist requests overlap. Imagine guests are waitlisted for these dates, in the order listed below:

Guest 1: 3, 4, 5
Guest 2: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Guest 3: 2, 3, 4
Guest 4: 2

Now assume you are Guest #3. Technically you are second on the waitlist for Day 2 and third priority for days 3 & 4. But since all of the dates must come available simultaneously, you could end up leapfrogging Guest 2 if all five of his/her dates do not open up at the same time. Similarly, Guest 4 could jump over all of you if only the night of the 2nd opens up.

Taking a common sense perspective is usually wise. Shorter trips have greater chance for success. If you're waitlisted for 6+ nights, the odds of there being a cancellation for those exact dates AND you being first on the list for all nights are pretty remote. If you got on the waitlist before the 7 month window or right at 7 months (like, same day), it improves your odds. If you waited until 5-6 months, or less, there could already be dozens of people ahead of you. And take into consideration resort size and typical demand of what you're seeking. Standard View rooms, Club level (AVK), Value, BoardWalk View...all just as tough off the waitlist.

Good luck.

 

[cigar95]

Guest 1: 3, 4, 5
Guest 2: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Guest 3: 2, 3, 4
Guest 4: 2

Now assume you are Guest #3. Technically you are second on the waitlist for Day 2 and third priority for days 3 & 4. But since all of the dates must come available simultaneously, you could end up leapfrogging Guest 2 if all five of his/her dates do not open up at the same time. Similarly, Guest 4 could jump over all of you if only the night of the 2nd opens up.

See, learn something every day. I thought each day was handled separately, and waitlist requests came in piecemeal. I can see now how that could be problematic, though. We have a four night request, W-Sa, for a BCV studio (lots of those) that we got in at 7 months + 2 days, so hopefully we are ahead of the 7 month crowd.
So I'm optimistic, and it turns out we can avoid the banking issue by banking the points in advance and then borrowing from next year if the WL comes through. Hence we can wait until even close to five days out.
Thanks for the education.

 

[MouseOfCards]

I've had too many problem entering all the info for the travelling party - often ending with "system unavailable". Now I only book the room for 1 person then email to add the others.

Same here. Starting to do that a lot more nowadays before I get kicked off. The system instability is is a pain.

 

[tjkraz]

See, learn something every day. I thought each day was handled separately, and waitlist requests came in piecemeal. I can see now how that could be problematic, though.

DVC used to give members the option of waitlisting the entire stay or "day by day", but those options were eliminated some time ago. Maybe 5+ years. Now it's all or nothing.

We have a four night request, W-Sa, for a BCV studio (lots of those) that we got in at 7 months + 2 days, so hopefully we are ahead of the 7 month crowd.

There are about 100 BCV studios but it's also an incredibly high-demand accommodation. Even more so if the trip falls during Food & Wine fest time.

If you're saying that you got on the waitlist 2 days before the 7 month window opened (as BCV owner), that definitely helps. The short 4-night stay helps. However, Thursday night is seemingly the most difficult night of the week to book--probably because it's sought-after by members planning weeklong stays AND those taking long weekends.

At the end of the day, every waitlist success starts with a cancellation. What are the odds that someone with a BCV studio reservation for those nights will cancel, while you're also tops on the waitlist? Your guess is as good as mine.

Hope it works out for you!

 

[cigar95]

If you're saying that you got on the waitlist 2 days before the 7 month window opened (as BCV owner), that definitely helps. The short 4-night stay helps. However, Thursday night is seemingly the most difficult night of the week to book--probably because it's sought-after by members planning weeklong stays AND those taking long weekends.

I'm there as a guest of a member, which is why I'm less familiar with the fine-grain details. (My DVC membership ended back in 2009, but I'm lucky to have a good number of friends still in at various home resorts.) I've had success in getting in to BCV before, but never needed a waitlist, and this was before Food & Wine swallowed up all of September.

As it turns out, the issue with the banking deadline won't impact me, so we can wait until the last week before bailing out. My friend already banked the '16/17 points, and if the waitlist comes through she'll borrow from her '17/18 points to cover it. (Not every member would do that, as the tradeoff comes with a slight loss of flexibility.)

But in the end you're absolutely right, that I'll have to rely on someone's plans changing at just the right time. If all else fails, I'm holding on to a discounted reservation at the BC itself. (Wife wants Stormalong Bay, so even though our favorite AKV is available, it's not an option this time.)