I believe they said they were walking AKV-club level. All Jambo and Kidani owners can book them at 11 months and there are 5 of them. They are always gone at 8AM sharp every day of the year. Most days they are not even available to try to book (due to walkers). The 5 LO 2BR are the only club level rooms in the DVC system. The next toughest rooms to get are the value rooms at AKV followed by the std rooms at BWV, AUL, and then BLT. The club rooms are a rare exception to the DVC owners love low point cost rooms and those are the first to go. We also like the "special rooms" and there are usually a limited number of those, which drives the limited availability. Park view, BW view....May I ask what kinds of rooms you were walking? We are relatively new and I’m a bit shocked at the idea of walking a reservation 4 months ahead of an 11mo window!
Also, for those of us who can’t plan 12m+ in advance, do any of you experts have advice on time of day to pick up walked rooms? Does DVC reload the released dates immediately or every morning, evening at a set time?
Thanks DaveNan. I should have been clearer— I’m familiar with standard availability—my question is, if a “walker” drops 2 nights at 1AM, does it become available at 1AM? 1:01-1:05AM? 6AM? 9AM? Etc.
Depends. But usually, the dropped night is within the booking window so it becomes available as soon as it is dropped (although some think it takes 20 minutes or so for the system to "catch up" and return it to inventory).
Thank you Carol. I often end up trying to visit DL resort with days to weeks in advance and regularly peruse VGC listings, but I realized if they only update returned inventory them once or twice a day I’m wasting a lot of time—sounds like they can show up anytime with a short lag after cancellations.
With the holding rules, members are very hesitant to cancel within 30 days of the reservation. If they have concerns or doubts about the stay, they may drop it as they near the 30 day window. It is never easy at VGC, but if you had 31+ days notice instead of days to weeks, stalking the inventory right before the holding window might improve your odds.
This has definitely been the case whenever I've considered booking. I've never seen club level available when booking, even during covid.
So how do people end up even starting a walk for AKL club?
My guess is the same way people were able to get a reservation on Rise of the Resistance. Lots of patience and super fast fingers.
AKL club level studios (and 2BRs since a studio reservation also eliminates a 2BR lock-off) disappear instantly at 8 a.m. eastern, 11 months out year round (or for some start dates are gone even a little before 11-months out due to multiple-day reservations done before any given 11-month out date). Walking is difficult simply because it is difficult to even get any start date year round to begin a walk. The winners are simply those whose computers communicate with Disney's at 8 a.m. nano-seconds faster than everyone else trying to do the same. In other words, you just need to be luckier than others.
That's kinda the whole point of walking; you get a head start on trying to secure that first night. People try again and again until they can get a foothold on a single day and build from there.
Depends on what you are booking. I've planned both of my upcoming trip way less than 7 months out. DVC has rooms that are constantly booked, and rooms that are easier to get.Also, for those of us who can’t plan 12m+ in advance, do any of you experts have advice on time of day to pick up walked rooms? Does DVC reload the released dates immediately or every morning, evening at a set time?
Yes, we’ve actually only booked 7+m out once (at aulani over thanksgiving), and had success getting within 4m at Poly and even got one night at VGC by pure luck (though it’s an incredibly expensive night!)— so I know it’s possible if you’re flexible and/or lucky. I’m not too worried about it but would like to know which resorts/rooms I really need to stress about.
If the points used for the reservation are bankable, then you can bank them. If you borrowed points to make the reservation, they'll stay in the UY you borrowed them into. If you have not yet passed your banking deadline, you can bank. A 'walking' reservation is no different from a 'regular' reservation.
Walking does not change the usual rules applicable to a modification of a reservation for which points are removed. If you modify a reservation by dropping some days more than 31 days out from designated arrival date, any points that come out of the reservation will have the same status they had when they went into the reservation: (a) banked or borrowed points remain banked or borrow and must be used by the end of the use in which the reservation existed; (b) "current" use year points (meaning points from the same use year in which the reservation occurs) go back into your account as current use year points and can banked if you are not yet beyond the eighth month of your use year; otherwise, like the banked or borrowed points, they must be used by the end of their use year.
Makes complete sense. I had a reservation last year that included some banked points. At the end of the walk, those got returned. I recall now that I was able to ‘rebook’ the reservation and it pulled the banked points, so my actual CY points were still available to bank into next year. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond!
