want to buy vwl?

[momof9]

Hi, I am brand new to this forum and I have a few questions about buying. My dh and I are going down in 6 days with the intent of buying vwl. Everything seemed that it was just what we needed for our family, but my dh just spoke to an owner at his work who is not too pleased, this scared me off a bit. They claim that if you bank your points when you try to redeem them you must do it on a day to day basis, also that is very difficult to even redeem your points when you want to. Is there any validity in this, or can I still believe that Disney is something magical?

 

[Richyams]

If you bank your points, they can not be un-banked...They can never be un-banked, day by day or any other way.

There are only certain reservations that need to be made day by day. Standard view at BWV, Grand Villas at OKW or BWV. Once in a great while, holidays.

If you can plan 11 months in advance, you will never have any probelm gatting what you want. Even 8-10 months out will let you get almost anything. Once you get to seven months, you will need to be more flexible and will possibly not be able to get what you want.

I stay in the hardest reservation to obtain, the Grand Villa at OKW, I have never had any real problems getting my reservation.

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs", Karl Marx,This has failed every time it has been tried, why do we still have liberals?

 

[chris1gill]

I don't think you have *MUCH* to worry about it. Although your husbands coworker is telling the truth - in a weird kinda way....

Here's the scoop from my perspective. I own where I want to stay MOST of the time (OKW & BW - We own at both)... Since we can plan our vacations 11 months out, I do CHOOSE to call day by day at the 11 month mark - mainly because I want a standard view at BW in prime season... but if you have your heart set on the perfect stay for you, you are better off planning 11 months out, calling day by day... course if you are going at a slow time of year, you could wait a short time to call.... The other thing, is that we go for 2 weeks at a time, so it is much harder to get that stretch of time, so again, we do it 11 months out. Many people report getting their choice of resorts with just 3 months out... the shorter your stay, the better your chance IMHO... DVC was the best thing we ever bought... so I'd highly recommend buying!! By the way, I always love it when members complain about not getting their requested reservations at just a short time out.. have you ever tried to book a regular Disney resort on short notice? It's no different...

 

[Disnydad]

We banked our year 2000 points. Then a month later made a reservation for next year. No need for this day by day thing you heard of. Just like any other reservation. I have heard of folks doing that if the time they are booking into is a busy time though. It had nothing to do with banking.

Don, DVC/VWL 2000

No frogs were riveted during the construction of this post.

 

[PamOKW]

If you bank your points, they are just like "regular" points when you are using them with the exception being you can't bank them again or call them back into their original use year. There shouldn't be any problem. Reservations can be tricky or they can be very simple. 99% of my reservations over the last 8 years have just been a matter of one phone call to book in one shot (and not right at the 11 or 7 month mark). Most of the time if what you want isn't available right then but is still some months away, it will come through on the wait list.

Maybe your husband's co-worker should come to the board and we can help him with his understanding of DVC, too. Good luck with your decision.

 

[KathyR]

I agree with everyone above. The points once banked are the same as the other points with the exception of HAVING to be used during the use year to which they were banked. They do NOT complicate the reservation process at all. I have not needed to call to make ressies day by day. I can see where there would be some instances when it may not be a bad idea (i.e. Grand Villas and certain times of the year for the standard view BWV), but for most part, it is not necessary.

I had great success at 6 months out last week. I had my choice of a 1 bedroom at any resort for the last days in Sept and early Oct. I was even offered the elusive standard view at the BWV. Not saying that is the norm, but it is my first experience not using 11 and or 7 month booking windows. It went very well. I will not make a habbit of it though. I would much rather call at the 11 month window to reserve at my home resort (BWV). That way I have something, and then, I can always try to switch the reservation to another resort later if I wish.

PS-Don't forget there is a change to MB program currently running at the VWL VERY soon, if you were planning on using that. Also, there is a price increase coming VERY soon as well. Your guide should have all that info for you If not, dig through the pages on the boards or ask for more info.

KathyR

 

[Caskbill]

I wouldn't be so concerned. First, when you bank points (or borrow points), you are simply moving them from one year into another. Once moved, they act just like all the other points for that year. For example, if you have a 200 point contract, and in 2000 banked 100 points into 2001, then for 2001 you have 300 points to spend. There is absolutely no difference between the 100 points you banked and the 200 points you get for the year.

The co-worker who stated you have to use banked points on a day-to-day basis is absolutely WRONG. (The ONLY thing I can think of that the co-worker might be confused on is if you CANCEL a reservation at less than 30 days, then those reservation points go into a HOLDING account (they're not banked)and have strict guidelines on their usage. At a very busy time of year, you might have trouble using them. This is where your USE YEAR is important so that those HELD points could more easily be used during an off-season time of year.) If you suspect that you would have to cancel reservations on a regular basis, at short notice, then you would need to be particularily aware of how the holding account works. Note, if you cancel <u>prior</u> to 30 days, there's no problems at all.

2nd. If you want a reservation at the absolutely most busy times of the year, then many people CHOOSE to call on a day by day basis to ensure the reservation. At most this probably only covers about 2-3 weeks of the year: Christmas, New Years, Easter. And usually those who call day-by-day are looking for the hardest to get accommodations, EG standard view studio at BWV. If you're after the more available units, EG 1/BR at OKW you should call at the 11 month window, but day-by-day shouldn't be necessary.

3rd. For the rest of the year, like any reservation for anything, the farther you call ahead the more likely your requested unit will be available. If you call at 11 months then everything is available to you. If you tried to get a unit 1-week ahead of time during the busy summer months, you'll have trouble.

In checking my records, in 8 years I've made 33 reservations. On 3 of those I called day-by-day to ensure I got what I wanted for New Year's Eve. Also, for all 3 of those times, it turned out I could have waited and made just 1-call each at the end and still have gotten the reservations. But I chose to call just to be sure. On only one occassion was I unable to get a reservation I wanted (I called 1-month ahead, wanted 5-days, only 4 were available....I took the 4). On the other 29 reservation requests, ALL were available.

It all depends on your own circumstances. How far you call ahead, and what accommodations you want, and what time of year. These are what make the difference.

Please post back if you have any further questions.

Caskbill