What are my chances of getting BWV at 7 months out?

[MELSMICE]

Right now I have a 2BR booked at OKW for Nov. 8 -15, 2003. DH mentioned he would be interested in staying at BWV during this time. OKW is our house resort, so I can't call until April.

Do you think there will be a chance of getting it? BWV seems so popular.

Also, I'm fairly new at this. Do I call to inquire on the 8th of Nov. or do I need to wait until the 15th, which is our check out date?

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[CarolMN]

IMHO, it's unlikely that you will be able to get a standard view for that time, but you have a chance at a preferred view. Food & Wine Festival time is a popular time for the EPCOT resorts, so you might have to use the waitlist.

You can call 7 months ahead of your check out date. I would recommend that you call day by day for your reservation and ask to use the waitlist for any days you cannot get when you first call. If you don't want to move between OKW and BWV, you might want to consider keeping your entire OKW reservation until you either have to give up on the BWV reservation or get the reservation you need. You'll have to decide if you have enough points to do that. Might not work if you have to borrow or miss banking deadlines.

If your first night is 11/8, you would call on Wednesday, April 9 (because you would be "checking out" on 11/9. Then you would continue calling each day until you get the last night of your stay. If you tell MS you are calling day by day, the CM will hold the confirmation letter until your reservation is complete. That way you only get one letter for your stay.

Good luck!

 

[Dizzy4Dizney]

You don't know until you try. Good luck! THat's a great time of year to go.

 

[happiest in Disney]

I am also going to try and be waitlisted for BWV or BCV at the 7 month mark. Are you saying that it is better to call each day and try to get a day to day reservation than to say you want it for say 9 nights and when they become available to switch the whole reservation over? I am going Oct. 24th thru Nov. 2. I have waitlisted before and did it by the whole week at once....it did come thru though very near to 30 days prior.
thanks for your input.
Donna

 

[Mickmse2002]

Good luck on getting through on the waitlist. This is a fabulous time to go, during the Food & Wine festival. We waitlisted for both BCV and BWV last year in mid November and ended getting all four nights we wanted. We already have reservations to go again this November and can't wait!

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Originally posted by happiest in Disney
Are you saying that it is better to call each day and try to get a day to day reservation than to say you want it for say 9 nights and when they become available to switch the whole reservation over?

I'm interested in the answer to this too. I am hoping to stay at WLV from November 30-December 5. A friend of mine is renting me her points, but because her home is OKW, she can't call until May 5. Should she start calling April 30, each day, until May 5?

 

[Eeyore2U]

I think all you can do is try. I got my DW all worked up over the 7 month booking window for our trip starting in 20 hours and we had no problem getting a 2br preferred and a studio preferred.

 

[Nanajo1]

Dopey Sharon,
The first week in Dec seems to be very popular with the DVC. Weather is ususally good, the Xmas decorations are up and it is a low point season so... I would ask your friend to call day by day starting May 1st. Good luck!

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Thanks! I will definitely have her call each day...I really want to stay there! I have a reservation for the lodge, that I'm not cancelling until we see how this works out, but it will be so much nicer to get the 1 bedroom villa!

 

[happiest in Disney]

Originally posted by happiest in Disney
Are you saying that it is better to call each day and try to get a day to day reservation than to say you want it for say 9 nights and when they become available to switch the whole reservation over? I am going Oct. 24th thru Nov. 2. Donna

Is this the best way to do it?

 

[happiest in Disney]

One more request to the above....if I am going to do this waitlist thing on a day to day basis and I am starting 10/24/03 when do I start to call ....(for the 7 months ahead)? Do I start in Feb. or March? Help....MS told me to call on March 3 for the whole reservation but that doesn't seem right...HELP
THanks DOnna

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Donna, I'm far from an expert on DVC (I'm not even an owner), but when my friend called for my trip (we are going November 30-December 5), she was told to call back on May 5. So, I'm assuming it's 7 months from your check-out date. Good luck!

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by happiest in Disney
One more request to the above....if I am going to do this waitlist thing on a day to day basis and I am starting 10/24/03 when do I start to call ....(for the 7 months ahead)? Do I start in Feb. or March? Help....MS told me to call on March 3 for the whole reservation but that doesn't seem right...HELP
THanks DOnna

The 7 month window is from the check out date. If you only want to make one call and you are checking out on November 2, you would call on April 2. (The March 3 date given to you by MS was incorrect - suspect the CM was figuring for October and failed to realize that your final night was in November). If you are actually checking out on November 3 (last night is November 2), then you would call on April 3.

If you plan to call day by day, you would start calling on March 25 (because the check out day for your first night (10/24) will be 10/25). Then you would continue calling every day until you got your last night (11/1) on April 2. (Or April 3 if the last night is November 2). If you mention to the CM on your first call that you will continue to call until you get the entire reservation, he/she will hold the confirmation letter until the last call. That way you will only get one confirmation letter instead of one for every day.

I would recommend that you call day by day for this reservation, and waitlist for any day you cannot get since you want either BWV or BCV. Both are very popular during the time of the Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT.

IMHO, you have a better chance of the waitlist working if you waitlist by individual days rather than for the entire reservation. On the first call on March 25, I'd ask the CM about availability for the rest of the reservation. I'd reserve (or waitlist) for whatever resort (BWV or BCV) shows the most availability for the remaining days of the reservation. Then I'd concentrate on getting ressies at that resort for the duration of my stay. Most people don't have enough points to hold 3 reservations (in your case, your home resort, BCV & BWV) while they wait for the waitlist to work.

Keep in mind that there is some additional risk of waitlisting day by day over the entire reservation. You may end up having to move to another resort (maybe more than once) if all the days don't come through and you don't have enough points to hold the entire reservation at your home resort as a backup. Only you can decide if the additional risk is worth it. If it were me, I would hold the original reservation until either I needed to borrow points or the relevant banking deadline passed. After that, I'd just give up on the waitlist and stay at my home resort. But that"s just me - I hate to change resorts during my stay and I never mind "having" to stay at my home resort!

Good luck!

 

[prncssjas]

Hi Melsmice. I will tell you what I know, based on my experience. BW is not my home resort, so we too, have to use the 7 month window. I have NEVER had any problems getting the rooms I wanted (usually a preferred view studio). Now, I know that the time of year is a very important factor in all of this but let me tell what happened for me--I have a May trip planned this year and I made the ressies 3 weeks ago (beginning of Feb) for THIS May. When I call MS, they had studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms and EVEN grand villas available. Now maybe this was a fluke but they were all open (we took the one bedroom by the way!). And it was less than 7 months out!

Two years ago, we booked a studio trip at the BW only 4 weeks out and got the nights we wanted in May again, having used the waitlist that time. I like going in May because I LOVE the international flower and garden festival at EPCOT, which is very popular as well.

So I guess my point is that you don't need to worry too much!! I think you can get the nights/rooms you need, using the waitlist if necessary. Maybe there are other people out there with different experiences and could never get the rooms they wanted but not me. Plus, with all the new resorts going up, members have more to choose from (WL, BCV, etc...). Good luck and have a wonderful trip.

 

[newarknut]

We booked a one bedroom at BWV in Early February for a June 5 - 11 stay. Of course, it was a preferred view. It can happen.

 

[happiest in Disney]

CarolMN,
thank you so much for your detailed description. I think the calling and asking right off the top how the availability looks is the best way to make my decision. I will have to cancel and book on a day to day basis as I don 't have enough points to have both at once. Waitlisting the whole reservation is how i did it once before and it came through but I am a little nervous because of the food and wine festival. Thanks again.
Donna

 

[Lyndarella]

I am in the process of doing this right now, for Sept. 03. We bought a few BCV points, which we used with some from next year, to reserve a studio at 11 months, for a back up plan. This week I am changing them day by day into a ressie for a 2 BR at BWV.

This is what I've learned:
(1) The first 3 nights I booked together Mon. morn. as it was the soonest I could call, and there were still many 2 BR available.
(2) We want preferred view, but I ask each day if standards are available too, and am told no, it is unlikely to get them for any time of year unless you can book at 11 months.
(3) Be careful to specify which points you wish to use for this reservation. We need to use those borrowed BCV points first, as they expire first, then want to use from our VWL points, which we own the most of. We don't want to use up our few BCV points yet, as we may want to reserve there at 11 months again!
(4) All the CMs I've spoken with have understood perfectly what I am doing. They seem happy to link my reservations together, and not bothered by the extra work.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Question...would you think that the Disney reservations site is a good tool to use when looking for availablity at a DVC resort? I went there and put in my dates, checking all DVC resorts. As of yesterday, VWL and OKW were the only ones with one bedrooms available. Or, does the DVC have blocks of rooms reserved for their members that wouldn't show up on the Disney site.

 

[newarknut]

I would guess that the website would have rooms that were available on a cash basis only. It is not, I don't think, a good way to judge availability.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

I'm glad to hear that, thanks!