What are my chances?

[DVC Jen]

DH and I were thinking of surprising our two DDs with a Christmas trip to VWL this Christmas. When I tried to book a studio at VWL through the official site I could. Does this mean there is still availability?

We are thinking about checking in on Dec 26th and leaving the 31st. So we wouldn't be there for the busy New Years Eve and Day crowd.

Also this would be the first time we would be borrowing points. Have any of you ever had a problem when borrowing?

We would be borrowing just over half of our 2005 points. Which means when we want to go in the summer we would use half of our remaining 2005 points and then some 2006 points... and the following summer we would do half 2006 and half 2007... and so on. This isn't a problem.. correct?

 

[robinb]

I'm a little confused. Did you call DVC and try to book your studio, or did you try to book it through Disney.com? You really can't tell about availability until you call DVC.

When is your use year? I would normally suggest that you get on a day-by-day waitlist for your dates. However, if you end up with just a few days and not all of them you'd be SOL if your use year is early in the year. You would never be able to use the points in time and you can't return them to the original use year.

I don't know if you're going to have a lot of luck. You're trying to book the busiest time of year. I booked my studio at BWV at the 11 month window and I called 2 days too late and had to go on the waitlist for a Boardwalk View studio. The waitlist came through, but that was months ago. If you really want to go at that time, think about booking a back-up reservation and then getting on the waitlist for the whole time period.

Good luck, I hope things work out for you!

 

[DVC Jen]

I was just curious to see if there was availablity at all that is why I went to the official WDW site and tried to get a ressie that way. I could.. for a studio.. not sure if that means that a studio is available or not but I could have booked it on the official site if I had wanted to.. I didn't go through the whole process though.. meaning I didn't actually book the room..just saw that I could have online through the official site.

We were tossing the idea around last Christmas, but decided against it at the time.. now we are wanting to go.

I am not counting on getting it.. I do know how busy that time of year is.

BTW our use year is Feb.. how does that make a difference?

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

The only reason the February use year could hurt you is if you had to cancel your trip in the last couple of months. It would be too late for you to bank the points or make another trip.

I think you may find something for that period but it may not be at the VWL. A couple of weeks ago they had all rooms available at OKW and SSR. They had 1 BR's available at some of the other resorts but not studios or 2BR's.

It is a great time to visit WDW. We did it last year and our four kids had a great time. Good luck.

HBC

 

[DVC Jen]

Originally posted by Happy Birthday Cat


I think you may find something for that period but it may not be at the VWL. A couple of weeks ago they had all rooms available at OKW and SSR. They had 1 BR's available at some of the other resorts but not studios or 2BR's.


HBC

that is the one big thing we are worried about. If we can't stay at VWL we would rather not go and just try again another year.

We are major lodge lovers and I can't imagine spending a Christmas trip anywhere else.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Originally posted by DVC Jen
If we can't stay at VWL we would rather not go and just try again another year.
We are major lodge lovers and I can't imagine spending a Christmas trip anywhere else.

I understand how you feel but you could also save some points if something was available at OKW or SSR over staying at VWL (then you wouldn't have to borrow as many in the future). Then go on a wait list for VWL. At OKW you could save a lot of points. At SSR you could stay at a brand new resort for less points too.

Hope you don't mind me pointing out the other side of things. Good luck. Call tomorrow for the VWL and let us know how it goes.

HBC

 

[ga disney teach]

I don't know what part of December you are looking for. We just reserved a studio at VWL for 3 days before Christmas. We werent' expecting to get it- but were pleasantly surprised. I would try. It is beautiful at Christmas. Good Luck!

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by DVC Jen
When I tried to book a studio at VWL through the official site I could. Does this mean there is still availability?

Not necessarily.

DVC keeps a small percent of the points at each resort in their own inventory. Those points give them the ability to rent rooms on a cash basis.

Since most WDW guests are not in the habit of booking their room 11 months ahead of time, it's my understanding that Disney will set-aside a block of rooms at each resort for their own use. They will only release those rooms for use by DVC members if they remain unbooked much closer to arrival.

So, my point is that just because you were able to find a room available on the Disney web site doesn't really have any bearing on your ability to reserve on points. A call to member services should get you the answer you need.