What are the hardest seasons to book?

[deedeetoo]

I've read that booking during busy seasons within the 7 month window (at your home resort or not) is difficult. But what is busy season? Obviously Christmas and Easter are hard to book, but what else is?

We would most likely be vacationing in the early summer (late June - early July)? Do people have trouble booking within the 7 month window at this time of year?

 

[Dis13]

Hi. This was posted here, but I'm sorry I don't recall by who. (I cut and pasted this into my "DVC Info" file!).

The absolute busiest time at all DVC resorts is December 1st to 14th when we're in our value season.

By comparison, most dates during Spring Break and the summer are pretty easy to book.

Here are some of the more difficult dates / room class combinations to book:

BoardWalk Villas Standard View: Year-round (Lower Points)
BoardWalk Villas Preferred BoardWalk Villas: Year-round (Prime View - but Noisy)
Old Key West Grand Villa: Year-round (Grand Villas hold 12)
BoardWalk Villas Grand Villa: Year-round
Any room at the Beach Club Villas or BoardWalk Villas: October to mid-November (during Food and Wine Fest at Epcot)
Any room at any DVC resort: December 1-15 (low-point season, VERY popular with most DVC members)

 

[crisi]

Hi. This was posted here, but I'm sorry I don't recall by who. (I cut and pasted this into my "DVC Info" file!).

The absolute busiest time at all DVC resorts is December 1st to 14th when we're in our value season.

By comparison, most dates during Spring Break and the summer are pretty easy to book.

Here are some of the more difficult dates / room class combinations to book:

BoardWalk Villas Standard View: Year-round (Lower Points)
BoardWalk Villas Preferred BoardWalk Villas: Year-round (Prime View - but Noisy)
Old Key West Grand Villa: Year-round (Grand Villas hold 12)
BoardWalk Villas Grand Villa: Year-round
Any room at the Beach Club Villas or BoardWalk Villas: October to mid-November (during Food and Wine Fest at Epcot)
Any room at any DVC resort: December 1-15 (low-point season, VERY popular with most DVC members)

F&W runs from October through November, making Epcot area resorts hard (but not impossible) to book pretty much from October 1 to January 2.

VWL is the smallest resort, and themed to be particularly attractive in the fall and winter. Its proximity to the MK makes it popular for families with small kids as well. If I needed to stay at VWL, I'd own there - regardless of season (I love that resort, but we are happy at "home" so no contract there for us).

 

[dianeschlicht]

As the others have said, not only WHEN but WHERE can be a factor in how difficult it is to book. If you are only planning to book at SSR, then you will likely only have to worry about the busiest times like holidays, the first two weeks of December, and Spring break. If you want to book the smaller resorts at the 7 month window (like VWL or BCV or Standard view BWV), then you will have difficulty at those times PLUS F&W festival (October and November). The Epcot resorts might be more difficult at that time than VWL, but VWL will be more difficult at Christmas. OKW and SSR are the largest resorts, and as long as you book as soon as your 11 or 7 month booking window opens up, you should have no problems getting what you want, unless you are booking a GV.

 

[spiceycat]

if you are flexibility and don't mind where you stay on WDW property - then you will find something for June/July.

if you only want the BCV then you might be disappointed.

this is pretty popular from March to Jan 1 - because of that pool....

Now you might be able to get it.

but don't count on it.... big difference.

SSR and OKW you probably won't have a problem getting.

BWV - probably.

BCV or VWL - iffy - they have the least villa rooms and are pretty popular during the summer months.

BCV because of that pool not to mention Epcot. VWL is the closest DVC resort to the MK - favorite of children every where no matter what their ages are....

 

[TAKitty]

I have booked two last minute trips and have always been able to get VWL. I booked about a month before our trip in early April and had the choice of OKW, VWL, or SSR. I booked our summer trip two months before (a one bedroom) and had OKW, VWL, or SSR to pick from. BC had three nights available during my stay and I could have waitlisted for the rest, but I was afraid we would have to switch.

 

[abner1776]

Busiest times in order of most busy:

First half of December
School Vacation weeks - Xmas, April, February
Spring break - most of March
Other special Holidays - Memorial, Thanksgiving, July 4th, MLK, New Years
Summer Vacation - July & early August
Spring - May & June
Fall - Oct/Nov - Food & Wine - Epcot Resorts
Late Aug, Sept, non holiday January and non school week February

Also keep in mind that what resort you want and what type of accomodation you want also impacts availiability. A grand villa will always be harder to book than a 1 bedroom.

 

[dianeschlicht]

New Year's Eve is the single most difficult night to get.

 

[crisi]

I have booked two last minute trips and have always been able to get VWL. I booked about a month before our trip in early April and had the choice of OKW, VWL, or SSR. I booked our summer trip two months before (a one bedroom) and had OKW, VWL, or SSR to pick from. BC had three nights available during my stay and I could have waitlisted for the rest, but I was afraid we would have to switch.

Its posts like these that makes me suspect the waitlist is batched processed, but cancellations go through immediately, and that if you call after someone cancelled, but before the waitlist is processed, you can get lucky. Too many people not getting waitlists that they were on for five or six months, followed by someone who called three months out and got what they wanted.

I'm not saying this is your fault, and I'm glad you got the rooms, but I suspect a future system upgrade will throw these rooms into holding until the waitlist is processed against them to cover this hole. You've been the beneficiary of a system that needs an update, but once updated, your chances of getting lucky will go down.

I don't know any of this - its pure speculation from what I've been reading.

 

[TAKitty]

Its posts like these that makes me suspect the waitlist is batched processed, but cancellations go through immediately, and that if you call after someone cancelled, but before the waitlist is processed, you can get lucky. Too many people not getting waitlists that they were on for five or six months, followed by someone who called three months out and got what they wanted.

I'm not saying this is your fault, and I'm glad you got the rooms, but I suspect a future system upgrade will throw these rooms into holding until the waitlist is processed against them to cover this hole. You've been the beneficiary of a system that needs an update, but once updated, your chances of getting lucky will go down.

I don't know any of this - its pure speculation from what I've been reading.

I understand why you may think this, but I called three times/three different days and VWL was still showing up. I didn't want the WL and actually booked OKW instead.

I don't think that the summer is that much of a problem to book. I think this is why some of our days were available at BC too (I checked two weeks ago). It seems like most would agree that BC is difficult to get into.

Whatever the reason, I believe that those on the Dis represent a small minority of DVC owners; I think the majority do not religiously book at the 12 and 7 month windows. At five months out I reserved BC but changed it to BWV and now we are keeping the VWL.

 

[lovwdwalot]

I understand why you may think this, but I called three times/three different days and VWL was still showing up. I didn't want the WL and actually booked OKW instead.

I don't think that the summer is that much of a problem to book. I think this is why some of our days were available at BC too (I checked two weeks ago). It seems like most would agree that BC is difficult to get into.

Whatever the reason, I believe that those on the Dis represent a small minority of DVC owners; I think the majority do not religiously book at the 12 and 7 month windows. At five months out I reserved BC but changed it to BWV and now we are keeping the VWL.

But again TAkitty if you look at your dates of booking they all are during "slow times" of the year for your stays at an DVC resort.And also look at the resorts that had availablity too, all are large resorts except for WLV.

 

[DenverVal]

We love to go right after Thanksgiving and spend the first week of December at the parks. We had no problems booking SSR 1 bedroom for 10 days last year, including Thanksgiving Day. We booked at the 11 month window. This year we booked at the 7 month window at VWL for the same period, again a 1 bedroom. We only had difficulty getting Thanksgiving Day. We were waitlisted and it came through in less than a week. We were actually shocked that it happened so fast. We were hoping to hold out a little longer so we could shop for a better airfare before actually committing the points, since we had to borrow.

 

[Michael623]

Holy crap, here's some news for you. I called today for a studio for Dec 2-9 preferably OKW. There was one night available that week for a studio property wide. 5 resorts, 1 night. Yikes!! I bumped to the next week and I could get 6 of the 7 days at OKW, all 7 nights at SSR an nothing anywhere else. I went this week last year and booked at exactly the 7 month window and I thought it was overkill. I guess not.