What do you think our chances are.....

[Telcogirl]

With school age children, we are sort of restricted to traveling on school vacations Since we are from the Northeast, our spring vacation in 2008 will fall on the week of 4/18.

We own at SSR, but really want to try for either BCV or BWV next April. Having just stayed at the Yacht club, I love the location to Epcot and MGM.

If I start calling for my ressie on a daily basis beginning on September 14th for an April 13th arrival, what are our chances of getting either a 1-bed or a
2-bed during this time frame. How popular are these resorts during this time?

We are hoping that because Easter is in March this year, this won't be such a highly sought after time.

Thanks for any advice or stategy you can give us!!!!

 

[CarolMN]

Since youare not looking for either the week before or the week after Easter, you have a chance. Your plan is a good one - to call day by day.

FWIW, the BWV PV (pool/garden) category has the most rooms and therefore you best chance to get a reservation without waitlisting. If you would prefer the BCV, my advice is to call the first day your window opens and ask the CM what availability looks like. He/She should be able to tell you if you have a good chance for BCV - if not, then you can go ahead and try for BWV. Usually (but not always) the 2 bedrooms book up before the 1 bedrooms.

Good luck!

 

[Deb & Bill]

If you really want to go then, make a reservation at your home resort as soon as possible, just to have something. Then at 7 months start calling day by day to get either the BWV or BCV instead. That way, if for some reason, you can't get the other resort, you still have a reservation.

 

[Jillpie]

Are you sure your dates are accurate? Only because we are from Ma. and our April school vacation starts on the 21st(Monday). Anyway, as BCV owners, I have already secured our one bedroom ressies for that week(19th-26th). If you are sure about your dates for the week before that, you may be in luck, as the week later will be inundated with Ma. folks for sure!

 

[mommytomy3]

our April school vacation starts on the 21st(Monday). Anyway, as BCV owners, I have already secured our one bedroom ressies for that week(19th-26th).

so did I ! (at BWV) I booked 4/19-4/29 already. I would do as a PP stated.. book SSR now, so you have a back up, then start calling at 7 months. Good luck!

 

[Telcogirl]

Yes, my dates are accurate. We are from RI and I already checked the schools calender for next year. Hopefully, that will help us! It seemd this year, everyone from New Englnad was there at the same time in April. Although, it was nice to see Red Sox and Patriots fans everywhere we went

If i take the suggestion to book at SSR, I may be using more points for that DVC than I would for BWV. I think BCV would be about the same. How would that work out in then end if I ended up trading more points in on my SSR ressie towards what I need for BWV?

Everyone here has such great advice! This is so much better than waiting anxiously until September to see what we get for a ressie.

 

[LisaS]

If i take the suggestion to book at SSR, I may be using more points for that DVC than I would for BWV. I think BCV would be about the same. How would that work out in then end if I ended up trading more points in on my SSR ressie towards what I need for BWV?

If you book SSR and then end up getting in somewhere else, MS cancels the SSR reservation which returns all points to your account and then makes a new reservation at XYZ resort. If XYZ requires fewer points, the excess points will be back in your account. You can then use them for another reservation or bank them, subject to banking deadlines. The only issues would be if one of the following situations occurred:

1. You had to borrow a few points to make the SSR reservation, which you wouldn't have needed to do to book XYZ. Unfortunately, borrowing is a "final" transaction so those points cannot be "unborrowed". However, MS will use those borrowed points first for the XYZ reservation, so all of the points returned to your account will be current Use Year points.

2. At the time you booked XYZ (either right at 7 months or later via the wait list) you were past all banking deadlines. In that case, the points returned to your account will have to be used by the end of your Use Year or they will expire.

3. You had to waitlist for XYZ and it came through 30 days or less from your check-in date. In this case, the excess points from the SSR reservation go into the "holding" account and cannot be banked. They can only be used to make a reservation within 60 days of check in.

 

[Telcogirl]

Ok, I think I have a plan now thanks to all of your help. I am going to book a 2-bdrm at SSR for Sun-Thu. (trying to conserve points) Hopefully at the 7th month window, a CM will be able to tell me what my chances are for BWV or BCV. If I have no chance, I will add on extra nights at SSR for the remainder of our trip.

Once again, thanks for all of your expert DVC advise. We are new members and just learning the ropes.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Your points for SSR should be less than points required for BCV or BWV. You won't get a standard view at the BWV at 7 months. So you shouldn't have points left over unless you downsize your accomodations.

 

[Telcogirl]

Do you agree that my best chances at BWV are the Preferred View? What size accomondation would I have the best chance of. I really would want a 2 bdrm, but I would sacrifice some space and take a 1 bdrm just because we want to try this area.

 

[n2mm]

Do you agree that my best chances at BWV are the Preferred View? What size accomondation would I have the best chance of. I really would want a 2 bdrm, but I would sacrifice some space and take a 1 bdrm just because we want to try this area.

I think you'll be ok with that view at the 7 mo. window. I've had to waitlist for that timeframe and have gotten it so far each year. Good luck. Guess you have to wait a few months.

 

[Telcogirl]

Having to wait a couple of months is killing me with anticipation of what we will get and where we will stay. I love planning our trips to Disney.

Plus, where we stay this time is going to have a lot to do with our touring plans too!

But thank you all for your excellant advice and suggestions.