What is walking a reservation?

[jaz0308]

Can someone please explain this to me in simple terms and also why does it work? Just trying to familiarize myself with all things DVC

 

[Sandisw]

Basically, you book a reservation with a start date ahead of when you want to go and then adjust it forward to your actual dates,

Certain times of the year are very busy so starting earlier can get you into a room since when you start could be a little less busy.

For example, if you want Dec 1 to 5. Instead of starting January 1st, you go on and book a week or two earlier when you see dates open up for your 4 nights..you can do up to 7. Once it’s booked, you just keep adjusting till you have the dates you want. If gives you a little advantage.

At 11 months, it works well and you get what you want. While you can also do it for 7 month bookings, it’s not fool proof as a home resort owner can always book those nights you are trying to get,

It used to be used during really busy times for specific rooms. However, now with online booking, I think people do it more often when not needed.

I just did it a few weeks ago but more because I had flexibility in terms of when I wanted to go in May...ideally week 2 but would do week 1. So, I went on and was able to book what I wanted during week 1 and then adjusted to end up with week 2.

Most of the year you don’t need it, but if you want a hard to get room, it may benefit to start checking a little earlier to get a jump on things.

 

[Frederic Civish]

You make a reservation, usually right at the opening bell (8 AM Eastern Time) on the first day that it becomes available. You make this reservation for some period of time (some number of days) BEFORE when you really want it. You do this BECAUSE the reservations will be booked and gone almost instantly, every day, during the approximate dates you want. So, you are trying hard to beat everyone to the punch, so you can make the reservation.

You make the reservation for as many days as you can. These days extend INTO the reservation window. If it is an 11 month reservation at your home resort, no one can jump past you and grab days and block you from 'walking it.' If it is a 7 month reservation, then someone who has home resort privileges there could still go past you and pick up reservations and block you. Maybe you are planning to walk your reservation for 2 weeks, but they make a reservation at 7 1/2 months, so the dates you want suddenly are not available. This doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

Okay, so now you have made a reservation, right at the cusp of availability, right as the window opens, and it extends several days into the window. BUT, it is not for the days you want. Let's assume you want to book 5 days, and the date you need is 10 days later. Now, to walk it, every day or two or three, you sign on and choose MODIFY and select new dates that extend farther towards what you want. Let's say you want October 20th, and you booked 5 days on October 10th. Well, on October 11th, 12th, 13th or 14th (but CERTAINLY BEFORE the 15th), you sign on again and modify it. Each day, you are choosing the next 5 days , starting from whatever date where you now are. Let's say you modify it on October 13th, 16th, 19th, and then finally, on the 20th, you modify it into the position you want, October 20th. Now you have successfully 'Walked' your reservation into the days that you want.

There are a number of resorts where certain 'views' disappear immediately, almost every day. An exampe is the Value Rooms and Concierge Rooms at Jambo House. Also, almost all of the resorts may have the most popular rooms disappear immediately, during the most popular times. Examples are Standard View Studios at BLT during October or Boardwalk View Studios at Boardwalk. Or almost everything at Beach Club, especially during October, November and December.

By starting some days (or weeks?) before you want your reservation, you have the chance to try again and again and again to get it every morning. If you start 10 days early, you will have 10 shots at the time you want. If it is important to you to get certain units and certain views at certain resorts for certain days, walking gives you multiple chances, not just ONE, on the morning when that reservation 'technically' becomes available.

I don't generally walk reservations, but I HAVE walked them on certain reservations that were important. AND, there are some reservations where I tried every single morning for 2 weeks to get what I wanted, and I was never able to do so.

Anyway, it is a tool you can use. And if you try it, you will go onto the program every morning and see that other people CLEARLY are walking the most popular reservations, all the time. The only way you MIGHT beat them, is to walk your own reservation.

 

[jaz0308]

Oh thank you both for these detailed explanations! I appreciate the info.

 

[Bullseye]

You make a reservation, usually right at the opening bell (8 AM Eastern Time) on the first day that it becomes available. You make this reservation for some period of time (some number of days) BEFORE when you really want it. You do this BECAUSE the reservations will be booked and gone almost instantly, every day, during the approximate dates you want. So, you are trying hard to beat everyone to the punch, so you can make the reservation.

You make the reservation for as many days as you can. These days extend INTO the reservation window. If it is an 11 month reservation at your home resort, no one can jump past you and grab days and block you from 'walking it.' If it is a 7 month reservation, then someone who has home resort privileges there could still go past you and pick up reservations and block you. Maybe you are planning to walk your reservation for 2 weeks, but they make a reservation at 7 1/2 months, so the dates you want suddenly are not available. This doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

Okay, so now you have made a reservation, right at the cusp of availability, right as the window opens, and it extends several days into the window. BUT, it is not for the days you want. Let's assume you want to book 5 days, and the date you need is 10 days later. Now, to walk it, every day or two or three, you sign on and choose MODIFY and select new dates that extend farther towards what you want. Let's say you want October 20th, and you booked 5 days on October 10th. Well, on October 11th, 12th, 13th or 14th (but CERTAINLY BEFORE the 15th), you sign on again and modify it. Each day, you are choosing the next 5 days , starting from whatever date where you now are. Let's say you modify it on October 13th, 16th, 19th, and then finally, on the 20th, you modify it into the position you want, October 20th. Now you have successfully 'Walked' your reservation into the days that you want.

There are a number of resorts where certain 'views' disappear immediately, almost every day. An exampe is the Value Rooms and Concierge Rooms at Jambo House. Also, almost all of the resorts may have the most popular rooms disappear immediately, during the most popular times. Examples are Standard View Studios at BLT during October or Boardwalk View Studios at Boardwalk. Or almost everything at Beach Club, especially during October, November and December.

By starting some days (or weeks?) before you want your reservation, you have the chance to try again and again and again to get it every morning. If you start 10 days early, you will have 10 shots at the time you want. If it is important to you to get certain units and certain views at certain resorts for certain days, walking gives you multiple chances, not just ONE, on the morning when that reservation 'technically' becomes available.

I don't generally walk reservations, but I HAVE walked them on certain reservations that were important. AND, there are some reservations where I tried every single morning for 2 weeks to get what I wanted, and I was never able to do so.

Anyway, it is a tool you can use. And if you try it, you will go onto the program every morning and see that other people CLEARLY are walking the most popular reservations, all the time. The only way you MIGHT beat them, is to walk your own reservation.

I have two questions:
1. Do I have to call MS every time I want to change the dates or can it be done on DVC website?

2. In your seven month example I can't get a leg up on home resort members for the very reason you identify, so it seems worthless to me to try to book before the 7 month mark. But, is the benefit of walking at seven months that I can get an advantage on guests also waiting for 7 month mark for same dates?

 

[JETSDAD]

I have two questions:
1. Do I have to call MS every time I want to change the dates or can it be done on DVC website?

2. In your seven month example I can't get a leg up on home resort members for the very reason you identify, so it seems worthless to me to try to book before the 7 month mark. But, is the benefit of walking at seven months that I can get an advantage on guests also waiting for 7 month mark for same dates?

You can modify your reservations online.

The benefit is getting ahead of others trying to switch at 7 months. For the most part owners aren't waiting until the last minute to book their home resort (yes it can happen but most will have booked before that point).

 

[Sandisw]

The online tool makes it very easy to walk reservations. It is why I think more and more people are doing it when there probably isn't a need to do so. But, once you get a start on what you want, then at least you are ahead of others who are trying at their own 7 month mark. As mentioned, only a home resort owner can come in and mess up the walk, but most likely, those owners would have already set up what they want so that likely hood is slim. And, you will know when you are checking whether or not any of your dates are gone from direct owners before the 7 month window.

For example, I want to switch in June for VGF, SV. Right now, I can already see only 3 or my 4 nights are available. So, even if I do decide to walk it...not the plan...I will not be able to secure night 4 unless a VGF owner drops it and I get it via wait list or through stalking. By the time we get close to my chances of booking in November, things could be different. In this case, I will probably snag those 3 nights if I can, book LV for night 4 and hope for the best!!!!

 

[Frederic Civish]

I agree with Jetsdad and Sandisw. You COULD call member services, but, frankly, it is a hassle and some people find it embarrassing to do that when they are walking a reservation.

The Online Member's Reservation and Modification tool are what almost everybody uses to walk a reservation. THAT is also why 'Walking' has become some common.

No, you can't beat out Home Resort Owners for Home Resort Priority, since they can always jump past you at the 7 month window, BUT, you have to assume that if the home resort owners were really interested in those particular dates, they likely would have ALREADY made the reservation, sometime earlier in the 7 to 11 month window. Why wait until almost the end, when pickings might be slim, if you could make the reservation you want at 9, 10 or 11 months before.

 

[skier_pete]

It is very interesting that a lot of members are opposed to the idea as "cheating". However, in the last year (i don't remember the exact date) Disney modified the availability tool such that you can "Walk" a reservation on-line as opposed to calling each time to modify. Disney clearly doesn't feel that there is a need to stop it.

Truthfully, you really only should need to do it for home resort reservations in hard to get categories at hard to get times of year. Most rooms there are enough rooms that it isn't necessary, and I would suggest to try not to do it unless you absolutely HAVE to, since the more people that do it, the worse the system is going to become.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

It is very interesting that a lot of members are opposed to the idea as "cheating". However, in the last year (i don't remember the exact date) Disney modified the availability tool such that you can "Walk" a reservation on-line as opposed to calling each time to modify. Disney clearly doesn't feel that there is a need to stop it.

Truthfully, you really only should need to do it for home resort reservations in hard to get categories at hard to get times of year. Most rooms there are enough rooms that it isn't necessary, and I would suggest to try not to do it unless you absolutely HAVE to, since the more people that do it, the worse the system is going to become.

I booked a BWV standard studio for Labor Day Weekend next year and I started watching availability at 8am around 3 weeks before my 11 month window. People are definately walking that reservation. It caused me not to get my check in day on my first go. I was able to snag the next three days the following morning. I was then able to grab the first day that same morning as the walkers moved on and was able to secure my desired trip. The funny thing is that almost the entire month of August and the first 14 days of September are still available. Basically the walkers for this room type are starting too early. I get that with prime F&W dates rapidly approaching people will want to make sure they get what they want. But even the BWV standard studio is being walked when it really isn't necessary. It's annoying but is part of the landscape and luckily I ended up getting my dates. Hopefully the people currently walking Dec 2020 figure out they can start a bit later next time.

 

[Jperiod]

So if there is already no availability on a night or two before the dates I (eventually) want, I can't "walk," right?

 

[JETSDAD]

So if there is already no availability on a night or two before the dates I (eventually) want, I can't "walk," right?

Correct...you need the first day in order to start a walk or to simply book a reservation.

 

[CarolMN]

It is very interesting that a lot of members are opposed to the idea as "cheating". However, in the last year (i don't remember the exact date) Disney modified the availability tool such that you can "Walk" a reservation on-line as opposed to calling each time to modify. Disney clearly doesn't feel that there is a need to stop it.

Truthfully, you really only should need to do it for home resort reservations in hard to get categories at hard to get times of year. Most rooms there are enough rooms that it isn't necessary, and I would suggest to try not to do it unless you absolutely HAVE to, since the more people that do it, the worse the system is going to become.

I'm quite sure that the reason that feature was added to the online system was to reduce the calls to MS and thus, avoid increasing call center staff. Cost of operating MS comes out of the 15% of operating expenses allocated to DVCMC to run the Club. If it costs more than 15%, Disney has to pay. Labor is expensive!

That (cost of hiring enough staff to handle increasing call volumes) is why we finally got the online booking system to begin with and is also why the booking windows changed from prior to check out day to prior to check in day + up to 7 nights.

Agree that if walking starts to cost $$ or generates a large number of complaints, DVCMC will step in. It's almost certain that their "fix" will be worse than the problem -at least for many of us..

 

[Bullseye]

So I tried walking a reservation the past two days but what I'm finding is the first day is not available even though I'm on-line right at the opening bell. Since I can't reserve the first day, I can't reserve any of them since I'm not at seven month mark for days 2-7. So I should I assume that when I get to my "real" 7 month mark...day one will continue to not be available? Plus when I look at availability for all 11 days I want to book, it indicates they are available. So now I'm completely confused whats happening.

 

[crvetter]

So I tried walking a reservation the past two days but what I'm finding is the first day is not available even though I'm on-line right at the opening bell. Since I can't reserve the first day, I can't reserve any of them since I'm not at seven month mark for days 2-7. So I should I assume that when I get to my "real" 7 month mark...day one will continue to not be available? Plus when I look at availability for all 11 days I want to book, it indicates they are available. So now I'm completely confused whats happening.

Walking at 7 months, especially depending on the room type, isn't always going to work as easily. Basically because every subsequent day isn't guaranteed to have equal to or greater than number of rooms available as the 7 month date. Unlike the 11 month window where the subsequent days past the 11 month day are guaranteed to have equal to or greater than the number rooms available, except for the case of maintenance issues.

What you are seeing can be other walkers, people extending their 7 month reservation (walking shorter than 7 day reservations), or home resort owners grabbing the rooms. Or more importantly what I described above with one of the others in the prior sentence.

 

[JETSDAD]

So I tried walking a reservation the past two days but what I'm finding is the first day is not available even though I'm on-line right at the opening bell. Since I can't reserve the first day, I can't reserve any of them since I'm not at seven month mark for days 2-7. So I should I assume that when I get to my "real" 7 month mark...day one will continue to not be available? Plus when I look at availability for all 11 days I want to book, it indicates they are available. So now I'm completely confused whats happening.

If day 1 is not available prior to 8AM it's simply been booked up. If it suddenly becomes unavailable at 8AM it's likely because there are multiple people fighting over 1, or few, rooms. If you're looking at 11 days at 7 months you simply can not book that because it is greater than 7 days.

 

[Frederic Civish]

So I should I assume that when I get to my "real" 7 month mark...day one will continue to not be available?

Yes. They will probably continue to be UNAVAILABLE every day. All I can recommend is to be online, ready, signed in, having already set up the search and be waiting to hit the button to 'search' just a second or two before the 8 AM window. Keep trying. Hopefully, your request will go through exactly at the moment that the clock rolls over to 8 AM. However, keep trying.

 

[Sandisw]

One way you will know walking might be happening is if a day you couldn’t get today is open tomorrow.

So, keep trying and if it isn’t there at 8 am, try again a little while later because remember, you may have home resort owners switching out too and those rooms might not show up for a little bit. I had luck with that just last monthl

If you see a date show up, book it. If there are walkers, you should be able to slowly get what you want.

The other piece is that what you want is popular and that it is t walking but just a busy time and busy days. Right now, that is what is happening for Rivera. Not sure what you are trying to get, but some rooms will always be tough

 

[Jason_79]

 

[ChimneyJim]

Check early morning too. I got VGC at 545ET today and nothing was available last night.