What's your experience with booking May?

[DreaGirl]

If we join DVC we will be taking our vacations in May for the next several years. Anyone have any experience booking for May trips at the 11 mo. or 7 mo. mark?

Our other choice month would be October.

 

[JimMIA]

May is our normal time to visit, and we've had no trouble booking inside seven months. In 2006, we booked an OKW 1 BR for 5/14-19 at 5 months. In 2007, we went 4/29 - 5/4 and booked a BCV studio at about 5 months. This year we went 5/18 - 5/23 and booked an SSR 1 BR at 4 1/2 months. May is a great time to visit - crowds are not bad, and the Epcot Flower and Garden festival is happening.

October would be more difficult if you wanted to stay at one of the Epcot resorts (BWV or BCV) because of the Food and Wine Festival.

We haven't visited in October, but we've gone in mid-November, booking OKW at 5 months.

The only time that is really tough everywhere is between Thanksgiving and New Years -- you really need to book those trips right at 11 months to get what you want.

 

[Disney_Villain]

This sounds like OUR vacationing pattern!

We're starting to book May and October in WDW quite regularly now (Flower & Garden Festival, Food & Wine Festival and Halloween are great). All our reservations are made at our home resports at the 11-month mark and then sometimes changed to other resorts at the 7-month mark.

For May vacations you might have a good deal of fleibility with the 7-month window to book resorts other than your home resort. The earlier part of May is easier to work with.

For October vacations booked on the 7-month window, plan on staying at your home resort - or OKW, SSR and AKV (once Kidani's open) as those 3 resorts are the largest and not close to Epcot (as BCV & BWV) for Food & Wine. BCV, BWV will be next to impossible to get into due to F&W. VWL might be possible.

 

[TDERadulski]

We've never had a problem booking in May. Keep in mind that Mother's Day weekend may be busy, as will Memorial Day weekend. When we go to WDW in May, we go at the end of the month (avoiding the holiday). DH is in the military, so we are hardly ever able to book 11 months out. Most of our bookings are 2 to 4 months out, as such we may not always get our first choice resort, but that does not bother us. I have waitlisted several times, and many times it came through.
October used to be very easy to get reservations. But now there is so much going on with MSSHP and FWF (not to mention points are low) that rooms book up at the 11 month window. We just booked a 2br unit at OKW at the LAST minute. Our travel dates were very flexible, and we ended up booking for several weeks earlier than we wanted to. I was just happy to get a room last minute!!
Good luck with your decision! We love our DVC and I consider it a blessing that we can afford to take such wonderful family vacations year after year.
- Tara

 

[eva]

We go quite often in May. I've even been able to get a GV at OKW less than 7 months out during that time. Now as you get closer to the last week of the month, it gets tougher. Holiday weeks are always more difficult to reserve. I've even added a couple nights to our stay in the first couple weeks of May right during the trip. So unless you need a GV or are looking at reserving at one of the smaller resorts, you should get what you want.

As said by the other posts, October is a bit more difficult. We stayed at BCV the first week of October this past year. And I was glad that we own there. I reserved a 1-bedroom about 9 months out and the CM said there were only 2 more 1-bedrooms left for that week. Now I'm sure you could get OKW or SSR a lot closer to the date. But that Food and Wine Festival is getting really popular.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We go every year in May, and never had a problem getting what we want at 7 months. We've usually gotten a 1 BR at OKW, but have also gotten an AKV studio, and BCV studio at 7 months.

 

[DreaGirl]

Thank you all for the info! We just love going in early May!

 

[wildernessDad]

May is why we have an April UY. We've had not problems booking vacations for the May timeframe.

 

[El&Asmom]

This is great to hear. We just booked SSR for the first week of May, but really want to try VWL so we can be near the MK since that is where we spend 75% of our time. I really hope we can switch to a 1bd there for that week.

I'm also hoping that once Kidani is open for a few months, that we might have a chance to try them out for a few days in Oct '09. Hopefully people will be trying to get into BCV and BWV for that time and there will be some room for us to try it out.

 

[DebbieB]

When my mom was alive, we always did OKW the week before or week after Mother's Day (depending on when our AP's expired). I never had a problem getting a 1 bedroom at 7 months.

 

[PEANUT1]

we booked BCV in May at the 7 month window last year....had no problem and no waitlist.

 

[Steamboat Girlie]

we booked BCV in May at the 7 month window last year....had no problem and no waitlist.

This is giving me encouragement! We want to book May at the 7 month mark for BCV. We just got back from AKV on Sunday. While we were down there, we ate lunch at Beaches & Cream. We also took a nice walk around SAB. We had never been to that area so we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. We were blown away! I could not get over the size of the water slide atop of that Pirate Ship! Good thing our kids weren't with us! They would have lost it! I can't wait to stay there to try out that slide!

 

[Steamboat Girlie]

we booked BCV in May at the 7 month window last year....had no problem and no waitlist.

Either you just changed your signature, or I've been drinking too much wine!

 

[JimMIA]

Either you just changed your signature, or I've been drinking too much wine!

Neither of those possible explanations are bad things!