Which do I book first...need 3 rooms with same date at BLT

[indyannamom]

My 11 month booking window for BLT opens later this week, but it's not our normal time of year to travel so I have no sense of priorities...

We are inviting my dad and brothers to join us for a couple of nights in October. Our dates are set because of my kiddos school schedule so we'll be checking on on Thursday Oct 18th, for 2 nights. We need to book a 2 br and 2 studios but I'm really, really needing to book in the standard category to get them all at the 11 month mark.

Any idea which are more popular/will go fastest...the 2br or the studios?
I'll be on at 8am, but trying to figure out which to do first!

TIA for the help!

 

[erionm]

There are 30 Standard View Studios at BLT and all 30 are part of 2-bedroom lock-offs. There are also only 15 dedicated Standard View 2-Bedrooms.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

That's difficult - it may be fairly equal. I think I'd go for the largest villa first because the point requirements will be greater if you can't get it.

Type fast! Just use one name on each reservation and then make the name changes required after you've reserved the rooms.

 

[supersnoop]

Do you need to borrow points to secure these reservations? What’s your backup plan if you can’t get them? Do you need a dedicated two bedroom, or a lockoff?

If you need to borrow and your alternative is to cancel the trip, then I’d book in such a way that I don’t have to borrow until the last booking.

If you need a dedicated two bedroom, I’d probably book that first.

Otherwise, based on the number of rooms, I’d book the studios first.

 

[drusba]

To give you some hope, be aware that all size BLT standard rooms were still open at 9:30 a.m. eastern, 11 months out from Oct 18, Oct 19, and Oct 20, 2017

 

[indyannamom]

Thanks for the input!

We will need to pull from the year ahead to book at 11 months so all our points are BLT points

We also own at AKL, so if I can't book the standards, I'll have to wait until 7 months out to have the points we'll need to get the higher value rooms....we'd also like to not have to use those points, but will if we have to.

 

[skippytx]

Here's my experience from trying to book 2 rooms for Oct 5th to 13th 2018 at the 11 month mark. Granted this is a holiday weekend, but with us arriving on Friday I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. Especially with it just being a Monday off school in early October.

I needed 2 rooms, a dedicated 2 bed standard, and studio std. The standard view studios I thought always went faster than the 2 bedrooms so I booked that one first. I searched at exactly 8:00:01 AM and took me 5 minutes to book the room, reservation confirmed for the 5th to 12th. By 8:06, the std view 2 bedrooms were gone. I was able to book the next morning at 8:00:01 for the 6th to the 13th for the 2bedroom std unit, but by the time I finished availability for the studio and 2bed standard units was gone as well.

Now maybe because it was a holiday weekend things were busier than normal, but I am now personally of the opinion that standard view BLT rooms need to be booked as quick as possible at the 11 month mark. There aren't that many of them, and they can go quick. If you're OK to fall back to lake view I wouldn't worry much, but I also needed Std view rooms to make the points work out.

This was also my first booking. Lessons learned:

1- My wife and I each have our own logins for the DVC site, while 1 account can't hold 2 rooms at once, my wife could have been on a different computer and booked our 2nd room under her account at the same time I was booking the first(Or at least that's my understanding after the fact)

2- Check back during the day if you miss a day that isn't available. For the 2 bedroom reservation I missed the first day, the 5th, but the afternoon of the 6th it became available. I was curious so I check the RAT every morning for the next few days and it was really clear someone was walking a 2bed std reservation. No availability first thing in the morning, then in the afternoon availability opened up. I watched this for 3 more days as they walked their reservation to the dates they wanted. Interestingly enough the waitlist for the day didn't process, I ended up just adding it solo when I saw it pop up and calling MS to merge the reservation.

Good luck!

 

[Dean]

My 11 month booking window for BLT opens later this week, but it's not our normal time of year to travel so I have no sense of priorities...

We are inviting my dad and brothers to join us for a couple of nights in October. Our dates are set because of my kiddos school schedule so we'll be checking on on Thursday Oct 18th, for 2 nights. We need to book a 2 br and 2 studios but I'm really, really needing to book in the standard category to get them all at the 11 month mark.

Any idea which are more popular/will go fastest...the 2br or the studios?
I'll be on at 8am, but trying to figure out which to do first!

TIA for the help!

I'd book the 2BR first because it gives you more options going forward. If you have someone else on the account and they have their own sign on, they could do so on a separate computer and you could possibly book them at the same time. The studios will be easier to work with on the wait list if needed.

 

[Ben E N]

There are 30 Standard View Studios at BLT and all 30 are part of 2-bedroom lock-offs. There are also only 15 dedicated Standard View 2-Bedrooms.

Just based on this math, it makes the most sense to go studios first. If there are 42 other people looking for 2 BRs, then you are still fine. If there are just 29 other people looking for studios, though, then you are out of luck.
The likelihood of people looking tonget value out of studios as opposed to 2 BRs seems higher in my mind, especially during the school year when less families are able to easily go. That analysis is purely subjective though.

 

[glencoe]

Similar situation here....I needed either a grand villa or 2-two bedroom villas at BLT for a big group trip-6 nights. The grand villa points became impossible due to the amount of nights we needed so the 2-two bedroom villas were the way to go...plus we got to invite another family (grand villa 12 people-2-two bedroom 18 people!)!
So I jumped on at my 11 month window....all standard view were gone.

It was suggested I do two things (since I called not did this online). Book 2 dedicated 2 bdrm..lake view for 5 nights (as mentioned above not as in demand as a lock off, and standard view?) then waitlist for standard view for both rooms for the full 6 nights since I will have the points available from going from lake view to standard.
I was not too thrilled about the chance one room might not come through and the other will but I did it.
Just yesterday one waitlist came through...that room is now standard view, I got points back and we added the extra night (now 6 not 5 nights!) I am presently hoping the second waitlist will open and then both room ressies will be standard view, 2 bedroom 6 nights. I have till August for this to happen, so fingers crossed!! IN the meantime I am going to book a cash room for that night that I can cancel if waitlist comes through. No worries...it will all work out.

As for waitlisting working, so far 2 out of 4 have come through.