For those with fixed/guaranteed weeks . . .

You dont know that it wasnt booked. You just didnt see the reservation. Again, you puchased a FW. You have it! Its guaranteed. I think your creating a problem where there is none.
Well the 11 month window hit, and my points were still available. You are right that I don't know whether the room had been "booked" for us yet or not. If it had been held for us, then they are currently holding a room for which we have no points to book, and that will be automatically canceled when they get around to it, since I was able to go on and use my points to just book the room regularly. So now there is inventory being held from other members for essentially no reason. If something did get missed, and they were not in fact holding a room for us, I understand that contractually they would've had to give us a room that week. Things also slip through the cracks, sometimes, through no ill will or out of bad faith or lack of effort, so why leave it in doubt? I'm not creating a problem, I'm saying, particularly as someone who has never had the guaranteed week actually booked for them, since this was the first year, that I don't understand how this system works and whether there is any logic to it. It actually worked out for me that they seem to have done it less efficiently because I was able to get the week that we own anyway without having to pay the 10% premium.
 
Well the 11 month window hit, and my points were still available. You are right that I don't know whether the room had been "booked" for us yet or not. If it had been held for us, then they are currently holding a room for which we have no points to book, and that will be automatically canceled when they get around to it, since I was able to go on and use my points to just book the room regularly. So now there is inventory being held from other members for essentially no reason. If something did get missed, and they were not in fact holding a room for us, I understand that contractually they would've had to give us a room that week. Things also slip through the cracks, sometimes, through no ill will or out of bad faith or lack of effort, so why leave it in doubt? I'm not creating a problem, I'm saying, particularly as someone who has never had the guaranteed week actually booked for them, since this was the first year, that I don't understand how this system works and whether there is any logic to it. It actually worked out for me that they seem to have done it less efficiently because I was able to get the week that we own anyway without having to pay the 10% premium.

I am glad it worked for you, but I guess I am confused as why you think this wasn’t going to work the way it should have. Disney can’t legally take your points prior to the 11 month window, so they have to wait to officially book and pull the points. The reason that they don’t have to worry bout doing it right at 8 am is probably because your room was reserved in the background. They can’t release your guaranteed room until they know you used the points and no longer entitled to your fixed week room, .so yes, when you went ahead and booked a room that was meant for members who didn’t have a fixed week room, it did prevent someone else from getting a room,

Yes, mistakes can certainly happen, but When Disney sold you the fixed week, they did so with the intention that that room would be taken out of service prior to the 11 month window for you
 
It sounds like, though, that fixed weeks are set and that they will show up. In your account. I get you were nervous because you had not seen it yet, it I am sure that Disney has this down and you would have been fine,

Disney knows how many rooms to secure for fixed weeks and I guarantee those were not part of the rooms that were available for booking this morning. Just because you didn’t see it loaded by 8 am, doesn’t mean It wasn’t booked and they were in the process of loading.
This is what I mostly figured, and had I not been able to get it at 8 AM this morning, I'm sure it would've been fine, and I know that had they made a mistake and we'd slipped through because it's our first year, they would've fixed it.

I made my initial post because I was curious if there was a clear and set system that they have and whether that would tell me if and when I should've made a phone call. Realizing that there are a lot of different answers and inconsistencies, has piqued my curiosity as to the guaranteed week system itself.

We purchased a guaranteed week because we were fully aware of the difficulty in booking, studios in particular, at Copper Creek, especially in early December. My ability to try to get lucky and get the same reservation, without having to pay the 10% premium, what happened nothing to lose and bearing no risk in attempting to do so because the points were still just sitting in my account, I believe exposes a flaw in how they manage this.
 
I am not sure why you are so confused about this. I and others have confirmed by Disney that separate inventory is held back for GW bookings. I can confirm that to be true because my week was actually booked after the 11 month window opened, and my room type (CCV studio) was already gone. I wouldn't have been able to book it myself. But I got my GW as I was supposed to. The system works the way they say it will. You appear to be making much ado about nothing, and in this case it worked out better for you because you got your room and didn't have to pay the premium.
 


This is what I mostly figured, and had I not been able to get it at 8 AM this morning, I'm sure it would've been fine, and I know that had they made a mistake and we'd slipped through because it's our first year, they would've fixed it.

I made my initial post because I was curious if there was a clear and set system that they have and whether that would tell me if and when I should've made a phone call. Realizing that there are a lot of different answers and inconsistencies, has piqued my curiosity as to the guaranteed week system itself.

We purchased a guaranteed week because we were fully aware of the difficulty in booking, studios in particular, at Copper Creek, especially in early December. My ability to try to get lucky and get the same reservation, without having to pay the 10% premium, what happened nothing to lose and bearing no risk in attempting to do so because the points were still just sitting in my account, I believe exposes a flaw in how they manage this.

I would venture to guess that most people who bought fixed weeks did so so they didn’t have to get up and try right at 11 months. Its not a flaw.

The points were there for Disney to get the room booked for you and you paid a premium for that service by purchasing more points. I think if one wants to try and do what you did to try to save the premium you are allowed.

I say kudos to you for saving the points and giving it a try!
 
Every time that I have used points from my guaranteed Poly contract for something else than the fixed week (and I’ve never used the fixed week to date and never planned to do so during at least the first decade), there’s been a pop-up explaining that by making this transaction, I’m de facto cancelling my guarantee: do I want to proceed?
 
I bought a fixed week as a resale. The first year I had to call because it was not properly set up in the system. After that it has been automatic.
 


Newbie here,, to confirm if I purchase a fixed week and I cancel the trip, I do not automatically get all the points I purchased for the fixed week?
 
Prior to my most recent reservation, which is for December 2020, my fixed-week confirmation was sent 12-months in advance. For six years, I received my confirmation the week of my fixed week. The timing seemed perfect as it was a reminder, during our trip, that we would be back the same time next year.

Last December, around the 12-month mark, I did not receive my confirmation, so I began calling Member Services. Up until the 11-month booking window, I called eight times. Every call yielded a different response. The system had been updated. Reservations were confirmed, but needed to be loaded in the system, which takes 24-hours. Someone would confirm my reservation at 8:00am on the morning of the 11-month window. There was a glitch that was causing a delay. The person that confirms reservations is behind.

There are 17 lake view studios at VGF and I ultimately booked the reservation because no one, including a supervisor, could provide a timeline for when the room would be confirmed. I was able to book it myself and save a few points because the week was less than my contracted points this year. Personally, I did not see a advantage with the 10% points upcharge for the fixed week this year because I was able to book the reservation.
 
I have a Poly fixed week. I’ve never used the guarantee because it’s not necessary. I made a calculation about the value of the guarantee over a 50 yr contract with an internal understanding that it wouldn’t be necessary to use for at least a decade.

I have a Week 44 lake view studio. That’s the 1st week of Nov aka “Jersey week”.
 

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