Help please for first timer trying to book at 7 month window

[Ailsa]

Can somebody advise on the best way to go about attempting to try and secure a reservation at 7 months? We need a studio for 2 weeks late October early November (flights are already booked so no flexibility). As a back up I have booked my home resort at AKV but I have my heart set on BLT, Poly or BCV for at least some of the time (ideally 10 days but no less than 4). I do not mind doing a split stay but would not want to move more than once. Looking at the RAT the dates I want all have holes in them. Would I be better asking MS to split my stay so I can reserve a day at a time or is it better to waitlist the whole lot? If I go online on my first day what do I do if only the first day is free? If I waitlist 4 or 5 days will that cancel the remainder of my 2 weeks or will it leave those dates free? Sorry for the abundance of questions but this is my first time and it's a minefield!

(PS the reason I want to book another resort is because we have extra points this year we would not usually have as we are using 2017, 2018 and 2019 so want to make the most of them)

(PPS - incidentally, how do I add an avatar to my profile?)

 

[Deb & Bill]

Can somebody advise on the best way to go about attempting to try and secure a reservation at 7 months? We need a studio for 2 weeks late October early November (flights are already booked so no flexibility). As a back up I have booked my home resort at AKV but I have my heart set on BLT, Poly or BCV for at least some of the time (ideally 10 days but no less than 4). I do not mind doing a split stay but would not want to move more than once. Looking at the RAT the dates I want all have holes in them. Would I be better asking MS to split my stay so I can reserve a day at a time or is it better to waitlist the whole lot? If I go online on my first day what do I do if only the first day is free? If I waitlist 4 or 5 days will that cancel the remainder of my 2 weeks or will it leave those dates free? Sorry for the abundance of questions but this is my first time and it's a minefield!

(PS the reason I want to book another resort is because we have extra points this year we would not usually have as we are using 2017, 2018 and 2019 so want to make the most of them)

(PPS - incidentally, how do I add an avatar to my profile?)

That's a really tough time to book at seven months out, especially a studio. End of F&W, Jersey Week, Veterans Day holiday, Run Disney event. You can waitlist a few nights and have them replace the nights of your existing stay. BUT, you cannot cancel dates in the middle of your current reservation. You would have to book either the first nights or the last nights and hope you match the waitlist. Will you need to cancel to have the points to book the new nights or do you have enough points to book all the dates you need, including the new ones. You then have to worry about using up the banked points and borrowed points first.

 

[Ailsa]

Thanks Deb.
Yes, I'm beginning to realise this is tougher than I'd anticipated! I've given up trying to swap on first week in November as the end of October seems slightly easier. I have a few points but only enough to book maybe 2 nights so I would need to cancel. If I waitlist 4 nights at the beginning or end of my stay would that leave the remaining 10 nights in tact if I override my existing booking? I can't decide whether to split my existing booking in hope that I will get something.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I truly suggest resetting your heart. That is a rough time.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

I truly suggest resetting your heart. That is a rough time.

I agree. You were very wise to book at your home resort during that busy time. And AKL is a great resort.

 

[crisi]

That is a really bad time of year to try this. If you waitlist, you may end up moving more than once. Its the time of year when waitlists don't come through. If you wanted to take risks, you could waitlist, and then combine that with stalking the RAT to see if you could pull four nights together, but there are no guarantees. I'd try different resorts on a future trip at a different time of year.

At that time of year, you have a lot of people who bought BCV for just that time of year - Food and Wine is happening. At the MK resorts you are iat peak the Halloween party - and the convenience of getting to Epcot for F&W on the monorail.

If your waitlist comes through, it won't drop your entire other reservation, just the nights that match. But it won't likely come through for all four days. And if you waitlist one night at a time, there is a very good chance you'll have holes in your reservation and end up moving more than once. You could increase your chances by stalking the RAT and seeing if you can catch something - i.e. doing this manually instead of depending on Disney's software and processes - in addition to waitlisting - but that will take time and still there will be no guarantees.

The good news, it isn't the WORST time to try this, that would be the first week in December.

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

Check out my ***replies *** below.

Can somebody advise on the best way to go about attempting to try and secure a reservation at 7 months? We need a studio for 2 weeks late October early November (flights are already booked so no flexibility). As a back up I have booked my home resort at AKV but I have my heart set on BLT, Poly or BCV for at least some of the time (ideally 10 days but no less than 4). I do not mind doing a split stay but would not want to move more than once. Looking at the RAT the dates I want all have holes in them. Would I be better asking MS to split my stay so I can reserve a day at a time or is it better to waitlist the whole lot? If I go online on my first day what do I do if only the first day is free? If I waitlist 4 or 5 days will that cancel the remainder of my 2 weeks or will it leave those dates free? ***Setting up a wait list will not cancel the days you already have booked. Booking additional days will not cancel the days you have booked. The only way to cancel what you have booked is to cancel that particular reservation. ***

Sorry for the abundance of questions but this is my first time and it's a minefield

***If you have an abundance of points and they are ***NOT*** borrowed, you have some flexibility here . You can book whatever you need or think you MAY need and as long as you cancel more than 30 days in advance you have no penalty. I would leave your existing AK in place and try to book at seven month what you prefer. Remember, you can set up 2 wait lists at a time. I would book whatever is available that you prefer at 7 months and then use the wait lists and RAT to fill in the blanks.

 

[crisi]

***If you have an abundance of points and they are ***NOT*** borrowed, you have some flexibility here . You can book whatever you need or think you MAY need and as long as you cancel more than 30 days in advance you have no penalty. I would leave your existing AK in place and try to book at seven month what you prefer. Remember, you can set up 2 wait lists at a time. I would book whatever is available that you prefer at 7 months and then use the wait lists and RAT to fill in the blanks.

There is a catch here, which is that those points need to be banked before the banking window closes or used before the end of your use year. So if this is a 2018 trip and you won't be going again until 2020, that will be a problem. If this trip is happening near the end of your use year, that will be a problem.

The other catch is that the waitlists and RAT may not be successful - and for the best success, you'll need to jump on single days as they appear even if they aren't consecutive, so you have to decide whether the risk of moving more than once is more important than trying other resorts. Some people don't mind that, others would not want to move even once. People with the most success tend to be the most flexible in defining success and often are willing and able to do more work (checking the RAT several times a day) to make it happen.

(I would guess that your best bet with your resort list will be BLT Lake View - I think you have a close to zero chance of getting four consecutive nights at BCV in a studio at that time of year)

 

[hlhlaw07]

Can somebody advise on the best way to go about attempting to try and secure a reservation at 7 months? We need a studio for 2 weeks late October early November (flights are already booked so no flexibility). As a back up I have booked my home resort at AKV but I have my heart set on BLT, Poly or BCV for at least some of the time (ideally 10 days but no less than 4). I do not mind doing a split stay but would not want to move more than once. Looking at the RAT the dates I want all have holes in them. Would I be better asking MS to split my stay so I can reserve a day at a time or is it better to waitlist the whole lot? If I go online on my first day what do I do if only the first day is free? If I waitlist 4 or 5 days will that cancel the remainder of my 2 weeks or will it leave those dates free? Sorry for the abundance of questions but this is my first time and it's a minefield!

(PS the reason I want to book another resort is because we have extra points this year we would not usually have as we are using 2017, 2018 and 2019 so want to make the most of them)

(PPS - incidentally, how do I add an avatar to my profile?)

I think everyone answered your other questions, so I'll take the easy one. You have to have 10 posts before you can update your avatar.

 

[Shauna1ee]

This is my issue as well- I have 2 studios book for October and I think it is impossible for me to move them anywhere else.

 

[Ailsa]

Thanks for all the information. I am now considerably wiser than I was a few days ago and I now understand what stalking the RAT means!!

I have had a re-think and instead decided to split my stay between AKV so we have a savannah studio at Kidani for the first week and a 1BR value at Jambo for the second. I would love to stay at a monorail resort (wanted to do that since I was 7 years old when I first saw it going through the Contemporary) so I will practice my stalking skills and try to get to one of those other resorts another year.

So, if October is out of the question for dvc which is the best time of year to get what you want?

As an aside I couldn't help noticing that 9 out of the 10 days I wanted came up at the Poly yesterday but I couldn't book as it's a week early - they're now gone, of course!!

 

[Ailsa]

"People with the most success tend to be the most flexible in defining success and often are willing and able to do more work (checking the RAT several times a day) to make it happen."


Thanks, I am an obsessive stalker (as I discovered last year when I was booking ADRs) so I will end up with what I want eventually! Just made a faux pas booking the flights so early this year.

 

[crisi]

Pretty much any time between mid January and mid September is way better (except perhaps the weeks around the fourth of July), with Feb, May, early June, late August to mid-September being the best possible times - and avoiding any RunDisney events. But even then, book AT seven months - not wait until five because it will be slow.

 

[mustinjourney]

there's actually a website that will continually check for availability for you. I've used it to secure VGC rooms within 4 months (1 day just came available for me yesterday less than 2 months out). The website is https://www.******.com/.

As others have said, October is a difficult time to move around -- particularly at the resorts you're looking at. My guess is that Poly would have the most likely ability to change to since it has such a large number of studios. If you have enough points, I would book studios as they becomes available and try to piece together a reservation.

If you're going to set up a Waitlist -- remember to only do one or two days at a time to increase your chances of hitting the waitlist.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I've gotten a GFV one bedroom two years in a row in May at seven months out. The studio is not going to happen at seven months out any time of the year.

 

[Minniesgal]

That time of year frankly I'd just plan on staying at your home resort and be glad to have a room.