You almost got it...
For a 5-night reservation checking in Dec 10, checking out Dec 15:
Call on Jan 11, reserve night on Dec 10; call Jan 12, reserve night of Dec 11; call Jan 13, reserve night of Dec 12, etc. Tell them each time you call
that you are booking day by day and they will hold off sending you a confirmation; tell them on the last call that you are done booking the reservation and they will send you one confirmation with the whole 5-night stay as one reservation #.
As to strategy #2, this works when you MUST stay somewhere at a specific time, so you book what you own (SSR or OKW) then change to what you want (BCV or BWV or VWL) day by day at the 7-month window. The benefit is that if what you want is not available at the 7-month window then at least you have a reservation somewhere. The drawback is that if what you want is not available for all of your days you will either end up with a split stay (potentially with multiple moves) or on the waitlist for specific days which may or may not come through.
Hope this helps.
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