Booking at non-home resort...

[Dman67]

Hi gang! The DW and I are close the "pulling the trigger" and joining the growing list of happy DVC owners. I just have a quick question about the difficulty of booking a stay at a non-home resort. It looks like we'll buy into SSR but wanted to know how difficult it is to get a room during the "slow" season at the other resorts. We live here in Orlando so often times our trips to Disney come on a whim and we just go. I am wondering how far out in advance I'll have to plan to get a room at one of DVC resorts where we are not owners. My guide told me that it wouldn't be hard to find a studio as little as 3 months out. Is that an accurate statement?

Thanks in advance for the info.

 

[rinkwide]

...My guide told me that it wouldn't be hard to find a studio as little as 3 months out...

And my guide told me that:

• Most members never stay at their home resort.
  
• The wait list for sold-out resorts is just for add-ons only.
  
• Sometimes maintenance fees actually go down.
  
• You can use points to stay at the Grand Floridian anytime you want.
  
• Saratoga will be hard to book without home resort priority.
  
• Every Boardwalk resale contract gets bought back by Disney via ROFR.
  
• The Easter Bunny is real but he's too old to hide eggs and no other rabbit wants the job.

 

[Dman67]

And my guide told me that:

• Most members never stay at their home resort.
  
• The wait list for sold-out resorts is just for add-ons only.
  
• Sometimes maintenance fees actually go down.
  
• You can use points to stay at the Grand Floridian anytime you want.
  
• Saratoga will be hard to book without home resort priority.
  
• Every Boardwalk resale contract gets bought back by Disney via ROFR.
  
• The Easter Bunny is real but he's too old to hide eggs and no other rabbit wants the job.

So what you're saying is...booking at a non-home resort is not an easy thing to do?

BTW...love the "more Cowbell" sig pic.

 

[keys2kingdom]

So what you're saying is...booking at a non-home resort is not an easy thing to do?

Not necessarily, it depends on what time of year you go and which resort you want. What rinky is saying (in his own special way) is not to believe everything your guide tells you, remember he/she is a sales person. They'll tell you what you want to hear. I certainly wouldn't count on being able to book elsewhere at 3 months out, sometimes you'll get lucky and other times not. It's a crapshoot.

 

[mikesmom]

Hey, Rink -- the year after I bought my maintenance fees DID go down, so it is possible.

Now for the original question, no, it is only "sort of" accurate. The "slow" season is fairly easy to book. Problem is, the "slow" season for DVC is NOT the same as the slow season for WDW and its other resorts. Most people think the busy season is summer vacation and the Christmas holidays. For DVC the busy season is:

• 
  - Oct 1 through November 15th for Food & Wine. The Epcot resorts book up in a flash, the others WILL sell out with the overflow, they just take a bit longer
  - the week of Thanksgiving (usually the week after Food & Wine)
  - the week after Thanksgiving, followed by early December (low prices and great decorations), followed by the Holidays, followed by the Marathon (early January). So, essentially everything from Oct 1 thru Jan 10 or so is a pain booking at 7 months or less, at 3 months virtually impossible.
  - Spring break, can be as early as late february rising to a peak for Easter and the week after, so now we are talking some years mid-April
  - all holidays: MLK, Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc

So that pretty much gives you a limited window of "slow". Slow for DVC is probably late January, some of February (Except for MLK week), late April thru mid May, Very late August through September and a few days between when Food & Wine ends and Thanksgiving week begins.

Summertime - the traditional busy time for WDW - is not as busy for DVC. While I wouldn't call it slow, it's not nearly as sold out as the times I've listed above. I don't know if I would say it "wouldn't be hard" to get a room. Everyone's definition of hard is different - some people think the waitlist is not nerve wracking or don't mind a 7 day vacation where you have to change hotels twice. But, lots of flexibility and creative use of the waitlist would probably get you something.

Frankly, I've made ressies at less than a week out (once in June, once in early Feb), but in general three months (except at very slow times) would be pushing your luck.

 

[crisi]

Frankly, I've made ressies at less than a week out (once in June, once in early Feb), but in general three months (except at very slow times) would be pushing your luck.

And where available, expect to be staying at OKW or SSR - with more rooms than the other resorts, they tend to book last. You can always get lucky, lots and lots of people do...but don't expect flexibility on short notice.

Studios are the most popular room type. Weekends are EASIER to book than mid-week

The other risk here is that rooms will be available for your stay at three months out, Friday at SSR, Saturday at BWV, Sunday - you don't mind paying cash offsite someplace?, Monday at BCV, Tues and Wednesday back at SSR.

 

[Dman67]

So, essentially everything from Oct 1 thru Jan 10 or so is a pain booking at 7 months or less, at 3 months virtually impossible.
-

Well this is a real bummer! October is when we like to go to WDW and for the same reason as it seems all of the other DVCers. Hmmm...

Thanks for the straight-forward honest answer "mike's mom".

 

[hematite153]

We live here in Orlando so often times our trips to Disney come on a whim and we just go. I am wondering how far out in advance I'll have to plan to get a room at one of DVC resorts where we are not owners.

If you are traveling on a whim, being an owner won't help you get into any of the resorts. If you're going to be making your bookings within 7 months then your home resort doesn't matter (granted this window could change but it's unlikely to get short enough for those who travel on a whim to care).

The thing to keep in mind is that DVC seasons don't always match Disney seasons. I.e. early December is easy to through CRO but people start waitlisting for it in Jan with DVC. (It took me awhile to get used to this.) Plus, even with a short-term request don't be afraid to waitlist--I've been surprised by how many people change their plans at the last minute.

 

[Granny]

We live here in Orlando so often times our trips to Disney come on a whim and we just go.

Not specifically what you were asking, but this made me wonder if you're planning on DVC primarily for long weekends and such.

If most of your points will be used for Friday or Saturday nights, you will find the point requirements for those nights much higher than those for the week nights and DVC might be an expensive way to stay on-site at WDW.

Just thought I'd throw that out there since I saw you live in Orlando.

Other than that, I agree that home resort is only important if you are booking more than 7 months out. Less advance booking time than that and all DVC points are equal with no advantage to the resort owner.

 

[DrShifty]

I find that frequently studios go faster than 1 BRs.