Waitlist Order of Priority Question

IrishTink

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 8, 2006
If you have two active waitlists for the same dates, but different locations, will the first one you submitted have priority and therefore cause the second one to not be completed even if the property becomes available? Just asking because the first one I submitted was really a long shot and I don't want to miss out on being able to stay at all because of it.
 
Whichever comes through first will be the one you get. At that time, the other waitlist will be cancelled. If the cancelled waitlist was your first priority, you will have to set it up again and hope for the best. (It will go to the end of the list).
 
Whichever comes through first will be the one you get. At that time, the other waitlist will be cancelled. If the cancelled waitlist was your first priority, you will have to set it up again and hope for the best. (It will go to the end of the list).

I don't know if this has changed recently, but last year, I had two waitlists for the same dates. Both requests matched on the same day and oddly, both were processed and points were borrowed. Back when this happened, when you added a waitlist, you were able to say whether or not you wanted to allow point borrowing. I checked off that I did NOT want points borrowed to fill the waitlist requests. I never expected both to match on the same day. It worked out in the end. After a call to member services, the points for one of the reservations were returned to the proper use year.
 
I don't know if this has changed recently, but last year, I had two waitlists for the same dates. Both requests matched on the same day and oddly, both were processed and points were borrowed. Back when this happened, when you added a waitlist, you were able to say whether or not you wanted to allow point borrowing. I checked off that I did NOT want points borrowed to fill the waitlist requests. I never expected both to match on the same day. It worked out in the end. After a call to member services, the points for one of the reservations were returned to the proper use year.
Member Services messed up. Glad you found it quickly enough to get it fixed.

MS has not routinely been calling for waitlist info for quite some time.
 


Member Services messed up. Glad you found it quickly enough to get it fixed.

MS has not routinely been calling for waitlist info for quite some time.

They didn't call me. I called them after I received the two email reservation confirmations for both waitlist requests. At that time, they told me that one match wouldn't cancel the other request. They said that I had to cancel it.

Now, if I have two waitlists and not enough points for both, I check every day to see if either or both no longer appear on the dashboard. This way, I can call before the reservation is processed to make sure I get what I want.
 
I don't know if this has changed recently, but last year, I had two waitlists for the same dates. Both requests matched on the same day and oddly, both were processed and points were borrowed. Back when this happened, when you added a waitlist, you were able to say whether or not you wanted to allow point borrowing. I checked off that I did NOT want points borrowed to fill the waitlist requests. I never expected both to match on the same day. It worked out in the end. After a call to member services, the points for one of the reservations were returned to the proper use year.
That's understandable given how the waitlist currently works. If the waitlist is not setup to replace a given reservation, it's possible to end up with more than one reservation. While I'd suspect MS would make it work out, technically speaking 2 waitlists set up independently could cause you to end up with 2 reservations and put the points in peril.
 
That's understandable given how the waitlist currently works. If the waitlist is not setup to replace a given reservation, it's possible to end up with more than one reservation. While I'd suspect MS would make it work out, technically speaking 2 waitlists set up independently could cause you to end up with 2 reservations and put the points in peril.

Technically, it makes sense that both waitlists would fill if both matched. However, since a human has to process the waitlist requests, I would have thought it would have been caught there, especially, since I had specified no borrowing of points. Also, you are not supposed to have two reservations with the same names. I know the online booking system allows multiple reservations, but would have thought a human would not let double booking happen. Member services missed both of these issues when they processed both waitlist matches.

I am wondering if the bolded statements below are true because they don't match my experience.

Whichever comes through first will be the one you get. At that time, the other waitlist will be cancelled. If the cancelled waitlist was your first priority, you will have to set it up again and hope for the best. (It will go to the end of the list).

I know the waitlist request form has changed since my incident (you can no longer refuse to allow borrowing of points). Do they really cancel waitlist requests after a match now?
 


....(snip)........I know the waitlist request form has changed since my incident (you can no longer refuse to allow borrowing of points). Do they really cancel waitlist requests after a match now?

It's been a while since I used the waitlist and I see that the option to refuse borrowing has been removed. Instead they just state that it may be necessary to borrow and give us the option to choose the home resort of the contract from which to borrow. Here's what you must agree to in order to activate the waitlist:

Before you Waitlist your stay, please be aware that:

  • We will borrow Vacation Points if necessary to confirm your stay. Borrowing is a final transaction. Should the new reservation be modified or cancelled, any borrowed Vacation Points will remain in the Use Year in which the trip would have occurred.
  • Should your Waitlist request be confirmed and replace an existing stay, any Disney Dining Plans with the existing stay will be cancelled. The cost will be refunded to the original form of payment and you will need to add the Disney Dining Plan to your new reservation. This may be done online or by calling Member Services.
  • Multi-night stays should not be Waitlisted separately as individual nights. If you choose to do so and only one of your Waitlist requests is confirmed, you will have to move rooms during your stay.
  • Multiple Waitlist requests for the same accommodation and travel dates will search and match separately; there is no guarantee you will be able to confirm both.

From that, it's not clear to me what happens if you have multiple waitlists for the same dates. Looks like it would be in your best interests to check frequently if you have multiple waitlists, and then if one works, immediately cancel / resubmit the other if you don't want the second in addition to the one that came through - especially if filling the second will automatically result in borrowing.


I'm not sure how I feel about this change. I'm glad I only have one home resort and one master contract.
 
I thought you could only have one active waitlist at a time? Did that change or am I just remembering that wrong?
 
It's been a while since I used the waitlist and I see that the option to refuse borrowing has been removed. Instead they just state that it may be necessary to borrow and give us the option to choose the home resort of the contract from which to borrow. Here's what you must agree to in order to activate the waitlist:

Before you Waitlist your stay, please be aware that:

  • We will borrow Vacation Points if necessary to confirm your stay. Borrowing is a final transaction. Should the new reservation be modified or cancelled, any borrowed Vacation Points will remain in the Use Year in which the trip would have occurred.
  • Should your Waitlist request be confirmed and replace an existing stay, any Disney Dining Plans with the existing stay will be cancelled. The cost will be refunded to the original form of payment and you will need to add the Disney Dining Plan to your new reservation. This may be done online or by calling Member Services.
  • Multi-night stays should not be Waitlisted separately as individual nights. If you choose to do so and only one of your Waitlist requests is confirmed, you will have to move rooms during your stay.
  • Multiple Waitlist requests for the same accommodation and travel dates will search and match separately; there is no guarantee you will be able to confirm both.

From that, it's not clear to me what happens if you have multiple waitlists for the same dates. Looks like it would be in your best interests to check frequently if you have multiple waitlists, and then if one works, immediately cancel / resubmit the other if you don't want the second in addition to the one that came through - especially if filling the second will automatically result in borrowing.


I'm not sure how I feel about this change. I'm glad I only have one home resort and one master contract.
IMO the ultimate risk depends on whether you set them both up to replace a given reservation or at least one were independent. I'd suspect they'd fix it regardless but you never know.
 

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