General/Random DVC Questions

[Yodasnuggs]

I'm hoping some of you lovely people can give me your opinions/experiences regarding a couple of DVC topics. My husband and I are strongly considering buying a resale contract and have talked to a few current owners, but I figured it can't hurt to get some additional viewpoints here. For some context, we are two adults that (according to the points charts) tend to travel during non-peak times and would only be booking studios for the most part.

I know the general rule is that you should buy where you don't mind staying often. Which of course makes sense. But for you all, how often do you actually stay at your home resort? Do you find it difficult to book at other resorts at the 7 month mark?

Is it possible to book at your home resort 11 months out and then cancel/switch the reservation at 7 months out if other resorts have availability. Is it considered "poor form" to do something like that?

 

[nickys]

I'm hoping some of you lovely people can give me your opinions/experiences regarding a couple of DVC topics. My husband and I are strongly considering buying a resale contract and have talked to a few current owners, but I figured it can't hurt to get some additional viewpoints here. For some context, we are two adults that (according to the points charts) tend to travel during non-peak times and would only be booking studios for the most part.

I know the general rule is that you should buy where you don't mind staying often. Which of course makes sense. But for you all, how often do you actually stay at your home resort? Do you find it difficult to book at other resorts at the 7 month mark?

Is it possible to book at your home resort 11 months out and then cancel/switch the reservation at 7 months out if other resorts have availability. Is it considered "poor form" to do something like that?

Firstly, you say you plan to travel at “non peak times according to the points charts”. Do you mean when points are lowest? Because if so, that’s when demand soars, and it can be hard to book studios (especially) even at 11 months. Why does demand soar? Simply because it requires fewer points to book!

So, when do you tend to travel? Essentially there are two “seasons” of demand for DVC rooms. Sept to mid January is high, the rest of the year is medium. At high demand times, rooms book quickly and by 9-10 months out there will be little availability left at most resorts other than SSR, OKW and Kidani (because of the sheer number of studios at those resorts). The first 2 weeks of December, and the Christmas week are the most popular times, when it can be hard to get a studio even at 11 months.

To your second question, many people switch at 7 months. What is still available at that point depends on when you are travelling and also what type of room you want. Value rooms at AKL, Boardwalk view rooms at BWV and standard rooms at BLT will be tough at any time of the year. In general never rely on getting the cheapest view category at any resort, always get enough points to be able to book the next category up.

 

[Yodasnuggs]

Firstly, you say you plan to travel at “non peak times according to the points charts”. Do you mean when points are lowest? Because if so, that’s when demand soars, and it can be hard to book studios (especially) even at 11 months. Why does demand soar? Simply because it requires fewer points to book!

So, when do you tend to travel? Essentially there are two “seasons” of demand for DVC rooms. Sept to mid January is high, the rest of the year is medium. At high demand times, rooms book quickly and by 9-10 months out there will be little availability left at most resorts other than SSR, OKW and Kidani (because of the sheer number of studios at those resorts). The first 2 weeks of December, and the Christmas week are the most popular times, when it can be hard to get a studio even at 11 months.

To your second question, many people switch at 7 months. What is still available at that point depends on when you are travelling and also what type of room you want. Value rooms at AKL, Boardwalk view rooms at BWV and standard rooms at BLT will be tough at any time of the year. In general never rely on getting the cheapest view category at any resort, always get enough points to be able to book the next category up.

By non-peak I did mean when points are lowest (so non-peak according to Disney, I suppose) but I hadn't thought about the (pretty obvious) reality that these would in fact be the busiest times to book. We are flexible so given what you've outlined above, I'm thinking something like February, August & October/November, with the understanding the the fall will be busier and cost more points.

Thank you so much, this is immensely helpful!

 

[LuvtheGoof]

By non-peak I did mean when points are lowest (so non-peak according to Disney, I suppose) but I hadn't thought about the (pretty obvious) reality that these would in fact be the busiest times to book. We are flexible so given what you've outlined above, I'm thinking something like February, August & October/November, with the understanding the the fall will be busier and cost more points.

Thank you so much, this is immensely helpful!

To add to what @nickys said - first - I would not go in August unless you have to. The heat is just crazy. We have been DVC for 18 years now (and love it) and go around February for the Arts Festival, March for the Flower & Garden (it's also our anniversary month), and then Sept/Oct/Nov for Food & Wine (our favorite every year!) We have gone in the first 2 weeks of December a few times to see all of the Christmas offerings, but we book at 11 months for that stay, just to be sure we get a room. We avoid any summer months like the plague due to the heat. We are AP holders as well, so have more leeway for when we go down there (we live about 2 hours away in north Florida).

As far as 7 months go. We own all of our points at SSR, but have stayed at every resort except Riviera, new cabins, and new Poly tower. We always book SSR at 11 months, then check exactly at 7 months for what else might be available. We do love SSR and have stayed there many times, so if nothing else is available, we have no problem staying there at all. We do prefer the 1 bedrooms even for just the 2 of us, but will stay in a studio if we are a bit low on points.

Ask anything else and there will be someone that should be able to answer your questions!

 

[nickys]

By non-peak I did mean when points are lowest (so non-peak according to Disney, I suppose) but I hadn't thought about the (pretty obvious) reality that these would in fact be the busiest times to book. We are flexible so given what you've outlined above, I'm thinking something like February, August & October/November, with the understanding the the fall will be busier and cost more points.

Thank you so much, this is immensely helpful!

So I wouldn’t anticipate problems switching in February and August, as long as you don’t want to go over the February race weekend (yes, another one lol). Even October and November should be OK as long as you are flexible. Be aware that Epcot festivals are a popular time for BWV and BCV, plus BCV is very small, so switching to those in the Fall might be hard.

So you would book at 11 months and then switch at 7 months.

There is a waitlist system too, where you can add a request for a room type if there is no availability. And you can also set that to replace an existing reservation, so that you don’t end up with nothing.
Also by using the modify tool, rather than cancel and rebook, you don’t risk losing your room either.


The other thing you need to think about is Use Year. That’s the month in which your points “renew” for want of a better word. To cut out a long explanation, ideally you would want a use year which is just before you want to travel, so that if you have to cancel a trip you have time left in that use year to rebook and use your points or bank them forward a year (which needs to be done 4 months before the end of the use year).
With Feb, Aug, Oct & Nov I’m thinking you might want a use year of August or May. (There are 4 months with no use year, July being one). So if you had to cancel a Feb trip you could rebook for Spring, and cancelling the other months allows you time to bank or rebook.
Having said all that I’m going to tag @JaxFLBear to confirm that makes sense - or tell you to ignore me.

 

[Yodasnuggs]

To add to what @nickys said - first - I would not go in August unless you have to. The heat is just crazy. We have been DVC for 18 years now (and love it) and go around February for the Arts Festival, March for the Flower & Garden (it's also our anniversary month), and then Sept/Oct/Nov for Food & Wine (our favorite every year!) We have gone in the first 2 weeks of December a few times to see all of the Christmas offerings, but we book at 11 months for that stay, just to be sure we get a room. We avoid any summer months like the plague due to the heat. We are AP holders as well, so have more leeway for when we go down there (we live about 2 hours away in north Florida).

As far as 7 months go. We own all of our points at SSR, but have stayed at every resort except Riviera, new cabins, and new Poly tower. We always book SSR at 11 months, then check exactly at 7 months for what else might be available. We do love SSR and have stayed there many times, so if nothing else is available, we have no problem staying there at all. We do prefer the 1 bedrooms even for just the 2 of us, but will stay in a studio if we are a bit low on points.

Ask anything else and there will be someone that should be able to answer your questions!

I knew you folks here would be the most helpful with all of this, thank you so much for this.

I actually loathe the heat (ironic, isn't it?) so fair point about August. We were looking at that time of year as more as a resort-only trip with lots of pool and AC time.

Seems like we would be on a fairly similar trip schedule, so very glad to know you've been able to book almost everywhere else 7 months out. Our preferred resort is Boardwalk but we do also enjoy Old Key West, and the difference is pricing is quite tempting.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

I knew you folks here would be the most helpful with all of this, thank you so much for this.

I actually loathe the heat (ironic, isn't it?) so fair point about August. We were looking at that time of year as more as a resort-only trip with lots of pool and AC time.

Seems like we would be on a fairly similar trip schedule, so very glad to know you've been able to book almost everywhere else 7 months out. Our preferred resort is Boardwalk but we do also enjoy Old Key West, and the difference is pricing is quite tempting.

We have also done resort only trips. After so many visits, we just don't feel the need to commando a park anymore and might pop in, do a few attractions, then head back out or hop to a different park. We treat it more like a vacation that a forced march!

 

[Yodasnuggs]

We have also done resort only trips. After so many visits, we just don't feel the need to commando a park anymore and might pop in, do a few attractions, then head back out or hop to a different park. We treat it more like a vacation that a forced march!

Exactly! Just a regular resort vacation. The last couple of years we've been renting points (why did it take me until my 40's to figure that one out!?) and going twice a year, so at this point we know what we want to spend doing and what we're OK with skipping. Plus I figure when you go often enough, you know that "next time" is never too far away. This is the only way I would agree to a summer trip though. The thought of crazy park days in July, August.....<shudder>

 

[Yodasnuggs]

So I wouldn’t anticipate problems switching in February and August, as long as you don’t want to go over the February race weekend (yes, another one lol). Even October and November should be OK as long as you are flexible. Be aware that Epcot festivals are a popular time for BWV and BCV, plus BCV is very small, so switching to those in the Fall might be hard.

So you would book at 11 months and then switch at 7 months.

There is a waitlist system too, where you can add a request for a room type if there is no availability. And you can also set that to replace an existing reservation, so that you don’t end up with nothing.
Also by using the modify tool, rather than cancel and rebook, you don’t risk losing your room either.


The other thing you need to think about is Use Year. That’s the month in which your points “renew” for want of a better word. To cut out a long explanation, ideally you would want a use year which is just before you want to travel, so that if you have to cancel a trip you have time left in that use year to rebook and use your points or bank them forward a year (which needs to be done 4 months before the end of the use year).
With Feb, Aug, Oct & Nov I’m thinking you might want a use year of August or May. (There are 4 months with no use year, July being one). So if you had to cancel a Feb trip you could rebook for Spring, and cancelling the other months allows you time to bank or rebook.
Having said all that I’m going to tag @JaxFLBear to confirm that makes sense - or tell you to ignore me.

Very much appreciate the use year information. I knew generally what it meant, but I hadn't thought of it in these terms.