Wait Lists???

wdwfan100

Active Member
Original Poster
Is there any stats on wait lists? How large is a typical wait list? What percent of people see the wait list pay off? etc, etc
 

luvlifeinfl

New Member
We are currently on a wait list to stay at the AK in Nov. This the first time we have use the wait list so if I do not see anything by the last week in Sept.(points banking window) I am just going to cancel becasue if it does not go thru I do still not fully understand the whole thing of if points go back in the current yr bank, after the banking and you have to use them with in a certain amount of time.

Any way I called our sales guide and spoke with him and he said well lets see if the magic happen.

I hope someone else can give you more info than I can.
 

Pumbas Nakasak

Heading for the great escape.
Been on a wait lit three times and got nothing. Need 1 day this trip to save moving resorts but Im not hopeful. :shrug:
 

Tiggerish

Resident Redhead
Premium Member
I've never been disappointed with a wait list request. Can't remember how many times I've done it, probably fewer than five times over the last three years.
 

dizzney

Member
I've gotten some wait lists requests and not others, i'm on one now for New Years Eve to avoid changing rooms the next day, been on it since 10 months and 3 1/2 weeks prior to the date, hopefully I will get it.
 

tjkraz

Active Member
Nope, no public stats.

Even if there were, it would be difficult to extrapolate the figures and apply them to our own requests in any meaningful manner. For instance, even if DVC tells us that the overall success rate is 70%, that doesn't mean a whole lot for a member trying to get AKV Concierge for Christmas week. I can safely say the odds of getting such a room off the waitlist are significantly less than 70% (or whatever the true average might be.) ;)

IMO, the most relevant factors would be:

1. How far out did you get on the waitlist? DVC won't/can't tell you where you stand. But since waitlist requests are processed FIFO, it stands to reason that the earlier you get on the list the better.

2. How many nights are you seeking? Most waitlist requests are met as a result of another member canceling. And if a cancellation doesn't meet your request exactly, you get bypassed. The odds of getting 2 nights are therefore higher than someone seeking 14 consecutive nights.

3. How many units match you request? Trying to get an Old Key West Grand Villa around Christmas (there are only 27) or AKV Concierge (there are only 5) for New Year's will not yield a high degree of success.

We've probably done the waitlist 5 times and every time we got something. Now that goes back to the days when members could have unlimited requests so I'm not saying that we got our top choice every time. I remember one time we waitlisted for all 3 categories at the BoardWalk and ended up getting the Pool/Garden View. No Standard or BoardWalk, though.
 

wdwfan100

Active Member
Original Poster
Thanks for the info. I have been on a wait list for about 2 months and we are going in Oct. Food and Wine fest time. I don't expect to get our request but was just curious how others have faired. If it happens though it would be great
 

DBlackwell

New Member
We were waitlisted for AKV for OCT - Columbus Day weekend. It just went through, after being on the list for about 2 months, so we are very happy.
This was our first waitlist experience.

The only odd thing about this experience, is that we were never notified. I only found out when when I tried to book ADR's on-line, and the system couldn't retrieve my reservation number. When I went to DVCMEMBER.COM to confirm my reservation number, I noticed that the confirmation number and the resort had changed.

Very happy, just odd they didn't bother to notify me.
 

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
I have been wait listed a number of times. Always got my requests.

I cant recall where though. Beach Club springs to mind. As does Boardwalk.

-dave
 

heliumalias

Member
The only odd thing about this experience, is that we were never notified. I only found out when when I tried to book ADR's on-line, and the system couldn't retrieve my reservation number. When I went to DVCMEMBER.COM to confirm my reservation number, I noticed that the confirmation number and the resort had changed.

Very happy, just odd they didn't bother to notify me.

We thought we hadn't got our waitlist res because the 30 day notification window had passed. Turns out that it took them 2 weeks to send us it due to our location. It made for a pleasant last minute surprise.
 
We are going in October to the F&W, and made our reservations in early June (just closed escrow on the points so couldn't do it earlier). We had to do a wait list for the Boardwalk - the DVC CM was exceptionally nice and spent a long time trying to find anything for us that was the 6 nights we wanted.

Apparently Sunday and Thursday nights are very difficult to get because of overlap with the cruise lines going out. We ended up with 3 reservations - 3 nights at Boardwalk, 1 night at Saratoga Springs, 2 nights at Boardwalk. We wait-listed the 1 night in the middle, and it just cleared last week.

The CM actually set us up with 2 wait lists -- 1 for the 1 night we needed and the other for the full 6 nights at BCV, just to see if either came through so we didn't have to move resorts.

She also told us that if the wait list cleared that it can take several weeks because the notifications are only done by snail mail. The information will be updated on the dvcmembers site if/when it does change (that was how we found out the change).

So from our very limited perspective, the wait list process does work!

We did run into one issue. We had the 3 reservations, which are linked within the DVC system. However, the online ADR system only recognizes the first reservation number. We were not able to book for the 6 nights using the online system, but another DVC CM was able to help us get all the reservations that we wanted (including Le Cellier!!).
 

Disneyfan1981

Active Member
Well I had to cancel my reservations for Bay Lake Tower in December due to some unforseen circumstances so someone's WL for that will convert.
 

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