Short Notice Disney Vacation Club Availability at Disney World | Trying to Book DVC 3 Months Out

[@PixieDustPhD]

There is a set amount of DVC inventory, so when it's booked up that's kind of it! Of course, plans change and when people who reservations rooms can and do open up, but it can take a lot of patience and stubbornness to snag a more last minute room--particularly if your travel dates aren't flexible. Do you have any experience with booking a DVC room on short notice? I'd love to hear about it!

[@OhanaAdventures]

The only time I've done short notice was with my sister... we got Beach Club short notice! We were lucky! Also....THANK YOU for the Christmas card and nails!!! Liz says thank you too! She wore hers for Christmas! You are so sweet! -Ali 😍🍷

[@PixieDustPhD]

Omg yes working through your sister is a huge benefit compared to renting points and YAY that's so cool. Honestly I felt lucky for us to snag that one Beach Club night during our September trip after the 7 month mark, haha. You're so welcome, I'm glad it brought y'all some cheer! And yes I saw on Liz's instagram, very sparkles and fun and cute.

[@gillianessien7417]

I really needed this info. Thanks so much!

[@PixieDustPhD]

Hey Gillian, thanks so much for watching and the kind words. I'm glad it was helpful!

[@teregiven4565]

I booked 3.5 months out and was able to cobble together a long weekend in January with 3 different room types/locations. At the time I wait listed a studio at an Epcot area resort. About a month later I had to call Mbr Svcs because of something odd on my dashboard and the rep mentioned my wait list matched. Obviously I was delighted but then started wondering if it was cast member magic or exceptional timing. Either way, happy with the result and will enjoy a park-free mini vacation.

[@PixieDustPhD]

Niceee!! It probably was exceptional timing? That would be some super extra magical pixie dust and I wonder(doubt) if Cast Members are allowed to go that far haha. Definitely with being flexible on changing rooms it makes these short notice trips much more feasible. I know a lot of people want to arrive and not change rooms though, so that seems like you may have to plan pretty far ahead! I hope you have an awesome time -- not too far away now!!

[@RankingTheMouse]

We've only booked DVC short notice since we've only owned post-COVID & haven't made any longterm plans yet, & ya, we've ran into the same problems. The waitlist has become our best friend. Were hovering around an 80% success rate there for 2-4 night blocks. & were also stuck with the 50% borrowing rule too. Haha ugghh 😂🤦‍♂️

[@PixieDustPhD]

That's a great success rate for the waitlist! I do think those shorter stays, like 2 or 3 nights, probably ups your chances for sure. I cant imagine trying to do a longer vacation that wasn't a split stay on this type of short notice.... wait listing 7 nights for example sounds anxiety inducing lol. Guh the borrowing limit. I wish they would give us any sort of indication would then might be up. They havent really even indicated like HOW bad the problem is -- how many extra points are in the system that normally wouldnt be. Grrrr.

[@nycp1969]

I can see staying out of the parks and still having a great time. You could resort hop and have wonderful cocktails and meals. That would be a memorable way to spend time with a partner and friends. Maybe create a traveling drinking game. Actually, can I come? LOL. This is great info for me. I also haughtily thought OKW and SSR were workhorses that would always have a far flung, low prestige standard studio available at the last minute for a night ot two for me. I guess I'll have to manage my expectations and plan even my retirement trips well in advance. It would be interesting to do this experiment again for the 7-month window. Maybe it's already as booked as at this 3-month window. Do you think this level of booking is because of the points pool problem? And yeah, I wish you could've found out info for Riv. I'm concerned that the restrictions are going to make it particularly difficult to reserve there since most Riv people won't be able to go anywhere else. Although other DVC folks won't be able to book Riv, so maybe it'll even out. I'm really into Riv lately.

[@PixieDustPhD]

Ha that does sound fun. Much simpler if staying on property for sure though. In terms of Riviera there are tools online that you can browse DVC availability (tools.dvcvacations.com/points-calculator is one), though I've not gone into my dashboard and compared results to see how accurate such tools are. If you go back to my live time booking video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5ScZ4idhql5fqc) you can see a bit of 7 month availability from one snippet in time. In general I would say when I've looked at ~6 months out SSR and OKW don't seem to be an issue. To some extent AKV as well, but never the value rooms, and often not the standard rooms so it usually ends up being a more expensive savanna view room. I also anecdotally felt like the EXACT 7 month day was pretty chaotic, the next couple days things were less intense and it seemed like availability opened up. I suspect there's a lot of moving around of trip days and such people do right around that window. I do think the extra points in the system is causing some strain, and again the days I'm looking at is princess marathon weekend which is very popular, but in general I mean I take a look at availability for fun about once a month and typically if it's less than ~4 months in advance it's very scarce. More and more people keep buying into DVC, but there aren't that many more rooms being built. It's just a fairly competitive system. That being said I did see an OKW studio pop up for like 30 minutes the other day for that Friday I was browsing in this video. I think it reminds me of ADRs wherein if you are reallllly persistent (and somewhat reasonable, like I'm not trying to get a standard view GF room here) you can probably make your own luck happen. Predicting Riviera is going to be tough because we don't have (at least I don't have) a great sense of how many of the Riviera points allocated are from resale contracts, and also how that will grow over time. It's a huge variable other resorts don't have to deal with, so you also can't look to past performance as an indicator. If you really like it though I mean perhaps use those points when youre planning out your trips further in advance, then use your AKV points for more short term notice situations where you can be more flexible with the resort!

[@epcatcenter]

This was really helpful to see! I hope y’all find something!

[@PixieDustPhD]

Well it turns out they will not be doing the extended evening hours on the couple of nights we were looking at so the impetus is less strong now... Also I'm still not even sure if we're going to buy park tickets lol. Had DVC been easily available it may have swayed me to that but this whole trip is just to make sure our travel credits don't expire, it's not really a ~ Disney trip ~ ya know hahah. Merp. We shall see. Thanks for the kind comments and wishes! We do also have a free reward night at a Hilton hotel and the Waldorf Astoria over near Disney Springs counts, so there's that option to consider too if we do want to stay somewhere that gets some of the "on property" perks >.>

[@nycp1969]

@@PixieDustPhD I'd stay at the Waldorf. I'm interested in this hotel. Even dedicated Disney resort people talk it up.

[@erin750i]

@@PixieDustPhD definitely use your certificate for the Waldorf! It’s not worth the dvc points to stay there for a weekend night. We just came back from a 5 night stay and we stay there almost every time we go to disney. Don’t forget you get $50 in food credit per night! Use it for dinner, it’s way better than breakfast.

[@PixieDustPhD]

Ha! I feel like I should not have mentioned this and gotten peoples hopes up. It is an option but it's highly unlikely. I dont really see the point in doing this if not for the parks. We're spending 2 nights with friends who aren't in Orlando so even if we're around Disney for a bit it would be a short jaunt. If I'm gonna stay at the Waldorf I would want to have more parks time or more time at the hotel to enjoy it. It's more likely we'll use the rewards night for a real vacation.... in my head that Paris, but the world seems to really not want us to travel internationally anymore.

[@TheMagicInWonderland]

Hey there - I only just got access on to the DVC platform a couple of days ago. I went to check things out and am quite surprised by the sheer lack of stuff at 7 months... Luckily I don't need to book yet though. But I am considering purchasing another DVC contract in order to have more choice! :D.... We need 2 bedroom villas for part of the trip and I thought there would be more availability for these. I guess it depends on the month though! 7 months from now is December.... Which I presume is more busy than some months!?...... Plus the pandemic etc means more people are trying to use their points right now?..... We aren't actually travelling until next year. I'm hoping the borrowing restrictions end before I have to book!!!

[@PixieDustPhD]

Oh ya early December is a VERY popular time for DVC owners because points wise it doesn't cost a ton, and you get to see the parks and resorts all decorated for the holidays. Two bedrooms can be tricky depending on the resort you are looking at -- inventory usually isn't the largest for two bedrooms, which just makes competition feel even more fierce. If you are really in a bind you could look at booking two studios or a studio and a one bedroom. Again, depending on the inventory at that specific resort it might be easier to do it that way. Or at least do that as a backup while you are on a waitlist for a two bedroom. But yes we still are experiencing more points in the system than usual from the shut down, and those effects should be mitigated within a year. And omg yep I assume borrowing will be reinstated to 100% within a year too, but to be honest I am a bit surprised they haven't lifted it already. But I guess they are aware how difficult it is to snag a room right now and want to try to stop from making that even worse. Hopefully soon!!!

[@TheMagicInWonderland]

@@PixieDustPhD I'm really surprised too!! People have been talking about it coming back for so long now and presuming it would!... That's a really good idea, trying to book maybe a one bed and studio or two studios. We now own at the Poly and will be getting two studios anyway there. I also just put an offer in on an AKL contract .... I guess I already have addonitis!! Eeeep!!! I just noticed it seems pretty difficult to get things at jambo house as 7 months also. x

[@PixieDustPhD]

@@TheMagicInWonderland Omg yay Animal Kingdom Villas!!! Such a fantastic resort in my opinion; the only real downside is the location. And yes there's not much inventory at Jambo House - most of it is over at Kidani, so it can definitely be hard to book! And with home resort priority that opens up the possibility of value rooms if you want to save some points, or the concierge club level if you wanna splurge! Woohoo!!!!

[@TheMagicInWonderland]

@@PixieDustPhD The offer was accepted woohoo!! ....Yes, the concierge club was a BIG pull for me... Not sure whether we will ever actually get hold of a room at 11 months, as so competitive... But worth a try!!!! :). Also, the value rooms would be a great option down the line for future trips. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge on our last trip, (prior to DVC) and we really loved it. X

[@PixieDustPhD]

@@TheMagicInWonderland Yeesss ommmggg, congrats!!! Now the waiting game beings lol. If you can plan 11 months in advance you stand a chance to book the concierge room! I'm honestly not sure how competitive those are right at 11 months out. I see some random dates available in the 8 month range, which makes me think you'd surely be able to snag at least a few consecutive nights (though maybe not a full week) at the 11 month mark. I hope it all works out for you! And yesss I stayed in 2017 and obviously it's been a while so I want to go back, but there's also so many other resorts to explore. But AKL and the attached villas are just SO special in my opinion. Particularly for non-park days.