Any difficulty booking VWL during non-premier times?

[DonaldD]

Just wondeirng if anyone can provide some insight re: booking rooms at VWL when it's not your home resort.

Has anyone had trouble booking a room at VWL during summer or March when it's not their home resort? I really like VWL, but just wondering if it's necessary to make this my home resort or benefit from the better resales of OKW?

Cheers!

[glypnirsgirl]

Hi - I only have booked VWL one time. It was the first trip my DH and I made together while we were dating. He is a native Oregonian and I thought that he would enjoy the theming. I booked it for October about 3 weeks before our vacation. I do not know if it was just a quirk, but it worked for us.

Elaine

[CRSNDSNY]

I don't know about March, but I've booked it for May and August without problems.

[I'mNoPrince]

I had a studio available for our entire 12 day trip around the 4th of July this year but went with BWV (close to Epcot on the 4th) and AKV just to try them out.This was right at the 7 month mark.

[Starr W.]

It took about 6 weeks on the waitlist, but we got a 2br at VWL last May(beginning of the month).

[Carol]

If you can routinely book more than 7 months in advance, my advice is to just buy VWL. That would be especially true if you would be disappointed if you couldn't switch to VWL, or your travel patterns change to times that are mopre difficult to book.

Keep in mind that DVC continues to grow and there will be more and more competition to book the smaller WDW resorts at 7 months, even for the less popular times. Many DVC members are willing and able to book day by day at 7 months to get what they want - are you?

Are you OK with using a waitlist?

Will you buy enough points to hold a reservation at OKW until you secure the VWL reservation? Some have reported losing the reservation they made at 11 months while trying to get another resort at 7 months. So they ended up with nothing for one or more days. (This is probably a rare occurence, but it has happened to more than one or two members).

If you don't have enough points to hold a back up reservation, and have to waitlist, would you be OK with moving back and forth between resorts if the waitlist doesn't come through?

To me, it's just not worth saving a few hundred dollars now if you can't easily get what you want, when you want it. (I think waitlists are stressful because I want my lodging locked in before I make nonrefundable airfare arrangements).

Since you really like VWL, that's where you should buy if you can plan more than 7 months in advance.

[harmrose22]

I agree with Carol... if you really like VWL and want to stay there consistently and can book more than 7 out, buy there.

That being said, we purchased a smaller resale contract at OKW (120 pts) with the understanding that we would also try the other resorts and then decide where to add additional points. We travel in September and I had no issues changing to VWL at the 7-month mark. The 7-month mark has not hit for my December trip yet so who knows what we'll end up with but for that trip, it is not as important for us to change from OKW to something else. We are just going to see what happens!

Good luck with your decision.

[DonaldD]

Thanks for the insight. As someone who likes to know what I'm doing, I'll probably opt for purchasing enough points to make this my home resort and not have to deal or stress with waitlists etc.