We don’t currently own DVC. I think about it every once in a while, but then I am concerned about competing with commercial renters for bookings. It sounds like it can be hard for regular people to use their DVC points because the commercial renters are walking reservations.
What has your booking experience been? Are you generally able to get what you want?
FWIW, if we ever did buy, I think it would be at CC or AKL with a September or October use year. Our most likely use of the points would be for a long weekend sometime between October and April.
There is one pot of points for resorts, regardless of how the points are being used by owners.
I may be wrong, but most likely it is owners walking reservations for their own use that are walking reservations. As a CCV owner, this is a major issue at CCV in November and December, especially for studios. I have found that CCV is much easier to book late April-October.
Are you a planner? Will you book your home resort at 11 months?
AKL is usually easier to book. I can usually find a room at 7 months. At 5 1/2 months I was able to book an October Savannah view room. I have looked in December to see if studios were available this year at 11 months. This is the first year I saw no availability on some booking days. That could be because the Kidani refurbishment is amazing, or that availability is limited due to the upcoming Jambo refurbishment.
These are two separate issues. Commercial renters book high priority nights on spec. Regular people walk reservations to try and have an advantage on high priority nights. DVC seems to be publicly willing to try and reduce commercial renting. Walking will be more difficult but I think they may make some effort eventually.
I don’t think you can know what the future will hold. 2042 will likely throw the whole system into some level of chaos that I don’t think we can yet anticipate. That’s not that far away.
If you want a December studio at CCV then owning there is probably the only way to get one. But I would also set your expectations that it will be difficult. AKL has tonsssss of rooms and if you purchase with higher point rooms in mind, I think you will be fine.
FWIW I’ve used my SSR points now at the Poly, AKL and soon BRV. It’s not “easy” but not impossible.
I know my last year of points will be 2041. I also realize that I am sure I am not the only owner that realize that those points will need to be borrowed into 2040 in order to be used if all those resorts will expire. It will be a mess.
Yes, but on January 4th at 8:05am (looking for December 4th) there was not one studio available. (I looked at all availability because I had never seen the craziness I saw trying to book other resorts. I bought BWV because my first contract was CCV and I wanted an easier time booking a studio in December . I have always been able to get a pool/garden room at 8am 11 months out. There were no rooms, I had to book a week later.
I think all new owners should know that there are certain times of the year that are challenging to book at 11 months, especially studios.
Thank you, @PrincipalTinker and @melcort10 for sharing your thoughts! We would actually be more interested in 1 or 2 bedrooms for the foreseeable future. Even when we are a smaller group, I like having the full kitchen, washer and dryer, and separate sleeping spaces. I am a planner and would have reminders set on my calendar about the 11 month booking window, though goodness knows there have been plenty of times when life has thrown a wrench in my plans.
Something I have thought about is purchasing CCV because the home resort advantage seems more important there, but just accepting that there may be years when we use those points for AKL instead because they have more inventory. Both resorts are great.
I think that if the two places you really want to stay are CCV and AKL then I would definitely buy at CCV unless there was a huge price differential. I assume AKL is cheaper. Just make sure you are looking at both point charts if you are wanting Savanna views at AKL.
I agree with @PrincipalTinker and @melcort10 . Commercial renters generally aren’t the ones walking reservations.
To give yourself the best chance of booking the resort, room type and dates you want, buy at that resort. And the cheapest rooms will book quickest, so buy enough points that you don’t have to compete for the cheapest category. And for CCV especially, you might still have to walk for the most popular times (first 2 weeks in December, for example).
If we buy, I expect it will be with 1 or 2 bedrooms in mind.
Thanks for sharing. Both DVC Help and the DVC Availability Tool seem to be having issues.
From the DVC Help availability page for CCV: “Charts currently have problems with scanning and are showing large sections of inaccuracy and show unavailability at times where there should be availability. We are currently working to correct these charts.”
DVC Availability Tool seems to show availability only through October 29, 2026. Example:
I did a fair amount of research / trial and error when I was looking to buy points. What I found is that since I mostly use 2 BR Villas, I can usually get what I want at 7 months. I have gotten BRV, BCV, BWV, SSR, Poly (studios), and AKL without too much stress (though I did have to get up early at 7 months to secure a couple of these).
If you will use 1 BRs, you will have a similar story.
I would think specifically about room type and view and then check the availability charts to see how you’d do at the times of year you generally travel.
But most importantly, make sure you would be happy staying at your home resort if all else fails!
What I mean is, don’t only buy enough points for a Value room at AKL, or a Resort View room at CCV. Go up a view category. That applies whether you want studio, 1-bed or 2-beds. Don’t limit yourself to only being able to book your ideal length of stay in the cheapest view, allow yourself to book at least the middle category.
I know this is the unknowable but I don’t think it is two different isses as commercial renters have plenty of points to use for walking, in order to get those high value nights.
I am not a CC owner so defer to @PrincipalTinker but I thought CC was one of the most notoriously hard to get.
I am an AK owner. I have been able to book short stays in value rooms and even snatched a club level once. I did watch availability go quickly for the weeks after Christmas, but had no problem booking at 11 months (pre-refurbish)
As others have said, 1 bedrooms change the calculation a lot.
If you are booking in October, your only challenege will be the holiday weekend. Otherwise you should have no problem. For April it depends on when and April and when Easter is. That will affect point charts a lot as well as the week before and after Easter are in the highest category.
I am both a planner where I am booking right at open at 11 month and also book trips 2 months out. I own at BCV and AKV but have stayed at studios at Poly (not tower), BLT, BRV, BWV, OKW, GFV, GCV, HHI, and Aulani. Having a little flexibility im youe schedule and using the waitlist helper.
I found the DVC Field Guide to be an amazing resource while researching DVC. It’s a digital publication that explains pretty much every detail of DVC ownership and I read through the entire thing and made up spreadsheets to determine the total cost of ownership at different resorts before deciding to purchase a resale contract at Boardwalk last March.
There is a chapter on every resort that details how many rooms there are in each booking category and what the historical availability has been for those rooms. There are also graphs comparing room sizes, point values, and availability across all the resorts.
So far we’ve stayed in a 1 BR at Bay lake Tower for Wine & Dine 1/2 Marathon (a waitlist that came through) and a 2 BR at Boardwalk with our kids for WDW Marathon.
Like others have said, if you’re able to, buy enough points to secure the preferred/garden/whatever view that requires more points than standard. Resort views ARE difficult to book at 7 months. We bought because I love having the extra space a 1 bedroom affords; I’m an early bird and my husband is not so being able to get up, make my coffee and sit in peace is priceless. Plus, we were already spending a lot of money on Disney hotels. If you do your research and the numbers make financial sense, do it. We’re really happy with our purchase.
