Waitlist strategies

Disney Vacation Club
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As of right now, we have 4 nights books at SSR in January. We didn’t have enough BWV points before 7 months to book there, but while we are happy with SSR, we have a slight preference for BWV.

Okay, after the 7 months mark, I added a waitlist for a BWV standard view. (There is a Garden view available for our dates, but it would mean borrowing an additional 5 points, and also paying for 15 one-time-use points, so we decided against that for now.)

Here’s the question, though…it is how to handle this? As of RIGHT NOW, two of the four nights ARE available in the standard view BWV. So, in theory, I COULD swap two of our SSR stay to BWV for those same two nights. But IF those remaining two nights never open up, we would be changing resorts twice during our stay, which we don’t want to do.

On the other hand, since I wait-listed 4 nights together, does that mean those 2 nights that are currently available could be snapped up by someone else?

I’m trying to figure out if it is worth the “game play” on this.

For example, if I book the 2 nights at BWV, I could wait for so long in hopes that the remaining two nights become available. BUT, there would need to be a be a cut-off point where we would have to switch it BACK to SSR standard 1-bedroom (which we currently have) before they would sell-out. What is the point? Hard to say, since all we get insight to is whether there are rooms available or not…not HOW MANY remain.

Wondering how others might tackle this? Should I just keep the 4-night waitlist active, and figure we’ll just send up at SSR (no worse off)? Should I split the waitlist in order to secure those two nights now?

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I think it does mean someone else could snap up those two nights. I would book them now, and waitlist the other two. Especially since it’s relatively easy to book SSR.

I heard the guy on my DVC points podcast talking about a strategy for booking your home resort at 11 months when you don’t have quite enough points. I’m not sure I fully understand it, though, and it’s too late for this time. But he was saying you book your first couple of nights (however many you can) at 11 months and then move them forward and quickly book them again with your other points at 7 months. Sounds stressful!

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I would secure the two days that are available. Then I would waitlist the other two days separately. They are far more likely to come available at different times, and if they come available together, all the better. That’s what we did for a standard studio at RR. As of last night, all of our waitlists came through and we had 4 separate reservations for a one week stay. We were able to have them combine them all last night into one reservation

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Okay. So, I modify my SSR to just two nights, and book the two nights at BWV. But…do I then waitlist the two remaining nights? Or do I waitlist two individual nights?

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I would waitlist the two nights together and then the one night adjacent to the 2 you already have booked.

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Oh. I didn’t realize I could do that.

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You can have two waitlists. I think there is language that somewhat discourages having the same night waitlisted in different forms, but it’s still allowed. I’ve definitely done it.

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Well…in the time it took to create this thread to now…one of the two days has disappeared. So, I guess I’ll leave it alone for now, but keep stalking…and leave my waitlist in place as is.

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Aww bummer. I’m honestly surprised standard was available at all at even 8 months.

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If I had moved at 8:00 am I might have been able to get a standard BWV at 7 months!

I was trying to do something tricky and drop a BCV I had made with my BCV points and pick them up with my AKV points and was waiting until after midnight to do it. I missed out on some rooms I could have gotten at 8am and the system ended up grabbing my dropped nights (I saw them for a moment and then I got an error message).

So now i am thinking through waitlist questions like @ryan1. The main reason not to live on barrowed points is that you can’t book the more expensive resort and then waitlist down to the cheaper one.

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that’s a brilliant idea. it alleviates the possibility of getting the 1st night, not the 2nd, then the 3rd & 4th.

@ryan1 you can hold 2 waitlists at a time

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Update!

Just got notification that our waitlist went through…managed to get a Standard view 1 bedroom for all four nights at Boardwalk Villas in January, replacing our SSR reservation!

I am shocked it came through, but very excited about it!

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Nice!! 1-bedrooms are definitely the way to go for availability.

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