I get why it is a problem. But I also can’t figure out how they could stop the practice, even if they wanted to, without impacting legitimate reasons for changing the dates on a trip. Perhaps they could put a hard limit in the number of times you can modify an existing reservation before either having to call, or waiting a certain amount of time before you could re-book it?
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It used to be that all changes had to be made by phone. Then to make it “easier” for the member, and allow them to redistribute the work load of the staff, they added the function to the website. At that point the walking became what it is today. Limiting the online changes to say, twice, then requiring a telephone for additional changes may make it less likely that people will walk.
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But then people who want say 10 days or 2 or 3 weeks would need to be calling every day for goodness how long. That phone bill adds up when you’re an international owner.
- And yes I know there’s supposed to be an 0800 number for us but it has never worked for us. Somewhere between our service provider and DVC it doesn’t get recognised.
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Oh! When you add the day you can add on another night 7 nights from the date? You are not adding one night you are modifying every morning?
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So I can book 7 days at the 11 month mark. And then I have to either wait 7 days to be able to add the next week, or add a day each time.
My point is that if I had to call each day instead of doing it online it would be a PITA, and expensive.
BUT … wait up! I could wait until say 5 days later and then add another 5 days. Duh! That would cut the phone calls to maybe just one or two.
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One possible way they could limit it would be to allow adding on days but not dropping a day at the start of a reservation more than once without calling in.
But then many owners have enough points to just book one long stay starting well before they want to go and spanning their intended stay. So it makes it the preserve of the ultra point owners.
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I’m still thinking through the ethics of walking a reservation. I don’t expect I will need to do it, but I haven’t decided if I would if I needed to. I can see both sides and respect whatever conclusion each person comes to (unless and until Disney says explicitly not to do it).
I have used a leading reservation for ADRs and it was so helpful. I did have to pay a deposit for that, which is a risk because if I forget to drop the leading reservation I will be out the deposit. Plus Disney is earning a small return on everyone’s deposits.
There is no deposit with DVC though, so maybe that makes it different.
The closest tangible comparison I can think of is putting your towels on a pool chair in the morning even if you’re not using it until the afternoon. Is that a “loophole”? Or just inconsiderate? I don’t usually do that because I find it inconsiderate, but also cause it’s not worth the effort to me. I do send my family to reserve a QS table while I place a mobile order, even if we don’t have our food yet. Is that the same thing?
Anyway, I still have plenty of time to think about it.
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I’m all for this b/c there is nothing worse than walking around w/ a full tray of food and waiting and waiting and waiting for a table to open up.
I know totally off topic thread 
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I think everyone has to decide what is right for them. I will not walk a reservation even though it means my CC points are virtually useless many months of the year.
There are a lot of things that I, personally, will not do.
That does not mean I don’t know how to do them or that I will not try to help someone figure out how it works- if they want to do it.
Even if it means I will be once again sobbing at exactly 8am 11 months from when I was hoping to book.
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This is not the same. When you walk a reservation those days open back up and can still be used. In the case of the pool chair, they go unused until you show up.
I am an owner at AKL. I bought there for the purpose of staying CL on points. You know, because I wanted the 90 day FPs 
Anyway, because we are a large group (7-8), we either need a 2 bdrm or 2 studios or 2 1 bdrm. I don’t like studios. So it’s either a 2 bdrm or 2 1 bdrm. 51 v. 76 points for the cheapest weeknight. 88 v. 130 points for the most expensive weeknight. 1 bdrm reservations are not as hard to come by as 2 bdrm (all 5 of them are lock-offs and the 5 studios are the most popular), but for our purposes, are far more points. So I walk reservations for the 2 bdrm. And I have to start the process 2 - 3 months in advance. There are not many days that you actually get a chance to try to book, and then it’s worse than trying to get a BG! The walking system is self-perpetuating. I don’t know how to stop the cycle. If I want to use my points on the room I actually want, for the dates I want, for the length of stay I want, I have to walk.
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It is completely self-perpetuating. People who walk their reservations put that much more pressure on those who haven’t felt compelled to - yet. I actually think the towel at the pool analogy is pretty good, even if it’s not perfectly accurate. I think it has the same feeling attached to it for people who won’t engage in the practice.
Have I ever walked a reservation? No. Do I dislike the practice? Yes. Would I? Never say never.
We’ve certainly had trips where we didn’t get exactly the rooms we wanted but it’s also forced us to stay at resorts we wouldn’t have chosen otherwise and ended up discovering new favourites.
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This is the whole problem, isn’t it?
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Agreed. I think a lot of people are starting to do it who would normally feel it is wrong simply because as more and more people do it, it forces the hands of everyone else.
It drives me crazy that people do this kind of thing, because it undermines a fair and equitable system…but then, since “everyone is doing it”, it means to make it fair and equitable, everyone else who isn’t part of the “everyone” has to start doing it as well.
Sigh
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Hi,
I know you post was a while ago. I have been DVC for 26 yrs and this year in a position where I must walk a reservation for specific dates even though Ido not like the practice. Will I have to go online everyday or is your post saying that I don’t have to modify every day since I will have a 7nt stay that moves so that if I skip a day or 2, I am still in front of others…it is confusing and a lot of work but we have a reservation that that we would love to get at our home resort and it is not possible without doing this or henpecking a day at a time for months (even in a slow period) as I have been doing…thx in advance…
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If you book 7 days to begin with, you just need to modify before that 7 days is up. So 5 days later you can modify it and still be fine.
Be careful of your use year. If you need to cross into the next use year you’ll need to call,
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