Just kinda curious what you all do if your waitlist reservation(s) never materializes? Do you just scrap plans? Create a backup reservation at moderate resort?
For our December 2020 trip, we hope to get a Boardwalk 1-bedroom villa for 7 nights. But, because there is no guarantee of this, we plan to have a back-up reservation through Disney directly already in place (not at Boardwalk though…something cheaper). If we get the DVC rental, we can cancel the reservation.
We also plan to stay one night at the Contemporary (our final night). So I plan to book that one at the 499 day mark, and if any discounts come along, apply them retroactively.
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I usually book a back up just in case and cancel when/if the waitlist comes through.
That’s exactly what I did for our trip last week. The waitlist didn’t come through so we stayed at POFQ.
I too have booked a moderate resort as a back up. I know it does not help now but I have found that at times released reservations are getting grabbed before they ever go to the waitlist. I have found my room at 6am and then cancelled the wait list.
wait, you mean you are(or were) checking daily at 6AM to see if there’s availability?
Yes, much closer to when I first tried to book but I grabbed my room before it hit the waitlist. With Copper Creek I heard other people were doing it and I was getting annoyed that the openings never made it to the wait list.
Yes. Always a good idea to check the RAT (resort availability tool) even if you have a waitlist.
I haven’t done a waitlist, but from my time on Mouseowners I would always have a back-up plan. For me that would mean keeping my initial 11 month window booking, modified if necessary, because I would have hefty cancellation charges for a room-only reservation elsewhere.
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Just thinking on this… we’re a weird bunch. 
Disney: “Ok, the vacation you pre-paid for didn’t go through for those dates… would you like to spend MORE money to go on vacation on those dates and get lesser valued accommodations?”
DVC Members: “Yeah!”
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We are crazy. But it’s so true.
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Yes! Followed by: but I want to stay somewhere really nice so let me pay even more…
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And then let me use those points that DIDN’T get used the first time to go again, thus spending even more money on food/gas/flights/etc…
Good grief. We really have drunk the koolaid. Ugh, I shouldn’t think about this… it just makes me depressed lol
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I suppose it is in jest, but I can’t help but think it is how Disney wants it. After the initial buy, Disney doesn’t really make anything (well, relatively speaking) on the DVC units. They are there, and they fill up and such, but the money coming in for them is essentially done. People renting them out doesn’t help much. And the residuals they get from people buying tickets or food doesn’t really count since if people stayed on property to begin with, they’d be paying for those things anyhow.
Disney WANTS their DVC members to pay more.
Yeah I was thinking this as I was writing it… this is EXACTLY the genius of it all. Which kinda lead to my original posting of the thread. I kept thinking “I must be dumb for doing this.”
Pretty much. Short of the annual dues. By creating serious availability issues, it creates a “I want to go anyway, gonna have to spend” mentality. So Disney not only gets the money from the DVC Member who did get it, but then the money from the ones who didn’t, and all the benefits of filling up a lower-ranked hotel.
What is RAT?
Room Availability Tool. It’s just the thing that tells you “everything you want is on waitlist only!”
The Resort Avalability Tool. It’s now been combined with the online booking system, but works the same as it did before.
You select dates, resorts, room type etc and it shows what’s available and what’s only partially available. But not how many rooms in that category.
Does it notify you if something becomes available?
Yes and no. If you setup a waitlist, it will if it goes through(but you can only setup 2). However, as a general “what’s available”, no, it won’t. The tool is a manual check only unless there’s an option I haven’t seen.
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Thanks!