Help with making a Jambo Value Reservation

[janer00]

Can anyone give me some tips/tricks on scoring a value 2 bedroom at Jambo House? I know there are very few rooms, so not much availability, and I also know there are people walking their current reservations. Is there some trick to try to sneak in myself?? Just get lucky? I've been only trying for a week or so, but would appreciate any assistance a seasoned value reservationer could provide!

Thank you

 

[JOLT]

You have to click on continue right at 08:00:00.

The other option is to pick up your days from walkers as they drop their reservations.

 

[striker1064]

You have to be on right at 8 EST and lucky enough/fast enough to grab it. Or, walk it like everyone else. The hard part about a value 2-bedroom is they are all lock-offs, so you are competing not only with those who want a value 2-bedroom, but also those who want value studios and value 1-bedrooms.

 

[janer00]

So my current plan was to already search for a reservation before 8:00 and keep refreshing that reservation page. Is that where I'm going wrong? Should I not be searching first?

Thank you for your help! Just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something incorrect!

 

[drusba]

The problem you have is simply that there are far more members trying to make a reservation for a value studio (which also impacts the 2BRs) than there is availability. Often, the starting date you want is not even open at 8 a.m at 11 months out. Other times it shows as open but disappears within moments once 8 a.m. arrives. That is because when you see an opening, it does not mean the 18 value studios (or 2BRs) are still open when 8 a.m. arrives. It only means that those few rooms are open for which there is a member checking out on the date you are trying to start a reservation.

In other words, you should likely assume that on any given morning you are competing for five or under rooms, and if there are 50 members clicking "continue" to reserve right at 8 a.m., 45 of them are going to lose either because someone clicks an instant faster than you, or their computer just communicates a moment quicker with Disney's computer than yours. (A book you might want to read is Flash Boys which describes many things done by high speed stock trading companies, including how some spent tens to hundreds of millions building high speed computer lines to the exchanges through mountains just so their trades could be communicated with the exchange nanoseconds faster than others.)

Thus, other than being prepared to click "Continue" for your reservation right at 8 ma.m., there really is no magic way to improve your chances over others in the morning when you try to reserve. You just hope you are one of the lucky ones. Walking is a possibility but for value studios and 2BRs that has the problem of one even being able to find an open day on which to begin a walk.

 

[Raven01]

Without getting into a debate on the practice, is it necessary to walk a value one or 2 bedroom for early December, and if so, starting when?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Without getting into a debate on the practice, is it necessary to walk a value one or 2 bedroom for early December, and if so, starting when?

Yes. And you have to start the walk whenever you can grab an in.

 

[Marionnette]

I follow behind the walkers and pick up their crumbs as they move their dates forward. It sometimes involves piecing a trip together because consecutive dates don’t open up in order. But the method has worked for me on more than one occasion.

 

[drusba]

Without getting into a debate on the practice, is it necessary to walk a value one or 2 bedroom for early December, and if so, starting when?

Some spend a lot of time walking. One way to look at is that the earliest you can start a walk is 11-months out from the first date of the use year in which the vacation will fall. Example: if you have an Oct use year and want an Oct 2021 start date, the earliest you can start a walk is Nov 1, 2020 by reserving Oct 1, 2021. That is because any points used to reserve Sep 30, 2021 or before cannot be flipped over to a reservation that begins in Oct 2021 (any banked 2019 points could not be used at all for a an Oct 2021 trip, any points borrowed from Oct 2021 to reserve time in Sep 2020 could not be used for any Oct 2021 time, and any current Octg 2020 points used to reserve Sep 2021 time would need to be withdrawn from their Sep reservation and banked before use in Oct 2021)..

 

[bandjbaine]

Some spend a lot of time walking. One way to look at is that the earliest you can start a walk is 11-months out from the first date of the use year in which the vacation will fall. Example: if you have an Oct use year and want an Oct 2021 start date, the earliest you can start a walk is Nov 1, 2020 by reserving Oct 1, 2021. That is because any points used to reserve Sep 30, 2021 or before cannot be flipped over to a reservation that begins in Oct 2021 (any banked 2019 points could not be used at all for a an Oct 2021 trip, any points borrowed from Oct 2021 to reserve time in Sep 2020 could not be used for any Oct 2021 time, and any current Octg 2020 points used to reserve Sep 2021 time would need to be withdrawn from their Sep reservation and banked before use in Oct 2021)..

I am trying to understand the inability to walk over a use year. I have called member services before and had them "reallocate" specific points on a reservation. Could this not be achieved with walking over a use year? For example. I have enough Dec 2020 points to book a room for a week starting in Nov for an intended Dec 2021 trip. Once I hit a date that moves into December(Dec use year), I would have to drop about 30 of the points that will expire for use by Dec 2021 and begin using my Dec 2021 points for that. Could I just call member services on the day of the "walk" forward and make that change one time, then proceed with all points in the use year going forward? I've never wanted to walk a reservation before but am considering it due to the restriction on borrowing points right now. We have been planning a large family trip for 2021 for the last 2 years, without getting a standard room involved, I'll have difficulty making the reservation. So, I'm willing to put in the effort to at least try it as long as I understand it clearly.

 

[ToddyLu]

( AKV is our home resort). I have not read all the previous posts but wanted to relay my experience in case it helps someone. With the new booking restrictions in place this year I had 105 points total I could use for our plans in 2021. I was looking to start on a Sun-Thurs to get the best use of points, preferably with a Weneeday start so I could book as much as possible, ending the following week on a Friday or Sat since I am still working full time. I booked 6 nights initially at the 8am mark to get the most nights I could for my reservation, this was 6 nights starting on a Wednesday. I am sure starting mid week helped me. I was not worried about exact dates but knew I wanted end of April/first of May. Once I saw the 6 nights pop up in May 2020, I booked 4/21/21-4/26/21, then I waitlisted 2 nights on either side. When I got 4/27-4/29, I kept 4/19-4/21, and added a waitlist for 4/29-5/1. So I got the later and was able to book 4/21-5/1/21 in a value studio. I am sure COVID helped me sue to change in reservation patterns. So I was able to get what I wanted, when I wanted becasue I was a little loose on the particulars. Waitlist has served me well the last couple fo years. There were several days I was on this waitlist, I want to say at least a week or so, but it did not take very long and I was pleased.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Without getting into a debate on the practice, is it necessary to walk a value one or 2 bedroom for early December, and if so, starting when?

Early Dec is a premium time for DVC reservations. You may need to start your walk in October.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I am trying to understand the inability to walk over a use year. I have called member services before and had them "reallocate" specific points on a reservation. Could this not be achieved with walking over a use year? For example. I have enough Dec 2020 points to book a room for a week starting in Nov for an intended Dec 2021 trip. Once I hit a date that moves into December(Dec use year), I would have to drop about 30 of the points that will expire for use by Dec 2021 and begin using my Dec 2021 points for that. Could I just call member services on the day of the "walk" forward and make that change one time, then proceed with all points in the use year going forward? I've never wanted to walk a reservation before but am considering it due to the restriction on borrowing points right now. We have been planning a large family trip for 2021 for the last 2 years, without getting a standard room involved, I'll have difficulty making the reservation. So, I'm willing to put in the effort to at least try it as long as I understand it clearly.

If you are walking over a UY, unless you have enough points in the first UY, you have to borrow and then you cannot unborrow the points. So They are stuck in the previous UY. With a Dec UY, your points expire on Nov 30. So any points from your Dec 2020 UY can't be used for a reservation in Dec 2021 until they are banked. They'd have to be banked by July 31, 2021. Then you couldn't use them to walk the reservation. Plus once you cross the UY, you need to have two reservations since a single reservation cannot cross over the UY. Jan 1, 2021 might be the earliest you can walk that reservation and keep it as one.

 

[bandjbaine]

So, specifically, I have 250 points I can used Dec 2020-Nov 2021. If I use those to make a reservation at the end of Nov 2021 for a room say Nov 23-Dec 2 then on Dec 1, I call to move the reservation to to Dec 1- Dec 8. I would have 70 of those 250 that expire after Dec 1. So could I call member services on the 1st and ask them to drop the nov dates completely with the 70 of those points that will expire...then use my Dec 2021 points for the new dates instead? I am thinking the points that would fall back into my account from 2020 I would still be able to be bankable/usable as it would still be well within the timeframe for banking ( which would be by July 2021 to bank into Dec 2021 use year). Is that possible?

 

[Marionnette]

So, specifically, I have 250 points I can used Dec 2020-Nov 2021. If I use those to make a reservation at the end of Nov 2021 for a room say Nov 23-Dec 2 then on Dec 1, I call to move the reservation to to Dec 1- Dec 8. I would have 70 of those 250 that expire after Dec 1. So could I call member services on the 1st and ask them to drop the nov dates completely with the 70 of those points that will expire...then use my Dec 2021 points for the new dates instead? I am thinking the points that would fall back into my account from 2020 I would still be able to be bankable/usable as it would still be well within the timeframe for banking ( which would be by July 2021 to bank into Dec 2021 use year). Is that possible?

If you have a Dec UY, it's my understanding that you cannot have one reservation that runs from Nov 23 - Dec 2. It would require two reservations: Nov 23-Dec 1, and then Dec 1-2.

And you certainly cannot use points from your Dec 2020 UY to book Dec. 1-2. That would require points from your 2021 UY.

 

[Sandisw]

So, specifically, I have 250 points I can used Dec 2020-Nov 2021. If I use those to make a reservation at the end of Nov 2021 for a room say Nov 23-Dec 2 then on Dec 1, I call to move the reservation to to Dec 1- Dec 8. I would have 70 of those 250 that expire after Dec 1. So could I call member services on the 1st and ask them to drop the nov dates completely with the 70 of those points that will expire...then use my Dec 2021 points for the new dates instead? I am thinking the points that would fall back into my account from 2020 I would still be able to be bankable/usable as it would still be well within the timeframe for banking ( which would be by July 2021 to bank into Dec 2021 use year). Is that possible?

The key is that you won’t be able to make one reservation that crosses into December,

So, you would need to call MS and have them book it for you.

I am not sure exactly how that works so I don’t know if you can just move it forward or not.

But, yes, if you use 2020 UY points to book the end of November and are able to move it forward..which would be in January, you would be able to simply use the 2021 UY points once it gets moved to Dec 1 to 8.

Then you can bank the 2020 UY points. Once banked, you can then modify the trip to use the banked points and free up 2021 points.

 

[bandjbaine]

Thanks for all the answers! I may try to call Member Services to see what they say as far as having 2 reservations goes...