Late booking at home resort for wine & dine marathon weekend

arrrroooooo

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 3, 2019
Our first DVC purchase at BCV cleared and our family is looking forward to the first stay this year! Yay!

Unfortunately, I was hoping to secure a 2 bedroom at our home resort during the wine & dine half marathon, but all of the units at BCV booked before our contract closed. I know the wine & dine marathon weekend is the busiest in all of the DVC bookings, but given that it still had availability after the 11-month mark and we were pursuing 2br at our home resort, I was hoping against hope that we could beat the clock. But, alas... (Yes, we'll absolutely book at the 11-month mark from now on.)

Any advice from the board on the best approach to land a room during this coveted week? The options I've considered:
1. Waitlist: I've already opened one waitlist for Nov 4-9 and a second waitlist for Nov 8-9, under the theory that I might be able to pick off days at the edges. BUT it seems like any days opening for BCV during wine & dine is highly unlikely, yes? If it's not, then I may have a follow-up question on best waitlisting strategies...

2. Welcome Home: We're planning to pick up a direct contract to secure the benefits of the blue badge regardless. I've read that reps making the welcome home booking can make bookings at any resort within 11 months and can draw from the rooms held in reserve by DVD. Conceivably we could get a booking for Nov 4-9 this way? Is this a dumb use of a welcome home booking?

3. Different resort: It looks like some of the 2br view rooms at AK Kidani, VGF, BLT are still available or partially available. Based on an earlier thread, it seems like the only approach that is likely to work is to rent our points at BCV then buy points at another resort through David's, right?

Short of skipping the half marathon this year or paying for a room for that portion of our stay (ack!), are there other options I might be missing? I'm not opposed to split stays but we are making this a trip with grandparents, so we want a 2-bedroom for this trip.
 
2. Welcome Home: We're planning to pick up a direct contract to secure the benefits of the blue badge regardless. I've read that reps making the welcome home booking can make bookings at any resort within 11 months and can draw from the rooms held in reserve by DVD. Conceivably we could get a booking for Nov 4-9 this way? Is this a dumb use of a welcome home booking?

I believe this is a benefit only available to new members + direct. Since you are already a member then this means it doesn't include you, sadly, even if you buy direct now. You can always ask Member Services to see or someone will chime in and clarify further. But I would not count this as an option.
 
Our first DVC purchase at BCV cleared and our family is looking forward to the first stay this year! Yay!

Unfortunately, I was hoping to secure a 2 bedroom at our home resort during the wine & dine half marathon, but all of the units at BCV booked before our contract closed. I know the wine & dine marathon weekend is the busiest in all of the DVC bookings, but given that it still had availability after the 11-month mark and we were pursuing 2br at our home resort, I was hoping against hope that we could beat the clock. But, alas... (Yes, we'll absolutely book at the 11-month mark from now on.)

Any advice from the board on the best approach to land a room during this coveted week? The options I've considered:
1. Waitlist: I've already opened one waitlist for Nov 4-9 and a second waitlist for Nov 8-9, under the theory that I might be able to pick off days at the edges. BUT it seems like any days opening for BCV during wine & dine is highly unlikely, yes? If it's not, then I may have a follow-up question on best waitlisting strategies...

2. Welcome Home: We're planning to pick up a direct contract to secure the benefits of the blue badge regardless. I've read that reps making the welcome home booking can make bookings at any resort within 11 months and can draw from the rooms held in reserve by DVD. Conceivably we could get a booking for Nov 4-9 this way? Is this a dumb use of a welcome home booking?

3. Different resort: It looks like some of the 2br view rooms at AK Kidani, VGF, BLT are still available or partially available. Based on an earlier thread, it seems like the only approach that is likely to work is to rent our points at BCV then buy points at another resort through David's, right?

Short of skipping the half marathon this year or paying for a room for that portion of our stay (ack!), are there other options I might be missing? I'm not opposed to split stays but we are making this a trip with grandparents, so we want a 2-bedroom for this trip.

They don’t offer current members Welcome Home even when buying direct. We couldn’t even get it when my adult children became members because my DH and I were also on the title.

Keep the waitlists and keep trying the website! Remember, there may be BCV owners who booked at 11 months who may want to trade out at 7 months
 
1. Yes, waitlist. Some people with bookings will cancel. Whether that gets to help you or not, hard to say.

2. As others have said - no Welcome Home available. It is literally only for first contract, only direct, and even those people if they hold a waitlist are excluded.

3. Odds aren't ideal for 7 months, but they aren't completely zero. I'd be ready to book at exactly 8:00 of your 7 month if your waitlists aren't through, and keep your waitlists in place as you book.
 


Thanks for the advice! I'm really bummed about the lack of Welcome Home. I would have started with Direct then Resale if I knew that. Chalk it up as another reason not to buy Direct, now maybe I should re-think it. Sigh.

So what's the best waitlist strategy for this situation? I've got a waitlist for the whole range (Apr 4-9) and one for the last day of the range (Apr 8-9). I have a successful booking for Apr 9-13, that's why I'm trying for the day at the end. Is that the best approach?
 
At this point modifying waitlists puts you back to end of the line... But I would have gone with Nov 4-8 and Nov 8-9. If all Nov 4-9 does open, both your waitlists are filled to cover the entire time. In general, multiple shorter waitlists is better. A long waitlist has the lowest possibility of being filled. If Nov 4-8 does open today, neither of your lists would quality. The only call it a match if the entire window for a waitlist is available. As others said I would stalk the availability as often as possible. You might be able to start grabbing individual days. As you grab each day, you adjust your waitlists as appropriate. Again, the possible downside is you could loose your spot in line. I am thinking a big window opening is much less likely, so the risk a losing your spot in line, that is not likely to ever be filled, is acceptable.
 
As others said I would stalk the availability as often as possible. You might be able to start grabbing individual days.

Does this mean that it's possible to grab a day by stalking BEFORE someone's waitlist catches it? Or are you just implying that I might catch a day that isn't on anyone else's waitlist?

I am thinking a big window opening is much less likely, so the risk a losing your spot in line, that is not likely to ever be filled, is acceptable.

I'll adjust per your advice, thanks! I've only had the waitlists in place for a couple days, hard to imagine that would make a difference.
 


Does this mean that it's possible to grab a day by stalking BEFORE someone's waitlist catches it? Or are you just implying that I might catch a day that isn't on anyone else's waitlist?
Actually both.

You could find individual days, on the either end of a waitlist hopefully, so you can grab stuff one day at a time. These single days wouldn't match your waitlist, but could build towards your needs. But the other statement is also true. Per many observations on these boards, the waitlist matching system does not run continuously. Many folks have exactly filled their waitlists using the resort availability tool (RAT), and their waitlist was never "filled" by Disney. The general belief is, any days that come available do not have to clear a waitlist check before they go to the RAT, but rather there is a waitlist scan that periodically looks through the RAT to see if there is availability matching the request.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/waitlist-vs-stalking-questions.3781285/
 
Also, think about a plan B, like SSR. I know paying the premium for BCV points and staying at SSR doesn't seem like a good use of points, but at leat you'd have something onsite and the new rooms (if you book preferred you'd be guaranteed a refurbished room) look very good.
 
Regarding stalking, is there an established "best time" to check availability? When I was stalking and merging an ordinary room res + dining resies last year, the online cast member told me to always check after midnight (presumably EST?) because that's when the system processed cancellations. It might have been psychological but I did have more success after I added a midnight check. Some of the posts I've read suggest this might be true for DVC as well as some suggest it is more complicated than that...

Regarding a 7-month booking at SSR, that's definitely a reasonable option but any chance even those would be available at 7-month for wine & dine? If my waitlists don't clear by 7-months, then I'll definitely be online at 8am to pick up what I can during that weekend.
 
Our first DVC purchase at BCV cleared and our family is looking forward to the first stay this year! Yay!

Unfortunately, I was hoping to secure a 2 bedroom at our home resort during the wine & dine half marathon, but all of the units at BCV booked before our contract closed. I know the wine & dine marathon weekend is the busiest in all of the DVC bookings, but given that it still had availability after the 11-month mark and we were pursuing 2br at our home resort, I was hoping against hope that we could beat the clock. But, alas... (Yes, we'll absolutely book at the 11-month mark from now on.)

Any advice from the board on the best approach to land a room during this coveted week? The options I've considered:
1. Waitlist: I've already opened one waitlist for Nov 4-9 and a second waitlist for Nov 8-9, under the theory that I might be able to pick off days at the edges. BUT it seems like any days opening for BCV during wine & dine is highly unlikely, yes? If it's not, then I may have a follow-up question on best waitlisting strategies...

2. Welcome Home: We're planning to pick up a direct contract to secure the benefits of the blue badge regardless. I've read that reps making the welcome home booking can make bookings at any resort within 11 months and can draw from the rooms held in reserve by DVD. Conceivably we could get a booking for Nov 4-9 this way? Is this a dumb use of a welcome home booking?

3. Different resort: It looks like some of the 2br view rooms at AK Kidani, VGF, BLT are still available or partially available. Based on an earlier thread, it seems like the only approach that is likely to work is to rent our points at BCV then buy points at another resort through David's, right?

Short of skipping the half marathon this year or paying for a room for that portion of our stay (ack!), are there other options I might be missing? I'm not opposed to split stays but we are making this a trip with grandparents, so we want a 2-bedroom for this trip.


I agrees with what others have said and I can add that I would stalk the RAT, sometimes the waitlists are not filled exactly when inventory is released and that means that whatever have just opened up is up for grabs.
 
Regarding stalking, is there an established "best time" to check availability? When I was stalking and merging an ordinary room res + dining resies last year, the online cast member told me to always check after midnight (presumably EST?) because that's when the system processed cancellations. It might have been psychological but I did have more success after I added a midnight check. Some of the posts I've read suggest this might be true for DVC as well as some suggest it is more complicated than that...

I have stalked and grabbed some coveted studios at popular times of the year, and in my experience the most availability was consistently when I was getting ready for work in the morning. I'm up fairly early, so I would check around 5 EST. So maybe that does coincide with what MS told you? I'm not sure, and it could be confirmation bias.

Also, things would open up as the morning progressed, presumably as those with existing reservations changed them around as well.

The only problem with stalking is that things can come open literally any time, so there's really no best time to check. Even though I had the most success early morning, I was still checking multiple times per day.
 
Shorter waitlists come in before longer ones. I had two single night waitlists for the first week of Dec for a studio at OKW at nine months out. I had the middle night of a three night stay and the other two nights were already booked. The two waitlists came in one at a time and I had the entire stay with one reservation.
 
I actually just grabbed a day in the middle of the wine & dine weekend through stalking the RAT multiple times a day, less than a week after I started. (Time was a little after 12:00AM EST.) So all the advice on this thread seems sound. Stalk and ye shall be rewarded.
 

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