You will almost NEVER get one single Waitlist request for long periods, such as 10 days at once. If you see that many days when you go to book, then book them. At the 11 month window and 7 month windows, you CAN book 10 days deep into the window. But if you don't see them, it is unlikely that someone will 'drop' exactly that reservation, so that it goes to the Waitlist, so that you can get it.
The best way to work with the Waitlist is to pick off as many days as you can, for your desired reservation, IF YOU SEE THEM ON THE BOOKING LIST. AND, check back every day or two, sometimes multiple times per day, ESPECIALLY IN THE MORNINGS. It doesn't matter whether you get blocks of 1 day or 3 days or 5 days or whatever. Get as many of them as you can. THEN, put in your waitlist for any missing days, but ONLY ask for the missing days. You could, at this point request a block that includes your missing days PLUS some of the days you already booked (and ask for the new reservation to replace your existing days, too), but to me that is just more complicated. I generally DO NOT ask for the program to combine the reservations or use them to replace the previous reservations, UNLESS you are low on points. But if you have the points, just do it all separately, and then combine it later.
I currently have an 8 day desired reservation block, with a waitlist request, where I have the first 4 days, and the last 3 days, and am missing day 5. I have a waitlist request for it. In case it doesn't come in, I have also made a 4 day reservation, for the last four days (including the day 5 I don't have) at Old Key West. So I would spend the first 4 days at Animal Kingdom and the last 4 at OKW. Not my preferred thing, to MOVE to a new resort in the middle of the trip, but it covers me in case that 5th day never comes through. (That is for early Novemeber, so I am hopeful.)
I also have another reservation where I am missing one single day at AKV in October. October 6th to the 7th. I only started trying to get this reservation a week and a half ago, right after Disney announced when they were reopening. I wanted the block from October 1st until the 11th, but the 4th through he 11th was the most essential. I put in a request for TWO blocks of points, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th. And then 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th. Since those were the ESSENTIAL days. But a block of the 1st - 4th opened up, and I took them. Then a block of the 7th, 8th and 9th. Then the 10th and 11th. Then the 5th to the 6th. Whenever I picked up a block, I modified my waitlist request (YES, I know I lose 'Priority' this way, but I picked up the days fairly rapidly, so I didn't lose much priority in the que.) Anyway, all I need now is the 6th to the 7th, and I have TWO waitlist requests in for that. 5th to the 7th (2 days) and a separate waitlist request in for just the 6th to the 7th. We will see how it goes. Once I have everything reserved, I will call member services and have them combine all my reserved days into one block, and drop any days that might be extra.
Anyway, I think this is a good way to do Waitlist requests. Pick up the days you can, as they become available, while waiting for the waitlist to come through.
There is no way to MODIFY Waitlist requests. All you can do is cancel them and ask for a new one. Even if you call Member Services to modify it, that is also what they are doing - cancelling and making a new one. You do lose Priority every time you drop a request and put in a new one, so keep that in your mind. On the other hand, if you drop a block request from 5 days to 2 days, I think you are MUCH more likely to get the 2 days, so a loss of priority might be worth it. (By priority, I mean your position on the Waitlist BEHIND everybody else who has already requested the same days.)
