Why bother with waitlist?

[Rochester Disney Fan]

Holy cow my waitlist just came through.
At exactly the 11 month mark I booked 9 nights , Thursday August 29th - Sat Sept 7 at BLT Lakeview Studio for 160 points which is all I had available at 11 months. I wanted 10 nights in a Standard view Studio starting on August 28th but 1 night ( Saturday) was not available. This room is for my adult son and his friend while the rest of us will be in a 2 BR. I started the waitlist with Member services the same day. I was planning on using my AKV pts to complete the Lakeview reservation at the 7 month mark. I will also be getting our 2BR Lakeview at the 7 month mark ( it's never been a problem this time of year). Looking at the DVC site there were less and less Standard view nights available since the initial reservation ( not surprising) so I had given up on the idea that it would come through. Moments ago I received an email from DVC about a cancelled reservation for 160 points. Alarmed I logged in and saw I now have all 10 nights in the Standard studio for 153 points total.
It would be nice to also get an email saying your waitlist has come through !
I don't know how they do it but it does happen without stalking.

 

[sndral]

Holy cow my waitlist just came through.
At exactly the 11 month mark I booked 9 nights , Thursday August 29th - Sat Sept 7 at BLT Lakeview Studio for 160 points which is all I had available at 11 months. I wanted 10 nights in a Standard view Studio starting on August 28th but 1 night ( Saturday) was not available. This room is for my adult son and his friend while the rest of us will be in a 2 BR. I started the waitlist with Member services the same day. I was planning on using my AKV pts to complete the Lakeview reservation at the 7 month mark. I will also be getting our 2BR Lakeview at the 7 month mark ( it's never been a problem this time of year). Looking at the DVC site there were less and less Standard view nights available since the initial reservation ( not surprising) so I had given up on the idea that it would come through. Moments ago I received an email from DVC about a cancelled reservation for 160 points. Alarmed I logged in and saw I now have all 10 nights in the Standard studio for 153 points total.
It would be nice to also get an email saying your waitlist has come through !
I don't know how they do it but it does happen without stalking.

A 10 night waitlist matching, that’s a surprise.

 

[Rochester Disney Fan]

I just got a new "We can't wait to welcome you home email" about 2 hours after my cancellation email.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I just had a wait list come through. It is for two nights at Riviera standard view two bedroom. I have looked every day 3-4 times a day since I made it and never was there even one night in a two bedroom standard view at Riviera available. So imagine my surprise.

 

[Sandisw]

I just had a wait list come through. It is for two nights at Riviera standard view two bedroom. I have looked every day 3-4 times a day since I made it and never was there even one night in a two bedroom standard view at Riviera available. So imagine my surprise.

Maybe I’ll get lucky and my one night in January I still need in the GV will come through!!! Congratulations!

 

[intamin]

Here to chime in my own waitlist success: I managed to book a night at beach club and then waitlisted the night before which came through about 2 weeks later.. and then another night before that which filled this past Thursday! I didn't even realize the waitlist filled until I checked my dashboard and I was so happy it came through. My March trip now has a club level studio at AKV followed by 3 nights in a BCV studio and then 2 nights in a BWV-BW view studio. So excited to try out these Crescent Lake resorts in some of the hardest to book room categories without home resort priority!

 

[HairyChest]

I’ve had a waitlist active for the past four months for three nights at the polynesian, but managed to stock the site and book one of the nights myself so now I just need two nights. Is it better to keep that waitlist because I’m higher in line or to deactivate it and make a new one for just two nights?

 

[Sandisw]

I’ve had a waitlist active for the past four months for three nights at the polynesian, but managed to stock the site and book one of the nights myself so now I just need two nights. Is it better to keep that waitlist because I’m higher in line or to deactivate it and make a new one for just two nights?

Since waitlists are all or nothing change it to the nights you need because if you leave as is it won’t fill until all three show up at the same time.

Plus, where you are on the waitlist is going to change based on what you want.

So, your two night one will have a better chance to fill.

 

[BeachClub2014]

Maybe I’ll get lucky and my one night in January I still need in the GV will come through!!! Congratulations!

Keep your fingers crossed. I just had our waitlist for 3-nights (January 3-6) in a preferred view 1-bedroom come through for Riviera. I didn't think it would happen given it's sandwiched against the holiday and Marathon Weekend. I stalked it multiple times a day and never saw any availability, so was pleasantly surprised when it matched.

 

[gharter]

i have had a waitlist come through 3 out of 4 times. Is it perfect, no, but overall has done well for us.

 

[lexybear]

Shockingly just had my 7 night beach club waitlist come through for end of January! Had no expectation at all for that to fill, for that many nights especially!

 

[Judique]

I just got a new "We can't wait to welcome you home email" about 2 hours after my cancellation email.

I got that 'canceled' email also pertaining to my one night waitlist. Just checked and got a 'welcome' email about 2 hours later. One issue - it's not for the waitlist but for the already existing days before the waitlist day. Off to make sure my account is still intact.

 

[intamin]

Shockingly just had my 7 night beach club waitlist come through for end of January! Had no expectation at all for that to fill, for that many nights especially!

Which room category was it out of curiosity?

 

[Judique]

And, I found a problem.

Bookings were fine but they messed up the points when they chose which points to use to book the night.

Somehow they used points I plan to bank that were not included in the reservation they were replacing.

The reservation to be replaced had 38 points. New room is 32 points. Instead of using the borrowed BWV and BCV points that were in the reservation (I have more of these) they jumped back into my 23 use year Hilton Head points that I plan to bank in May if I don't use them for anything else before then. Heck, if I need more points I'll be saving those and borrowing other points!

The reason I haven't banked my HH points is I may want a few nights in July which would use these points plus some of my 24 use year points, also why I haven't committed yet as I'm not ready to borrow the points and be stuck with them expiring in September if I don't go in July. I do have to make that decision soon, but if I can wait a bit I can possibly use the 7 month window and not have to use home resort priority points. Also, if I don't book for July I can bank for next use year to stretch my small supply of HH points.

If you followed all that, I was able to modify my nights and sort it out the way I prefer them to be.

I'm happy to get my waitlisted night and also glad I noticed the point utilization issue. The whole thing can be confusing as you see one thing on your first screen and then your bankable points when you open up the 'manage points' page.

 

[kilik64]

Had our sv poly waitlist come through today for Sunday Memorial Day week. Got on it 26th so less than two weeks. Availability was weird in that Sunday disappeared when we tried for it but got rest of week just fine the next day. Not sure why that Saturday and Sunday would be super busy but glad it filled.

We had a vgf resort studio booked for Sunday as backup so wouldn’t have been awful had we not got it.

 

[Judique]

Had our sv poly waitlist come through today for Sunday Memorial Day week. Got on it 26th so less than two weeks. Availability was weird in that Sunday disappeared when we tried for it but got rest of week just fine the next day. Not sure why that Saturday and Sunday would be super busy but glad it filled.

We had a vgf resort studio booked for Sunday as backup so wouldn’t have been awful had we not got it.

We really liked the resort studio. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but the one we had felt open and spacious.

Didn't have the kitchenette but was still just fine.

We will have one in March for 3 nights before we move elsewhere to a one bedroom. There will be 5 of us, myself, 2 DD's and 2 DGD's that will be 7 and 8. Nothing to unfold for sleeping that will take up extra floor space and plenty of storage with this room. Under the bed storage plus actual closets and drawers. Night tables for everyone.

I'm actually thinking of booking an extra night at the start of our trip which would just be myself and the grands. It's there right now, so I need to decide.

 

[lexybear]

Which room category was it out of curiosity?

Studio

 

[nlenguyen]

I just got a waitlist to go through at BW for a BW view on a night of moonlight magic. It took about a week, but I am super excited. It does work

 

[gatordoc]

Attempted to book a BW view studio for 5 nights for next October at 8AM at 11 months but my fingers weren’t fast enough and the first day disappeared before I could book (darn you walkers!). Went ahead and booked garden/pool view and put in a waitlist for the entire stay. To my amazement, the waitlist came though less than a week later (a cancel email and new booking email arrived almost simultaneously), so we’re set

 

[karen4546]

My AKV club level studio waitlist came through today. 5 night stay total. My waitlist was for 2nd night. Now I will have to have the make one continuous stay so as to only have one reservation number.