0 availibility at 7 months (Studios)

[lozkin]

Hi all.

This is our 2nd year of DVC - We have 300 points at AKL, and we booked for 13 nights between October 23 - November 6. I split it into 2 seperate bookings (6 and 7 night) as I would be happy to split stay and was advised this would be an easier way to do it rather than hope for 13 night availability.

Today is our 7 month date, and I was hoping to move the first booking - We'd literally be happy to stay in any resort as we want to try them all. The last few weeks I've been checking on a semi-regular basis and seeing resort availability drop off until yesterday when Saratoga Springs was the only one that could give us the full 6 days, but when it come to modifying the booking today even that has gone!

Interestingly our second booking of 7 nights currently still has availability at Saratoga, Old Key West, Bay Lake & Polynesian, but the first 6 days have no availability. I know it's Halloween which is a busy time of year, but is it expected that there is no availability to modify at 7 months?

My other question is that Saratoga has 4 nights available currently (the last 4 nights) - if we were to modify to accept those 4 days, and then next week modified our 7 day booking to Saratoga, could we 'merge' that into a single 11 night booking at SS with the first 2 nights remaining at AKL?

 

[byurick]

We did a short stay during halloween (to go to the party) last year. I had trouble getting dvc for our full stay and had to split at an offsite hotel so its doesn't seem unusual to me you're having trouble. The CMs I spoke with while we were there said it can get crazy at that time because they start switching the halloween decorations to christmas and a lot of people love staying to experience the changeover. I have to admit it was kinda neat to wake up the next day after halloween and see MK all decked out with wreaths and trees.

 

[Wedgeout]

Getting anything close to a full week, especially a studio with owners being el cheapo with points, will be limited at 7 months. Can see why home resort is important.

Modifying is a one resort reservation. You can shorten your first one to get those 4 nights at SSR but can’t get them until it’s 7 months to that check in date. Safe to wait till that day to modify anything if that is your plan. Would then have option to make a third reservation, then at 7 months to that last reservation, modify it to SSR. If same booking categories can be merged or noted to link reservations.

Personally I wouldn’t do all this for SSR. I’d be patient, keep checking. Openings happen often. Will see that the more you search. Otherwise 13 nights at AKV isn’t a bad thing at all.

When I do it, I’ll search that window of my stay, over sometimes days or months to see what pops up. See something I like, I’ll go back and modify my reservation and switch it that way.

Many options to get a two resort split stay, or modify things to get even more bouncing around. Good luck with your plans!

 

[drusba]

Hi all.

This is our 2nd year of DVC - We have 300 points at AKL, and we booked for 13 nights between October 23 - November 6. I split it into 2 seperate bookings (6 and 7 night) as I would be happy to split stay and was advised this would be an easier way to do it rather than hope for 13 night availability.

Today is our 7 month date, and I was hoping to move the first booking - We'd literally be happy to stay in any resort as we want to try them all. The last few weeks I've been checking on a semi-regular basis and seeing resort availability drop off until yesterday when Saratoga Springs was the only one that could give us the full 6 days, but when it come to modifying the booking today even that has gone!

Interestingly our second booking of 7 nights currently still has availability at Saratoga, Old Key West, Bay Lake & Polynesian, but the first 6 days have no availability. I know it's Halloween which is a busy time of year, but is it expected that there is no availability to modify at 7 months?

My other question is that Saratoga has 4 nights available currently (the last 4 nights) - if we were to modify to accept those 4 days, and then next week modified our 7 day booking to Saratoga, could we 'merge' that into a single 11 night booking at SS with the first 2 nights remaining at AKL?

"Fall" season, late Sep to marathon weekend in Jan, is overall a very high DVC demand time at WDW. Demand during that time makes Easter and summer time look like slow off-seasons. Often during that time, the only things open for multiple day trips at 7-months out are SSR, OKW, and Kidani savanna view, but even those can disappear before 7-months out during the several extremely high demand times in the Fall season, one of which is the Wine & Dine race weekend, which will be October 22-26, 2025, i.e., the main issue you are seeing now is not Halloween time , which is usually not among those extremely high demand times, but that race weekend, which, until this year, was usually in Nov.

Note, you cannot modify any reservation to move just part of the days in a reservation to another resort/room while keeping the rest at the original resort/room , e.g., you cannot modify a 6-night reservation at AKV to 4 nights at SSR while keeping 2 nights at AKV. You would need to modify the entire 6-night reservation to just a 4-night one at SSR and thereafter make an attempt to do a new reservation to get back those first two nights at AKV, which could then be unavailable by going to someone's waitlist when you released those nights.

Otherwise, if you have two separate, but sequential, reservations at one resort in the same room category, MS can merge them into one as long as they are both made with the same membership (all the contracts in a single membership would have the same use year, which I assume is your situation).

 

[DanCali]

Hi all.

This is our 2nd year of DVC - We have 300 points at AKL, and we booked for 13 nights between October 23 - November 6. I split it into 2 seperate bookings (6 and 7 night) as I would be happy to split stay and was advised this would be an easier way to do it rather than hope for 13 night availability.

Today is our 7 month date, and I was hoping to move the first booking - We'd literally be happy to stay in any resort as we want to try them all. The last few weeks I've been checking on a semi-regular basis and seeing resort availability drop off until yesterday when Saratoga Springs was the only one that could give us the full 6 days, but when it come to modifying the booking today even that has gone!

Interestingly our second booking of 7 nights currently still has availability at Saratoga, Old Key West, Bay Lake & Polynesian, but the first 6 days have no availability. I know it's Halloween which is a busy time of year, but is it expected that there is no availability to modify at 7 months?

My other question is that Saratoga has 4 nights available currently (the last 4 nights) - if we were to modify to accept those 4 days, and then next week modified our 7 day booking to Saratoga, could we 'merge' that into a single 11 night booking at SS with the first 2 nights remaining at AKL?

Availability at 7 months really depends on when you are trying to go (summer will be the easiest). We usually do fine getting a studio at most WDW places during summer break. You can check the availability tables to see what might be available based on prior year averages: https://dvcfieldguide.com/availability-tables

Whenever going to a non-home resort, always be prepared to trade into something more expensive since the cheapest units will go first. I considered ourselves lucky to get a 1BR at VGC, even though we might only need a studio. And I consider myself lucky to get a preferred view studio at RIV, knowing full well the standard/resort view studios go first, and not have to book a 1BR.

On that same note, I do suspect that the title of the thread is a bit misleading because there probably still are 1BR units available at several WDW resorts for your 6 nights (possibly BRV, CCV, BLT, RIV in addition to AKVK where you own, OKW and SSR). If there truly was no availability that would indeed be a lousy predicament. But you can get still your 6 nights if you want to experience other resorts - it will just be in a larger unit and maybe also a better view category (not bad things!), and those will come at an extra cost.

If you want to reliably have a better shot at the smallest rooms with the worst/cheapest views at multiple resorts then the only way to do this is to buy at more than one resort. That's how we ended up with 7 "homes"!

 

[ldo]

I'd call MS and see if they can get the 4 nights and keep the other 3 nights and then start stalking for the extra days--worst case, you do 4 SSR/10 AKV, but SSR other nights should come up, esp. if you waitlist.
I'd be nervous to modify the 6 to 4 nights SSR, b/c you might lose those other 3 nights. Best bet is if you have any extra points, to lock in the 4 nights (and then drop the AKV 4). Good luck.
Yes, they can merge 2 reservations later.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

What’s wrong with staying at AKL the whole trip? It’s a beautiful resort and it’d be nice not to pack up and move halfway through your trip, and being “homeless” for several hours. I find split stays to be stressful. We’d been wanting to stay at BRV forever but could never seem to get 2 weeks there when we want to visit at 7 months so we rented points from a BRV owner for our January 2025 stay. It was a simple solution and worked well.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

These are the times that the Swan and Dolphin serve their purpose as gap fillers or bookends.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Wow. Just did the search. There seems to be a lot of walking going on. I would try to book what you can and waitlist the rest. Hopefully it becomes available soon.

 

[lozkin]

Getting anything close to a full week, especially a studio with owners being el cheapo with points, will be limited at 7 months. Can see why home resort is important.

Modifying is a one resort reservation. You can shorten your first one to get those 4 nights at SSR but can’t get them until it’s 7 months to that check in date. Safe to wait till that day to modify anything if that is your plan. Would then have option to make a third reservation, then at 7 months to that last reservation, modify it to SSR. If same booking categories can be merged or noted to link reservations.

Personally I wouldn’t do all this for SSR. I’d be patient, keep checking. Openings happen often. Will see that the more you search. Otherwise 13 nights at AKV isn’t a bad thing at all.

When I do it, I’ll search that window of my stay, over sometimes days or months to see what pops up. See something I like, I’ll go back and modify my reservation and switch it that way.

Many options to get a two resort split stay, or modify things to get even more bouncing around. Good luck with your plans!

Thanks - we like AKL but would prefer a pull down bed rather than a sofa bed!

 

[AstroBlasters]

I think a lot of people are coming after May because of Epic Universe.

There is a lot of hype and positive reviews around this new theme park.

 

[Philsfan77]

Wow. Just did the search. There seems to be a lot of walking going on. I would try to book what you can and waitlist the rest. Hopefully it becomes available soon.

Walking at the 7 month window rarely works. More than likely it is just rooms booked by owners who had the 11-month window and those dates specifically cover a pretty popular race weekend.

 

[Philsfan77]

Your issue for the 23rd-26th is that is wine and dine half marathon weekend. This is also probably why there is more availability after you clear that weekend. You can see at a lot of the resorts, availability starts to show back up for Sunday the 26th or Monday the 27th. I would say keep your first 6 nights as they are...and work on modifying the last part of your trip.In the future, if planning to do a split stay, check if you're covering any holidays, or marathons. Marathons are very popular amongst DVC owners and for owners renting DVC points and unfortunately makes it a little more challenging to move around at the 7 month window over those times of year.

Just take the Polynesian Resort View Studio for instance. It is sold out the 23rd and 24th, but then on the 25th availability goes back up to around 100 rooms of inventory. The 27th it is up to around 170 rooms and thats pretty steady the rest of the month. Just adjust after the race weekend and you will be fine.

 

[DL1WDW2]

That is why I would probably only buy a Fixed Week ever again. Fortunately my home resort is BLT for NYE …
I also was wondering if the DVC Member Magic Beyond bonus points perk is increasing low availability for 25/26 calendar.
I wonder how many are booking WDW DVC to go to EPIC beginning 5/22/25

 

[lozkin]

What’s wrong with staying at AKL the whole trip? It’s a beautiful resort and it’d be nice not to pack up and move halfway through your trip, and being “homeless” for several hours. I find split stays to be stressful. We’d been wanting to stay at BRV forever but could never seem to get 2 weeks there when we want to visit at 7 months so we rented points from a BRV owner for our January 2025 stay. It was a simple solution and worked well.

We love AKL, but the sofa beds aren't nice, even with the mattress toppers....obviously not a hardship if we end up staying there, but would prefer a resort with a pull down 2nd bed. We are also keen to stay at as many of the resorts as possible! So far we've only done OKW and AKL and want to stay at them all!

 

[lozkin]

One of the other options is we rent out the 92 points we spent booking the first 6 nights @ $18 per point, and book a moderate resort, but for our dates, Coronado Springs is £1,800 ($2300) and Caribbean Beach is £2,020 ($2600) whereas the 92 points sold would get us $1,656, and I don't think we would be keen on putting more money on top of what is already close to a £15k holiday!

I think we will look to switch the 2nd part of our trip when the 7 month window opens on the 29th (currently Saratoga, Grand Floridian and OKW showing as available) and then see if we get lucky with availability for the first part opening up

 

[PatMcDuck]

We are doing a split stay with 3 nights Universal, 5 nights WDW. We decided to book the Fort Wilderness Cabins for second 1/2 of this trip, Oct 23-28. (Our home resort is BRV. We did stay at the Fort cabins before they went to DVC). I had to walk that reservation (I understand not always successful on a 7 month reservation). We could not get Oct 30/31of course.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

We love AKL, but the sofa beds aren't nice, even with the mattress toppers....obviously not a hardship if we end up staying there, but would prefer a resort with a pull down 2nd bed. We are also keen to stay at as many of the resorts as possible! So far we've only done OKW and AKL and want to stay at them all!

My back can't argue with you here! Unfortunately, you'll be about a month or 2 too early for the refurbs happening at Kidani that should be installing the Murphy Beds. I am very much looking forward to that!

 

[Anthony1971]

Not sure exactly what you are looking to do but:
If you have 2 or multiple reservations at the same resort and the same Cat for continues dates you can call MS and they will merge them to one continues reservation.

 

[Philsfan77]

One of the other options is we rent out the 92 points we spent booking the first 6 nights @ $18 per point, and book a moderate resort, but for our dates, Coronado Springs is £1,800 ($2300) and Caribbean Beach is £2,020 ($2600) whereas the 92 points sold would get us $1,656, and I don't think we would be keen on putting more money on top of what is already close to a £15k holiday!

I think we will look to switch the 2nd part of our trip when the 7 month window opens on the 29th (currently Saratoga, Grand Floridian and OKW showing as available) and then see if we get lucky with availability for the first part opening up

Thats going to be your best bet...once you clear the race weekend, you should be fine getting a bunch of different resort options.