Am I waitlisted correctly?

[Potigant]

I Have a BWV studio booked 3/14-3/17 and VGF studio booked 3/18-3/21. I would take either resort for the night of 3/17 but neither is currently available. I want to keep the split stay, just 4-3 or 3-4. I created two waitlists, one for BWV 3/14-3/18 of the same room type, and one for VGF 3/17-3/21. Both are set to replace the bookings at the same resort, just adding the extra day. Is this an ok way to do it, and Disney knows that my 3 existing nights will free up along with the 1 additional night to fulfill the waitlist? Or do I HAVE to do 1 night waitlists then merge them later? I was hoping to avoid the extra merging step, but if they won't fill because of the way I did it, I will go back and change them to 1 night waitlists. Thanks.

 

[Sandisw]

You don’t want to do it that way because waitlists are all or nothing. They don’t consider what you already have booked.

So, those won’t fill unless all of those nights open up in a new room, which means you would be waiting for nights you already have.

You only want to waitlist the missing night. So, change the waitlist just for 3/17 foe each resort.

If it fills, then you can ask MS to merge it with what you already have.

 

[Potigant]

You don’t want to do it that way because waitlists are all or nothing. They don’t consider what you already have booked.

So, those won’t fill unless all of those nights open up in a new room, which means you would be waiting for nights you already have.

You only want to waitlist the missing night. So, change the waitlist just for 3/17 foe each resort.

If it fills, then you can ask MS to merge it with what you already have.

Ok thank you! I will get them changed to 1 night waitlists and merge later if they fill. I appreciate your help.

 

[Judique]

Ok thank you! I will get them changed to 1 night waitlists and merge later if they fill. I appreciate your help.

So if your waitlist doesn't fill where are you sleeping?

You might want to ensure you have a room by booking something/anything for 3/17 and stating in your waitlist to replace the existing booking. It gives you that option.

You are dealing with 2 pretty popular resorts. There's always a chance one will fill but there's no guarantee.

 

[Potigant]

So if your waitlist doesn't fill where are you sleeping?

You might want to ensure you have a room by booking something/anything for 3/17 and stating in your waitlist to replace the existing booking. It gives you that option.

You are dealing with 2 pretty popular resorts. There's always a chance one will fill but there's no guarantee.

Good question. The two bookings I have were both made yesterday so it’s all speculative at this point. Just trying to piece something together, otherwise I will use hotel chain points to stay somewhere else likely in another state. Wouldn’t be willing to move twice in two days to make this work. Hopefully one of the two comes through before 30 days out, or another 3-4 adjacent nights free up at another resort. I’ve been checking daily and it seems like different options pop up pretty regularly.

 

[DVC4US]

I would also suggest checking availability as often as you can and not just rely on the wait list. Lately I have been able to fill my missing nights doing this before the wait list could come through.

 

[Potigant]

I would also suggest checking availability as often as you can and not just rely on the wait list. Lately I have been able to fill my missing nights doing this before the wait list could come through.

Excellent tip. I ended up with 5 nights at Poly this way. Didn’t end up keeping either of the 3 night bookings I mentioned in the original post. Started with I think 2 or 3 nights at poly and added single nights until I got to 5 and cancelled the VGF. The weird thing is I had single night waitlists activated but still ended up manually modifying / adding my stay when I saw the exact same night and room type show up on the calendar. The waitlist never filled even though it was on the calendar for me to grab. Any idea how that is possible? Makes me think my waitlist isn’t working or user error.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

Excellent tip. I ended up with 5 nights at Poly this way. Didn’t end up keeping either of the 3 night bookings I mentioned in the original post. Started with I think 2 or 3 nights at poly and added single nights until I got to 5 and cancelled the VGF. The weird thing is I had single night waitlists activated but still ended up manually modifying / adding my stay when I saw the exact same night and room type show up on the calendar. The waitlist never filled even though it was on the calendar for me to grab. Any idea how that is possible? Makes me think my waitlist isn’t working or user error.

That happens quite a lot. I think much more often than the waitlist filling on its own.

 

[Cyberc1978]

Ok thank you! I will get them changed to 1 night waitlists and merge later if they fill. I appreciate your help.

As you might already noticed you can't change a waitlist - only if it expire 31 or 7 days out.

So to change the dates you need to cancel the current one and create a new one.

 

[Potigant]

As you might already noticed you can't change a waitlist - only if it expire 31 or 7 days out.

So to change the dates you need to cancel the current one and create a new one.

For sure. I used the wrong terminology but definitely recognize the need to do that. Thanks!

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Excellent tip. I ended up with 5 nights at Poly this way. Didn’t end up keeping either of the 3 night bookings I mentioned in the original post. Started with I think 2 or 3 nights at poly and added single nights until I got to 5 and cancelled the VGF. The weird thing is I had single night waitlists activated but still ended up manually modifying / adding my stay when I saw the exact same night and room type show up on the calendar. The waitlist never filled even though it was on the calendar for me to grab. Any idea how that is possible? Makes me think my waitlist isn’t working or user error.

Enjoy poly. If you wanted to do a split stay, if the poly is booked as 2 reservations you could wait list one that replaces it.

 

[D-Trick]

The waitlist never filled even though it was on the calendar for me to grab.

I think the waitlist has been broken for the past month or so.

In November 2024 I waitlisted (2) single nights for a STD studio at SSR (non peak time). Since there are 264 of them I knew that it would fill quickly and I was correct-- they both filled within 3 days.

In mid-December 2024 I waitlisted (2) single nights for a studio at OKW in the same week and figured I'd see the same results since there are 230 of them. Both never filled until yesterday when I just happened to be checking.

I do agree that stalking is always better than the waitlists but frankly I was wasn't putting in too much effort since I knew that it was not a high demand room type. Sure it's possible that a room never opened up in the past month but frankly I find that highly unlikely and think the waitlist is currently not working.

 

[Sandisw]

I think the waitlist has been broken for the past month or so.

In November 2024 I waitlisted (2) single nights for a STD studio at SSR (non peak time). Since there are 264 of them I knew that it would fill quickly and I was correct-- they both filled within 3 days.

In mid-December 2024 I waitlisted (2) single nights for a studio at OKW in the same week and figured I'd see the same results since there are 230 of them. Both never filled until yesterday when I just happened to be checking.

I do agree that stalking is always better than the waitlists but frankly I was wasn't putting in too much effort since I knew that it was not a high demand room type. Sure it's possible that a room never opened up in the past month but frankly I find that highly unlikely and think the waitlist is currently not working.

I think sometimes we do see rooms when we have one waiting in the wings.

That also just happened to me. Had a waitlist for VGF for RV for two nights as had grabbed PV.

Ended up seeing one night of RV open but not both. Grabbed it and canceled my Wairlist.
Went back and my two nights were now there…so I had a match….just didn’t know it.

So, it’s definitely working.

 

[Potigant]

I think sometimes we do see rooms when we have one waiting in the wings.

That also just happened to me. Had a waitlist for VGF for RV for two nights as had grabbed PV.

Ended up seeing one night of RV open but not both. Grabbed it and canceled my Wairlist.
Went back and my two nights were now there…so I had a match….just didn’t know it.

So, it’s definitely working.

I don’t know if I agree with definitely working if like I said I was able to manually secure the exact single night and room type off the calendar that I had a waitlist for, and subsequently cancelled the still active waitlist half a day later that never filled. That night was out there for anyone to take when my waitlist was still active and never filled. And this happened twice. Both for the night of March 19th and March 20th. I am certain the room types were identical (resort view studio).

 

[Sandisw]

I don’t know if I agree with definitely working if like I said I was able to manually secure the exact single night and room type off the calendar that I had a waitlist for, and subsequently cancelled the still active waitlist half a day later that never filled. That night was out there for anyone to take when my waitlist was still active and never filled. And this happened twice. Both for the night of March 19th and March 20th. I am certain the room types were identical (resort view studio).

When you canceled your waitlist did you go back to see if a room showed back up?

I am not saying that it never happens that the waitlist misses it but I have had it happen way too many times when I canceled a waitlist to have the room showed up after I grabbed something else or even the same room

Since they don’t note if you have a match that is waiting to process, the only way to know that you didn’t have it was to cancel and check right away to see if it is back.

 

[Potigant]

When you canceled your waitlist did you go back to see if a room showed back up?

I am not saying that it never happens that the waitlist misses it but I have had it happen way too many times when I canceled a waitlist to have the room showed up after I grabbed something else or even the same room

Since they don’t note if you have a match that is waiting to process, the only way to know that you didn’t have it was to cancel and check right away to see if it is back.

I did not go back and check, but that scenario would mean that the night I needed (in a month with near zero availability at this point) suddenly went from 0 rooms available to 2, the one I grabbed manually, and one which was being held for me but not actually assigned to my active waitlist even after several hours. Plausible l suppose but seems crazy to happen twice like that within a few days.

I’m sure I’ll have opportunities to test this again some day.

 

[Sandisw]

I did not go back and check, but that scenario would mean that the night I needed (in a month with near zero availability at this point) suddenly went from 0 rooms available to 2, the one I grabbed manually, and one which was being held for me but not actually assigned to my active waitlist even after several hours. Plausible l suppose but seems crazy to happen twice like that within a few days.

I’m sure I’ll have opportunities to test this again some day.

I know but it does because that is exactly what just happened to me for VGF Dec 10 to 12th.

It can take days for a CM to process a matched waitlist, after a system match. That is why. It’s why I wish they’d have a way to indicate it for owners.

And, like I said, it’s happened more times than I can count to have been a coincidence.

My point is that many times rooms show up but an owner can have a match and they don’t know.

Not saying things don’t slip through because we don’t know how often the system will grab them but I do a lot of changing and watching for patterns!!!

 

[Potigant]

I know but it does because that is exactly what just happened to me for VGF Dec 10 to 12th.

It can take days for a CM to process a matched waitlist, after a system match. That is why. It’s why I wish they’d have a way to indicate it for owners.

And, like I said, it’s happened more times than I can count to have been a coincidence.

My point is that many times rooms show up but an owner can have a match and they don’t know.

Not saying things don’t slip through because we don’t know how often the system will grab them but I do a lot of changing and watching for patterns!!!

I will definitely lean on your experience and stay optimistic about the waitlist process working as intended. I appreciate the insight.