Confused and I need advice....

[Sunshine1010]

I am wanting to go on vacation Dec. 4-14. Home resort is SSR, but I want to change that to VWL or BW. I was told by MS to call on May 5th (7 month out) to change.

Soooo, I call and they inform me that ...no, I should call on the 15th.

I asked about availability at VWL/BW for those dates and he stated there was only 2 days at each place that had availability.

Questions:
1. Which rep is right...when am I eligible to do it ...May 5th or May 15th?
2. Honestly --- if I get put on the waitlist for the dates....what are my chances?
3. Is it worth the wait/stress?

Any other advice/comments would be appreciated.

[GAN]

If you're booking one day at a time, which you will probably need to do, you would call TODAY. But you would only be booking Dec 4. If you were planning on booking the Dec 4-14 all at one time, then you would call on the 15th. However, it is possible that even booking day-to-day you will be waitlisted. You should have booked a stay at SSR as back-up.

[DisneyGiant]

I think in order to change your whole stay at once, you need to call 7 months out from the day of your checkout. Otherwise you can book it night by night - but I can't be bothered doing that.

And so far, I've had very good luck switching.

Won't be the end of the world having to stay at SSR - but I would be more likely to have to rent a car if staying there - I've heard not so good things about the transportation.......

We took it once from MGM to just check the resort out (hadn't been there yet, and we had ressies for Downtown Disney) and we waited over 40 minutes for a bus. Not a good first impression!!

[wendy*darling]

You've gotten some good answers so far.
You can call 7 months out from each date.
If you called today to move the whole vacation- you can't. That's why you were told to wait until the 15th.
But if you told them today that you wanted to move Dec 4th only, then you should have been allowed to do that.
Since they had previously told you that there are only 2 days at your choice resorts with availability (I think you posted that in an earlier thread too), then you just need to decide if it's worth it to risk having to change resorts one or more times during your vacation.
Today you can make a decision about Dec 4th, and on Monday you can choose about Dec 5th & 6th, and so on. Or, you can wait until May 15th and make a decision about the whole vacation.
If it were my family, I would wait until the 15th and ask to be wait listed for the whole time at one of your other choices. If it doesn't come through, at least you have a ressie at SSR.

[xwdpuzzler]

If you already have a ressie at SSR keep. As far as the transporation issue, I just returned from SSR last weeka nd we had no transporation problems. The longest we had to wait on a bus was at the parks when we were leaving for the day. It does seem to take a little longer getting the the parks depending on where you are staying in the complex. We stayed a the paddock and we were the 2nd stop on the bus route for SSR, I believe there are 5 (?) stops altogether before leaving the resort, but you can use the buses to move about the resort. If you are far away from the front desk it may be ideal to take a bus to the front. However, we were on the back of the property, but the walk was not bad going to the pool, the restrurants or the front of the resort.

Hope this helps

Honeymoon (offsite) 1982
Convention (offsite) 1992
Wilderness Lodge 1998
Animal Kindom 2005
Saratoga Spring 2007
DVC Member since 2006
Next Vacation - who knows????

[Sunshine1010]

THANKS to all who have written so far.

I wanted to let everyone know that I DO HAVE a reservation at SSR. I made that at my 11 mo. mark.

The reason why I don't want to stay at SSR, is because I merely want to 'try' another resort.

In fact, I love SSR and will stay there again....I just wanted to try a different one.

Another thing: I did not tell the MS rep that I wanted a block of time saved. I told him I wanted the first day and he must have misunderstood and thought I was doing the whole block of time. Also, confusion may have happened because the man knew English well, but his accent was very difficult for me to understand.

My plan at this point is to call first thing Monday morning and discuss all this with them.

I'm a little scared because out of the entire 10 days, only TWO days are open.

[Seasonscraps]

When you talk to them, ask them to put you on the waitlist, you never know what pops up. DH & I lucked out a few times getting our first or second choice hotel from the wait list.

Would you consider splitting your stay between two resorts? 5 days at SSR and 5 someplace else? Maybe it would be easier to stay someplace else that way?

Good luck!!

[lockedoutlogic]

I would try to get the Animal Kingdom Villas....

Animal Kingdom Lodge is a truely fantastic resort...a real one of a kind....and if you can get the Villas there for 12 or so points a night...it would be also a great deal for the points....

Old Key West is very similar to Saratoga...but a little more centrally located and established...the rooms are also a little more convenient with 2 beds if you have kids.....

Don't be afraid to try those two locations...both are great.

It is near impossible to get WL that time of year....number one is that the theme is probably the most conducive to Christmas of any of the resorts....the second is that it has the fewest number of units....a big mistake on Disney's part

The beach club is the 2nd smallest...and it has a prime location and the best pool on property....making that one a tough get as well

[wendy*darling]

The reason why I don't want to stay at SSR, is because I merely want to 'try' another resort.

Good luck with whatever you are able to do.

But I would suggest you "try" another resort at another time of year. Or try one of the less popular ones (as suggested above) this time if you want a change of pace.
Holidays, low points, member meetings- December is a very difficult time to stay away from "home." And that's just going to just worse as they keep adding on.