Please help me with point reservation strategy

[DebBrown]

If you followed my other post, my cousin will let us use her points but it is not enough for spring break week in 2br unit. Her use year starts 2/1 so she would have more points available then but that is really close to check in date of 3/28. If you were going to book 3 or 4 nights now and hope for some miracle later, would it be better for us to reserve the beginning of the week or the end of the week now? I had planned on the end of the week and starting the week at a nearby non-DVC timeshare. I was thinking the days leading up to Easter would be the most difficult.

We are also considering renting additional 3 days through one of the rental sites but we need to start with what we can get reasonably.

Thanks. I am really learning a lot quickly!

 

[TheHolleys87]

The start of her UY has no influence on when she can book. She can always book her home resort 11 months from checkin and non home resorts 7 months from checkin.

UY only determines which points can be used for a given reservation. If she has a February UY, your Spring Break 2026 trip is in her 2026 UY. So she can book her home resort now using banked 2025 points, any or all 2026 points, and borrow 2027 points if needed.

I think you are looking at March or April, can’t remember. In any case, she should book her home now, assuming she her total available points (2025+2026+2027) are sufficient, because the booking window for March opened in April and for April opened in May. Take advantage of home resort priority!

Then at 7 months from desired checkin y’all can look at what other resorts have availability for your dates, and she can MODIFY (not cancel and rebook) the reservation she makes now.

 

[TheHolleys87]

I just reviewed your other thread. The 7 month window for March 28 will be August 28, but as I said, ask her to book her home resort NOW.

Then you’ll have a place to stay - and BLT is very convenient, newly refurbished, and has 3 bathrooms in the 2BR villas, so if that’s her home, you might not want to move.

 

[ljmiii]

If you followed my other post, my cousin will let us use her points but it is not enough for spring break week in 2br unit. Her use year starts 2/1...

I agree with everything @TheHolleys87 wrote. In particular the need to book as many of those dates as their points allow at their home resort *yesterday*. They can always modify to drop dates later but they can't book dates that are gone.

Obviously I have no idea if banked 2025, 2026 and borrowable 2027 points add up to 506 (or 614), but there are still 2 standard nights left at the end and 3 in the middle if that helps.

If you have sufficient MVC points to throw at the problem (and there is still availability), I would also book 3/28 - 4/4 at one of the Palms resorts to ensure that you can cover whichever dates you may not be able to stay 'on property at WDW.

 

[DebBrown]

She has 250 points right now. She can "rent" the 24 annual points at the 7 month mark. She says she has access to her annual 160 points on February 1. Maybe those are being borrowed from future years? Anyway, we can only book 3 nights at BLT now. At 7 months (8/28), we could change reservation to OKW or another resort with a lower point cost and get 4 nights if available.

I'm asking if we are better off booking the beginning or end of our week? After 2/1, we could search for the rest of the week. I have no idea if days will become available. I am leaning toward reserving the last days of our trip. I can fill in the beginning with a non-DVC exchange. My other option is to rent points on one of the public sites.

I think I have a handle on this now. Hope so!

 

[heathpack]

She has 250 points right now. She can "rent" the 24 annual points at the 7 month mark. She says she has access to her annual 160 points on February 1. Maybe those are being borrowed from future years? Anyway, we can only book 3 nights at BLT now. At 7 months (8/28), we could change reservation to OKW or another resort with a lower point cost and get 4 nights if available.

I'm asking if we are better off booking the beginning or end of our week? After 2/1, we could search for the rest of the week. I have no idea if days will become available. I am leaning toward reserving the last days of our trip. I can fill in the beginning with a non-DVC exchange. My other option is to rent points on one of the public sites.

I think I have a handle on this now. Hope so!

You’re better off booking the cheapest points rooms now (ie Sun-Thurs). There will be more availability of the more expensive nights (Fri/Sat) at the 7 month mark.

 

[DebBrown]

You’re better off booking the cheapest points rooms now (ie Sun-Thurs). There will be more availability of the more expensive nights (Fri/Sat) at the 7 month mark.

Thanks!

 

[heathpack]

Thanks!

No problem.

Of the “affordable” DVC 2BRs, you might consider Boulder Ridge at the Wilderness Lodge. It has a resort feel. We just stayed there.

Pros:
1. Cool national park lodge theming
2. Fun family restaurant Whispering Canyon, reservations easy to get
3. Limited menu but great lakeside vibe at Geyser Point
4. Electrical water pageant from the beach
5. Launch over to MK
6. Launch to Hoop de Doo at Fort Wilderness, very fun dinner show
7. Launch over to Contemporary- lunch at Steakhouse 71 is great. Can catch monorail to other resorts for a tour
8. Cool common area in the timeshare section (Boulder Ridge)

Cons:
1. Bus or drive to other parks or Disney Springs

 

[elaine]

After 2/1, we could search for the rest of the week

You can search spring 2026 now and book at 7 months prior. I do not understand the "do not have access to points until 2/1" for end of March." I have a Dec 1 Use Year and have already booked Jan trips at 7 months out and May trips at home resort.
Also, if you decide to split off-site, we have booked most of the Marriott TS in the Seawrold area (and HGVC SW and Tuscany) and found them very nice.

 

[TheHolleys87]

She has 250 points right now. She can "rent" the 24 annual points at the 7 month mark. She says she has access to her annual 160 points on February 1. Maybe those are being borrowed from future years?

If she can borrow those points on February 1, she can borrow them now. As I explained above, right now she can apply points banked from her current 2025 UY, points that will come in her 2026 UY, and borrow points from her 2027 UY to book whatever is available right now at her home resort BLT.

She is correct that at seven months prior to desired check-in, she will be able to buy up to 24 OTUP. But as far as her own points, there won’t be anything available on February 1 that is not available to apply to a reservation made now.

I'm asking if we are better off booking the beginning or end of our week?

I’m not sure it really matters, and I haven’t looked to see what the relationship is between your dates and Easter Sunday. Points costs are higher the week before Easter than they are the week after Easter, which also suggests to me that DVC finds the week after Easter to not be in as much demand as the week before Easter. IOW if you want the week before Easter, I would book as much as you can right now before availability disappears.

 

[DebBrown]

You can search spring 2026 now and book at 7 months prior. I do not understand the "do not have access to points until 2/1" for end of March." I have a Dec 1 Use Year and have already booked Jan trips at 7 months out and May trips at home resort.
Also, if you decide to split off-site, we have booked most of the Marriott TS in the Seawrold area (and HGVC SW and Tuscany) and found them very nice.

When do you get points for future years? Maybe she has access to 2026 now but not 2027? There must be a cutoff for future years borrowing at some point.

We have stayed in off-site timeshares many, many times. I'm a big Cypress Harbour fan but have stayed in all the Marriotts at one time or another as well at Hilton, Vistana, and others.

 

[elaine]

I believe you can borrow from 2027 to 2026 now. But, be very careful doing this--borrowing is a final transaction and they will expire Feb 1, 2027. I'd also recommend getting the front end of your week and then working on the weekend. I have found that the higher points Easter weekends sometimes have fairly good avaialability. But, I'd book a nice offsite TS (refundable rate) now to have as a back-up. Good luck!

 

[TheHolleys87]

When do you get points for future years? Maybe she has access to 2026 now but not 2027? There must be a cutoff for future years borrowing at some point.

We have stayed in off-site timeshares many, many times. I'm a big Cypress Harbour fan but have stayed in all the Marriotts at one time or another as well at Hilton, Vistana, and others.

You get access to points from future UY at 11 months from checkin at your home resort and at 7 months from checkin at non-home resorts. What points you can borrow depends on the UY into which the trip itself falls and has nothing to do with when the reservation is made. You can borrow from the UY after the trip but not any more than that.

DVC UY is very difficult to understand, especially if she’s a fairly recent new owner.

Her UY is February. Checkin for your desired trip is in March 2026, which means it falls in her 2026 UY. So she can make a reservation at her home resort today (the 11 month window opened in April) and can apply any points left in her 2025 UY (needs to bank them into 2026 first), the 160 points in her 2026 UY, and as part of making the reservation can borrow and apply up to 160 points from her 2027 UY. So today she has at least 320 points she can apply to a reservation at BLT for the dates you desire (2026 points plus 2027 points plus possibly some 2025 points). No matter how long she waits to book that reservation, she will not have more than that number of points.

So it will be best if today she books as many nights as she can at her home resort with those 320 points. Then in August, at 7 months out, IF there’s availability, she can buy up to 24 OTUP to apply to extend the reservation at BLT or to add to the 320 and move elsewhere. At 7 months out from March 2026, you’re more likely to find availability at SSR, OKW, or AKV-Kidani than anywhere else at WDW. Availability at other resorts isn’t impossible, just unlikely!

 

[TheHolleys87]

She has 250 points right now.

What UY are these points from? She can bank only UY 2025 points (160) into 2026 for your reservation. So if some of those 250 points are UY 2024, she can’t use them for your desired dates, unfortunately.

If all 160 of her 2025 points are available for you to use, then today she could apply up to 160 x 3 = 480 points to a reservation at her home resort. At 7 months she could buy 24 OTUP to extend that reservation or move elsewhere, depending on availability.

However, please do not wait until 7 months to book something. Availability at her home resort for your dates will be less every day y’all wait.

 

[DebBrown]

Thank you all for your lessons on DVC points. I will try to find out exactly how many points are coming from what years. She's been an owner for many years and should have a good handle on how things work. She lives in Florida and they've used the points throughout the year for short visits. Now her partner has advanced Alzheimers and they are not traveling. She is very kind to let us use her points. Anyway... I'll be back with more info. Again, thank you all!

 

[TheHolleys87]

Thank you all for your lessons on DVC points. I will try to find out exactly how many points are coming from what years. She's been an owner for many years and should have a good handle on how things work. She lives in Florida and they've used the points throughout the year for short visits. Now her partner has advanced Alzheimers and they are not traveling. She is very kind to let us use her points. Anyway... I'll be back with more info. Again, thank you all!

You're very welcome! I hope we'll be able to help you book your best trip!

 

[DebBrown]

Well, my cousin did NOT know she could borrow the 2027 points. As of tonight, we have 5 nights at BLT and will try for 7 nights at OKW on 8/28. I'm not sure if it's worth giving up the BLT 5 nights for a partial OKW week and try to piece a week together. That seems risky. Thanks again!

 

[ljmiii]

Well, my cousin did NOT know she could borrow the 2027 points. As of tonight, we have 5 nights at BLT and will try for 7 nights at OKW on 8/28….

Congratulations!

 

[TheHolleys87]

Well, my cousin did NOT know she could borrow the 2027 points. As of tonight, we have 5 nights at BLT and will try for 7 nights at OKW on 8/28. I'm not sure if it's worth giving up the BLT 5 nights for a partial OKW week and try to piece a week together. That seems risky. Thanks again!

I am so happy to read this!

Make sure that your cousin knows that on August 28 she does not need to cancel the BLT reservation. What she needs to do is to open up that reservation on her dashboard and click the button that says Modify. That will open up the windows for her to search for the OKW reservation, and if all seven nights are available, she can book them without losing the BLT reservation in the meantime.

 

[TheHolleys87]

Just in case she's never modified a reservation before, here are the steps.

On her dashboard, click on the reservation, and she'll see this:

Click on the View or Modify Details button to see this:

Click on Modify next to the villa size and resort line, and it will open up the booking tool just like normal. She can enter the party size, dates you want (not limited to what you have booked at BLT already), villa size, etc. that you want and check off the resorts you're interested in, then click Search, and if something you want is available, she can click Book. The BLT reservation won't be canceled until the new one is confirmed - you'll even keep the same confirmation number.

Good luck!

 

[Huskerpaul]

@TheHolleys87 Thanks for the explanation. Now I understand why people say that if you are planning to change resorts during a trip you should make two reservations at your home resort at 11 months. That way you can modify one reservation if the room you want opens at 7 months without losing the other reservation at your home resort. If nothing shows up you want you can contact DVC and ask them to merge the two reservations into one single reservation.

 

[TheHolleys87]

@TheHolleys87 Thanks for the explanation. Now I understand why people say that if you are planning to change resorts during a trip you should make two reservations at your home resort at 11 months. That way you can modify one reservation if the room you want opens at 7 months without losing the other reservation at your home resort. If nothing shows up you want you can contact DVC and ask them to merge the two reservations into one single reservation.

Exactly.

NB: There are occasional reports of MS merging the two reservations before the 7 month window opens, without being asked. So it’s suggested to make the guest list a little different for each one. For instance, I could list DH as a guest on one reservation but leave him off of the other one (I’d be primary guest on both). MS won’t merge those, and I can easily add him to the second reservation when appropriate.

And after all these years of booking online, I just learned a few months ago that when booking, especially if a hard to get reservation and time is of the essence, I can fill in only the primary guest information and leave all the others blank. The other guests can be added at any time after the reservation is confirmed.

 

[ljmiii]

NB: There are occasional reports of MS merging the two reservations before the 7 month window opens, without being asked. So it’s suggested to make the guest list a little different for each one.

Yup...

And after all these years of booking online, I just learned a few months ago that when booking, especially if a hard to get reservation and time is of the essence, I can fill in only the primary guest information and leave all the others blank. The other guests can be added at any time after the reservation is confirmed.

...and absolutely positively this.