funatdisney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2006
The goal: book a one bedroom at the VGC for Oct 15 (Monday) to Oct 17 (Wednesday) using my SSR points.
I own points at VGC but I wanted to use my SSR points for this booking. For insurance, I booked these dates using my VGC points and planned on canceling the reservation if I got the reservation with the SSR points.
I did some reading here and got some great tips. Most of the threads I read focused on WDW DVC resorts. I thought VGC might be harder to book since it has a much smaller room inventory than other DVC resorts, although Oct is tough for both coasts. So I decided to check room availability on March 3rd for Oct 3. Oct 3 was booked but so was the 4th. Oct 5 was still available. That meant I would have to wait til the 5th to check for availability. So when checking on March 5th, Oct 5th and 6th were booked and the 7th was available. So I checked on March 7 for availability for Oct 7. Again, two days booked, the third day was available. This kept on happening for the next week.
I am aware of booking so many number of days ahead from the first day of booking (not sure how many days though). But this pattern was consistent. Two days booked; the third day available. I began to realize, I might have book Oct 14 to Oct 17 for me to get the 15th to the 17th. Lucky for me I had enough SSR points to do this.
Sure enough, when I checked on March 12th, Oct 12 and 13 were booked. The 14th was available. So I got up at 4:30 am on this morning (to be sure I was AWAKE at 5 am) and was able to book a one bedroom at the VGC for Oct 14 to Oct 17. By the time I was done with my reservation (5:02 am), a one bedroom on Oct 15th was unavailable! Within 7 minutes, the 14th became unavailable. I may or may not drop the 14th. I worked hard for that date! Anyway, someone’s WL will come through if I do.
This was a very important strategy I plan to use quite a bit since the next few years we are planning on vacationing at VGC. Got to use my SSR points somehow!
I own points at VGC but I wanted to use my SSR points for this booking. For insurance, I booked these dates using my VGC points and planned on canceling the reservation if I got the reservation with the SSR points.
I did some reading here and got some great tips. Most of the threads I read focused on WDW DVC resorts. I thought VGC might be harder to book since it has a much smaller room inventory than other DVC resorts, although Oct is tough for both coasts. So I decided to check room availability on March 3rd for Oct 3. Oct 3 was booked but so was the 4th. Oct 5 was still available. That meant I would have to wait til the 5th to check for availability. So when checking on March 5th, Oct 5th and 6th were booked and the 7th was available. So I checked on March 7 for availability for Oct 7. Again, two days booked, the third day was available. This kept on happening for the next week.
I am aware of booking so many number of days ahead from the first day of booking (not sure how many days though). But this pattern was consistent. Two days booked; the third day available. I began to realize, I might have book Oct 14 to Oct 17 for me to get the 15th to the 17th. Lucky for me I had enough SSR points to do this.
Sure enough, when I checked on March 12th, Oct 12 and 13 were booked. The 14th was available. So I got up at 4:30 am on this morning (to be sure I was AWAKE at 5 am) and was able to book a one bedroom at the VGC for Oct 14 to Oct 17. By the time I was done with my reservation (5:02 am), a one bedroom on Oct 15th was unavailable! Within 7 minutes, the 14th became unavailable. I may or may not drop the 14th. I worked hard for that date! Anyway, someone’s WL will come through if I do.
This was a very important strategy I plan to use quite a bit since the next few years we are planning on vacationing at VGC. Got to use my SSR points somehow!