|
|
Post by lephelps on Jan 28, 2023 13:13:34 GMT -5
Per my understanding there are only two OKW 3BR GVs in the "Near Hospitality House" category (both in building 25) so I'm not surprised to find that they're almost always impossible to book for any extended length of time, even at a 11 months out.
We may be in the market for an OKW GV next year, depending on whether my sister and family make the trip from Australia in 2024, and the Peninsular Road area near HH (buildings 23-26) is our preferred OKW "neighborhood." For those who have managed to grab this rare booking at OKW, are there any tips or tricks involved or is it just a matter of luck combined being on the DVC site first thing each morning when the 11-month window opens, hoping to find one open date, and then modifying to expand and/or walk a reservation?
And, assuming we are not lucky enough to get grab one of those GVs near HH, how successful have you been when requesting a 3BR GV in a specific area? The GVs in buildings 15, 16, or 63 (diagonal from HH on Miller's Road) would be equally desirable but I'm wondering how lucky people have been at requesting a GV in that specific range of buildings when booking the non-HH category.
We would definitely be looking to book at the 11-month window and we've been very successful with room requests via the TouringPlans room request tool in the past but we've also only done studios or 2BRs and I know that OKW GVs are popular due to lower points and in much shorter supply so I'm curious on the request success rate for them.
Thanks in advance!
|
|
|
|
Post by BWV Dreamin on Jan 28, 2023 13:42:30 GMT -5
Are you an owner at those resorts? If not, seek out an owner to rent from for those reservations and rent your own points out to help cover the cost of the rental. At least at OKW, GV in general, and especially at hospitality house, go very quickly.
|
|
|
|
Post by lephelps on Jan 28, 2023 13:47:04 GMT -5
Are you an owner at those resorts? If not, seek out an owner to rent from for those reservations and rent your own points out to help cover the cost of the rental. At least at OKW, GV in general, and especially at hospitality house, go very quickly. Yes, we own at OKW. Bought in 2020 after being renters for years and took our first two trips as owners last year. So, looking for tips as an OKW owner on how to grab that elusive "GV near HH" booking if any tips exist beyond "pure luck."  Looking at standard and near HH GV availability right now, you can find scattered 1 or 2 nights for the "near HH" GVs but even looking at a 11 months out (granted that's now Christmas so not the best data sampling), the GVs near HH are gone. The only anomaly is end of August where you have a two 4-night stretches and then 3 nights in mid-November. |
|
|
|
Post by BWV Dreamin on Jan 28, 2023 14:21:52 GMT -5
If available, try walking your reservation at least 2 weeks before your desired timeframe.
|
|
|
|
Post by Adelard of Bath on Jan 28, 2023 18:28:11 GMT -5
Not the answer to your question at all, but for those family trips, I am a big fan of "everyone gets a studio" and somebody gets a 1-bd. You get them close together, there's a kitchen and laundry, and at the end of the day everyone gets their much-needed space. The "somebody" who gets the 1-bd is hopefully wife and I. Granted, there isn't that glorious family-sharing-a-big-house like we see on tv, but in reality I think it isn't all it's cracked up to be.
But that's just me!
|
|
|
|
Post by helenabear on Jan 28, 2023 21:45:14 GMT -5
So I've never been able to myself. You have to be lucky and willing to walk reservations to get it. Really nothing else. They are super hard. The next best try is to go for a HA GV and hope you get 62 vs 48 and be close but not quite HH area
|
|
|
|
Post by lephelps on Jan 29, 2023 9:58:16 GMT -5
Not the answer to your question at all, but for those family trips, I am a big fan of "everyone gets a studio" and somebody gets a 1-bd. You get them close together, there's a kitchen and laundry, and at the end of the day everyone gets their much-needed space. The "somebody" who gets the 1-bd is hopefully wife and I. Granted, there isn't that glorious family-sharing-a-big-house like we see on tv, but in reality I think it isn't all it's cracked up to be. But that's just me! LOL, I can fully appreciate that approach. We've done a 3BR suite at DLH and did fine with all 10 of us then and we typically have 6 or 7 of us in a 2BR. What we've learned as the key to not wanting to kill each other by the end of group trips is 1) keep your "mess" contained to your bedroom area so that the common living space is neat and tidy (for those of us who get stressed by mess) and 2) we may do some things as a group but we are NOT going to travel the parks in a horde for the full trip and everyone is free to go where they want when they want with whomever they want.  So I've never been able to myself. You have to be lucky and willing to walk reservations to get it. Really nothing else. They are super hard. The next best try is to go for a HA GV and hope you get 62 vs 48 and be close but not quite HH area Wow, good to know. I guess I'll cross my fingers but not hold my breath when the time finally comes to try for a reservation or just not bother and go for that 11-month non-HH booking + a building request and hope our luck holds out with the request. |
|
|
|
Post by Adelard of Bath on Jan 29, 2023 13:08:08 GMT -5
we may do some things as a group but we are NOT going to travel the parks in a horde for the full trip Yeah that thing where everyone tries to walk around as one giant group is the worst. Better to meet up for dinner or whatever. Maybe this has something to do with us being repeat visitors? Maybe those people who make "one and done" giant family trips all wearing the same shirt, maybe they can stick together because they've never seen any of this stuff before. I dunno! |
|
|
|
Post by sherrih on Jan 29, 2023 17:32:00 GMT -5
We have a couple who we traveled with regularly (destination triathlons). We easily agreed on hotel, food, activities (and if one of us didn't want to do/eat something we split up no problem). Others friends started to travel with us and we quickly discovered that our best approach was "we're leaving at X time to do Y'. If you want to go, that's fine, - if it not, no problem. It eliminated waiting for everyone who showed up late, complained about the activity or restaurant, etc. We had no stress and no one felt obligated. We used this approach with family too.
|
|
|
|
Post by lephelps on Jul 8, 2023 9:42:29 GMT -5
FYI, the key to getting the GV near HH would appear to be "walk that reservation" when you find a window before the days you want and hope the people ahead of you aren't aiming for the same days.  I could have kicked myself because one Sunday morning there was a full week window open but it was gone by the time I decided to bite the bullet and book & walk for about a month. But, there were enough days open behind the people in the lead that I decided "what the heck, let's give it a try," booked what days were open, and then followed them for a few weeks until this past weekend when at least one stopped and I was able to I walk "past" them and grab a full week on the lead edge of booking. We now have our GV near HH reservation all set and are counting down the days until all 11 of us descend upon WDW next June. It will be me, DH, our two sons (they'll be 23 & 19), older DS's girlfriend (will turn 24 just before we leave), my mom, my brother, my sister, her DH, and their two DDs (they'll be 15 & 13). My sister and her family are coming over from Australia for a month; their last trip to the states was in 2018. I'm so excited and happy we're now members instead of renters and can provide my sister and her family the opportunity to do a WDW trip.  There's no way they could afford to do it otherwise because of the expense; just getting the four of them to the states and staying for a month is a huge financial undertaking. We all met up at DLR in 2014 for several days upon their arrival to the states (mom paid for most of the accommodations) but I can't wait to see the girls' reactions to experiencing WDW. Our part of the crew are already looking forward to the trip. And, for the next 300+ days I'll allow myself to live in a delusional fantasy of what a great time we'll have and how no one will be ready to maim or strangle anyone else by the end of the trip, lol.    |
|
|
|
Post by jedimom3 on Jul 8, 2023 11:49:49 GMT -5
Congrats on getting a reservation! Best wishes for the rest of the trip planning!!
|
|
|
|
Post by Brian5581 on Jul 8, 2023 18:10:22 GMT -5
Congratulations on the reservation! Hope all goes as well as desired.
|
|
There's no way they could afford to do it otherwise because of the expense; just getting the four of them to the states and staying for a month is a huge financial undertaking. We all met up at DLR in 2014 for several days upon their arrival to the states (mom paid for most of the accommodations) but I can't wait to see the girls' reactions to experiencing WDW. 
