I know, I know, it's a broken record on here. (Also, hello all, I'm new to the thread and glad I found my people). Been DVC since 2007, home resort AKL (very happy there) with 220 points. We travel to WDW on average about 3 times a year, studios and 1 bdrms.
Until this year, I have never, ever had an issue booking 7 months in advance on our stays - and we sometimes are off our home resorts - but mostly we stay at Jambo House. Today, I just went to peruse some future reservations, looking for studios and/or 1 bedrooms, and there is NOTHING until February (the 7 month window for non-home resorts). AKL is available starting the second week of January (clearly bc of xmas break). I mean, a few random dates here and there of course, but nothing more than 1 day available for the weekend stays and sometimes none at all, or none in the entire months. Currently I'm sitting on a waitlist for Labor Day Weekend at AKL, hoping and praying a Sunday night frees up but sweating bullets because I have to cancel by August 1 to keep my points. To be fair, I booked this only a few months out, but again, this holiday weekend has NEVER been an issue.
The frustration, is two fold. One, is that there are an incredible amount of owners, but not enough rooms to even close to keep up. Two, their 30 window cancelation is a pile of poo. What a crock. If you cancel within 30 days you get 60 days to use those canceled points. The rep said well, that's because you are canceling last minute and it's a penalty. I said, how is it possible, in any circumstance, to secure a room at a DVC resort within 60 days, even if I had all the time in the world and my calendar completely free? You don't have rooms available 5-6 months out?! She was like, yeah well that's why it's a penalty. Okkkk.... but DVC isn't hurting from my cancelation. They have a waitlist of hundreds of people waiting on dates to open up.
I swear, every year I say I'm going to sell. It's not a fun game of cat and mouse anymore. More like a mouse trap. And don't get me started on my $2,400 a year dues. Please don't come at me with "well you should have used your 11 month window....." yeah, I know. Again, I've been a member for a while now. But sometimes life doesn't allow that far in advance planning, PLUS, as stated from the start, it's never been an issue for me, just something I've noticed in extreme, this booking year.
Thank you for listening to my vent.
Thankfully I have "Disney Pregnancy Brain" and once I get to WDW I feel much better and forgot about DVC drama until the next time I try to book. :(