Booking some of Walt Disney World’s most popular resort rooms has never been easy, especially for Disney Vacation Club members trying to travel during highly competitive periods.
Now, Disney has changed a longtime strategy that some members used to improve their chances.
A new Disney Vacation Club reservation policy effectively ends a practice commonly called “reservation walking.” The method allowed DVC owners to secure dates before their actual desired vacation and gradually modify the reservation until it reached the stay they really wanted.
For members who became accustomed to using the strategy, the booking process just changed considerably.
How the DVC Booking Trick Worked
Disney Vacation Club members receive an important advantage at their home resort. They can begin booking there 11 months before their desired check-in date, with up to seven nights available when that booking window initially opens.
The problem is availability.
DVC inventory is limited, and particularly desirable rooms can disappear quickly. That can become especially frustrating when several members want the same room type during the same popular week.
Reservation walking offered a workaround.
Instead of waiting for the exact 11-month mark for their actual vacation, some members booked an earlier date range. They could then modify that reservation over time, dropping earlier dates while adding later ones.
Eventually, the reservation would reach the dates they wanted from the beginning.
That meant someone waiting for the traditional booking window could potentially find rooms unavailable before getting a normal opportunity to reserve them.
Disney Changes the Rules
Disney has now addressed that strategy directly.
Under the updated policy, modifications involving travel dates and room types can only happen when the confirmed reservation’s original check-out date falls within 11 months of the modification request.
That restriction takes away the key advantage behind walking a reservation.
Rather than securing inventory early and repeatedly shifting the stay forward, members must wait for the appropriate booking window.
For members who never used reservation walking, that could be welcome news. It puts more owners in direct competition at the same time instead of allowing certain members to establish an earlier position.
Popular Rooms Will Still Be Difficult
There is one important catch: Disney isn't adding DVC inventory through this change.
A highly sought-after room can still have far more members trying to reserve it than available accommodations.
The new rule could also make longer vacations more complicated. Members can initially book up to seven nights when their 11-month home-resort window opens. Previously, reservation walking offered another way to work toward a longer desired stay.
Guests can still book longer reservations as additional dates enter the appropriate window, but the old method of securing an earlier week and walking it forward is effectively gone.
For DVC owners using points toward Disney stays that can carry significant value, that's no small adjustment.
Disney hasn't made its hardest reservations easy to get. It has simply changed the rules for how everyone competes for them.
