Disney Vacation Club Quietly Updates Reservation Window Calculations
Disney Vacation Club has changed the way it calculates reservation windows, but I’m not sure when that happened.
Unlike most Disney reservation systems, which use day-based calculations, DVC bases its booking windows on calendar months. Members can book a stay at their home resort 11 months before check-in, while reservations at other DVC resorts open seven months in advance.
Most dates are simple. A stay beginning May 15 can be booked on June 15 at the 11-month window or October 15 at the 7-month window. It gets complicated when the arrival date doesn’t exist in the earlier booking month. For example, seven months before January 31 is either June 30 or July 1.
When I originally built our reservation-date calculator, DVC used the last day of the month in those situations. In our example, a January 31 reservation would open on June 30. DVC has since shifted those dates to the first day of the following month instead, making the booking date July 1.
I’m not sure when this change occurred. A site user messaged me this morning to let me know that after using my calculator, she woke to find that her reservation date is, in fact, tomorrow. I felt terrible.
After confirming that our calculators were wrong, I called DVC. The Cast Member I spoke with could not say when the updated system went live, but said it had been in place for a while. So, if you relied on one of our tools and woke up early for no reason, I apologize. Our updated calculator should prevent that from happening again (at least until DVC silently rolls out another update).
Ours is not the only calculator that needed an upgrade. Several others are still returning the former “last day of the month” booking dates.
Need help knowing when you can reserve your ideal DVC villa? Our reservation calculator will make sure you’re ready when your booking date arrives.
