I posted about this a little while back over on the DVC Fan Facebook Group, which if you are reading this and not a member of should join immediately!
In browsing room availability on the member services website I was surprised at the continued availability at many Disney Vacation Club Resorts for the opening week/weekend of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – Opening August 29th.
Are DVC Members avoiding this opening and planning around it instead?
I plugged in Wednesday, August 28th thru Wednesday, September 4th and found some interesting results. 1-Bedroom and 2-Bedroom Villas are still available at resorts such as Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas, Saratoga Springs, and Old Key West, ranging anywhere from 181 vacation points and up for a week long Star Wars adventure. Even more surprising is the fact that you could even shorten your stay and do two nights (Wednesday and Thursday) in a Deluxe Studio for as low as 26 vacation points and be there for the opening day madness!
Would love to hear your thoughts and comments! Is the opening of Galaxy’s Edge affecting your DVC plans this Fall?
I know more people who are not going to go right off and wait for the madness to die down. I think the opening pictures and wait times might be more of a litmus test for alot of us to see if we even want to go near the parks.
Sorry – messed up my first comment. So here’s my opinion on reasons why DVC members aren’t flocking to the Galaxy’s Edge opening. (1) DVC members have a little different attitude than most Disney park-goers. In general, we go a lot, usually once a year, and many go 2-3 times a year. For that reason, they are never really in a rush to see something. “I’ll be back in a few months and it will still be here.” is the attitude that I take, and I think it is prevalent in DVC members. (2) DVC members tend to book well in advance – at least those from out of the area. Disney was all along saying that GE was going to open in “Fall” or “late-Fall”, so they planned their trips around that. When Disney comes out with only 4 months advance notice and says “Oh by the way we are opening early”, those people already have their plans in place. (3) I would bet more people want to avoid the opening weekend crowds than confront them. And do tend to think these big opening days are more about locals that want to say they were the first to see it.
I agree, GE was to open fall to late fall, so I suspect a lot of folks were planning around that. I also suspect DVCers do not want to burn up good points on what will be an absolute mad hours when GE initially opens
What percentage of rooms does Disney hold back??? My concern are they holding back from DVC members because they want to make more money. I hope they are doing everything they can to meet the needs of members.
There is zero evidence that this is a true statement.
I’ve seen several times a room be unavailable to a member and listed on the website as available to book with cash
School us back in session making it difficult for many families to travel. Plus, especially with this audience, we will gave just been to WDW to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dreams.
DVC owners do not have to target special event openings. They go every year or two and get to see everything. They plan 11 months out for the most part.
I agree 100% with “Peter” above. In addition, when you have to figure in air travel, dinning reservations and FP reservations, its complicated enough for a regular trip much less a grand opening. And yes Disney holds back many rooms for “cash” customers
Disney only has so many cash rooms available from the get go of the resort. What happens when you trade in your points for cruises, Disney collections or Rci, is that those points get converted to cash or other timeshared to trade into. So no Disney does not hold back extra rooms for cash unless someone traded in points.
Booked our week long stay 9/27-10/4
11 months out OKW
When they released the GE opening I cringed with the thought of that chaos
In no way did we cancel but will be avoiding Hollywood Studios maybe doing a rope drop but for Toy Story Land(kids haven’t been since it opened) and getting out of there. Also with the already very popular food and wine maybe some extra time spent at Old Key at Pool
You have to book DVC villas much farther out than when galaxy’s edge opening date was announced. Thus, it’s unlikely there is any impact at all. Galaxy’s edge is just one area in one of the 4 theme parks. I think the overall impact to anyone’s trip is severely overstated.
We stay 5 days at the VGC every year. This year I booked two such trips 11 months in advance. The second one is the second week of August, just before my oldest goes back to school.
The first week starts June 24th of all days, the first day WITHOUT reservations to Galaxies Edge. The closer it gets the more I feel like cancelling it because the DLR has been so crowded lately. I’m afraid it’ll be a zoo. And while we do enjoy our time at the pool, I really want to enjoy the parks as well.