What are the advantages of booking at your home resort if you are a DVC member?

[Malibelle]

Ok, I need help here. We are getting married in Disney World in March and I had the great idea of buying into DVC( probably through resale as a smaller amount of points to start out) instead of spending the same amount of money on a honeymoon which is a one time trip. I opened the idea up to my fiance and he isn't opposed to it. He said he needs to learn about it to see if it would be economical and how DVC works. I have a few questions:

What is the advantage of staying in your Homebase resort vs any DVC resort?

What happens if for example we buy 50 points at SSP and then buy another resale or buy through disney of 50 at OKW? I know we would have 2 separate contracts with a resale but what about Disney?

Can we combine to points from 2 different home bases (ex VWL or SSP) to book at any of the DVC resorts?

I would appreciate any advise. Do you suggest we go on the DVC tour before buying a resale. We probably will go when we are down for our wedding.

Thanks!

 

[Inkmahm]

The simple answer is that you can book 11 mo in advance at your home resort and only 7 months in advance at the other DVC locations.

I have points at two resorts that we love so that we can always book at 11 months for our two trips per year. We stay at VWL one trip and BWV the other (or, at least we will. Just got the points in 2006.)

 

[tjkraz]

What is the advantage of staying in your Homebase resort vs any DVC resort?

There is no advantage to STAYING at your Home resort. The advantage comes in being able to reserve a room at your Home 11 months out as opposed to 7 months out for the others. If you want to get a room at the Beach Club Villas in December, you pretty much need to own there and book the full 11 months out. Other times non-owners can easily get rooms there at 7 months.

What happens if for example we buy 50 points at SSP and then buy another resale or buy through disney of 50 at OKW? I know we would have 2 separate contracts with a resale but what about Disney?

DVC has a minimum purchase of 150 points and those 150 need to be all at the same resort. If you buy 150 from DVC and later add-on, you they will be sub-contracts linked together under a single master contract. You can always sell one contract later and keep another.

One thing you could do is buy a small contract resale and then add-on via DVC. DVC's minimum add-on is 25 points, regardless of how many you initially purchase.

If you buy two contracts via resale they will always remain separate contracts.

The biggest distinction is that you don't have to go thru the "transfer" process with sub-contracts. If you have two (or more) completely independent contracts, combining points from the two for a single reservation will probably require a transfer. You can only transfer one time per year.

Can we combine to points from 2 different home bases (ex VWL or SSP) to book at any of the DVC resorts?

You can only book at 11 months up to the number you own at that resort. If you have 50 points at VWL, you can use those 50 to book a room in your 2007 Use Year. You could also borrow your 50 from 2008 and have 100 to make the reservation, but then you wouldn't have any 11-month access to VWL in 2008 (unless you borrow from '09.)

If you want to use your SSR points to book at VWL, you can't make that reservation until 7 months out.

 

[IndianaDVCMember]

All of the above are true, with the exception of the secret handshake which is reserved for your home resort.

 

[spiceycat]

50 points will be fine for OKW - a studio for most seasons (but does not include spring or most of the summer - or christmas to NY) - for 5 days.

you will need 55 points at SSR - 50 points won't get you a studio for 5 days in any of their seasons.

I like to go alot - studios are nice - now they aren't 1-bedroom (1-bedrooms are twice the points) - but they are still great.

 

[DebbieB]

All of the above are true, with the exception of the secret handshake which is reserved for your home resort.

The BWV handshake is at the end of the hall.....for those of you who made it....

 

[kimberh]

Take a cruise!

 

[crisi]

There is no advantage to STAYING at your Home resort. The advantage comes in being able to reserve a room at your Home 11 months out as opposed to 7 months out for the others. If you want to get a room at the Beach Club Villas in December, you pretty much need to own there and book the full 11 months out. Other times non-owners can easily get rooms there at 7 months.

The disadvantage (or perhaps advantage) is that you pay dues for your home resort regardless of where you stay. For me, we own BWV and enjoy it and the additional dues aren't a big deal, so we are happy. But if money were tight and I owned BWV and enjoyed staying at OKW (as several people have indicated a preference for), I wouldn't want the bigger dues bill.

OKW and SSR - which are easiest to book late - have the lowest dues. I think a strategy of buying a low dues resort and planning on always staying at a high dues resort would be too stressful for me - but we can make our plans eleven months out. However, if those resorts appeal to you, I wouldn't waste the dues on any other resort.

 

[UConnJack]

Ok, I need help here. We are getting married in Disney World in March and I had the great idea of buying into DVC( probably through resale as a smaller amount of points to start out) instead of spending the same amount of money on a honeymoon which is a one time trip. I opened the idea up to my fiance and he isn't opposed to it. He said he needs to learn about it to see if it would be economical and how DVC works. I have a few questions!

Great idea, BTW, we justified it the same way (if it even really needed justification). Although we didn't get married in WDW, we used the money we had already set aside for hotels on a 2-week honeymoon in Hawaii (about $3000) and applied it to a DVC purchase (about $12,000), and used the first (and 1/2 of the 2nd) years points for our stay in Hawaii. The way we look at it, we bought 210 points for $9,000.