Is It Possible to Change Your Home Resort?

AshleeH

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 10, 2011
We're new members (signed up on a cruise this summer) and our home resort is Aulani - it's fun to say that's our home, but we might go there once or twice in our lifetime. It's not a benefit to have it as our "home" when we go to Disney World every year. Is it possible to change it out for a WDW resort?
 
We're new members (signed up on a cruise this summer) and our home resort is Aulani - it's fun to say that's our home, but we might go there once or twice in our lifetime. It's not a benefit to have it as our "home" when we go to Disney World every year. Is it possible to change it out for a WDW resort?
You would have to sell your Aulani contract and buy a new contract at the resort of your choice.
 
We're new members (signed up on a cruise this summer) and our home resort is Aulani - it's fun to say that's our home, but we might go there once or twice in our lifetime. It's not a benefit to have it as our "home" when we go to Disney World every year. Is it possible to change it out for a WDW resort?

No easy way to change because the price you paid for Aulani does not equate to the point price of other DVC's. You would have to sell your Aulani points and buy at whatever home resort you want that is available.
 
Thanks, everyone! We'll just roll the dice and hope we continue getting the resort of our choice when the reservation window finally opens up :).
 


Looks like you normally travel in October or June/July based on your signature. What resorts are you hoping to get into? For October the Epcot area DVC are almost always booked at their 11 month window due to Food and Wine.

Worst case my friend who owns at Aulani says he can always seem to get into Saratoga Springs.
 
Do the numbers and compare total cost of ownership. If it's cheaper to buy and stay at your favorite WDW resort then sell and buy at your favorite resort. If you don't know which is your favorite, plan some split WDW vacations to find out. Booking at 7 months will continue to become more difficult as all of the Aulani owners try to book at WDW.

:earsboy: Bill
 
Just another reason why buying direct from Disney isn't the best. Disney won't tell you what all your options are and what's really best for you.
 


I did a lot of research on the forums and speaking to current owners before buying.
 
Oh we did a lot of number crunching (fiance works in real estate and I work in finance) and decided in no way shape or form did DVC work for us at the price point we realistically needed at the home resort we wanted. They tried to sell us Aulani since the price per a point was so low but we said no thanks we will go 1 time for our honeymoon and then probably not go back for several years.

We've almost bought several times until we realized that price per a point plus dues we could just buy a rental home and rent it out when we aren't there for better potential profit since we aren't newbies to rental management.
 
Just another reason why buying direct from Disney isn't the best. Disney won't tell you what all your options are and what's really best for you.

While that might be true in some instances, I respectfully disagree. I bought direct a very, very long time ago and found that our guide was forthright. If they had not been, I would not have purchased. I did my own homework and number crunching before signing on the dotted line. It did make great sense for us then, and it still makes fabulous sense for me and my brood.

AshleeH, first…..WELCOME HOME!!! pixiedust: I have visited your home resort 3 times on my points and am looking at going back in a year. LOVE, LOVE Aulani!! Don't know if you've been there or not but it's fabulous!

As for booking at WDW, if you are wanting popular times, please be flexible with where you are willing to stay. I really do like all the DVC resorts, but for different reasons. Some I definitely like more than others, but they are all very nice. And here is my BIG tip to you: Make SURE you are calling in to MS and/or logging onto the member website the moment inventory is opened at the 7 month window. Book SOMEWHERE if your dates are available. Then wait list for the resort that you really prefer. Start the wait list right then, after you secure what is available. If nothing is available, get on that w/l. Though you can read lots of naysayers about the DVC w/l, I've been a member for over 20 years and have used w/l dozens of times. Literally. And without exaggeration I have gotten my w/l fulfilled more times than not. Caveat: there are no guarantees. I think one reason I often get my w/l is that I start it several months out. Generally right at the 7 month window.

I hope you love your membership as much as I have for all these years! :flower:
 
IMO the guides work on a "if they don't ask, don't tell" policy. They don't mention that DVC is best used to book DVC rooms only, that the website has issues, that you need to get online right at 8:00 when the bell sounds to improve your chances to book the resort that you want. They don't mention that the rooms may have cleaning and/or maintenance issues, that they are really worn before a rehab is done, or that you can buy any resort, any UY.

:earsboy: Bill
 
We've almost bought several times until we realized that price per a point plus dues we could just buy a rental home and rent it out when we aren't there for better potential profit since we aren't newbies to rental management.

If one is happy to stay offsite, DVC never makes sense. DVC costs a premium but it offers the benefit of stayon onsite. If the benefit is something you can do without, then staying offsite will be much much cheaper (and probably even more confortable).
 
I think buying one of the non-World properties (Aulani, VB, HH) is not w good move if you are buying in hopes of staying at WDWmost years in which you use your points. Depending on the seasons you travel, buying Aulani at its current cost per point to stay at most on-property resorts is paying $60/point more than you need to.

To book at 7 months, AKL or SS contracts are so, so much cheaper, even if they're shorter contracts.
 
If one is happy to stay offsite, DVC never makes sense. DVC costs a premium but it offers the benefit of stayon onsite. If the benefit is something you can do without, then staying offsite will be much much cheaper (and probably even more confortable).

That's true. We currently stay on property but most trips we drive ourselves and we almost never get up in time to make morning EMH and late EMH is not a big deal as we haven't been doing it the last few years. The other thing is that we never really know when exactly we want to go. We are very last minute planners for some trips and I did not buy into the sales pitch that by having DVC we could just "pop down" for a last minute visit. Um yeah sure I could probably do that if I didn't care where I stayed but we are pretty set on which resorts we like.
 
You could add on points at another resort and buy resale. We started with OKW and really would rather not own at OKW but we use them at the 7 month window. Then we added on at HHI, AKV and BWV (then sold the AKV because we can use our OKW to book AKV at 7 months).
 
And resell will? At the end of the day it is up to the consumer to decide what they think is best for them.

yes.

"resale" is just another way of saying "owners like us." and owners like those here on the board will honestly tell newbies what to expect, because we don't have a financial incentive motivating our advice like the "guides" do.

DVC guides used to be better (and a couple probably still are) but too many just want to make a sale and move on...
 
yes.

"resale" is just another way of saying "owners like us." and owners like those here on the board will honestly tell newbies what to expect, because we don't have a financial incentive motivating our advice like the "guides" do.

DVC guides used to be better (and a couple probably still are) but too many just want to make a sale and move on...

If anyone is willing to talk resell by PM, I might be interested. I keep seeing people say they are getting stuff for 70-80 a point and now that might be worth it for us! Fiance loves AKL so if he could get an AKL contract he'd probably go for it.
 
If anyone is willing to talk resell by PM, I might be interested. I keep seeing people say they are getting stuff for 70-80 a point and now that might be worth it for us! Fiance loves AKL so if he could get an AKL contract he'd probably go for it.

Just read through the purchase threads to better understand resale versus direct. You can either buy a new car at a higher price or a slightly used car at a savings.

:earsboy: Bill
 

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