"I can't believe we're staying here!" An Feb'16 DLR PTR (TR link Post #355)

[PrincessInOz]

I'll be waiting to see which resort you get into.

 

[Original Amber]

And if we are being honest - I would MUCH rather be at the Poly than the Contemporary. As anyone that's followed me for a while knows that I am a huge Enchanted Tiki Room fan, and any resort of that style appeals much more to me.

Poly, oh, my. I also am a big Poly fan. Way back in the dark ages, my son received a trip from Make a Wish. Part of the gift was a character breakfast at Poly. Although was terrified by Chip and Dale, that was the best trip I've ever taken.

My first trip was in 1972 with my grandmother.

 

[skier_pete]

Awesome...

I rented points at BLT in 2010. I don't care for Contemp for much the same reasons you stated.... but honestly, the walk to MK was just plain AWESOME! Plus, you have the Top of the World.. and that place IS awesome!!! So go up, have a drink & watch the fireworks. It's an experience of a lifetime! And it's all yours- because you are DVC members!

Now that being said, I would jump fast if I could get into Poly. Poly is my absolute FAVE resort at Disney! I it! I miss my cousin working there when he could get us awesome rates! So fingers crossed you get into Poly- because that would be amazing!

Seems to be a consensus that the Poly is favored by most over the Contemporary. I suppose that's a big reason why BLT seems pretty easy to get into most of the year. I've been making a very comprehensive Table of DVC room availability, and one thing that I've noticed is that getting into a Lake View room at BLT is pretty much a piece of cake from January through September at the 7-month window. I still don't have Sept-Oct-Nov data, but only December so far shows as difficult to get in at 7-months. One of the pieces of data I've gathered that most surprised me seeing as it is a relatively new property.

Part of my data gathering is that I would someday like to get additional points, though not for a few years. By that time though, I want to be sure where the best place to buy is. The contemporary is in play because of it's long lease-life. (A lot of the older DVC leases run out in 2042 - part of why we bought at AKV is it is good until 2057.) However, the buy-in is still very high, and if its easy to get into and I also don't much care for it, the likelyhood of be buying in there is relatively low.

I'll be waiting to see which resort you get into.

Me too! Still about three weeks off, though. There may be some other planning to do between now and then!

Poly, oh, my. I also am a big Poly fan. Way back in the dark ages, my son received a trip from Make a Wish. Part of the gift was a character breakfast at Poly. Although was terrified by Chip and Dale, that was the best trip I've ever taken.

Awesome, that must've been a wonderful trip.

It's funny that the Poly was never on my radar as a resort I really wanted to stay at. Of course before buying DVC I never really gave much thought to it. However, If I listed Deluxe resorts I hoped to stay at some day, the list would've been
(1) AKL (done it),
(2) WL
(3) Boardwalk
(4) Beach Club
(5) Grand Floridian

I don't either the Poly or the Contemporary would land on my list, but the Poly would definitely be higher than the Contemporary. In fact, until our trip in 2013, I don't think I'd ever even BEEN to the Poly.

Everyone's enthusiasm is making me hope I get it...but I still say I would be perfectly happy with the BLT.

 

[Tinker326]

Everyone's enthusiasm is making me hope I get it...but I still say I would be perfectly happy with the BLT.

You will. The proximity to the monorail and MK alone will make you enjoy it.

 

[skier_pete]

Hey everyone! Time for another update!

We are actually currently in Copper Mountaiin Colorado, enjoying some awesome skiing. This is the first time DD has been on a ski vacation with us where she has been skiing with us, and its been a little surprising that we are all having a great time. (She's in full on pre-teen girl moody life mode.) I'll try and post a few pictures when we get back.

But, back to the update - this morning was the opening up of our dates for Southwest Airlines. I was awake early at about 6 AM and went on to check, and the flights were already open. (In the past they usually haven't opened until 9 or 10 AM eastern time. So I sat at the table in the dark seeing what was available.

And *SPOILER ALERT* I am psyched about what we got.

#1 - Direct Flights in BOTH directions! Buffalo is of moderate size and there aren't a ton of direct flights available, but Southwest runs 2 or 3 per day. They aren't always gettable or at good times.
#2 - August 28th flight down - Awesomeness. We got the morning flight but so far not TOO early. The flight leaves Buffalo at 8:00 AM and arrives in Orlando at 10:40 AM, giving us a good portion of that first day.
#3 Not quite as good, but pretty good. I was hoping for a flight back on Labor Day that was mid-afternoon, giving us the morning at the hotel. Unfortunately there was really nothing available. It was either an early flight back, or a later one. Because of the price, I went with the later one. Leaves Orlando at 7:45 PM and arrives in Buffalo 10:20 PM. Not so worried about the late hour except as of right now we have to work the next day. This day (Tuesday after Labor Day) is always a bit problematic as our DD usually starts school on Wednesday, so there is not day-care available for her. I am thinking maybe I will take a 1/2 day from work, and let her be home by herself for a few hours in the afternoon.
#4 - The prices. This is why I was OK with that late flight - the flights were $99 EACH WAY! I was blown away that it was so cheap. As a comparison, in 2013, we paid $290 round trip. In 2011, it was $339 round trip. So, you can see I was pretty pumped up. In addition, we had enough Southwest points to cover TWO of the tickets, plus I had a $50 SWA gift card. So the actually OOP cost for three round trip flights? $168.40!!!

So now we really DO get 11 days out of this trip. Direct flights. Low Costs. What's there to complain about?

Well, one little one. We've been trying really hard to find a friend for DD to come with us on this trip. The problem being she is 11, and it's hard to find parents of kids at that age willing to let their kids travel to Disney for that long, even with people they know. We actually still have a feeler out to DW's god-daughter's parents, but they live 5 hours away and we don't really know the girl very well, so we are pretty sure that won't work. I wasn't going to wait on a decision for our airline tickets, and I'm glad I didn't. That Labor Day flight has already hopped up to $212, so had I waited to later in the day, I would've been looking at a lot more money and a different flight. Who would've thought it would be so hard to give away a free trip to Disney World?

Anyways, that's it for now. Thanks for reading, I know these moments aren't as exciting for readers as they are for us.

 

[franandaj]

Those are great deals you got on your flights. That's a benefit of being so close to WDW. Our find just booked his airfare for the WDW trip in April and his kicked in at $419 Roundtrip. Not too bad, but he's on a red eye, and gets there a full 11 hours before us now!

Glad you were able to score such great flights! Who would have thought a free trip to WDW would have been so hard to sell!

 

[ursalita]

I'm very interested in DVC still and reading about your thought process and booking resorts is helpful. Thanks for sharing.

Your morning booking flights sounds similar to mine. Back in November I was looking for Southwest flights during April school vacation and by 7 am EST many were sold out. The flights for my first choice of dates would have been $650pp round trip compared to $198pp round trip by going Tues-Tues. I ended up splitting the difference and traveling Tues - Mon for about $1300 for all four of us and the kids only miss one day of school.

I guess I tell this story to set up the question I had about the maintenance fees on DVC. This is where I have trouble justifying the purchase. The annual fees end up being about what we'd spend on airfare to Disney. What are your thoughts on the annual fees?

 

[skier_pete]

Those are great deals you got on your flights. That's a benefit of being so close to WDW. Our find just booked his airfare for the WDW trip in April and his kicked in at $419 Roundtrip. Not too bad, but he's on a red eye, and gets there a full 11 hours before us now!

Glad you were able to score such great flights! Who would have thought a free trip to WDW would have been so hard to sell!

Definitely cross country flying runs a lot more. We did pretty good on these flights to Denver we are on right now at $350 round trip, but we can't usually get into Phoenix or LA under $400 anymore. (Up until about 2012 we could get SWA to Phoenix around $300, but it jumped up to around $425-$450 and has stayed there.)

I'm very interested in DVC still and reading about your thought process and booking resorts is helpful. Thanks for sharing.

Your morning booking flights sounds similar to mine. Back in November I was looking for Southwest flights during April school vacation and by 7 am EST many were sold out. The flights for my first choice of dates would have been $650pp round trip compared to $198pp round trip by going Tues-Tues. I ended up splitting the difference and traveling Tues - Mon for about $1300 for all four of us and the kids only miss one day of school.

I guess I tell this story to set up the question I had about the maintenance fees on DVC. This is where I have trouble justifying the purchase. The annual fees end up being about what we'd spend on airfare to Disney. What are your thoughts on the annual fees?

Yeah, with SWA your best bet is usually if you can hop on it first thing. They actually sell only a certain % at the low fares when the tickets first come out. Then depending on how full the flight is, they will sometimes sale it again as the dates get closer. It's a tough game to play, so it's nice when you can get what you want right off the bat.

As far as DVC - well, I could go on for pages on my opinions, and would be happy to answer questions.

The decision to buy into DVC has to be a long-term decision. There's no way it's a good buy if you think of it as only needing/using it for a few years. In our case, I calculated that the break-even point for a resale buy - versus staying at moderates was 11 years.

To me DVC is for someone that:
1) Goes to Disney every year or every other year and plans to for at LEAST the next 10 years.
2) Feels the need to stay on-site and wants to stay Moderate or better.
3) Can plan their vacations out as far as 11 months in advance (worst case 7 months).

Anyways - to your question about the maintenance fees - so there's two major costs to DVC, the one time buy-in and the annual maintenance fees. The buy-in can varies a lot based on buying direct or resale, and which resort you decide to make your "home". In our case, we paid about $12,500 to but-in at AKV.

The annual maintenance fees are basically what you pay each year as the operating expenses of the particular resort you own at. It includes taxes, maintenance, staffing,etc.. This amount also varies from resort to resort and is usually specified by $/point. The range for 2015 is from $5.17 per point at SSR, up to $6.30 at AKV, and the worst is $8.06 at Vero Beach.

So however many points you own, you pay that # times the # of points every year. In our case 160 pts = $1008 for 2015. So, even after your buy-in, you will still be paying each year for your hotel room, just less. For example - we paid about $1800 for 9 nights at CBR back in 2013. So, we $12,500 to save $800 this year. Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, does it.

But again, you have to look at the long-term effect. If you consider room rates and maintenance fees to both rise by 5 % a year for the foreseeable future, in 2025, my dues will be $1640, but 9 nights at a value will cost $3300. So that's $1600 savings. In twenty years, the dues are $2600, but moderate rates will cost $5300.

Now, if you are not fixated on staying on site as we are, a better option time share is Wyndam / Bonnet Creek. The resort is ON Disney property (across from Downtown Disney) and you can buy-in there (used points) for next to nothing - maybe $1000. The annual dues are similar, but you can get a bigger room for less money.

All I would say is make sure to look at all the info thoroughly before you buy. Especially understand the differences between resale and direct buy points. (Big money difference, but lose some options.) It's definitely not something you should go into lightly!

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY for having your flights sorted...and that's an awesome deal. I think that as the kids grow older, they do appreciate having time to themselves. DS is 14; and he quite enjoys staying home alone at times.

Looking forward to Copper Mountain!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

I'm here! very excited to continue reading your TR! The BCV is one of my favorite resorts I've stayed at on property. SAB is AWESOME!!!!!

 

[Tinker326]

Congrats on your flights! That's awesome!

Hey, I'm free if you want to take me to Disney! Ha!

So what perks do you lose if you buy resale? Just out of curiosity. I have to admit.. I just AK. And could 100% find myself trying to convince Kurt to buy in sometime soon.

Also, can you finance resale? I mean I guess you could finance it through like an equity loan or something right?

 

[ursalita]

Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful answer to my question. It's definitely not an easy decision to make

 

[princessbelle2015]

Congrats on the great price for the flights.

 

[skier_pete]

YAY for having your flights sorted...and that's an awesome deal. I think that as the kids grow older, they do appreciate having time to themselves. DS is 14; and he quite enjoys staying home alone at times.

Looking forward to Copper Mountain!

Hey thanks! I do think DD would really benefit from some time with someone her age. Too bad it's not going to happen.

We are BACK from Copper after ANOTHER flight delay. I'll try to get a few pictures up soon. We didn't take a ton, but did get some good ones. (Some of them you probably saw on FB.)

I'm here! very excited to continue reading your TR! The BCV is one of my favorite resorts I've stayed at on property. SAB is AWESOME!!!!!

Welcome! Posting on the PTR will probably get a bit sparse after March, but not to worry, I won't be deserting the PTR.

Congrats on your flights! That's awesome!

Hey, I'm free if you want to take me to Disney! Ha!

So what perks do you lose if you buy resale? Just out of curiosity. I have to admit.. I just AK. And could 100% find myself trying to convince Kurt to buy in sometime soon.

Also, can you finance resale? I mean I guess you could finance it through like an equity loan or something right?

You can come along, but you have to share the sofa-bed with DD, and you have to hang out with her at the pool while we nap in a beach chair...otherwise, you are welcome to come along!

The main "perk" that you lose with DVC resale is the ability to use your points in certain of the exectutive collections. For instance, buying direct you can use your points to stay at other non-DVC resort hotels, or the Disney Cruise Line, or ABD. HOWEVER, this is actually a very poor use of points, because they essentially charge you full price for all these things, unlike the discount you might get using DVC as DVC.

Example: My points cost me roughly $8 per point ($2 per point for the original buy-in and $6 per point in annual maintenance fees.) Well, if I wanted to use my points to stay at say the Disneyland hotel, in a room that costs $400 a night, it would cost me about 50 points a night - or $400 worth of points. It's a benefit that gives you little benefit.

As a DVC owner, I would be MUCH smarter to take my points and sell them to someone for $12 a point or more (The going resale rate.) Then you would pocket $600 by selling those 50 points, and pay the $400 cash for the room. (I assume a resale DVC buyer is thinking more about how to use his money efficiently.)

Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful answer to my question. It's definitely not an easy decision to make

Your welcome. it definitely is not. it's a commitment to the future that should be carefully considered.

Congrats on the great price for the flights.

Thanks you. I am still flying high over this.

 

[franandaj]

As a DVC owner, I would be MUCH smarter to take my points and sell them to someone for $12 a point or more (The going resale rate.) Then you would pocket $600 by selling those 50 points, and pay the $400 cash for the room. (I assume a resale DVC buyer is thinking more about how to use his money efficiently.)

I did EXACTLY this (except I didn't then go and spend my money for $400 cash at a DL hotel). I contacted David's on a Sunday evening, and I think they had all the contracts that I tried to rent with renters within about one week. I had one more contract that I was on the fence about whether or not to rent those points, and someone here on the DISboards rented those. I had a nice chunk of change in my bank account earlier in the month, and in April, October, and November, I will get the other half of each of the payments. Win/win for everyone!

Once I nail down my 2016 plans for sure, I will probably put some more points up for rental. I pretty much covered all my 2015 maintenance fees, and I've got some pretty pricey stays going this year!

 

[skier_pete]

I did EXACTLY this (except I didn't then go and spend my money for $400 cash at a DL hotel). I contacted David's on a Sunday evening, and I think they had all the contracts that I tried to rent with renters within about one week. I had one more contract that I was on the fence about whether or not to rent those points, and someone here on the DISboards rented those. I had a nice chunk of change in my bank account earlier in the month, and in April, October, and November, I will get the other half of each of the payments. Win/win for everyone!

Once I nail down my 2016 plans for sure, I will probably put some more points up for rental. I pretty much covered all my 2015 maintenance fees, and I've got some pretty pricey stays going this year!

See, I knew you were a smart cookie! And that's an excellent point though - I think a lot of people are afraid to rent their points out, but if you go through a service like David's, you might not get top top dollar for the points, but you WILL still get considerably more than you paid for them!

 

[skier_pete]

Just a quick update, which I didn't have time for yesterday.

Yesterday (2.25) was the date at which the Poly opened up to the general DVC rabble for booking. Our plan as mentioned earlier was to cancel the BLT / Contemporary stay and switch to the Poly if possible.

Well, the start of the day didn't look good. The DVC website crashed out, and the DVC member services phone lines were all giving fast busy signals. (Knew it would be this way.) I kept trying off and on, and after about an hour, I got through on the phone. The website came back up while I was on hold, but because I didn't want to lose the BLT ressie unless I was sure I got the Poly, I decided just to hold on the line. After about 15 minutes they picked up, and I was easily able to switch.
So - we got the POLY for 4 nights!!!!

Pretty cool, because though not a "new" resort per se, the rooms will be less than 5 months open, and possibly if we end up in the second phase, less than 2 months open. We're still on the monorail, but IMO a much more fun theme than the contemporary. PLUS DD is much more excited about the volcano pool. And DW and I like the idea of a drink or two at Trader Sam's! So overall, we are of course excited by this.

Next up, we have to put plans in place, because Sunday is our 180 day (+10) mark for in theory making ADRs!

 

[Tinker326]

OMG that is so freakin' exciting!!!

I love, love, LOVE that resort! I'm quite jealous! Someday I will stay there again!!!!

Congrats on that!

P.S- I spent a lot of time yesterday researching DVC.. and with 5 people and the rooms we'd need at different resorts, it just isn't making sense. We'd need too many points because we have to stay 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom even in many resorts. Still makes more sense for us to rent if we go that route. Ah well...... it was a nice pipe dream!

Congrats again on Poly.

 

[skier_pete]

OMG that is so freakin' exciting!!!

I love, love, LOVE that resort! I'm quite jealous! Someday I will stay there again!!!!

Congrats on that!

P.S- I spent a lot of time yesterday researching DVC.. and with 5 people and the rooms we'd need at different resorts, it just isn't making sense. We'd need too many points because we have to stay 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom even in many resorts. Still makes more sense for us to rent if we go that route. Ah well...... it was a nice pipe dream!

Congrats again on Poly.

Well, I would argue that instead of a two-bedroom you could do two studios for much less points. You lose out on the kitchen in that case, but it would definitely give you more space. In addition, many of the resorts are converting to having 5 in a studio. (AKV Kidani, WLV, the Poly, VGF, SSR and now the refurb at BCV are all converting to 5 in a room.) Though that may be too crowded to do.

And - why does it make more sense to rent? I did those calculations back when we bought, and I found the break-even on renting DVC versus buying resale is about 9-10 years.

Looking at one option would be if you choose to go every other year. You could get about 150 points at SSR, which would run you around $750 in MF a year, and bank points to use 300 points every other year and get 7-9 days in a two bedroom. (Depending on the time of year.) That's only $1500 for maintenance fees over two years. Or use the points at AKL in a standard 2 bedroom or OKW and get even more days out of it. What are you paying when you rent the points? Those same points (320 points) must cost you at least $4000 to rent. Admittedly you would need the $11,000 up front, but since you are saving $2500 per trip, it would only take 4.5 trips to "break even". At that point, you could even sell the points, and make back your original $11,000, or continue to keep them to enjoy the savings on future trips. (Remember, MFs continue to go up, but the costs of hotel rooms and points rental will as well.)

You could also do two studios instead of the 2-bedroom, and do it for less points, or go more often (two out of three years). SO many options.

 

[Tinker326]

Well, I would argue that instead of a two-bedroom you could do two studios for much less points. You lose out on the kitchen in that case, but it would definitely give you more space. In addition, many of the resorts are converting to having 5 in a studio. (AKV Kidani, WLV, the Poly, VGF, SSR and now the refurb at BCV are all converting to 5 in a room.) Though that may be too crowded to do.

And - why does it make more sense to rent? I did those calculations back when we bought, and I found the break-even on renting DVC versus buying resale is about 9-10 years.

Looking at one option would be if you choose to go every other year. You could get about 150 points at SSR, which would run you around $750 in MF a year, and bank points to use 300 points every other year and get 7-9 days in a two bedroom. (Depending on the time of year.) That's only $1500 for maintenance fees over two years. Or use the points at AKL in a standard 2 bedroom or OKW and get even more days out of it. What are you paying when you rent the points? Those same points (320 points) must cost you at least $4000 to rent. Admittedly you would need the $11,000 up front, but since you are saving $2500 per trip, it would only take 4.5 trips to "break even". At that point, you could even sell the points, and make back your original $11,000, or continue to keep them to enjoy the savings on future trips. (Remember, MFs continue to go up, but the costs of hotel rooms and points rental will as well.)

You could also do two studios instead of the 2-bedroom, and do it for less points, or go more often (two out of three years). SO many options.

When I was looking at it, I was assuming buying in AKV. I would want to buy at least where I would want to stay (SSR isn't it). And I had conflicting thoughts on the dates because I feel like with B moving into high school and S soon into Jr. High- we would be pushed more into higher demand seasons. Costing a whole lot more points.

5 in a studio would be too much. Our kids might likely kill each other & that would not be a magical resort stay. Ha!

You have to remember I have to factor in Cap't Killjoy and convince him- and he has declared recently that HE would like to head West on several vacations (Yellowstone & back to Alaska).

So the offset of just renting every few years would be more appealing to him because he's not ready to commit to yearly week vacations at Disney. And possibly not even several 'shorter weekends'.

I think, realistically, it just isn't going to work and 'renting' will be the way we continue when we do go. I feel like future trips might likely be more me & a kid or two vs the whole family so Kurt will be less likely to approve. Although maybe I factor less points for just me and a kid and therefore cheaper...........