If you loved all

[jockotaco]

If you lived central to all dVC locations and wanted to travel to Disneyland (family lives here), Disney world (specifically AKV), Aulani and HHI where would you buy? We went with VGC as it seems to be hardest at 7 month window. Curious what you would do?

 

[disneynutz]

If you want to be in California then VGC is your only choice. For your best bang for your buck, WDW resorts are the way to go.

Bill

 

[CarolMN]

I agree with Bill.

That said, if I bought VGC, I'd go in knowing HHI would be very hard to get during the summer and Aulani would most likely be tough to get at 7 months, period. AKV is usually not a problem, unless you want concierge or value.

 

[zavandor]

It really depends on your travel dates.
Are you flexible? I've booked VGC at 7 month in low period season. At 7 months I've seen a lot of availability in April and May. If you want to visit during Summer or holidays it's much much more difficult.

However you cannot have all resorts (unless you can buy a LOT of points ), and almost all resorts you mentioned can be hard to book in certain periods.
So I would consider to buy SSR points, they are the cheaper points to use for booking other resorts.
Or if there is one resort that you know you really want to visit during peak period, buy that one. Otherwise, to often change resort, buy the cheapest one (SSR).

 

[bwvBound]

It really depends on your travel dates.
Are you flexible? I've booked VGC at 7 month in low period season. At 7 months I've seen a lot of availability in April and May. If you want to visit during Summer or holidays it's much much more difficult.

However you cannot have all resorts (unless you can buy a LOT of points), and almost all resorts you mentioned can be hard to book in certain periods.
So I would consider to buy SSR points, they are the cheaper points to use for booking other resorts.
Or if there is one resort that you know you really want to visit during peak period, buy that one. Otherwise, to often change resort, buy the cheapest one (SSR).

I agree.

For the record, we own SSR but live a short drive from DLR and often visit the HI Islands. We bought SSR before CA or HI options were available -- but in deep retrospect, I think I would have made the same decision today.

One of the problems with DVC's structure, in my opinion, are the rules concerning banked points. The banking rules tend to tie points to certain geography and travel dates. For example:

• My SSR points are OCT UY, perfect for my typical travel to Florida: Oct - Feb. I can easily commit to banking unused points by the May 31 deadline as I anticipate very little need to visit FL during summer months.
• My favorite time to visit Oahu is September. Oops -- if I travel in Sept on OCT UY points I'm at risk of losing my points should I have to cancel the trip after the May banking deadline. I've made one such trip in 2011 ... and my father passed away on my 2nd morning at the resort. Ugh. Not a good position to be in!
• I tend to visit DLR during the summer months when we have out-of-state visitors. Oops - again, I'm beyond my banking window.

I seriously thought about buying VGC points with an APR UY ... but:

• Point costs (number of points required for our typical weekend stays) were too high to justify purchase.
• My DLR travel is usually booked at very short notice. I won't be using the 11 month home-resort-advantage.
• Having two different UYs makes combining points for longer stays more difficult. Besides, I already own all the points I really need.
• I have plenty of other options through Worldmark the Club - including two resorts w/in walking distance of DLR that we often use on very short notice.