Where to buy points (which resort)

[SpaceMountain77]

Here are my two tips based on my experience:

(1) Your home resort selection should be based on where you plan to vacation. Honestly, since I prefer the Disneyland Resort to Walt Disney World, I really should have waited for points to come available at the Grand Californian.

(2) If you plan to vacation at Walt Disney World, rent points to try out various resorts or, at the very least, tour potential properties. You will certainly find you prefer some over others.

 

[wildernessDad]

I see people here saying they purchased at additional properties just to get the 11 month booking window. I was given the impression that you can only use points you earned at that resort for the 11-month period. So, if I bought 160 points at AKV, but already had 320 points at a non-WDW Disney resort, I would only be able to use the 160 from AKV before the 7 month mark, right?

What you can't do is book resort A with resort B's points at the 11 month mark.

 

[fairy8i8]

What you can't do is book resort A with resort B's points at the 11 month mark.

I thought I read in another thread that if you transfer points from one of your contracts to another, the CMs basically view those points as the same (except for expiration date).

One guy even said he had a problem because he had BCV points transferred to him, and at first the CM wouldn't let him use those points to book more than 7 months out at BCV until the CM went in and manually looked at the point transfer.

Obviously if you keep your contracts separate, you can't combine points for a stay, but can you combine them if you transfer your points from one contract to another?

 

[ELMC]

I thought I read in another thread that if you transfer points from one of your contracts to another, the CMs basically view those points as the same (except for expiration date).

One guy even said he had a problem because he had BCV points transferred to him, and at first the CM wouldn't let him use those points to book more than 7 months out at BCV until the CM went in and manually looked at the point transfer.

Obviously if you keep your contracts separate, you can't combine points for a stay, but can you combine them if you transfer your points from one contract to another?

Yes, you can (use points together if you transfer them). Point transfers are not as clean as you would like to believe, as evidenced by your story above. Also, transferred points will not show up on your online account, which means that if you want to use them to book you will need to call MS. Because of this, they are also easy to forget about.

 

[radmcg]

I went over a lot of the same thing but one thing people haven't mentioned alot is the size of the resort, demand and room preference helped me make my decision. I have never run a search and not seen an alternative opening at SSR or OKW, if you don't have specific room needs. If you own points there then you have "wasted" (to me) your 11 month advantage. You can almost always get them. If you try to get BWV, BCV or BLT then the 11 month window is always an advantage especially if you want Boardwalk view or MK view . What I'm saying is the availability can also affect where you buy (size and demand). You can almost always get a resi at OKW or SSR at 7 months. You cannot say the same for BWV, BCV or BLT. I own at BLT and have a contract pending at BWV. My logic is I like BLT so I'm covered at 11 months. BWV is my favorite so I'm covered. If I want to stay at SSR or OKW I can almost always get a room at 7 months. With my last search for a vacation in May you can add AKV to the list of almost always get at 7 months (that one is more variable). Of course if you want specific rooms ie treehouse that changes things some but thats not a big deal to me my room preference is at the boardwalk and BLT.
just my logic, may be faulty but it is the way I explained it to my wife.

 

[Dean]

I went over a lot of the same thing but one thing people haven't mentioned alot is the size of the resort, demand and room preference helped me make my decision. I have never run a search and not seen an alternative opening at SSR or OKW, if you don't have specific room needs. If you own points there then you have "wasted" (to me) your 11 month advantage. You can almost always get them. If you try to get BWV, BCV or BLT then the 11 month window is always an advantage especially if you want Boardwalk view or MK view . What I'm saying is the availability can also affect where you buy (size and demand). You can almost always get a resi at OKW or SSR at 7 months. You cannot say the same for BWV, BCV or BLT. I own at BLT and have a contract pending at BWV. My logic is I like BLT so I'm covered at 11 months. BWV is my favorite so I'm covered. If I want to stay at SSR or OKW I can almost always get a room at 7 months. With my last search for a vacation in May you can add AKV to the list of almost always get at 7 months (that one is more variable). Of course if you want specific rooms ie treehouse that changes things some but thats not a big deal to me my room preference is at the boardwalk and BLT.
just my logic, may be faulty but it is the way I explained it to my wife.

Your logic is valid, the fact that owning a higher demand options gives you an advantage there can be important. However, there is a cost to that approach in most cases and it only gives you the advantage for the one resort. That's a main reason why some own multiple home resorts. It's essentially what many of us mean when we say either "Buy where you want to stay" or "buy where you wouldn't mind being stuck at". It is my opinion that a large % of buyers don't know where they'll want to stay long term, even the ones that think they do.

I'm also a fan of getting in for less and trying to trade up when possible. SSR is the perfect example of that strategy. You can get in relatively cheaply by DVC standards but still get an 11 month priority. I'm hesitant for VB or HH both because of the dues and because of the lack of 11 mo priority. Other considerations with the same thoughts in mind are OKW for the 3 BR units, AKV due to concierge and value and BWV due to 3 BR & standard view. If one is not going to be happy unless they're at BLT every trip, they should own there. Once they start using their points for other things and at other resorts, the value related to the extra cost quickly goes away and they just overpaid for little added benefit. The slightly lower dues (catching up) will no where near offset the extra cost.

 

[bookwormde]

Based on pure $ SSR is the cheepest per point using Point use depriciation buydown and lost purchase income cost calculation (at a little under $7/yearly pt) if you can buy it close to $50/pt

OKW was close when you could buy for 40-45/pt but DVD is buying it back at that rate right now so that is not an option, unless you are willng to add about .50/yearlypt

BLT was actually next until the maintinance fees went up so sharply.

 

[bakerworld]

We own at AKL however we don't stay there very often altho I think in the future that will change. I think as we age the concierge option and the low lighting will be a greater attraction.

 

[rmcildw2m]

I do this now . I own at HHI but have only stayed on wdw property . The trick for me even though AKL is my favorite, any resort will do as long as the points cover the stay .

 

[martinolichfamily]

I do this now . I own at HHI but have only stayed on wdw property . The trick for me even though AKL is my favorite, any resort will do as long as the points cover the stay .

We're with you...just bought points at VB due to cost per point vs. AKL...we plan on using mostly on WDW property. We were able to get a studio at AKL for this July this past weekend.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I would say if you want to go at Christmas, you really need to stay at your home resort so you can do the booking 11 months in advance. For me, I think it's just easier to have all your points at one resort instead of keeping track of what is where and the usage of those.