ºoº VWL resale purchase advice request.

WDWDVC

Earning My Ears
Joined
Sep 25, 2003
First, let me apologize for asking a reaccurring question. But I just want to try and figure out the best possible answer for my situation.

I have always wanted to stay at WDW Wilderness Lodge resort every December just for the Christmas holiday decoration experience.

I haven't stayed in the WL hotel room in the past several years because I just couldn't justify to myself spending so much money for just one person. But I do love the feeling of the place in December with all the decorations.

So here are my questions:

1. What "Use Year" would be "ideal" for me if I like to go to WDW every December? (Actually, I usually go to WDW every year from either the first weekend after Thanksgiving up until the third week of December.)

2. What is a reasonable or a good buying price for "resale points" for Villa Wilderness Lodge?

3. What variables in purchase price should I consider if there are no points left from the year 2003, and the use year 2004 does not arrive until April, 2004? (And what if all the points had already been borrowed and used from year 2004?)

4. For those of you that bought into Villa Wilderness Lodge because you liked the December holiday decorations; did you find that staying at the Villas WL met your expectations?

Thank you for your consideration.

I have tried the past two years to rent a few days in a studio at VWL, but no one on the rent boards were able to rent me points, or the seven month DVCers couldn't find a reservation for December.

 
Hi,

We love the Wilderness lodge area and never thought we would be able to afford DVC, we were wrong, so it was only last year that we bought. Only BWV were available from Disney and we bought that. Disney had taken a contract at ROFR for the VWL that we had bid on, so we bought Boardwalk and added on 50 at VWL. Our first stay in a DVC unit was VWL, a studio, '03 Christmastime, and it met and exceeded our expectations. We are on a waitlist for 50-100 more VWL.

Your use year should probably be something that comes just before your stay, anything from August on. That way, if your plans had to be cancelled, and you cancelled before 30 days, you could bank your points if you weren't going to use them during the rest of your use year.

This is my opinion regarding the resales that have been stripped of current and in some cases next years points. If you were not getting 100 points for '04 use year, you could think of that costing you $1000 because IF you were able to rent them, the going rate is $10 a point, so you would be out $1000. If you were paying $70 a point, and then about $4 a point in closing points, that brings you to $74 a point. Because we can buy an add on from Disney, for $84 a point, I could buy AND get '04 points, so for me, it's a wash, $74 for next years points from resale, and $84 with this years points from Disney, I'll buy from Disney (if the waitlist comes through.) Because you don't own already you would have to either buy SSR or a resale. If you offer less for VWL, and it's accepted, you have to get past Disney, and maybe you'll be lucky. Disney bought the contract we were looking at, and I'm guessing that we were paying about $68, this was in August '03. Some contract have gotten past Disney for $68 and even $66 recently, check some of the threads, it seems that lots of people have been very happy lately.

We were able to go this December at only 2 months out because we only wanted a weekend in a studio and it was available.

Good luck in making your decision.

Bobbi:D
 
As VWL contracts don't come up too often, you may not have much of a choice about paying less for a stripped contract. Around $70 seems to be the floor - regardless of stripped or not.

Stripped contracts you don't pay dues on - the seller should pay dues on the points used. So you could look at it as a $10 loss in rental income, or you could look at it as a $2 per point cost ($6 per point "cost basis" minus dues) - which is how I looked at my stripped contract.
 
4. For those of you that bought into Villa Wilderness Lodge because you liked the December holiday decorations; did you find that staying at the Villas WL met your expectations?


That is the exact reason we bought at VWL. We always traveled to WDW either the 1st or 2nd week of December. When we heard that they were going to build at WL we waited a year and a half for them to be completed. We have been very happy that this is our home resort, because of the difficulty of booking in Dec. We know that we can always stay there when ever we want. And yes, VWL met our expectations and exceeded them.
 


Last year the only time we could visit WDW was during November. We stayed at the WL (hadn't yet bought DVC) and the day we checked out, we saw the staff rolling up the carpets in the main lodge lobby. We were gone before the decorations arrived. Booo!
 

Originally posted by bobbiwoz
Hi,
Our first stay in a DVC unit was VWL, a studio, '03 Christmastime, and it met and exceeded our expectations.

Your use year should probably be something that comes just before your stay, anything from August on. That way, if your plans had to be cancelled, and you cancelled before 30 days, you could bank your points if you weren't going to use them during the rest of your use year.

This is my opinion regarding the resales that have been stripped of current and in some cases next years points. If you were not getting 100 points for '04 use year, you could think of that costing you $1000 because IF you were able to rent them, the going rate is $10 a point, so you would be out $1000. If you were paying $70 a point, and then about $4 a point in closing points, that brings you to $74 a point. Because we can buy an add on from Disney, for $84 a point, I could buy AND get '04 points, so for me, it's a wash, $74 for next years points from resale, and $84 with this years points from Disney, I'll buy from Disney. If you offer less for VWL, and it's accepted, you have to get past Disney, and maybe you'll be lucky. Disney bought the contract we were looking at, and I'm guessing that we were paying about $68, this was in August '03. Some contract have gotten past Disney for $68 and even $66 recently, check some of the threads, it seems that lots of people have been very happy lately.

Bobbi:D

Thank you Bobbi.:)

That makes a lot of sense. I always thought of "trying" to get a January use year so that I could make resevations for December at 11 months.

And thank you for the explanation of what happens if there are no points left, and what the price difference might be.

I was actually thinking about buying 100 points at VWL.

Sincerely, Ray:)
 
Originally posted by crisi
As VWL contracts don't come up too often, you may not have much of a choice about paying less for a stripped contract. Around $70 seems to be the floor - regardless of stripped or not.

Stripped contracts you don't pay dues on - the seller should pay dues on the points used. So you could look at it as a $10 loss in rental income, or you could look at it as a $2 per point cost ($6 per point "cost basis" minus dues) - which is how I looked at my stripped contract.

Thank you for your explanation Crisi.

So I guess that I can think of it as less of a good deal for me because I don't get the points that year.

But at the same time, it would be less attractive to Disney to buy back the contract.
 


Originally posted by Muushka
That is the exact reason we bought at VWL. We always traveled to WDW either the 1st or 2nd week of December. When we heard that they were going to build at WL we waited a year and a half for them to be completed. We have been very happy that this is our home resort, because of the difficulty of booking in Dec. We know that we can always stay there when ever we want. And yes, VWL met our expectations and exceeded them.

Thank you for your reply Muuska.

Since I would mainly want to stay at VWL during the Christmas decoration holiday season, I would want to make reservations there easier at elevenmonths rather than hoping for a seven month reservation or worse a wait list.
 
Originally posted by rocketriter
Last year the only time we could visit WDW was during November. We stayed at the WL (hadn't yet bought DVC) and the day we checked out, we saw the staff rolling up the carpets in the main lodge lobby. We were gone before the decorations arrived. Booo!

I'm sorry that you missed the decorations Rocketriter.

I love driving up to te Wilderness Lodge at night, walking through the log entance and seeing the 4-5 story Christmass tree and all the other decorations hanging from the balconies.

Right above the entrance there is a special seating area with leather chairs and a small fire place that over looks the lobby. This is my favorite magical place to listen to the holiday music, people watch, and admire the WL lobby's decorations.

I hope that you cane see it some time soon.

Sincerely, Ray:)
 

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