A few questions...

[Colleen27]

We're thinking about buying DVC, and even though we won't be making any decisions until sometime next year, a purchase this major kicks my research-and-planning side into high gear. So I have a few questions about the ins and outs of DVC...

First and foremost, what are the pros and cons to buying two different contracts rather than a single, higher point purchase? Does owning at both SSR and AKL, for instance, open up the 11 month booking window at both resorts?

Since we're a family of 5, we'll be most interested in the properties where we can sleep 5 in a one bedroom. That's just AKL and BLT right now, right?

Can you book multiple rooms for the same time using DVC points? We often travel with extended family, and depending on the group, might prefer two studios over a two bedroom for privacy's sake. Would this be possible or are members restricted to booking a single room?

I think that's it for now, though I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions as the discussion and decision making process continues! Thank goodness there's the DIS for me to turn to for answers.

 

[smep013]

Hi - I can answer one question for certain: YES, you can reserve multiple rooms using the same DVC Member number for the same time frame. I have booked two 2BRs for a trip next summer.

Good Luck & Have Fun researching!

 

[JaxFLBear]

First and foremost, what are the pros and cons to buying two different contracts rather than a single, higher point purchase? Does owning at both SSR and AKL, for instance, open up the 11 month booking window at both resorts?

At 11 months you could only use SSR points at SSR, and AKV points at AKV. At the 7 month mark points could be combined and reserved at any resort.

Since we're a family of 5, we'll be most interested in the properties where we can sleep 5 in a one bedroom. That's just AKL and BLT right now, right?

If you have a child under 3, they are not counted towards occupancy limits. Otherwise, just AKV (non-value room) and BLT officially allow 5 persons over the age of 3.

Can you book multiple rooms for the same time using DVC points? We often travel with extended family, and depending on the group, might prefer two studios over a two bedroom for privacy's sake. Would this be possible or are members restricted to booking a single room?

As smep013 said, Yes.

 

[5forDiz]

....what are the pros and cons to buying two different contracts rather than a single, higher point purchase? Does owning at both SSR and AKL, for instance, open up the 11 month booking window at both resorts?

Since we're a family of 5, we'll be most interested in the properties where we can sleep 5 in a one bedroom. That's just AKL and BLT right now, right?

Can you book multiple rooms for the same time using DVC points? We often travel with extended family, and depending on the group, might prefer two studios over a two bedroom for privacy's sake. Would this be possible or are members restricted to booking a single room? ......

~ buy where you love to stay ; nearly every member will tell you this & it is what we did when first buying into DVC. If you are unsure of which resort you may want you can purchase at one resort to start either directly through Disney or via resale and then you can do add-on contract(s) at other resort(s).

At 11 month booking window points can only be used to book
at the DVC resort they are tied to (Home Resort).
At 7 month window all points become equal to book with.
So if you
own a contract at SSR and BWV and you want to use points
from both contracts to book a December trip at SSR you can
book in January the number of nights your SSR contract will
cover but would have to wait until May to use BWV points to
book additional nights at SSR. But if you didnt want to wait
until May to complete the reservation with your BWV points
you can bank & borrow up to 3 yrs of one contract's
points into 1 Use Year - ie 2008 SSR UY points can be banked into 2009 SSR UY
AND 2010 SSR UY allotment can be borrowed into 2009 UY.

~ AKV nonvalue & BLT can sleep 5 in 1 bedroom villa ( on a pull-out sleeper chair
in addition to pull-out sofa that sleeps 2 )

~ you can book whatever number of units & types of units and number of nights you wish during any trip that you have points available to cover (subject to the dates & units being available of course)

Good luck on your planning

 

[vandy]

The advantage to having smaller point contracts versus one large contract is that you have the ability to sell off a small contract should you ever decide to, rather than selling your entire contract. Smaller contracts sell quicker on the resale market and usually at a little higher price per point than the larger contracts. Maybe later in life you don't need as many points, or, you have the number of points you need, but want to own at a second resort. Having multiple smaller contracts allows you to keep points at a resort, while selling off the others.

 

[Colleen27]

So with two contracts, we could bank or borrow to use 2 years' points on the BCV contract for one trip and do the same with the AKL contract for a different trip, so that we could book both at 11 months out? Then two contracts is probably the way for us to go, since we'll have different preferred resorts for just us trips and for extended family trips. BCV is our favorite so far but that 5 person occupancy in a 1bdrm will be nice in a few years when DD is old enough to count, so having points to use at BCV for extended family trips and AKL or BLT for just us trips would be perfect.

Which leads to another question - what are the pros and cons of buying direct from Disney rather than resale?

 

[chalee94]

info on resales vs. direct, stolen from DVCMike:

Initial Purchase from DVC

• You can get the exact number of points that you want (although you must buy a minimum of 160)
• Faster than resale (you will be in the system and have your points and be able to make reservations much faster than resale)
• No worries about the purchase if Disney executes ROFR, since that only applies to resale purchases
• More expensive cost per point than the resale market
• You can finance through DVC, and Disney doesn’t report the loan to credit reporting agencies
• You can pay with a Rewards credit card and get points/cash back
• The full set of points you buy will be available immediately, versus a resale contract which may be “stripped” of points.
• If you don’t want the resorts they are currently selling (AKV/BLT), you may have to do some firm talking to a guide to convince them you really want an older resort.

Initial Purchase via Resale

• You may not get the exact number of points you want
• You can purchase fewer than 160 points for your initial buy-in to DVC (Disney won’t let you buy fewer than 160 points - except for a recent deal at AKV).
• It will take much longer to get into the DVC system and have your points (resales typically take 6-8 weeks)
• Disney may exercise ROFR and you may lose the resale and have to start all over (When buying resale, one of the potential pitfalls to try to avoid is making an offer that will cause Disney to exercise it’s Right of First Refusal)
• Resale is typically less expensive than buying from DVC
• You can’t finance through DVC, although most resale brokers will recommend a finance company
• A resale contract may be “stripped” of points where the user has used many of the current year’s points, and may have borrowed some or all of next year’s points. Just be aware of “stripped” contracts on the resale market.
• Easier to pickup large point packages at any of the older DVC resorts.

 

[chalee94]

So with two contracts, we could bank or borrow to use 2 years' points on the BCV contract for one trip and do the same with the AKL contract for a different trip, so that we could book both at 11 months out?

yes, you could book BCV one year at 11 months with the pts from the BCV contract and then you could book AKV the next year with pts from the AKV contract. (some people get this confused, but banking and borrowing would not turn AKV pts into BCV pts or vice-versa, so you would be alternating 11 month windows at each resort every other year.)

 

[kristenrice]

I agree with what all of the other poster's have said. I just wanted to comment on the 2 studios vs. a 2BR for privacy....

A different option would be the 2BR lock-offs. They are a 1BR connected to a studio. You could retain the privacy and still have access to a full kitchen, washer/dryer and the kitchenette. I believe it would require about 5 more points per night, depending on the season. We are bringing my parents with us over Spring Break and we considered getting them their own studio. Then I realized that getting them a studio and us a 1BR is essentially reserving a 2BR lockoff! Also, if you are looking at AKV, a 2BR lockoff will give you room for 9, whereas 2 studios will only sleep 8. Just an observation and something to consider.

Good luck with your planning. Ask all the questions you want! Everyone here is ready and willing to help.

 

[adminjedi]

This is our philosophy:
We plan on vacationing at WDW regularly. DVC doesn't necessarily save us money, but we stay in much nicer hotels and nicer rooms with nicer facilities for our money spent.
Example, we would not choose to spend $1400 per night for 7 nights in a 2bdrm suite at AKL concierge. However, using our DVC points, we stayed there at an approximate amortized cost of about $598 per night (this is based on mfs plus initial cost amortized over the length of the contract).

 

[kisly59@optonline.ne]

I can answer the question regarding booking more than one room - yes you can. We took two other families with us one year and booked a two-bedroom and a studio at BWV for that trip. No problems booking, but I did request that the rooms be on the same floor and as close together as possible and that did not happen. I would say to just be diligent in keeping Disney aware of your requests - keep reminding them throughout the weeks/days leading up to your trip. As far as the 11-month booking, we have 200 points at BWV and 100 at SSR. Be aware that if I am booking a stay at SSR, I can only book up to 100 points during the 11-month window. If my accomodations are more than 100 points, I will have to wait for the 7-month window to book the rest of my stay using my BWV points. I have not done this yet, but I could see this could possibly create a problem.

 

[BurghFan111]

Pros: I work a very fast paced stressful job and used to never even think about taking days off. I saw them as something annoying I had to "fit in". Now I plan regular vacations and look forward to them when things are hectic. It has probably added yrs to my life. Like someone else said the accomodations are great. We stayed at a moderate and did not find it nearly as nice as Saratoga. The atmosphee is truly a home aways from home atmosphere. The other members feel like neighbors and all the CM's really seem to go even more out of their way to make you feel at home.

Cons: Do not believe that you can get up one day pick some carribean resort you want to go to, pick the week, call and exchange. If you are not VERY flexible you will be VERY disappointed. Also cruises and Adventure by Disney require a ton of points.

Bottom line: I would definately buy again but will also look into another cruise line for cruises and keep my eyes open for good deals for non-Disney vacations rather than trying to exchange.

 

[Colleen27]

I really appreciate all the advice. I knew I didn't know much about DVC, but I didn't realize how much there is to learn!

It honestly never even occured to me to use DVC points outside of the Disney system, and I didn't even know you could use them for cruises or Adventures by Disney. We're just planning on buying enough points to cover a big trip every other year or so, because with our group size (5, 6, or 8 depending on the trip) it makes more sense than using cash to book a villa or two deluxe rooms every couple years. So it doesn't matter that exchanging is difficult or not a good use of points, because we aren't likely to do it anyway.

I also hadn't thought of the two-bedroom lockoff, but that's the perfect answer for our extended family trips. That way my brother & his fiancee could have some privacy when they want it but still be there with us for meals and such.

Another question - how comfortable are the pull out beds?