A hypothetical situation

[intamin]

I’ve heard a lot(not on this board) that people rarely book 11 months out and even if they do, they are always changing their reservation

Home resort priority is that extra insurance to guarantee you at least get to stay where you like. If you don't care where you book, you might as well own at SSR and be done with it. There will be times where you are able to book other resorts easily depending on what season and room type you're going for.

These are my personal feelings about how I view availability for all the resorts.

OKW - easy except near HH
VB - hard during summer and Spring Break
HHI - hard during summer and Spring Break
BRV - hard during the holidays
BCV - hard during every season except during the summer
BWV - hard during every season except during the summer
SSR - always available
AKV - easy aside from club/value
BLT - standard hard year round, TPV hard on July 4th and New Year's
VGC - hard all year
AUL - hard during the summer
VGF - resort studio easy except December, deluxe studios and up hard except during summer, especially hard during December
Poly - longhouses easy aside from July 4th and New Year's, tower generally hard but availability remains to be seen
CCV - very hard during the holidays, but somewhat difficult throughout the year due to cabins
RIV - standard hard except for 1BRs
VDH - somewhat hard but not nearly as bad as VGC
CFW - hard around holidays at 7 months

Booking 1BRs instead of studios will give you significantly more availability at 7 months at pretty much all resorts.

Depending on what's important to you should determine where you want to buy. Want to walk back to your hotel after fireworks at MK on New Year's? Buy BLT. Want a room that sleeps 5 but also has amazing holiday theming? Buy BRV. Want standard rooms at RIV? Buy RIV. Want to stay at VGC at all with reliability? Buy VGC. Money is not infinite and you only have so many arrows in your quiver, choose wisely.

 

[Wedgeout]

I’ve heard a lot(not on this board) that people rarely book 11 months out and even if they do, they are always changing their reservation

Not here & nice to hear there are some still out in the wild not competing at the 11 month, on the dot, reservation battle.

That’s why we here buy where we want to primarily be because we know our home resorts have booking categories & locations that are in high demand.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Not here & nice to hear there are some still out in the wild not competing at the 11 month, on the dot, reservation battle.

That’s why we here buy where we want to primarily be because we know our home resorts have booking categories & locations that are in high demand.

I think a lot of use 11m as short hand for the Home Resort Period…. even though some rooms need to be walked….

 

[atthebeachclub]

I try to always book at 11 months. Then I request vacation approval for that time. If that falls through I still try to stay within at least 8 months at a minimum.

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

Where are you on your timeline with the BR contract you bought, waiting for ROFR? Are you planning to book BR 1B for early December, 2026? You should have points loaded in time. Will you have any extra points? Was it a loaded or stripped contract? Oh, do you have favorite parks? Sometimes these things help narrow down where to pick.

What and when would you like for trip #2? Do you have a bucket list?

Oh, and we also love 1Bs, even though they’re supposedly an overpriced option, AND we love/bought Riviera direct. Twice. LOL. Believe me, I have had a lot of feedback that all of those things were bad decisions, but it’s what we like. I’m just glad DH and I like the same things (except AKJ/AKK. He hates how dark the rooms are.)

Try not to let your frustration spoil your interactions on the boards. We all are uber geeks who freaking love the product and get excited to (over)share our thoughts. I believe SS is the most bought and sold resort resale, so there’s a large component of folks who play DVC slots for rooms -7 months. I am too anal to not have a favorite locked in at 11 months. If I decide to waitlist, I’m still guaranteed to have a great stay at my home resort. Lots of folks don’t care and are fine split stays/SS/OKW/AKK as their last options. The rooms are still nice, and they crash after a long day anyway.

 

[melissa70]

Where are you on your timeline with the BR contract you bought, waiting for ROFR? Are you planning to book BR 1B for early December, 2026? You should have points loaded in time. Will you have any extra points? Was it a loaded or stripped contract? Oh, do you have favorite parks? Sometimes these things help narrow down where to pick.

What and when would you like for trip #2? Do you have a bucket list?

Oh, and we also love 1Bs, even though they’re supposedly an overpriced option, AND we love/bought Riviera direct. Twice. LOL. Believe me, I have had a lot of feedback that all of those things were bad decisions, but it’s what we like. I’m just glad DH and I like the same things (except AKJ/AKK. He hates how dark the rooms are.)

Try not to let your frustration spoil your interactions on the boards. We all are uber geeks who freaking love the product and get excited to (over)share our thoughts. I believe SS is the most bought and sold resort resale, so there’s a large component of folks who play DVC slots for rooms -7 months. I am too anal to not have a favorite locked in at 11 months. If I decide to waitlist, I’m still guaranteed to have a great stay at my home resort. Lots of folks don’t care and are fine split stays/SS/OKW/AKK as their last options. The rooms are still nice, and they crash after a long day anyway.

I’m waiting for ROFR ..it was just sent this week. I am planning for December 2026..contract has some bankable points and some points that were borrowed that will need to be used by August 2026..so I may try to plan a small trip for the spring. I really do appreciate everyone’s help..I’m sorry if I sound crazy..I’m driving my husband nuts too .. and chat gpt lol. I guess I’m just afraid of making a mistake not so much financially but more of where to buy, why, etc. I’m finding it difficult to figure out just how many points I will need..the one bedrooms are point heavy. I’ve been watching YouTube videos and have heard a few “experts” say they always can find whatever they want at the 7 month window and even later and quite a few have said if they had to do it again they would have bought at SSR.

 

[Wedgeout]

Definitely hope you are able to find dates and get to take a trip to your resort in the Spring. December is going to look & feel sooo far away, when you look at your dashboard & account.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I’m waiting for ROFR ..it was just sent this week. I am planning for December 2026..contract has some bankable points and some points that were borrowed that will need to be used by August 2026..so I may try to plan a small trip for the spring. I really do appreciate everyone’s help..I’m sorry if I sound crazy..I’m driving my husband nuts too .. and chat gpt lol. I guess I’m just afraid of making a mistake not so much financially but more of where to buy, why, etc. I’m finding it difficult to figure out just how many points I will need..the one bedrooms are point heavy. I’ve been watching YouTube videos and have heard a few “experts” say they always can find whatever they want at the 7 month window and even later and quite a few have said if they had to do it again they would have bought at SSR.

I think the general (not universal) consensus on the board right now is that BLT and CCV are the better Sleep Around Points than SSR because of the total cost of ownership (buy in cost & dues), value retention in case of future sale, rental value in years you can’t go, etc.

But…. as you have seen… when someone writes that they “love” a specific resort then the “buy where you want to stay” crew chimes in because we want nothing to do with the stress bomb of committing to thousands of future dollars for reoccurring Disney vacations only to end up not staying where someplace we would really enjoy. That doesn’t mean we don’t peek around at availability after the 7m mark to get some variety… but our worst case scenario is that we are still very happy.

There are LOTS of threads on this board that pop up from people who are upset about room availability when they used to be able to book what they wanted at somewhere other than their home resort inside of 7m…. DVC pushes millions of new points into the system every time they launch a new property…. those points are competing with everyone else at 7m….

 

[intamin]

I’m waiting for ROFR ..it was just sent this week. I am planning for December 2026..contract has some bankable points and some points that were borrowed that will need to be used by August 2026..so I may try to plan a small trip for the spring. I really do appreciate everyone’s help..I’m sorry if I sound crazy..I’m driving my husband nuts too .. and chat gpt lol. I guess I’m just afraid of making a mistake not so much financially but more of where to buy, why, etc. I’m finding it difficult to figure out just how many points I will need..the one bedrooms are point heavy. I’ve been watching YouTube videos and have heard a few “experts” say they always can find whatever they want at the 7 month window and even later and quite a few have said if they had to do it again they would have bought at SSR.

Prior availability is not indicative of the future. There will be more and more direct resorts that can trade into the O14 resorts that resale won't be able to access. You can argue that resale from the newer resorts won't be able to book the O14 resorts but I'd wager that people who buy at resale restricted resorts like RIV and CFW will try and hold those points until the bitter end because of the hit in value once resold. Like me, I will 1000% resell my AUL and AKV resale points before I'm willing to part with any of my RIV points. At the end of the day the only thing that's guaranteed is the chance to book your home resort at 11 months. The compromise to value and having a useful home resort priority is what we call SAP+ points. It's the ones we've previously talked about that don't necessarily need home resort priority at all times but can still be useful at certain times of the year like CCV, BLT and AUL-s. For me, my SAP+ points are my subsidized Aulani points that have the lowest dues in all of DVC. Most of the time owning Aulani is not necessary to stay there, but I did find value in being able to guarantee a trip to Hawaii during the summer which is when we are most likely to go and is also the hardest time to book. I'm actually quite grateful we did not end up buying SSR because we find ourselves using the Aulani home resort priority more frequently than I thought we would.

 

[Girlstar30]

So are you telling me that everybody has 250 points plus in their home resorts?

I dont, except SSR, but ive been taking these one week trips at my favesies, used to accesing over 1000 points, and now I will need more after a year

 

[VGCgroupie]

I think the general (not universal) consensus on the board right now is that BLT and CCV are the better Sleep Around Points than SSR because of the total cost of ownership (buy in cost & dues), value retention in case of future sale, rental value in years you can’t go, etc.

But…. as you have seen… when someone writes that they “love” a specific resort then the “buy where you want to stay” crew chimes in because we want nothing to do with the stress bomb of committing to thousands of future dollars for reoccurring Disney vacations only to end up not staying where someplace we would really enjoy. That doesn’t mean we don’t peek around at availability after the 7m mark to get some variety… but our worst case scenario is that we are still very happy.

There are LOTS of threads on this board that pop up from people who are upset about room availability when they used to be able to book what they wanted at somewhere other than their home resort inside of 7m…. DVC pushes millions of new points into the system every time they launch a new property…. those points are competing with everyone else at 7m….

Yep. I have even not been able to get what I want at places that own at 11 months in let alone at 7 months. But what do we know right?

 

[Girlstar30]

I’ve heard a lot(not on this board) that people rarely book 11 months out and even if they do, they are always changing their reservation

Thats me my first year and it sucks im pissed I didnt stick with something sooner and now stalking for one damn night or have to move to a studio and then back, im not doing this again

You can get things later on, but then that one or two nights going to slap you in the face and drive you insane

Stalking is heartbreaking, I feel like a prisoner to this system, home resort priority please set free me

OH the booking website sucks btw so you have to fight it being down and clearing your damn cookies and history multiple times a day all while its hard to get the goodies during high time.

Good luck, I feel like ive aged immensely since joining, but boy do I love it and keep buying more!!!

You know what else is the greatest feeling ever? When you see that cancellation notification email and you almost have a heart attack that you lost your reservation, but then you actually got what you really wanted and feel the greatest high ever!!!

Give me that psychiatrists number

 

[juliebee]

I guess I’m just afraid of making a mistake not so much financially but more of where to buy, why, etc. I’m finding it difficult to figure out just how many points I will need..the one bedrooms are point heavy.

We are a Boulder Ridge family. My husband is REALLY in love with Wilderness Lodge and I'm happy there but am happy in other resorts as well. I'm in my mid 50s and my husband is in his 60s, so as I mentioned in your other thread, we are perfectly happy with 2042 expiration. We chose Boulder Ridge over Copper Creek because for studios, there is better availability at Boulder Ridge than Copper Creek. Since it's just the two of us, we are happy in a studio. It is very tough to get into either one of these during December, so I want to caution that it may not be available for you every year. And if you do want a reservation in December at either of them, you will want to make the reservation right at 11 months. It's sold out immediately, so you can't really decide in April that you want to go in December to either of those resorts.

We have enough points to go for a week at BRV in a studio basically any time of the year plus a little buffer. I was given the advice to buy enough points for a week plus about 10% extra. That has been working well for us. Now we don't stay at BRVs all the time. We have been to several other resorts as I like the variety and switch out at 7 months sometimes. But I'd also be happy if I had to stay at BRV.

So with your 160 points, you could decide that you will (for a time) just do a studio for a week. When you have more points, you can expand to 1 bedrooms then. Or you can decide to do a 1 bedroom for 3-4 days. Either way would work and you'd enjoy using the points. Try it out for a while and maybe do a trip where you spend a day or two in several resorts, to see where your next purchase should be.

I’ve been watching YouTube videos and have heard a few “experts” say they always can find whatever they want at the 7 month window and even later and quite a few have said if they had to do it again they would have bought at SSR.

There are many YouTube DVC "experts" that live in the Florida area... and they have the ability to do more spontaneous trips at short notice. They will grab an available night here or there just a month or two away. For those more spontaneous people, then yes, buying at SSR is a great plan. They aren't necessarily looking for home resort priority booking and they just need cheap points for small trips. That doesn't sound like it applies to you, but that may be the case for these experts who have different needs than someone like me that has to plan many months in advance because I'm flying in from a big distance (West Coast).

Trying out your first contract for a while and then carefully adding on later sounds like a way to help navigate these uncertainties for you and give you time to stay at a few more resorts to see where you'd fully enjoy purchasing.

 

[Girlstar30]

We are a Boulder Ridge family. My husband is REALLY in love with Wilderness Lodge and I'm happy there but am happy in other resorts as well. I'm in my mid 50s and my husband is in his 60s, so as I mentioned in your other thread, we are perfectly happy with 2042 expiration. We chose Boulder Ridge over Copper Creek because for studios, there is better availability at Boulder Ridge than Copper Creek. Since it's just the two of us, we are happy in a studio. It is very tough to get into either one of these during December, so I want to caution that it may not be available for you every year. And if you do want a reservation in December at either of them, you will want to make the reservation right at 11 months. It's sold out immediately, so you can't really decide in April that you want to go in December to either of those resorts.

We have enough points to go for a week at BRV in a studio basically any time of the year plus a little buffer. I was given the advice to buy enough points for a week plus about 10% extra. That has been working well for us. Now we don't stay at BRVs all the time. We have been to several other resorts as I like the variety and switch out at 7 months sometimes. But I'd also be happy if I had to stay at BRV.

So with your 160 points, you could decide that you will (for a time) just do a studio for a week. When you have more points, you can expand to 1 bedrooms then. Or you can decide to do a 1 bedroom for 3-4 days. Either way would work and you'd enjoy using the points. Try it out for a while and maybe do a trip where you spend a day or two in several resorts, to see where your next purchase should be.

There are many YouTube DVC "experts" that live in the Florida area... and they have the ability to do more spontaneous trips at short notice. They will grab an available night here or there just a month or two away. For those more spontaneous people, then yes, buying at SSR is a great plan. They aren't necessarily looking for home resort priority booking and they just need cheap points for small trips. That doesn't sound like it applies to you, but that may be the case for these experts who have different needs than someone like me that has to plan many months in advance because I'm flying in from a big distance (West Coast).

Trying out your first contract for a while and then carefully adding on later sounds like a way to help navigate these uncertainties for you and give you time to stay at a few more resorts to see where you'd fully enjoy purchasing.

This is a good point. I have used my SSR points at vgc 5 times this year now because we live nearby and that gives me so much satisfaction.

But we can only do this because its close. My trips there have been 1-3 nights and I wouldnt want to stay longer, I've seen that pop up but I dont feel the need, so ill literally take anything thats available even if it comes up the night before especially if its a weekend!

 

[VGCgroupie]

This is a good point. I have used my SSR points at vgc 5 times this year now because we live nearby and that gives me so much satisfaction.

But we can only do this because its close. My trips there have been 1-3 nights and I wouldnt want to stay longer, I've seen that pop up but I dont feel the need, so ill literally take anything thats available even if it comes up the night before especially if its a weekend!

Yeah doesnt work out for me for my beloved VGC since I have to then find a decent flight. So living driving distance and being ultra flexible and having spare time to spend stalking availability is key to making under 7 months work at most resorts

 

[Girlstar30]

Yeah doesnt work out for me for my beloved VGC since I have to then find a decent flight. So living driving distance and being ultra flexible and having spare time to spend stalking availability is key to making under 7 months work at most resorts

 

[intamin]

We are a Boulder Ridge family. My husband is REALLY in love with Wilderness Lodge and I'm happy there but am happy in other resorts as well. I'm in my mid 50s and my husband is in his 60s, so as I mentioned in your other thread, we are perfectly happy with 2042 expiration. We chose Boulder Ridge over Copper Creek because for studios, there is better availability at Boulder Ridge than Copper Creek. Since it's just the two of us, we are happy in a studio. It is very tough to get into either one of these during December, so I want to caution that it may not be available for you every year. And if you do want a reservation in December at either of them, you will want to make the reservation right at 11 months. It's sold out immediately, so you can't really decide in April that you want to go in December to either of those resorts.

We have enough points to go for a week at BRV in a studio basically any time of the year plus a little buffer. I was given the advice to buy enough points for a week plus about 10% extra. That has been working well for us. Now we don't stay at BRVs all the time. We have been to several other resorts as I like the variety and switch out at 7 months sometimes. But I'd also be happy if I had to stay at BRV.

So with your 160 points, you could decide that you will (for a time) just do a studio for a week. When you have more points, you can expand to 1 bedrooms then. Or you can decide to do a 1 bedroom for 3-4 days. Either way would work and you'd enjoy using the points. Try it out for a while and maybe do a trip where you spend a day or two in several resorts, to see where your next purchase should be.

There are many YouTube DVC "experts" that live in the Florida area... and they have the ability to do more spontaneous trips at short notice. They will grab an available night here or there just a month or two away. For those more spontaneous people, then yes, buying at SSR is a great plan. They aren't necessarily looking for home resort priority booking and they just need cheap points for small trips. That doesn't sound like it applies to you, but that may be the case for these experts who have different needs than someone like me that has to plan many months in advance because I'm flying in from a big distance (West Coast).

Trying out your first contract for a while and then carefully adding on later sounds like a way to help navigate these uncertainties for you and give you time to stay at a few more resorts to see where you'd fully enjoy purchasing.

That's a great point about many of those "experts" being local. It's part of the reason I don't feel the need to buy a DL contract because I can make less than 7 months availability work. If my reservation/waitlist doesn't come through, no big deal, I just end up staying at my house instead. If you're making a long trek and you actually need the nights, it's a lot less fun to try and piece together availability.

 

[atthebeachclub]

So are you telling me that everybody has 250 points plus in their home resorts?

I don't. But it is easier to book at 11 months at your home resort and then rebook at 7 months if you just have one home resort.

I have 2 home resorts, and since I travel usually once to twice per year max, I have a bank/borrow strategy (my Beach Club points are only for Beach Club; my Disneyland points are for anywhere else). I did have 3 resorts briefly but discovered quickly that is much more annoying. You want each contract to have enough points that it is useful to book what you need. If you only have small contracts at all different resorts, you will struggle to piece together longer vacations. Having all points at just one or two resorts makes life easier. Having many home resorts is advanced DVC, and probably works best for people above 500 points (aka, not me!).

 

[Girlstar30]

And then I get the cheapest socal magic key where u pay monthly so that helps with the spontaneous trips as well and cost of theme park, at least the weekday trips.

I wouldnt be able to up and fly there and be going to disneyland every other month a couple days ahead

My wifes job gives her a lot of paid time off/job protection and she can literally call them and tell them shes not coming today and no one cares as long as she has the leave to post.

We all know i have time to stalk so I guess im the perfect SSR candidate and I would recommend having these three components for SSR