About to take the DVC plunge. Advice?

[Dean]

Hello all. I am seriously considering DVC but I have a bit of a dilemma. I live only about 30 mins from VGC and would like to stay there. However the resale points there are about double what you might find at SSR. If I only want to stay a night or two at a time at VGC, how likely will I be able to book that at the 7 month mark or even say the 4 month mark? Any experience and/or input here would be appreciated.

If you plan to stay there most of the time, I'd either buy there or not buy DVC. If you're very flexible, I'd just rent looking for distressed points.

 

[bdrobet]

If you plan to stay there most of the time, I'd either buy there or not buy DVC. If you're very flexible, I'd just rent looking for distressed points.

Our plan would be to stay at VGC short trips (1 or 2 nights) with maybe an every 2-3 year trip to Aulani. It would be a very rare trip to WDW.

 

[Apps]

Our plan would be to stay at VGC short trips (1 or 2 nights) with maybe an every 2-3 year trip to Aulani. It would be a very rare trip to WDW.

I did exactly what you are thinking. I bought SSR for $60 and stayed at Aulani in Feb (5 days). I am staying a couple nights here and there at VGC and planning a trip to WDW for summer in 2015. VGC is hard to get and you have to be diligent at the 7 month mark. What i did was to find a date i'd like to stay (usually a weekend) and at 5-7 days of that stay, I'd book the whole week. Later I'd cancel the days I didn't want to stay. I do this because the weekends at the 7 month mark go FAST at VGC.

I was gonna buy at VGC originally but the price was too high for since i'd only use it a couple days at a time. Was only really looking to get long-term stays at Aulani and WDW so buying SSR worked out fine. BTW, Aulani was really easy to get at 7 months and i'm finding WDW to be pretty easy at 7 months too at the properties i'd be interested in (i.e. BLT).

 

[DizBub]

My daughter owns BLT and VGF. She was able to get 2 nights at VGC on very short notice a couple of months ago, like a day or two out. 1 night in a studio and 1 night in a 1 bedroom. I think it can be done if you are flexible and don't mind checking constantly. Stuff opens up all the time.

 

[bdrobet]

Thank you all for the input. Really useful. It is amazing how much they "leave out" at a DVC presentation!

 

[Dean]

Our plan would be to stay at VGC short trips (1 or 2 nights) with maybe an every 2-3 year trip to Aulani. It would be a very rare trip to WDW.

SSR or similar should work at Aulani if you plan ahead and are a little flexible. While you may get things from time to time at VGC, it's more of an uncertainty. My feeling for the situation you're in as I understand it (multiple short trips to VGC & 1 in 3 to Oahu) would be to either buy VGC or not at all. It may be that not at all is the best options, esp if you can't plan those short trips close to 11 months out. The other alternative would be to underbuy with just a few more points than you'd use at Aulani then when you can get VGC, it'd be a plus with cash or private rental for the rest of the trips.