All SAP vs Multiple Home Resorts

[r6175rpm]

So this is my first post and I have done a bit of reading on this topic but haven't really found the response that has resonated with me as a good answer. For a little background I currently have 2 contracts at SSR. 158 direct and 100 resale for 258 total points. I am looking to add around 200 more from resale. I have stayed at SSR once and it was fine but we generally like to stay other places. I've had the mindset that "more cheap points is better than less points at specific resorts". We typically plan one big trip and the rest are small 1,2, and 3 nights. We love GF and if I were to buy at another home resort, this is where it would be. I just struggle with wrapping my head around the price per point at GF being twice as much or 75% more than SSR points. I can almost always book what I want at SSR, even weeks before hand and if I am flexible, haven't had issues with 1 night stays at GF in studios. My other consideration is that 1br seem to stay available a lot longer and with more points, I don't need more than 7 months typically to get what I want in a 1br. I feel like having GF as a home resort would give me the chance to book more studios but is that really worth the upcharge in points, when for the same money(contract costs), I'm booking 1br's, just with more of my cheap points. Am I missing something big here?

 

[intamin]

It really depends on your long term goals.

I’d say if you’re flexible booking random nights at GF in a studio or paying more points for a 1BR then SAP is probably the way to go. If you see yourself wanting to stay for prolonged consecutive periods like 5+ days then I think owning there would make sense.

Something to keep in mind is that while the buy in price is close to double, the dues of a resort make up 70% or more of the cost of a contract over it’s lifetime. Add to that VGF’s contract lasts an additional 10 years.

Ultimately only you know how much it matters to you that you be able to stay at VGF and what your goals for owning DVC are like if the added duration matters to you or if consistently booking VGF is important. You’re also the only one who knows your schedule and whether or not you’d be able to book in the 7-11 month window and take advantage of the benefit of owning there because if you only book within 7 months then having home resort priority does absolutely nothing for you

Anyways best of luck with your decision!

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

It really depends on your long term goals.

I’d say if you’re flexible booking random nights at GF in a studio or paying more points for a 1BR then SAP is probably the way to go. If you see yourself wanting to stay for prolonged consecutive periods like 5+ days then I think owning there would make sense.

Something to keep in mind is that while the buy in price is close to double, the dues of a resort make up 70% or more of the cost of a contract over it’s lifetime. Add to that VGF’s contract lasts an additional 10 years.

Ultimately only you know how much it matters to you that you be able to stay at VGF and what your goals for owning DVC are like if the added duration matters to you or if consistently booking VGF is important. You’re also the only one who knows whether or not you’d be able to book in the 7-11 month window and take advantage of the benefit of owning there because if you only book within 7 months then having home resort priority does absolutely nothing for you

Anyways best of luck with your decision!

Agree w/ all of the above and would also add to consider when you'd travel (i.e. would you ever have any interest in staying at VGF around the holidays? If so, I'd prioritize owning there.)

 

[RuntheMouse]

We have 4 home resorts. We actually love staying at all of the but do use the AKV and SSR as SAP from time to time. I never count on 7 month bookings and they aren’t a goal for us, sometimes opportunity presents itself and we go for it. RIV and BRV are my 2 favorite resorts so those points are for those resorts only.

I don’t get the feeling from you that VGF is a must do, more like a want to do. In that case SAP at SSR are fine. BUT if when you’re honest about your plans, will it be a disappointment if booking there becomes difficult in the future? That is only a question you can answer. Good luck with your search!

 

[DVC Deac]

If you want to stay at a specific resort at a specific time of the year (like, say, VGF in December) and will be disappointed if you end up with your second choice then buy where you want to stay. Life is too short and whatever you save on the front end won’t be worth not getting what you want over the long term.

If that doesn’t apply then SAP is the way to go.

 

[marmentrout85]

So this is my first post and I have done a bit of reading on this topic but haven't really found the response that has resonated with me as a good answer. For a little background I currently have 2 contracts at SSR. 158 direct and 100 resale for 258 total points. I am looking to add around 200 more from resale. I have stayed at SSR once and it was fine but we generally like to stay other places. I've had the mindset that "more cheap points is better than less points at specific resorts". We typically plan one big trip and the rest are small 1,2, and 3 nights. We love GF and if I were to buy at another home resort, this is where it would be. I just struggle with wrapping my head around the price per point at GF being twice as much or 75% more than SSR points. I can almost always book what I want at SSR, even weeks before hand and if I am flexible, haven't had issues with 1 night stays at GF in studios. My other consideration is that 1br seem to stay available a lot longer and with more points, I don't need more than 7 months typically to get what I want in a 1br. I feel like having GF as a home resort would give me the chance to book more studios but is that really worth the upcharge in points, when for the same money(contract costs), I'm booking 1br's, just with more of my cheap points. Am I missing something big here?

It sounds like you have a good grip on your situation and IMO sticking with more SAP is likely the way to go; only caveat being unless you plan on staying at VGF during more "in demand" times of year.

Also keep in mind the smaller room inventory in the original VGF building as it might be tougher than you think booking a string of more than 2-3 nights in a 1BR at the 7 month mark (I believe there are only ~47 total 1BR), but you should theoretically have a much easier time booking The Resort Studios at 7 months simply due to the greater room inventory.

All that being said, if you truly love GF and know you'll be disappointed every time you DON'T stay there, then I'd say the peace of mind having that 11 month booking advantage is well worth the extra upfront cost!

 

[Tatebeck]

I took the multiple home resort route. But I bought enough at each that they can be used by themselves. I could have saved money by only buying SAP at SSR or OKW, but I decided not to. Here is my reasoning:

I specifically did it to future proof my vacations, as I do not ever plan on selling them. For now SAP points may work pretty well, but there have been many recent posts about 7 month availability getting worse. SAP will likely stay good for 1 bedroom stays but everything else could continue to become tighter in the future. This problem will only get worse once some of the resorts start to expire and the restricted resale points are limited to fewer and fewer resorts. 7 month availability only happens when owners bank/borrow or decide to stay somewhere else that year. In a way, the home resort owners determine when and if you can stay at their resorts. A lot of time availability tends to open up when they are doing construction, etc and the home resort owners use that as a chance to go elsewhere for a year. If they start using their points for home resort priority more, there will be even less 7 month availability.

Owning at different resorts helps limit that possible coming crunch and I can always just bank one contract and borrow from another to avoid construction without ever losing home resort availability. I specifically wanted to avoid having a bunch of points at a "resort of last resort" like OKW or SSR because I can almost always get in there at 7 months it seems because of all of the people trying to transfer out at 7 months. And the more people that buy those resorts for the "cheap SAPs" the worse that will be for owners at those resorts and better for the owners of other resorts. That being said I may eventually buy a cheap contract at SSR just because of the value, but who knows.

If you wanted a good cheap-ish hedge for the future, the best SAP+ resorts value wise (good price/expiration and either good location or well themed resorts that you may actually want to use for home resort sometimes) would be BLT, AKV, or CCV right now as we've talked about in some other threads. Also I have stayed at VGF before and though you can walk to MK from there it is still much further than BLT. I would maybe go with BLT in your situation as it's still on the monorail loop, near MK like VGF, but a much better deal. If you want the absolute cheapest points and don't care where you stay or are extremely flexible with booking and split stays then SSR or OKWe are still good deals though. It just depends what you want, lowest price or most flexibility. I felt I was able to get a lot of flexibility but still at very good prices, so that is the route I took.

Good luck on your decision!

 

[jolynne28]

We started with 150 resale SSR, strictly for SAP. Added a 50 BWV contract recently, and absolutely loved staying there, so I do intend on buying more points for 1/2 bedrooms and am unconcerned with the 2042 expiration.
For me, the stalking you have to do to string together stays can be stressful and not always worth the time/effort. And I agree with above poster, no one knows what SAP will look like in 5/10/15/20 years. So while I have strongly considered getting more SSR SAP to save money up front, I'm leaning towards getting CCV as our SAP+ b/c I love that resort, we will need 2 bedrooms soon anyway, we would be just fine being 'stuck' there, and if in the future if we decide we want out, I think we should be able to sell that more easily due to it's longer expiration and desirable location.

 

[CWTC]

The answer really depends on what is important to you. If you will be happy at SSR even if you can’t switch to VGF or another resort at 7 months, then SSR makes sense. If though you will be disappointed when you can’t switch at 7 months, then buy where you want to stay.

We have 4 home resorts - 3 of those we use the points at the home resorts nearly 100% of the time (BCV, VGF, and VGC). Sometimes we’ll have left over 10 or 15 points but those contracts are for staying at those home resorts for the most part - prior to owning at VGC, we would use BCV/VGF to stay at VGC but that was really the only exception. Our 4th home resort is BLT - we use those points primarily as SAP points (VGC, Aulani, poly overwater bungalows, copper creek cabins etc). But if can’t switch out at 7 months, we are perfectly happy to stay at BLT. If our SAP were SSR and we had to stay there, we would not be happy. So it all depends on what you place a priority or value on.

Good luck with the decision!

 

[intamin]

We started with 150 resale SSR, strictly for SAP. Added a 50 BWV contract recently, and absolutely loved staying there, so I do intend on buying more points for 1/2 bedrooms and am unconcerned with the 2042 expiration.
For me, the stalking you have to do to string together stays can be stressful and not always worth the time/effort. And I agree with above poster, no one knows what SAP will look like in 5/10/15/20 years. So while I have strongly considered getting more SSR SAP to save money up front, I'm leaning towards getting CCV as our SAP+ b/c I love that resort, we will need 2 bedrooms soon anyway, we would be just fine being 'stuck' there, and if in the future if we decide we want out, I think we should be able to sell that more easily due to it's longer expiration and desirable location.

Yeah.. none of us really know how resale restriction will affect resorts down the line. I’m not that worried about the loss of BCV/BWV/BRV/VB/HHi, what I am worried about is the addition of resale restricted resorts taking away from inventory at 7 months without reciprocal availability. You could argue that once the points are resold from resale restricted resorts like RIV that at least those points can never be used in the system afterwards but IDK how it’ll all shake out. Buy where you’re okay getting stuck at lol.

 

[TinkAgainU]

So much good info above. I agree about the Annual Dues being a big deal. I prefer to get Home Resorts where I can use my 8-11 month advantage if it's a holiday or I just want to be "sure" I'm where I prefer. Those Annual Dues are going to be there for a LONG time, and if you stick with the same Use Year - at 7 months or closer everything combines almost seamlessly for online booking. If you're okay with two similar resorts THEN pick the one that sells cheaper (for example BLT vs VGF). Just a reminder to check Occupancy since some Studios are 4 people vs 5 if you have a family of 5 or think there might be a guest along...

 

[jolynne28]

Yeah.. none of us really know how resale restriction will affect resorts down the line. I’m not that worried about the loss of BCV/BWV/BRV/VB/HHi, what I am worried about is the addition of resale restricted resorts taking away from inventory at 7 months without reciprocal availability. You could argue that once the points are resold from resale restricted resorts like RIV that at least those points can never be used in the system afterwards but IDK how it’ll all shake out. Buy where you’re okay getting stuck at lol.

Yes 100%, it's not the loss of those resorts but the strain it might place on 7 mo availability.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I took the multiple home resort route. But I bought enough at each that they can be used by themselves. I could have saved money by only buying SAP at SSR or OKW, but I decided not to. Here is my reasoning:

I specifically did it to future proof my vacations, as I do not ever plan on selling them. For now SAP points may work pretty well, but there have been many recent posts about 7 month availability getting worse. SAP will likely stay good for 1 bedroom stays but everything else could continue to become tighter in the future. This problem will only get worse once some of the resorts start to expire and the restricted resale points are limited to fewer and fewer resorts. 7 month availability only happens when owners bank/borrow or decide to stay somewhere else that year. In a way, the home resort owners determine when and if you can stay at their resorts. A lot of time availability tends to open up when they are doing construction, etc and the home resort owners use that as a chance to go elsewhere for a year. If they start using their points for home resort priority more, there will be even less 7 month availability.

Owning at different resorts helps limit that possible coming crunch and I can always just bank one contract and borrow from another to avoid construction without ever losing home resort availability. I specifically wanted to avoid having a bunch of points at a "resort of last resort" like OKW or SSR because I can almost always get in there at 7 months it seems because of all of the people trying to transfer out at 7 months. And the more people that buy those resorts for the "cheap SAPs" the worse that will be for owners at those resorts and better for the owners of other resorts. That being said I may eventually buy a cheap contract at SSR just because of the value, but who knows.

If you wanted a good cheap-ish hedge for the future, the best SAP+ resorts value wise (good price/expiration and either good location or well themed resorts that you may actually want to use for home resort sometimes) would be BLT, AKV, or CCV right now as we've talked about in some other threads. Also I have stayed at VGF before and though you can walk to MK from there it is still much further than BLT. I would maybe go with BLT in your situation as it's still on the monorail loop, near MK like VGF, but a much better deal. If you want the absolute cheapest points and don't care where you stay or are extremely flexible with booking and split stays then SSR or OKWe are still good deals though. It just depends what you want, lowest price or most flexibility. I felt I was able to get a lot of flexibility but still at very good prices, so that is the route I took.

Good luck on your decision!

Really digging the new signature!!

 

[DonkeyHoTay]

My strategy was... less thought out than some of the posts in this thread. I just knew there was no way I could make reliable plans at 7 months, much less 11 months out. So, if home resort priority is irrelevant to me then I have nothing to gain by owning contracts at any particular resort and my only real priority was maximum flexibility. For me, that meant acquisition of the cheapest direct SAP points I could find with no restrictions on resorts today or in the future - I know it's not guaranteed, but if I lived my life according to guarantees I would never leave the couch.

 

[kanerf]

I have two use years and own at 6 different resorts. I like the variety and do split stays every visit. I find it is much easier to book 3-4 nights at multiple resorts then a week at one.

 

[Tatebeck]

My strategy was... less thought out than some of the posts in this thread. I just knew there was no way I could make reliable plans at 7 months, much less 11 months out. So, if home resort priority is irrelevant to me then I have nothing to gain by owning contracts at any particular resort and my only real priority was maximum flexibility. For me, that meant acquisition of the cheapest direct SAP points I could find with no restrictions on resorts today or in the future - I know it's not guaranteed, but if I lived my life according to guarantees I would never leave the couch.

Yeah and your OKWe points are a very different case since your points are ALL direct. They will not be as affected by the 2042 and on resort closings/re-openings. When the resorts start to do close you wont be restricted from 14 down to 10 down to 5 choices, etc and you should always have the choice of all currently open resorts at 7 months

 

[Tatebeck]

Really digging the new signature!!

Thanks! I found all the pictures were just taking up way too much space, lol so I made some smaller animated ones instead!

 

[r6175rpm]

Wow lots of good responses and some info that has caused me to think..

prolonged consecutive periods like 5+ days then I think owning there would make sense

-this is a valid point. I occasionally play with the booking system and see what’s open at 7 months. For the most part stuff is available but the below comment about future availability makes me wonder.

would you ever have any interest in staying at VGF around the holidays?

-Yes, I could see myself wanting to do this but probably only a night or two.

-BUT if when you’re honest about your plans, will it be a disappointment if booking there becomes difficult in the future?

-This is a big consideration. I believe stuff is available enough right now but to future proof my stays I could see this being a valid concern. With my kids I don’t really mind taking what resort is available but in the future when it’s me and my wife going, I think we would be disappointed if we couldn’t stay at VGF or RIV. I know RIV is a whole other bag of considerations, especially on resale.

I think I need to go back and consider some numbers. If you have multiple home resorts, how many points are you typically keeping at each one?

 

[Tatebeck]

I would keep 50-100 if wanting just studios, 100-200+ if wanting 1Br+ at a resort. My totals are in my sig for example

But it also depends on how long you want to stay each time so some math will be required lol

 

[Cybertruck]

So this is my first post and I have done a bit of reading on this topic but haven't really found the response that has resonated with me as a good answer. For a little background I currently have 2 contracts at SSR. 158 direct and 100 resale for 258 total points. I am looking to add around 200 more from resale. I have stayed at SSR once and it was fine but we generally like to stay other places. I've had the mindset that "more cheap points is better than less points at specific resorts". We typically plan one big trip and the rest are small 1,2, and 3 nights. We love GF and if I were to buy at another home resort, this is where it would be. I just struggle with wrapping my head around the price per point at GF being twice as much or 75% more than SSR points. I can almost always book what I want at SSR, even weeks before hand and if I am flexible, haven't had issues with 1 night stays at GF in studios. My other consideration is that 1br seem to stay available a lot longer and with more points, I don't need more than 7 months typically to get what I want in a 1br. I feel like having GF as a home resort would give me the chance to book more studios but is that really worth the upcharge in points, when for the same money(contract costs), I'm booking 1br's, just with more of my cheap points. Am I missing something big here?

All of our points are at SSR. We normally stay at other resorts since we like variety. In the past several years we only stayed at SSR once for Christmas because of availability at Wilderness Lodge. This year we booked the new Cabins at the Fort. This past May we stayed at BWV for Flower and Garden. In fall we booked SSR for Food & Wine by choice. In February we will be at BCV for Festival of the Arts. We need more points but a key requirement longer end-dates for our kids.

With a large financial investment, I recommend you look at both short term (initial purchase) and long-term commitment (dues). I also recommending including your family in the decision on resort selection. I look at DVC as investment in family. Some of our best times have been at Disney. Our kids are out in the real world but still love the family vacations at Disney.