Almost Ready to Buy!

[JackSparrowLive]

My wife and I are just about ready to put an offer in on a resale, but there is one major decision still holding us back...

...which home resort to pick!!!

We are leaning toward AK, since it has some of the lowest point costs to stay there. The resale prices on AK are pretty good...but it also has one of the highest annual dues.

One of my fears in picking AK is that it doesn't seem to be too popular...and also if dues are this high now (on such a new resort), they are only going to continue to go up.

Suggestions?

 

[disneynutz]

Would you buy car or home sight unseen? Why would you spend thousands of dollars and not know for sure that you love the place?

I suggest that you take a fact finding vacation to WDW and stay at the resorts that seem to interest you, then buy where you love to stay. You may have the same home resort for 10, 20, 30, or more years and that's a long time to not like something.

Bill

 

[JackSparrowLive]

Would you buy car or home sight unseen? Why would you spend thousands of dollars and not know for sure that you love the place?

I suggest that you take a fact finding vacation to WDW and stay at the resorts that seem to interest you, then buy where you love to stay. You may have the same home resort for 10, 20, 30, or more years and that's a long time to not like something.

Bill

No, which is why we've been to a number of them. After a bit, the studio rooms (there is only my wife and I) all start to blend together.

As far as I'm concerned, I want to get the most "bang for my buck". So, with that being said, I guess resort choice isn't too much of a concern....unless getting a room at other DVC's is that hard.

We don't go during peak times...no Christmas, mid-summer, Easter, Thanksgiving trips. We typically go in May during our anniversary and then we like to go in October (Halloween stuff) and the slow season between Xmas and T-Day (Christmas stuff).

 

[DVC Mike]

I'd suggest you consider the items listed in the Choosing Your Home Resort - What to Consider? thread.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...We don't go during peak times...no Christmas, mid-summer, Easter, Thanksgiving trips. We typically go in May during our anniversary and then we like to go in October (Halloween stuff) and the slow season between Xmas and T-Day (Christmas stuff).

Those bolded days are some of the most popular with DVC members because of the Food & Wine Festival and Halloween parties at MK. The first week of Dec requires you book at 11 months out. Everyone likes to go then because points are low and the holiday decorations are up. Plus the Christmas parties and other activities are taking place.

Buy the place you wouldn't mind staying if that was the only place you could get. Make a reservation at 11 months out at your home resort and then see what might be available at 7 months.

We own at OKW and VWL, two of our favorite places. If we couldn't stay anywhere else, it would be fine with us. But with our son going off to college in the fall, we can go in early May or early February or mid-November (before Thanksgiving) if we want to from now on.

 

[disneynutz]

No, which is why we've been to a number of them. After a bit, the studio rooms (there is only my wife and I) all start to blend together.

As far as I'm concerned, I want to get the most "bang for my buck". So, with that being said, I guess resort choice isn't too much of a concern....unless getting a room at other DVC's is that hard.

We don't go during peak times...no Christmas, mid-summer, Easter, Thanksgiving trips. We typically go in May during our anniversary and then we like to go in October (Halloween stuff) and the slow season between Xmas and T-Day (Christmas stuff).

Booking at non home resorts is getting tougher every year and unless Disney makes another rule change it will continue to get tougher.

There is a big difference in the resorts, not the rooms so much. Location and amenities can play a big part in your enjoyment. It is very common for DVC Members to spend more time in the resort and less time in the parks as they become seasoned members.

With Disney and DVC, there really isn't a slow time anymore. Spring break, F&W, F&G, Pop Warner, marathons, and the hard ticket events lasting a couple of months each.

We learned the hard way, DW loved the BCV, then "we" decided that BWV is our current favorite. Now we own contracts at five different resorts.

Bill

 

[JackSparrowLive]

After running TONS of numbers, I've found that the cheapest PP resort doesn't always save you money in the long run....especially after figuring in maintenance fees.

We are definately leaning towards being close to the action, which my wife now is interested in BLT. I love the contemporary design...plus you have access to the monorail, Chef Mickey and other stuff nearby!

Looking at what the resale market is, plus the annual fees, I came up with this: For the amount of points we want, our cost averages out to $1432 a year from now until when our DVC would expire (2060). Funny enough, BLT ends up being the cheapest! This is probably due to the fact that it has the longest term (49 years).

Are there any other charts/calculators to help weigh costs vs benefits?

FWIW, we aren't so much concerned with our cost...we have a budget in mind...we just want to end up with the best possible deal.

Also, we're looking at about 250 points. At BLT, this would get us a week during our Anniversary (May), and then two 4 days trips during the slower months, with points left over (if we felt like 3 trips a year).

 

[dbs1228]

Two things to consider, whatever resort you do buy into I would spend the extra closing costs and split the 250 point contract into at least 2 - 125 point contracts! If your situation should change down the road it is easier to sell 125 point contract then 250 not to mention you could sell 1 contract and keep 1.
Second - check out resale if you know you will be using your points for DVC resorts and trades for RCI. You can save a ton of money - not so much on BLT but all other resorts.

I think the best "deal" out there is SSR myself we just picked up a 130 point contract that came with 260 points and another 130 coming in Oct for 59.00 pp. With that being said we also own at BLT because for some vacations that is where we want to be. Our SSR points will be for vacations that we want to "try" other resorts and last minute trips.

 

[Sandisw]

After running TONS of numbers, I've found that the cheapest PP resort doesn't always save you money in the long run....especially after figuring in maintenance fees.

We are definately leaning towards being close to the action, which my wife now is interested in BLT. I love the contemporary design...plus you have access to the monorail, Chef Mickey and other stuff nearby!

Looking at what the resale market is, plus the annual fees, I came up with this: For the amount of points we want, our cost averages out to $1432 a year from now until when our DVC would expire (2060). Funny enough, BLT ends up being the cheapest! This is probably due to the fact that it has the longest term (49 years).

Are there any other charts/calculators to help weigh costs vs benefits?

FWIW, we aren't so much concerned with our cost...we have a budget in mind...we just want to end up with the best possible deal.

Also, we're looking at about 250 points. At BLT, this would get us a week during our Anniversary (May), and then two 4 days trips during the slower months, with points left over (if we felt like 3 trips a year).

While I think that people should analyze things to be sure they understand what they are spending and why, I don't think you should go crazy trying to make all the numbers work.

We bought BLT because we knew that it would give us our yearly vacations in 1 bedrooms or bigger (if we shortened the trip) for no more than we had been spending staying as a cash guest. And, at some point, when its just DH and I and we are no longer bringing the kids, we may get even more trips.

We certainly could have saved about $5000 to buy at SSR , but knew in the end, we would not want to be in that location and it was better to spend more to be where we loved (stayed at CR most cash trips) then at someplace we didn't even know if we would like.

It sounds like you have some good figures--go with those and if you feel you are getting your money's worth for your vacations, go with that.

If you are buying resale, the price for BLT seems to be coming down. If you are going direct, you can use your Disney Visa to pay and get 6 months 0% interest if that is a benefit--although, to be honest, even for BLT, it is hard to justify going direct.

Good luck!

 

[katrina1122]

Resales can now only be used for WDW Villas only. You can't do resorts or RCI or Cruises on the resales. This just happend mid march so resales in my opinion aren't worth it anymore unless you already own points and you are just looking for some add on points.

We were going to buy resale at BWV, but now since we are bound to the WDW Villas only we are going to probably buy from Disney direct at SRS resort. They are discounting points to new buyers.

 

[Kidanifan08]

Resales can now only be used for WDW Villas only. You can't do resorts or RCI or Cruises on the resales. This just happend mid march so resales in my opinion aren't worth it anymore . . .

This is from the DVC member website:

"Under the new policy, Members who purchase from anyone other than Disney Vacation Development, Inc., on or after March 21, 2011, will not be eligible to use those Vacation Points to make reservations within the Concierge Collection, the Disney Collection or the Adventurer Collection. Those Vacation Points will instead be valid only for reservations at Disney Vacation Club resorts, as well as for RCI® exchanges, Club Cordial and Club Intrawest."

RCI still works with resales. Despite this, DVC should really be purchased primarily for use at DVC resorts. Exchanging into those other options does not usually justify the "cost". With that said, resale may be worth it if your primary plan is to use it for WDW stays at DVC resorts, even with BLT resales. Buy where you want to stay most of the time; as others have indicated, getting into another resort at the 7 months window is not guaranteed. Although, SSR, OKW and AKV tend to have the greatest availability at the 7 month mark, perhaps due to the size of those resorts.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[JackSparrowLive]

Thanks everyone for all of the great advice!

In regards to buying resale into 2 different "home" resorts: From what I understand, we wouldn't be able to combine those points to book at the 11 month mark, but we could combine points at the 7 month mark?

For instance: 125 at BLT and 125 at AKL. At 11 months out, I could book at either BLT or AKL, as long as my booking was 125 points or less....or am I way off here?

 

[Sandisw]

Thanks everyone for all of the great advice!

In regards to buying resale into 2 different "home" resorts: From what I understand, we wouldn't be able to combine those points to book at the 11 month mark, but we could combine points at the 7 month mark?

For instance: 125 at BLT and 125 at AKL. At 11 months out, I could book at either BLT or AKL, as long as my booking was 125 points or less....or am I way off here?

That is correct. Now, you can use banking and/or borrowing to get yourself more than the 125.

For example, you could bank BLT year 1 and borrow AKV--that would give you 250 AKV points to use the first year and then 250 BLT points to use the 2nd year.

 

[kenny]

My suggestion would be unless cost is the driving factor in your decision, buy where you want to stay. In the end, that is the only guarentee you have.

We bought SSR and loved it. After BLT went on sale we added on there. After staying there we decided that is where we want to be. We sold our SSR contract and bought all BLT. Yes it cost us more than just doing another BLT add-on & having have two home resorts. However, we knew we were not guarenteed being able to get where we wanted at 7 months. Some times we got it in the past and some times we didn't. For as much as we liked SSR, BLT just felt like home and not staying there would be hard. For us in the end the extra $$ was worth it.

 

[JackSparrowLive]

My suggestion would be unless cost is the driving factor in your decision, buy where you want to stay. In the end, that is the only guarentee you have.QUOTE]

And it is this very notion that seems to be bothering me the most.

Cost isn't necessarily the driving factor, but it is a factor. While I cannot afford to dump $40K on DVC (wouldn't we all like to?), we are looking to keep our total around the $20k mark.

With that in mind, I'm really torn over dumping it all into one resort (probably SSR at this poing, but I really like BLT too), or splitting it into 2 contracts with about 2/3rds to SSR and 1/3rd to BLT.

With $20k, that's about 300 SSR points, compared to about 200 BLT (on the resale market). Bang for the buck would point to SSR.

Here's some more info about my wife and I: We've been staying at ASM for years, and now we've started to stay at CBC. ASM was fine, as we didn't spend too much time at the hotel. But, as we are such WDW vets, we don't need to go gangbusters anymore. We're still young (late 30's), so we can still go all day, but we want to slow down and relax, especially if we can go 3 or more times a year.

With that being said, we can make home just about anywhere....which leads me to believe that our best bet would be bang for the buck vs a ton of amenities.

 

[fflmaster]

I think October and Christmas offseason is not really a slow time for DVC resorts. It seems like BLT and BCV are usually booked.

I believe you buy where you want to stay, but I would also lean toward the higher resale value and harder to get at 7 month resorts.

 

[disneynutz]

I think the Disney will change the home resort rules in the near future so buying where you love to stay will be even more important than it is today.

Bill

 

[ToddyLu]

DH and I understand where you are coming from. We only stayed at values until our purchase. We bought 210 points at AKV. DH really loved the resort and I was more the" well shouldn't we save the money?". But in the big picture at our age (40s) like you, we are into the amenities of the resort. Now it is not so bad to wait on the bus to get back to the room. We have a fridge and do not have to go for ice every few hours. The feel of the deluxe resort is just different and so our trips have changed the last two years for the reasons you mentioned. I would spend some time reviewing the posts here, maybe the " We Love *** resorts here" threads and see if you get a feel for one.

With BLT the point cost is higher for the rooms with a fantastic locationm (didn't like the decor), and SSR is a huge rolling resort with a terrific spa and great pool area (didn't really like the decor here either). OKW and BCV are like where we live--beachy so that didn't do it for us. WL I really liked the decor but still not quite right for us (DH spent too much time in our national parks fighting forrest fires, so that was out). BWV--nice to visit, just doesn't do it for us but another great location. HHI and VB we will probably never visit. VGC well that is on the West Coast and while we would love it there--it isn't realistic as a yearly trip for us.

That leaves AKV which is perfect for us. Love the location, decor, animals, quiet Kidani lobby, bus service, etc. We had to pick one (I guess two would have been spectacular) and that was our decision process.

DVC changes your trips to Disney like a Corvette changes your trip to work. Be sure you are happy with it.

 

[kenny]

I feel your pain!

My wife and I are in our late 30's as well with two young girls (6 & 1). When we originally purchased, only SSR and AKV were available. We purchased SSR thinking that it was slightly less money then AKV, and had more amenities available (aside from the animals). In thinking long term we thought we would get more out of the spa and DTD in the years to come then AKV. Also liked that the pts to stay at SSR were less than AKV. While we would try other resorts we tried to base or purchase on how many pts at our home resort.

My advice would be to decide what is MOST important. I know this is a hard one and was for us. I am one who likes to maximize the amount of days I can get at disney. Unfortunately that meant BUYING more pts then we originally planned now that we own BLT. If going often or for more days is the most important factor then SSR is the way to go. If it is convenience or the place that really hits home, then maybe BLT. Although make sure you understand how many nights it will get you and don't go by how you travel now. Look big picture. When we purchased we only had 1 child and only traveled Oct-Dec. Now we have 2 kids and go anytime throughout the year. Our original purchase of 200 pts would not have allowed us to travel in the spring and we didn't think about changing plans back then. Hence the add-ons!

If you go the route of splitting contracts, just look at what borrowing/banking gets you. Not sure how many BLT you would get for 1/3. Is that enough every 3 years to get what you want?

Having owned both I can say, if you go the route of SSR, you will not be disappointed. It is a BEAUTIFUL resort. VERY relaxing. Has great amenities for the family, gorgeous landscaping, walking distance to DTD (which looks to be really cool once they complete the changes). The only drawback is that it is a little further then some resorts. If you take the bus that is some added time you need to consider in traveling.

If you go the route of BLT, it is AWESOME. For us there is no better place to be. You can walk to MK, take the monorail to Epcot. The resort is beautiful and the Contemporary holds a special place in DW's heart so that added to our decision. Nothing beats being on the monorail and having access to the Poly, and GF as well as BLT/CR. It is like having all 3 resorts. You can get to any of them so quickly and it opens lots of options. Also with kids it is so great not having to take them out of the stroller to get in a car or bus. Of course they are only in a stroller for a few years, but still great.

For us, we loved SSR and enjoyed our time there and will stay there again at some point. However, from the minute we walked into BLT/Contemporary, it just felt right and like home. I never understood that when people said it before until that moment. We were there 10 minutes and DW looked at me and said "we are adding on here before we leave".

Would it be possible to take a trip and try both resorts? Also don't forget, while you may not be thinking it now, you can always add-on later if you need.

Not sure if I helped at all. If you have any specific questions about either resort let me know.

 

[JackSparrowLive]

Well, it looks like we've settled on BLT!

Yeah, it's more per point, but we love what it offers...Monorail to 2 parks, contemporary design, location, location, location and more! So, now it's off to play the waiting game on the re-sale market.