Am I the only one that think Home Resort does not matter that much?

[MarvelousMadamMimm]

There are a couple other "unpredictables" to factor in.

First, life will sometimes hand you reasons why it suddenly DOES matter. Another poster has mentioned her Father and a scooter making a huge issue out of where they stay. My eldest is Autistic. There are occasional meltdowns resulting in a need to return to the room. BWV and BCV work out best for us, as she does better with the monorail or a boat than buses. SSR makes me shudder, just because we'd either have to rent a car for the entire trip or deal with the buses and DD.

Second, those who have bought outside of WDW may find that booking a room IN WDW becomes a larger and larger problem as time goes on. Each resort built off property will increase the number of people vying for those 7 month reservations. Aulani will add how many members into the system, who will also be able to book at the WDW resorts? Presumably, the majority of those buying there will want to use there points at WDW from time to time, or why buy into a DVC resort?

I suspect that with increasing off property resorts, DVD will either try to add enough units in WDW to maintain a certain balance, change the booking rules - or maybe both.

 

[TinklednPants]

I'm perfectly happy at any of the resorts except SSR.

 

[CMOORE185]

Home resort is important if you want a given resort most trips and esp if you want a difficult to get room most times. Other than that it's not that important other than I think owning on property and booking at 11 months out is still important thus I don't think VB or HH are good vehicles for WDW trips. Overall it depends on the $ spread, how flexible you are and your wishes.

I will have to disagree on your statement about VB and HH. I owned at HH only for the first 6 years of my ownership and had zero problems booking WDW at 7 months at the exact resort I wanted during busy times.

 

[crisi]

This thread kind of gets to the difference between "buy where you want to stay" and "buy where you wouldn't be disappointed to end up." Chances are almost 100% that something will be open at seven months on property (based on the current system and current rules) - but there might not be a treehouse villa available. If your heart is set on a certain resort for specific trips (or, perhaps more accurately, a certain room type at a certain resort), its best to take the advantages you can get.

For those that are happy "anywhere" then home resort only matters in terms of contract length and dues. Why would anyone would pay BWV dues if they really enjoyed OKW and seldom chose to stay at Boardwalk? Or VB dues (yeah, the contract is cheaper up front, but its quick that the dues make up the difference). Or why anyone who doesn't care who is purchasing at 24 and looking forward to enjoying the parks with their grandchildren - when their children have yet to be concieved - would purchase a resort with a shorter life?

People who were waiting for VAKL or BLT before purchase, who weren't happy with the other DVC resorts, people who take every trip at the Poly and won't consider DVC until the Poly opens - for those people home resort really matters. There wasn't (or isn't) a home resort that is meaningful to them - and booking the Poly with DVC points isn't really a bargain.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

I will bet that Disney will be changing the home resort rules in the future. Allowing members to buy at inexpensive resorts and stay at BLT doesn't make good business sense.

Bill

I actually doubt it will come to that, or if it does it will minor changes. If you consider that each resort became more expensive to buy into as time went on, DVC would then be punishing the owners who have owned the longest.

 

[nunzia]

It matters to me to own at VGC as my home resort. With only 50 units and no other DVC at DLR, it's the only way to be assured of staying at VGC. Now...I don't care where I stay at WDW..I have preferences, but I don't HAVE to stay at any particular resort, so anything that is open at 7 months is fine with me.

 

[Bouncin-Tigger]

Home resort matters to us but has never been an issue if that makes sense. We are 10 yr members with over 40 stays at dvc resorts and have stayed at all resorts and have never not gotten a reservation we have tried to get, never been wait listed. We do have 2 home resorts and they are where we prefer to stay and will not be disappointed if we are unable to get the reservation we want at 7 months and end up staying at home resort but lady luck must be on our side.

 

[crisi]

There is also the emotional factor of "home" - and while that factor isn't important to everyone, its important to some people - sometimes more important than all the logic about dues and contract life and potential availability issues.

 

[RumpleMom]

Home resort matters to us.

We love our home resort-OKW and always book it as soon as we decide to go and always before the seven month window.

I like getting airfare early as soon as Southwest opens their booking window.

We also want to try all of the resorts, so we try to switch at the seven month window. We now know we do not care for BCV, and after getting the almost last and then the very last room at the end of the hall at BWV, on the next trip, we aren't in a hurry to return there either.

We love the lower points at OKW and the larger rooms when bringing extended family.

Even more important to me is when changing from a lower point resort to a higher point resort is that I can just borrow more points. I'm always in borrowing mode. I don't have to worry about what to do with the extra borrowed points that are not going to be used. I have yet to bank any points.

 

[spiceycat]

home resort does matter to me. which is why I sold OKW and brought BLT.

first the older I get the lazer - so being able to walk to the MK is a great one.

have already owned at BWV so studio and epcot - can walk too also.

secondly - did not like the changes at OKW. OKW was much, much better before SSR came along and DVC decided to share everything including management. (big mistake to me)

OKW has gone down hill and SSR has improved - my opinion.

3rd before I brought at BWV and VWL got on the wait list for both. BWV did come in but decided to buy for standard views. VWL did not. so brought there to make sure that did not happen again.

vwl is the smallest on the onsite DVC resorts and one of the prettiest.

AKV where would have brought so far is fairly easy to get into.

besides between walking to MK at BLT and AKV prettiest - BLT won.

that say would be happy to only own at BLT -it has everything that I want. and hopefully will.

 

[thelionqueen]

I agree with Crisi!

I am totally happy with my home resorts because that is where my heart is (BLT & GCV) and wouldn't be as happy Owning anywhere else.

That said, we absolutely LOVE SSR & OKW so staying there is not only usually a preference but as a n "only thing available" option is PERFECT!!!

Really depends on your travel style and preference.

 

[starbox]

Home resort does not matter at all to us. I can't even say that I have a clear favorite resort - certainly not one I feel any kind of emotional connection that transcends economics.

I am actually thinking about trying to book a totally silly 7 night and 7 resort trip next year - with crazy rules like we have to eat all of our meals at the resort - we pack seven individual ziploc bags for each night - and we can only go into a theme park if it is right next to a given resort (AKV = AK, BLT = MK, BCV = Epcot, BWV = DHS). I think it would be crazy fun - still trying to convince DH that it would be an adventure and not a nightmare!

I'd own totally generic points and always book at 7 months or later if they made such things - I love DVC in general, not a resort in particular.

 

[delaneyc52]

I have to say that I have never not gotten the reservation I wanted despite the fact that my home is Vero Beach and we always stay at an Epcot resort. That being said, we always stay in September so that may be the reason! And....now as we get older Vero is such a cool place to relax. So no worries here to date....we still get our ressies at BWV or BCV and then move on to Vero before going home home.

 

[DebbieB]

I will bet that Disney will be changing the home resort rules in the future. Allowing members to buy at inexpensive resorts and stay at BLT doesn't make good business sense.

Bill

But when Disney is selling, they are all close to the same price. Disney makes its profit by the original sale of the resort. All they care about is they can sellout all the BLT points. The fact that they are able to push up the points price shows they aren't hurting.

Back to the original question, home resort matters to me. I love BWV boardwalk view for either October or early December. Would not be easy to get at 7 months.

 

[ffindis]

Home resort is not an issue for us. We bought years ago when there were not as many options. We love all the resorts some more than others. SOme of my favorites were not even built when I first bought in.

 

[Dean]

I will bet that Disney will be changing the home resort rules in the future. Allowing members to buy at inexpensive resorts and stay at BLT doesn't make good business sense.

Bill

There is already a home resort priority of 4 months so I see no incentive or reason for DVC to change the rules for this reason. Many have speculated over the last few years they'll go the other way and shorten the home resort priority which I also don't think will happen but could see 1-2 months priority more than I could more than 4 months. To a degree they've got to dance with who brought them, micromanaging for the benefit of one group over another really doesn't make sense. IMO, that is not a part of the system that is broken. I'm sure you'll get some that will say they can't plan and would like it changed to a longer priority but not only do I think it's a small minority, I would have to question whether some of them should even be members. I feel that if you can't plan at least around 7 months out most of the time, DVC is likely not a good choice for many if not most of that group.

I will have to disagree on your statement about VB and HH. I owned at HH only for the first 6 years of my ownership and had zero problems booking WDW at 7 months at the exact resort I wanted during busy times.

Let me be more clear. IMO it is unreasonable to buy HH or VB with the purpose of staying at WDW. You give up having the chance for an 11 month reservation where you want to stay. It's not to say you can't be successful, just that the differences in cost are not worth if for what you're giving up and the inherent risk of failure, then you add the higher fees in addition. Lastly, you get what you pay for and with HH and VB, you actually will have more trouble selling at the difference you paid that most if not all other options. There are likely situations where it's reasonable such as those that will use points part of the time at the location in question but I'll state emphatically that to buy currently as a points cow only, there are no situations in play thus far that make buying VB or HH a good choice for the sole purpose of getting cheaper points.

We could make several divisions

• If you have to have a resort or option that is difficult to get, own there
• If you want to use points only at WDW, buy somewhere there.
• If you want non WDW options and are willing to risk getting nothing at WDW, it is reasonable to buy off property or at VGC.

These are personal decisions and how everyone fits into a given group will vary as will a given individuals risk tolerance. However, I'll disagree with the above, emotion should be taken out as much as possible for one to make a rational decision.

 

[rhonimouse]

I have only been in DVC for about a year and went on 1 trip with another planned...my experience is that I can not book the resort and category I wanted at 11 months calling just at 9am and now at 7months calling at 9am...Wanted BLT standard studios, not available at 11 months so booked 3 lake view with 1 night on cash... then at 7 months-today- tried to move the cash/point reservation to BWV- any view, at 9am....only 3 of 5 days availble...so instead of staying at our home resort and BIL&SIL staying at Bwv, we are all staying in SV studios at AKV Kidani...While I love Kidani, I am frustrated that even on the exact day you can call and as soon as the phones open availability is so poor. It is hard to believe we pay so much each year for the priviledge to make a reservation and then we get excited and act like we won the lottery if we actually get what we requested...I understand that DVC is "exclusive" but is it really this "exclusive"? That you really can not reserve eve at 11 months at 9am?? So I would have to answer "no" it really does not matter your home resort...

That being said- I do love Kidani and know everyone will enjoy the SV and know that our extended family vacation will still be a great time!

thanks for just letting me vent...

 

[nickspace]

As a HH owner it matters for me because HH is very hard to get into in the summer unless you have the 11 month window.

 

[MAC3]

Personally, it doesn't seem to make a difference to us... we really don't care where we shower and sleep as long as we are there....and have had luck getting into where we have wanted to be (and if not) been happily surprised by the ones we have have not desired to stay at!

 

[robhawk]

It matters to us. Get the dedicated 2 bedroom for president's week at our home bcv. I really dont want be anywhere else. Just love it there.