Another newbie with purchasing questions! Thanks!

[rafliz]

This is a great board and the resources are wonderful! After 5 hours of reading I know so much but still have a couple questions that I am hoping people can help me out with.

A little background- We are pretty much decided we are going to buy. We would like to start out with about 100 points resale (we already have a vacation booked this year at Disney) and then add on. We tend to travel in January or early February and enjoy all the Disney resorts. My question is about home resorts and add ons.

DH wants to buy a resale at SSR and then add on in the next year at Animal Kingdom (or wherever- I personally I like AKV) and then add on from there as we need/want to (we are a young family). My question is how does this affect your point usuage and home advantage?

Are there any drawbacks to having smaller multiple contracts as opposed to a big one? What if the smaller ones are all at different resorts? How does that work say if I have 200 pts at SSR and 50 points at AKV and want to use them all at AKV? WIll I be able to book all of those pts 11 months in advance or just the 50 worh and the rest at the 7 month mark?

I am not seeing how the UY makes any difference really so if anyone can point out why it would let me know!

If there is anything else that you wish you had known/considered before buying that would have influened where/how you bought please pass it on!

Thanks in advance to any and all advice!
Elizabeth

 

[castleri]

Are there any drawbacks to having smaller multiple contracts as opposed to a big one? What if the smaller ones are all at different resorts? How does that work say if I have 200 pts at SSR and 50 points at AKV and want to use them all at AKV? WIll I be able to book all of those pts 11 months in advance or just the 50 worh and the rest at the 7 month mark?

I am not seeing how the UY makes any difference really so if anyone can point out why it would let me know!

If there is anything else that you wish you had known/considered before buying that would have influened where/how you bought please pass it on!

Thanks in advance to any and all advice!
Elizabeth

You only have the 11 month home booking advantage for the points you own for that resort. So your 50 AKV points could give you 50, 100 or 150 points to book at that time if you banked, borrowed and used current year points but you could not use the 100 SSR points until 7 months to book anywhere but SSR. Again you would have the 11 month window to use the 100 points at SSR which could give you up to 300 points if you banked and borrowed. That could mean you only travel alternate years but with careful planning and using the minimum you need for stays it could also work well for a trip every year. Depending on when you travel you could also book your home resort for the number of days you have points for and then try to add more days with the other points at 7 months.

 

[chalee94]

welcome to the DIS!

Are there any drawbacks to having smaller multiple contracts as opposed to a big one? What if the smaller ones are all at different resorts? How does that work say if I have 200 pts at SSR and 50 points at AKV and want to use them all at AKV? WIll I be able to book all of those pts 11 months in advance or just the 50 worh and the rest at the 7 month mark?

you can only book at 11 months with that resort's points.

it would be very unfair for BCV owners (for example) if they got competition at 11 months from people who bought cheaper OKW contracts with cheaper maintenance fees, just because they added on a 25 pt BCV contract...so yeah, that's not an option.

buying smaller contracts (or smaller add-ons) is an advantage if you have to sell them (they sell more quickly and for more $ per pt) and if you are dividing up DVC pts as an inheritance. it only becomes difficult to manage if the smaller contracts have different use year months...

I am not seeing how the UY makes any difference really so if anyone can point out why it would let me know!

use year month only matters when you are cancelling a reservation.

definitely keep reading the boards as there is a lot to learn...(and it's fun to look at the pictures, too...)

 

[eva]

A little background- We are pretty much decided we are going to buy. We would like to start out with about 100 points resale (we already have a vacation booked this year at Disney) and then add on. We tend to travel in January or early February and enjoy all the Disney resorts. My question is about home resorts and add ons.

Since you tend to travel in January and February most often, you will likely want a use year that is sometime in the late summer or fall. Why? Well, If you had to cancel a trip in January and had a February use year, you would not be able to bank the points and could lose them.

DH wants to buy a resale at SSR and then add on in the next year at Animal Kingdom (or wherever- I personally I like AKV) and then add on from there as we need/want to (we are a young family). My question is how does this affect your point usuage and home advantage?

Points must be purchased for that particular resort to have the 11-month window. So buying where you want to stay most often seems to becoming more and more critical. AKV does have an extra 3 years on the contract.

Are there any drawbacks to having smaller multiple contracts as opposed to a big one? What if the smaller ones are all at different resorts? How does that work say if I have 200 pts at SSR and 50 points at AKV and want to use them all at AKV? WIll I be able to book all of those pts 11 months in advance or just the 50 worh and the rest at the 7 month mark?

It depends on what you consider small and what type of room you will stay in most often. We have 100 point contracts at BCV and Vero. They are great for using every other year in a 1-bedroom. Our larger contracts for 200 at OKW and 150 at AKV we use every two or three years for taking a large group and staying in a GV. Check out the point charts and try to determine how many you think you will need for a stay. But if you are like us, you will keep adding on until you feel you are at the right level and at the right resorts. There are a lot of people that have 50 points at a resort. But be sure to consider how you are going to use them before you buy them.

I am not seeing how the UY makes any difference really so if anyone can point out why it would let me know!

It can a problem, if you mind losing points from a canceled reservation past your banking deadline.

If there is anything else that you wish you had known/considered before buying that would have influened where/how you bought please pass it on!

Thanks in advance to any and all advice!
Elizabeth

Hope that helps a little bit.

 

[rafliz]

Thank you everyone for the advice! I figured that was the way the points worked. Now I guess it is just a matter of deciding on AKV or SSR!

Thanks again!
Elizabeth