BLT availability at 7 month window

[mickeyplanner]

We are looking at buying resale at BLT, we typically would be traveling in January and needing a one bedroom villa.
Is it really busy for DVC properties in January? We are wondering if it is important to buy into BLT as our home resort to book at 11 month window or if we should roll the dice and purchase a lesser resale at another resort and book at the 7 month window?
We are also thinking once the kids get older we might like to stay at BCV sometimes over BLT but those would be the two resorts we prefer since they are the only DVC properties we have stayed at.
Would you recommend any other properties we should consider?

 

[Chic]

Since the points required for a stay are the lowest in January, a lot of DVC rooms typically fill up at the 11 month window. If you would be disappointed staying somehere other than Bay Lake Tower, it may be wise to make Bay Lake Tower your home resort. There will definitely be a DVC room available somewhere for a January trip at the 7 month booking window but it would most likely be a room at Old Key West or Saratoga Springs. However, I've booked the Villas at Wilderness Lodge during the 7 month window for a January vacation over Martin Luther King Weekend so you may have luck at Bay Lake Tower. You never know for sure what will be available until the day of your 7 month window.

 

[luckyman_apd]

The advice I have been given is buy where you think you will happy if nothing else is available. I do not know what the availability is or will be. I do know that a 1 br at BLT is more points than many others. If you would be happy at another resort, but willing to gamble, then go for something else. But if you will be disappointed if you don't get BLT, then you should buy there for the 11 month window. Don't let the DVC add to the stress. If you spend the whole trip wishing you were elsewhere, will it diminish your trips???? DVC purchase should enhance your trip, not make it more stressful.

I will tell you that last year, we rented points for a february trip. We needed a 2 br. We called our friend in Nov. to look into availability. We had 3 different weeks we could travel during, and only 1 of them had availability for all the nights we needed. So we got lucky at short notice. Now January is a slower time for Disney, but that doesn't mean a slower time for DVC members. As the Chic stated, it uses less points to travel in January making it more appealing to go then.

You could also find that you will have availability for SOME of the nights, and then just switch rooms in the middle of the trip. This sounds like a small hassle for me, but as my kids get older it might not be. I hope this can help.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Early January (Marathon time) can be difficult at 7 months out for BLT because runners like to stay on the monorail to take the Epcot monorail to the race start. Mid-January (MLK holiday) can also be difficult simce some schools have a holiday at that time.

BCV can be difficult around Food & Wine Festival time at seven months out.

 

[bigAWL]

Another option is to rent points from a BLT owner at 11 months and rent out your points to someone else.

 

[mickeyplanner]

Thank you for all the feedback, I guess we will keep trying to buy into BLT. Would August-December be the best UY for us to look at?

 

[Sandisw]

Thank you for all the feedback, I guess we will keep trying to buy into BLT. Would August-December be the best UY for us to look at?

Yes, if you are traveling in January, a Dec UY works really well. If you forsee yourself traveling in the summer (June, July or August--you mentioned children), then I might try for a June UY.

In terms of resort, I would also buy where you want to be as that is really all that is guaranteed at the end of the day.

We own at both BLT and BWV because those are the two resorts we want to be at during our summer trips, and did not want to stress until 7 months and hope they were available.

Plus, by owning at BLT, I am able to book the SV rooms, which put the points per night cost in line with the other DVC resorts we would consider staying (BWV, BCV, and VWL). If we did not own there, we would most likely have to book LV.

Good luck!

 

[XGrumpy1]

I have had pretty good luck with BLT at 7 months. You have to be able to be flexible with dates.

Look at it this way, if you

buy resale,
book at your home resort at 11 months,
wait list at 7 months for BLT

worst case, you are still staying onsite for half the cost of BLT and you might get BLT almost every year!

 

[suncup1225]

Take it from experience...buy at the resort that you want to stay at! August-December use year is great. Bay Lake is nearly sold out and when booking there for the most part you NEED to book at the 11 month window. If you book at the 11 month window you are golden and will get what you want! However booking after the 11 month window is hit or miss and even though I own there I haven't yet been able to get in at the 7 month mark unless I wanted a 2 bedroom magic kingdom view. Buying resale is also a great option! Check out the Timeshare store they have a ton of listings! My suggestion is buy at Bay Lake...don't take the chance of being disappointed and then regretting your DVC decision!

 

[mickeyplanner]

Well we made another offer today and the seller made a counter offer we felt comfortable with. So if all goes well with Disney we will be BLT owners in 2012 and staying there in 2013 since we already have our 2012 trip booked for march.

 

[etemplet]

I am intrigued by many posters and knowledgeable members that say the BLT is expensive compared to other DVC properties. I did my homework and found BLT to be fairly cheap to own and pretty close to the preferred views of other resorts in points. I purchased resale and the maintenance fees are substantially less than other resorts.

So if I purchase BLT at a good price resale and the maintenance fees are cheaper than other resorts, what's expensive about it. Am I missing something ?? I can use my points at other resorts and stretch them if I want to. What's the downside ??

I'm cool with what I did and I'm happy I found this place cuz I wouldn't have been so successful without you guys. I just don't see a downside with regard to cost at BLT, unless one purchases Direct. Then again, if you can afford it and don't have a problem...nothing wrong with that either.

Just some thoughts from a real newbie.

Merry Christmass everyone !!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I am intrigued by many posters and knowledgeable members that say the BLT is expensive compared to other DVC properties. I did my homework and found BLT to be fairly cheap to own and pretty close to the preferred views of other resorts in points. I purchased resale and the maintenance fees are substantially less than other resorts.

So if I purchase BLT at a good price resale and the maintenance fees are cheaper than other resorts, what's expensive about it. Am I missing something ?? I can use my points at other resorts and stretch them if I want to. What's the downside ??

I'm cool with what I did and I'm happy I found this place cuz I wouldn't have been so successful without you guys. I just don't see a downside with regard to cost at BLT, unless one purchases Direct. Then again, if you can afford it and don't have a problem...nothing wrong with that either.

Just some thoughts from a real newbie.

Merry Christmass everyone !!

I don't own at BLT, but have a 3 night 1 bedroom stay booked there in January. As far as "being in line" with the point charts of other resorts that's true up to a point, and if you factor in the convenience of being close to the MK. I'm paying 30 points a night for a lake view one bedroom BLT, and for 30 points a night, I could get a standard view 2 bedroom in Kidani, or for 29 points a night a 2 bedroom in OKW. I only looked these things up because I have a DCuz who MAY be able to join us with his wife and young child. I have no other points to use, so I wanted to see if anything else, something larger, would be in the point range of what I'm using. As of the last time I looked, those other two options would be available for us, but DCuz works for a company that isn't real good about telling people when they can have vacations.

 

[etemplet]

I don't own at BLT, but have a 3 night 1 bedroom stay booked there in January. As far as "being in line" with the point charts of other resorts that's true up to a point, and if you factor in the convenience of being close to the MK. I'm paying 30 points a night for a lake view one bedroom BLT, and for 30 points a night, I could get a standard view 2 bedroom in Kidani, or for 29 points a night a 2 bedroom in OKW. I only looked these things up because I have a DCuz who MAY be able to join us with his wife and young child. I have no other points to use, so I wanted to see if anything else, something larger, would be in the point range of what I'm using. As of the last time I looked, those other two options would be available for us, but DCuz works for a company that isn't real good about telling people when they can have vacations.

Yes that is a dilemma we must all come to grips with selecting where we want to stay and are the extra points worth it. I will always want a nice view no matter where we stay so comparing the BLT lake views with the premium views at other resorts I feel I am comparing apples to apples.

Of course, like Doc Holiday said in the Movie Tombstone, "That's what I like about you Wyatt, you can justify anything." LOL

 

[Sandisw]

Yes that is a dilemma we must all come to grips with selecting where we want to stay and are the extra points worth it. I will always want a nice view no matter where we stay so comparing the BLT lake views with the premium views at other resorts I feel I am comparing apples to apples.

Of course, like Doc Holiday said in the Movie Tombstone, "That's what I like about you Wyatt, you can justify anything." LOL

We are in the same boat in terms of comparing BLT to the other resorts. Because we knew we would only want to stay at VWL, BWV or BCV if we were to trade out of BLT, the point structure for SV rooms was very comparable.

While we could stretch points at OKW, SSR, and AKV, we probably never would because location is crucial for us. In our case, especially with summer travel, BLT really isn't more than the other choices we would be happy with.

 

[AJA]

I am intrigued by many posters and knowledgeable members that say the BLT is expensive compared to other DVC properties. I did my homework and found BLT to be fairly cheap to own and pretty close to the preferred views of other resorts in points. I purchased resale and the maintenance fees are substantially less than other resorts.

So if I purchase BLT at a good price resale and the maintenance fees are cheaper than other resorts, what's expensive about it. Am I missing something ?? I can use my points at other resorts and stretch them if I want to. What's the downside ??

I'm cool with what I did and I'm happy I found this place cuz I wouldn't have been so successful without you guys. I just don't see a downside with regard to cost at BLT, unless one purchases Direct. Then again, if you can afford it and don't have a problem...nothing wrong with that either.

Just some thoughts from a real newbie.

Merry Christmass everyone !!

We are also thinking about purchasing DVC. The resorts we're most interested in are BLT and BCV. My only problem trying to compute BLT maintenance fee's per point in the future is right now BLT is new, so no need to refurbish, so that leads to lower fee's. Do others feel that in a few years as BLT needs refurbished there fee's will be the same as the other DVC properties?

Besides the ocean front properties and the upkeep of animals at AKV I can't imagine that BLT would be so much less expensive to maintain in the future than say BWV, just right now it is as BLT is still new. What do others think?

 

[Deb & Bill]

We are also thinking about purchasing DVC. The resorts we're most interested in are BLT and BCV. My only problem trying to compute BLT maintenance fee's per point in the future is right now BLT is new, so no need to refurbish, so that leads to lower fee's. Do others feel that in a few years as BLT needs refurbished there fee's will be the same as the other DVC properties?

Besides the ocean front properties and the upkeep of animals at AKV I can't imagine that BLT would be so much less expensive to maintain in the future than say BWV, just right now it is as BLT is still new. What do others think?

They start taking money for renovations out long before they need them. So they don't have to do a special assessment (probably) to the members that own there to do the renovation.

Since BLT requires more points for each type of accomodation, there are more points total for the entire building than most of the other resorts. So the cost is spread out a bit more. For example, a week in a studio at OKW during the lowest point time is 76 points. At BLT it's 102, 123 or 139 points. The 139 is very close to the 147 that a one bedroom villa at OKW during the same time requires.