Boardwalk…and 2042 for that matter…

[Kidanifan08]

I’ve always been interested in owning 150-200 BWV points, mostly for the festival time periods (begging the question of when there isn’t a festival). My interest in BWV started in about 2010, so this is not a new obsession. Still kicking myself for not buying back in 2010-2013 when BWV points were going for the mid-$50’s! Anyway, here in 2023 a BWV purchase seems a little like buying a new car with the dealer added sealant and underbody protection at the current price point. I’m sure there is some savings over the cash cost of a Boardwalk stay, but it seems marginal. We have all of our DVC points at AKV and love the place. We bought in 2008 at $98/pt and definitely feel like we have gotten our money’s worth with that purchase. Is it still a good value to buy BWV? Or any 2042 contract for that matter?

 

[Cfabar1]

I personally won't buy a BWV contract at the moment, however it is one of our favorite resort areas, and we love visiting. To do long stays there, you essentially need to buy in. If I were just staying in studios, I would consider just booking cash rates. If you want a 1 BR on the BW, I don't really know another way to do it, other than renting points.

Buying in at BWV to me almost feels more about knowing you can stay there and get your rooms rather than about financial savings, which there are likely still some, depending on what you pay for your contract.

I'd argue that OKW can have some nice 2042 value if you want to stay there, despite the high dues. HHI you more or less have to buy if you want to stay during the busy seasons as well. Same with BC.

 

[disneyfan123]

From a purely financial perspective I'd say it's highly unlikely to be worth it to buy a 2042 resort; I know Mousesavers has a tool on their DVC page that can calculate your break-even point, so it might be worthwhile to hunt it down and see, but I'd be surprised if it saved you much money. There are other reasons it may be "worth it" to you to buy into BWV now, so I won't argue for or against it, but personally I wouldn't buy in now.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

One way to look at it is it's a location you really enjoy and a place you want to stay. 18/19 years is still a long time and a lot of memories and fun with family and friends. Maybe you're looking at 12-20 trips over the upcoming years with those points (depending how you use them)? If you don't care about value or selling at the end of the lease - that's a lot of potential fun and stays on Crescent Lake! We own AKL and BC (similar location and expiration, obviously, to BW), and we love those locations. We'll often do split stays - a few nights at AKL and a few nights of the festivals at EP with a BC stay. It's the perfect trip for us! AKL/BW would be a great pairing! Good luck with your decision.

 

[MsChristy12]

To me, DVC is mostly emotional purchase, so the value and whether it's worth it is entirely subjective. I'll give you my personal example - SSR is good value to most members, but my husband and I don't enjoy staying there, so even IF it was $50pp, we aren't going to buy there because we simply won't enjoy our stay there. One of our home resorts is BRV and we just bought it this year, is it good value on paper? Probably not. But do I feel giddy already just thinking about staying there, especially around the holidays? Yes absolutely!! That to me, is where the value is, no matter it's a 2042 resort or not. Actually, I had also thought about getting a small contract at BWV!! I love that Boardwalk view, would love to stay there and have my morning coffee on the balcony, love the convenience to EPCOT and studios...But we already have 2 contracts at 2 different resorts! Can't add anymore!

Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[RuntheMouse]

To me, DVC is mostly emotional purchase, so the value and whether it's worth it is entirely subjective.

Completely agree! 2042 resorts are not a good financial move but we bought at BRV this year purely for emotional reasons. We got a good deal ($90/pt loaded) but I went in fully acknowledging we bought because of how much we love it there and I wanted guaranteed access.

We just got home last night from a BWV stay booked with our SSR points and we have another booked in January for Festival of the Arts so it is possible to get festival stays at 7 months.

 

[Jlo85]

The 2042 resorts aren't as great of a value as the newer resort, but that doesn't mean they're a bad buy resale. I show Boardwalk breaks even in comparison to rental rates in about 8 years. For rack, it's much more sooner, since according to the DVCROFR tool you're still saving about 70-80% off rack.

Also, the fact that you can really only stay at boardwalk during festival season if you own at boardwalk is really a deciding factor.

 

[RoseGold]

Depends on what "good value" means. It's a heck of a lot more expensive than buying SSR. But it's maybe cheaper than buying rack rate BW.

Very hard to justify against renting points IMO.

https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/blog/best-economical-dvc-resorts-to-purchase-spring-2023/

 

[thelionqueen]

I’m definitely the minority here, but I feel as if BWV & BCV (esp BCV) are going to keep getting harder to get into. And I believe their value will hold steady or even increase as the contract date gets closer.. here’s my rationale.

I’m general, BCV & BWV owners use their points there. Of course not everyone all the time, but it’s safe to say, they own there to stay there. As more & more owners come into the mix, what’s hard to get now will be even harder. And finding resale contracts towards the end of the contract will be minimal. Owners will not sell their points for cheap, quite the opposite. They’ll use them or rent them (at very high rates) until the bitter end.

2042 expiration means absolutely nothing to me in any way. I’ll be staying at my favorite resort (and others occasionally) until 2042..and that’s a loooooooooong time! My ownership there is more valuable to me than the GFV I just bought, and I’d sell GFV before I sold my BCV.

In short, buy where you love staying. It’s prepaid vacations, nothing more. It holds value better than any other timeshare, but still just prepaid vacations

 

[lexxus379]

I just bought BW a couple of years ago and have zero regrets. It’s one of my fav resorts and has a favorable point chart. Maybe instead of 150-200, you could buy 100 and bank/borrow for your trips so it’s not as big of a financial commitment if you are hesitant of 2042 expiration.

 

[Mikey15]

I’d say buying any of the 2042 resorts all hinges on
1. Will you exclusively use the 11-7 month window every year, and
2. Will you do that for all 18 of the remaining years.

If the answer to those is yes, then it can still make more sense than renting. If you bought BWV for ~$110/pt, and paid ~$9/pt in dues at present value over the next 18 years, then each point you use will have cost you $15. This is somewhat cheaper than renting in the 7-11mo window, as far as I know.

But, then 2042 comes, and nothing’s left, while someone who bought SSR or OKW-2057 or whatever is still going. That’s where if you run a similar calc, the longer-expiry resorts are the better bang for your buck.

One option to split the difference (and hedge against those years you might not use the exclusivity window) is to buy a different resort, pay to rent BWV points the years you want to go there, and then rent your home resort points out. There’s a bit more cost to you in those first 18 years, but then you still have DVC to use once those are up. Food for thought.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

Ah, the endless 2042 question! I purchased a small OKW contract this year and I am gleeful. It allows me to jump into DVC ownership without an endless and unaffordable obligation. I don't want to make money on my purchase. I am not particularly concerned about breaking even.

I paid almost $2,500 for an 8 night stay at CBR summer of 2022. My spouse is recently mobility impaired which led to some less than successful non-Disney vacations this year in 2023. Purchasing this sized contract at this location did not derail my early retirement plans. I did not buy more points than I can reasonably use so I'm not bound to the rental market. I am hopeful to stay at other resorts for the first few trips but I'm perfectly fine staying at OKW (not true of SSR) down the road. If we find we need and can afford more points I know how to navigate the resale market.

Some days I have a bad day, and I navigate over to that dashboard. It feels a lot better to see those points waiting for us than it did to look at the cash in my account, which should be fully replaced by the end of the year. Tomorrow I'll book our first trip with DVC points.

2042 works for us. It works for others. It doesn't work for some. It's all good.

 

[aceshigh73]

Ah, the endless 2042 question! I purchased a small OKW contract this year and I am gleeful. It allows me to jump into DVC ownership without an endless and unaffordable obligation. I don't want to make money on my purchase. I am not particularly concerned about breaking even.

I paid almost $2,500 for an 8 night stay at CBR summer of 2022. My spouse is recently mobility impaired which led to some less than successful non-Disney vacations this year in 2023. Purchasing this sized contract at this location did not derail my early retirement plans. I did not buy more points than I can reasonably use so I'm not bound to the rental market. I am hopeful to stay at other resorts for the first few trips but I'm perfectly fine staying at OKW (not true of SSR) down the road. If we find we need and can afford more points I know how to navigate the resale market.

Some days I have a bad day, and I navigate over to that dashboard. It feels a lot better to see those points waiting for us than it did to look at the cash in my account, which should be fully replaced by the end of the year. Tomorrow I'll book our first trip with DVC points.

2042 works for us. It works for others. It doesn't work for some. It's all good.

Our "first" contract was a small 50 pt'er at BWV this summer. We were kinda "DVC stupid" at the time. Probably should have thought it out more because it was expensive per pt. Worked out because a few weeks later we found a 100 BWV loaded contract with the same UY and bought that to bring it to 150. In Hindsight, since i dont really see us giving up the BWV (unless health issues or my kids dont want it) we should have just waited and found a cheaper 150pt contract. We do have the ability to toss the 50 back to resale if our new direct pts turn out to be too much, but I still think we should have waited.
I rationalize it by looking at what we spent for 5 night in August for a Garden/Pool view deluxe studio at BWV even with the Disney Visa discount.

 

[bakerworld]

Have to say BWV is not a favorite. We also bought in '08 at AKL and have stayed multiple times at BWV with AKL points. Personally, save $ and book a stay at the Dolphin, would be our suggestion.

That said we have purchased BCV twice, 2012 and 2018, because we enjoy the IG entrance, especially during F&W. It was an emotional purchase, not financial.

 

[Sandisw]

If I really wanted to be able to stay at a 2042 resort each and every trip until the end, then I would buy it.

We have no idea what DVC will change as we get closer to expiration in terms of booking rules. It may make things harder for non owners so those who do own have more time to get rooms at the resorts.

All have come down in price and I think they are now at least closer to making sense for someone who wants it to be a home resort.

 

[Cfabar1]

One issue I have with BW and BC is the fact that the Dolphin and the Swan are affordable nearby options. To me, the benefit of BW and BC is the walkability to Epcot resort, nothing less, nothing more. Swan and Dolphin both accomplish that, and the SR offers true suites as well for those who don't want studios. To me, the best DVC value personally is MK monorail resorts, or to a lesser extent, strangely Disney Springs (though I don't think I would personally buy SSR). Walkability is what matters to me.

 

[intamin]

I love BWV and BCV but as someone who will have a very young family pretty soon it just didn’t make the sense with the 2042 expiration date. If I grew up going to either and had a strong emotional attachment I would consider it but I don’t. I’m willing to play the 7 month game and stay in 1BRs at these resorts to have a chance at staying or just snag a couple nights here and there with my resale points and get an additional 10-20 years for the same price. I’m not the type of person who HAS to stay at these Crescent Lake resorts during Food and Wine so it really doesn’t make as much sense.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

One of the posts on this thread inspired me to try to figure out how my BCV points (purchased this year) are actually working out. We have a 1br for 5 nights the week of Christmas. It's costing 205 points, so taking only the dues, we paid $1675 (and change) for the dues. Looking at the Disney hotel rates, the exact same rooom (which wasn't even available last year) is $1234/night... according to the checkout cart, $6941 (and change), so an additional $5250, which, divided by 205 is more than $25 per point earned back. I checked and looked at the current 25% promo, it is available at 1048/night-- a steal at $5900 with tax, so then I'd only be gaining $20/pt.

As someone who purchased BCV this year for about $120/pt, even with the relatively inefficient 1bedroom villa and promotional rates, I'd get the value of the purchase back in about 6 years...maybe 8 if you consider the time value of money.

And for those who say "you could rent points much cheaper than $1048 a night" -- I presume you have not actually attempted to rent at BCV around the holidays, I've tried unsuccessfully several times (2019, 2021, 2022). Like @thelionqueen, I'm guessing the people owning their BCV/BWV points for the next 20 years bought them to use them specifically at the resort or are holding them because they are attached to the resort and want to keep visiting. It's already tough to book longer BCV stays for much of the year and I don't see it as likely to get any easier. I don't think you can defend buying BCV or BWV as the best investment (compared to VGF or CCV in the 140s)-- but the points are actually pretty good value for the money if you love one of the in demand 2042 resorts and know you'll use them each year (or every other year banking and borrowing) for the next decade.

(not extremely relevant but just wanted to say that I love BWV as well and would generally apply the same calculus)

 

[Cyberc1978]

One of the posts on this thread inspired me to try to figure out how my BCV points (purchased this year) are actually working out. We have a 1br for 5 nights the week of Christmas. It's costing 205 points, so taking only the dues, we paid $1675 (and change) for the dues. Looking at the Disney hotel rates, the exact same rooom (which wasn't even available last year) is $1234/night... according to the checkout cart, $6941 (and change), so an additional $5250, which, divided by 205 is more than $25 per point earned back. I checked and looked at the current 25% promo, it is available at 1048/night-- a steal at $5900 with tax, so then I'd only be gaining $20/pt.

As someone who purchased BCV this year for about $120/pt, even with the relatively inefficient 1bedroom villa and promotional rates, I'd get the value of the purchase back in about 6 years...maybe 8 if you consider the time value of money.

And for those who say "you could rent points much cheaper than $1048 a night" -- I presume you have not actually attempted to rent at BCV around the holidays, I've tried unsuccessfully several times (2019, 2021, 2022). Like @thelionqueen, I'm guessing the people owning their BCV/BWV points for the next 20 years bought them to use them specifically at the resort or are holding them because they are attached to the resort and want to keep visiting. It's already tough to book longer BCV stays for much of the year and I don't see it as likely to get any easier. I don't think you can defend buying BCV or BWV as the best investment (compared to VGF or CCV in the 140s)-- but the points are actually pretty good value for the money if you love one of the in demand 2042 resorts and know you'll use them each year (or every other year banking and borrowing) for the next decade.

(not extremely relevant but just wanted to say that I love BWV as well and would generally apply the same calculus)

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people run the numbers based on a spreadsheet, just like an employer who need to cut costs.

The spreadsheet does not take everything into consideration and you can basically get a spreadsheet to tell you anything you want or need.

People will say they have taken everything or most into account but how do you put a value on the fact that a lot of owners really like or want to stay at a 2042 resort.

If you only use the so-called facts like buyin costs, dues, time left - then maybe you shouldn’t buyin at all. Timeshares are a luxury product and in the end it’s worth 0$

If I get to enjoy 18 years at BCV with my family then it’s worth it compared to maybe 30 years at another resorts which I dislike.

 

[tom1944]

I keep looking at the 2042 resorts and think should I worry about the date. We are 65 and 66 and while my daughter is 33 she could always consider buying after 2042.

The 2054 to 2068 resorts will be the 2042 resorts of today and most likely cost less than the resorts with longer expiration dates.