Booking outside of home resort

[ezbfields]

I'm considering buying into DVC, but have concerns if I will be stuck with my home resort most years, or if I will be able to try other resorts. From what I see I can book non-home resorts 7 months out. Does anyone have a feel for what would be available at that point?

Thanks

 

[disneynutz]

IMO booking continues to get harder at 7 months as the number of owners increases and Disney puts on special events to fill the place up.

You may not always get your dates or resort but you can usually find something depending on the time of year, resort, room size and category.

For a worry free, get what you want where you want vacation, I recommend that you buy where you love to stay and not buy SSR or VB thinking that you will save some money if that's what you are thinking.

Bill

 

[ezbfields]

Thanks Bill. I'm looking at a variety of resorts and traveling with kids narrows the dates I can travel. Sounds like it may be best to push best value aside and go with something I will enjoy year in and year out.

 

[dundey]

It really depends on time of year and what you're looking for. But almost always there is more than one choice.

For example we just booked a 4 night stay from 4/18 - 4/22, which includes Easter weekend. I was actually surprised to see we had 3 resorts to chose from: SSR, OKW and AKL. There were even a couple studio nights available in BLT.

If you want a SPECIFIC resort, then yeah the 11 month window, or at least more then 7 for home resort pref is the way to go. If you want to stay in them all over time, you should be able to do that, as long as you're flexible.

We also have BCV booked for Thanksgiving and BLT booked for Christmas. These are our 2 home resorts, but they were booked between 7 and 11 months.

 

[Dean]

I'm considering buying into DVC, but have concerns if I will be stuck with my home resort most years, or if I will be able to try other resorts. From what I see I can book non-home resorts 7 months out. Does anyone have a feel for what would be available at that point?

Thanks

Even for the busiest times it's unlikely you'd be stuck with only home resort options but the difficulty depends on the resort, time of year, unit size/type and how early you try. I wouldn't buy at a resort you would be unhappy staying at if you missed out.

 

[Dasha Hermosilla]

Agreeing with the Prior posters...

You can still find availability at the 7 month mark, but if you are locked into school breaks it limits your flexibility. It also depends on where you own and where you are wishing to stay at 7 months. We own BLT and with 2 months out I booked SSR for spring break last year. Why? It's the biggest and if anyplace is available SSR is. I was also told AKL is also an option that often is available as it is quite large as well.

Also... By 7 months people really mean 7 months to the day and on at 8 AM. If you don't want worry and stress -stick with buying a resort you know you will love.

 

[drusba]

DVC at WDW currently has two main demand seasons: about mid-Jan to near end of Sep, which is DVC's lower demand season during which you can usually get rooms at 7 months out at near park resorts and not just SSR, OKW and AKV except for certain "usual suspects" for which room demand is usually high for a limited number of rooms: BWV standard and boardwalk view, BLT standard view, AKV club level and value rooms, VGF studios, and during some holiday times BCV and BLT theme park view. In fact, the time during that about nine month period with the highest demand and biggest risk of not getting a near park resort is the weekend in the latter part of Feb when they have the Princess half marathon. Spring break weeks including the Easter weeks are actually among the easier times to get a near park resort at 7 months out.

The higher DVC demand season at WDW is currently end of Sep through marathon weekend in Jan during which it can be difficult and at times impossible to get a near park resort and even AKV and OKW may sometimes have a risk of being difficult first and second week of Dec, Christmas week, Columbus Day weekend and the weekend after it, few days around Thanksgiving and Veterans Day weekend. Thus far, SSR has always been open at 7 months out except that grand villas and treehouses are sometimes gone during very high demand times. Note that 1BRs are usually the last to reserve and even during that high demand season, you may find them at 7 months out at near park resorts when nothing else is open.

 

[DizDaD7]

Well if this helps or not, we own at SSR, but have never stayed there yet. Was able to get BWV for 11 nights in summer, was able to get AKV for 8 nights for our Easter week vacation, and was able to get GCV, for a week during presidents week...So yes it is hard but, we were able to do it, and even during busy weeks too..HTH

DizDad

 

[Msmithmd]

Our experience in three years ownership:

Home resort VWL

Stays:

2 at VWL
2 at AKV
2 at VGF
1 at VGC
1 at OKW

Some of those were split stays, because we needed different room sizes for extra family visiting for part of the dates, and we wished to get the "two vacations" feel that an extended split stay can afford. Each of our split stays was voluntary- we could have booked either resort for the full duration when we committed.

There are clearly times of year that certain room types aren't possible at certain resorts. But I think it is fair to state that you can stay at some room type at every resort in the system, at least part of the year. And some resorts are almost always available.

Buy a high-cost resort if you want to stay there most of the time, especially if you tend to travel in DVC peak seasons.

If you're flexible and are willing to be compulsive about your seven month booking window, in my experience buying a high cost resort is a waste of money. YMMV.

 

[disneynutz]

You will see posts of success stories and posts like mine suggesting that you buy where you love to stay. The bottom line is how will you feel if you have difficulty getting the reservation you want when you want?

A success story today, may not be one tomorrow. Buy where you love to stay, may cost you more but you are going to be happy for the entire length of your contract.

Bill

 

[Sandisw]

Definitely is possible to stay at other resorts at 7 months. The difficult part is that depending on what you want, when you want it and for how long will limit it.

I agree that buying a place you would not mind staying is your best bet and this way, when you can trade out for what you want, great--if you have trouble, then at least you are someplace that works.

We own BLT and BWV because we love to stay there...I know I can book at 11 months and do not have to worry...when I bought, I paid more to own BLT than what I could have gotten SSR for because I didn't want to worry about the whole 7 month availability. Even though I don't go currently at the popular times--and have had success getting rooms where I wanted them using wait lists and booking less than 7 months out...for those trips I know I am going to take, booking where I want is nice.

DVC is a lot of money, IMO, to buy into a home resort that if you were there a lot, you'd consider yourself "stuck".

 

[paults]

I'm considering buying into DVC, but have concerns if I will be stuck with my home resort most years, or if I will be able to try other resorts. From what I see I can book non-home resorts 7 months out. Does anyone have a feel for what would be available at that point?

Thanks

what dvc resorts were you thinking about buying? Maybe then we can give you some more info.

 

[Dasha Hermosilla]

Another way to see what is often available when is to look through the rental board. You can see what people request and what the owners response back is available. For example, just saw one for late October whew the person wanted BLT, VWL and BwV. The owner posted back those were unavailable and she/he could get instead AKL, OKW or SSR. It just might give you a sense of what is available when for real for yourself vs listening to anecdotal stories.

 

[crisi]

Though that is still anecdotal - and its a snapshot in time unless you do it consistently for a few years - most people have a shorter buy window. drusba's been doing analysis for a while, I'd go with her statements (which really haven't contained too many surprises over what we expected - some things - OKW low point Grand Villas - are more available than common wisdom).

A few other things - at some times the difference between seven months and six months two weeks can be a big deal in terms of availability - if you can book eleven months out and are happy at your home resort, that is a completely different profile than someone who wants to book rooms three months out and is picky about their resorts. The second thing is that drusba used the word "currently" to describe busy times - lots will change at Disney over the length of a contract - and a lot will change in your life as well. An example of things changing with Disney is their marathon weekends. Originally, there was one that made a difference to DVC members in terms of availability - they keep adding more marathons which creates a draw. A change in our lives - we used to go when the kids had a few days off in October - we'd pull them for three days and get a week of vacation - once they hit middle school, we had to switch our schedule. What was fine for us in terms of missed school and activities in elementary school turned out to be a huge burden in middle school - and nearly impossible to consider in high school.

 

[ezbfields]

Thanks for all of the feedback. This gives me something to mull over. I appreciate hearing from longtime owners, before making a purchase myself. I have been to Disney a number of times over the years and have rented DVC points the last two. Places I would most like to stay would be Bay Lake or Beach club, but I stayed at SS this year and had a good time there. Last year I did a split stay at Wilderness and AK.

 

[wdwfan1]

You probably know this--If you are not buying directly from Disney you can only book at your home resort. Good luck with your decision.

 

[CMOORE185]

You probably know this--If you are not buying directly from Disney you can only book at your home resort. Good luck with your decision.

This simply is not true. You can book at any DVC resort and RCI with resale.

 

[SarahInMN]

You probably know this--If you are not buying directly from Disney you can only book at your home resort. Good luck with your decision.

To re-emphasize, this is not true. You can book at non-home resorts but trading out of disney with resales is limited to RCI.

At any rate, we are huge believers in buy where you want to stay. We in truth would not be happy at resorts where we have to rely on buses/boats to get to all the parks because we like the convenience of wandering over to Epcot for a snack or to MK to shop. We love F&W - so we bought BCV on the resale market so that we can stay at BCV for F&W. If you don't own at BCV/BWV, it is very tough to stay there during F&W. We bought VGF direct because we love the GF, got married there, and wanted a DVC near MK but BLT didn't speak to us.

We have never stayed at any other DVC beyond where we own. We always talk about a few nights at AKV but haven't done it yet.

Anyways, don't buy at a DVC where you'd be unhappy at if you had to stay there. Its a huge investment and you want to like where you stay.

Good luck!

 

[Dean]

You probably know this--If you are not buying directly from Disney you can only book at your home resort. Good luck with your decision.

Not to pile on but to add that as I read the documents, this is not a possible restriction for the current resorts.

To re-emphasize, this is not true. You can book at non-home resorts but trading out of disney with resales is limited to RCI.

plus BVTC, private exchanges and independent exchange companies.

 

[Spsully]

So, I did a resale purchase about 15 years ago. I have never stayed at my home resort,HH. However, I have never been to Disney during a high time as I hate crowds. We have always had fantastic luck getting what we wanted without fail. Lately the "kids" have been using the points and because they don't plan ahead. They have had to go to their second choice resort.