Buy at SSR to save money

[Jackie Price]

We are thinking about buying points at Saratoga Springs to save money, both up front and in maintenance fees. We don't plan on ever staying there and instead would book 1 or 2 bedroom villas at the other DVC properties. We live in Florida, so we can go for 2 or 3 nights with flexibility. Is this a bad strategy? The only resort we would like to stay at and may have trouble booking at 7 months is a studio at the Poly. Has anyone else used this strategy and does it work for you? Thanks!!

 

[quandrea]

There has definitely been a shift in how easy/difficult it is to secure reservations at seven months or less. I had hoped to switch resorts for an upcoming stay. No luck. I’ll be at my home resort of AKL. Which is fine because I love my home resort. A change would have been nice, but it’s fine.

I think to set out saying you never plan to stay at SSR is a poor plan. Going forward, I think you will have your hand forced.

That said, SSR is getting what appears to be a really nice renovation. I’m looking forward to staying there once the reno is finished. You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Rush]

Using SSR to lower costs is a good idea, we did the same to get our feet wet. But as quandrea touched on, saying you’ll never stay there will lead to overall disappointment. You’ll be much happier assuming you’ll stay at SSR, but elated when you are able to book elsewhere. As a FL resident I’m guessing you’ll drive. Having a vehicle at SSR can eliminate one of the major concerns of that resort, distance from everything except DS. We love it, but we don’t mind the drive, but we have a stroller and bags that make busing more of a pain.

That said, we are going in Sept and were able to book 5 nights in a 1 BR at AKV. We are waitlisted at BCV, and I just check regularly, and as of this morning we could have switched to a studio at CCV. So your plan is plausible, staying elsewhere can be done, assuming you always will is not.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If you plan on going for F&W Festival, you better plan on staying at SSR in that case.

 

[Spartan86]

If you plan on going for F&W Festival, you better plan on staying at SSR in that case.

If you mean “prime Oct” dates I would agree. As F&W is such a long festival now I’d say “not so much”. My BD is 9/8 and we typically make a September 1BR reservation. For 2019 it was pretty much “where do you want to stay?” at 7 months. And then we changed again later on. Will that pattern continue? I don’t know.

 

[Jay S]

I have owned @ SSR since 2009 and have only stayed there once. As long a you are willing to stalk the RAT and do spilt stays you should have any issue. This especially holds true with 1BR which tend to be the last to book.

 

[CarolMN]

If you mean “prime Oct” dates I would agree. As F&W is such a long festival now I’d say “not so much”. My BD is 9/8 and we typically make a September 1BR reservation. For 2019 it was pretty much “where do you want to stay?” at 7 months. And then we changed again later on. Will that pattern continue? I don’t know.

Yes, it's been historically true that 1 bedrooms are much easier to book than studios. Studios, however, are a tough get at 7 months, especially from mid-September through Marathon weekend in January. Availability for 2 bedrooms depends on configuration. Lockoffs disappear quickly due to the demand for studios.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

If flexibility includes any nights of the week I think you can still make something like that work. As 7 month windows tighten up it gets to be more frustrating if you're restricted to certain dates. Also, the time of year you want to go will make things easier. And actually, since Poly is mostly studios it can have availability at 7 months when other places don't. The holidays, race weekends and anytime in the last 3 1/2 months of year are going to be the most difficult time to switch but people do change plans and there are cancellations that can allow you to pick up dates that were "sold out". Since your flexible it sounds like you'd have more leeway to pick things up rather last minute compared to someone who would be flying in.

 

[The Jackal]

If you plan on going for F&W Festival, you better plan on staying at SSR in that case.

We own at SSR and OKW and this fall we are staying in a 2 bedroom standard view at VGF. Since the OP is close and can go for 2 or 3 days it should work for them for most of the year in 1 and 2 bedrooms. I think the upcoming refurbishment at SSR will make it more appealing.

 

[Wakey]

Sorry to sound like a broken record but ‘buy where you want to stay’ and ‘You’ll have difficulty staying elsewhere’ does not apply to 1 beds if OP was thinking of staying in 1 beds. Beach Club this Xmas was no problem 1 bed for example, and managed to get BLT to New Year’s Eve without a waitlist. Boulder Ridge, OKW also easy. And this has been the most difficult time to book I’ve ever seen. Travel outside of peak and you can stay anywhere and often have your pick of views including Boardwalk standard and even AKV value.
Refurbishment at SSR, starting in a couple of weeks will make it much more appealing and it looks like they may also be revamping the main building fingers crossed.

 

[Drewferin]

When we bought we thought about SSR because it was the best value DVC resort for ppp and dues. In the end we decided to not buy SSR since we didn't like that resort at all. We ended up buying AKV since we love that resort and it had a similar ppp and dues structure (Pre 2019 increases).

 

[arminnie]

I owned at OKW, BLT and SSR. SSR was our favorite for OUR reasons. Some people mentioned that they hated the close up parking like an apartment complex. We like that. My DH and I like to go off property and like the convenience of doing so.

We love the proximity to DS. That is more important to us than being close to Epcot, DHS, or MK. Others feel differently and that's okay. To each each his own.

I recently sold OKW and BLT. I have no regrets.

 

[dvcsince93]

Here is something that I don't understand, please help me.

I get saving money-but if Disney added a new restriction that resale points were not available to make reservations at the 11 month window, there would be complaints and lawsuits galore and yet that is what happens when you (not refering to the OP, just any person in general) buy with no intent of ever staying at your home resort-you are restricting yourself to rooms you can get at the 7-month window. (It's the Opposite DRR restriction- only rooms at the 13 other resorts at 7 months)

I know that you can, in theory, stay at SSR and may even put down a reservation there for backup, but from the posts I've read, people who do this will then stalk day and night until they get something that better fits what they want.

It just doesn't make sense to me. You are getting cheap points but the points don't have the value that points at a resort that you would stay at would have.

I am not even getting into the fact that returning to the same resort regularly makes it feel like more than just a room. I don't think you get that by hopping around WDW on every trip.

 

[Hjs33]

We are thinking about buying points at Saratoga Springs to save money, both up front and in maintenance fees. We don't plan on ever staying there and instead would book 1 or 2 bedroom villas at the other DVC properties. We live in Florida, so we can go for 2 or 3 nights with flexibility. Is this a bad strategy? The only resort we would like to stay at and may have trouble booking at 7 months is a studio at the Poly. Has anyone else used this strategy and does it work for you? Thanks!!

I agree with previous comments when it comes to studios. But since you said you were looking to book 1 and 2 bedroom reservations I think you will be ok. Those are easier to get than the studios. Especially the 1 bedrooms, which are usually the last to sell out.

 

[zavandor]

It just doesn't make sense to me. You are getting cheap points but the points don't have the value that points at a resort that you would stay at would have.

This is true only if you want to stay over and over again at the same resort. Some people have their favorite(s) and are disappointed if they cannot stay there. Personally, I prefer to have a different experience every time and even 3 different vacations in one (doing a 3 way split stay this September).
There is no right or wrong, but the chance to book all the other resort is a big selling point in the DVC marketing, so I would say I'm using my points as the system is designed for. Exactly as people who buy where they want to stay and always book their home resort. DVC being a Vacation Club allows both categories of travellers to use the system as they prefer.

Also, the difficulty to book a non home resort is a bit overstated on the boards. Reading some comments it seems one cannot ever book another resort. This is not true. With the only effort of booking right when reservation opens there are a lot of booking categories open most of the year, outside fall frenzy. Sure, getting BWV and BLT standard or AKV value is going to require a lot of luck, but BLT lake, BWV garden and AKV standard or savannah are fairly easy at 7 months from mid January to mid September. And this is for studios, if you want 1BR even fall frenzy is not impossible.

 

[quandrea]

I agree with previous comments when it comes to studios. But since you said you were looking to book 1 and 2 bedroom reservations I think you will be ok. Those are easier to get than the studios. Especially the 1 bedrooms, which are usually the last to sell out.

Anecdotally I’m finding one and two bedroom availability at seven months harder to come by. Perhaps because we do long stays. I find myself at AKL the majority of the time. Again, not a problem, but if I found myself at SSR all the time, I wouldn’t be pleased.

 

[drusba]

Many have employed the same strategy you are considering, buy at SSR and then use the 7-month window to reserve elsewhere. You mention staying mainly at Poly. Based on currently existing reservation patterns, that would mostly work for the DVC low to moderate demand season at WDW that runs from the Monday after marathon weekend in Jan to late Sep. It is a more questionable strategy for the high to extremely high demand season that runs from late Sep to marathon weekend in Jan, during which time Poly studios are often booked full before 7 months out (and during that season, many things at WDW can disappear before 7 months out -- even SSR rooms can disappear once in a while before 7 months out during that season). Also, if seeking 1BRs at other resorts, you can often even have a chance at other resorts during that high demand season.

That strategy also comes with two additional caveats. First, reservation patterns can change and there is always some risk your desired 7-month reservation at Poly could become difficult to get much of the year. Second, there is an issue not mentioned above because it has never happened before, but the "new" DVC that exists today, which management seems to relish going out of its way to make things far more difficult for existing members, including particularly for any resale purchasers, may consider doing it.

If you look at the existing point charts you will see that the same point requirements apply to both the 11-month and 7-month reservation windows. That has always been the practice, but unbeknownst to many, the POS documents specifically allow DVC to change the 7-month point charts to be entirely different from the 11-month point charts and, unlike for the 11-month point charts, there is no rule for the 7-month point charts that would require any increase in nightly points for rooms to be met by a like decrease at other times. In other words, to lower demand at 7-months out for the near park resorts (and simultaneously have a DVC desired negative impact on the resale market), DVC could create 7-month point charts that greatly increase the points needed to reserve the near park resorts at 7 months out.

 

[jo-jo]

We bought at SSR in 2006 and only stay there a couple of times. We did not buy with the intention of staying everywhere else, we were just idiots when we bought. We had no idea of some of the other resorts. Most our trips are Nov/early Dec or early May, until a few years ago we had no trouble switching resorts. Our fall trips we would only stay at BLT (we own) and BCV or BWV, now we are "forced" to stay at BLT more. Our SSR points haven't gone to waste, it's just gotten harder and harder to match up days.

 

[STA]

Many have employed the same strategy you are considering, buy at SSR and then use the 7-month window to reserve elsewhere. You mention staying mainly at Poly. Based on currently existing reservation patterns, that would mostly work for the DVC low to moderate demand season at WDW that runs from the Monday after marathon weekend in Jan to late Sep. It is a more questionable strategy for the high to extremely high demand season that runs from late Sep to marathon weekend in Jan, during which time Poly studios are often booked full before 7 months out (and during that season, many things at WDW can disappear before 7 months out -- even SSR rooms can disappear once in a while before 7 months out during that season). Also, if seeking 1BRs at other resorts, you can often even have a chance at other resorts during that high demand season.

That strategy also comes with two additional caveats. First, reservation patterns can change and there is always some risk your desired 7-month reservation at Poly could become difficult to get much of the year. Second, there is an issue not mentioned above because it has never happened before, but the "new" DVC that exists today, which management seems to relish going out of its way to make things far more difficult for existing members, including particularly for any resale purchasers, may consider doing it.

If you look at the existing point charts you will see that the same point requirements apply to both the 11-month and 7-month reservation windows. That has always been the practice, but unbeknownst to many, the POS documents specifically allow DVC to change the 7-month point charts to be entirely different from the 11-month point charts and, unlike for the 11-month point charts, there is no rule for the 7-month point charts that would require any increase in nightly points for rooms to be met by a like decrease at other times. In other words, to lower demand at 7-months out for the near park resorts (and simultaneously have a DVC desired negative impact on the resale market), DVC could create 7-month point charts that greatly increase the points needed to reserve the near park resorts at 7 months out.

Do you think there is anything in the POS from preventing them from doing this 7 month point chart revision only for resale points? By maintaining the chart for direct points they could tout that as another “benefit”...

If they did that it likely wouldn’t make that much of a difference for availability for direct points if the resale population is a relatively small percentage of all point but it sure would suppress the idea of buy cheap points and book popular resorts strategies. I suppose it would be more of a PR/value perception change than a functional one.

 

[drusba]

Do you think there is anything in the POS from preventing them from doing this 7 month point chart revision only for resale points? By maintaining the chart for direct points they could tout that as another “benefit”...

If they did that it likely wouldn’t make that much of a difference for availability for direct points if the resale population is a relatively small percentage of all point but it sure would suppress the idea of buy cheap points and book popular resorts strategies. I suppose it would be more of a PR/value perception change than a functional one.

Because of provisions in the POS and applicable exhibits, I would have said six-months ago that DVC could not create such a separate rule for resale purchasers. However, in the last six months, with the attempted point chart change that was ultimately withdrawn, with the resale restrictions to the Disney Reservation Component created for Riviera as a DVC Resort, and the change that allows DVD to change the use year of points sold as add-ons, all of which activities violate provisions of the POS and prior representations made by Disney, I would have to say a risk exists that DVC may do what you mention because it has proven that it does not believe itself bound by any contractual or other legal restrictions when it comes to doing things that screw members, particularly resale purchasers.