"Buy where you want to stay"... but I'm fickle!

[Jen D]

DVC wannabe here. I haunt your board occasionally... had my last serious flirtation with buying back around the time BCV went on the market, but eventually concluded that as much as I love Disney I wasn't sure if we as a family were ready to commit to 40 years of Disney vacations... and as of now we only go about every two years. Still, I occasionally get the bug... we just returned from a non-Disney vacation and our standard hotel room seemed SMALL. VERY SMALL. I started thinking how great a one-bedroom would be for our next Disney vacation....

Anyway, I am really interested in SSR-- which surprises me because it initially didn't appeal and I always thought I was more of a Villas-attached-to-hotel-type than an OKW type, but the pictures and look of the resort are beautiful, I like the dining options with Downtown Disney, the pool is great-- overall it looks like a fantastic resort. And the promotional deals available now are enticing.

But I just can't imagine commiting to one resort for 50 years. I'm quite fickle! My first trip I did BWV, lurved it, but thought, been there, done that, next trip was a budget trip at POFQ, next we did the Poly-- which I loved, but have no desire to go back-- I want to try the next thing... AKL. GF. SSR! to me returning to the exact resort I left on my last vacation might be... dull.

Who else finds it hard to commit to one resort? And for those of you who are promiscious with your resort love, have you had okay luck with the seven-month window?

 

[rinkwide]

You obviously haven't stayed at the Beach Club .

 

[spiceycat]

I like different too!!!

I have gotten other resorts at the 7th month window - more often than not - hint changing your dates can help - the CM want you to be happy!!!

so be flexibility

I would also not put all my points in one resort - say buy a 100 at SSR and then 60 at BCV, maybe another 60 at VWL. get the ideal. I even stay in WDW resort rooms occasionally - love the Pop - but you are right we end up missing out DVC resort.

Hey one year in Dec - we stay in the Polyn - Lagoon view - beautiful!!! one of the best views ever!!! all we did was miss OKW....

 

[Luckymommyx2]

That's the great thing about DVC...you don't have to stay in the same resort, or even stay at WDW all the time. We plan to continue our WDW trips two or three times a year for some time to come. We want to stay at all the DVC resorts and all the Deluxes!! We always travel at off times and can be flexible if it means getting the resort we want. I think it'll be a lot of fun trying out all the different resorts!!

 

[athenna]

I agreed with everyone that has replied so far! You can be fickle! That's 1 great thing about DVC, is you don't have to spend the next 40-50 years of your life at the same resort! You can try them all out, as long as you are successful at the 7 month window. And I haven't heard too many stories of people being disappointed at the 7 month window. For as many people I have heard that have loyalty to their home resort, I have heard just as many people want to try out the others. I am hoping to have some loyalty to my home resort (it's the only one I haven't seen in person) but knowing I have options is a great thing!
(Gee, maybe I should look into getting a sales person job at DVC )

 

[pbharris4]

DH and I are not ones to stay at the same place either. Even though we have had the DVC only since Oct.2002 we've used it about 4x. We own 175 pts at BCV. We've been to BCV, BWV, The PLaza in NYC, and this summer we are doing SSR and a 3 nt Disney Cruise on the Wonder. I haven't had a problem at all. I was thinking of changing from SSR to VWL a week ago and there were a few rooms left. (We're only doing a studio this year because of the cruise). I certainly want to stay at the GF, AKL, Poly, VWL, as well as some resorts outside of Disney (Interval International). I heard that that may be more difficult, but we'll see. If you don't go every year, you can bank your points and have a big vacation every other year and stay at some of the other places. I absolutely NEVER would have bought into the DVC if I was tied to 1 resort and a certain week or two. Yes, I own at one resort, but I don't have to stay there. I do love the BCV's though! It's hard for us to plan 11 months in advance anyway....7 months is more realistic. Last year, I waited until like 6 months to book a 2 br villa @ BWV and they only had the Preferred view so I took it and they put me on a wait list for a regular view room. 2 months before our trip they changed us to a regular view room (which is what we wanted). We got a regular view room, but were right next to the pool on the 1st floor, so we could walk out our patio door and were at the pool AND for less points. I tell everyone I can about DVC..I think it was a great decision. I only wish we did it sooner and maybe bought 200-225 pts instead of 175. But we make it work at 175 and we can always add on.

 

[disneyberry]

[SIZE=+0]I guess instead of trying to literally "buy where you want to stay", you could think of it as:

"Buy the best value/most appropriate size contract you can find at a resort that you will not be unhappy staying in if you can't get the switch at the 7mo window and are stuck staying in your home resort." Phew, that's a mouthful.

For a Sun-Fri 5-night 1bdrm trip every 2 years, you can get by w/ a small 60 to 70 point contract bought via resale. Of course the danger w/ that is DVC might decide to even out the cost of weekdays vs. weeknights in the future. But then you can just add-on!

Another option for the fickle is split stays. 2 nights here, 3 nights there, etc. That's what DBF and I do... we don't mind switching hotels... we've got no attention span anyway. [/SIZE]

 

[CharlesTD]

We bought where it was cheap not where we wanted to stay. We bought purely based on insentives at the time.

 

[Jen D]

[SIZE=+0]I guess instead of trying to literally "buy where you want to stay", you could think of it as:

"Buy the best value/most appropriate size contract you can find at a resort that you will not be unhappy staying in if you can't get the switch at the 7mo window and are stuck staying in your home resort." Phew, that's a mouthful. [/SIZE]

Makes sense to me though... understand,I like SSR a lot, I think it is beautiful and I can't imagine ever feeling like I was "settling" staying there... but variety is the spice of life. Nice to hear it is all managable.

 

[Sammie]

I would buy where i would be satisfied to stay if nothing else was available. Somewhere you would never feel like you were "stuck". Then experience the other resorts when ever you are able to get them.

We have had good luck at 7 months at all resorts, but we do not book 7 months at peak DVC times either.

 

[bethyg]

We have looked into buying into DVC (staying at HH in June to "check out" the DVC feel at RACK RATES! Yikes!). The suggestion above about buying 50 points here, 60 points there, at various resorts intrigues me. I'm assuming these could be bought re-sale at decent prices(lower $ per point), a little at a time, and would be easily purchased in cash, rather than financing $14,000 for SSR or others.

DH is concerned we have 2 kids (12 and 3) that need college, and is concerned about investing this kind of money when it could go into a college fund. I can see his point. I also understand once your payments are completed on DVC, then it's just yearly maintenance and cost of travel to get there (if you stay within allotted points).

I'm sure many of you are struggling families just like us worrying about orthodontics and paying for college. Give me some arguements for cost savings buying into DVC. We usually go to Disney once every 2 years, stay for 5-6 days at a moderate, and I'm constantly trying to find ways to go cheaper due to the expense. We would love to go every end of May/early June, end of Sept. and week before Christmas if we could afford it. Would LOVE to hear opinions and options!

 

[Beca]

You obviously haven't stayed at the Beach Club .

Beca

 

[goodcook5]

We like ssr--mainly for the extra 12 years (hope I'm still alive). However, in a side by side lin up this is not the resort I would have chosen if all things were equal. However, I have had good luck booking into other dvc resorts--even on short notice.

Some people are worrying that it may be hard to book out of ssr as the years go by since it will be large with many people using it as home, but dvc plans more resorts as time goes by.

Even if I can only stay at ssr for the next 50 years, I believe I can live with that.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Do like us and buy where you want to stay. We own 300 points at OKW, 100 at BCV and 100 at VWL. We started at OKW and loved it. But when they offered VWL, I just had to have some there. We used to live in Montana and headed to Yellowstone quite often. When they offered BCV, my husband insisted on those points because he loves SAB.

So, even if you are fickle, you can still "buy where you want to stay"!

 

[married@wdw]

We felt the same way as you when we bought, but frankly, we were poor 20-somethings buying the DVC with a small inheritance and a Disney CM discount. We went with OKW because the cheaper the better!!!

Now, we've paid it off and added on -- our add-on was at OKW too because we decided we really wanted the option of a GV with all 300 of our points so we could stay a full week with the whole family and still have points for other vacations.

All of that said, we've only stayed at OKW twice in our last six trips -- two stays at BWV, one at VWL and one at Coronado on points because we couldn't get a Sunday night at a DVC last minute in mid-December. We've rarely had a problem getting what we wanted at any of the DVC resorts -- only once did we have to waitlist and that was just to go from a standard view to a boardwalk view at BWV, so we were at the right resort, just had to wait for the better view, and we did eventually get it. We're hoping for a BCV in November once the 7-month window rolls around, though it will be Food & Wine festival time, so we might be sticking with OKW.

Do you think you'd be unhappy choosing from just the DVC resorts? Would you be disappointed if you "had" to stay at SSR if the other resorts didn't have what you wanted at the 7-month window?

If the answer to these is "no", then I think you should look into it more.

If the answer to these is yes, then maybe DVC isn't for you -- and that's OK. Somebody needs to fill up all those regular hotel rooms!

 

[FreeTime]

I think that you should buy where you want to stay because you never know when you may not be able to get what you want. We normally go during Dec every few years, though, and this is a tough time to get in. One year we had to stay in the cabins on points because all vacation club resorts were booked. It turned out the we liked it though.

I'm sure many of you are struggling families just like us worrying about orthodontics and paying for college. Give me some arguements for cost savings buying into DVC. We usually go to Disney once every 2 years, stay for 5-6 days at a moderate, and I'm constantly trying to find ways to go cheaper due to the expense. We would love to go every end of May/early June, end of Sept. and week before Christmas if we could afford it. Would LOVE to hear opinions and options!

In my opinion, DVC, is quite an expense and will not save you money, at least not immediately. Years from now, it may. Add up how much it has cost you to stay in the past and estimate how much you think you will spend in the future, to determine what is right for you. You may also find that you want to go more, which means more ticket cost, transportation, etc.

 

[RayJay]

I would buy where i would be satisfied to stay if nothing else was available. Somewhere you would never feel like you were "stuck". Then experience the other resorts when ever you are able to get them.

We have had good luck at 7 months at all resorts, but we do not book 7 months at peak DVC times either.

What are the peak DVC times?

Thanks
RayJay

 

[FreeTime]

From my experience peak DVC times vary by resort.

All resorts for Thanksgiving-January 2
BWV, BCV-During Food & Wine Festival
Around holidays
June & July, early August (although this is much easier to get into then Holiday time)
HH-I have never been able to successfully get into. Usually try between 7 and 4 months out. Example nothing was available for studio or 1br for any week from mid June to mid July this year, the last time I called.
Anyone else?

 

[melanie18]

We owned at VWL since 2001, go to WDW 2 or 3 times a year and have yet to stay at VWL!

 

[DrBond007]

You obviously haven't stayed at the Beach Club .

Agreed.

I agreed with everyone that has replied so far!....

Great you agree with the above too.

So, one strategy is to pick the resort that you think might have the hardest reservations to obtain at a busy time as your home resort... perhaps one where you could obtain a GV or Beach Cottage if needed, or something like that. Seems like there is more availability at OKW and probably at SSR. A smaller resort will be harder to get a peak times, and a home resort 11 month advantage is really needed to get a GV. Just a thought.