Buying DVC as a Florida resident?

[Adg0428]

Hello!

I’m currently in the stage of trying to figure out if DVC is right for us. We are Florida residents and our daughter is 1.5. We have been renting points for our stays and doing 2 night stays.

Ideally we would plan for 2 or 3x a year for 2-3 nights each stay. Studios are fine for now but maybe a 1 bedroom in the future. I’m only considering Poly or BLT.

Any advice you guys can give me?
Thank you!

 

[RoseGold]

So you want to stay 2-3 nights a year? I'm not sure I would buy in for this level of WDW travel, unless you really are committed for a decade. This is buying property and a lot of commitment for a small amount of travel.

Closing costs are high and small contracts tend to cost more per point. I have tough time making a mathematical argument for buying BC over renting anyway. Nothing wrong with a couple nights in the Swolphin or renting points.

DVC math will never work if you would be fine with staying at the cheaper hotels, like AoA.

 

[wnielsen1]

I read it as 2 or 3 night stays either 2x or 3x per year. That can work if you plan your stays in advance. DVC doesn't work well for those that decide on Monday that they want to visit for the upcoming weekend.

 

[Adg0428]

I read it as 2 or 3 night stays either 2x or 3x per year. That can work if you plan your stays in advance. DVC doesn't work well for those that decide on Monday that they want to visit for the upcoming weekend.

Yes, this is how I meant it. Sorry it wasn’t very clear.

 

[Adg0428]

So you want to stay 2-3 nights a year? I'm not sure I would buy in for this level of WDW travel, unless you really are committed for a decade. This is buying property and a lot of commitment for a small amount of travel.

Closing costs are high and small contracts tend to cost more per point. I have tough time making a mathematical argument for buying BC over renting anyway. Nothing wrong with a couple nights in the Swolphin or renting points.

DVC math will never work if you would be fine with staying at the cheaper hotels, like AoA.

Sorry, I meant it as 2-3 nights 2 or 3 times per year. So around 6-9 nights a year

 

[FSUSammy]

We are Florida residents and go 2-3x a year for roughly 3 nights. We just added on to get BLT too. We have an almost 3 year old and almost 14 year old and now will have 420 points which will allow us to travel with extended family as well as getting at least 1 bedrooms instead of just studios.

 

[Adg0428]

What is your other resort? You’ve found it worth it? What have you found was a good number of points for studios?

 

[FSUSammy]

What is your other resort? You’ve found it worth it? What have you found was a good number of points for studios?

Our first was at AKV with 200 points. We found that was a good number of points but we really enjoy traveling with extended family which means we needed more points so we just got 220 more at BLT. 200 points for studios alone is a great number. It allowed us to have extra to bank into the next year so that every once in awhile we could splurge on a trip and maybe stay somewhere we'd usually never get a chance to stay at or splurge on a better room or even view.

 

[cellomom]

Florida resident here, we travel to WDW about 3 times a year. Started off in studios but now at least 1 sometimes 2 trips a year are with a multi generational group (6mos to 65yrs) in a 2br. BLT is a great resort, easy walk to MK, short walk to bus stop, monorail, etc… BLT 1brs have 2 bathrooms
Poly is one of our home resorts, great studios, but no 1brs. Our favorite when we want a studio.
If I was buying for the 1st time, I would tell myself to purchase enough points to book 1brs. Studios go fast at most resorts.
For us, it is worth it, easy getaway. We are 3 1/2-4 hours away from WDW

 

[FSUSammy]

So how we figured out how many points we'd need at a minimum for BLT we figured out when we'd want to travel and looked at the points chart and figured out how many points the room we'd want would cost us. I think originally we were thinking 100 points would have been enough but then quickly realized we needed at least 200

 

[Adg0428]

Florida resident here, we travel to WDW about 3 times a year. Started off in studios but now at least 1 sometimes 2 trips a year are with a multi generational group (6mos to 65yrs) in a 2br. BLT is a great resort, easy walk to MK, short walk to bus stop, monorail, etc… BLT 1brs have 2 bathrooms
Poly is one of our home resorts, great studios, but no 1brs. Our favorite when we want a studio.
If I was buying for the 1st time, I would tell myself to purchase enough points to book 1brs. Studios go fast at most resorts.
For us, it is worth it, easy getaway. We are 3 1/2-4 hours away from WDW

Thank you for the advice! So you’d probably recommend BLT as a home resort over Poly?

 

[Adg0428]

So how we figured out how many points we'd need at a minimum for BLT we figured out when we'd want to travel and looked at the points chart and figured out how many points the room we'd want would cost us. I think originally we were thinking 100 points would have been enough but then quickly realized we needed at least 200

Thank you! I was thinking 150 pts but I’ll have to redo the math. Do you recommend resale?

 

[FSUSammy]

Thank you! I was thinking 150 pts but I’ll have to redo the math. Do you recommend resale?

I do as long as you are ok with the restrictions. My AKV was bought in 2016 via resale so I'm a grandfathered blue card. You can save a lot via resale but I'll warn you its a HUGE headache because the process is long. lol

 

[Adg0428]

The savings of $10k+ is very tempting

 

[FSUSammy]

The savings of $10k+ is very tempting

And that's why you see most of us deal with the very very very long wait to close lol

 

[cellomom]

Thank you for the advice! So you’d probably recommend BLT as a home resort over Poly?

Have all your previous stays been in a studio? Have you stayed in a 1br? Stayed at the Poly or BLT?
Poly vs BLT: IMHO Poly studios ( 447sq ft) are superior, BLT studios are small (339sq ft) but BLT gives you options for 1 & 2 brs.
1 & 2brs have a full kitchen, washer & dryer. Poly has a free DVC laundry room in Moorea.
Since both are on the monorail, both provide easy transportation to other monorail resorts, MK & Epcot.
Poly DVC rooms are being refurbished, installing Murphy beds but one day it will be BLT’s turn.

Both are great resorts, but if you see yourself needing 1brs, then BLT over Poly.

Are you aware that the GF will be adding 200 new studios sometime next year? Just throwing that out there since you are interested in the monorail resorts.

Take your time and do your research.

 

[Adg0428]

Yes, always a studio. Only AKL so far. Also stayed at the dolphin. Booked for Poly in Jan. I don’t see us needing a 1br, but never say never.
No I wasn’t aware. I originally liked Besch club, but as someone pointed out the dolphin would work and be much cheaper. We actually really liked the dolphin. Much better than AKL

 

[cellomom]

Yes, always a studio. Only AKL so far. Also stayed at the dolphin. Booked for Poly in Jan. I don’t see us needing a 1br, but never say never.
No I wasn’t aware. I originally liked Besch club, but as someone pointed out the dolphin would work and be much cheaper. We actually really liked the dolphin. Much better than AKL

Again this is just my opinion, between now and your Jan. trip continue to do your research. Then, during your stay at the Poly, take a tour of BLT DVC rooms so you can compare.
If you can be happy in a studio, pick Poly🏝
note: when at BLT we all travel to Poly for Capt Cooks and dole whip

 

[kanerf]

The problem right now is the prices on BLT resales. They are pushing over $200 a point for small contracts. You can do better with 100 points or more. For $201 a point you can buy Rivera direct.

 

[princesscinderella]

We are Fl residents and go to Disney every month to 6 weeks. It’s our happy place and DVC is one of the best purchases we have made. We have just added a ton of points because we have found that 2 bedrooms is much more comfortable for our family of 5 with teens/pre teens. I wouldn’t buy POLY just because of the lack of one & two bedrooms. We actually own at all the WDW resorts except (Poly, BCV & CCV/BRV) we use thr 11 month window depending on the time of year what resort we want to stay in. So you could get one Poly 100 points for weekend trip A in the spring, and BLT 150 points for trips B & C to give you the option to stay in a one bedroom sometimes.