Buying DVC

[wallygirl]

Hi! Considering buying DVC and trying to get all our answers in place. Can you buy two sets of points (ex. 60 at AKL and 100 at BCV) but combine the points to cover one visit? Also, do you then have 2 home resorts that you can book at the 11 month window?

Just wondering if we are better off with more than one home resort (so more options at 11 months) or if, for example, you could only use your 100 BCV points at BCV at 11 months and then would have to borrow your 100 future BCV points to book that trip.

Hope this makes sense! Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[DannysMom]

Not (yet) an owner but this I can answer. Only your BCV points would have the 11 month booking advange at BCV. Same for other resorts. Points from different home resorts can only be combined at the 7 month booking window.

 

[chalee94]

Can you buy two sets of points (ex. 60 at AKL and 100 at BCV) but combine the points to cover one visit?

at the 11 month window, pts cannot be combined from different home resorts. at the 11 month window, you have a 60 pt AKV contract and a separate 100 pt BCV contract. you cannot jump in front of BCV owners with your AKV pts or vice-versa. you need the right "currency": only AKV pts can book AKV at the 11 month window (and so on.)

at the 7 month window, it depends on whether your pts are under one member number.

if your contracts are under one member number (they have to be titled the same and have the same UY month whether you buy direct or resale), the 2 contracts will function as one at the 7 month window.

if you have 2 member numbers, you would have to book 4 nights with one contract and 3 nights with the other. you cannot pool pts from both contracts to book a single night. (also, there have been issues recently with MS linking the 2 reservations. not sure how that will pan out...)

 

[Deb & Bill]

Hi! Considering buying DVC and trying to get all our answers in place. Can you buy two sets of points (ex. 60 at AKL and 100 at BCV) but combine the points to cover one visit? Also, do you then have 2 home resorts that you can book at the 11 month window?

Just wondering if we are better off with more than one home resort (so more options at 11 months) or if, for example, you could only use your 100 BCV points at BCV at 11 months and then would have to borrow your 100 future BCV points to book that trip.

Hope this makes sense! Thanks in advance for your help!

You can't combine points at 11 months out as the other posters noted. But you can use banking and borrowing to get more points at 11 months. You could use the points at AKV one year and the points at BCV another year. So you would have 120 at AKV and 200 at BCV. Or up to three times your points with banking and borrowing all of them for a trip every three years.

 

[ToddyLu]

Smaller contracts are always easier to sell if you ever had the need. Some people get points to split up with their kids. i.e. 3 kids, 3-50 point contracts. You can do this by waiting on resale or getting the contract split this way from Disney at the get go. Some people will get BCV or BWV points to specifically use during F&W so they can book at 11 months. That is why it is difficult to get villas at those two resorts for that time of year. VWL is a difficult one to get at Christmas.

 

[ToddyLu]

So you could book both resorts at the 11 month mark--it would be a split stay trip.

There are some very good stickies at the top of the forum to read...picking Home resort, deciding on which UY, etc.

 

[wallygirl]

Thanks for all the great advice! Trying to decide what's the best scenario for us...would love to stay Club level at AKL and do BCV, so not sure what we'll end up doing.

 

[Dean]

Thanks for all the great advice! Trying to decide what's the best scenario for us...would love to stay Club level at AKL and do BCV, so not sure what we'll end up doing.

I'd suggest you decide what the lowest option you'd be happy with each time is and buy that. It is not worth buying something more expensive or complicating your life with 2 small packages just to try something once or twice. With effort and Wait list you should be able to try BCV and possibly even concierge at AKV though the latter is more risky.

 

[wallygirl]

I'd suggest you decide what the lowest option you'd be happy with each time is and buy that. It is not worth buying something more expensive or complicating your life with 2 small packages just to try something once or twice. With effort and Wait list you should be able to try BCV and possibly even concierge at AKV though the latter is more risky.

In your opinion, if AKL is your home resort is it still extremely difficult to get a club level studio at 11 months? Is Kidani that much better than Jambo House? Sounds most appealing to my husband and I right now in terms of added amenities, etc..., but we haven't stayed there before only at Poly. TIA!

 

[kristenrice]

In your opinion, if AKL is your home resort is it still extremely difficult to get a club level studio at 11 months? Is Kidani that much better than Jambo House? Sounds most appealing to my husband and I right now in terms of added amenities, etc..., but we haven't stayed there before only at Poly. TIA!

AKV is my home resort, but I have never tried for a concierge villa yet. There are a total of FIVE 2BR lock-offs. That means that there are a maximum of 5 studios available. If someone books a 2BR, that takes a 1BR and a studio out of the inventory. Depending on when you travel, I think that the concierge villas would be very difficult to get at anything less than 10 months. People have reported success with the 7-month window and using the waitlist, but it is not something I would plan on.

We like the value 1BR's at AKV and there are only 10 of those available, all part of 2BR lock-offs as well. That's why we chose to buy at AKV instead of OKW, which was also a favorite and had a lower price tag. We knew that we should have no problem booking a 1BR at OKW almost any time of year, but we would need the 11-month window for a value 1BR at AKV.

 

[Dean]

In your opinion, if AKL is your home resort is it still extremely difficult to get a club level studio at 11 months? Is Kidani that much better than Jambo House? Sounds most appealing to my husband and I right now in terms of added amenities, etc..., but we haven't stayed there before only at Poly. TIA!

I've only tried for concierge once and had no trouble getting it but I would expect it to be hit or miss at 11 months out on opening or even with walking a reservation. I think there is little chance of getting concierge at 7 mo out unless one is both lucky and traveling at a relatively lower time. Not that it's impossible, just unlikely. I think it's not a good idea to buy something just because it sounds neat though AKV is a great resort and not that much more than SSR right now. Only you can decide what you'd be comfortable with, you should stay at AKV (maybe on a rental) and try it out and make arrangements to visit the concierge area if you can. I get the impression you need to get more info before committing.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Concierge at AKV is nice for access to the lounge and to be able to book the Sunrise Safari. The views from the rooms aren't that great. The three savanna two bedroom lockoffs have a somewhat blocked view by the roof overhang. Plus at least on villa is handicap accessible. If you need that, great. If you dont', you might miss the bathtub.

The other two two bedroom lockoffs are pool view. And you can't request one view over another.

Plus you get daily full cleaning which I can live without and turn down service.

 

[Sandisw]

I definitely think that getting AKV concierge will be more difficult than BCV but from what I have read, most times, calling right at 11 months works very well.

We own two resorts so we can have the best of both worlds and stay at the two resorts we want.

You might want to consider that as well. The big piece is making sure you have enough in each to do what you want because, as mentioned, you can not combine, until the 7 month mark.

Some have bought and just alternate the resorts each year. For example, 100 AKV and 100 BCV and then do AKV one year with 200 points (using banking/borrowing) and then the next year at BCV using 200 points (using banking/borrowing).

Good luck!

 

[wallygirl]

I definitely think that getting AKV concierge will be more difficult than BCV but from what I have read, most times, calling right at 11 months works very well.

We own two resorts so we can have the best of both worlds and stay at the two resorts we want.

You might want to consider that as well. The big piece is making sure you have enough in each to do what you want because, as mentioned, you can not combine, until the 7 month mark.

Some have bought and just alternate the resorts each year. For example, 100 AKV and 100 BCV and then do AKV one year with 200 points (using banking/borrowing) and then the next year at BCV using 200 points (using banking/borrowing).

Seems like this might be the best scenario for us too! What happens to the extra points if the visit you've banked/borrowed for is less than 200 points. Thanks!

 

[CarolMN]

Seems like this might be the best scenario for us too! What happens to the extra points if the visit you've banked/borrowed for is less than 200 points. Thanks!

They stay in your account and expire at the end of the use year if you do not use them or bank them. Points cannot be banked more than one year ahead.

If you alternate, it is certainly possible to have "stranded" points f you are not careful. FWIW, I think the best way to use points from 2 resorts is to take 2 trips per year, LOL. Then you should always be able to bank the leftovers and use them on your next year's trip to that resort.

Maybe some of those who do this will chime in with how they use the "extra" points if they only go once per year. I suspect most who own at multiple places go more than once pr year.

 

[Deb & Bill]

They stay in your account and expire at the end of the use year if you do not use them or bank them. Points cannot be banked more than one year ahead.

If you alternate, it is certainly possible to have "stranded" points f you are not careful. FWIW, I think the best way to use points from 2 resorts is to take 2 trips per year, LOL. Then you should always be able to bank the leftovers and use them on your next year's trip to that resort.

Maybe some of those who do this will chime in with how they use the "extra" points if they only go once per year. I suspect most who own at multiple places go more than once pr year.

With our VWL contract, we've used that at seven months to combine with the OKW points. Especially if we are staying at OKW. One bedrooms are usually easy to get at 7 months out. We'll also transfer our small contract to our big contract.

But we don't usually go twice a year any more. Too costly.