Buying for July to mid Aug

travelgal1985

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Messages
7
Ok I know this must be the age old question but I am trying to see if buying in March for AKV would be a good deal. We are looking for about 200-220 points to use only in the summers due to working in a school. Im afraid if we buy at SSR that we will be stuck every year at that home resort. We love VWL and that is where we usually stay when we go. To buy at VWL the cost of the MF are higher.
We are thinking of AKV since our eldest just got married and we are sure grandbabies will come eventually. We only need a place to sleep 5 for now as our younger son is still in college.
Any thoughts or help adivice.
Also, should we buy now or wait till next winter because we keep hearing that winter is good time to buy resale?
Any thoughts or help adivice:chat:
 
I would buy now. Prices just keep rising with the sale of VGF and PBV. One thing to remember is that AKV MF have been going up a good bit each year (speculation is that they will be super high at some point due to the animal care) and they are currently already higher than VWL.
Actually, AKV is highest of all WDW DVC resorts.

2015 Maintenance Fees & Taxes PER POINT

2015 % Increase 2014
Animal Kingdom Villas $6.2989 +5.42% $5.9748
Aulani Hawaii (Pre July 27, 2011) $4.8940 +.011% $4.8380
Aulani Hawaii (Post July 27, 2011) $6.5100 +1.12% $6.4378
Bay Lake Tower $5.0504 +5.56% $4.7846
Beach Club Villas $5.9748 +3.18% $5.7904
Boardwalk Villas $6.0735 +1.11% $6.0067
Grand Californian $5.1483 +4.29% $4.9366
Grand Floridian $5.5216 +1.99% $5.4140
Hilton Head $6.5190 +3.74% $6.2837
Old Key West $5.8370 +5.34% $5.5411
Saratoga Springs $5.1749 +5.29% $4.9148
Vero Beach $8.0600 +3.96% $7.7531
Wilderness Lodge $6.0251 +1.66% $5.9265
 
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OP, are you looking at resale? Direct costs are so high. You can get VWL or AKV via resale at about 1/2 the cost of direct. Nevermind, I reread and see you are looking at resale.
 
OP, are you looking at resale? Direct costs are so high. You can get VWL or AKV via resale at about 1/2 the cost of direct.
Resale. The extras you get purchasing with Disney we will not use, like the cruises, the points are out range to use.
 

I own at pretty expensive resorts as far as MF goes and it really isn't that much of a difference. We have 100 AKV, 200 OKW, 80 BWV and 125 HHI points. I wish I could dump the OKW and add more BWV as well as some VWL points. And I recommend that you buy 'where you wouldn't mind staying' if you were stuck at your home resort. We started off with OKW with intentions of staying elsewhere (SSR was selling new and we wanted the most points for our money via resale) and we have used those points to try out every east coast DVC (except VGF and PVB...yet). Then, we realized where we prefer to stay and we added on. We have been able to use the OKW points all over but we cannot always get our top choices...especially at certain times of the year (we like F&W time and we like to walk to Epcot). SSR is a great deal but my SIL owns there (and AKV) and has stayed at SSR most of the time (she was a teacher and their trips were/are always summer and sometimes Xmas week).
 
For Summer months then buy the month we want or can we buy another month and still get into our home resort
 
WHEN you buy has no bearing on WHEN you will take a vacation. If you are buying resale, then you have your pick of Use Years. If you plan on always vacationing in the summer, then I recommend you look for a contract with an April or June UY.
 
/
Take your time to read through the DVC posts here on the DIS. Understanding what you are going to buy will insure your happiness. Your UY has nothing to do with availability or when you can book.

If you want to guarantee your resort and booking dates then you should buy where you love to stay.

:earsboy: Bill
 
For Summer months then buy the month we want or can we buy another month and still get into our home resort

you should look for a UY just prior to when you typically travel. so for summer trips, a june UY is probably ideal.

you never want to travel late in your UY if you can help it. so for a June UY, you'd never want to travel in march/april/may as it might put you in a bind if you had to cancel.

as others have said, UY has nothing to do with when you can book or travel. it mostly becomes an issue if you have to cancel a stay.
 
Thank you all for your help :) I just wanted to see if I did summer months and wanted to stay somewheres else besides my home resort what month I should buy since it would be a 7mth instead of the 11mth. Our happiness at any resorts is fine just to be in Disney makes it :) but wanted to see also if avaiblity for other resorts at 7mths for summer if you find availibilty.
We have been doing alot of research the past few weeks on MF room types and now we are up to Month to buy into.
 
Thank you all for your help :) I just wanted to see if I did summer months and wanted to stay somewheres else besides my home resort what month I should buy since it would be a 7mth instead of the 11mth. Our happiness at any resorts is fine just to be in Disney makes it :) but wanted to see also if avaiblity for other resorts at 7mths for summer if you find availibilty.
We have been doing alot of research the past few weeks on MF room types and now we are up to Month to buy into.

Most of us are just happy to be at Disney but with time you start to see backstage and you start to grow tired of the same park rides and the lines and crowds.

That's when the resort importance really kicks in since you are now at a resort with park access instead of at a park with somewhere to sleep.

:earsboy: Bill
 
Thank you all for your help :) I just wanted to see if I did summer months and wanted to stay somewheres else besides my home resort what month I should buy since it would be a 7mth instead of the 11mth. Our happiness at any resorts is fine just to be in Disney makes it :) but wanted to see also if avaiblity for other resorts at 7mths for summer if you find availibilty.
We have been doing alot of research the past few weeks on MF room types and now we are up to Month to buy into.

Your Use Year has no bearing on the 7 month or 11 month booking window. You could have an August UY and still book 7 months out on a June vacation at a resort you don't own. The UY only indicates when your points are deposited for the "year."
 
I would start looking as soon as you are ready to buy. The prices have gone up a fair bit in the last year. When I looked last summer most AKL contracts were about 75-79$ for about 200 pts. This year I see so many in the 80-85.

As for what UY to buy, you are always better off buying a contract starting around the time you want to travel Like August travel, June and August UY are the best IMO. I've rented points a few times in the past with very little notice and was always able to get a studio at AKL within a month of check in for a trip in Jan, Feb and end of August. It seems like it's pretty open all the time. We are purchasing a SSR as we wouldn't mind staying there but our ultimate goal is to stay at AKL most trips but save a fair bit on MF ;)
 
travelgal1985 - Read the first post in the following thread before you pull the trigger:

Understanding Use Year

It will help you better understand why competing for a reservation has nothing to do with your use year. 7 months before arrival, it doesn't matter which resort you own or which use year is associated with your contract.
 
Ok I know this must be the age old question but I am trying to see if buying in March for AKV would be a good deal. We are looking for about 200-220 points to use only in the summers due to working in a school. Im afraid if we buy at SSR that we will be stuck every year at that home resort. We love VWL and that is where we usually stay when we go. To buy at VWL the cost of the MF are higher.
We are thinking of AKV since our eldest just got married and we are sure grandbabies will come eventually. We only need a place to sleep 5 for now as our younger son is still in college.
Any thoughts or help adivice.
Also, should we buy now or wait till next winter because we keep hearing that winter is good time to buy resale?
Any thoughts or help adivice:chat:
Unless you are going to concentrate on AKV value rooms or want to use the concierge option routinely, it really doesn't make sense to buy there IMO just to get into the system. You're simply paying more for no real benefits. It really doesn't give any options otherwise you can't routinely reserve with non AKV points. Plus I feel the MF there are a time bomb that might go off in the future. For this situation though UY is a far more important discussion than home resort. June is likely best as you've described it.
 
If in fact you will be going during summer all the time, then be aware of the following at WDW: Summer is a low to moderate DVC demand time and much is available at 7 months out. For near park resorts, VWL, BLT lake view, and BWV pool/garden view are invariably open during that time at 7 months out, including during the July 4 holiday time. Even BLT theme park view and BCV are usually open except potentially for the holiday time and special weekends like Star Wars weekends. AKV standard and savanna view, OKW and SSR are also invariably open. Also VGF 1BRs and 2BRs should be open. (Poly has no history to determine the issue but I am guessing its studios will be open 7 months out during the summer.)

What are far less likely to be open at 7 months out are AKV value and club level, BWV boardwalk and standard view, BLT standard view and VGF studios. If you want any of those regularly, you need to own at the resort to get the 11 month booking window. Moreover, if you have any plans of regularly going any time between late Sep and marathon weekend in Jan (DVCs high to extremely high demand season at WDW) and want anything regularly at a near park resort, you better own at that resort.

Note that patterns could change in the future particularly if Disney does something to make them change, like create some all new, lenghty very popular special event in the summer, or do a point shift that raises the points needed in the Fall months and lowers them in summer. Point increases and decreases for any time periods or rooms are allowed as long as total points applicable to the resort do not change, i.e., any increase for a time period or rooms needs to be offset by an equal decrease for other times or rooms. Nevertheless, summer has been a low to moderate DVC demand time for many years.

The choice of use year does not determine when you can go (which is any time of year) or when you can reserve (always 11 months out at home resort and 7 at others). However, there are better use years than others depending on when you do go. If summer, June to Aug, will be your usual time, then ideal use years are June, followed by April (there is no May use year), followed by March. It has nothing to do with when you can go but use year determines by when you must bank points into the next year if you are not going to use them during the current use year. You can bank up to all of your points on or before the end of your eighth month of your use year. Thus, it is not considered good to have a use year that ends soon after you usually go because if you have to cancel, like a couple months out, you could be beyond your banking deadline and thus lose the use of your points because you are unable to go before the end of the use year. Thus, a use year that begins shortly before you usually go is considered ideal, because if you have to cancel you will still have a long time to bank them or even use them in same use year.

If choosing among purchasing at VWL, AKV or SSR, then one factor you should consider that has not already been mentioned is end date. DVC at VWL ends January 2042, SSR 2054, and AKV 2057. When that time comes, unless Disney has offered to sell you an extension, your ownership at the resort and all DVC rights will be over completely.

Also there is a comment above that AKV is likely to have large future dues increases because of animal care. AKV has higher dues than many others and there is an animal care charge. However, increases it has seen in the last several years have not been due to animal care but mainly due to other categories of dues that other resorts have. One area where it has increased more is actually property taxes. All the DVC resorts are in Orange County. However, part of AKV is also in Osceola County, which has higher tax rates than Orange and for this year had a rather significant increase. In other words, it is not the giraffes that are causing seemingly significant increases but instead the hyenas voted into office.
 
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