Buying next week, have a few queastions

[tikifanatic]

Okay, after years if considering, we are finally going to buy DVC at SSR sometime next week. I have a couple of questions for DVC vets.

First, has anyone exchanged for a Disney Cruise? Was it easy? How many points did you have to spend?

Second, how hard is it to get home resort at 11 months? We will be regualrly visiting the end of September/beginning of October.

Third, who has stayed in a studio at SSR? Is it worth saving the points if only 2 people are going?

Thanks

 

[bmalonef45]

First off congrats! We are getting close to our first anniv. as DVC members and I for one have absolutely no regrets.

We will be cruising on points in a little over a month. It was a breeze, almost to easy. Now as long as the cruise goes well it will be perfect. MS take care of everything. We are staying in a Cat 8 on Deck 7. There are 4 of us and we spent 388 points. Using the extra year of points is probably the only reason we did this. I think in the future I will try to rent my points and pay cash as it seems to be a better value. But who knows.

I don't think you should have any problem staying anywhere at the DVC resorts as long as you are a little flexible. But we have only booked 3 trips. 1st trip was for OKW last June. Booked 7mo and had no problem. Next we are staying one night at BCV before the cruise and that was easy. It was only one night though. Finally we booked at OKW again for another trip in Jan and had no problem. Every time they had our dates and I called right at the first allowable time. I do suggest that, and remember unless you want to call for each day of the trip you need to start 11 or 7 mo from the last day to reserve. That way all days are within the time window.

We stayed in a 1bdrm. at OKW... they are huge btw. We will be staying in Studio's on our next trips. One is because its only for one night and the Jan trip is just for me and my wife.

I hope this helps and again congrats and welcome home.

 

[AnnaS]

Congratulations!

We have also cruised three times and will do so again next year - used a combination of points and cash each time.

The number of points of course depends on the which cruise you are on (Wonder/Magic), season, category, etc.

Good luck and welcome.

 

[tomandrobin]

Okay, after years if considering, we are finally going to buy DVC at SSR sometime next week. I have a couple of questions for DVC vets.

First, has anyone exchanged for a Disney Cruise? Was it easy? How many points did you have to spend?

Second, how hard is it to get home resort at 11 months? We will be regualrly visiting the end of September/beginning of October.

Third, who has stayed in a studio at SSR? Is it worth saving the points if only 2 people are going?

Thanks

Welcome Home!

Have not been on the cruise, no help here.

11 months out will only be a problem at peak times of the year, and only at the small DVC resorts.

We have stayed in a Studio on two occasions. Both were short trips, 4days each. We had no problem with staying in a studio. Its like staying in a hotel room, but nicer then average hotel room. We do not cook on vacation, so not having a full kitchen is no big deal. We think the point savings are worth staying in a Studio. When we take the kids we use a two bedroom, so every point counts.

 

[the who #3]

i recently went on the adventures by disney viva italia trip for which i paid because i did not have enough pts. i have now purchased another contract so that i would have enough pts. for such trips. now that said, i have just read on another thread, that you can not combine the pts on contracts unless they are for the same resort, and same use year, to be used in other resorts. it would seem as tho the same rule would apply to cruises and adventures by disney. i was someday hoping for the european cruise and another adventures by disney trip. cruise ships and adventures are not reallly resorts, so i am really confused.

i don't know if this information is true or not. but i certainly hope not. maybe a little will help.

 

[DVC Grammy]

I can only answer the last 2 questions (we're not "cruise" people).
In over 8 years, we have never had a problem booking our home resorts at 11 months, but, we travel off-season (non-school holiday times).
Now that all our kids are grown, we only stay in studios. We find them just fine for the two of us, and the less points we use allows for so many more days to vacation at WDW per year!

 

[casper]

I just booked a 2 bedroom at SS on Oct 2nd for a stay for six nights in July. I had no problems whatsoever getting the room. But I didn't ask for a specific view or location in the resort. From what I have been reading, the more flexible you are about such things, the easier it is to book rooms. Also, the bigger resorts are easier to book at the 7 month window than the popular smaller resorts (makes since to me).

Have fun making your purchase.

 

[SFLTIGGER]

Okay, after years if considering, we are finally going to buy DVC at SSR sometime next week. ....

Second, how hard is it to get home resort at 11 months? We will be regualrly visiting the end of September/beginning of October.

Third, who has stayed in a studio at SSR? Is it worth saving the points if only 2 people are going?

Thanks

Welcome Home and congratulations!

We just purchased at SSR the end of May. We booked 8 nights 1BR villa @ VWL in June for the end of August (3 months out) and the only thing that was not avail. was BCV.

Just booked weekend trip to Vero Beach OV INN room for next weekend on 3 weeks notice.

Maybe we are just lucky but I think the only time you will have a real problem is during peak seasons or maybe at BCV or BWV during F&W festival.

On the studio question, it depends if you want the space, want to cook, etc.

Also, don't be affraid to make special requests. If it is just a request, they can't guarantee it anyway, so it won't affect you ressie! Also, do homework and request where you want your room to be and ask for it when you check-in.

 

[Plutofan]

I would recommend that you just buy enough points for trips to WDW and not cruises. We are going on a Disney cruise in 2007. When I compred points to cash the point value was just $7 per point and the cancellation policy is not very good. We went with a travel agent that offers a cash rebate after we complete the cruise. If you cancel with cash you get a full refund up to I believe 45 days (you should check with MS). On points once you make the reservation if you cancel those points are now restricted. If you buy travel insurance I believe that you only get $5 per point. Also I believe there is a $95 booking fee on points. Good luck.

 

[Caskbill]

i recently went on the adventures by disney viva italia trip for which i paid because i did not have enough pts. i have now purchased another contract so that i would have enough pts. for such trips. now that said, i have just read on another thread, that you can not combine the pts on contracts unless they are for the same resort, and same use year, to be used in other resorts. it would seem as tho the same rule would apply to cruises and adventures by disney. i was someday hoping for the european cruise and another adventures by disney trip. cruise ships and adventures are not reallly resorts, so i am really confused.

i don't know if this information is true or not. but i certainly hope not. maybe a little will help.

Points for all DVC Add-on contracts may be combined to book any of the other collections. They also may be combined for booking non-home resorts at the 7-month window.

Keep in mind these are Add-On contracts. Add-on contracts will all have the same use year month, but can be, and usually are, different resorts. All Add-On contracts are under the same membership number.

If contracts are not Add-On contracts, meaning they have different use year months, which can happen when buying resale, then points may not be combined. In this case, there will also be separate membership numbers that apply to each contract.

This is one reason when buying resale to get the same use year month already owned, and make sure the broker has Disney treat it as an add-on and not as a totally new master contract.

 

[CarolMN]

If you want to take a look at the point requirement charts for the DCL 2007 cruises, you'll find links to the charts in this thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1089437

Best wishes -