Can't decide!!!!

[podsnel]

Hi! I am brand new to this forum, thinking about purchasing DVC. We love to stay at the beach club, and we go with our 3 children every 2 years. Went on the tour 2 days ago of SSR, and love the idea of purchasing future Disney vacations at 2007 prices. But, of course, I have some questions! Is it next to impossible to stay at BCV if you own at SSR during the 1st or 2nd week of November? I would be brokenhearted to learn I could never really go there again! When you exchange the points for other timeshares around the world, is it a huge hassle, or fairly doable? Are most people successful doing this, or does it just not work out? I think a big part of why we are considering this is that we have an autistic son, and Disney treats him better than anyone else possibly could, so we know we'll always be going there and patronizing all Disney vacation oportunities. As our kids get older, or even now, we can see going without them, too, for golf, etc., and staying at different resorts around WDW, but we will always be going in Nov. for F&W and wonder if we should do a resale instead- We also want to do a Disney Adventure and a cruise, but from what I'm reading it looks like the points would be better used in other ways, as in specifically only for staying at DVC.

Thanks for any advice and info!

 

[tony webb]

why dont you look into the resale market for BCV

 

[Pakey]

I was in the same situation and you will see from my signature that I now own at both. I had no success at getting a BCV room at the 7 month window when I was allowed to call and use my SSR points at a different resort. Because we live in middle California, our airfare is just as difficult and I cannot wait on the waitlists until last minute like some people can. So every time I waitlisted for BCV, the request never came through by the time I needed to find airfare. So now I own at two resorts but don't really need the SSR points as DH and I pretty much only go to Epcot anyway.

So if your heart is set on staying at BCV, then you should look into buying BCV points. You can buy those through DVC (they are "pushing" SSR and AKL right now but they do have the ability to sell BCV points if they have them available. Or you can do like we did and buy resale--I'm closing on my second BCV addon right now.

I would not buy at a resort where you do not want to stay. It just doesn't make sense. We are fine with our SSR points as our adult children use them but if I didn't have them to use the points, I would be distraught over my purchase as I much prefer staying close to Epcot.

 

[mikesmom]

I would not buy at SSR if I always wanted to stay at BCV in early November. That reservation would be VERY difficult to get (if not impossible) as BCV is quite small and that week is very popular, particularly for the walk in/walk out to the Food & Wine.

I would check resale, or ask a guide at DVC. They can sell you BCV points as long as you want at least the minimum of 160. They will push to sell you SSR or AKL, but can sell you BCV if they have any points available. I have done resale in the past, and was very happy with the experience, but I don't think you will save much money going that route as BCV points seem to command a high premium.

 

[disneynutz]

The best advice that you will read over and over is...

Buy where you want to stay!

My advice, rent points and stay where you want to buy, first.

There are many members who bought at a resort because they thought that they would like it and now have decided that it was a bad and expensive decision.

 

[Mtnman44]

Don't torture yourself - Buy a BCV resale and be happy!

 

[podsnel]

Thanks for all the great advice- I had kind of come to the conclusion we needed to do resale on BCV, but wanted to make sure I wasn't misjudging the situation of getting into BCV in November. I called my guide and left a message, if DVC doesn't have anything, I guess I will look at TTC. We are in no rush, having just gotten back from WDW, and plan on visiting again in 2 years- although I'd be THRILLED to go back sooner ! We live in NJ, and that is yet another reason we need to be able to book 11 months out- although there are tons of Orlando flights, the direct ones sell out very quickly in Nov due to our teachers convention. I just know we love the Beach Club because we have stayed there 5 times, and although I will LOVE checking into the other resorts, I want the security of coming back to our favorite when we want to.

I do have another ?- I am still a bit confused about the best month to buy in- if we like to go in November, does that mean (ideally) we should be looking for a Nov or Dec contract? Or later? Thank-you for all the help!

Also, has anyone had big problems in visiting other timeshares with the points? The guide says Disney usually gets picked up quickly, but what do you guys say?

 

[robinb]

I do have another ?- I am still a bit confused about the best month to buy in- if we like to go in November, does that mean (ideally) we should be looking for a Nov or Dec contract? Or later?

Use year is actually very important due to banking deadlines. You can bank 100% of your points in the first 8 months of your use year and 0% in the last 4 months. Any points that you have left in the last 4 months in your use year need to be used or they will go away .

You don't want a Use Year closely after the time you usually travel. That's because you will want to have the ability to bank your points forward in case you need to cancel your trip at the last minute for some reason. So, a December Use Year would be the worst for you wouldn't have any time at all to use the points and it would be too late to bank them into the next use year. There is also no November use year, so that's out too.

I would recommend the following use years:
June - 100% banking through January
August - 100% banking through March
September - 100% banking through April
October - 100% banking through May

We always travel over New Year's Eve and our use year is September. That works perfect for us! Our friends also always travel over NYE and their use year is February. They had to cancel their NYE reservation this year because of a death in the family and it's too late to bank and they don't have time to use the points before 1/31/08 .

 

[rogerram]

You should be able to buy BCV points directly from Disney. My guide has gotten 2 of my friends points there. One had to be on a waitlist for about 3 weeks, but they do come in. Just tell your guide it is BCV or none. If he says he can't help you then I'll send you to my guide. He will do what you want. A few past stories of some guides saying there is none to be had are only telling you something to get you to buy the current resorts.

 

[podsnel]

Thanks again for all this valuable input! The comments on UY were EXTREMELY helpful, now I understand! I am waiting to hear back from my guide (who is out until tomorrow, after telling us we needed to get back to him by today,lol), and we are definately purchasing- but this morning, after speaking with a friend (who has had dvc for many years) last night, we are now actually thinking about AKL- because she said they have never had an issue getting BCV at exactly the time we go. She said they just always book out at exactly 7 mos. before. So, once again, I'm confused ! I know I am torturing myself, but it is a big decision, and I want to make the right one. DH is leaving the choice of resort up to me- no pressure!!

 

[robinb]

I would stick with BCV because of the timing of when you want to travel. The Food and Wine festival is very, very popular and you will know far enough in advance to use the 11 month window. Don't get me wrong! I LOVE Animal Kingdom Lodge and we are very happy we bought into there, but we also own at Boardwalk Villas so we can have the 11-month window for New Year's Eve.

 

[kimberh]

AKV's is a very exciting resort, but if your heart is set on Beach Club, then I would buy there and I did. I had a terrible time getting a reservation at the 7 month window, so I bought there. How often has your friend booked a reservation at the 7 month window, what time of year, what size room? Beach Club is the second smallest DVC, with VWL being the smallest. Good luck with your decision.

 

[podsnel]

All very good points. Our friend books a 1 bedroom or studio, but it IS during the same week we travel(early Nov). There are 5 in our family. That puts us in another group- really, on this last trip, we looked at my DS13 in the daybed at BC and said "THAT won't work much longer!". So that reduces our chances at BCV even further, I suppose.
Had a LONG talk with DH about this last night- we realized we would get a lot more for our points at AKL because of the 5 in a 1 bedroom there. We also realized that DS13 would LOVE the animals out the window. And we thought, we have stayed at BC at least 5x, maybe it's time for a change- the kids barely went down the waterslide this time, because they'd done it so many times before. Of course, the 160 dev pts don't hurt, either. And we can always buy into BCV later, if we HAVE to go back there- right?
Of course, I'm sure I'll want to buy in at VWL in an hour