changing home resort

[huey duey & luey]

I have seen alot of posts advicing buying into thre resort in which you want to stay. WHen I bought BWV was available, but if I had my choice I would have bought BCV. I eventually would like to add on but am not able right now. Is it worth selling my BWV and buying BCV? Im afraid in the future the 7 month window is going to get really tough. Thanks for any advie
Tara

 

[Granny]

Tara...I am one who firmly believes you should buy where you want to stay the most. For you, that sounds like BCV, so it's not unreasonable to wonder if you should sell your BWV and buy BCV.

If you do so, you will have to come up with additional money. Right now, you can sell your BWV for probably what you paid for it, even after sales commision. But BCV will cost quite a bit more per point than you can sell your BWV for. So you might have to come up with $10-20 a point to purchase BCV after all is said and done.

There are still 39 years left in your contract. You can keep BWV and hope that you continue to have good luck with BCV at the 7 month window. Some of that depends on what time of year you like to vacation...is it during a busy DVC time?

Is the BCV attraction mainly due to SAB? It seems to me that other than that, you still have easy access to BCV if you stay at BWV.


Personally, I wouldn't sell one membership to purchase another because it would be hard for me to justify spending more money on the same number of points that I already own.

But then again, I purchased where I know we'll be happy for many years to come.

Good luck!

 

[huey duey & luey]

SAB is definately one main attraction especially with younger children. The other is the transportation issues I keep reading about. we are going in a year and Im wondering how im going to keep 3 two year olds occupied whie waiting for a MK bus, and if it is crowded. BCV doesnt seem to have this problem because of the order of pick up. My hope is really to add on within in the next feww years if possible. So I should probably at least wait until then. Thanks for you help
Tara

 

[crisi]

Regarding the buses, a lot could change in the next 30 odd years. They could just turn the route around, leaving the Swan Dolphin guests last (probably the easiest thing for Disney to do to keep "their" guests happy while meeting their obligation to Swan/Dolphin guests). They could split the routes. You could decide you'd rather drive. For the amount of money it will take to sell and rebuy in commission, you could take a whole lot of cabs from BWVs.

SAB is an attraction with children, but we discovered that while our kids are really little - its a great pool - we are right there with them. Don't know how anyone keeps track of a seven year old there. In fact, we had pool chairs there next to someone who had "lost" her approximately seven year old for an hour - which is why I started thinking SAB may not be the draw I thought it was going to be for us. Eventually, they get to the age where they can swim alone and are responsible enough to meet up with you at a certain time - but once I leave the age where I need to be in the water with them, I'm going to want to be able to sit in a pool chair and keep an eye on them - for at least a few years.

 

[spiceycat]

I don't visit each park on every visit - don't need to - I know I will back.

on your next visit to WDW - try to get the VWL - especially if you really want to visit the MK. devote the whole trip to the MK - with your children who will love it.

then the trip after that stay in your home resort BWV and just see the Epcot and Studios...

this works for me anyway.....

do you have strollers? - if you do just walk over the D/S (where the buses first come) and get on there - it is a short walk from the BW to the D/S.

you only need to buy 60 points at the BCV to enjoy the pool - this will give you a studio during the off season - or a 1-bedroom every other year during the off season for 5 days. - the price tag is around $85 a month if you put 20% down - this is both the mortgage and the maintence fee.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

We sold our smaller BWV contract and purchased a larger BCV contract because we prefer BCV's and thought the smaller size of the BCV resort would make it harder to get in.

It's not something you have to decide right away, see how often you can get BCV reservations with your BWV points at the times when you need them.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We've wondered about this exact same thing-changing our home resort. The problem with "buy where you want to stay" can be that where you think you'll want to stay isn't the reality. We bought at VWL, thinking we'd love it. Then, our first visit home, I called MS, said "We're new DVC members-give us one night anyplace else," which ended up as OKW. Now we're in love with OKW (wish we owned there) and lukewarm about VWL.
Right now we have a loan on our purchase, but as soon as it's paid off, we're strongly considering selling our VWL points and buying OKW.

 

[princetonnj]

Will standing in line ever be good with 3 children?
You have not encountered any problems with reservations or bussing yet so why worry.

 

[disneyberry]

you could try to find another DVC member who owns BCV but wishes they owned BWV instead.
then you could do a property exchange.
it'd essentially be like selling and buying again (real estate transactions), and you'd have 2 sets of closing costs.
but maybe it might cost less to do it that way than to sell your BWV and buy BCV w/ cash.
just an idea... it's pretty difficult to do, especially since you'd have to find someone w/ approx the same # of points + (if it matters) the same Use Year.

btw, i've noticed this common thought among a few DISers. where people wish they could change home resorts.
i myself rushed into buying sight unseen at OKW (a decent contract came up w/ the right #points) instead of waiting to buy at my 1st choice BWV (stayed there before and loved it). then a few months later i regretted that and doubled our points by buying at BWV through Disney. a quick trip to OKW shortly after confirmed that regret. (i did not like OKW as much as i thought i would) now i am faced with the task of getting rid of my OKW. essentially i'm doing the sell one resort to buy at a different resort thing. it is a costly thing to do. a costly mistake to not buy where you want to stay the most.

if you really have your heart set on staying at BCV most of the time, then maybe it's worth the extra effort + cost to "change home resorts".
basically, if you find it unacceptable that there is a remote possibility there will be a time when it's impossible to book BCV at 7mos, and you'll be "stuck" at BWV every trip.... then make the change.
if you can deal with that possibility, then leave things alone. save your time + money for other things.

 

[Mickey527]

I bought at WLV because I absolutely love the WL and the whole atmosphere over there. If I need to relax I have found the WLV the quietest and most out of the way. The other resorts are very "busy" I will stay at WL again soon, probably for my birthday trip in May, but other resorts are sometimes what I need.
I have only stayed at WL twice in the 3 years I have owned. I have stayed at OKW 3 times(big family trips and the points are less) BCV 3 times (I love SAB), and BWV once(not worth the points they charged me for pool view, we were in a corner and had to hang off the balcony to see the pool).
I have never had a problem getting a room although I was on the wait list for BCV two of the 3 times and the wait list always came through.
It may get tougher as time goes on but from the sounds of SSV that resort will give BCV some tough competition.
I would try and buy into the resort you like, but once you are in DVC you will find that you like all the resorts for different reasons and might try all of them at least once.
Wish I could afford to buy some points at BCV, but right now I have to be happy with the 170 I own, at least until 2011 when my "mortgage" is paid off. Hopefully by then I will be living in FL and can use my points for some adventures. Peggie

 

[parrotheadlois]

I'm just curious, if we buy 150 points SSR from Disney as our home resort (don't have a choice, it's the only one available), and buy re-sale points for BCV that eventually add up to 150 points, could we "switch" our home resort? (BCV is our preferred resort, but it just seems much easier to buy direct from Disney.)

 

[Dean]

It's likely not worth the $500 to $1000 it would cost to change it over. You could always reserve BWV at 11 months then try and change over at 7 months. You should be able to do so most all the time. You could also do a wait list for the entire time if you wanted. Besides you get some advantages with BWV as well including the standard view options and t he guaranteed BW view as well as the GV option.

 

[dianeschlicht]

After reading all these posts, I have some "sage" advice for anyone who is buying at a resort other than the one they think they prefer. First of all, try staying at all of them even if just for a night to get a good feel for which home resort would be best for you. Then if it is BCV, BWV, VWL, or OKW, hit the resale market and get a good deal. If SSR is where you want to be most, buy direct from Disney. I would imagine SSR will be an easy ressie once all the buildings are built, because it will be large like OKW. I also think the smaller DVC resorts will be increasingly more difficult to procure at the 7 month window. KNOW WHERE YOU WANT TO STAY MOST BEFORE YOU BUY. Can't say that enough. We LOVE OKW, and yes, we had an oportunity to buy BWV, but decided we didn't like the rooms or the hotel atmosphere or the high points. To each his own, and that is what makes all the diverse DVC properties so great to chose from!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Originally posted by dianeschlicht
I have some "sage" advice for anyone who is buying at a resort other than the one they think they prefer. First of all, try staying at all of them even if just for a night to get a good feel for which home resort would be best for you. Then if it is BCV, BWV, VWL, or OKW, hit the resale market and get a good deal. If SSR is where you want to be most, buy direct from Disney. KNOW WHERE YOU WANT TO STAY MOST BEFORE YOU BUY. Can't say that enough. We LOVE OKW, and yes, we had an oportunity to buy BWV, but decided we didn't like the rooms or the hotel atmosphere or the high points. To each his own, and that is what makes all the diverse DVC properties so great to chose from!

Great advice! Now, where were you with that advice when we bought 1 1/2 years ago? Although I think if you'd said "resale", we would have gone "Huh? What's that?"
Actually, owning at other than OKW , fortunately, seems to be working out OK-we've never had problems booking there at 7 months, and I don't anticipate that we will (well, at least, not until all we DVCers who will retire in 15 years or so fight over long stays there as our second home)

 

[Deemarch]

If you really have a problem with waiting on lines for transportation you could rent a car. We did this last year, for the first time while at WDW and LOVE IT!!!! And when everyone got tired we went to the car and drove back to our hotel. It was convenient and fast. Should have done it years ago when the kids were small.

 

[RobDoc]

Originally posted by parrotheadlois
I'm just curious, if we buy 150 points SSR from Disney as our home resort (don't have a choice, it's the only one available), and buy re-sale points for BCV that eventually add up to 150 points, could we "switch" our home resort? (BCV is our preferred resort, but it just seems much easier to buy direct from Disney.)

Your "home resort" is any place where you own any points. There is no minimum number of points (except for the 25 point minimum add-on purchase) to make it your "home".

Only points owned at that resort may be used to make a reservation 11 months in advance. In the example used in your question, you will have 2 "home resorts" as soon as you add-on any points at another resort.

Enjoy!

 

[parrotheadlois]

Thanks! That's just what I was hoping to hear!!

 

[Sammie]

Definitely do not sell due to transportation issues. We have experienced the same bus problems at BCV.