confused owner to be

[3mouseketeer]

Just came back from WDW and went thru DVC prep. My family's track record has been to go to WDW 2x/year since my 6yo was born. I have been reading as much on the forums as possible but still confused. Common issues I have found are the following:

1) Choosing your home resort - for us it would be AKV.

2) Choosing UY - For now ideal times to visit (assuming we continue to visit twice a year one week each) would be Feb,April,late August, and perhaps early Oct -essentially, most of when my kids (6yo,3yo, baby to be) will be off from school in the next few years like everyone else.

3) Because of my preferred times of year to go, whether to get one large contract at AKV or two contract with AKV with staggered UY or separate contracts with AKV and SSR then upgrade later

I am looking at buying 250 points +/- 50 overall.

Thanks for your patience. Unfortunately, the more I read separate threads about different issues, the more I get confused.

 

[DVCLiz]

Just came back from WDW and went thru DVC prep. My family's track record has been to go to WDW 2x/year since my 6yo was born. I have been reading as much on the forums as possible but still confused. Common issues I have found are the following:

1) Choosing your home resort - for us it would be AKV.

2) Choosing UY - For now ideal times to visit (assuming we continue to visit twice a year one week each) would be Feb,April,late August, and perhaps early Oct -essentially, most of when my kids (6yo,3yo, baby to be) will be off from school in the next few years like everyone else.

3) Because of my preferred times of year to go, whether to get one large contract at AKV or two contract with AKV with staggered UY or separate contracts with AKV and SSR then upgrade later

I am looking at buying 250 points +/- 50 overall.

Thanks for your patience. Unfortunately, the more I read separate threads about different issues, the more I get confused.

Welcome to the DIS - and welcome home, almost!!!

AKV will be an awesome choice for your home resort. It's a wonderful experience, and of course you will be able to use the points at other DVC resorts as well, depending on availability at the 7 month mark.

February would be a great Use Year for you, because most of your trips would fall within the first six months, when you are still able to bank 100% of your points into the next year if you find you will not use them all in the current year. Your August and October trips would still fall within the third quarter - and you would be able to bank at least 50% of your unused points. You would also still have 3 months to "spend" those points if you didn't bank them - maybe on a Concierge Collection for a long weekend at a resort you might not otherwise have tried. That's always my contingency plan in case I have expiring points - it's never happened yet, though!!

Keep in my that Use Year matters ONLY as a point of reference as to when you get new points each year and when you have to use them or lose them, so to speak. It has nothing to do with when you can make a reservation. You can always make a reservation 11 months in advance at your home resort, as long as the points will be in your account by the time of your actual stay. And the issue of banking points is pretty simple - you'll usually know pretty quickly how your points will be used in any given year, and most people don't have all that many cancellations or changes of plans.

Whether to buy only AKV or AKV and SSR is just a matter of personal taste. If you want to have the home advantage for each resort, buy at each. But you'll only have that advantage for the points you own at that resort. For example, if you decide to get a 160 point AKV contract and a 100 point SSR contract, you could not make a 260 point reservation 11 months in advance. You could only make a 160 point AKV reservation at 11 months. At 7 months out, though, you could combine the two contracts and use them all on one reservation at either resort, or any other DVC resort.

I don't see any real reason to stagger your Use Years - you'd have to have two contracts of at least 160 points to have separate Use Years, anyway - if you buy direct from Disney, at least. They give you the same Use Year for an add-on as your original contract. It's easier for me to have the same Use Year for all of my contracts.

Hope this helps!

 

[dianeschlicht]

You need to remember that use year has NOTHING to do with WHEN you go or even when you BOOK. The only importance of use year is when you can BANK. Some feel it is best to have a use year that is within the 6 months of the time you most often travel so that if you have to cancel a trip, you can still have time to bank all the points. That being said, in 10 years of ownership (and owning a contract that is NOT within the 6 months of when we normally travel), we have NEVER had to do that. I think it is a non-entity. Disney will always give you the same use year on your contracts unless you buy two contracts over the minimum. Remember also that the times of year you travel will change as your family makeup changes, so what seems best now might not be best 10 years from now.

If you travel now 2 times a year, I would look at the size unit you would need for those trips, figure out the number of points they entail, and let that determine how many points you buy. Then, if you want to only go once some year, you can bank points and have an extra long or extra space vacation the following year. If you think 250 points is your optimum contract at this point, I would probably split them into 160 and 90 point contracts. This gives you the flexibility to sell the smaller contract easily, should you decide several years down the road that you aren't going as often.

Another thing to consider is the number of children and if you are going to want to leave each of them a contract when you pass on. We started out with two contracts (230 and 150) at the same resort. Even though they were not the same size, we determined that we would leave one to each child. Well, now they are in their 30's and one has a family of his own. Our daughter has no use for a DVC contract, and wouldn't want it, so we added on at AKV and have decided that sometime in the next 5-10 years, we will upgrade time by selling 1 or both of our original contracts at the original DVC and add on more at AKV or the next new location. That gives us better resale value for the "kids" down the road. SInce our contracts are nowhere near the same size, it seemed like the best way to go when we aren't likely to pass them on as they are to our offspring.

 

[flyerron]

dianeschlicht is thinking the way I do. Too much fuss over the use year. Pick a resort you would like & go for it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

... Our daughter has no use for a DVC contract, and wouldn't want it, so we added on at AKV and have decided that sometime in the next 5-10 years, we will upgrade time by selling 1 or both of our original contracts at the original DVC and add on more at AKV or the next new location. ....

Sell OKW?

 

[disneynutz]

Just came back from WDW and went thru DVC prep. My family's track record has been to go to WDW 2x/year since my 6yo was born. I have been reading as much on the forums as possible but still confused. Common issues I have found are the following:

1) Choosing your home resort - for us it would be AKV.

Buy where you want to stay.

2) Choosing UY - For now ideal times to visit (assuming we continue to visit twice a year one week each) would be Feb,April,late August, and perhaps early Oct -essentially, most of when my kids (6yo,3yo, baby to be) will be off from school in the next few years like everyone else.

As stated on many posts, use year really doesn't matter. Who knows what the future holds. Your proposed visit times might change.

3) Because of my preferred times of year to go, whether to get one large contract at AKV or two contract with AKV with staggered UY or separate contracts with AKV and SSR then upgrade later

I am looking at buying 250 points +/- 50 overall.

Multiple use years are harder to keep track of. Smaller contracts sell for a higher price should you decide to sell later.

 

[starbox]

3) Because of my preferred times of year to go, whether to get one large contract at AKV or two contract with AKV with staggered UY or separate contracts with AKV and SSR then upgrade later

I am looking at buying 250 points +/- 50 overall.

It all depends. If you think you'll be using all 250 points on one vacation per year, get the same home resort. If you want to take more than one trip, would like to stay at more than one resort on a regular basis, and plan to try to trade into other resorts to try them out, a SSR/AKV combo may be your best bet. At 7 months, points are points, and you get a better deal and lower MF with SSR points.

We own AKV and SSR and it's great for us. We will do four trips next year. 1 to SSR, 1 to AKV, 1 to VB, and 1 to HHI. We use the extra SSR points to try to stay at VB/HHI.

 

[3mouseketeer]

You guys make this easy.

Thanks!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Sell OKW?

LOL, Deb! Just a thought for our smaller OKW contract when the value starts dropping. I figure converting that smaller contract to another AKV contract would work well for us when trying to hold value to pass on to the next generation. I expect to like it there a LOT too!

 

[alldiz]

I'm a new DVC owner....I love it
You will too

Do you plan your vacations far in advance.....
meaning before the 7 month window appears....

If you can plan far in advance....BUY WHERE YOU WANT TO STAY....
If you don't plan most trips within your 11 month window...
BUY THE CHEAPEST CONTRACT....probably OKW...cheapest dues
I think....

My point is....unless you book in advance....it dosen't matter where
you own.....you will stay....where there is availability....
probably SSR...which is very nice....BTW....

Use year....dosen't really matter.....unless you have
a job where you might have to cancel your vacations
last minute....
That might prevent you from banking your points....

Bottom line....if you can book in advance......most likely won't be
cancelling your vacations....
Dont worry about use year...
Just buy at a resort that you really love...
Good luck...and here's an early....WELCOME HOME
Kerri

 

[3mouseketeer]

Those are very good points - especially about the one about planning 11 mo in advance. We normally do not plan that far ahead but then again we never had kids that went to school until now. So we are going to have to readjust.

We probably won't be looking at other resorts that SSR or AKV. The sold out resort route is another topic altogether.

Thanks.

 

[rinkwide]

With 3 little ones an AKV 1 bedroom looks like a good fit (of course, as they get older a 2 bedroom will be perfect and then you'll be needing a grand villa when the grandkids come).

 

[starbox]

With 3 little ones an AKV 1 bedroom looks like a good fit (of course, as they get older a 2 bedroom will be perfect and then you'll be needing a grand villa when the grandkids come).

This is a good point. If we had 3 kids, I'd probably stay at AKV pretty exclusively because I don't want to pay for a 2-bedroom or drag an air-matress around. I hate it that the occupancy for a 1-bedroom is not in between a studio and 2-bedroom (except at AKV).

 

[3mouseketeer]

We've finally decided to obtain 160/100 contracts at AKV. Just waiting for our guide to come back from vacation.

I have also lined up a home equity loan for five years but am hoping to pay it all of in 3 years. As I understand it, I'll go thru disney financing first, then when everything is settled in both sides of the disney financing and the home equity paperwork, I'll then pay the disney contract off.

I'll be in touch.

 

[DVCLiz]

Welcome home!!!

 

[alldiz]

We've finally decided to obtain 160/100 contracts at AKV. Just waiting for our guide to come back from vacation.

I have also lined up a home equity loan for five years but am hoping to pay it all of in 3 years. As I understand it, I'll go thru disney financing first, then when everything is settled in both sides of the disney financing and the home equity paperwork, I'll then pay the disney contract off.

I'll be in touch.

AKV is a good choice.....the larger rooms will be better for
your family....
IMO....the rooms at the lodge will be a hot ticket...
Welcome home
Kerri

 

[dianeschlicht]

Sounds like you made a good choice for you!!!

CONGRATULATIONS & WELCOME HOME!