Well maybe Dec since your trips would all be Jan, Feb, June, July. Jan would be good but they don't have a Jan UY. You want to pick a UY where your trips would all be right after. So I have June and Aug. Say I book an Oct 2019 trip with Aug 2019 points but need to cancel the trip in July 2019...the points go back in Aug 2019 UY and can be banked. Dec is also the UY with the most points so if you ever add on more points via resale, it would be easier to find a contract with Dec UY.
That's a difficult one. Dec is likely best as a single UY, June might work just as well. It really depends on the volume of each. I'd make my best guess as to the % of travel, really the number of points of each time and go from there. At 50/50 I'd go with the best contract at the selected home resort. If you were buying now that might be Dec but in a couple of months it'll switch over to June.
Sure, you shouldn't proceed until it's second nature IMO. It'll take about 6 months of active investigation is you don't have a decent timeshare background. You should also have some knowledge of DVC in person and on property experience. If you haven't stayed at DVC, I'd do so before buying in most situations, you'll make better decisions that you won't make up by buying sooner to get that next trip in on points.
Sure it is but with DVC and on property experience it simply becomes a math issue as to whether buying makes sense and whether you can afford it. Then it's just learning enough to know UY, home resort and number of points but that still takes a little time unless you have a number of DVC stays at different resorts. Common mistakes are buying when you can't really afford it, buying the wrong number of points (too few, too many), getting manic and doing multiple contracts/add ons when it doesn't make sense, buying too quickly and making a bad choice in any one or more of these areas. Other mistakes include buying retail for emotional reasons or buying DVC planning to use for non Disney/DVC stays.
We have some at HH (125 there and 200 OKW and 255 BWV) and love it there. We did stay there with our OKW points but getting a resie is tough at the 7 month window. Specifically for summer time and Thanksgiving and Xmas-NY time. I was just there last month and cannot say enough good things. We pretty much solely use the HH points there only. And would use our OKw there too and at Vero when we feel the desire. We are discussing another visit to Vero (but we love HH way way way more).So do you not suggest using points at HHI (or are you considering that a Disney stay, I may have misread)? My parents would be the purchasers, affordability isn't the issue so much as just deciding if it's how we want to spend the vacation dollars. We had thought about buying enough points that my parents could have time at HHI when they'd like. (my dad is a big golfer and they have vacationed there often in the past - not the Disney property but elsewhere on the island). I'll make sure I'm 'fluent' before making any decisions!
Within DVC including VGC, HH, VB & Aulani are reasonable. They need to understand what they're buying and you should know that only those on the deeds have legal rights and any applicable perks. Good luck.So do you not suggest using points at HHI (or are you considering that a Disney stay, I may have misread)? My parents would be the purchasers, affordability isn't the issue so much as just deciding if it's how we want to spend the vacation dollars. We had thought about buying enough points that my parents could have time at HHI when they'd like. (my dad is a big golfer and they have vacationed there often in the past - not the Disney property but elsewhere on the island). I'll make sure I'm 'fluent' before making any decisions!
I think it's unlikely simply purchase price alone can offset that issue but I'd agree that a fully loaded contract, difficult to find resort or contract and a subsidized contract can be as or more important. I put a value of roughly one years worth of points so you'd need to save around $10-13 per point to offset if one is in a position where a good UY can be determined. Where one is traveling at different times, they are simply taking more risk owning DVC and thus should consider whether DVC is a good choice for them with that and the other risks/issues that one should consider.
When you’re trips are spread out, I find it’s best to ask this question: which three consecutive months will you never travel to Disney? Choose the use year just after those. If you’ll never travel in March/April/May, then choose June. If you’ll never travel in Sept/Oct/Nov, choose December.
