Does your DVC home resort really matter?

[PrincessBriarRose]

My husband and I are looking to Purchase DVC for the first time in the resale market. I would like my home resort on the monorail loop and my husband wants the best deal. Does your "Home Resort" really matter? We both understand that you can book 11 months in advance with your home resort verses 7 months with your non home resort. Besides that difference is there any benefit to paying more per point and higher dues to have a monorail loop resort as your home resort? Also has anyone experienced difficultly booking at their non Home Resort 7 months out? We both would truly appreciate any insight anyone can share to help us with our DVC investment.

Thank you

 

[disneynutz]

It only matters if you care where you stay. Think about it, there wouldn't be a home resort priority if it didn't matter.

Sure you can take your chances and you will have people post on your thread that it doesn't matter but you can read all about how difficult it is to book at 7 months.

You get what you pay for!

Bill

 

[Fastpassminus]

I think it matters MOST when you are trying to book a longer vacation at an in demand resort at a high DVC traffic time of year. So if you own at AKL but want BWV for F&W yeeaaaahhhh that might be a little tough. If you want Grand Floridian during the " dreaded first week of December" again it might be tough.

If you want OKW in the middle of the Summer or BLT Lake View 2 bedroom in September or May then it may work out in your favor. I bought DVC with intentions to stay at every resort at least 1x.

 

[bakerworld]

Do you like riding a bus? Are you a walker? We never bought OKW because we don't like to sit on a bus. When we finally did buy we chose AKV because it encompassed the hotel with concierge and we like staying in a hotel on vacation so we decided we wouldn't let the bus bother us. Unfortunately, buses do bother us if we have to be consistently on them so we bought BL because we can walk to MK and used the AK points to trade into BC and BW.

 

[tasha99]

Here are a couple of threads about people's disappointment with booking at 7 months. Can you? Yes, you absolutely can, some of the time for some resorts. Short stays are easier than longer ones and low season is obviously easier than DVC's busy times. 1BR seems to be easiest to get, though at VGC, I think 2BR is easiest. We're staying at BLT on our SSR points this summer. Stayed at VGC on BWV points last year, but that was just a stroke of luck --we loved it, so we added on there.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/7-month-window-is-a-scam.3391110/

http://www.disboards.com/threads/disappointment-with-online-booking-non-home-resort.3391099/

 

[CMNJ]

My husband and I are looking to Purchase DVC for the first time in the resale market. I would like my home resort on the monorail loop and my husband wants the best deal. Does your "Home Resort" really matter? We both understand that you can book 11 months in advance with your home resort verses 7 months with your non home resort. Besides that difference is there any benefit to paying more per point and higher dues to have a monorail loop resort as your home resort? Also has anyone experienced difficultly booking at their non Home Resort 7 months out? We both would truly appreciate any insight anyone can share to help us with our DVC investment.

Thank you

I would read recent threads on the forums like "7 month window is a scam" and "walking reservations" in order to see just how tough it can be to book non home resorts at busy DVC times. Like others have said if you don't mind where you stay then by all means buy the cheapest (SSR) but if you won't be happy if you can't regularly book a monorail resort then I'd think long and hard about if the savings are worth it. You may be lucky sometimes but probably not every time (esp if you plan to travel from Oct-Dec which is high DVC time)
Haha Tasha99 great minds think alike I was typing at the same time

 

[crisi]

The other thing to be aware of is that those cheaper rooms at some resorts (standard view at BLT or BWV for instance) book FIRST and are almost never available if you don't book within the owner priority window. At BWV it isn't a huge deal - although its worth knowing, but at BLT the point difference is really substantial. When you can get BLT as a non owner, standard view will be very rarely available.

 

[Missyrose]

If you plan on traveling each year from late September through early January, home resort matters immensely. During that period (the busiest time of year for DVC) it can be extremely difficult to change resorts at seven months out.

Best advice is to be honest with yourself. It's very easy to convince yourself that you don't care where you stay, but you may find that changes a few years into DVC ownership. I bought at the three resorts I most like to stay at. A good compromise is to buy where you don't mind being "stuck" if you can't move.

 

[crisi]

One thing to keep in mind - why would someone buy BLT resale for more money and not stay there? People who pay a premium for their resorts are far more likely to stay at their home resort and book early, making fewer rooms available to those who paid less, with the thought of "we can stay anywhere."

There are some people who bought SSR because they love SSR and stay at SSR. But proportionally, those who paid a premium for their points did so for a reason.

 

[nalajms]

One thing to keep in mind - why would someone buy BLT resale for more money and not stay there? People who pay a premium for their resorts are far more likely to stay at their home resort and book early, making fewer rooms available to those who paid less, with the thought of "we can stay anywhere."

I somewhat disagree with this. There will always be people who bought at BLT that only want to stay at BLT. Whether that's a majority or not is debatable. I believe there's a bigger group with the "I can stay there anytime I want, if I can get somewhere else I'll switch" mentality. Of course those people are not likely to be switching to SSR, but they are still switching out at 7m. While I try not to use my VGF points for anywhere but VGF, when push comes to shove, I'll still use my VGF points rather than borrow from my other resort points.

OP - if you're not sure, I say buy in at SSR now and give it a try. If it doesn't work, you can always sell and buy at your preferred home resort. Will you lose money? Maybe, but loss is minimal in the grand scheme of owning DVC. It's not just a matter of how much you like the resort. There's also the seasons you vacation, how early you can plan, what your preferences are, etc.

 

[intertile]

The best option, would be to rent points and book a split stay at the two resorts you are considering buying at. You should always buy where you want to stay as a rule, but it may not bother you that much if you get stuck at a cheaper point resort. You'll never know until you try it and a purchase like DVC is worth taking your time to make.

 

[iloveokw]

1. Buy where you want to stay or you will be disappointed.
2. If you can't plan ahead (especially for your home resort) don't buy.

I've been an owner for almost 20 years.

 

[Tunseeker1]

Home resort is huge for me. The points for my trips are usually home resort points.

AKV value and club level
OKW near Hospitality House
Any VGF studio
Vero for Busy Beach times

and the newest PVB for well I'm not sure yet!

 

[suebeelin]

We like std 1bds right now while the kids are little. 2 sleeping areas. Even tho 1bds are easier to get, we are in it for the long haul and our resorts can be hard to get during certain times. We will want std studios or std 2bds someday ... Or both!

My SIL learned the hard way about booking early. She started booking at the 9mo mark for her home resort-- which was completely booked.... During jersey week.

She has BWV and BCV. She thought bc she had her home resort advantage she would be fine.

Nope. She's freaking out. At the 7mo+ mark, no studios for nov6-8 available on both days. She is doing BLT grand villas for 3 days, then moving to boardwalk grand villa for one day (the only day available at the 9mo mark that week). Then she needs to find two studios on nov 6-8.

Good luck, I said to her. She's freaking out, hoping the remaining 2bds at Okw or SSR stays available in a few days.

So home resort advantage is extremely important during certain times.

 

[DisneyMotherOf2]

IMHO - Buy where you'll be happy staying. If you think you'd be disappointed staying at SSR, then do more research before taking the plunge. My husband and I seriously thought about buying SSR or OKW because they were less expensive, but ended up buying at BCV and later at BWV. I cannot tell you how happy I am that we made that decision. I know now that I would have been extremely disappointed to have been "stuck" at either of those resorts. We also tried to think about how we'd feel 10 years from purchase date as our children grew older. BLT was on the table for us to be closer to MK since our kids were younger, but in the end we felt we'd enjoy staying in the Epcot resort area as they grew older. Looking back - we soooo made the right choice for our family. We love the Epcot resort area and the flexibility of walking vs. having to Always take the bus. Our children do as well. We also prefer the hotel feel vs. the sprawling style of SSR and OKW. Good luck!

 

[JimMIA]

There are two parts to the Home Resort booking advantage -- one of which has been discussed (potential 7 month booking difficulties) and the other which really has not been discussed.

The other part of the puzzle is referred to in suebeelin's post above -- you have to be able to reliably book early in your 11 month window for home resort booking to really benefit you.

For some times of the year, if you don't book the second your window opens you're still going to get shut out even with home resort booking. That is true of all resorts from Thanksgiving through New Years, certain resorts at certain times of the year (like the reference to BWV during F&W), and certain accommodations at any resort any time of the year.

So it's not just "caring where you stay;" you also must be able to book early in your 11 month window -- sometimes in the opening minutes of the window. If your work/family situation is such that you can't reliably plan trips far in advance, you won't be able to use the home resort booking advantage.

Home resort also matters for three components of the "best deal" your husband wants:

• Purchase price varies from resort to resort
• annual dues vary widely from resort to resort -- and those make up the biggest part of your cost of ownership over time
• expiration dates of contracts vary from resort to resort

 

[disneynutz]

Until you have been a DVC owner and experienced the DVC first hand, you can't know if dealing with the DVC is something that you want to do.

Until you have stayed at each DVC resort, decided on the size of room, category, and view, you are making a guess on which is your favorite.

Bill

 

[bwvBound]

Until you have been a DVC owner and experienced the DVC first hand, you can't know if dealing with the DVC is something that you want to do.

Until you have stayed at each DVC resort, decided on the size of room, category, and view, you are making a guess on which is your favorite.

Bill

Ya'know ... purchasing a house is much like this as well. I was never offered a chance to stay in any our purchases before putting in my offer? In fact, on our most recent home purchase, the realtor pressed us to tell him our offer price before showing us the property. I'd seen the exterior by myself -- but this was my husband's first visit.

 

[disneynutz]

We got all caught up in the Disney magic and bought too many resorts and some before staying there.

We Bought BCV, nice resort but the DVC building is just so, so.
We bought BLT before staying there, don't care for the place, being close to MK is nice, probably won't stay there again.
We bought AKV, grew tired of the animals, location, and mixed view, not all savannas are the same.
Bought VWL, love it there, very quiet and love the theming.
Bought BWV, our favorite resort as long as we get the boardwalk view.
Bought VGF, nicest of the DVC resorts, views are mixed.

Some people don't care about where they stay but the longer that we are owners, the more time we spend at the resort and not in the parks.

Bill

 

[tasha99]

Until you have been a DVC owner and experienced the DVC first hand, you can't know if dealing with the DVC is something that you want to do.

Until you have stayed at each DVC resort, decided on the size of room, category, and view, you are making a guess on which is your favorite.

Bill

But most people kind of have to guess at some point, don't they? I stayed at OKW years ago, and went on the DVC tour--they were selling AKV at the time. We go to WDW or DLR every other year, so if we tried out all the WDW resorts till I found the perfect one, I bet some contracts would be nearing their expiration before I was ready. I bought BWV based on pictures and location and SSR based on pictures and price--I've never even been to either resort yet. VGC . . . Stayed there last summer on our BWV points and it was love at first sight.