Does your DVC home resort really matter?

[disneynutz]

I apologize for commenting on such an old post but my husband and I are in the midst of deciding what home resort to buy into. We do enjoy AKV but don't really like the idea of committing to it every single year. I've been reading about what a pain it can be booking another resort at 7mo. I see that you have 3 resorts listed. Does this mean you currently own at each of these? what are the benefits of splitting up the points you want to purchase among 3 resorts? Do you need to have 3 different contracts or can you add on points from different home resorts? I'm so sorry for all the questions!

Each home resort is a separate contract. IMO you can buy somewhere and hope to use those points at 7 months at a different resort or you can buy where you love to stay. book at 11 months and remove resort prayers from your vacation planning.

Bill

 

[chalee94]

I apologize for commenting on such an old post but my husband and I are in the midst of deciding what home resort to buy into. We do enjoy AKV but don't really like the idea of committing to it every single year. I've been reading about what a pain it can be booking another resort at 7mo. I see that you have 3 resorts listed. Does this mean you currently own at each of these? what are the benefits of splitting up the points you want to purchase among 3 resorts? Do you need to have 3 different contracts or can you add on points from different home resorts? I'm so sorry for all the questions!

some people own at multiple resorts because they prefer different kinds of trips to wdw.

someone might own a small BWV contract so they can book food and wine at epcot every other year with that contract. plus a HHI contract that they use only for summer trips to HHI and a BLT contract for Dec visits to wdw to see the decorations. so they own 3 home resorts in at least 3 different contracts.

but at 11 months out, they would still need the right "currency." they would only be able to use HHI pts to book HHI at 11 months out. if they wanted an extra day at HHI, their BLT and BWV pts would sit on the sidelines until the 7 month window opened for the HHI trip (and summer stays at HHI can be tough to book at 7 months out). they can use banked, borrowed or current BWV pts from their BWV contract to book BWV at 11 months out - but again, all of their BLT and HHI pts are useless until the 7 month window (and again, getting BWV at 7 months during food and wine is tough).

so it just depends on how you like to vacation (and how much stress you can take at the 7 month window). i love OKW - but i like to try other resorts when i get the chance. so i own at OKW and try for something else at the 7 month window - sometimes i get it, sometimes i wait on the waitlist for months and then get it, and sometimes the waitlist fails and i'm "stuck" at OKW. but i'm at wdw surrounded by lush scenery and pretty pastels covering gingerbread architecture...so i'm good with that. but people who love the boardwalk and want to walk to epcot and the studios would find it frustrating and disappointing - so they are better off owning there and booking at 10-11 months out...

 

[danielle5806]

some people own at multiple resorts because they prefer different kinds of trips to wdw.

someone might own a small BWV contract so they can book food and wine at epcot every other year with that contract. plus a HHI contract that they use only for summer trips to HHI and a BLT contract for Dec visits to wdw to see the decorations. so they own 3 home resorts in at least 3 different contracts.

but at 11 months out, they would still need the right "currency." they would only be able to use HHI pts to book HHI at 11 months out. if they wanted an extra day at HHI, their BLT and BWV pts would sit on the sidelines until the 7 month window opened for the HHI trip (and summer stays at HHI can be tough to book at 7 months out). they can use banked, borrowed or current BWV pts from their BWV contract to book BWV at 11 months out - but again, all of their BLT and HHI pts are useless until the 7 month window (and again, getting BWV at 7 months during food and wine is tough).

so it just depends on how you like to vacation (and how much stress you can take at the 7 month window). i love OKW - but i like to try other resorts when i get the chance. so i own at OKW and try for something else at the 7 month window - sometimes i get it, sometimes i wait on the waitlist for months and then get it, and sometimes the waitlist fails and i'm "stuck" at OKW. but i'm at wdw surrounded by lush scenery and pretty pastels covering gingerbread architecture...so i'm good with that. but people who love the boardwalk and want to walk to epcot and the studios would find it frustrating and disappointing - so they are better off owning there and booking at 10-11 months out...

Perfect explanation and clarification! Thank you! Are you able to book your home resort at 11 months and cancel if you find something better at 7 months?

 

[tasha99]

I apologize for commenting on such an old post but my husband and I are in the midst of deciding what home resort to buy into. We do enjoy AKV but don't really like the idea of committing to it every single year. I've been reading about what a pain it can be booking another resort at 7mo. I see that you have 3 resorts listed. Does this mean you currently own at each of these? what are the benefits of splitting up the points you want to purchase among 3 resorts? Do you need to have 3 different contracts or can you add on points from different home resorts? I'm so sorry for all the questions!

The advantage of owning at more than one place is being able to book at 11 months. We have BWV for Food and Wine, though I've never actually gone at that time (still a dream of ours, lol), VGC is because DL is my favorite park and I want to stay on site there, and SSR is because the points were cheaper and it has lower maintenance fees. We can book lots of places at 7 months with our SSR points, as we're usually not picky.

I bet you can almost always get into AKL at 7 months. You can buy what's cheaper if you are just happy to be at WDW, or you can buy where you want to stay if you are choosy about resort and room type. We started with BWV, but added on because it turns out we are both (SSR is philosphy 1, and the others are "buy where you want to stay.")

This thread might help you to determine if your vacation time is a high demand time with DVC: http://www.disboards.com/threads/pr...-some-1-bedrooms-vgc-update-10-21-15.3419112/ Studios and 2BR are harder to book than 1BR's.

 

[chalee94]

Perfect explanation and clarification! Thank you! Are you able to book your home resort at 11 months and cancel if you find something better at 7 months?

yes. it's usually easy and there's no cost to change.

if things are tight, there can be a risk of canceling OKW while someone else books the last villa at the other resort (unless you use a complex multi-computer/tablet/smartphone setup to hold one while canceling the other - i haven't tried that strategy yet.) but if you are that close, the waitlist *should* still work fine.

if the other resort is booked up at 7 months, you can still request to be put on the waitlist - which like i said, might work and might not. sometimes you are high on the list and many people have to change plans and sometimes you are already behind numerous owners at that other resort on the waitlist and a higher-than-typical percentage of owners stick with their reservations rather than changing or canceling. more and more DVC owners are paying a premium to buy resorts like BCV and BLT because they want to stay there most of the time and can plan to book them at 11 months out.

so if you have a strong preference for staying at that other resort most of the time (especially during peak DVC season for stays from Sept to early January), it's better to buy there and book early. if you prefer to travel non-holiday weeks in Feb or in August, you'll generally have more options at the 7 month window. (things do change over time, though - the popularity of food and wine at epcot has changed DVC demand over the last decade or so, for one example.)

 

[disneynutz]

DVC is changing, resorts that were always available, now not so much. More are buying, more are renting, competition is tougher. For a couple of years getting CL at Jambo wasn't hard at 11 months, now even at 11 months you have to be lucky. Studios, standards, values, all go quickly.

Bill

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I apologize for commenting on such an old post but my husband and I are in the midst of deciding what home resort to buy into. We do enjoy AKV but don't really like the idea of committing to it every single year. I've been reading about what a pain it can be booking another resort at 7mo. I see that you have 3 resorts listed. Does this mean you currently own at each of these? what are the benefits of splitting up the points you want to purchase among 3 resorts? Do you need to have 3 different contracts or can you add on points from different home resorts? I'm so sorry for all the questions!

The person you quoted said they had the 3 listed resorts to select from at 7 months so it wouldn't have mattered where they owned as a point as a point at the time and can be used at any of the resorts.

You certainly could own at 3 resorts but each one will keep their home resort relation and if you were looking to combine it would have to wait until 7 months.

When you go still matters for ease of switching from a home resort to a non home resort at 7 months, but in general if you don't have a resort you absolutely have to stay at every time then buy some place you like and don't mind staying and then try and switch at 7 months to another resort that is appealing and has availability. If there isn't availability then you can waitlist should you wish to try and change. If you have some flexibility both with travel dates you'll have more opportunities to switch, and if you were to have flexibility in the villa size ie a 1 BR is an option if studios weren't available you'll have even more likelihood of switching.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

DVC is changing, resorts that were always available, now not so much. More are buying, more are renting, competition is tougher. For a couple of years getting CL at Jambo wasn't hard at 11 months, now even at 11 months you have to be lucky. Studios, standards, values, all go quickly.

Bill

My experience and recollections are that CL has always been difficult. DH likes it and so I've been working with bookings there since 2008.

 

[tasha99]

The person you quoted said they had the 3 listed resorts to select from at 7 months so it wouldn't have mattered where they owned as a point as a point at the time and can be used at any of the resorts.

You certainly could own at 3 resorts but each one will keep their home resort relation and if you were looking to combine it would have to wait until 7 months.

Fwiw, it was me, and we use our SSR points at 7 months. The other ones are for 11 month bookings.

 

[kniquy]

idea of committing to it every single year.

You are not locked into your home resort every year. It really depends on the time of year. If you are looking between end of September - marathon weekend in January your best bet is to book your home resort and then possibly switch to another resort at 7 months - this way you will have something in case other resorts are full. There is a thing called a wait list where you can put in your desired resort and days and if someone cancels you possibly could get what you need.

benefits of splitting up the points you want to purchase among 3 resorts

It is probably best to get into DVC with one resort and learn the system before attempting to add on at other resorts. There is a lot to learn and you could possibly lose out on use of points if you don't manage your contracts properly.

If you are thinking you would want 2 resorts -- buy your first contract with points to go every other year (contract would be 1/2 the points you need for your certain room type and season). Then if you wanted to add another resort -- do the same. Having a small amount of points as 3 different resorts would be very difficult to use.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Remember that wherever is your home resort, that's where you'll pay dues to. We actually changed home resorts (buy-sell) because DH had a favorite resort that he wanted to pay his dues to. And every time we go there, he has to see what they're doing with "his" money. The first resort we bought at, although it was smaller and harder to get, wasn't our favorite (thought we'd love it when we went on the tour though). So our home resort (OKW, by the way) isn't most economical, hardest to get, none of that, but that's the resort DH wants to financially support with his yearly dues.

 

[crisi]

I apologize for commenting on such an old post but my husband and I are in the midst of deciding what home resort to buy into. We do enjoy AKV but don't really like the idea of committing to it every single year........

Another option is to not buy and rent points. IF you can find a home resort owner at eleven months - that gives you the flexibility to book anywhere.

The problem being that there are far more renters looking for points - especially at the most popular resorts - than there are owners willing to rent their points.

A hedge your bets strategy - which won't be cheaper - would be to buy points - then rent points at eleven months for a hard to get resort - and rent out your points to cover some (but if you use a broker, not all) of the costs. We did this with a HHI trip. We wanted HHI in the Summer - which is notoriously difficult to get at seven months. So we rented points at eleven months - then rented out our BWV points to cover the difference. This will work IF you can find a renter for those "I don't want to take the risk at seven" vacations.

 

[Wakey]

It depends on when you go, what type of accommodation you require and whether you HAVE to stop in a specific resort or you'd be happy staying in the one you bought at.
I need a 1 bed, last week in August. Based on all the data, I can pretty much get one anywhere if I book dead on 7 months. I bought intending to try a different resort as often as possible to give me a different vacation each time. I also like SSR and OKW, the proximity to DS and the more spread out relaxing nature of those resorts.
Based on my preferences, travel time (a quieter time), room type (1 bed is often last to go), and desire to move around at 7 months anyway, it wouldn't have made any sense for me to buy Poly or GF or BLT say, so instead I bought SSR at $75 a point for a fully loaded contract. Buying a more expensive contract would really have been a waste of money.
However if I'd wanted to go every Xmas to VGF or Boardwalk at Food and Wine in a studio, then I'd have bought there, as I'm very unlikely able to switch in at 7 months due to busy time and room type.
So there is no right or wrong answer to this question, consider what you will do, and research well before making a decision. The wrong decision could leave you with a bit of a disappointing contract that doesn't meet your requirements or unnecessarily spending thousands of extra dollars.

 

[Wakey]

By way of example, I don't want to go end of August 2017 but if I did even now booking only 6 months out, I could get anywhere in a 1 bed including Grand Floridian (even a couple of days in Californian one). All of the Florida resorts are open at 6 months for a 1 bed last week in August. Given this is when i go, no point in me buying anywhere but SSR (unless this changes dramatically in the future).

 

[Uncranky Donald]

My family has owned DVC since 1996. OKW was the only thing to buy at the time. We collectively, no matter who was using the points, have only stayed there 5 times in just over 20 years. We have wait listed twice in all that time and got it both times. We have never stayed at GF, AKL or Poly as they either do not appeal to members of my family, or are too many points for our needs. Other than that we have stayed everywhere during the times we have wanted with no issues. We are not fussy travelers though, so maybe we are in the minority, but our home resort has never been priority, again cuz at the time you didn't have a choice it was DVC/OKW or bust

 

[chainkid]

Another consideration is the size of the unit you wish to book. When I first bought BWV in 1999 , I was only interested in booking studios but now 5 contracts later I go less often but stay in grand villas with extended family. Grand villas at BW are almost impossible to get outside 11month window and during my preferred vacation time DEC 1st week, you have to walk the reservation to even have a shot at one. I bought all same use year and all same resort so I could borrow and bank to go big every couple of years. If you split up your contracts into multiple resorts then you limit what size unit you can get at 11 month window and lock yourself out of a splurge for special times. I bought a small contract at AKV which was a mistake as I got bored after my first stay but with banking and borrowing I have enough to get a couple of nights before my BW trips and the kids love it there for short stays only. I was really gung ho to buy GFV or poly and spend a short trip trying them out for a change. Love the GFV but too rich for my blood as I would never be happy staying in a studio there and poly did not float my boat. BLV were to sterile for my taste but at least I can say I tried everyone . Depending on the Boulder creek point structure, I could see an add on there but will try them out first. BWV was the resort I fell in love with and its still my hands down favorite. It's so hard not to get caught up in the fairy dust after a magical trip and make an impulse buy.