First Contract - BLT vs. Poly vs. Riv (Direct)

[Ruttangel]

People are getting 200pt contracts at BLT for under $125 and the dues there make it one of the most economical.
Poly rooms are currently ok for availability at 7 months so not sure if that is a good buy for you

 

[EM Lawrence]

Its going to vary a lot based on your family dynamics, but I have two teens and we don’t mind studios at all. We don’t spend a lot of time in the rooms. I own Poly resale because that is the resort we love, but will probably add on some SSR resale points to give us enough SAP to book a 1 BR at the 7 month mark at other resorts in the future. 1 BR tend to book last, and I find this strategy to give maximum flexibility with minimum cost. I also would not mind staying at SSR.

 

[RoseGold]

while a steal is subjective, I'm confused as to how BLT can be a steal relative to RVA if the point gap is about the same as the gap from RVA to VGF while RVA and VGF are considered equal?

Because BLT is park adjacent. To me, RIV is not equally desirable resort to a theme park adjacent resort.

RIV is shiny and new right now, and the gondolas are cool until there's lightning. But resale has shown that over time theme park adjacent has held value very well, especially the legacy point charts + theme park adjacent combo of BCV/BWV. IMO, BLT will look the same as Disney keeps inflating the charts and making the properties on undesirable locations, like Reflections/RIV.

Maybe OP doesn't care about park adjacency. Or maybe I'm wrong and no one will care about theme park adjacency in 20 years. I'll be out by then anyway.

 

[sethschroeder]

standard room % by resort and room type

I think the measly 16% of rooms being standard says it all. When looking at availability charts on another site you can see BLT Standard basically going right at 11 months across the board regardless of except like Easter, May, Early Sept (although might change with new point charts).

With BWV 25% of 2BRs are Std, RIV 36%, but BLT sits a 1/2 of BWV and 1/3 of RIV at 13%.

The OP is looking at Studios but at RIV you are 2.5x more likely to get a STD View as thats how many more they have than BLT. In addition unlike BWV where Boardwalk and Garden is the same price you won't get the same stampede to the Theme Park view because its drastically more expensive than standard view.

BWV Std -> Boardwalk is 21% increase in points in fall
BLT Std -> Theme is 30% increase in points in fall
RVA Std -> Pref is 20% increase in points in fall

That all means that RVA is more insulated at the Standard View level because more people will be willing to upgrade for 20% than people are willing to upgrade for a 30% increase (especially when some STD views supposedly can see fireworks at MK).

Its why I was thinking about passing on BLT for CCV because at BLT I could not count on getting a Std View where at CCV I knew what the point requirement was.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

Just one more thought...I just perused the ROFR thread and it looks like resale prices have a spread. I saw a BLT pass in the 130s and GF in the 150s. I would definitely do resale and choose either BLT or GF (I know you were between BLT, Poly or RR- but I threw GF in because you can walk to Poly from there) - we do it all the time as we love the lobby and ambience of the poly but do not really like the rooms there -GF gives you the best of both worlds imho and GF is the best DVC resort all around imho

 

[LTJoeFlo]

I'm probably on the newer side of DVC ownership. Our first purchase was VGF in 2013. When we purchased, I was a member on a different DVC message board. People tended to scoff at that resort.
The comments were:
- The theming is bland
- The point charts are insane
- BLT is the better option
- The price per point is way too expensive
- It's only selling because it is the new and shiny object

I wish I would have purchased more points. That resort is holding its value very well and it has since become a desirable resort to own at. I can probably sell for more than I paid. I'm not suggesting that Riviera will do just as well, it probably won't. But, there is a trend of point charts going up. I think that is a fact that some new owners overlook and should be taken into consideration. I also think that there will be more style-neutral designs in the future. Pure speculation on my part, but people really hated the Reflections design.

Another point to consider. Assuming the new resale restriction is for all future resorts, it will be much harder to book at legacy resorts at the 7-month mark. With each new resale contract, those points will be forced to book at all resorts prior to Riviera. Between direct and resale owners, there will be more eligible points for legacy resorts than there is availability. So while we point at Riviera for having restrictive resale terms written into the contract, the original resorts will most likely face similar restrictions based on limited availability. This is still many years away, but it will eventually happen.

 

[emmymac17]

Thanks everyone! Lots of great perspectives and data. After MUCH discussion, we opted for Bay Lake Tower. Riviera is a beautiful resort and definitely had a strong pull for us, but with our cash budget it feels like we can get much more for the money at the moment (more points - that go farther) on resale. We are definitely 'park people' - and with very young children now - we anticipate many years of Magic Kingdom being #1, so being steps away is a big pull.

 

[bwvBound]

We are trying to figure out when we’ll be DONE packing into a studio

You'll be DONE very soon after your first stay in a larger unit type.

 

[skippytx]

You'll be DONE very soon after your first stay in a larger unit type.

I know I'm in the minority, but we have no issue with the BLT studios even as a family of 4. We opted for the studio in Feb for 8 nights and it was just fine for my wife and I and our 2 kids (8 and 10). We've rented 1 and 2 bedroom units in the past and obviously those are much nicer, but we make do with the studio. I do think we're in sort of the perfect age range with the kids for staying in a studio right now though. Younger kids need a quiet place to nap, and 2 older kids on the pullout probably won't work. We chose the studio to save on points so we could plan a big 2021 50th trip, but that's probably not going to happen.

I will say I know 2 bedroom units are in my future in the next 4 to 5 years if we keep going to WDW, so I'm planning on adding another 160-200 BLT points eventually. That or we might scale back our WDW trips to every other year instead.

 

[i<3riviera]

͏

 

[TCRAIG]

Thanks everyone! Lots of great perspectives and data. After MUCH discussion, we opted for Bay Lake Tower. Riviera is a beautiful resort and definitely had a strong pull for us, but with our cash budget it feels like we can get much more for the money at the moment (more points - that go farther) on resale. We are definitely 'park people' - and with very young children now - we anticipate many years of Magic Kingdom being #1, so being steps away is a big pull.

Welcome Home Neighbor!

 

[TCRAIG]

FWIW - we always get 1Br so I can’t speak to Studios - we’ve had very good luck with getting STD views at BLT at 11 months -

 

[dvc lover 1970]

Thanks everyone! Lots of great perspectives and data. After MUCH discussion, we opted for Bay Lake Tower. Riviera is a beautiful resort and definitely had a strong pull for us, but with our cash budget it feels like we can get much more for the money at the moment (more points - that go farther) on resale. We are definitely 'park people' - and with very young children now - we anticipate many years of Magic Kingdom being #1, so being steps away is a big pull.

Congratulations! Great choice!

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

We stayed at the poly and it is really really awesome. However with already having a 2nd kid we decided we wanted to get a place with 1 bedrooms in the future. So we bought at BLT.

With 1 or 2 young kids a studio is doable and the poly is really a great location. BLT was basically our 3rd choice. But after reviewing the views, and point charts and the desire to get a 1 bedroom we went with BLT.

so I would say if you only ever plan on staying in a studio to with the poly. If you want to stay in a 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom go with BLT.