going on my 1st DVC tour next week, seriously thinking about buying, help!!

[snoopy5386]

We are going to the world in a week and I will be taking the DVC tour for the 1st time. I didn't think I was going to be buying this trip until I heard about the 100 point contracts for sale at AKV. This got me interested because 160 pts is too much for us right now, but I was thinking of buying a 50-100 pt resale contract, now instead I could buy a 100 pt contract directly from Disney.
Here are my concerns.
We generally vacation in the fall for F&WF, my original plan was to buy a resale at either BCV (preferred) or BWV because of this. I love being able to walk to Epcot/MGM and I love, love, love SAB and basically everything about BC&YC resort. The cons are the contract ends sooner, in 2042 I will be 64 and DH 65, and I assume we will still want to vacation at Disney (we have been going 1x a year for the past 10 years so far and my DD is only 2). If we buy at AKV the contract would expire when we are 76 and 77 respectively, so it makes a difference to us. We like AKV as well and I would be fine staying there, but I don't want to run into the problem of never getting to stay at BCV/BWV. Is it possible to book rooms at those resorts during F&WF if they are not your home resort?
The only downside of BCV/BWV is their decor, simply put I think it is plain ugly, while the decor at AKV to me is beautiful, so that is a plus for AKV.

Also, I am confused about borrowing/banking, is it possible to bank more than a year's worth of points? In other words, could I bank my 2009 points and my 2010 points and use my 2009, 2010, and 2011 points all in 2011 (for like a grand villa or something) or would I have to bank 2009, use 2010 and borrow 2011?
It also seems like with a 100 pt contract we would be borrowing small amounts of points many years, between 4-10 pts. For instance we could stay in a 1 bdrm for 6 nites during choice season at BWV for 96 pts (let's say 2009 pts), the bank the remaining 4 pts to use the next year to stay at BCV for a week in a studio for 104 pts (100 pts from 2010 and 4 from 2009). Do people do this? Is it a pain in the butt? Do you always spend all your points? What do you do if you end up with a few extra points (10 or less) that need to get used up somehow?
I don't know if buying resale would save me much, that is why I am considering buying direct from disney....Help!!
ANY Advice is appreciated.....

 

[DeeCee735]

We are going to the world in a week and I will be taking the DVC tour for the 1st time. I didn't think I was going to be buying this trip until I heard about the 100 point contracts for sale at AKV. This got me interested because 160 pts is too much for us right now, but I was thinking of buying a 50-100 pt resale contract, now instead I could buy a 100 pt contract directly from Disney.
Here are my concerns.
We generally vacation in the fall for F&WF, my original plan was to buy a resale at either BCV (preferred) or BWV because of this. I love being able to walk to Epcot/MGM and I love, love, love SAB and basically everything about BC&YC resort. The cons are the contract ends sooner, in 2042 I will be 64 and DH 65, and I assume we will still want to vacation at Disney (we have been going 1x a year for the past 10 years so far and my DD is only 2). If we buy at AKV the contract would expire when we are 76 and 77 respectively, so it makes a difference to us. We like AKV as well and I would be fine staying there, but I don't want to run into the problem of never getting to stay at BCV/BWV. Is it possible to book rooms at those resorts during F&WF if they are not your home resort?
The only downside of BCV/BWV is their decor, simply put I think it is plain ugly, while the decor at AKV to me is beautiful, so that is a plus for AKV.

Also, I am confused about borrowing/banking, is it possible to bank more than a year's worth of points? In other words, could I bank my 2009 points and my 2010 points and use my 2009, 2010, and 2011 points all in 2011 (for like a grand villa or something) or would I have to bank 2009, use 2010 and borrow 2011?
It also seems like with a 100 pt contract we would be borrowing small amounts of points many years, between 4-10 pts. For instance we could stay in a 1 bdrm for 6 nites during choice season at BWV for 96 pts (let's say 2009 pts), the bank the remaining 4 pts to use the next year to stay at BCV for a week in a studio for 104 pts (100 pts from 2010 and 4 from 2009). Do people do this? Is it a pain in the butt? Do you always spend all your points? What do you do if you end up with a few extra points (10 or less) that need to get used up somehow?
I don't know if buying resale would save me much, that is why I am considering buying direct from disney....Help!!
ANY Advice is appreciated.....

Sounds like the AKV contract would be better for you - decor, and mostly the extra 15 years on the contract. Yes I think you'd be able to book BC or BW sometimes for food and wine, if you do it exactly at 7 months out and you are flexible with dates. Most people on the board will say it's very difficult to do, but I've gotten it (I do own there), just a few months before - I had to take a preferred view as opposed to a standard, but I got it with the first phone call.

You can only bank one year ahead, and you can only borrow one year ahead. Example, 2009 points can be banked to 2010 UY, 2011 points can be borrowed into 2010 UY, thereby having 3 years worth of points to use in 2010.

You could always add on in small increments (minimum of 25 points, no fiancing, 50 point contracts can be financed) after you are a member. So if you buy 100 points now, you are free to buy smaller add on contracts in the future. We bought 185 for our initial purchase and have added on 4 times since! It's enough for us, for now anyway and we have NO REGRETS whatsoever.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[shortypots]

Is it possible to book rooms at those resorts during F&WF if they are not your home resort?

Not sure if it is even possible, but I imagine a 1bd might not be as difficult.

Also, I am confused about borrowing/banking, is it possible to bank more than a year's worth of points? In other words, could I bank my 2009 points and my 2010 points and use my 2009, 2010, and 2011 points all in 2011 (for like a grand villa or something) or would I have to bank 2009, use 2010 and borrow 2011?

Technically, you cannot do this, but you can bank your 2010 points into 2011, and then borrow your 2012 points for a 3 yr allotment in one year, but remember once they are moved into the new year (banked or borrowed) they cannot be moved back.

Do people do this? Is it a pain in the butt? Do you always spend all your points? What do you do if you end up with a few extra points (10 or less) that need to get used up somehow?

I know our intention is not to use all our points every year but to bank and borrow to get what we need each year.

Example, we are in process of purchasing a 150 pts contract at VWL, and we plan on alternating between 7 nts in a studio and 7 nights in a 1bd every other year in Dec. So one year we will bank, the other year we will borrow. We even plan on doing a 2bd at one point in which case would need a lot of points!

I don't know if buying resale would save me much, that is why I am considering buying direct from disney

Depends on the resort. All the sold out resorts are hard to get even from Disney as they are waitlisted, so if you want it fast, may be resale is the only option (BCV, BWL, HH, VB, OKW, VWL). For AKV and SSR (although SSR has really good resale rates right now- 94 via Disney and about 75-80 through resale), they are offering such good incentives, it almost pays to get it through Disney. We bought our 300pt AKV contract through Disney and within 2 weeks put an offer on a VWL contract. So it all depends on what you want as your home resort.

Hope this helps!

 

[snoopy5386]

Thanks! Another question, if I buy 100 pts through Disney at AKV and then add on 25 points at BCV (that is the minimum add on through disney correct?) then would both resorts (AKV and BCV) be considered my home resorts?

SSR is of no interest to me at all and I am in no rush for the pts. We are going next week, then next year for 2 days followed by a cruise on DCL so our next "big" disney vacation wouldn't be until 2010.

 

[shortypots]

Yes if you have 100 pts at AKV and 25 pts at BCV, you have 2 home resorts. Just know that for the 11mo priority it is only good up to the amt of pts you have at each home resort. Example: if you wanted 7 nts at BCV, you would actually be able to only book maybe 2 at 11 mo then use your AKV points for the remaining 5 at 7mo.