Having Multiple Home Resorts

[kristenrice]

We bought 100 points at AKV and plan to use banking and borrowing, along with AP's, to go in June and April. Then, we'll take a year off. We just added on 50 points at HHI so that we can use banking/borrowing to take a trip in the "off" year. HHI is a cheaper destination for us and it is a completely different kind of vacation. We have young children so all of our trips for the next 10-15 years will be either the first week of April or summer vacation. We will most likely need the 11-month advantage at HHI for those times of year. The great thing about DVC is that we still have the option to "switch" our plans. If we want to do WDW three years in a row, we can. We can also try to do HHI two years in a row. There are so many options and I am extremely happy with our purchase(s)!

 

[BUDDYBEAR]

we have 3 contracts okw, bwv, bcv,

 

[JWG]

We have 3 contracts with a 4th waiting to close. But only two resorts. Epcot area and MK area - we're covered.

 

[disfan100]

5 contracts - BCV, BWV, SSR, BLT, VGC and 3 UYs. Didn't start out with this plan, but it evolved over time and works for us. First purchase was BCV with March UY (this was the UY offered at the time and we did not fully understand UY concept). Now find these points to be handy for spring reservations. VGC has June UY which works out well for our annual visit to family in California. The rest have September UY which are used for fall and winter visits. Agree with previous posters about the variety and reservation flexibility with having multiple home resorts and in our case use years.

 

[drusba]

OP, do not buy a second resort based on any assumption that they will someday take away booking at resorts other than your home, or lower reservation window for other resorts to 6 months or less. Buying on the basis of unlikely but possible events is not a reason to do it. If you are going to buy at another resort do it because you want the owners window at the resort. That particularly applies when you own at BLT which has lower dues than other resorts, something that is likely to continue.

We owned for years at BWV. We then purchased AKV when it opened. The reason is that we liked that place, particularly the restaurants and the savanna view and we bought there to assure being able to get savanna view during holiday times including Christmas and to have the longer contract termination date. Moreover, we would never have bought a second resort unless we alaready had enough points at our first resort to get at least a full week in a 2BR anytime of year. In other words, think of where you might want to be total point wise at your currently owned resort before considering a second.

 

[disneynutz]

OP, do not buy a second resort based on any assumption that they will someday take away booking at resorts other than your home, or lower reservation window for other resorts to 6 months or less. Buying on the basis of unlikely but possible events is not a reason to do it. If you are going to buy at another resort do it because you want the owners window at the resort. That particularly applies when you own at BLT which has lower dues than other resorts, something that is likely to continue.

Based on the rule and policy changes to the membership that Disney has implemented during the last 2 years, I don't think that we can be sure of anything.

Buying where you love to stay is cheap insurance in my book, especially if you enjoy spending time at your resort as much as the parks.

Disney knows that cheap resale prices at SSR has caused increased booking activity at 7 months for other resorts. If they will rebalanced the point charts twice within a year to maintain a system balance, don't you think that they will take action to keep the SSR rooms full? When the DVC first started, owners were required to stay at their home resort every other year. What if they bring that rule back?

IMO BLT dues were set artificially low to offset the high purchase price. We know that there have been issues with it's construction and quality of furnishings. At some point the added costs will be passed on to the owners, probably after it sells out and DVD moves on to their next resort.

Bill

 

[goldylox]

If you wanted to book at your home resort, but you do not have enough points at the time you are booking is that an issue? Also for those of you with deeds at more than one resort I assume you can combine your points to book at one resort is that correct? Sorry if this is dumb question, but this is all new to me and I am currently looking at purchasing and want to make sure I make the right choice.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out on this!

 

[bwvBound]

I really like the idea of having one home resort for one time of the year, and then another home resort for the other time of the year.

I love this idea in theory and gave it some thought a few months back. We already own SSR/OCT for our WDW visits and gave serious consideration to adding GCV/APR for our DLR use. We generally hit Florida in Fall/Winter months (Oct is perfect UY!) and DLR Spring through Fall (thus the APR UY). While this might have panned out for DVC stays -- having two UY promised to be difficult to combine for ABD, DCL or other non-DVC uses. Yes, sorry to say -- we really want to try ABD someday and would love to pay with points for at least one person.

Edited to add: On the other hand, we own other timeshare products in addition to DVC. We have enjoyed great flexibility and a wide-range of perks/services by owning points/weeks in different timeshare clubs. Love it!

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

We really went back and forth on our most recent purchase. We owned at SSR and BCV. The purchase price for SSR points was much lower than BLT. We love the THV, so SSR points would have worked fine for us. In the end, we decided to go with BLT to have one more place with an 11-month advantage. We figured of all the resorts at WDW, that one will consistently be the hardest to get reservations at (with the possible exception of Epcot resorts during F&W).

 

[lucyem]

We are in a similar spot now - whether or not to buy more points and where. Presently we own at BCV and have enough for 5 nights in a 1 bedroom each year.

My husband really enjoys AKL concierge and wants to buy enough points to stay there every other year or so. That would work out well and then with banking/borrowing we could stay at the BCV longer or in a bigger room and bring friends. Or the same at AKL without concierge.

I think it is a good idea and I agree we need to get more points, it was our plan from the start. But I am still leaning towards more BCV points or HHI points. We love HHI and having the ability to book a summer trip at 11 months out would be great. More BCV points would keep things simpler.

 

[disneynutz]

We are in a similar spot now - whether or not to buy more points and where. Presently we own at BCV and have enough for 5 nights in a 1 bedroom each year.

My husband really enjoys AKL concierge and wants to buy enough points to stay there every other year or so. That would work out well and then with banking/borrowing we could stay at the BCV longer or in a bigger room and bring friends. Or the same at AKL without concierge.

I think it is a good idea and I agree we need to get more points, it was our plan from the start. But I am still leaning towards more BCV points or HHI points. We love HHI and having the ability to book a summer trip at 11 months out would be great. More BCV points would keep things simpler.

Even calling at 11 months out for Concierge will not guarantee availability. I called at 11 months at 8 AM and I lost the room while I was booking it.

Bill

 

[chalee94]

If you wanted to book at your home resort, but you do not have enough points at the time you are booking is that an issue?

you do not have to wait to "get" the points in your account. my account currently shows points through 2013 available. always remember that use year month has nothing to do with when you can call to book.

for example, if i have an oct UY and have used up all my pts in my 2011 and 2012 use years (and won't "get" any more pts until oct 2013), i can still call at 11 months out to book my home resort...say, by calling as early as nov 2011 to book an oct 2012 reservation with borrowed pts from my oct 2013 use year... as long as i have access to banked/current (at the time of the reservation)/borrowed pts for the use year in which the stay occurs.

more info about understanding use year is here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1942668

Also for those of you with deeds at more than one resort I assume you can combine your points to book at one resort is that correct?

as i posted above in post#19, you can mix or combine pts from different resorts at the 7 month window. at 11 months out, you need BLT pts to book BLT and SSR pts to book SSR (and so on.)

 

[Harlemgirl720]

I have 100 at BLT and 160 at AKV. Debating if I should add on to BLT before price goes up. I love having the choice of picking at 11 month window without worrying but now other family members want to go and I let them use the AKV. This way the BLT points are for my use and they can have the AKV points. But then again I can add more AKV points and have the best of both worlds.

 

[tea pot]

We have 4 contracts and 3 home resorts the bulk of our points are at SSR.
After the first few years of our DVC Membership
We learn when we wanted to visit and how the availability ran for that time.

So we added 2 smaller contracts
enough for DH and I to stay 5 nights in a Studio
at the BCV during Flower and Garden and VWL during December.
these are the 2 smallest resorts

We use our SSR points to Hop around the World and book larger units
with family and friends.
this flexibility is what we Love about DVC

Now we are thinking about adding on at BLT
We have been lucky enough to be able to get into BLT twice
at the 7 month booking but we had to be flexible and it was close.
Once I called at 9am at 7 months and got the last room in that category.

I guess if you need a rule of thumb
You should own at the smallest Resorts
and that would give you the most flexibility.

Unless of course if you were able to own at All of them

 

[drusba]

When the DVC first started, owners were required to stay at their home resort every other year. What if they bring that rule back?

IMO BLT dues were set artificially low to offset the high purchase price. We know that there have been issues with it's construction and quality of furnishings. At some point the added costs will be passed on to the owners, probably after it sells out and DVD moves on to their next resort.
Bill

I saw someone mention before that when DVC started there was some rule that owners were required to stay at their home resort at least once every other year. That was not a rule. As a practicable matter they had to go every other year because otherwise points would be lost, i.e., you can only bank points into one successive year, and there really was no easy way to find people to rent points to -- we were still waiting to a great extent for Al Gore to invent the internet. Moreover, unless they traded out of DVC, they had to go to OKW (called the Disney Vacation Club at the time) because it was the only DVC resort that existed.

BLT dues are not artifically low. Disney cannot by law either make them artificially low or artificially high; applicable accounting procedures require them to be based on a fair and reasonable estimate of actual costs. Dues are lower per point than other resorts mainly because of the much higher points needed per room per night than other resorts. That means they sold a much larger number of points per unit than any other resort and thus dues per unit are spread over more points. BLT's having lower than other resort dues is likely a situation that will continue into the future. If there are defects in construction that have led to inordinate deteriation of rooms, then a likely remedy will be going after the construction contractors and architects to pay for repairs and thus members will not be the ones to pay (that actually happened at BWV).

Ultimately, owning at two resorts can be desirable if you want the home resort booking window at both. Simply buying out of some fear that Disney might end your being able to reserve a non-home resort is , to me, not a reason to pay many thousands of dollars on a second home resort.

 

[PoohsFan1]

We only own at BLT right now and we are planning on adding on sometime in the next couple of months. We just got back from BCV and loved it, so we are thinking of buying into that. We like the the thought of having a home resort near each of our favorite parks.

 

[csharpwv]

We have 4 contracts - and 4 home resorts.

The smallest contract we own is 85 points and that is at Saratoga for a Bank Borrow Use situation to have access to the Tree House Villas - a 3 BR for the price of a 2BR? HECK YA! I'm all over that! Plus, we LOVE the style of the Tree House Villas. We will stay there one day!!!

In all reality - for this point in our life we own too many points LOL BUT, we love to vacation - we love to get away - and we love DISNEY - so - it's the best of all three!!!

We are staying at the Disneyland Hotel AND the Grand Californian on our upcoming trip to the Disneyland Resort - plus we are also going to try to book at 60 days out for a few nights at the Hotel Del Coronado just south of San Diego as part of the Concierge Collection. People say trades are not a good use of points - to that, I say it all depends. For us, we would NEVER and I mean NEVER pay $400 for a room for one night, but with points - it's not a matter of dollars and cents. SO, we have the experience without a large financial outlay - just $95! The points are our - so why not use them for unforgettable experiences that we would never have otherwise?!?!?

Bring on the fun!!!!

But as you can see in my signature - that's where we own!

 

[deebits]

We also own at different resorts. In case our first choice is sold out for the room type we want, then we have a fall back for the next resort and room type. If you feel you want to stay at BLT during one trip and jump around for your other, buy where it is the cheapest per point and dues. We bought into VGC for our jumping around points and for when we ever want to venture out to DL

 

[adminjedi]

We own at multiple resorts (1 UY, 8 contracts, 4 resorts) because we like the amenities and locations of different resorts. We like booking at the 11 month window and knowing we have the vacation planned just the way we want it. Although we could try to move a reservation at the 7 month mark, we never want to feel like we aren't able to stay where we hoped. Owning at multiple resorts we know, no matter what season we are booking, that we can stay where we want to stay!

 

[jade1]

Yes-we always split stays with BLT and BCV eliminating most buses and just enjoying those 2 locations.