Help with next DVC purchase (growing family, already own at VGF)

[AstroBlasters]

Own enough points at a single home resort where you can get the room type you want at the time of year you want to travel. You can always waitlist or change resorts at 7m from there… I would not lock myself into split stays….

 

[Lionezz]

I was haggling for a 200 poly contract which had been in market for 3 weeks last year (just before all poly was vacuumed from the market) for 134 but seller wanted 136 and said they had other bids at 136. I passed and someone else bought it. I ended up buying AKV instead.

I was afraid at the moment that I couldnt get room at AKV. But its a huge resort so room is not hard to come by even at cristmas. Its our familys avarage favourite and number 2 for everyone in my family (all have different number one). My parents dont like AKV. They think it doesnt feel like disney (they rather go to Africa if they want to see a savannah). Their favourite is poly which is why I put it on my buy list it since i want to take them with me when i can (when my wife let me). The second reason I bought AKV it its so easy to find contracts with the UY and points I was looking for. Third reason was buy where you want to stay. Fourth was the lower upfront cost compared to poly (but lower contract length. how much is every added contract year worth for you).

I had poly, BLT and AKV on my addonitis watchlist. If I could do it again I would probably buy BLT instead and use the points mainly at AKV and BLT.
The market value for renting out the AKV-points is not good. I found out that AKV is not easy to rent out compared to BCV and VGF if your family cant use the points or want to take a break from disney.
Also because of the lower dues at BLT compared with AKV and the high availabilty at AKV at 7 months. BLT is harder to get into and its fun to alternate disney hotels.. except when you need alot of points to invite parents and my sisters family (with high demands. they do not prefer akv, ssr or okw. And I want to try to make everyone happy since its a once in a life time experience ). When were so many I wish I had all my points at VGF so we can stay together! It started so easy but when family expands / more family members want to join its really hard to have the perfect amount of points at the right deluxe hotel .

I now own at VGF (200), BC (160) and AKV (160).

I think you did your homework and I recommend what you already found out, same UY and BLT .

 

[BuzzLightyr]

The early check-in required for a nap time is a deal breaker for a split stay unless you pay for an extra night to guarantee you space. Each kid is different but a well rested child is the key to a vacation feeling like a vacation.

I'd bank and borrow points, or add to VGF but stay in one place for now.

Staying at GF and driving to Epcot or HS isn't that bad. It's the TTC at MK which is the biggest problem. I prefer a rental car with young kids as you'll need more stuff. Not needing a driver for your car gives you space. 2 adults and 2 kids can be seated comfortably in almost any car, but throw in a driver and you'd want a 3 row vehicle and you give up luggage space.

If the $99/day 4 day 4 parks continue, that's a great deal in my opinion but also involves planning to go to 4 parks. At $150/day, I might be more selective on parks and just do MK and Epcot and have more pool time (time of year permitting).

Beach club and their pool (renovating in 2025) would be my suggestion for an add after you have borrowed all your VGF points. Great pool. Character dining breakfast. Compared to RIV, location wins. You need to fold a double stroller on the skyliner which is a deal breaker for me in your shoes. Beach club is a walk.

 

[jolynne28]

We've gone in Feb/May/Oct/Nov and have planned another trip for next March already. Basically any time outside of June-Aug and Thanksgiving/Christmas would work for us as we hate the heat/humidity and also extreme crowds. I do realize that may be problematic once the kids are older and we're bound by school schedules. My plan is to take them to Disney a lot while they're young and then go 1x a year once they're older/in school (most likely during Spring Break). We took my daughter 4 times last year when she was two.

I was you once, we always went in September to Disney and/or the beach b/c it was low crowds and the kids weren't in school. Now I have 3, they will be K-5th in the fall. We have been forced to fall into travel patterns that we don't particularly love b/c of school. I know it's hard to imagine and seems far away, but you'll be there before you know it! It's not reasonable to pull them out much anymore for trips, and we are close by. We have decided we will do a 5 night weekday trip every summer the first week of June, then possibly a shorter stay over a long weekend in December with them missing a day or two.
We did Spring Break last year, before we had DVC, and it was super crowded. It's also one of the highest point chart tiers, and is blocked out for our AP, so it just doesn't work for us.
All that to say, if I were you I would buy with the forward thinking of what your life will look like in 5+ years to get the most out of your purchase. I swore no to 2042 as well, but we are about to close on a small BWV contract b/c of the point chart and location. I agree that TTC sucks bad, we try to avoid it at all costs. But Deluxe buses to MK aren't horrible, and if you want to try it, I think split stays will work great for you in say 3 years. Also, things happen, I have a 5 year old to prove it, and you may end up larger than a family of 4, so keep that in mind when looking at resorts that sleep that many. I'm fairly certain BCV, BWV, and BRV will allow 5 in a 1 bedroom, they just don't provide the bed/bedding.

 

[cncm]

Own enough points at a single home resort where you can get the room type you want at the time of year you want to travel. You can always waitlist or change resorts at 7m from there… I would not lock myself into split stays….

I think what I may do if split stays end up being impractical with 2 young kids is just bank/borrow enough points so I can stay at VGF 1br for a week every other year and then use the 2nd contract (leaning toward BLT) to book a 1br for the alternating year. This way, we'll always have a home base in a monorail resort and can drive/take the bus to the other parks (which I don't mind since there's no TTC nonsense).

It's hard for me to swallow buying VGF resale right now since it'll effectively cost the same as my direct contract last year (I bought during the summer promotion when direct contracts were going for <$170/pt). BLT seems much better value if I can score resale at ~$120-125/pt range - plus it will have way more inventory of 1- and 2-br (with extra bathroom!).

I was haggling for a 200 poly contract which had been in market for 3 weeks last year (just before all poly was vacuumed from the market) for 134 but seller wanted 136 and said they had other bids at 136. I passed and someone else bought it. I ended up buying AKV instead.

I was afraid at the moment that I couldnt get room at AKV. But its a huge resort so room is not hard to come by even at cristmas. Its our familys avarage favourite and number 2 for everyone in my family (all have different number one). My parents dont like AKV. They think it doesnt feel like disney (they rather go to Africa if they want to see a savannah). Their favourite is poly which is why I put it on my buy list it since i want to take them with me when i can (when my wife let me). The second reason I bought AKV it its so easy to find contracts with the UY and points I was looking for. Third reason was buy where you want to stay. Fourth was the lower upfront cost compared to poly (but lower contract length. how much is every added contract year worth for you).

I had poly, BLT and AKV on my addonitis watchlist. If I could do it again I would probably buy BLT instead and use the points mainly at AKV and BLT.
The market value for renting out the AKV-points is not good. I found out that AKV is not easy to rent out compared to BCV and VGF if your family cant use the points or want to take a break from disney.
Also because of the lower dues at BLT compared with AKV and the high availabilty at AKV at 7 months. BLT is harder to get into and its fun to alternate disney hotels.. except when you need alot of points to invite parents and my sisters family (with high demands. they do not prefer akv, ssr or okw. And I want to try to make everyone happy since its a once in a life time experience ). When were so many I wish I had all my points at VGF so we can stay together! It started so easy but when family expands / more family members want to join its really hard to have the perfect amount of points at the right deluxe hotel .

I now own at VGF (200), BC (160) and AKV (160).

I think you did your homework and I recommend what you already found out, same UY and BLT .

I love AKV and definitely planning on staying there again in the future, especially once we're out of the toddler stage so bus transportation isn't such a hassle. I found the same when it comes to AKV availability - much more plentiful compared to BLT and the monorail resorts.

The early check-in required for a nap time is a deal breaker for a split stay unless you pay for an extra night to guarantee you space. Each kid is different but a well rested child is the key to a vacation feeling like a vacation.

I'd bank and borrow points, or add to VGF but stay in one place for now.

Staying at GF and driving to Epcot or HS isn't that bad. It's the TTC at MK which is the biggest problem. I prefer a rental car with young kids as you'll need more stuff. Not needing a driver for your car gives you space. 2 adults and 2 kids can be seated comfortably in almost any car, but throw in a driver and you'd want a 3 row vehicle and you give up luggage space.

If the $99/day 4 day 4 parks continue, that's a great deal in my opinion but also involves planning to go to 4 parks. At $150/day, I might be more selective on parks and just do MK and Epcot and have more pool time (time of year permitting).

Beach club and their pool (renovating in 2025) would be my suggestion for an add after you have borrowed all your VGF points. Great pool. Character dining breakfast. Compared to RIV, location wins. You need to fold a double stroller on the skyliner which is a deal breaker for me in your shoes. Beach club is a walk.

Never stayed at Beach Club before but really tempted by the location/pool amenities. It's just sooo expensive, even resale, and much harder to justify financially given the short contract life. I'm holding out hope that the price will come down in the next few years and if it does, that would make a great 3rd contract (when the kids are bigger and can actually take advantage of the pools/handle split stays).

 

[cncm]

I was you once, we always went in September to Disney and/or the beach b/c it was low crowds and the kids weren't in school. Now I have 3, they will be K-5th in the fall. We have been forced to fall into travel patterns that we don't particularly love b/c of school. I know it's hard to imagine and seems far away, but you'll be there before you know it! It's not reasonable to pull them out much anymore for trips, and we are close by. We have decided we will do a 5 night weekday trip every summer the first week of June, then possibly a shorter stay over a long weekend in December with them missing a day or two.
We did Spring Break last year, before we had DVC, and it was super crowded. It's also one of the highest point chart tiers, and is blocked out for our AP, so it just doesn't work for us.
All that to say, if I were you I would buy with the forward thinking of what your life will look like in 5+ years to get the most out of your purchase. I swore no to 2042 as well, but we are about to close on a small BWV contract b/c of the point chart and location. I agree that TTC sucks bad, we try to avoid it at all costs. But Deluxe buses to MK aren't horrible, and if you want to try it, I think split stays will work great for you in say 3 years. Also, things happen, I have a 5 year old to prove it, and you may end up larger than a family of 4, so keep that in mind when looking at resorts that sleep that many. I'm fairly certain BCV, BWV, and BRV will allow 5 in a 1 bedroom, they just don't provide the bed/bedding.

Yea I'm really not sure what we'll do when both kids are in school and we can't travel as freely. I think I'm still okay pulling them out for vacations during early elementary years but as they get older, we'll probably only be able to do Disney over Spring or Winter Break (not setting foot in Florida during the summer lol)

 

[AstroBlasters]

I think what I may do if split stays end up being impractical with 2 young kids is just bank/borrow enough points so I can stay at VGF 1br for a week every other year and then use the 2nd contract (leaning toward BLT) to book a 1br for the alternating year. This way, we'll always have a home base in a monorail resort and can drive/take the bus to the other parks (which I don't mind since there's no TTC nonsense).

It's hard for me to swallow buying VGF resale right now since it'll effectively cost the same as my direct contract last year (I bought during the summer promotion when direct contracts were going for <$170/pt). BLT seems much better value if I can score resale at ~$120-125/pt range - plus it will have way more inventory of 1- and 2-br (with extra bathroom!).



I love AKV and definitely planning on staying there again in the future, especially once we're out of the toddler stage so bus transportation isn't such a hassle. I found the same when it comes to AKV availability - much more plentiful compared to BLT and the monorail resorts.




Never stayed at Beach Club before but really tempted by the location/pool amenities. It's just sooo expensive, even resale, and much harder to justify financially given the short contract life. I'm holding out hope that the price will come down in the next few years and if it does, that would make a great 3rd contract (when the kids are bigger and can actually take advantage of the pools/handle split stays).

I think you should take the points required to get a room into account with BC/BW.