"Home" Choice Importance?

[deba]

I've been doing my homework, considering our first dvc purchase. I'm considering purchasing a resale. My biggest question is, why does it seem to be so important to some to choose your home resort so carefully? Isn't it true that you can use your points to stay at any dvc resort? I know about the 11 month/7 month rule, but we love off season (we homeschool), so would that be important to us or do they book up so far in advance that we would get blocked out and have to stay at our 'home' most of the time?

In other words, what's to keep someone from buying at Vero Beach or Hilton Head with low cost resale points and then staying on property with your points off season? (Not trying to be cheap...just trying to figure it out!) Thanks in advance for some expert imput!!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Off season to the standard WDW crowd is not always the off season for DVC crowd. For example, early December is not that crowded at the standard resorts, but at DVC they are usually booked solid. You have member meetings in early Dec, plus the holiday decorations, christmas parties and Candlelight Processional, make it a prime time for DVC members.

If a GV is important to you, you need to own at OKW, BWV or SSR. If you want to be at the BCV for summer, you may need to own at BCV. If you want to stay at an Epcot resort during the Food & Wine Festival, you may need to have points there.

VB has some pretty high monthly maintenance fees. The savings on the initial point purchase could be easily offset by the higher monthly fees.

 

[DVCconvert]

Some would argue that as DVC growing, it will be likely that it will be increasing more difficult to get ressies at a non-home resort when you really want them.

As an example, to us, Food & Wine Fest/Flower & Garden Fest at Epcot are "must do's". Therefore we bot at an Epcot area resort, so we could be assured (that with planning) we could stay where we knew we wanted to.

If you are truely flexible enough in your future vacation dates/plans, it maynot be as important to you. Keep in mind the MF's -- VB has the highest, and over 36 years +/- that will add up.

HTH

 

[deba]

"If a GV is important to you, you need to own at OKW, BWV or SSR."

Couldn't you get a GV even with another resort as 'home' by just applying the required number of points? (If available at the seven month mark?)

 

[Chuck S]

"If a GV is important to you, you need to own at OKW, BWV or SSR."

Couldn't you get a GV even with another resort as 'home' by just applying the required number of points? (If available at the seven month mark?)

I think the poster is saying that GV are relatively difficult to book at any time of year at the 7 month window.

 

[Dean]

Partly it depends on what you see as off season. If it's Jan and Sept, you should be fine. And if you really don't care much which resort you get most visits, you're chances of success are much higher. As noted, certain unit types will be very difficult such as GV, standard view at BWV and the smaller 3 resorts in general. But if you can play at least 7 months out and be flexible, you should have an excellent chance of making this work for you. I do agree about he higher dues at VB of almost at $1 higher than the lowest one and we should expect that trend to continue.

 

[CarolMN]

"If a GV is important to you, you need to own at OKW, BWV or SSR."

Couldn't you get a GV even with another resort as 'home' by just applying the required number of points? (If available at the seven month mark?)

Sure - if it was available at 7 months. The members who own at the "Grand Villa resort" can reserve them as early as 11 months ahead of arrival. Since the Grand Villas are so popular, there often are not any available by the time the 7 month mark rolls around. Weekday nights (Sunday - Thursday) are especially hard to get at the 7 month mark (lower point cost than Friday or Saturday nights).

This is also true for the lower point option (standard view rooms) at the BWV for almost all times of the year.

As already mentioned, if you don't care which resort you stay at and you are flexible with your dates, you are pretty much guaranteed to find something on site if you reserve at the 7 month mark. Since SSR will be the largest DVC resort when it is completely finished , it will be the most likely resort to have openings at 7 months.

Best wishes -

 

[VTNuke]

On a another note, what determines your "home" resort if you own more than one contract.

For example, if you owed lets say 50 points at OKW and 70 points at Hilton Head, could you book all 120 points at OKW 11 months out? I guess this would apply to renting points from a different resort as well.

 

[CarolMN]

On a another note, what determines your "home" resort if you own more than one contract.

For example, if you owed lets say 50 points at OKW and 70 points at Hilton Head, could you book all 120 points at OKW 11 months out? I guess this would apply to renting points from a different resort as well.

In your example, you would have the home resort booking advantage at OKW for up to the 50 points you own there. You would have the 11 month advantage at HH for up to the 70 points you own there.

If you want to use the HH points for OKW, you would have to wait until the 7 month window opens and vice versa.

Best wishes -

 

[CharlesTD]

For us home location was not even considered we bought where the best incentives were and don't care about the 11 month booking window we have never had any problem getting rooms at any resort at 7 months out. For the record we own HHI and VB along with a new small add on at SSR.

 

[NMW]

If you always want to stay onsite (not at VB or HH), I think you should probably buy an onsite resort. Plus, as others have pointed out VB has higher maint fees that many believe will continue to go up.

Many people believe that as SSR grows larger, it will harder to get one of the smaller resorts (BCV, BWV, VWL) at the 7 mos window. FYI, this topic is debated A LOT here. If any of these 3 resorts are really important to you and you think you mostly want to stay at one of them, you may be better off buying a resale at one of them.

If you just want to be onsite and don't care what resort you're at, what about an OKW resale? They are fairly close in price to HH and VB and it's onsite. Plus, OKW has GV's you could book at 11 mos and a new pool slide and has the largest (by a lot) size villas of all the DVC's. You can always book OKW at 11 mos and then if you want to try somewhere else at 7 mos, you can. If another resort is available at 7 mos, you can switch your reservation. If it's not available, you can go on the waiting list and keep your OKW reservation!

Good luck!

 

[quentina]

We own at HH. I have never had a problem booking at the 7 month window.

The benefit of owning HH is that we can book "high season" at the 11 month window. If in the future it gets difficult to book on-site, I figure there will always be someone I can trade with.

Personally, I think this was a great choice for us. When we bought we had no plans of ever going to HH. Now, we have kids and it is a great way to get a beach vacation. We are actually leaving in 4 days!!

Do what is best for you, however, I just wanted to share that we never had a booking problem.

Kim

 

[jarestel]

Some things to keep in mind when deciding where to call home:

Are you able to plan your vacations more than 7 months in advance? If not, it won't matter where you have your home resort. You can buy wherever you find the best deal.

Will it impact your vacation if you're not able to reserve your first choice resort? ( ie, we love resort XXX, but we can't always get reservations there so we settled for resort YYY ) If so, you should buy where you most prefer to be, rather than spend time on your vacations wishing you were in another resort. Also, don't underestimate the value of not having to "worry" about getting the reservation at your favorite resort. This is huge.

On the other hand, if you find all resorts appealing to you and don't really care where you stay, buy where ever you find the best deal.

We've stayed at all of the WDW resorts just to try them out, but there were definitely times when our first choice wasn't available, so we booked another resort as our backup. Booking your first choice resort at 7 months works some of the time but sometimes a plan 'B' is needed. As long as you're flexible with dates and resorts, it's relatively easy to book a reservation ( though maybe not your first choice ) at a DVC resort at 7 months or less.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

I don't think it's important at all if you are willing to stay at whatever resort is available--which will probably be OWK or SSR, due to their size. The only time you might get in a bind is if you have an occasion where you did need to travel during peak season or a holiday (ie: never say never...our next trip is scheduled during spring break!).

Also, make sure you look at the big picture before taking the plunge...maintenance fees, possible loss if you sell the contract again in a few years, etc. There's a reason why some of the contracts have a much lower price per point and what saves you money now might cost you down the road.

 

[spiceycat]

if you want to be at WDW Dec 1-14 or thanksgiving week - then I would buy where you want to stay. (or at least at WDW).

Spring break and summer you can generally get at 7th months.

I don't go Easter or Christmas - but I don't think they would be a big problem either - too many people for most DVC members.

Thanksgiving week became popular a few years ago - it is value season for most of the week with DVC - with WDW it is regular season.

so it benefits beat Christmas week - peak in both places.

Oct has become very, very popular at BWV and BCV because of the food/wine festavial plus of course MNSSHP - but that I think has made VWL more popular.

so don't count on any Epcot resorts during the food/wine festavial.

the garden/flower festavial is getting more popular. but I think you can still get an Epcot resort for this.

 

[CharlesTD]

All of our trips are the first 2 weeks of Dec and we have stayed at OKW VWL and BWV and had no problem getting studios at the 7 month window any time we call so I really wouldn't worry to much about it if you go in Dec.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) I still say BUY WHERE YOU WANT TO STAY.

2) Sure, right now you can go elsewhere relatively easily.
3) But it cannot stay like that.
4) It is simple mathematics.
5) Assume
. . . 29m points available for sale at WDW
. . . 29m points (eventually) sold to owners
. . . capacity is gone

6) Eventually this means
. . . people will need the 11-month window for ressies
. . . people will have to take less-popular weeks
. . . people will be forced into high-point-cost weeks
7) This could *possibly* mean
. . . people will have to use weekend days, since weekdays are taken
. . . people will use more points, due to weekend point-values



NOTE-1: As long as Disney keeps building DVC's and has unsold points, there remains available capacity, so the 11-month window is critical for only higher demand weeks.

NOTE-2: The only problem with DVC is also one of its best benefits. You can use your points at any time you wish, but so can every one else. If you want (eg) June 12-17, so could 40,000 other people. Several people do not get their preference.

 

[jarestel]

All of our trips are the first 2 weeks of Dec and we have stayed at OKW VWL and BWV and had no problem getting studios at the 7 month window any time we call so I really wouldn't worry to much about it if you go in Dec.

The problem is Charles, that you can't guarantee this will continue to be the case. When someone shells out a hefty chunk of change expecting the 7 month window will always get them a reservation at their favorite non-home resort because some guys on the internet told them it would work out, I think they will be setting themselves up for trouble down the road.

Naturally, if all you're looking for is an empty room anywhere at WDW, it's not going to be a problem. But for those who feel a certain affinity for a particular resort and would feel disappointed if unable to book there, why gamble? If you buy at the resort you like best, there won't be a need for any "So disappointed, I couldn't get resort XXX at 7 months" threads as DVC membership continues to grow.

And remember that, although any member may make a reservation at any resort, the reservations are always "subject to availability".

 

[deba]

Thanks for all of the words of wisdom. I thought maybe I was missing something and so not thinking it through properly.

We never vacation in mid-summer (don't do heat well), and can't imagine ever being away from home on or around Easter or Christmas, either (DH is a preacher). For the same reason we very rarely are away from home on a Saturday night. All things considered, we usually vacation on everyone else's least popular times. Added to that, we love visiting different resorts, so would be pretty flexible, I think.

Reading and weighing each opinion, and appreciate every point of view. Thanks!

 

[lisareniff]

Sounds like you would do fine buying the resort that is least expensive (I would suggest OKW resale). Just make sure it is somewhere you wouldn't mind staying if things got difficult.