Home Resort and Peak Periods

[marathonmommy]

JimMIA has an excellent post from 3/30/05 giving advice to new DVC buyers. It is very helpful to me as I am still struggling with "where to buy" - SSR or BWV/BCV resale. In the post Jim mentions that DVC peak periods are not neccessarily WDW peak periods. What are the DVC peak periods? Knowing this may help me decide SSR or BWV/BCV. I don't want to HAVE to stay at SSR due to the location from the parks, although once in a while would be just fine. I would also love to hear anyone's opininons on the resorts mentioned (SSR vs. BWV/BCV). I have read many posts. You guys are so good - just when I think I am ready to purchase a BWV/BCV resale, I think SSR is the smarter way to go! HELP!

Also, can someone tell a new person to the boards what "bumping for new readers" means? And IMHTO (or something like that)?

 

[Dean]

JimMIA has an excellent post from 3/30/05 giving advice to new DVC buyers. It is very helpful to me as I am still struggling with "where to buy" - SSR or BWV/BCV resale. In the post Jim mentions that DVC peak periods are not neccessarily WDW peak periods. What are the DVC peak periods? Knowing this may help me decide SSR or BWV/BCV. I don't want to HAVE to stay at SSR due to the location from the parks, although once in a while would be just fine. I would also love to hear anyone's opininons on the resorts mentioned (SSR vs. BWV/BCV). I have read many posts. You guys are so good - just when I think I am ready to purchase a BWV/BCV resale, I think SSR is the smarter way to go! HELP!

Also, can someone tell a new person to the boards what "bumping for new readers" means? And IMHTO (or something like that)?

I think the big difference is the first 2-3 weeks of December. But one could throw other times in especially certain weeks in Oct and November. Plus as a rule weekdays (S-F) will be harder than weekend days. For out of WDW, VB will be busiest Xmas to late April plus summer and HH will be busiest mid June to mid August.

 

[CarolMN]

IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

bump - just a way to get a thread moved to the top of the first page. Every reply does that, but if you don't have anything to say or just want more people to see the thread, you put "bump" in the reply.


I hate to use the waitlist - no matter how many people post here that it works, it didn't work for us for a late August stay a few years ago. (Tried to book it in May). If you don't like using a waitlist, then buy at BWV or BCV. If you want to stay in a BWV standard view, A BWV Grand Villa or in a guaranteed Boardwalk view room at the BWV, buy BWV. Those room types are very tough to get all the time. It's not impossible at 7 months, but the odds are against you.

Unless you really value the extra 12 years you would get at SSR, or need Disney to finance your purchase, buying at the BCV or BWV (where you want to be most of the time) is the way to go. Many of us believe the competition for reservations at 7 months for the smaller WDW resorts (VWL, BCV & BWV) is going to increase. SSR is a very large resort. As more SSR members decide to try the other resorts, there will be more competion for the smaller number of rooms available at BCV, VWL & BWV.

FWIW, if you wanted to book at BCV or BWV right now for October, November or December, you would have to go on a waitlist - with minimal chances of it coming through for you.

The easiest months to get DVC reservations are January (except marathon & MLK weekends), May and September.

Good luck with your decision.

Best wishes -

 

[Figment2]

I'm going to add Mothers' Day Weekend as difficult to get studios anywhere. We did a last minute trip (planned within two weeks). Got there Sat. leaving on Tues. and had to move every day. OKW had studios available for Sat. and Mon. but not Sunday.

 

[JimMIA]

If you don't like using a waitlist, then buy at BWV or BCV. If you want to stay in a BWV standard view, A BWV Grand Villa or in a guaranteed Boardwalk view room at the BWV, buy BWV. Those room types are very tough to get all the time. It's not impossible at 7 months, but the odds are against you.

Carol's points, as usual, are very well taken, and precisely what I was trying to say in my post back in March regarding specific accommodations as a reason to "buy where you want to stay."

Generally, the busiest time for DVC at WDW is the period after Thanksgiving through the middle of December. It is the lowest points cost of the year, you have all of the holiday decorations, plus all of the holiday events, and also the various DVC resorts all hold their annual meetings during that period.

The other time that is particularly difficult for BCV/BWV is the Food & Wine Festival in late-September/October. There's a lot to be said for a short crawl back from Food & Wine!

To a lesser degree, the Flower and Garden Festival is also a busy time at the Epcot resorts, and I suspect much of the Spring Break period is busy at BWV. As SSR gets built out, I would expect Spring Break to be a busy period there too, because of the proximity to DTD.

 

[marathonmommy]

Thanks. FWIW, we would most likely use a studio or an ocassional one-bedroom.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks. FWIW, we would most likely use a studio or an ocassional one-bedroom.

The studio ressie is going to be the most difficult one to get, and the 1 bedroom will be the easiest one to get.

 

[marathonmommy]

Anyone know the number of studios and one-bedrooms at BCV vs. BWV?

 

[crisi]

I think school vacations are going to be tougher and tougher at BCVs due to SAB. Most people without kids don't care, but people with kids do tend to think SAB is a valuable attribute for the resort.