Home resorts matter?

[merryweather's twin]

I have a couple of questions... we are process of buying in at ss, and the conversations about changing home resorts has us a little confused. We have been told that the points will be usable at any of the DVC resorts.

If you can use points at any of the resort, why would it matter which one you "belong to"?

Thanks.

 

[crisi]

Because owning gives you a four month jump on making reservations. Particularly important for Grand Villas at OKW, Boardwalk View or Standard View at BWV, Thanksgiving through Christmas at WVL, Food and Wine Festival at BWV or BCVs. Not that you won't be able to get something at seven months, but you may need to use the wait list or be flexible on dates. I'd rather lose the stress and buy at a resort I'll always be happy at. Then if I want to move and it isn't a big deal, I can take advantage of that. If not, no problem.

 

[lizanne]

I think the main reason is that you can book 11 months in advance at your home resort, 7 months at the other resorts.

This can be a problem if you want to go to stay somewhere other than your home resort during a busy season.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Whichever resort is your "home resort" is the one where you get an advantage of 4 months to book (like "first shot"). That is, you can make your ressies at your home resort up to 11 months ahead of your dates, but if it isn't your home resort, you can only book there 7 months ahead. Also, the resort that's your home is where you pay your dues to, and dues vary a little from resort to resort (I can't remember the exact amount but I'm sure someone else does). The other, not very rational reason home resort matters to some people (and I'll admit, DH is in this category) is that for some people, they have a strong emotional attachment to one particular DVC resort, so they want to be able to say "-is my home resort".

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

I don't think it would be that much of a problem now, but in the future it may be, if DVC keeps building "mega" resorts. It will be even harder to book VWL and BCV seven months out as there will be more and more competition for them. OKW and SSR will probably always have some availability (as they usually do now).

 

[JimC]

I don't think it would be that much of a problem now, but in the future it may be, if DVC keeps building "mega" resorts. It will be even harder to book VWL and BCV seven months out as there will be more and more competition for them. OKW and SSR will probably always have some availability (as they usually do now).

Very good point!

 

[FreeTime]

Based on the number of points you plan on purchasing, you may want to purchase at more than one home resort. I wish that we had. We have 3 contracts all of BWV. Often, I would like to get a GV at OKW and can't or something at VWL. If I had it to do over, I would have purchased my initial at BWV and the other 2-100 point contracts at another resort.

 

[Disney Doll]

Home resort matters because you can book at your home resort 11 months out and a non-home resort 7 months out.

If you are the type of person whose vacation would be ruined if you didn't stay at VWL, then by all means, buy your points there.

If however, you can be truly happy at any one of the DVC resorts, then buy your points where you'd get the best deal. If you are buying points specifically to go to WDW though, then don't buy points at VB or HH because they may be the best deal. Buy them at one of the WDW resorts because at the 11 month window you know you can get a unit somewhere on WDW property.

 

[Lucy D.]

Also, SSR ownership lasts until 2054, all the other resorts end in 2042.

 

[JimMIA]

Here's a thread that may give you some help. It starts out with a discussion of the home resort issue.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=778634

There's a good bit of info from a variety of contributors throughout the thread, so you may look through the whole thing. Like most long threads, it wanders off occasionally, but it comes back to topic eventually.

Good luck.

 

[eporter66]

It does not matter technically. We are members at SSR and love WDW, so we had no gripes about buying at SSR.

Biggest Point:
1. You get an 11 month window at your home resort vs. 7 month window at the others.

So :
1. If you want to be close to a certain park etc.... it may be tough if you buy at SSR expecting to stay at the Boardwalk to be close to Epcot.

Other than this - there are really no issues as to where you buy. Members do stress over and over to buy at the resort you want to stay at............and that is great advice if it is truly important to you.

All the DVC resorts we have visited are beautiful, and we have no regrets about buying at SSR. We hope to stay at the others on various vacations, but would never be upset about having to book at SSR.

Good luck
Eric

 

[CharlesTD]

We own at 3 different resorts and could care less about home resort. We have never had an issue getting a ressie in Early Dec the first 2 weeks is when we go at any of the resorts at 7 months. For us it was more the monetary gains we got when dealing at specific resorts. We bought at the resorts offering the best cashback etc type incentives.

 

[snowwhitemom]

If you ever plan on traveling during the Christmas holiday or new years....you basically have to book 11 monts out, so you would have to stay at SSR, but I bought there just so my children would have the extra years one day.

 

[keishashadow]

We closed on 1st resale @ VWL & were in the system 1 week after the 7 month mark had passed. No Studios were avail, did have 1 BR for 4 of the 5 days for period 12/10 thru 12/14. Consider ourselves lucky to get a BWV Perf @ that time. We WL'd for VWL & BWV Stan, did get the BW; still waiting for VWL.

The week before was not available anywhere but SSR for 5 nights. CM indicated that SSR & OKW are usually the last ones available. Not sure if it's because of popularity or their size. Good luck.