Hopefully last thread before we buy...

[lmhall2000]

Although I'd warn that aside from the walls, anything is subject to change.

Where am I? I have my favorite bakery I buy my nine grain bread- why it’s not ten- I don’t need to know. I have found four coffees I will drink- for you out there still searching- they are:
Blue Horse Kona
Madalyn’s Backyard Texas Pecan
Jamaica Blue and if I’m in a pinch
Peet’s Major Dickinson
Heck, I even homeschooled 15 years selecting and even creating my own curricula if it didn’t exist..but, how in the world did any of you make this decision with so many changing variables? I’ll have better luck trying to bathe a cat.
I’m not giving up

 

[kboo]

I love Kona and Major Dickason's blend too. I have been known to go to Kona Cafe to get their Kona Coffee since it's not at all easy to find near us.

What would be your 10th grain?

 

[Pyotr]

I recommend you watch some room walk through videos on YouTube. Yes, they may chance over the years but the basic layout will remain the same.

And I’m in the buy where you want to stay camp.

 

[bwvBound]

.but, how in the world did any of you make this decision with so many changing variables?

At some point the question boils down, "Am I at Disney? Ok, I'm good."

 

[Deb & Bill]

....but, how in the world did any of you make this decision with so many changing variables? I’ll have better luck trying to bathe a cat.
I’m not giving up

When we first bought we had the choice of OKW and BWV. That was an easy decision for us. OKW. We bought VWL and BCV right before they opened for guests. We didn't buy any more after that. We have since sold BCV and one OKW contract because we got tired of paying so much in annual fees. We had a son who was going to Catholic school and thought he might want to go out of state to college. We just got tired of giving Disney so much money each month (and we sold those over ten years ago).

Now you really just need to think about you and your spouse. Who knows your kids might not even want to go in the future especially if park admission keeps going up, up, up. Where is the place that if you couldn't get it at seven months out, you would be really sad. That's the place you need to own so you can always stay there if you could never change to another resort. That is how we feel about OKW and VWL (now BRV). We'll occasionally book AKV-KV or BCV or SSR or VGF or BLT if we can get them. But most of our stays have been OKW and it makes us happy to watch the golfer or the fountains in the water traps or walk around looking at the landscaping. BWV and PVB aren't the places we want to go. VB or HHI has no pull; we live 1.5 miles from the Gulf of Mexico in SWFL. We enjoyed our two trips to DLR, but getting GCV is too hard to even bother with. RIV and Reflections aren't where we want to be.

 

[kboo]

If you're mainly staying in 2BR, here are some pros/cons to consider for particular resorts. Since I don't know which ones are your 7 out of 14 that seem pretty good to you, I'm going to guess with the 7 near-park resorts except Poly:

• CCV: Not a great idea if you're ever going to want studios. But new! and good chances with ROFR! and friendly point charts! And you know you like it.
• BLT: small studios, but standard rooms are the best points value near MK, and you need to own to have a good shot at standard rooms. Also, lots of inventory at LV level. 2BR have an extra bath (3 full total) Some of the best transportation options (walking, boat, monorail, bus) Even though dues have gone up a bit, they're still pretty reasonable.
• VGF: Haven't stayed in anything larger than a studio, yet, but this is a very very point hungry resort with resale prices in the stratosphere. Wouldn't suggest you buy here unless you LOVE the resort. And since you didn't mention it ...
• BWV: all 2BR are lock offs - so when studios are gone, 2BR are gone. This was a deal breaker for us. Otherwise, we loved the location and liked the clown pool. (2042 end date)
• BCV: SAB (the pool) can be a plus or a minus. If you have people of different swimming levels and/or young kids, it's not easy to have a pool day at SAB. It's a great pool but hard to hang out in a big group. Rooms don't have much in the way of views. (also, 2042 end date; priced too high - I feel like you have to love this resort to buy resale now)
• BRV: if you don't mind the 2042 end date, this might be a good choice. I think they're next on the soft goods refurb, point charts are good, you already like the location, and prices are low. Transportation is only boat and bus.
• AKV: must like the decor (some say it is too dark); transportation only by bus. Kidani, like BLT, is the only other 2BR that has 3 full baths. Point charts are pretty good (especially if you can snag a value, but don't count on it, even as an owner), and resale cost is great for a resort with such lovely theming and so close to AK. Transportation only by bus, though.

I think if you love CCV, you should go with CCV. If you want something that checks most of your boxes, I'd go with BLT (but I also own there, so obviously I like it). BRV and AKV might be good choices, also, if you are ok with a 2042 end date and rooms in need of updating (BRV - I'm willing to bet that the rooms will be very nice after refurb); or only bus transportation (AKV). As for BWV and BCV, I'd give BWV a pass because of the lock off situation. But if you think you'll want to spend most of your time at the Epcot festivals, BCV might be a decent choice after all.

AKV and BLT have the best layouts with the 3 full baths if you are taking trips with multiple adults, some of them not your blood relatives. That bathroom space is GREAT. We have stayed in a 2br at BLT once with 6 adults and 3 kids, and another time 3 adults and 2 kids. On both trips, we used all 3 bathrooms, sometimes at the same time. It's not a romantic, theming-based reason for choosing a resort, but when you happen to be using all 3 bathrooms, it is SO worth it.

 

[crisi]

Another option is to rent. If you can plan ahead, renters get far more flexibility. As long as owners are available who want to rent out at eleven months. It gives you maximum flexibility in points used every year, no planning around how many points need to be used or are available.

 

[bumbershoot]

That’s the struggle, we’d like BLT these first years without grands, but don’t like the upper balconies with little kids- so, once they are walking- we’d want CC to walk the grounds and take in nature- then- with older grands we’d want to hit Epcot-

The question is where do YOU want to stay?

Since you said your kids aren’t married yet I assume these are hypothetical grandchildren. Don’t make plans based on that. Trust me. My dad has 5 kids. And *one* grandchild, with 4 of the kids in their late 30s and late 40s. If he’d made grand plans based on hypothetical babies when we were all in our college years it would have failed on him. (Plus the 5th sib was born while I was in grad school and the next oldest sib was in college lol)

Where do you and your spouse want to stay, full stop?

And even if you get all the grandchildren you anticipate and if the kids and their spouses continue to like Disney and if they have jobs that let them go and if they don’t find travel dreams of their own...you are the kindly benefactor here. You decide. You can take them into account, but YOU (and availability) decide.

But if you do want to include one thing that has to do with the future, buy a newer resort with a later expiration year.

how in the world did any of you make this decision with so many changing variables?

If you actually want to know.... We needed to buy direct because we needed the easy loan. Perks were good and prices were lower back in 2009. Bay Lake, AKL, and VGC were being sold, and one of my two blind spots while purchasing was that I didn’t know we could buy older resorts. I have no interest in VGC, I didn’t love the pictures of AKV, so it was Bay Lake. I’d never even been to WDW before.

And then I never even stayed at BL until 2016. We always booked for us and extended family, and OKW had the best deals for a larger group. Plus we loved it after our first stay there.

 

[lmhall2000]

Well, the two things that I love the most are nature and walking. So, I asked which resorts offer best areas to get walks in- most said the Epcot ones, SSR, CCV..so, looking at those CCV has the longest contract. So, now I have a spreadsheet tracking ROFR offers on contracts over 150 points. We really could be happy at CC, OKW, SSR, GFV, Poly, or BLT.. and with the availability of 2 BR being highly possible for mid-September rental at the 7 month mark at many of these- we just think buying the max number of points would give us more flexibility. Doubt we’ll buy over 25k, so get 250 points at a contract that expires at 2057 or get 175 that expires in the 2060s...those cabins look awfully nice but would use up 3 years of points I’ve seen points go for $85-140 on the ones we like- GFV’s lowest has been 150s. We have stayed at all of those except SSR and CCV..my preference is CCV because we love our state park trips to Yosemite and PNW... so, that combines two joys- Disney and nature. I wish the bidding worked the other way around and sellers would bid on my offer I’ll likely put first bid in during November and hopefully by February secure one! Thanks so much! I know enough to feel much better about this decision

 

[bumbershoot]

I wish the bidding worked the other way around and sellers would bid on my offer

I like that.

 

[anomamatt]

We really could be happy at CC, OKW, SSR, GFV, Poly, or BLT.. and with the availability of 2 BR being highly possible for mid-September rental at the 7 month mark at many of these

Maybe you know this, but Poly has no traditional 2BRs. The bungalows are great, but very point costly (>200 points a night in some seasons).

(The bungalows are amazing though).

 

[lmhall2000]

Maybe you know this, but Poly has no traditional 2BRs. The bungalows are great, but very point costly (>200 points a night in some seasons).

(The bungalows are amazing though).

Yeah, I just kept Poly in there bc of those bungalows...I could see life getting tough to meet up and needing those once every 3 years- with so few of them- it’s nice to dream plus we just returned from Aulani and my laundry still smells like Hawaii- it’s nice to ‘dream’ of stays there on points We did stay in the 1 bedroom last year just for two nights- the theming made up for the cramped quarters - it was awesome!!!