How did you choose your "home?"

[Conservative Hippie]

Ok...thanks largely to senecabeach, we are now seriously thinking about joining. My DH is, as we speak, jumping up and down at the prospect!

Question: How did you choose your home resort? It seems to me the logical choice right now is SSR, because it's got the lowest dues. Also, since you can use any resort, does the home resort matter than much (besides being able to book early)? DH really likes OKW, and I like both OKW and SSR.

Also....resale or direct?? Resale or direct??????????

 

[TAKitty]

Our "home" is SSR because of the longer years. We are young and both agreed that the extra time is worth it for us. We purchased with Disney because of the deals/financing.

 

[bobbiwoz]

You say "booking early" as if it were an afterthought, but that's the reason for me to own. "Booking early" is a big deal! We own at BWV for the lower SV points and it's proximity to MGM and Epcot. It's location puts it way over OKW in my estimation for nearly the same amount of points, (except for the Grand Villa, and that may come to play for me in the near future). Our other on site home is VWL and the booking early in December is why we bought it and have added on until we could book there in the size accomodations that we want.

Our other home is VB and I must admit that was simply a "love at first sight" stay. We bought there resale after a 4 night stay one March, we love it and will book a Beach Cottage someday and the 11 month booking will work for us.

Bobbi

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Our "home" is SSR because of the longer years. We are young and both agreed that the extra time is worth it for us. We purchased with Disney because of the deals/financing.

Yes, I forgot to mention, that is a very big perk to us (we are in our 20's). That could be the biggest pro towards SSR.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I hope we're not alone when I say we didn't really think about our "home" resort too much! We just took the easy way. When we took the tour, Disney was only selling 1 resort, and we didn't know about the resale market. So we just bought what Disney was selling.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

I would say that if you are in your 20's, you probably should go for the SSR. The extra time would probably be used and appreciated by you guys and your family.

 

[jeremys111]

Ok...thanks largely to senecabeach, we are now seriously thinking about joining. My DH is, as we speak, jumping up and down at the prospect!

Question: How did you choose your home resort? It seems to me the logical choice right now is SSR, because it's got the lowest dues. Also, since you can use any resort, does the home resort matter than much (besides being able to book early)? DH really likes OKW, and I like both OKW and SSR.

Also....resale or direct?? Resale or direct??????????

We are in ROFR right now HH. Why? b/c we live in Fl and and go to WDW alot. But for the most part we cant plan 11 months out and if we did it would be over the summer and HH sounds like a good place to go We allso pay less for point = more points for us vr SSR (and were getting banked points). As for the dues HH is the 3rd lowest
Fingers crossed we make ROFR
Just my 2cents

 

[MinnieMe2]

We fell in love with Wilderness Lodge, that's where they were selling at the time, so the decision was very easy for us.......

 

[shantay1008]

I hope we're not alone when I say we didn't really think about our "home" resort too much! We just took the easy way. When we took the tour, Disney was only selling 1 resort, and we didn't know about the resale market. So we just bought what Disney was selling.

You're not alone...we did the same thing. Fortunately, we like SSR a lot and will be happy staying there for years to come.

Back to the OP: I agree with people who say that you should buy where you want to stay. If you buy SSR for the incentives (if there are any right now) and the extra years, do you think you'd have a hard time getting reservations at OKW if you wanted to stay there as well? You always hear about how hard it is to get into the resorts like BCV, VWL, and BWV, but I haven't really noticed people having a hard time getting into OKW. Others will have more info on this, though...

Good luck with your decision!
Shannon

 

[cobbler]

We chose SSR for our home for many reasons
1 - We started discussing that we would buy in 2004. We decided that when we were ready to buy we would get the newest resort, whatever it may have been. We didn't want any older resorts.

2 - When we were ready to buy it was SSR, we took the tour, loved it and liked that the contract was longer than the rest.

3 - The F&F deal finished off the deal.

But basically we knew that when we bought we just wanted to buy into the newest resort and SSR fits us quite well.

 

[crisi]

I hope we're not alone when I say we didn't really think about our "home" resort too much! We just took the easy way. When we took the tour, Disney was only selling 1 resort, and we didn't know about the resale market. So we just bought what Disney was selling.

Nope, but ours happened differently. We didn't tour, but Disney was selling BCV. We got home, talked it over, called Disney. The guides were so busy we didn't hear back from one for over two weeks!

In the meantime we found this board and the resale market.

We went for an OKW contract. 150 points. Right price, right points. At the time, OKW didn't have a pool slide, but the value appealed to me - low point cost, low dues, big rooms. The owner pulled the contract when we made our offer. There was a similar BWV contract - same price and points, and we got that one instead - trading the value for the pool slide and standard view rooms. Had we bought the resort that called to us, it would have been VWL, but Disney wasn't selling it then (and a guide wasn't calling us back to tell us we could buy it anyway) and the resales on a just sold resort were too expensive for us to justify "I like the theming."

By the time the guide called us back, we were in the middle of our resale at BWV.

We couldn't be happier. We love BWV and the Epcot resort area. But honestly we could have ended up at any of the resorts open at that time and been happy. I suspect I'd be just as pleased had the first OKW contract gone through, or had I been able to buy VWL from Disney, or had the guide called back promptly and I'd ended up at BCV (though I find the pool scary with young kids - we'd have "dealt" for a few years - and maybe indulged in more pool hopping).

Now, I don't think I'd be happy at SSR. It doesn't have the value/big room combo that appeals to me about OKW, doesn't have the theming that appeals to me about VWL, or the location that appeals for BCV or BWV. But it does have 12 more years, which appeals a lot to other people (I'm too old and don't care to pass it to my kids).

But I wouldn't underestimate the power of booking early - particularly at small resorts. IF its really important for you to spend Spring Break at BCV, it wouldn't be worth four months worth of stress and the potential waitlist stress involved at owning a different resort. At least, not to me.

 

[mom23boys]

When we bought BCV in Dec 2002 that is what Disney was selling. We did not know about the DIS back then.

We are very happy, we are at a great pool resort, having three boys they love it. We are close to Epcot and ESPN.

We are going back next August (we check out the other resorts in Jan) and I asked my sons where they wanted to stay the want to stay at BCV, so I has been a great fit for our family.

 

[WDW LOVR]

You'll hear lots of people say "buy where you want to stay". And if being at one particular resort is the most important thing to you, then yes, buy where you want to stay. But if it really doesn't matter where you stay, as long as it's Disney, then SSR or a resale with lower costs might make sense.

Our first contract is at SSR. We considered going resale and buying at BWV or BCV as that is our favorite area of WDW. But in the end, the extra 12 years was the selling point. And these points are the points we use for the bigger family vacation each year and the location doesn't really matter, as long as we're at the World.

And of course, as everyone on the DVC Disboard knows, one contract and you want an add-on. So 10 months later when we were considering an add-on we decided that we wanted points so we could be assured of getting a room at either BWV or BCV for the Food and Wine Festival each year. In that case location was very important to us, so we bought BWV.

 

[DrTomorrow]

We (which, actually means I) did the research and found that SSR met our wants and needs the best. Condo style with up-close parking, quick and easy off-property access and a more peaceful, spread-out resort was what we wanted. Since SSR was currently for sale at a good price (and the extra 12 years was a plus, albeit not a deal-maker or -breaker) we bought over the phone without even seeing it. NOTE: we would have gladly bought into OKW if SSR hadn't been available; I get the feeling that these two sister DVC resorts will be our primary and secondary choices over the next four decades.

While "Buy where you want to stay" is great advice, it is very, very important to put some thought into the "want to stay" part. OKW and SSR do NOT have room service, and each have (will have) only one full service restaurant on-site. Neither of these are important to us, but have been key issues for others. Location is another personal thing. For us, a quick drive from SSR to MGM or EPCOT is no problem; we always have a car, and after a long day a the parks, taking a tram and driving home is always better than walking "home". But again, it's your call. Resort style is another factor. Do you want a 'typical' hotel, where you walk through the lobby, take an elevator and have totally enclosed hallways? Then you want BCV, BWV or VWL. Or do you want multiple buildings (similar to the Polynesian) where the lobby and dining are separate from the villas and you have semi-enclosed hallways?

Of course, DVC offers the opportunity to sample all of the resorts, but depending on your situation (ability to plan far ahead, having a strong favorite, times of year you usually go to WDW) you should pick a resort that, as others say, "you'd be happy staying at every time you go to WDW".

IMHO - YMMV - Be well!

 

[DVC Grandpa]

Looked at OKW when it was first built but it wasn’t until we saw BCV being build that we were excited, primarily because of its location and the facilities adjacent (pool, Cape May, etc.) at the Beach and Yacht Club Resorts. For us it was Location, Location, and Location.

 

[Debi]

I bought BWV for two reasons: 1) Location, location, location! I love being able to walk to Epcot and the MGM Studios; 2) Theming. I have previously stayed at the BWI, and LOVED it, so I knew I'd be very happy there.

 

[paults]

Yes, I forgot to mention, that is a very big perk to us (we are in our 20's). That could be the biggest pro towards SSR.

OK got a deal for. I'll give you BWV and my 57 year age for your SSR and your 20 something years of age don't laugh because I think it can be done. If we can send people to the MOON and make car that get 8 miles to the gal, then I know this is possible


I'm only doing this for the younger years of age. We would never give up BWV for anything.-----------------------under 1 million $$$$$$$$$$$

 

[byoung]

BWV was it for me, maybe it's because of all the boardwalks in NJ. Love it there.

 

[Eeyore In Disguise]

We bought through Disney at both VWL and BCV at the launches. Although we have never struggled in the past to book what we want, I think that is mainly due to booking in our home resort windows. As SSP is such a large resort with increasing amounts of owners, I do think it is going to become increasingly difficult to book other resorts at shorter notice. Also, it would be unlikely that you could book into anything other than your home resort during peak times like Christmas or Easter as the resorts get booked up early. The extra years are fine, but if you may want to stay during peak times at other resorts think again! If that is the case I would suggest you try and buy ponts at your favourite resort to guarantee stays there. It has worked for us! We are booked into VWL for Christmas this year. Can't wait! Good Luck. Wherever you buy, I am sure you will not regret it.

 

[Scotto]

We chose our home (SSR) because we love the place and the extra years. For us we made the right choice. We recently visited all of the DVC resorts at WDW and were impressed with each one. What has become clear after going to SSR for a while is that being walking distance to a theme park means next to nothing to us. All of the DVC resorts are "themed" versions of a hotel, pool, restaurant and various activities. To us, none of those "activites" were remotely worth the extra years of sitting in the sun. To help with perspective, following our Easter trip my daughters (12 & 8) both said their favorite memory of this trip was feeding the ducks and (1) swan at SSR. Not the pool, not DDD, and not the theme parks. Gotta love kids!!