How do you pick your resort?

[dd08]

DW & I went for BLT because of $ and wanting home resort priority there. You need to decide how to weigh cost (purchase & dues) and home resort booking window + point charts for you personally. My considerations:

1) I LOVE the Contemporary since I was a little kid- the Choo Choo goes RIGHT THROUGH the hotel!
2) Walk to MK, boat to DHS (& Wilderness Lodge - love their lobby & Whispering Canyon), monorail to Epcot = only bus you HAVE to take is for AK!
3) Most years left on the contract
4) Lowest annual dues
5) Able to finance through Disney with mortgage secured by the timeshare and therefore tax deductible interest (I plan to pay it off early just the same)
6) Point chart- If you could ONLY stay @ your home resort is the point cost for your hypothetical stays compatible with the contract size you are considering? Would you be happy there?
7) Did I mention the monorail?

So, I knew I WANTED to buy @ BLT. I justified my decision with the money. I have 51 August Use Years coming from BLT. If we assume NO INTEREST and the full $112 per point, that works out to about $2.20 per point per use year. Add on $3.67 for 2009 annual dues, and we are talking $5.87 in 2009.

For AKV, there are 49 Use Years left if you get 2008 points included with the contract. 2009 dues are $4.86 per point. If you could get a lowball $80 per point through ROFR (very unlikely), that would be $1.63 per point per year ($80 / 49). Add dues and you are at $6.49 per point per year.

Now let’s say you got VWL for $70 / point. I doubt that would pass ROFR, but for arguments sake: You get 34 use years if 2008 points are still on the contract. $70 / 34 = ~$2.06 per point year. Add on 2009 dues of $5.04, and you get $7.10 per point per year!

BWV has higher dues than VWL and the same 34 Use Years, so it looks even less attractive to me by the numbers.

So assuming you plan to use the whole contract, can afford the up front cost, and you like BLT, I think it is by FAR the best buy!!!

BTW, if I made any mistakes in my math I apologize in advance…

Your math is correct. And for many people this works the best.

For us, we aren't for sure whether to add-on at BLT or just add more points at AKV as one thing we have to figure for us is which is the better deal.

A downside IMHO to BLT is that points at AKV (and others) get you more nights at those resorts than BLT. somewhat negating the lower MF benefit of BLT. You truly are paying for the ability to walk from MK. (which for many people that is a HUGE plus and I completely respect that)

E.G. - In 2010 we are getting a SV 2-BR at AKV for 6 nights for the Disney half-marathon and it will cost us 272 points. If we got 6 nights at BLT LV it would be 27 points more.

Another example using 2010 charts - say you bought the 160 minimum thru Disney and want to book a studio in the summer. At BWV you could get 10 nights (only 2 weekend nights in this) where BLT would get you 8 nights. (standard views for each).

For some people going with whatever has the lower MFs works best, for others it may not, the OP needs to consideration what would work best for his family.

 

[karriemouse]

I'm with the 'buy where you want to stay' vote. We own a condo at Windsor Hills and wanted to stay at the beach each summer. So we bought a small Vero resale sight-unseen based on the website and we love it.

However if you can't book more than 7 months out and take advantage of the home resort advantage then I would say to buy the best deal you can find.

Going on a 'resort road trip' is a great idea, also visit the sales centre to see the models even if you think you want to buy resale. (We bought with TSS and they were great.)

Most importantly - have fun choosing!!

 

[JimMIA]

I'm a bit of a contrarian on home resort.

IMHO, the first question to answer is whether it matters where you own. In our case, it really did not. Home resort only applies to two things: where you can book at 7-11 months, and how much you pay in dues.

If you cannot reliably book more than 7 months out, home resort booking advantage does not matter at all. At seven months, "points is points" and you can book anywhere. We normally book inside 7 months and have no difficulty as long as we are a bit flexible.

If you can usually book far in advance, AND you really care where you stay, home resort may mean a great deal to you. If you want to go during PEAK times, or if you want specific types of units like GVs, or specific views like Boardwalk View or MK view -- you will have to book right at the opening of the 11-month window.

The other question is whether it matters where you stay. For some folks, location or a particular theme is everything -- to others, it doesn't matter much. The one thing I would say about home resort is definitely do NOT buy where you would be disappointed if you had to stay there.

In our case, we're happy to stay at any DVC resort, so we made our decisions based on financial aspects of the deal. We'll get to them all eventually. We bought an OKW resale at a great price with lots of banked points. To us, that was more important than some theoretical benefit we might never use. We added on at SSR, not because we love the lovely resort, but because the promotion was attractive.

The length of contract is another "issue" that I think is often over-valued. We declined the wonderful opportunity to extend our OKW contract, so it expires in 2042. In all honesty, we don't expect to be going to WDW in 2042...nor do we think our kids will go in 2042. We really expect to keep DVC 15 years or so (we're 5 years in at this point) so ending date is not really that important to us.

Frankly, I'd rather leave my kids and grandkids money than a dues bill each year. They can buy what they want, rather than what I though they'd want 40 years prior.

 

[JimMIA]

OKW and SSR are out because of their location.

I'm always amused by these comments. If you look at WDW on Google Earth, you'll see that OKW is actually very centrally-located at WDW. No you can't monorail to MK from there, and you can't walk to Epcot or crawl home after Food & Whine.

However, I can drive anywhere in WDW in ten minutes with my car, which is parked at my doorstep at OKW. Or I can take the buses which are consistently rated as the best at WDW from OKW.

The driving time from SSR is maybe 12 minutes instead of 10. The buses are less consistent -- sometimes good, sometimes not. But that's offset somewhat by the convenience to DTD, which is literally right next door.

OTOH, AKV (a beautiful resort and a gift from Heaven for its many owners and fans) is truly in the boondocks. That is one hard resort to go anywhere from -- even to AK!

Location is relative. If you are an Epcot person, BWV or BCV are great resorts and incredibly convenient to Epcot. Not so much to MK or AK.

Yes, BLT and VWL are beautiful and convenient to MK...but what about all the other places at WDW? Not so much.

One of the things I really enjoy about OKW is that it is so convenient...for us. YMMV.

 

[Shleedogg]

Thank you all for your input and advice! DH and I have a lot to think over. I was so excited about the prospect, DH and I were considering buying before our trip in the fall so we could use that $900 or so towards our DVC purchase. Since reading all the responses we've reconsidered. We're in the process of renting points and we're going to stay at our first DVC and check out the others while we're down there.

We're going to stay at BWV for the week. Hopefully when it gets closer, DH and I can start our trip a couple of days early and try out another DVC resort before the other couple joins us. Hopefully it'll be AKV. The location is a bit of a deterrent, but the animals are a big draw. If we stay there, we'll be able to see how much of a pain it is for us. We'll probably devote a day to touring all the DVC resorts so we can really get a feel for them. In the mean time we'll be crunching some numbers Thanks again! I'm sure I'll be back again with more questions

 

[crisi]

However, I can drive anywhere in WDW in ten minutes with my car, which is parked at my doorstep at OKW. Or I can take the buses which are consistently rated as the best at WDW from OKW.

The driving time from SSR is maybe 12 minutes instead of 10. The buses are less consistent -- sometimes good, sometimes not. But that's offset somewhat by the convenience to DTD, which is literally right next door.

Another reason why a priority for one person isn't for another. No resort is more or less convenient if you have a car and aren't a huge Epcot fan (BWV/BCV) or MK Fan (BLT). VWL is closer to the MK than anything else, but waiting for the boat and the boat ride over isn't that much FASTER than a bus from SSR.

If you don't have a car, and are a huge fan of one of the parks (as many Epcot area owners are of Epcot) the location argument is more compelling.