How on earth did you choose?

[Tinks]

I'm thinking of a DVC purchase in few years. I have no idea how to choose which resort I would want for my home. I realize that several of the resorts are sold out and would have to be bought on the resale market. I also realize the "expiration date," if you will, is different for different resorts. I also realize the 11 month booking window, which is why IMO buy where you want to stay!

So how on earth did you decide? There's too many choices, darn it! Thank Goodness I have a few years to decide!

Also, would it be better to have, say, three 100 point contracts at three different resorts vs. one large one at your first pick? How much of a pain is it to juggle the points when you're talking small contracts at various resorts? I'm wondering that also because I have 3 kids to whom we could give our DVC when we kick the proverbial bucket.

Finally, what in your opinion are the chances that there will be DVC at the other monorail resorts in the next 15 years? It's just a question looking for honest opinions of the chances.

Thanks!

 

[Tinkerdreams]

There were a few factors. One was the length of contract. The second was the location - my kids love DTD and the third was the MF. Finally, I'm not that concerned about the 7 month booking window. Many of my friends who own have had next to no issues with the booking window.

 

[bookwormde]

I went for value; OKW has the lowest point cost of WDW DVCs and lowest points per night, especially the weekday GVs, and a good selection on the resale market. I can also extend later if I want to pay the bucks.


bookwormde

 

[Monorail Purple&Gold]

Two things at work for us:

A) Bought where we love and want to stay...AKV. Stayed there in 2003 and fell in love w/ the resort and ambience, with young children the animal appeal will keep us there for years.

B) Length of contract, being DW and I turn 30 later this year we wanted contract length as long as possible.

Good luck with your decision...as per some of the threads around here many folks are satisfied with all of the DVC's and love them...I think some of the most sound advice I found was buy where you want to stay.

As far as breaking it up into smaller contracts, ideal with the 3 kids.

Personally, I'd love a DVC at all monorail resorts (the Poly DVC--OMG, I'd be in heaven!!). I think it's a logistic thing looking at where the building would go, but if KT is any indication, Disney is okay with the "clean slate" approach!

Good luck, hopefully we'll Welcome You Home soon!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We didn't have to worry too much since when we purchased only OKW and BWV were available, and we KNEW we like OKW best. If you have not real preference, go for the least expensive maintenance, and that will be the larger resorts.

BTW, you do NOT need to go the resale route for the sold out resorts. DVC can and does still sell all of them, but you might have to twist the arm of your guide a bit to get him to agree to it.

 

[Inkmahm]

We knew we didn't want Saratoga a few years ago when we purchased so we purchased on the resale market, not realizing that Disney would have sold the points to us, too.

We decided between BWV and BCV at the time as I was focused on resale values. I don't know why, now, as we likely will never sell! The deciding factor though between those two was the boardwalk view available at BWV. There is no such thing at BCV and I really love the BWV.

It didn't take long before we also bought at VWL as we love that resort and it is small, so having the 11 month advantage to book there in December is important.

THEN they announced AKV. AKL was our absolute favorite hotel anywhere and when we bought into DVC, we still allowed that we would stay a few nights at AKL even though it wasn't DVC because we love the place so much. We purchased points at AKV at 8 am on the first day sales were available.

Now we have a schedule worked out where spring is at AKV, October is BWV and December is VWL. Yes, we are "saving" money with DVC by going to Disney 3 times per year.

 

[lisareniff]

For us the booking window is important (can only go during school breaks and hate summer in FL) So did buy where we wanted to stay.

1 - Location. Really liked being able to walk to Epcot and MGM. Many restaurants in the area. So that was BCV or BWV. Didn't see the differences between the two as very large at the time. Disney was selling BCV and we wanted to buy quickly for a trip (and didn't realize how easy resale was) so purchased there. We did make a good choice for us.

OK. I guess I only had one. We did consider OKW - lower points, larger rooms but location won. Also considered VWL but seem more removed from the parks.

Personally, if I was to purchase today...
I would buy at two WDW resorts so I could rotate between the two.
I would purchase a Epcot resort, most likely BWV (for the BW view, standard view, and GV) but we still love BCV.
I have a hard time deciding the second WDW resort. Either VWL, AKL or possibly CRV(not calling it KT until it's official). Stayed at VWL and loved it and it wasn't isolated but calm and well themed. Also LOVE AKL's theming (at least in the Lodge).
I would also need a few VB points for a BC every 3 years.

 

[bnlbebes]

There are no guarantees in DVC.

That being said, you will see it posted over and over on these boards - "Buy where you want to stay."

If you want to stay at 3 different properties, then buy 100 points at each! If you only want the option once in a great while, and would rather take longer trips in more deluxe accomodations, then you'll need more points than 100 at the resort you intend to stay at the most. Trading for other resorts at the 7 month window is not likely to happen at certain times of the year.

We usually stay in the cheaper standard view rooms at BWV, but can get those rooms mostly due to our 11-month advantage being BWV owners.

If I were to buy points anywhere today, however, I wouldn't buy BWV again. I buy at one of the newer resorts giving me a longer contract - not one ending in 2042.

 

[UncleRay]

We have BWV because of the proximity to Epcot and the Hollywood Studios
as well as the "people activity".

 

[tammymacb]

I chose the one that I wanted the booking advantage for. BWV.

 

[hellerjw]

We chose AKV for a number of reasons:

- Incentives they were offering
- Expiration date of 2057
- Value & Concierge level bookings (only DVC resort with Concierge)
- Theme and remoteness (we actually like the remoteness, feels like you really are on an African safari far from civilization)
- Of course, the animals

That being said we also love VWL and may add-on there someday soon. We really didn't dislike any of the WDW DVC resorts and will probably book at all of them over time.

I think a lot of it is personal preference, each buyer will have their own ideas of what their dream WDW vacation is and which DVC resort comes closest to helping them realize that dream. Once you figure this out choosing your home resort will be a lot easier.

 

[Jaaron2]

We have been DVC owners for a little over a year now. We initially bought into AKV because we loved Animal Kingdon, liked the theme and also because the studios accomodiate 5 people.

That being said I would strongly advise that you try and visit the different resorts to see which "home" you best prefer.

Although we still love AKV and are happy with our purchase there we also found out that our favorite resort is the Beach Club (so we added on ).

My point is simply untill you go and try out the resorts it is hard to tell which one you will enjoy most. We also go by the theory...buy where you want to stay!

 

[crisi]

We ended up deciding as a "fluke" - BCV was selling, VWL was 'sold out' and resales were very expensive, we bid on OKW resale and that fell through, but were offered a BWV resale for the same amount of money and went with it. And we've been happy.

I'd line up all your possible criteria and rank them. You may think location is really important, and being close to Epcot is Da Bomb, another person may really value the longer contracts, yet another thinks low dues is a high priority. Then score each resort against your criteria.

Some possibilities may be:

Theme/Decor
Location
Initial Cost
Length of Contract
Nearby restaurants
Condo style vs. hotel style
Points required
Perception of availability seven month out (if its harder to get, that might be worth something to you).
Availability of Grand Villas
Room layout
Park near your room

And there might be more. You may be looking at this list and saying "who would care if you can park near your room?! - but that is important to someone else.

And remember, its subjective. A lot of people think SSR has the best decor. I'm not fond of it. A lot of people (including myself) thing the Epcot resorts have the best location, but plenty of people prefer SSRs' location.

In the end, you multiply out the weight by the score, add them up, and have an answer. And when you look at the answer and you say "oh, no - I really wanted SSR!" - then you have your answer.

 

[mhmcduff]

Quick question Crisi
Which DVCs are more Condo like and which ones are more Hotel like??

 

[drag n' fly]

Pretty much what everyone one else said. One thing I want to add is we wanted a vacation experience that was completely opposite of what we are used to. AKV was that fit! We live 60 miles from Banff National Park. We would have never chose VWL ever because every hotel west of here is exactly like VWL and we can get that experience anytime we want. However you will be hard pressed to find any African themed hotels/resorts in Banff National Park so in addition to everything else that was said, the themeing was a deciding factor for us.

 

[spiceycat]

Which DVCs are more Condo like and which ones are more Hotel like??

Condo - OKW and SSR - especially OKW

everything else - Hotel.

BWV, BCV, VWL, AKV - but part of that is they are attached to a hotel.
so you can get room service *(really wish OKW had this).

OKW was the only one selling in 1993 when I brought. Brought soon after BWV and VB - sold VB. then later VWL.

BWV - 50 points
VWL - 60 points - both enough to stay 5 days in a studio in Oct and most of Dec.

okw is 240 points.

You have to decide for yourself what is right for you.

florida - OKW
BWV & BCV- atlantic seacoast
VWL - northwest mountain lodge
AKV - africia lodge (looks a whole lot like WL/VWL)
SSR - new york place? okay not sure what they were going for - but since I have never been to NY much rather SS - that is not a surprise.

CRV (KT@CR) - don't know yet - but expecting it to be slightly better than the CR - yes even the new interior at CR. DVC are always better (my opinion)

 

[lisareniff]

I always love the ending, or verification, of your psychophysical experiment.

So true.

 

[Tinks]

Reading through these replies is great! Thanks!

I'm a little confused about the multiple vacation club contracts, though. If you have 100 points at BCV and 100 points at VWL, can you book 11 months out at BCV for 200 points? Or is your point total only what you buy per resort, meaning you can book 100 points at BCV 11 months out and then ???? what do you do if you wanted a room that is 200 points? Book 7 months out??

Does anyone understand what I'm asking?

 

[alldiz]

Reading through these replies is great! Thanks!

I'm a little confused about the multiple vacation club contracts, though. If you have 100 points at BCV and 100 points at VWL, can you book 11 months out at BCV for 200 points? Or is your point total only what you buy per resort, meaning you can book 100 points at BCV 11 months out and then ???? what do you do if you wanted a room that is 200 points? Book 7 months out??

Does anyone understand what I'm asking?

You can only use 100 pts at the 11 mth mark.....unless you have banked points or you borrow next yrs points...which will give you 200pts at 11mth mark. Some people would bank and borrow and use 1 contract this yr...and then another next yr.

For me choosing a resort was easy. When I decided I "needed" DVC, the only resort that I had stayed at was WL. So I bought there because I loved it and wanted to guarantee myself at the lodge at holiday time.
Good luck in your choice. Ya can't go wrong.
Kerri

 

[Anal Annie]

We were able to purchase thru the Friends & Family promotion in Dec. '06 which made SSR a very attractive / hard to pass up price. AKV had been announced but wasn't for sale yet. We figured up that we were able to purchase approx. 20-25 more points with this promotion than if we waited for AKV to go on sale. So we opted to go for the deal that could get us the most points for our buck. We also figured that we will want to bounce around from resort to resort and try them all rather than ALWAYS staying at the same resort. That is one way that we will make each vacation a different experience from the previous one. With that in mind, we decided to make the best move for us financially rather than our fav. place to stay...although I would LOVE to add-on with a small contract at AKV... If we don't get to add-on there then maybe at Ko'Olina...