How to select Home Resort????

[chipscinderelly]

I have been considering DVC for a long time and with the approaching price change am in high gear to make a decision and bite the bullet.

Here is my question. I have not stayed or toured any rooms at any of the DVC resorts. I have stayed at the Grand Floridian (not overly impressed for the price but it's nice) and all the mods and one value. I truely have liked each resort and would have no problem staying at one over another. Given that I know that I want to purchase around 200 points and currently I am not sold on any one location I was hoping for suggestions on how you picked your home resort. I do not necessarily need to finance the purchase through Disney.

I am familiar with the difference in annual dues as well as the length of contracts for the original resorts vs SSR.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[jaysue]

Based on what you are already familiar with - our residual factors:

Location - is it important to be able to book at the 11 month window the BCV or BWV locations near Epcot/MGM/Boardwalk (for example)

Car Access - at OKW, you park right in front of your unit and have easy access to your car and unit etc - no hallways - all outdoors access - like a moderate or value in that specific request

Room Size - OKW rooms are quite larger than all the other DVC WDW resorts - if room size is a factor, OKW might be your choice

Pool Theme - BCV has access to SAB - the largest, deepest and most over the top pool complex at WDW

"Escape" Feeling - you may like to feel a touch isolated on your vacation and in a quiet area which feels different than the parks - in this case, VWL would pull out ahead

There are other factors as well - but the above is a good representative list

thanks
jaysue

 

[Maistre Gracey]

My favorite Disney resorts are: The Poly, AKL, and WL. Which ever one of those built a DVC first, we would purchase.

MG

 

[tguy47]

We were recently in a similar situation and bought based on location.

Are your kids older or do you prefer to be closer to Epcot/MGM/Boardwalk? Then buy BWV or BCV.

Are your kids younger or do you prefer to be closer to the MK? Then buy VWL.

Will you spend equal time at AKL or off-disney. Then save some $$ and buy OKW or even HH and VB. It's likely you'll always be able to find a spot somewhere in WDW.

I can't think of a great reason to buy SSR. You get extra 12 years but that's 38 years from now. Pretty tough to pay now for a vacation in 38 years.

Of course, just in my opinion. We went with VWL.

 

[wdwstar]

well it all depends if you buy a resale , then you optoins are open,
you buy thru disney, SSR and i think vb has points left for a few contracts.

but for me BCV unless one of the resorts on the monorail turns into a dvc resort, then that will be our second home

 

[tjkraz]

Some may disagree, but based upon your post, here is my advice.

Look at as much material as you can on the DVC resorts. If you can honestly eliminate ANY of the resorts from consideration, then do so.

Whatever list of resorts you are left with, you might just want to buy into the one that is the cheapest.

In reading your post, it doesn't sound like you are overly choosy about the resorts. That's not to say that you don't have good taste--rather that you've found things to like at resorts as diverse as Coronado Springs and Caribbean Beach. So, as you look into the DVC properties, if there really isn't one that jumps out and makes you say "that's where I want to stay every time for the next four decades", then you might as well fall back on the financial aspect.

I suspect that few people really do get a chance to experience each of the DVC resorts before they buy in. Even if you go bananas on your research and are really confident in your decision, there is no way of predicting how your feelings might change after you've stayed at each of the resorts.

Give it your best shot, but don't lie awake at night worrying about 11 and 7 month booking windows.

Good luck!

 

[chipscinderelly]

These are great - thanks! I do not have kids right now (hopefully some day) and am single so I am making this decision for me alone.

I love POR so that is what made me think I might like SSR - as it seemed to be sort of similar to me (can get to Downtown Disney easily, off the track a bit), however I too feel the pull of BWV or BCV. I guess it's probably true that when at Disney I will probably be happy anywhere.

Much to think on!

Julie

 

[rocketriter]

We like BCV because it's quiet, relaxing and unpretentious, and yet only a short way away from SAB, the BW, Epcot and MGM.

 

[crisi]

We ended up making the decision by chance - and a lot of DVCers really do - they buy what Disney is selling at the time.

We like VWL, but they had just stopped selling when we bought and resales were rare and expensive. We didn't want to wait, and finding the resale market, we didn't want to spend what VWL was going for.

We contacted DVC about buying BCVs. But it took weeks for a guide to get back to us. By that time we'd found the resale market and had a contract in process.

HHI and VB were out, we knew we wanted a WDW location. After some research, we decided that 150 points at OKW would be good. Large rooms and low points and cheap GVs. The only downfalls - no pool slide, and it was off the beaten track. But the OKW contract we found fell through when the seller decided not to sell - and there wasn't 150 points available at OKW at that moment. We could buy the same sized contract at BWV for the same amount of money. Once we decided to do it, finishing the deal was more important than waiting for a contract, so we bought 150 points at BWV. It had a pool the kids would like more with a slide, was close to our favorite park - Epcot - it wasn't a sacrifice to change our minds about our "home."

We love it. I'm sure we'd be just as happy with VWL, BCV of OKW as our home resort. (By the way, OKW is in the process of getting a slide, so that "problem" would have been taken care of before our kids even got to be slide age.)

 

[fmed845]

First of all I don't think you can make a wrong choice. We just bought at SSR and we don't mind it being off track. Looks like it will be a great place with a great pool. After staying at the All Stars many times and AKL the few minutes it takes to get to a park wasn't a consideration for us. If we had picked one of the other DVC locations I wouldn't have had second thoughts about. How can you go wrong.

 

[jaysue]

If I was a single adult and buying just for me, I would be torn between BCV and BWV

Location - same - close to the more adult oriented MGM, Epcot and Boardwalk

BCV would pull me due to SAB pool complex

BWV would pull since my perception is that it is the most adult oriented of the DVC resorts and of course the keister coaster is a lot of fun

thanks
jaysue

 

[BWVDee]

Originally posted by jaysue
If I was a single adult and buying just for me, I would be torn between BCV and BWV

Location - same - close to the more adult oriented MGM, Epcot and Boardwalk

BCV would pull me due to SAB pool complex

BWV would pull since my perception is that it is the most adult oriented of the DVC resorts and of course the keister coaster is a lot of fun

thanks
jaysue

I totally agree.

 

[garylpn]

picked bcv because of location, waiting out rofr on bwv bwcause bcv resales rare to nonexistent, could we have waited it out, yes, did i want to,no, we stayed at okw in dec because by the time closing was over that was only studio available, we loved it, i would stay there again,we are taking my neice and her 2 children down in 4 years when the girls will be 8,9 and we plan on doing okw 2 bedroom just for the size of the rooms, if okw was all that was available on resale i would still do it, managing different contracts with differing use years requires a little planning but it's not that difficult a deal, we've stayed at the poly, fw, cs and okw and liked them all, and for all different reasons, we may even start doing the nomad thing, moving out of or into dvc on weekends and paying weekend cash just to stretch the points, and to experience the various resorts, we even go so far as to devote the better part of a day to resort hopping on our annual dec trips just to see the resort decorations

 

[hojolo]

We agonized over this question about 4yrs ago and ended up picking BWV since our young children would some day grow up and we could then be by Epcot. Since that time we have stayed in BWV, OKW, BCV and VWL. We've just bought more on resale (you can never have too many points) at OKW. As mentioned above, the difference between 7month and 11 month ressie window is slight. So buy wherever is cheapest (OKW) and stay wherever you want.

 

[pearljim]

We picked OKW because it was the only resort available at the time. However, having stayed at every DVC resort during the years and at almost every WDW hotel, we love the fact that OKW stands alone, not being connected to an existing hotel for all of the reasons already listed. That spurred our decision to by in to SSR as well.

 

[eporter66]

I think the most important thing to consider is do you enjoy WDW enough to buy into DVC. That was our biggest decision. Thats a lot of vacations at one place

We love WDW and the theme parks. Currently we dont see any issues with going once a year or once every other year. We bought 150 points (minimum at SSR), and it seems flexible.

If you have kids and have to go at the busiest times of the year due to school schedules - you probably would have to count on your 11 month window which might cause you to use your home resort most often. We have already booked two trips (one in May and one in November) - and did not have any problems getting the weeks we wanted.

When we decided to buy, I went through this site like crazy and most people did say they used location as a prime factor in picking their home resort. We felt just being at WDW and staying in deluxe accomadations - how could we go wrong? How lucky are we (the answer is very).

Anyway - everyone is different - We are happy with our decision at SSR, look forward to spending some nice evenings on the water and going over to PI once we are home from a day at the parks. We also plan on staying at the other resorts (love VWL) when we have the opportunity. I dont think you can go wrong if you truly enjoy WDW.

 

[Sammie]

I don't think you can wrong with any selection either. We have stayed all DVC resorts and enjoyed them all for different reasons.

As someone else said, if the truth be known many DVC members bought what Disney was selling at the time they decided to purchase. Sure they love it now, but it was not a decision at the time that had to do with anything other than what was offered.

Many members have sense then added on at different locations and enjoyed that also.

No one location is perfect. None are close to everything as WDW is too large for that to happen.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[happyrebster]

I would disagree with the idea that BCV is the best choice for someone who does not yet have kids. We don't have kids and we are soooo excited about SSR because of the proximity to spa, golf and Pleasue Island. The idea of walking or boating home from DD sounds very nice. Getting up the next morning and stumbling over to the spa for a nice footrub (to deal with "Disney feet") sounds better! I think that will attract many adults. My DH and nephew have their golf rounds booked already.

It really depends on the activities you enjoy most, IMHO.

Let us know what you decide!

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm a single adult. I bought BCV for the location. I enjoy Epcot and like walking there. It's also possible to walk to the Studios, although that is easier from the Boardwalk. There's also the Stormalong Bay pool.

I stay at OKW a lot. It's become my favorite place to stay on my own. It's quieter there, and it's close to Downtown Disney. My favorite place in all of WDW happens to be on Pleasure Island, so if I didn't already have the BCV points I might have considered buying SSR. I'll definitely be staying there at some point, but I might end up missing being able to run over to Epcot.

I don't have any trouble staying at any DVC resort I'd like to when booking at the 7 month window. I've been to BWV twice, BCV and OKW numerous times, and will be booking WLV for January. I'm staying a couple of days at SSR in December.