I always have trouble booking at other DVCs except SSR

[Dean]

Dean, I don't often disagree with your opinion on the timeshare industry and DVC, but I've seen you hint at this for some time and I would like to share my perspective. I've looked at DVC for about 10 years, but I simply did not like the accommodations enough to buy in -- particularly when compared to other Disney resorts. With the exception of BWV, I simply do not like the rooms (even though I may like the host resort such as Wilderness Lodge). When we saw the artist renderings of SSR we knew that Disney had finally built a DVC resort that we would enjoy. We like the landscaping and the small town resort feel that is unique to SSR (we feel that OKW is very spread out -- more so than SSR -- and doesn't have a complete resort feel), and most importantly we like the rooms. All of this is subjective and depends upon the likes and dislikes of the perspective buyers -- but for us SSR is a hit and the reason we purchased a membership in DVC.

Doug, it's OK to disagree and OK to like SSR. There will be some that do and some that do not. But we've seen with the last 2 new resorts that some people bought one resort wanting another. This will happen and is happening with SSR as well, we've seen that already here on this board. The point was that it's likely to happen as a higher percentage with SSR than with the last 2. Actually the main point was that some people will want to buy from Disney directly or not know about resale and that a portion of them would prefer other resorts if they had the option. I believe that a higher percentage have and will buy SSR actually preferring others but will talk themselves into SSR because it's what's available from Disney. This is nothing new when DVC is selling a single resort on property but that combined with the likelihood that more people will buy SSR to stay other places than the reverse makes it a larger impact.

 

[Daitcher]

Doug, it's OK to disagree and OK to like SSR. There will be some that do and some that do not. But we've seen with the last 2 new resorts that some people bought one resort wanting another. This will happen and is happening with SSR as well, we've seen that already here on this board. The point was that it's likely to happen as a higher percentage with SSR than with the last 2. Actually the main point was that some people will want to buy from Disney directly or not know about resale and that a portion of them would prefer other resorts if they had the option. I believe that a higher percentage have and will buy SSR actually preferring others but will talk themselves into SSR because it's what's available from Disney. This is nothing new when DVC is selling a single resort on property but that combined with the likelihood that more people will buy SSR to stay other places than the reverse makes it a larger impact.

Dean,

I admit I am of the group you mention. I own at SSR and never will stay there again. I will continue to use my points to stay at full service DVC Resorts like BWV, BCV, VWL and VB. I will not stay at SSR or OKW. HH might be an option once my son gets a little older. You started swaying me on availabilty being limited before. Now that I see your other posts how can I not be convinced? Especially when I am one of the "offenders". Thanks for your non- judgemental and informative posts.

DAVE

 

[Dean]

Dean,

I admit I am of the group you mention. I own at SSR and never will stay there again. I will continue to use my points to stay at full service DVC Resorts like BWV, BCV, VWL and VB. I will not stay at SSR or OKW. HH might be an option once my son gets a little older. You started swaying me on availabilty being limited before. Now that I see your other posts how can I not be convinced? Especially when I am one of the "offenders". Thanks for your non- judgemental and informative posts.

DAVE

No judgement and no facts per se, just my opinion based on a lot of experience. And I'm not saying it's not OK, I think it is. I've even recommended this approach to many, a number on DIS have. That's one of the reasons I felt so bad for the guy I mentioned earlier. He followed the advice I and others have posted then he was blasted for saying he bought OKW resale to use at the other resorts.

Members at any resort have the home resort window, currently 4 months with a min of 1 month, to make their reservations. And it is my belief that the strategy will still be successful much of the time even with my doom and gloom ideas. But it will require more work and more risk with a higher need to call at the 7 month window and a higher likelihood of having to use the wait list. It will also give those with a lot of points a BIG advantage as they can book their home resort back up and not cancel that until they get the alternative completely set up. Remember it'll take maybe a full 10 years for this to cycle through and that if DVC opens any more resorts it will definitely swing the pendulum to a degree one way or another. Members have to buy, stay a couple of times, test out one or two more places before they figure out what they truly enjoy and prefer. While I personally don't think either will happen, an EP option will strengthen my point even further and a CR options will swing things the other way but only to a degree. The two together would likely make it worse compared to the next few years but certainly not as bad as SSR and EP alone.

My situation is that I currently own an OKW and BWV contract. Overall they are far more points than I need even though I sold two of my 4 contracts. I'd really love to have about 100-150 points at each resort but I don't have those choices currently. And selling and buying smaller contracts isn't financially reasonable under the current economics of those transactions. While I prefer OKW, I think the BWV contract will give me more options. Thus once I complete an OKW GV for next Xmas (2006) with family, I'll likely sell the OKW and keep the BWV. I've even contemplated buying a small resale or SSR contract and selling both of the current ones just to stay in the system and have the perks.

 

[SoCalKDG]

For simplicity sake lets say there are two DVC resorts: SSR has 600 rooms at BCVs has 200 rooms. At seven months 10% of each resorts owners want to book the other resort. That means that 60 SSR owners have 20 rooms available, and 20 BCV owners have 60 rooms available.

It only makes mathematical sense that booking the smaller resorts will be harder as larger resorts open, and that larger resorts will always be easier to book (unless they build a large resort that has a lot of appeal). This hold even if the resorts are all equally appealling. Unless DVC builds a large resort with a huge draw, there will always be this imbalance in the system.

Well said.

There will always be a pct. of people that want to stay in a different resort than their home resort. Based on this, larger resorts will be easier to get into, smaller ones won't. Once SSR is completed and sold out we will see this situation play out even more.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

We are going in mid November (13-18) and I made by reservation at SSR when we received our points (about 10 1/2 monts out).

I called yesterday to change to OKW, and had no problems. I had thought about doing it day to day, but decided it wasn't worth it. If we weren't able to change to OKW, no problem.

Of course, the 13th is the final day of the Food & Wine, and the last day of Super Soap, so many may be checking out.

 

[ralphd]

It's OK to disagree but here's the thinking. IMO, OKW and SSR have a larger proportion of people buying just to get into the system, plus they are much larger resorts with more owners. I do not believe for a second that as many BCV, BWV and VWL owners will want SSR as the reverse. Some will prefer SSR and OKW but on the whole many will own there to stay other places far more than the reverse. That's not to say it will be impossible, just that it will be more difficult and certain times, unit types and the like WILL be impossible. Of course if DVC adds on another 500 units at what I call destination resorts, things will shift to a degree. Remember you've also got a large percentage of both HH and VB owners that are chasing the same non home resorts options as SSR/OKW owners and it's entirely possible that the percentage of owners at HH and VB that are trying to get WDW resorts will be additive to the rest under discussion.

I agree with Dean, it is a matter of numbers.

 

[biohzrd8]

Wow, interesting reading. Makes me more confused than ever though. I don't really want to stay regularly at SSR but I was considering buying at SSR for several reasons...1. the extra 12 years of ownership 2. it's what Disney is selling and there are good promotions (They will finance for 10 years and I don't have to make first payment until October plus no maintenance fees for the first year...the price works out to $87 a point...it's strange but they finance it for $95 a point with 20% down then refund an amount towards your down payment that brings the overall cost down to the $87 per point. It allows you to get your 20% down without a lot of it coming out of your pocket...quite a benefit) It makes it affordable for us which I don't know if it would be if we bought resale. Because I'm a teacher I can only go during peak times(Christmas, spring break, summer), and I'm afraid of always getting stuck at SSR. I was told that points at SSR are going up by $11 in June to $98 per point. I'm afraid that if I don't buy now, I'll miss out on a decent deal. Any advise?

 

[crisi]

Yes, decide what is most important to you and do some rankings.

For instance 12 extra years might be sort of important - a five

Staying near Epcot might be very important to you - an eight

Having a low point option may be the most important to you - a ten

Room decor you might not care about - a one

Other factors might be price, buying from Disney direct, anticipated availablity at your intended travel times, etc.

Then score all the resorts against these things - multiply score by importance, add up the numbers and see what you get.

 

[ArRzrbk]

...we grabbed BW (standard view) because we have never tried BW

That's great! I was wondering if anyone who didn't own at BWVs ever got those Standard View rooms. And you got them well within the seven month window, as did at least one other poster I saw on this thread. I was thinking about June 2006 or 2007 at the Boardwalk (though we love our home very, very much). Thanks for that bit of good news