I really really really want to buy!!

[Camping Griswalds]

So going with the whole, "Buy where you want to stay" idea...it would be BLT for me. But I only want to buy in with a minumim of 160 points . I will probably suffer from "Add-on-itis" but just want to purchase at the minimum in case we don't LOVE DVC. Anyway, my DH would love the Animal Kingdom Lodge. So which is better price point wise? I have no idea how to do spreadsheets or things like that, so I am really asking for a lot of help here I know. But the Dis is the friendliest place on the Web We are a family of 5, but oldest is a sophomore in HS, so we won't probably need a one bedroom every time. I enjoy taking trips with just my 4 yo daughter and myself. The middle child is in 6th grade. So from what I can tell, my 160 points would stretch a lot further at AKL, than BLT, but then the maintenence points are more there. Anyway, can you help me figure out the best "bang" for my bucks? We will be financing...probably not through Disney though.


Also, we usually travel in January for the kids Winter Break. Their Spring Break is in March. I would love to travel in December at Christmas when my oldest is in college. When would be a good Use Year?

 

[tjkraz]

If you have some affection for both resorts, I would go with BLT. The dues are $1 per point lower at BLT than AKV and that's certain to continue. Although it costs more to buy at BLT, you will make up the difference (and then some) with the lower dues.

BLT is certain to be more difficult to book at 7 months--particularly the MK view and Standard view. And BLT will probably have a higher resale value down the road because it's a smaller property and (again) the dues are lower.

 

[backyardponder]

You can get AKV for about $88 per point resale. Figure about $500 for closing, that brings a 160 point contract to about $91 per point for 160 points. You might get the seller to pick up some of the closing as well.

If you try to figure out your biggest bang for the buck, I think you will eventually be locked up in a looney bin...for the most part, there really isn't a right answer.

Go back to your buy where you want to stay. With a 4 year old, at least for now, being close to MK might be a good idea instead of having to take a bus.

 

[backyardponder]

I was just looking at the point charts. Looking at January since that is when you say you like to travel, 1 week BLT, SV category, 202 points. 1 week AKV, V category, 144 points.

If you are only buying 160 points, AKV is a much better value, even with the higher MF's.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

If you have some affection for both resorts, I would go with BLT. The dues are $1 per point lower at BLT than AKV and that's certain to continue. Although it costs more to buy at BLT, you will make up the difference (and then some) with the lower dues.

BLT is certain to be more difficult to book at 7 months--particularly the MK view and Standard view. And BLT will probably have a higher resale value down the road because it's a smaller property and (again) the dues are lower.

I totally agree with TJKRAZ. BLT & BCV will probably be the hardest to get into at 7 months so buy your points at the BLT (for 50 year contract)and use them whereever you like to.

 

[DVC Mike]

I would go with BLT !!

 

[kristenrice]

So going with the whole, "Buy where you want to stay" idea...it would be BLT for me. But I only want to buy in with a minumim of 160 points . I will probably suffer from "Add-on-itis" but just want to purchase at the minimum in case we don't LOVE DVC. Anyway, my DH would love the Animal Kingdom Lodge. So which is better price point wise? I have no idea how to do spreadsheets or things like that, so I am really asking for a lot of help here I know. But the Dis is the friendliest place on the Web We are a family of 5, but oldest is a sophomore in HS, so we won't probably need a one bedroom every time. I enjoy taking trips with just my 4 yo daughter and myself. The middle child is in 6th grade. So from what I can tell, my 160 points would stretch a lot further at AKL, than BLT, but then the maintenence points are more there. Anyway, can you help me figure out the best "bang" for my bucks? We will be financing...probably not through Disney though.


Also, we usually travel in January for the kids Winter Break. Their Spring Break is in March. I would love to travel in December at Christmas when my oldest is in college. When would be a good Use Year?

First, let me say that I bought at AKV. BLT does nothing for me. The lower dues, "better" location, monorail access and longer contract aren't enough to compensate for the theming, higher point cost and higher point requirements.

That being said, I would still recommend BLT in your case. The location and transportation options at BLT sound like they are a better fit for your family. Also, once Kidani opens, it will probably be easier to get AKV at the 7 month window that it will be to get BLT at the 7-month window. You will probably need the home resort advantage at BLT.

If you buy now at BLT and then come down with a case of addonitis, your options of adding on at AKV should be more varied than at BLT. First, there are more AKV resales available (obviously, since it has been on sale for a few years) and the prices are coming down. Second, with DVC increasing the minimum add on at BLT only, there won't be as many smaller resales available and you may be stuck adding on at a 100 point minimum. If you want to add on at AKV directly from Disney (at a premium price), you will still have the 25/50 point minimum.

My vote (and it's hard for me to say this since I LOVE AKV so much) is for you to buy at BLT and then consider an add on at AKV in the future.

As far as your UY is concerned, if you plan on traveling during the first half of the year, a December UY would work well for you. That gives you until July 31(?) to bank your points if you have to cancel a vacation planned in the beginning of the year.

FWIW, I am not a numbers person either so someone else will have to "do the math" for you. I am just trying to point out some other things for you to consider.

 

[chrisw127]

So going with the whole, "Buy where you want to stay" idea...it would be BLT for me. But I only want to buy in with a minumim of 160 points . I will probably suffer from "Add-on-itis" but just want to purchase at the minimum in case we don't LOVE DVC. Anyway, my DH would love the Animal Kingdom Lodge. So which is better price point wise? I have no idea how to do spreadsheets or things like that, so I am really asking for a lot of help here I know. But the Dis is the friendliest place on the Web We are a family of 5, but oldest is a sophomore in HS, so we won't probably need a one bedroom every time. I enjoy taking trips with just my 4 yo daughter and myself. The middle child is in 6th grade. So from what I can tell, my 160 points would stretch a lot further at AKL, than BLT, but then the maintenence points are more there. Anyway, can you help me figure out the best "bang" for my bucks? We will be financing...probably not through Disney though.


Also, we usually travel in January for the kids Winter Break. Their Spring Break is in March. I would love to travel in December at Christmas when my oldest is in college. When would be a good Use Year?

This is a good delimna to have! Personally, I'd go with BLT. I know it costs more to get in there, but it's going to be amazing. And if you don't like DVC, I think you'll be able to sell it more easily.

Good luck!

 

[thelionqueen]

As you can tell by my signature, obviously I'm going to vote for BLT
However, apart from the bias, I would also reccommend buying there for the same reasons as listed by previous posters being:

7 month availability
Location
Lower MF's (which add up significantly over 50 years)
Resale value

Once you make the right decision, you will know. We've toyed around with other resorts, resales, you name it. Once we decided on our amount of points and resort, we knew it was right for us. Great dilemma to be in btw..

 

[5forDiz]

~So going with the whole, "Buy where you want to stay" idea...it would be BLT for me. But I only want to buy in with a minumim of 160 points .......

~Anyway, my DH would love the Animal Kingdom Lodge.........

~So which is better price point wise? ......

~ a family of 5, but oldest is a sophomore in HS, so we won't probably need a one bedroom every time......

~ I enjoy taking trips with just my 4 yo daughter and myself......

~ The middle child is in 6th grade.....

~ Also, we usually travel in January for the kids Winter Break.....

~ Their Spring Break is in March.....

~ I would love to travel in December at Christmas when my oldest is in college....

~ When would be a good Use Year?

You may need to run ( not walk ) if what has been previously said by both guides and in print by DVC ( as many of us members received this info by mail) still turns out, in fact, to be true regarding new buyer minimum purchase at BLT increasing to 200 points on Jan 15 2009. Although there does seem to be a question raised this week as to whether this increase will, in fact, happen.....if you have been speaking with a guide you may want to try to pin down the answer on this since BLT in one of the resorts you are considering and you say you'd rather just buy-in at 160 pts.

You mention your DH leaning towards AKV; I'd take a good look at AKV resales and go for the best of both worlds & make everyone happy in the process by buying half points at AKV and then purchase BLT as an add-on for rest of points. Just mho.

AKV price increases to $112 on Jan 15 2009; however, I believe there will be an incentive of
$6.25(?) reduction per point on 100 pts or more but I'm not 100% sure if this in fact is the incentive offered.

Concerning your high school and junior high kids: even if they don't come on all future trips as they get older they will want to bring friends along which will require mom & dad booking larger villas and believe me, we have found this out with 2 of our kids being hs & college age ! our DS is in college now and will soon be taking a solo trip taking friends along staying with our dvc points ! So don't factor the older kids out and think you can do with less points. In our experience as the kids have grown we are finding we need more points

I'm going to guess that Spring Break will vary from year to year, either March or April and you also mention January and December as possible travel times. I would pick a December UY because for December & January trips if you had to cancel you'd have until July 31 to bank. And that July 31 banking deadline would work well for cancellations that may happen for trips planned in March and April as well. You wouldnt want March UY because banking deadline would be Oct 31 and that wouldn't work well because you'd be beyond your banking window if you needed to cancel trip in December or January.

Best wishes to you and hope to welcome you home real soon

 

[BrentR]

I am going to be somewhat of an contrarian here from the majority of the posts. We had the same dilema as you. I really wanted to add-on to BLT but wife was partial to AKV. She said she didn't really care where we added on as long as she got to stay at AKV on occasion. After looking at everything, including everything that has been discussed in previous posts, we decided to add-on at AKV.

The the argument about MF's being a $1/or so cheaper at BLT only amount to about $160 per year on the contract you are talking about. $160/year is not that much even when you figure it out over 50 years, and if I am worried about $160 per year I should be considering an investment in a timeshare of $16k+

The most compelling factor for us was the fact that our points stretched further at AKV and we both love this resort as well. We will take our chances at staying at the other DVC resorts. including BLT at the 7 month mark at some point in time.

Since we want to stay at AKV and BLT both the "buy where you want to stay" advice was a moot point as we love both resorts.

There is no right or wrong answer in your case and since DH really really really wants one and you really really really want the other someone is bound to be somewhat disappointed if opinoins are as strong as your posts seems.

I really don't think you will be disappointed with either and once you start your DVC career you will surely love it. One thing that my wife and I decided is that if we get tired of or need a break from the parks there is still plenty to do in the Orlando area for fun experiences and we always have a nice place to stay!!!

 

[tjkraz]

The the argument about MF's being a $1/or so cheaper at BLT only amount to about $160 per year on the contract you are talking about. $160/year is not that much even when you figure it out over 50 years, and if I am worried about $160 per year I should be considering an investment in a timeshare of $16k+

Assuming 3% annual increases, that $160 disparity will grow to $680 in 50 years and will total over $18,000 in the 50 years of ownership.

I agree that financial considerations are just one piece of the puzzle, but when you're at the "both resorts hold equal appeal" impasse, financial suddenly gains greater weight.

Your Home resort only gets you 11 month access to one resort. And I still think it will be far easier to book AKV rooms at 7 months that it will be to book BLT rooms at 7 months.

 

[thelionqueen]

Assuming 3% annual increases, that $160 disparity will grow to $680 in 50 years and will total over $18,000 in the 50 years of ownership.

I agree that financial considerations are just one piece of the puzzle, but when you're at the "both resorts hold equal appeal" impasse, financial suddenly gains greater weight.

Your Home resort only gets you 11 month access to one resort. And I still think it will be far easier to book AKV rooms at 7 months that it will be to book BLT rooms at 7 months.

Exactly what I was thinking but you wrote it far better

 

[Camping Griswalds]

Thanks you so much for all of the insights and opinions! All of them were very helpful!!

 

[Anal Annie]

You may need to run ( not walk ) if what has been previously said by both guides and in print by DVC ( as many of us members received this info by mail) still turns out, in fact, to be true regarding new buyer minimum purchase at BLT increasing to 200 points on Jan 15 2009. Although there does seem to be a question raised this week as to whether this increase will, in fact, happen.....if you have been speaking with a guide you may want to try to pin down the answer on this since BLT in one of the resorts you are considering and you say you'd rather just buy-in at 160 pts.

Did I miss a rumor this week??

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Did I miss a rumor this week??

A mod here on the boards stated that Disney is NOT increasing the minimum buy-in from 160 to 200 pts. for new purchases. Other than this single post, there has been no corroboration of this fact.

 

[Raivyn]

It will be just as difficult to book a Savannah view room at AKV at is will be to book a view room at BLT. And while the location of BLT is ideal, I don't think its worth it to even stay there if you don't have a MK view.

I know people are calculating ownership costs over 50 years, but realistically, who is going to own their membership that long?

We bought at AKV because we have a trip planned in June, and we can't use BLT points until after September. The incentives at AKV made the purchase much more affordable. It would take 10 years before the maintenance fee difference between AKV and BLT to even out. We have every confidence that we would be able to stay at BLT when and where we want within 10 years. How many Vero Beach and HH members stay at WDW with no problems and enjoy a lower point cost? We don't know if we will want to own our membership longer than that, so the price savings was still in AKV's favor.

 

[Anal Annie]

It will be just as difficult to book a Savannah view room at AKV at is will be to book a view room at BLT. And while the location of BLT is ideal, I don't think its worth it to even stay there if you don't have a MK view.

I disagree with that statement. First, AKV is SO-O much bigger than BLT I think the Savannah view rooms will continue to be available and plentiful. Second, I think if you have park intensive days the MK view at BLT would be a waste of points. Third, I also think that some of the Lake Views at BLT have the potential to be spectacular and I personally would prefer to look out over the lake than at a view of MK off in the distance with possibility of monorail or parking obstructions in the foreground. JMHO.

I know people are calculating ownership costs over 50 years, but realistically, who is going to own their membership that long?

We do. We intend to leave to our DS for him and his family one day. That was part of our plan from day 1.

We bought at AKV because we have a trip planned in June, and we can't use BLT points until after September. The incentives at AKV made the purchase much more affordable. It would take 10 years before the maintenance fee difference between AKV and BLT to even out. We have every confidence that we would be able to stay at BLT when and where we want within 10 years. How many Vero Beach and HH members stay at WDW with no problems and enjoy a lower point cost? We don't know if we will want to own our membership longer than that, so the price savings was still in AKV's favor.

I agree that the incentives and (currently) lower price at AKV are definitely more attractive and will get you further on the same amount of points...however I DO think that BLT will be difficult to get at prime time if you don't own there. If you think you would ever want to stay at BLT over spring break or Christmas I think you're gonna be out of luck. The HHI an VB owners have a definite advantage on the price per point for their initial buy-in but they are SOCKED HARD on their annual maint. fees.

 

[thelionqueen]

Yeah, we intend to keep it for 50 years and it was also in our plan from day one. I personally will stay with a MK view at least once, but honestly, the lake view is more of a draw for our family. My first WDW stay was @ CR, so it holds a very special place in my Disney heart. Apart from that, the location and amenities are worth every cent. I also think that getting a MK view and not owning there will be a rare occurrence. Only 20% of all rooms have a MK view, so I think even BLT owners will have to plan as far in advance as possible to get them. Just my .02

 

[CarolAnnC]

A mod here on the boards stated that Disney is NOT increasing the minimum buy-in from 160 to 200 pts. for new purchases. Other than this single post, there has been no corroboration of this fact.

Oh my!!! Feel free to go ahead and call your Guide. For anyone looking to purchase as a new owner, please let us know if you are given conflicting information. I was provided this information directly from DVC.

Let's be sure we always give posters (including the Moderators!!) the benefit of the doubt here! We have no reason to print false information and would never knowingly do so here on the DIS.