First off, welcome to the DIS Boards. I'll take a swing at your questions:
1.
How many points? Depends on many things. Do you want to go to WDW every year? What time of year do you travel? How long do you want to stay? How many people will be going on most trips...and what ages are they...this determines what size accommodation you will want to book. Also, it makes a difference which resort you choose to purchase. If you purchase through Disney, Saratoga Springs Resort is the only on-site
DVC resort they are selling. So you would use that point structure. If you wanted to purchase at another DVC resort through re-sale, you would use that point structure to figure out your point needs. The minimum through Disney is 150 points, but many here have many more points than that to meet their vacation needs.
2.
How many (average) vacations a year do you take, and how many points does it take to do so? We take one vacation a year, for 12-13 days in a 2 bedroom villa. That costs us about 550 points. Others go more often, and some less often. It's more about how often do
you want to go to WDW than the hundreds of folks who post here.
3.
Are points "sellable"? Can I sell some points to my neighbor without selling all of my points for every other year? If I"m reading this correctly, you are asking about renting points to someone. Yes, that is allowed...you could rent your points from one year and still get all the allotment of points for all the other years of your contract. In fact, there's a board on this site that is dedicated to
DVC rentals.
4.
Where is the best place to stay? How far in advance do I need to book? The best place to stay is entirely a personal choice. All the DVC resorts are wonderful, first class accommodations. But they each have their own personality and ambience. There are no bad choices...you'd have to tell us what you're looking for in a resort.
As for booking, you can book reservations at your home resort 11 months before the check out date of your trip. You can reserve at any of the other DVC resorts at the 7 month mark from the check out date. Many here book right at the 11 month mark to ensure the best chance of getting the type of accommodations they want. But others have indicated regular success at making their reservations only a couple of months in advance, as long as it's not the peak season and as long as they're somewhat flexible as to where they'll stay and what type of accommodations.
5.
What do all of your message board abbreviations mean? Click on this link to see many of the WDW abbreviations..
http://www.wdwinfo.com/abbreviations.htm
Also, we abbreviate the DVC resort names
OKW = Old Key West
BWV = Boardwalk Villas
VWL = Villas at Wilderness Lodge
BCV = Beach Club Villas
SSR = Saratoga Springs Resort
VB = Vero Beach
HH = Hilton Head
Good luck, and come back with all your questions!
