Importance of buying into DVC at fav resort?

[jarestel]

The chants of "buy where you most like to stay" produce guaranteed results only when one can and does take advantage of the booking windows. If one can't or won't use the booking advantage, then as has been stated, points are just points and owning them at a specific resort produces no advantages except for the cost of annual dues, relatively speaking.

The size of the resort is also of secondary consideration. For folks who like BCV or VWL, getting into these resorts at 7 months might not be possible many times. On the other hand, getting a reservation at SSR, OKW, or AKV, due to the larger size of these resorts, is probably very likely most times of the year. BLT, Lake View rooms, will probably fall into the fairly easy to get category as well.

Bottom line, you need to figure out how you travel, where you like to stay, and determine the level of disappointment not being able to get a reservation at your favorite resort will generate.

Good luck!

 

[disneynutz]

I consider it cheap insurance. If you buy where you love to stay, what does it hurt, nothing! You at least get the choice of booking at 11, 10, 9, 8, months before the rest of the members and can still book at 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 months if you want to.

Most people intend to keep their membership for many, many years. NOBODY knows what may happen in the future.

What if today you are a 6th month booker because of your job. 5 years from now you get laid off and with your new job you can book at 8 months. You just increased your chances of getting the resort and the room/view you love because you bought there.

Today you don't book before 7 months because of Billy's school schedule. In 10 years Billy is now Bill and he moved out and went to college. Unfortunately you didn't buy at your favorite resort so even though things have changed and you want to start booking at 11 months, you can't at your favorite resort because you didn't buy there.

Bottom line is:

Buy where you love to stay, it can't hurt.
Buy somewhere else, it could hurt.

 

[mgilmer]

I consider it cheap insurance. If you buy where you love to stay, what does it hurt, nothing! You at least get the choice of booking at 11, 10, 9, 8, months before the rest of the members and can still book at 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 months if you want to.

Most people intend to keep their membership for many, many years. NOBODY knows what may happen in the future.

What if today you are a 6th month booker because of your job. 5 years from now you get laid off and with your new job you can book at 8 months. You just increased your chances of getting the resort and the room/view you love because you bought there.

Today you don't book before 7 months because of Billy's school schedule. In 10 years Billy is now Bill and he moved out and went to college. Unfortunately you didn't buy at your favorite resort so even though things have changed and you want to start booking at 11 months, you can't at your favorite resort because you didn't buy there.

Bottom line is:

Buy where you love to stay, it can't hurt.
Buy somewhere else, it could hurt.

 

[Mississippian]

In addition to buying where you want to stay, consider the fact that DVC offers a few special rooms that are essentially only available to owners.

OKW has the grand villa which rents for just a little more than a 2 BR.
BWV has standard view rooms that bring its costs down to OKW levels.
AKV has concierge rooms, not to mention value rooms that are in high demand.
SSR has the new Treehouse Villas that are likely to book up before the 7-month window.

Now, IF you are able to book 8-11 months in advance then you can take advantage of there offerings if they appeal to you. If you THINK you might be able to book 8-11 months in the future even though you can't now, and staying in these types of rooms is important to you, you should consider buying where you want to stay.

With all of this said, you have a pretty good chance of getting in somewhere at the 7-month mark. For much of the year you can get anything you want except for the "special" rooms. If you buy at OKW and don't really want to stay there, you can book at 11 months and then switch to another resort at 7 months. If nothing is available, you still get your Disney vacation. On the other hand, if you buy Vero, you don't have a backup unless you are willing to take a Vero vacation instead of a Disney one, which isn't that bad an option (cheaper, too).

Only you know how flexible your vacation plans are.

 

[DVC Mike]

In addition to buying where you want to stay, consider the fact that DVC offers a few special rooms that are essentially only available to owners.

OKW has the grand villa which rents for just a little more than a 2 BR.
BWV has standard view rooms that bring its costs down to OKW levels.
AKV has concierge rooms, not to mention value rooms that are in high demand.
SSR has the new Treehouse Villas that are likely to book up before the 7-month window.

And BLT has those Magic Kingdom View rooms!

 

[Mississippian]

And BLT has those Magic Kingdom View rooms!

Mike,
I didn't mention the Magic Kingdom view rooms because I think they may have priced the view into the point chart. In other words, it may be harder to get a lake view because of the cheaper points than the MK view for more points. I'd love to have a MK view, but it doesn't blow me over as being a great deal.

I did fail to mention the Boardwalk View at BWV, which costs no more than a garden/pool view room.

 

[dizney4us]

speaking of BLT, does anyone know if it will have its own monorail, or will guests need to go to the contemporary to get on and off? Just curious...sorry if this is OT.

 

[disneynutz]

All services for BLT will be at the existing Contemporary. Transportation, restaurants, and check in.

 

[bangzoom6877]

We want to stay at BWV every time we go to WDW so we bought there. We also plan our vacations way in advance so planning 11 months out is no big deal for us. However, there are some people who plan less in advance and if you know you always plan 7 or fewer months before then I suppose it doesn't really matter where you buy. But I still think it is a good idea to buy where you want to stay. Now if you are torn between 2 WDW resorts, that is another story. Some members buy more than one contract, go more than once per year and stay at each one of their home resorts each trip so they can have that 11-month booking advantage. I believe this is one of the causes of "addonitis", wanting more than one home resort!!

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

All out points are at SSR. We are planners and most vacations are booked at 11 months...however, sometimes that is only to secure a room. At 7 months we often switch out to other resorts. We love them all and regularly switch around.

As far as hard to get rooms....we always have been able to get BWV or BCV for Food and Wine using waitlists. That may change in the future but so far so good. We have been able get VWL well into the seven month window. I just called today to add another studio onto our March 2009 vacation and they said there was good availability. If it was Christmas time...not the same story.

If there is a resort that you would absolutely need to be able to stay at, then buy there. Switching is never guaranteed. But understand that staying at non-home resorts is not difficult if you are talking a non-holiday time.

 

[disneynutz]

All out points are at SSR. We are planners and most vacations are booked at 11 months...however, sometimes that is only to secure a room. At 7 months we often switch out to other resorts. We love them all and regularly switch around.

As far as hard to get rooms....we always have been able to get BWV or BCV for Food and Wine using waitlists. That may change in the future but so far so good. We have been able get VWL well into the seven month window. I just called today to add another studio onto our March 2009 vacation and they said there was good availability. If it was Christmas time...not the same story.

If there is a resort that you would absolutely need to be able to stay at, then buy there. Switching is never guaranteed. But understand that staying at non-home resorts is not difficult if you are talking a non-holiday time.

Good information, but think about this. What's not difficult today could be very difficult tomorrow!

 

[HGD24]

I wish we had really considered the "buy where you want to stay" advice when we bought. We bought direct through Disney and at the time, they were selling SSR. I grew up very close to the real SS in upstate NY and the first time we stayed at SSR, I did not feel like I was on vacation. Not a palm tree in sight! I felt like I was staying at a condo complex near where I grew up. I love that it's new and the decor in the rooms is beautiful, but outside...it just doesn't say "vacation" to me. I wish we had opted for a resale at one of the other resorts.

Having said that, we do have friends who have been able to stay at OKW, BWV & BCV on our points so it does depend on the time of year and the room type that you are looking for.

 

[thelionqueen]

I wish we had really considered the "buy where you want to stay" advice when we bought. We bought direct through Disney and at the time, they were selling SSR. I grew up very close to the real SS in upstate NY and the first time we stayed at SSR, I did not feel like I was on vacation. Not a palm tree in sight! I felt like I was staying at a condo complex near where I grew up. I love that it's new and the decor in the rooms is beautiful, but outside...it just doesn't say "vacation" to me. I wish we had opted for a resale at one of the other resorts.

Having said that, we do have friends who have been able to stay at OKW, BWV & BCV on our points so it does depend on the time of year and the room type that you are looking for.

I TOTALLY understand what you're saying. We were so tempted (even signed an SSR contract that we cancelled) to buy SSR, the resort was nice and the length of contract and incentives were really tempting. We did hold off, and I'm so glad we did.

On the other hand, you should be able to book at other resorts with your points, so it could be worse