Interested in buying DVC......but I have a few questions

[Buzzfanmom]

We were just down to WDW this past week and met with the DVC people at BLT for the pitch. We are very interested but wanted to do our homework and now see that buying resale seems like the better way to go.
How important is it to pick a home resort you LOVE? I know that you can book out 11 months in advance at your home resort, but is it really hard to get into the other resorts 7 months out if you typically vacation in the fall?
Also, why are there so many Animal Kingdom Villas for resale? Is it the distance?
We like the Wilderness Lodge Villas very much and I can see us staying there quite a bit but if we want to move to BCV once in a while will it be that hard?
I know I need to get a contract signed by March 20th so I really want to make an educated decision.
Please help a newbie

 

[iloveokw]

You need to buy where you want to stay. Also your kids are young now....but in a few years you may not be able to go in Oct. because of activities.....sports, music, etc. As they age your room configuration will change. Oct is very popular for DVC members ...especially for BCV. Have you seen the WLV?

 

[Deb & Bill]

In the end, all you are guaranteed is a stay at your home resort. So, if you don't really love your home resort, buy where you wouldn't mind staying if that was the only place you could stay. As they build more and more DVC resorts, it gets harder and harder to get something at seven months out.

VWL is the smallest DVC at WDW. The GCV are smaller, but they are the only ones located at Disneyland Resort.

If you love VWL, buy there.

 

[sleepydog25]

We were just down to WDW this past week and met with the DVC people at BLT for the pitch. We are very interested but wanted to do our homework and now see that buying resale seems like the better way to go.
How important is it to pick a home resort you LOVE? I know that you can book out 11 months in advance at your home resort, but is it really hard to get into the other resorts 7 months out if you typically vacation in the fall?
Also, why are there so many Animal Kingdom Villas for resale? Is it the distance?
We like the Wilderness Lodge Villas very much and I can see us staying there quite a bit but if we want to move to BCV once in a while will it be that hard?
I know I need to get a contract signed by March 20th so I really want to make an educated decision.
Please help a newbie

I'm mostly echoing what the others have said--the soundest advice is buy where you want to stay. I love VWL, so I bought there. I've stayed at a few other resorts, and I enjoyed them, but they didn't speak to me like VWL does. I don't know that AKL is too far out, but in some minds, I suppose that's so. However, it's a gorgeous resort, especially the rooms at Kidani. As for the difficulty in getting a room at 7 months out, it all depends on timing. Getting a room at VWL for the Christmas season at the 7-month point is extremely difficult, for example. There is no hard and fast criteria except that as mentioned above, you're only truly "guaranteed" a room at your home resort, and after that, it can be a crap shoot. Now, I've had good success at getting my desired resort at 7 months, but it is getting tougher. Good luck.

 

[Sandisw]

Depending on when you go in the fall, the Epcot resorts are hard to get at 7 months due to F & W at Epcot.

So, you want to be sure to own someplace you will be happy with if nothing else that you want is available for the way that you want it.

I do believe that people should buy at a place they are happy with so that if that is where you end up, you won't be disappointed.

We spent a lot extra to own at BLT because we knew that we would be very happy there if we could not trade out other resorts. We also knew that we would want BLT most of the time so that helped in our decision.

If VWL is where you would be happy, then that is where I would buy.

 

[cseca]

In the end, all you are guaranteed is a stay at your home resort. So, if you don't really love your home resort, buy where you wouldn't mind staying if that was the only place you could stay. As they build more and more DVC resorts, it gets harder and harder to get something at seven months out.

VWL is the smallest DVC at WDW. The GCV are smaller, but they are the only ones located at Disneyland Resort.

If you love VWL, buy there.

yeah... what Deb & Bill said!
The papers you will sign says you're guaranteed a stay at your HR only and with a HR booking priority of no less than 30 days (or something like that).

So don't get to wrapped up in all the perks, including the ability to book other resorts. Get a place you would be happy to stay in for the life of the membership, so you won't be too disappointed if DVC decided to cut off the resort trading perks (or any perks in that matter).

Good luck on your decision!

BTW, we own at WLV and love it....

BCV is one of the resorts which is hard to get at 7mo out. People love the prox to EPCOT and their pool. If you're flexible on your date and don't mind to waitlist as soon as you get to your 7mo time period you might be ok. Unfortunately DVC is really not for last minute travelers who are particular on their resort choice. But if you scan the threads, there have been some posts of people getting lucky to get BCV/BWV during F&W festival at 7mo out. So it's possible, just depends on your luck...

ps: Look at all the resorts carefully, the newer resorts have 2 bathrooms in their 1br accommodations. BW and WL do not. Also, the newer resorts allow 5 people in their 1br as well (except for AKV 1br value), while the older resorts do not. OKW have some rooms with 2 doubles instead of a queen and a sofa (I think).
I guess what I'm trying to say is there are pluses and minuses on any resorts. Keep that in mind when you're deciding!

 

[kristenrice]

There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing your new "home". We had visited all of the deluxe resorts on our honeymoon, but we'd only stayed at OKW. When the time came to buy, we were torn between OKW and AKV. We loved the point structure and the room size of OKW as well as the cheaper buy in and annual dues. But, we knew we would only be buying a small amount of points and the value 1BR's at AKV are a great way to stretch out our trips without having to stay in studios all the time. In order to get those, we knew we'd need the 11-month window. Along that same line, OKW is huge and generally has rooms available at the 7-month window, except the GV's which we aren't interested in anyway. So, we decided to pay a little more and buy AKV. Our DD's are animal lovers so it is the perfect choice for us. We've stayed there three times and the girls can't get enough of it. If we were stuck there for every trip, I would love it!

We just sent in our paperwork for a 50-pt add on at HHI. This way, we can do WDW in June (buy AP's) and April, then do HHI in our "off" year. We bought HHI sight unseen...our first trip is in 27 days. If you are torn, you can always buy 1/2 your points at one and 1/2 at the other. With banking and borrowing, you can alternate years and still have the 11-month window at both.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...ps: Look at all the resorts carefully, the newer resorts have 2 bathrooms in their 1br accommodations. BW and WL do not. Also, the newer resorts allow 5 people in their 1br as well (except for AKV 1br value), while the older resorts do not. OKW have some rooms with 2 doubles instead of a queen and a sofa (I think).
I guess what I'm trying to say is there are pluses and minuses on any resorts. Keep that in mind when you're deciding!

OKW also has the sleeper chair in the one bedroom and larger villas. So they one bedroom will sleep five, but the official documents still only say four.

The second bedroom at OKW will always have two queen beds. Whether it is a lockoff or dedicated.

 

[RobDoc]

...I know I need to get a contract signed by March 20th so I really want to make an educated decision.

I just wanted to point out that the March 20 date is only important if you want/need to use your DVC points for Disney Collection, Concierge Collection and Adverturer Collection reservations - where for a much higher point cost and an additional $95 fee, you can use DVC points for reservations at other WDW Resorts, Disney Cruise Line and other select non-Disney resorts. If using your points in that fashion is important to you, then you need to have an accepted offer submitted to ROFR by that date. Otherwise, take as much time as you'll need to make an educated decision.

Another point is that members are not guaranteed a reservation at any DVC resort (including Home Resort). All reservations are based on availability. If you can reserve 11 months in advance, there is a very good chance for success at your Home Resort. If you plan to reserve inside of 7 months, availability may be limited for some resorts,villa-types and/or dates.

Good luck!

 

[bookwormde]

I do not think there are any gereralized rules for where to buy, and what you think now may be very different in 10 year.

If you "have to" stay a specific resort then yes buy that resort.

If you would "like to" but are flexible and do not travel during high DVC demand times, then picking a 3rd or 4th choice for better value (mor points eg. longer stays, bigger accomodations, more frequent trip, or for lower dues) are very important considerations.

 

[KGD]

My family was in a very similiar situation. We visited Disney and DVC in late January and felt rushed to make a decision. Once we got home and I found these boards, I knew resale was the way to go for us. We could have chosen BLT at $124/pt with the incentives being offered, which by the way, is also going up to $140 per point next week. However, we LOVE VWL and after looking into the resale prices, the decision was made. We just passed ROFR at $65 at VWL with all 2010 points and forward (AND we don't pay 2011 MF's!!) Brings the cost to a little over $59 a point. DVC was offering VWL at $102. So we got almost double the points and at the resort we LOVED. Couldn't be happier.

We are a family of 5 with 3 small children and since we bought more points than we needed initially, we have a lot of flexibility for the future for us, and with bringing family members, friends, etc. And hopefully we can get one additional vacation every 18 months or so. I am so excited that I am trying to convince my husband to take another vacation there this summer in addition to the one we want to make at Christmas! .......maybe our bargain isn't such a bargain.....
Good luck to you!