Is Poly right for me?

[TheGecko]

New to the boards....

The wife and I decided to buy into DVC. We have been going on trips consistently over the past 5 years including a couple of visits to Disneyland (I usually have a work conference in the Anaheim area annually).

Situation is as follows:

A.) Wife is a teacher so she only gets Summers off plus holidays which are expensive for rooms and travel. Our primary travel time is limited to the summer, though we also have a small window each year in November during teacher's convention week.

B.) We have three kids all 7 and under . So we need a room that can hold 5. The Poly studios appear to be roomy enough for now, but once they get bigger it may be a squeeze. Only other contract that appears reasonable in resale for our family is AKV. BLT could work but with the increased number of points plus resale costs it will run us about the same (or more) for a week each year plus lose out on the direct perks.

C.) Poly will do a guaranteed week. Since we know we are going to visit in the summer we could do the 2nd or third week in August and save some money on the guaranteed room versus earlier in the summer. If we need to go earlier, we could still release the reservation and have enough points to book a standard view earlier in Summer.

Is there a better option for a family of 5 that I am missing. Appears AKV or Poly are the two best right now.

 

[supersnoop]

You don't need home-resort advantage if you want room for five at AKV. It's a huge resort; the only reason to own there is if you need the "value" rooms; but thost studios only sleep four.

If you do want Poly, I can't imaging any good reason to buy a fixed week in the summer. DVC's "busy season" is October through the second weekend in January. Fixed weeks matter most if you want something during Food & Wine or the first week in December.

If you want to stay at PVB, then buy there. If you want stay at AKV, then buy at SSR or BLT. If you want to stay in a different studio for five, then look at VWL, BWV, and BCV. Those all have much sooner expiration dates, but they have (or will soon have) a murphy bed to sleep that fifth person.

 

[McCrae]

As your kids get older you may find that a studio is not big enough for you. The limited options at the Poly might be an issue. Resorts that have the availability of 1 or 2 bedrooms maybe a better option longer term.

 

[Minniesgal]

We also have a family of 5 but older kids. I can assure you we would never have bought into the Poly for our family. Once the kids ages are in double figures a studio is just not going to cut it.

We bought at AKV and while the 5 of us travelled together we did 2 bedrooms at either AKV or BLT to get the space and the 3 bathrooms

Now we are down to a threesome we will do 1 bedrooms anywhere but 5 was tricky

Personally I wouldn't pay the price for the restrictions of studio only at the Poly. If buy somewhere with 2 bedroom villas resale

 

[Dean]

New to the boards....

The wife and I decided to buy into DVC. We have been going on trips consistently over the past 5 years including a couple of visits to Disneyland (I usually have a work conference in the Anaheim area annually).

Situation is as follows:

A.) Wife is a teacher so she only gets Summers off plus holidays which are expensive for rooms and travel. Our primary travel time is limited to the summer, though we also have a small window each year in November during teacher's convention week.

B.) We have three kids all 7 and under . So we need a room that can hold 5. The Poly studios appear to be roomy enough for now, but once they get bigger it may be a squeeze. Only other contract that appears reasonable in resale for our family is AKV. BLT could work but with the increased number of points plus resale costs it will run us about the same (or more) for a week each year plus lose out on the direct perks.

C.) Poly will do a guaranteed week. Since we know we are going to visit in the summer we could do the 2nd or third week in August and save some money on the guaranteed room versus earlier in the summer. If we need to go earlier, we could still release the reservation and have enough points to book a standard view earlier in Summer.

Is there a better option for a family of 5 that I am missing. Appears AKV or Poly are the two best right now.

What about buying two fixed weeks the same week so later you can get two rooms and hope they are connected (can't be guaranteed). Or you could consider SSR or AKV resale or possibly BLT. IMO the increased points for the 1 BR are worth it. I'd look at it that I can get a 1 BR somewhere else for the price of the studio at the Poly rather than the reverse.

 

[katmatry]

We just bought Poly and could not be happier. We are a family of 5, kids are 17, 15 and 10. A lot of people may think a studio is too small for 5 people but we don't feel that way. If you like the Poly then that's the resort you should buy into.

 

[TheGecko]

Thanks for the insights. I could see the kids eventually outgrowing the Studio but right now they are small.

BLT appears to be a bit pricier than Poly right now for a 1 bedroom due to requiring more points.

Decisions....

 

[TheGecko]

What about buying two fixed weeks the same week so later you can get two rooms and hope they are connected (can't be guaranteed). Or you could consider SSR or AKV resale or possibly BLT. IMO the increased points for the 1 BR are worth it. I'd look at it that I can get a 1 BR somewhere else for the price of the studio at the Poly rather than the reverse.

Buying two fixed weeks is kind of out of the question. Have enough saved to pay cash for a week equivalent. I want to avoid financing with Disney's high rates.

AKV looks to be the best bet to buy in, but my wife said if we buy she wants to be on the monorail.

If anything we may add points later once the kids get bigger and we need to expand our accommodations.

 

[dizfan]

If it wasn't for your travel in November, I think you would be a great candidate to buy at SSR (low price resale and low dues).

August is not a big DVC booking season so people have success booking at other resorts. You might be able to choose between PVB studio, BLT 1BR lake view, AKV 1BR standard and savannah view, on most trips.
1BRs are almost always the last to book up. We have even booked BWV 1BR about 4 months before F&W.

For November though, you would need to book before the 7 month non-home resort window, so you may be so called stuck at SSR.
If you can, for November, most would suggest booking at 11 months because this is peak DVC season. (Example, BLT 1BR standard tends to be popular because DVC owners like using lower points).

You mentioned DL. Have you considered VGC? While this wouldn't work for November at WDW, it would work well for DL (which is extremely difficult to get) and you would likely have success with 1BRs at several resorts in August.

 

[Dean]

Buying two fixed weeks is kind of out of the question. Have enough saved to pay cash for a week equivalent. I want to avoid financing with Disney's high rates.

AKV looks to be the best bet to buy in, but my wife said if we buy she wants to be on the monorail.

If anything we may add points later once the kids get bigger and we need to expand our accommodations.

Your choice of course. If you can plan 11 months out, compare standard view at BLT, while it is more points, it's less than a 1 BR would be at the Poly if they had one. IMO you get more for the extra cost and you'll end up with more points for around the same money if you go resale. Dues will be more but not that much more when you figure the per point price is 20% more for the Poly and that difference is likely to increase going forward because it's likely that the Poly's dues are artificially low at present. By the time you get the around 186 points for the Poly retail standard (roughly # of points with fixed week summer since I don't have the actual chart right now) compared to 268 pts standard view at BLT. And dues of $1120 vs 1360 using those numbers. The Poly will be cheaper but give you less right now, BLT will be cheaper long term in all likelihood or at least give you more once you outgrow a studio.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'd never buy into DVC with the plan to only use studios. You might as well just book a family suite. You get better beds there than you do with the studios. And separate sleeping rooms.

 

[LauraLea]

I would not consider the Poly now if you feel you will want to add on later to be able to have enough points for a 1 bedroom. Where would you want to add on at? Your Poly points will not be bookable at 11 months for anyplace with a 1 bedroom.

Laura