Is this silly?

[ryanshana]

We really fell in love w/ BLT but the $112/pp is kind of making us think. It's apparent that AKV is cheaper ($94/pp). But don't they say you should buy where you wanna stay? Or is that just a silly financial move?

 

[kathrynmtague]

I own at BWV and BCV. I find that the 11 month mark is really important, especially when you want to travel at certain times of the year. For example, the low season 12/1-12/14 is slow time for WDW, but busy time for DVC. When we go during this time I usually call in my reservation each day! I do this because the one year I didn't I wasn't able to get at my home resort!

 

[hlyntunstl]

You should buy where you want to stay but also keep your annual dues in mind. I don't remember the exact cost but believe AKV is around $1/pp more than BLT and that is the expense that is ongoing.

Do some math and determine which is the best for your needs. If it works for you and your family, it's not silly

 

[Brian Noble]

Given that the difference between the two is less than 10%, I would not let the purchase price sway my decision too significantly.

 

[disneynutz]

We really fell in love w/ BLT but the $112/pp is kind of making us think. It's apparent that AKV is cheaper ($94/pp). But don't they say you should buy where you wanna stay? Or is that just a silly financial move?

When did you stay at BLT, I don't see it in your Sig? We thought that we loved a couple of resorts until we actually stayed there.

Bill

 

[ryanshana]

When did you stay at BLT, I don't see it in your Sig? We thought that we loved a couple of resorts until we actually stayed there.

Bill

Thanks everyone.
We actually never stayed there, we did tour there and we did go to see AKV (but no tour)....HA so I guess you could say love at first site??

 

[Anal Annie]

Personally, we like to stay at a different resort each time we go so that each trip is a whole new vacation. We haven't had a big problem (yet) of not being able to get what we hoped for at 7 months. We have not stayed at BLT yet because 1st it's new and 2nd it's so point intensive. It's on our list to try but not sure when we'll feel like blowing that many points on one trip.

We are "points challenged" and I try to stretch our points out into as many trips per year as I can. That means we likely won't be staying very often at BLT or in a SV at AKV (and certainly never concierge) nor will we likely stay much at VGC as long as there are "cheaper" alternatives. We bought at SSR and have not regretted it at all. It's also a great resort. My cousin just bought a resale at SSR over the summer for just over $70 per point. THAT $42 price difference per point between BLT (new) and SSR (resale) on a 200 pt. contract is $8,400. Only you can decide if it's worth all that & if you can afford the number of points that you'd really need to stay there.

There is a LOT to think about when buying DVC. Do your research. I don't play the "buy where you want to stay" song. We try to plan at least by 7 months out. We always have a "first choice" resort and a "back-up resort" in mind when we call and are happy to get what we can (although so far we've always ended up with what we ultimately wanted). We are on a quest to stay at all of them before we start repeating resorts. We really have no desire to ALWAYS stay at the same resort each time we go. We love having choices. So ask yourself if you think you'll never want to stay anywhere else when you've never even tried any of the DVC resorts.

Personally, we would rather have more points & more trips per year than the bragging rights to BLT.

 

[whitfamily]

You should buy where you want to stay but also keep your annual dues in mind. I don't remember the exact cost but believe AKV is around $1/pp more than BLT and that is the expense that is ongoing.

One thing to take in mind with that though is points for stays. I spend $200 more a year for MF's at AKV than BLT. But, by using my 11-month window and getting a "Value" room I saved over 50 points on a 6-day stay. Even at a conservative $8/point to rent thats a $400 value.

 

[LSchrow]

i think the mantra should change from "buy where you want to stay" to "try before you buy"
lesson learned: we stayed at, fell in love with, and bought BWV. we added on at BCV before staying there, figuring it had to be pretty much the same as the BWVs. stayed at BCV and found it not for us (pretty, but LOUD, so-so views, very overcrowded main pool). now we scramble around at the 7 month mark trying to use those BCV points at BWV (we only stay BW view )
try before you buy, then buy where you want to stay if you want a particular view (BWV), grand villa, or during busy times of year.
enjoy

 

[TLPL]

We really fell in love w/ BLT but the $112/pp is kind of making us think. It's apparent that AKV is cheaper ($94/pp). But don't they say you should buy where you wanna stay? Or is that just a silly financial move?

If you thinking about purchasing more points, don't miss the Christmas webcast this week. they have big discount during the show.

www.DVCMember.com/holiday

 

[MLK-RI]

I DO subscribe to the buy where you want to stay theory. We have stayed at all the resorts except BLT at this point and they all have special things we like about them. However there are certain ones we prefer.

We try to plan and book at 11 months, then switch at 7 months. We have had both success and failure with this plan. When we cannot switch at the 7 month mark we are still thrilled with our home resort, so always enjoy our stay there. Just make sure you can say the same when you make the purchase and you should be fine.

Good luck with the decision and enjoy your vacations!

 

[Crystal_27]

I think that, because you are talking about BLT (arguably, DVC's "flagship resort) it's probably going to be more important to have the ability to book there at 11 months opposed to some of the other DVC resorts, including AKV. Already, there are reports of BLT owners not getting a standard or MK view rooms, even with calling at 11 months out. For me, BLT would be the last resort that I would want to fight with other DVCers at 7 months out to try and get a room. So, if you really want to stay at BLT for the majority of your trips, you need to buy there. The buy-in cost between BLT and AKV is "just" a couple thousand dollars. Of course, that's a lot of money but, in the long run of 50 years worth of ownership, those dollars will soon go by the wayside, particularly if you are forced to stay at AKV every year instead of BLT (especially if that lessens your vacation experience). Either way, good luck with your decision.

 

[eliza61]

We really fell in love w/ BLT but the $112/pp is kind of making us think. It's apparent that AKV is cheaper ($94/pp). But don't they say you should buy where you wanna stay? Or is that just a silly financial move?

I'm going to confuse you even more.

1) I'm a slap happy disney gal, while I have my preferences in resorts generally I'm pretty happy where ever I stay. I own at BCV but my favorite is the WLV's.

2) as other posters said, time of year makes a difference. Generally I travel during 2 time periods Aug/Sept and Jersey week in Nov. Summer time is a busy time at the world but a very slow time as far as DVC goes. I've never had a problem trading out at the 7 month point in August.

 

[hakepb]

It's probably more expensive in the long run to buy AKV points to use at BLT (because BLT is uses more points/night)
For a 1BR in 2010 Dream Season:
AKV 2009 dues: 4.8554 used in BLT:
BLT Standard 249 * 4.8554= $1028.99
BLT Lake: 276 * 4.8554= $1340.09
BLT MK View 334 * 4.8554= $1621.70

BLT 2009 dues: 3.6709 used in BLT:
BLT Standard 249 *3.6709=$914.05
BLT Lake: 276 *3.6709=$1013.17
BLT MK View 334 *3.6709=$1226.08

So, in this example, buying BLT points might save you $104 - $395/year....

 

[JimMIA]

I'm a contrarian who believes many people here say "Buy where you want to stay" simply because they've heard it repeated so often. It's a cliche that many accept without really thinking it through.

That's not to say it's not good advice for many families -- it is. But there is no one-size-fits-all strategy that works best for everyone.

"Buy where you want to stay" is based on two huge assumptions that simply do not apply to many families:

1. 
   The first assumption is that the family is able to consistently plan and book their vacations more than seven months in advance. If you don't book more than seven months in advance, it doesn't matter what your home resort is, because "points is points" at seven months out. Realistically, many owners cannot plan their vacations that far in advance, so home resort means little to them.
   
2. The second assumption is that you actually CARE where you stay, OR you will need a particular type of accommodation that will require booking right at 11 months. Some do, some don't.
   
   We don't. Personally, our family enjoys trying different resorts, but if we have to "settle" for OKW or SSR, we're perfectly happy. If we were starting all over knowing what we know now, we'd do exactly the same thing we did initially -- buy OKW resale and save a bunch of money.
   
   Other owners live and die based on whether they can get their desired villas at BWV or BCV for Food and Wine, or VWL at Christmas -- they legitimately NEED to own at those resorts. It depends on what is important to you.

I'd also encourage any prospective buyer to think long-term, rather than focusing on their first trip "home." Our "needs" change over time as we get more immersed in WDW and also as our families' ages change. MK is not nearly as important to teenagers as it is to toddlers.

Another part of the thinking long-term concept is the idea of cost. Frankly, the buyin cost of DVC is not as important as we sometimes think, as hakepb points out. The real money is in those annual dues costs, and they are not always as clear as we think.

If I were concerned with the buyin cost, I'd buy resale rather than from Disney directly and save a bunch of money. I would only buy direct if I could not get something I absolutely had to have. (Or I needed to finance, which we don't do)

If you must buy direct, the price differences between resorts don't make enough difference to even consider IMHO. A one-time $8 per point is negligible in the context of the overall cost of ownership.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[katiegel]

Obviously this is a personal decision. We just bought into BTL instead of any other solely based on expiration date. We also like to book ahead, but with this are not sure when we are going to book. We know we want to go in November - but we're taking family who want to stay elsewhere - not BTL...so I'm not quite sure what to do yet.

But you have to look at everything:
Price
Location
Expiration
Personal choice

Good luck in your decision!

 

[Sandisw]

I think it really comes down to how important is it to you to stay at BLT on a regular basis. If you want to KNOW you can stay there all the time and only trade out when you choose, then buying there will be important.

However, if you are okay staying at AKV if you can't get in to BLT some of the times (and I think getting in to BLT at 7 months, especially LV, will be fairly easy most of the time), then you should conisder AKV--although you do have to consider that the difference in MF's will eat up upfront savings at some point in the future.

We bought BLT because we knew we wanted to stay there every single trip. While I will try out the other resorts (did so this summer and will be trying BCV for 2 nights next summer), we will always spend the bulk of the time at BLT since MK is our favorite park.

Given this, it was worth us, over the course of ownership, to know we can book what we want at BLT 11 months out.

Good luck!

 

[DVCGeek]

BLT has lower dues and a (slightly) longer contract than AKV. You can probably get 2009 points from either buying direct from Disney. I bought @ BLT ($112 per point base, 160 points, less $800 incentive back in Oct/Nov 2008) because I love the monorail + short walk to MK. Significantly, the total numbers (purchase price + dues + estimated dues increases) crunched out to make sense over the life of the contract for me, even vs. resales at the time. I bought VGC because I know I wanted 11 mo. priority there. So as others have said, it's a personal choice with many factors, but I don't think buying at BLT would be silly at all! GL w/ your decision.