"Knowing what you know now" what would you do?

[DISNEY FIX]

Narrowing down the list...... For all of you with the experience.
If you were a new buyer "knowing what you know now" would you Purchase SSR with all the goodies attached or go resale for let's say BCV or VWL?
I am looking for about 200 pts. to start that would be 1 vacation annually.
Thanks

 

[Twingle]

I'd purchase where you want to stay. That being said, we own at SSR and LOVE it. It fits our vacation style very well, we enjoy being so close to Downtown Disney, and my husband likes the theme quite a bit. The extra perks for us were just icing on the cake - when we purchased (and now) we truly liked what SSR had to offer.

But, I am currently trying to talk my husband into making an additional purchase at VWL! We are trying to vacation at Disney twice a year, and would like to stay at SSR in June, and VWL in October. Owning at VWL would give me the "home resort advantage".

Good luck in your decision!

 

[vandy]

Narrowing down the list...... For all of you with the experience.
If you were a new buyer "knowing what you know now" would you Purchase SSR with all the goodies attached or go resale for let's say BCV or VWL?
I am looking for about 200 pts. to start that would be 1 vacation annually.
Thanks

I agree, buy where you want to stay the most so you have the 11 month window. You may not always need it, but just in case, it is nice to have. Also, I'm not sure what goodies are attached anymore to SSR. I thought it had gone up to $101/pt now. Even if it was still at $91/pt, check the resales on SSR also if money is a concern. Resale will take longer for you to close and make your ressie where as through Disney, you can make a ressie almost immediately.

 

[lisah0711]

Another vote for purchase where you stay. Only you can decide what is best for your family. We just bought VWL -- why? It's where we stay and the extra years between when I am 82 and 94 probably won't matter much to me -- and DS can buy his own DVC by then!

 

[bwvBound]

"Knowing what I know now" ... I'm glad for exactly what we purchased. Our annual visit is in January and we prefer a 1BR Boardwalk view (200 pts/week).

1988 1998: First DVC tour at BWV. Minimum entry was 220 pts. While we understood the offer -- we thought 220 points were more than we needed.

2004: We tried 2 BWV resale contracts (both fell apart before entering ROFR). We tried DVC's waitlist for BWV -- asking for a DEC UY. Eventually our guide talked us into our first DVC purchase: 150 pts at SSR, Oct UY. We knew at time of purchase that our annual usage would be 200 pts - but figured we'd live on banking/borrowing for a few years and then go for the add-on later. (We banked our first year's points as we had already booked the following January's trip via Interval International.)

2006: 25pt add-on, SSR, Oct UY.

In the end, this has worked out perfectly for us.

• Our annual trip doesn't require "home resort" advantage.
• The Oct UY affords us greater flexibility than our intended Dec UY would have. (Someday I'd like to visit during Food & Wine.)
• We are paying less in dues than I had originally planned. (I had budgeted around 200 pts BWV -- and am instead paying dues on 175 pts SSR.)
• As we were able to bank our first year's points on both purchases - we are still living in a banking mode. A few more years down the road I'll need to make a decision: a) switch to borrowing; b) book a studio instead of the 1BR (gasp!); c) book our stay via Interval International instead of using DVC points; or d) skip a year. (The last option isn't likely to happen until IBM ceases to host Lotusphere at the Epcot resorts.)
• We get the longer contract (SSR vs BWV).
• I'll never own points at every resort I wish to stay at ... so I'm content to own what I own and hope for the best when someday I choose to visit AKV or the next new resort after that.
• Owning contracts in smaller chunks allows me to sell off some points (if needed) without having to give up owning DVC.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Only thing we would have done different is buy 2 contracts instead of one. Right now we're wishing we could sell half of our BWV to buy some AKV, but we can't. Also, if our 2 children inherit our contract they cannot split it amongst them, they would have to sell it.

We also have 200 points and for us it really works out to be 1.5 vacations (or 1 this year 2 next).

 

[MinnieGirl33]

I wish...

... I bought more points than I originally thought I needed (before all the price increases)

... knew how quickly I would become addicted to trying to squeeze in just one more trip

 

[senecabeach]

I would want those extra 12 years of ownership....for a cheaper price and lowest mtc fees...!!

I have/can always get the 7th month at any other resort.
If it happens some day that I can't...OK..."force" me to stay at my "home" !!

 

[SamSam]

I would have split I original 200 point BCV contract into 2 contracts and I would have purchased 400 total points.
We purchased 200 originally, then added 100 points 2 years later and this year purchased 200 AKV.
We never dreamed we would use so many points, but between going more often and letting family/friends use points we have borrowed from future years consistantly.
I'm hoping with this last 200 point contract that we will finally have enough points!

 

[rayzke]

Buy where you would want to stay...

Don't get me wrong we love SSR but if I had been a tad more knowledgeable I woulda looked closer @ BW resales.

At the time with the incentives and the "friends and family" discount DVC had going SSR cost the same as the BW resale. So we chose the extra 12 years over the home resort feature of BW.

The only drawback to that is that is challenging to get reservations anywhere but SSR on short notice. Normally we plan well in advance but there has been a couple of time where we tried to stay @ other resorts 6-8 weeks out to no avail.

Hope this helps...

 

[DISNEY FIX]

Buy where you would want to stay...

Don't get me wrong we love SSR but if I had been a tad more knowledgeable I woulda looked closer @ BW resales.

At the time with the incentives and the "friends and family" discount DVC had going SSR cost the same as the BW resale. So we chose the extra 12 years over the home resort feature of BW.

The only drawback to that is that is challenging to get reservations anywhere but SSR on short notice. Normally we plan well in advance but there has been a couple of time where we tried to stay @ other resorts 6-8 weeks out to no avail.

Hope this helps...

"Normally we plan well in advance but there has been a couple of time where we tried to stay @ other resorts 6-8 weeks out to no avail."
Meaning that if any one of these were your home they would of had room for you?

 

[Chuck S]

1988: First DVC tour at BWV. Minimum entry was 220 pts. While we understood the offer -- we thought 220 points were more than we needed.

I think the poster means 1998 OKW opened in 1991, BWV was built a few years after that.

 

[Chuck S]

"Normally we plan well in advance but there has been a couple of time where we tried to stay @ other resorts 6-8 weeks out to no avail."
Meaning that if any one of these were your home they would of had room for you?

No, you can book your home resort up to 11 months prior to your travel dates, other resorts at 7 months. All reservatons are based on availability. There is no home resort advantage for last minute reservations.

 

[tubtruck]

Only buy where you want to stay if you want to stay at peak periods for DVC otherwise if you can get in anywhere go with what is the cheapest maintenance fees, i.e SSR, if this is where you want to stay your onto a double winner. Also if you are still in your twenties or thirties SSR and AKV have longer contracts, from a resale point of view this will also become more important in a few years time when percentage wise they will have a lot loger than the older resorts left so will at some point be worth considerably more than the other resorts if you are planning to resell at this point.

 

[bwvBound]

I think the poster means 1998

Oops! Absolutely!

 

[paults]

Knowing what you know now" what would you do?

I would still buy at BWV

 

[Inkmahm]

We initially joined DVC about a year ago and didn't consider Saratoga at all because we knew that's not where we wanted to stay. We bought at BWV. Then added at VWL and just last month added at AKV. Now we're set. I think.

 

[Juliet25]

My DH and I bought into DVC last year. We had the option of buying SSR during Friends and Family (a really great promotion), but we opted instead to purchase a BWV contract. I am very happy with my decision. I tend to plan my vacations far in advance, so having that 11 month window at my home resort really helps. SSR just didn't "wow" me. I'm not an SSR basher. I would like to stay there one day, but I knew I wouldn't be happy staying there on most of my trips.

While the 12 extra years are a great consideration, it didn't tip the scales in favor of SSR for us. I plan to buy an add-on at AKV at some point, so we'll get 12 "extra" years that way. Or something even better may come along in 10 years or so.

Basically, I followed the "buy where you want to stay" adage and it hasn't failed me yet.

 

[NYMomof4]

I'm happy with my original buy in of 150 pts at SSR-actually happier, after we stayed there. I soon figured out that we love DVC and would need more points. I bought a resale (50pts) on the resale board with the intention of going to HH sometime, but we haven't yet-just keep planning Disney trips!lol

I would have looked into DVC earlier if I knew it was possible for us financially (which it turned out to be). I will drive my car a few years longer and enjoy great vacations as a result

I like adding on now in 50-100 or so points and plan to add on at AKV before June 4th. Just waiting on a tax return

 

[mufasa0505]

We own at SSR, and had I Known then what I know now, we still would have bought SSR.

We both really like the resort. It's very peaceful, and we love being able to walk to DTD after leaving the parks. It gives you something to do if you're not quite ready to hit the bed yet.

Due to work schedules, my husband and I aren't able to book at 11 months out so the "buy where you want to stay" reasoning doesn't apply to us.

And since we're cheap, the extra years and lower buy-in cost worked for us!

Now if they would just fix the Artist's Palette "problem" and add room service, I would be a very happy camper.