Lowest Dues Resort--why buy anywhere else?

[disneycrazed139]

I understand that at your home resort you have 12 months to makes reservations instead of 7 months ahead. I don't usually plan that far in advance and would stick closer to 6 months or so. Is there any advantage of one resort over another in this case if you can get reservations anywhere?

Why not just pick the one with the lowest due fees?

Is preference given less than 7 months out to home resort guests at any particular resort?

Is it generally much harder to get reservations if you don't book 12 months out?

For example, I love BW but am thinking of buying an OKW resale and stay mainly at BW. Anyone else try this kind of thing because of lower fees?

 

[Richyams]

Its 11 month vs 7 months.

There are many types of units and times of year that are very difficult or impossible to book at seven month.

One of DVC sales staff's favorite lies when trying to sell VB and HH was that "Since most reservations are made less than six months out, home resort is meaningless"

If you want to be sure of a std view at BWV any time of year, any size unit, you need the eleven month window. The eleven month window is also needed for reservations during the Food and Wine festival. A GV at OKW or BWV also requires the eleven month window.

Sure, you will hear reports of people getting any of these at seven month, but those are rare exceptions.

 

[disneyberry]

keep in mind that the total # of DVC Members is growing and growing.
so, if you are booking last minute trips ("last minute" being anything within 7mos of arrival LOL ), you are competing with a lot of people for the same rooms!

i have not been a member long enough to know for sure, but i would suspect that generally you have a good chance of booking a Preferred view room at BWV at the 7mo window. 6mos might be an okay chance too.
but, chances are, you're gonna have to be flexible w/ your dates or resorts in order to book a trip during the most popular times for DVCers (Oct, Nov, Dec).

 

[SlyHubby]

keep in mind that the total # of DVC Members is growing and growing.
so, if you are booking last minute trips ("last minute" being anything within 7mos of arrival LOL ), you are competing with a lot of people for the same rooms!

This should not be an issue that you really worry about. The resorts have a fixed number of points available for sale for each use year. Though the number of members is growing, so is capacity.

If you are flexible, you can get accommodations any time you like and have a wide range of choices for rooms.

If you are dead set that you must have a particular type of room at a particular resort at a specific time of year, then yes, your home resort makes a big difference.

When we travel to WDW, it's more about the times to travel and not the room or resort. We've never had any problem getting our first or second choice accommodations at 7 months and even less, much less one time.

 

[Dean]

If you truly will never book before 7 months, home resort has no meaning. The only other issue now is that SS has a later ending date. I'd still buy at WDW if that is your planned destination so that you can later book something within the 11 month window as I expect things to get much tighter at the 7 month window over the next few years.

 

[Lisa F]

If you love BW and want to stay at BW then you should buy at BW and book your vacations in advance. If you love BW and would be happy with staying at BW occasionally and OKW most of the time, I would buy at OKW where the dues are lower. DVC is not such a great system for people who want to travel at the last minute, because it relys on near 100% occupancy for it to work, so DVC has really evened out the yearly occupancy by creating VERY attractive point structures during the "off" season making just about every time of year popular with DVCers. IMO, booking 6 months out is still a decent amount of time out... why would you NOW want to book at 8 months instead of 6 so that you have the home resort priority window? It's not that huge a difference, even 7 months and 1 day will give you that priority before you have hundredss of other members waiting to try to transfer into the BW.


Lisa

 

[crisi]

What is lowest dues now may not be lowest dues in five years. Also, the difference between dues is simply not that much money to some people.

OKW is has the lowest dues. It also has large lovely rooms and a quiet setting. And its a real value in terms of points - points are low (and because the rooms are large, its a real value) But it is the easiest to get into on "short" notice.

 

[CarolA]

I have booked at 7 months at both BW and BC for the first week in December and had to waitlist both times! Also, I never get the standard view at BW which means it costs more points.

I have OKW points and really like it there, but you do need to consider buying where you want to stay especially if your vacation is limited to school holidays and other high volume times.

 

[Kelly Nelly]

I would say home resort depends on what times of the year you vacation. Since I am the owner of my own bussiness I can vacation when ever I want and at what ever time. I always avoid the busy times of the year at WDW, I actually own at Hilton Head because of the lower dues and since I can vacation when ever I want, home resort is really meanning less to me. Now I know people on these boards think that home resorts are so important but MHO it is not really that important at all, I have gotten every resort and every room type I have wanted , and I have been a member now for 4 years.I do belive that home resorts would be important if you had children and there are only certain times of the year you can go to WDW.

 

[caverill]

Since you must have a home resort, I would recommend selecting the one you would like to stay at most often even if you don't believe you will use the 11 month window.

What we have done in the past is reserve our room at our home resort during our 11 to 7 month window (to ensure we have a room) and then at 7 months try and change to the resort we would like to stay at. This has worked for us.

Although it is not a sure thing, it is easier to get rooms at OKW due to the size of the resort and it's location (i.e. not within walking/boat distance of a theme park).

While dues are an important factor, they difference isn't that huge (of course this depends on the number of points you own). Dues will also go up and down depending on what Disney needs to do to maintain and staff the resort.

If nothing else, use a dart board to pick a resort.

 

[DSNY FN]

We have our home resort at HHI and have only had to waitlist once and that was this year and within 2 days had our room we start our planning 12 months out or more but that is just for passes and meals etc. We have not had any problems getting VWL or BW at 7 months or less to this day and that is the beginning of Dec so in my opinion your home resort is meaningless.

 

[CarolA]

DSNY FN,
But you are not going at key times like President's Day week. Trust me I booked the two bedroom at OKW day by day to make sure I had that one. I also had to do a late booking at OKW for Veteran's Day weekend and the CM had to work really hard to get me all the nights. (This was about 4 months out!) I think that the school holidays are the key. I am one who can go anytime so probably home resort is not as big an issue for me. If you MUST go at a certain time and it is busy it becomes an issue. The other thing is the pool. If your kids/family will ONLY be happy with SAB. BUY THERE!

 

[spiceycat]

OKW will probably always be the lowest maintence fees -why - the things OKW does not have - no valet parking - no life guards - no slides - no room service - these thing cost - you pay a fee for your DVC resort to have these extras.

oh forgot the restuarants - OKW only has one sit down restuarant - the others have at least 2.

even if you never use the swimming pool or room service - the resort must provide these services and your maintence fees will pay the DVC part of these costs.

so I would expect OKW to kept having the lower costs. (yes even with the bigger rooms) - there is a reserve cost in the maintence fees to pay for the upkept.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by spiceycat
OKW will probably always be the lowest maintence fees -why - the things OKW does not have - no valet parking - no life guards - no slides - no room service - these thing cost - you pay a fee for your DVC resort to have these extras.

oh forgot the restuarants - OKW only has one sit down restuarant - the others have at least 2.

even if you never use the swimming pool or room service - the resort must provide these services and your maintence fees will pay the DVC part of these costs.

so I would expect OKW to kept having the lower costs. (yes even with the bigger rooms) - there is a reserve cost in the maintence fees to pay for the upkept.

True enough. Some see that as a positive and others a negative. Regardless, OKW owners have access (7 month window) to the other resorts.

 

[DeeP]

Spiceycat, Without a doubt this is true. I had a CM at MS even confirm this once when I questioned the difference in dues for the WDW DVC resorts. She said BCV, BWV & VWL are "higher end" resorts meaning they provide more amenities to their guests, so the cost has to come from somewhere. This is why not only are the dues higher for these resorts but so is the cash price for rooms at these resorts. The more services that are provided the higher the price, this is true in ALL WDW resorts. For some people the higher cost is worth it, for some it is not.

 

[FredS]

While you may not usually book more than seven months out, there might be future occasions when you would want to specifically make plans earlier and get the reservations at a particular resort. Also, reservations which are not currently that difficult to get at seven months NOW, might get a lot tougher in the future depending on the number and type of other resorts built as part of DVC.

While I completely disagree that dues at OKW are lower because it is not a "higher end" resort I do think that a factor in dues relates to the items at a resort and their costs. I would imagine that, for instance, insurance and staffing at SAB, adds a significant amount to the dues for the owners at BCV. If staying at a resort with lifeguards and more elaborate pool is important, then it might be worth the additional dues. If that, or room service, or valet parking have no value for you, then it seems more appropriate to buy at a resort where you are not paying for them. (I can't imagine using room service at Disney, and consider valet parking a negative because it limits access to my car!)

We own at both OKW and BCV because it gives us flexibility. At times we specifically prefer OKW, other times we want BCV. It depends on the itinerary for each particular visit and the members of our group. I would really hesitate to buy somewhere like HH, even with cheaper price per point and lower dues, because I would be concerned that I would be locked out of staying at WDW if things got tight in the future and we have no desire to visit HH.

 

[DeeP]

While I completely disagree that dues at OKW are lower because it is not a "higher end" resort

Regardless of whether you agree or not, this is the exact term and the explanation given by a CM working at MS for DVC.

(I can't imagine using room service at Disney,

You should really try it sometime, it is wonderful--true deluxe, vacation pampering to the max.

 

[Richyams]

unfortunately, its comes with a price, tiny, cramped units and marathon hikes to your room.

 

[FredS]

Originally posted by DeeP
Regardless of whether you agree or not, this is the exact term and the explanation given by a CM working at MS for DVC.

You should really try it sometime, it is wonderful--true deluxe, vacation pampering to the max.

It is interesting that "a CM working for MS for DVC" just happened to use the "exact term and the explanation" that precisely suits what you have said ad nauseum. You don't like OKW, we get it. We got it a zillion comments ago, just like we "got" Richyams exact opposite view. Can't you give it up and not turn every thread into the same old incredibly boring rehash?

And, thank you, I HAVE tried room service but only in a business setting. Room service does NOT equate to a pleasant vacation to me. Eating in a hotel room is a necessary evil sometimes when on work assignments, but not something I value on vacation at WDW, and I still can't imagine why anyone would utilize it there with the superb dining opportunities available. Hmmm, room service or dinner at Alfredo's........that's a no brainer. Thus, as I explained to the original poster, there is some factoring involved as to where you want to stay and if you want to pay for services which you may personally find worthless. Or he/she may desire room service or other services available, or dearly love SAB, and be willing to pay the additional cost of dues at a particular resort. I was simply trying to explain a few additional thoughts to consider.

 

[DeeP]

It is interesting that "a CM working for MS for DVC" just happened to use the "exact term and the explanation" that precisely suits what you have said ad nauseum.

It is totally immaterial to me whether you think this is the truth or not, but I can tell you I do not lie, nor do I have to grossly exaggarate things to make a point. This is excately what was told to me and really when you think about it, it makes perfect sense and is basically a no brainer.
I can sort of understand your point about room service in some hotels--I have also done room service on business trips, but the big difference is that the room service at BWV has meals available from it's very excellent restaurants located on the boardwalk which btw have alot better food than Alfredos has ever served.