NEVER MIND. It was early. I was replying to an old post.
Hello,
1) What is this blue card thing I keep hearing about? Is it the
DVC member card I had that gave me 10% off the resort gift shops? Do I care if I have this (other than getting 10% off)?
Special events, lounges. But the other financial value is access to the sorcerer's annual pass which is about $500 or so cheaper than the incredipass.
2) What’s up with all the new DVC resorts and should I bother with them? I see there is grand Floridian and Polynesian and Rivera. I don’t want to dismiss any out of hand but Grand Floridian and Polynesian seem more expensive, is there a reason I should consider them? I’ve never stayed at either and I’m not really interested but I don’t want to buy something else and live to regret it. Does Grand Floridian or Polynesian have a boat ride to Magic Kingdom? I guess from Polynesian I could walk over to that giant ferry at the ticket transportation center and ride the giant ferry. That counts as a boat.
If you're thinking about buying direct, you might want to look at the Poly and RIV. Poly has both boats and monorails to the MK. You should know that Poly has higher resale because if you buy it resale, you can still use those points at other resorts. If you buy resale at RIV, you can only stay at RIV.
3) How does 7 month booking work now? We used to always get 1 bedrooms and never had any issue staying at other resorts booking at 7 months. But now with all these new resorts is it harder to get a spot at 7 months? Also we’ll be doing Studios now because it’s just going to be me and my son until he’s tired of going then it will be me and my wife. My daughter doesn’t want to go anymore. So is the “buy where you want to stay” really important in 2025? We’ll be traveling the second week of August usually.
With studios, I think this matters less. I stay in studios. You can see where I own below. But in the next four months, I have rooms multi-night rooms booked at Beach Club (four nights), BLT (seven nights--and yes, home resort), Boulder Ridge (four nights., and Grand Californian (two night). Only one. those is a home resort. ofSo it's manageable. But also I have no issue with stalking the website for openings and using the waitlist. but this isn't as easy and as simple as calling up and booking a hotel.
4) I assume resale is still the best option?
My opinion, yes. But if you're buying resale, you might want to either think deeply as to how much you like RIV or scratch that off your list.
5) Wilderness Lodge was my favorite and I’ll probably want to buy there, but now there are two listings with one listing is like $40 more per point. Is the expensive listing the one for the cabins on the water?
There are two DVC resorts at Wilderness Lodge. Boulder Ridge which expires in 2042 and Copper Creek which expires in 2068. Copper Creek is always more expensive than Boulder Ridge. Also, I like copper creek more (the rooms have better sound insulation). But to each their own.
6) 2042 vs 2060. Back when I bought in 2012 the 2042 expiration didn’t really matter since it was 30 years away. But now it’s only 16 years away so wouldn’t it be better to buy a 2060 expiration? But it doesn’t seem like Beach Club or Boardwalk are cheaper with 2042 expirations (unless that date has all changed on me).
I'm always tempted to buy Beach Club resale when I see it for a low price. But the 2042 expiration date always brings me back to my senses.
7) Is it a bad time to buy? When I bought 10+ years ago I was able to get contracts with banked points but most of the listings I look at have no points until 2026 which kinda sucks.
Honestly, for the next two month should be a good time to buy. 80% of the contracts will be priced too high (in my opinion). But in that remaining 20% there will be some people who really want to sell before they have to pony up the 2026 dues in January.
My favorite was Wilderness Lodge
Love wilderness lodge
So the down side of low
point charts is that those resorts can be very difficult to book. This is true at Boardwalk.
Old Key West was kind of like a retirement community with golf and a bunch of old people at the pool.
This is the original DVC resort--once called the DVC resort. It has a lot of older people because there's a lot of OG original owners who bought in the early 1990s and still go every year. Outside of the Jambo House value rooms, in terms of room size, the biggest bang for your buck--with lots of down sides, such as no where near any park and the food and bar options are limited.
the lazy river pool at Beach Club is literally 15 feet deep!
It is deep. But I believe the deepest part is only nine feet, which is still deep.
My wife thinks the 2042 vs 2060 expiration doesn’t matter.
And point prices in 2042--if you want to rebuy--will probably be at least 165% of prices today, if inflation stays around 3%. I'd buy a long-life contract with lower member fees. In terms of resale, BLT or Copper Creek presently fit this bill.
