hi i have been browsing this board for ages now and i am very close to making final decision but have soooo many questions hope you dont mind and can help, does disney still sell board walk villas and beach club or only the newer ones and how much and what is the closing fee when is it payed do we have to buy passes for length of stay each time for all party and can you buy passes from anywhere or just from disney , anyone tell us where they get cheap flights to orlando from uk and how much , and what would be a good user year time (im trying to get my head around this) as we would probably tend to want to go either oct, nov dec or march april may and how easy would it be if we wanted to try to go to other destinations such as tokyo disney or elsewhere every couple of years is it usually feasable? thanks for guidance
Disney does still sell Boardwalk Villas and Beach Club, although you sometimes must go on a wait list to buy these. They will try to encourage you to purchase Saratoga or Animal Kingdom Villas, and you will get a lower cost per point, as well as a longer contract, if you buy SSR or AKV, but if you really, truly know that you would be happiest with BCV or BWV, be firm with your guide; those two resorts ARE for sale.
Sorry, I can't answer your question about closing costs. I'm sure over on the US board someone would know the answer.
You aren't required to buy any park passes at all when staying at DVC. You have the option of buying them however you choose. (I usually buy my kids' passes from
Undercover Tourist.) I buy DH's an my premium annual passes straight from Disney, though, because the DVC discount on annual passes is the best! (If you'll be spending more than 10 days in the park, the annual pass may be the best deal for you.)
As far as use year goes--it doesn't affect when you can make a reservation, so for most people I don't think which use year you get matters very much. It really only comes into play if you have to cancel a reservation. You can read about it over on the US boards. One thing I would suggest is that you consider a use year that begins shortly after you will close on your contract. (I.E. if you buy a contract in January of '08, choose a February use year.) That's because you will get full points for the use year you are in (i.e. in '07 points) in Jan of '08 with dues prorated for the rest of the year (which means almost no dues) and then as soon as the month of your new use year begins (i.e. February 1, 2008 in the example above) you will get your full allotment of NEW 2008 points. It's like getting a bonus of a full year's worth of extra points.
You ask about using your points to stay elsewhere. It usually isn't difficult to get the other Disney properties, but, in my opinion, it isn't a cost-effective use of points. You have to pay a $95 fee for each reservation when you stay at a non-DVC resort, and the points per night seem very high to me, when compared with using points for the DVC resorts. Members report mixed success when trading through Interval International. Again, it seems to be do-able in many circumstances, but I see it as a poor value. If I want to stay at one of the II resorts, I'll rent out my points and then book a reservation using the cash from the rental.
I don't know anything about cheap flights; I'm a US member.
Still, I hope this info helps!
Michelle
, it is an expensive commitment in the long term and you need to understand it fully before signing up 
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