Need Opinions /advice!!

[gottagodisney]

I have my husband ALMOST talked into buying DVC (and it has been hard work-but with all of your tips it may be working)LOL!

Question: Buy current incentive to Saratoga or try waitlist with Disney for Wilderness?

We absolutely love Wilderness Lodge and ultimately this would be our home resort first choice pick. Issue is we do not have the Cash for resale right now- may be able to through refinance in about 6 months but I am afraid if I wait that long I may miss my window of opportunity with DH and won't have the discount from Disney if we are forced to go through them if refinance issues don't work out.

I have read posts about use year and understand the basics -my pea brain has difficulty processing how this would affect my situation though....buy at Saratoga- only get to make ressies for VWL at 7mo. window- would I still be able to get say ressies for Mid December- say couple days before Christmas being most popular time for VWL?

Any opinions/ info will help and be well utilized! Say a prayer for me- hubby said he will talk to me tonight about this.

 

[Tink10]

I can totally understand with your situation.....We LOVE BWV....

I really wanted to buy in and my hubby just didn't get it....So, I started talking about DVC ALOT & I called DVC. We only have several thousand to initially invest, so I showed him all of the small contracts available for resale through TTS & when he saw that we could get in fairly quickly without a large chunk of cash, he was much more receptive.

When we received our DVC package from our guide, I made him look through it & then......we watched the video. After seeing that video, he would've agreed to buy 500 points, let alone 150.

So, we bought a little 25 point BWV contract, then a few days later, decided to buy 150 at Saratoga because of the $10pp promo & the extra 10 years. My hubby really wanted to get in after that video.....

We're definately going to try staying at SSR, I have a feeling that when we do, it will be wonderful. We're planning on adding on more BWV points in the future so we can use the 11 month window there as well....

We're thrilled to be members, no matter what resort. Our guide told my daughter that when you own at one, you actually own them all, & that really did sell me on SSR. We have plenty of time to add on.....

 

[Alexander]

If you truly want VWL, then you should buy there. Especially if you are going to travel during holiday time. The timeshare store has VWL contracts available. You wouldn't have to waitlist. You will have to go through ROFR with Disney, but your timeshare agent can explain all of that to you. Click the link above to see what they have available.

 

[Tink10]

I should add that we rarely, if ever travel during the peak times and our dates are almost always flexible, so the 11 month window, while important, was not our major deciding factor.......

 

[gottagodisney]

This is what I am leaning towards Tink10! We are ultimately thinking about 200 points. My idea is to buy 150 at Saratoga now- then we can add on at VWL later. I am sure we would love any resort...have only experienced VWL and that is kind of our thing. Heck...I would love the value resorts just to be at Disney! I have only been working on hubby about 2 years now. He has seen the video and all of the material...sees me on the computer daily and says Disney again huh? I got tricky though and started leaving the promo points magazine in the bathroom for some "casual" reading! HA! He is only resistant from the $ thing (discounts thoroughly get him excited).

I guess my ultimate question is - How difficult is it to get VWL 7 months out from Christmas? Anyone with experience please chime in.

 

[bobbiwoz]

gottagodisney, we bought in autumn of '03, and so I was calling for a weekend in December at VWL only 2 months out. Weekends are expensive, and we were able to get it. That is my only experience booking VWL for December at less than 7 months out.

I would be interested in reading the replies. It's because of December bookings at VWL that we decided to do the 50 point resale, and we were successful. I do wonder if we HAD to do it. We've booked all that we could with the points that we presently have at 11 months, and are waiting for the resale to close so that we can finish the ressies.

Bobbi

 

[Tink10]

My Hubby is so funny....

He's the level-headed one around here, yet he's more of a kid at WDW that my self or DD could ever be, though he'd never admit to it..... When he talks about buying DVC, he has this whole "it's an investment" attitude, which I had never heard up until last Friday....He's so goofy.

Anyway, I feel totally comfortable & confident with our decision. We have very personal/sentimental reasons for wanting to own BWV, but it just seemed more economical to buy SSR. Our guide even offered us BWV points.....Technically, a resale would have probably saved us a few bucks, but I didn't want to wait, deal with another ROFR, find our own financing or possibly risk the prices going up.

We'll have 25 BWV points & we'll add more....we just have to add them in baby steps.

I just went with my gut feeling & I'm glad I did.....


Good Luck & Be Happy With WHatever You Decide To Do!

 

[bcvillastwo]

..............is just how difficult is it to get into the small DVC resorts at the 7 month window. The conventional wisdom is the buy where you most want to stay with the belief that to buy somewhere else may make it difficult to get into one of the smaller resorts in the 7 month window. Frankly, with out any evidence to the contrary this makes perfect sense.

However, I haven't seen much evidence that this is the big problem that people claim. In addition, another piece of conventional wisdom is the the waitlist process comes through more often than not.

So, question in my mind is, "How difficult is it to get into WLV and BCV in the 7 month window? My quess is that if you want Christmas at WLV it's difficult but not impossible if you waitlist as soon as you can (e.g., the 7 month window).

Finally, I'd like to hear from people who have actually wanted to get into the small resorts at the 7 month window but were unable to do so even by trying the waitlist. My point being that it may not be as difficult as is often made out on these boards. (But, I could be wrong.)

 

[Alexander]

We tried at 7 months for the BCV and there was nothing available. We were looking for April, which is spring break time, but not Easter this year, BWV were also booked 4 of the 6 days we wanted for the week in April. We opted to just book VWL rather than waitlist because.....

We tried adding 1 day at the BCV for May of this past year at about 5 months out and were not able to get that even with the waitlist.

Friends of ours are still waitlisted for VWL for April of this year. He booked also booked at 7 months out.

If there is a resort that you really want to stay at, then I highly recommend that you make that your home resort.

 

[CarolMN]

December is a very popular time for DVC members to visit WDW. I know that if I do not call day by day for my standard view BWV ressie, I will have to chance the waitlist.

The problem with the waitlist for me is air and car reservatons - I need locked in dates to snap up the best deals. I do not have a lot of patience for waiting for a waitlist to work or not. The one time I did chance the waitlist (for August at BWV about 5 months out), it didn't work. I might not be so stressed out if we could drive to WDW - but it's too far to do that, IMHO.

Can you get December dates VWL at 7 months? Sure, sometimes - it's just not a guarantee every time. Are you OK with booking SSR and staying there if you can't switch at 7 months? Would you be OK with spending part of the time at SSR and part at VWL if the entire stay at VWL doesn't work out? Only you can answer those questions.

Don't let your enthusiasm/desire to join lead you to a decision you may come to regret. There always seem to be some sort of incentives and there are always resale contracts.

FWIW, it's relatively easy to rent points right now - why not rent and stay at both VWL & SSR. No need to make long term commitments right now if you rent. I don't think you will lose anything by waiting and if you have to finance, you'll want to be sure you made the right decision.

Best wishes -

 

[Beca]

Why not buy a VWL contract, and finance it thru Tammac? Their interest rate is the same as DVC, although the years are shorter. Just a thought.



Beca

 

[FreeTime]

I vote for buy where you want to stay. We own at BWV and have travelled every month of the year for a DVC stay. I have found that it can get tricky to get exactly what you want at 7 months. The only 100% success that we had at 7 months or less was at BCV and that is when they first opened. With the exception of OKW, which has always had what we needed, but it is not my preference to stay there. The experiences that I have had is there have part of the days or a villa that we don't want. I think that you should buy at VWL.

 

[Granny]

..............is just how difficult is it to get into the small DVC resorts at the 7 month window. The conventional wisdom is the buy where you most want to stay with the belief that to buy somewhere else may make it difficult to get into one of the smaller resorts in the 7 month window. Frankly, with out any evidence to the contrary this makes perfect sense.

However, I haven't seen much evidence that this is the big problem that people claim. In addition, another piece of conventional wisdom is the the waitlist process comes through more often than not.

So, question in my mind is, "How difficult is it to get into WLV and BCV in the 7 month window? My quess is that if you want Christmas at WLV it's difficult but not impossible if you waitlist as soon as you can (e.g., the 7 month window).

Finally, I'd like to hear from people who have actually wanted to get into the small resorts at the 7 month window but were unable to do so even by trying the waitlist. My point being that it may not be as difficult as is often made out on these boards. (But, I could be wrong.)

You might want to start a new thread with these questions...you'll probably get more answers. You could title it something like "How much success on waitlists?" or something like that.

Personally, I am a believer in buying where you want to stay the most. I just didn't want to spend 40 years messing with waitlists just to get where I wanted to go the most. But if specific resorts at specific times aren't critical to someone, then that advice is not as critical too.