New here! Question prior to buying...

[mickeymichele]

HI! Thinking of buying following our trip to Beach Club last week. We love the BC but can't get that unless we do resale. If we buy Saratoga, what are our chances of booking BC when we can't do it until 7 months prior? Is it hard to get what you want or do you have to settle for 2nd or 3rd choices alot? Thank you for any feedback!!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Since BCV is the second smalles DVC on site, you need to buy there if that is where you want to stay. You CAN buy direct from Disney if you choose to, but you need to let your guide know that is what you want and that you wont accept anything else.

 

[dnoyes]

I think you should buy resale Beach Club if you want to stay there. If you travel at "hot" times you may not get in. Reading these boards it sounds like lots of people buy at SSR just to get in DVC and never stay there. What's up with that anyway?

 

[Lostinspace]

Since BCV is the second smalles DVC on site, you need to buy there if that is where you want to stay. You CAN buy direct from Disney if you choose to, but you need to let your guide know that is what you want and that you wont accept anything else.

Sorry for my ignorance, but what does "second smalles" mean? Is this a type ranking of popular resorts (e.g. quickly booked out?)? If so, what comes before BCV... (BWV?)?

 

[PIERCEDRN]

I think you should buy resale Beach Club if you want to stay there. If you travel at "hot" times you may not get in. Reading these boards it sounds like lots of people buy at SSR just to get in DVC and never stay there. What's up with that anyway?

I proudly count myself in the group who owns SSR and does not stay there!
I did stay at SSR once and I think it will be the last time I do until I schedule a "Golf" vacation some time when my kids are older... say 2020 or so. Until then, I will stay everywhere else on the 7 month window as we go in off times and have no problem getting ressies with my "generic SSR" points.

For us it was a no brainer, we are young (36 and 32) so the extra 12 years is really going to be used by us. At $83 a point for a loaded contract the price was right, and the dues are very low and will likely stay that way (why VB was not considered).
We have had great luck for the one year we have owned, so far staying at AKV, VWL, BCV We are also booked for BWV for Food and Wine in Oct.
I also intend to "poach" at GCV and Hawaii when we have the earliest opportunity.
Rest assured, I have no guilt whatsoever and are very happy with my SSR purchase!
BOB

 

[Buckeye Fan]

I'm with Bob, but for a slightly different reason. I LOVE my home resort (SSR), and would be happy if I had to stay there every vacation. However, I love staying at the different resorts and haven't had any issues booking at peak or non-peak times, with the exception of VB.

IF you are going to be heartbroken that you can't stay at BCV each and every time, I would suggest you purchase points there. It will give you the best chance of getting a reservation there any time you want it. However, a home resort advantage will only apply if you can book 8 - 11 months out. If you won't know your plans 8 - 11 months out, it doesn't matter where you own. At the 7 month window, any DVC member can book at any DVC resort. So, you might as well purchase points where you can get the best deal, with the lowest MFs.

Good luck with your purchase! I know it's a big decision and you want to make the right one.

 

[Dean]

I agree, buy BCV if that's what you want most trips. There is not enough savings in other options to justify complicating your life. A lot of people do buy SSR (and other resorts ) with the intent of not staying there. That's OK, it's the way the system is set up. Just realize that the hoards that do so make it harder to reserve anything high demand at the 7 month window. As a rule you should make a home resort reservation at 11 months then try to change over at 7 months out.

 

[Disney_Villain]

You should be prepared to stay at your home resort to some extent, so it does matter what you buy into. You may not get BCV or WLV on 7-month windows in busier seasons. Sometimes I've been lucky, others not.

However, I do LOVE my SSR and OKW . . . and would be happy if I were to book at either every trip. The stand-alone DVC resorts have lovely grounds to walk, multiple quiet pools and bus service that does pick up for regular "hotel guests" as well as DVCers. I find having a lot of DVCers on the busses makes for great conversations coming back from the parks late at night.

I turned down WLV to get OKW, and have turned down AKV to get SSR. My DVC guide has the same resorts that I do, as well as VBR . . . and we both agree that we would never settle for any of the others as home resorts.

If you really love BCV over the other resorts, then by all means go resale! Go for what you really want - and good luck!

 

[kidcoos3]

My suggestion is to buy BCV if that is what you like. Since it has the 2nd fewest rooms (WL has the fewest), it can be difficult to get a reservation if you have to rely on the 7 month window. We have tried to get into BCV a couple times right at 7 months, but have never had any luck (although it has been in October which is a particularly popular time because of the food & wine festival at EPCOT).

 

[StotheK]

Initially we bought into SSR because that's what they were selling at the time, and weren't really that well versed in the ins and outs. I actually liked the location ever since I stayed there when it was the Institute. It's not quite as laid back as it was back then, but it's still a little slower paced than some of the close-to-the-parks resorts.

That being said, we're pretty casual, so as long as we have a resort we're happy, we might try to get a place at AKV next time, but if we don't, no biggie. I'm sure once the kids are older, we'll find that won't be our style any more and will regret our who cares attitude, but we'll still be able to stay on property

I think another reason there's lots of people that use SSR as just a place for the points to live is becuase that's how the guides position it. The 11 month thing was always downplayed when we interacted with DVC making purchasing decisions. And there's a lot more owners out there in the general populace than those of us on these boards.

So really, if you have a place you really love and have to stay there by all means do what it takes to own there. If you don't have a place like that, well you'll own somewhere, so even if you had to start booking further out because the 7 month thing started getting congested, you still wouldn't be vacation-homeless

 

[itsreally4mommy]

lots of people that use SSR as just a place for the points to live is becuase that's how the guides position it. The 11 month thing was always downplayed when we interacted with DVC making purchasing decisions.




THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for saying what I've been thinking when I read posts criticizing people for buying SSR/AKV and staying at other resorts.

 

[Dean]

lots of people that use SSR as just a place for the points to live is becuase that's how the guides position it. The 11 month thing was always downplayed when we interacted with DVC making purchasing decisions.




THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for saying what I've been thinking when I read posts criticizing people for buying SSR/AKV and staying at other resorts.

I've seen very few posts over the years criticizing people for buying at SSR to use points elsewhere. If you or I were selling DVC points and all we had was SSR to sell, we'd play up the stay at other resorts angle also I'm sure. But there are realities to SSR's situation and pointing them out is not resort bashing or bashing of owners there. I think it is fair to hold DVD accountable for selling SSR in this manner.

 

[itsreally4mommy]

I've seen a few condescending posts regarding it, just within the past couple of weeks. I think it's unfair to assume all or the majority purchased SSR with ill intentions.

 

[Dean]

I've seen a few condescending posts regarding it, just within the past couple of weeks. I think it's unfair to assume all or the majority purchased SSR with ill intentions.

I don't recall any recently but I tend to only view threads that might have some interest to me. I've seen a few over the last few years but very few, I've seen a lot more people during that time that own at SSR with a chip on their shoulders seeing bashing when it wasn't there. I wouldn't use the word ill intentioned as I don't see it as a problem, only a reality. But the reality is that SSR has changed the landscape of 7 months reservations likely forever and to a degree, all home resort reservations as well at the more in demand resorts. Again not necessarily bad, but reality.

 

[StotheK]

I've seen a couple of posts that at least sort of backhandedly make mention of SSR owners booking other resorts. But I've been in OCD board reading mode lately so I read most threads these days. Still I don't think there's a lot of people who genuinely look down at SSR owners, but I can see how SSR changes the dynamic of the 7 month booking window. Before if you owned over at some place like VWL and you wanted to stay over on the Epcot side, or if you wanted to book at your home resort less than 11 months out it wasn't as much of a hassle because there were far fewer owners and much less competition.

Now add to the mix SSR which has an enormous number of members to the pool. Even if 90% of the owners at SSR didn't want to try other properties, that would still add a whole bunch of new demand for other resorts. The number is probably much higher since Dinsey started heavily marketing DVC when SSR was the only game in town, and the flexibility of the program was a big talking point for all of the sales effort.

I think it's as been said, the dynamic of the non-home resort booking has been forever altered. I can see how some could be bothered by that, especially if booking a room goes from a simple one call affair to day by day waitlisting and cash rooms. I think some of this will stabilize after a while to some degree, but if one were to get upset over I'd say that blame really lies on the shoulders of DVC for marketing SSR as more of a generic buy-in than anything else.

 

[Dean]

I've seen a couple of posts that at least sort of backhandedly make mention of SSR owners booking other resorts. But I've been in OCD board reading mode lately so I read most threads these days. Still I don't think there's a lot of people who genuinely look down at SSR owners, but I can see how SSR changes the dynamic of the 7 month booking window. Before if you owned over at some place like VWL and you wanted to stay over on the Epcot side, or if you wanted to book at your home resort less than 11 months out it wasn't as much of a hassle because there were far fewer owners and much less competition.

Now add to the mix SSR which has an enormous number of members to the pool. Even if 90% of the owners at SSR didn't want to try other properties, that would still add a whole bunch of new demand for other resorts. The number is probably much higher since Dinsey started heavily marketing DVC when SSR was the only game in town, and the flexibility of the program was a big talking point for all of the sales effort.

I think it's as been said, the dynamic of the non-home resort booking has been forever altered. I can see how some could be bothered by that, especially if booking a room goes from a simple one call affair to day by day waitlisting and cash rooms. I think some of this will stabilize after a while to some degree, but if one were to get upset over I'd say that blame really lies on the shoulders of DVC for marketing SSR as more of a generic buy-in than anything else.

Well said.

 

[Tracyvp]

I have to add here that we just purchased, and frankly, because we were on a cruise with no way to really research anything, we didn't realize there was any other option than SSR. The guide absolutely sold it to us with the understanding that it really doesn't matter at all where your points are. She went so far as to say as much.

She even said that although AK was an option, she didn't recommend it because there was absolutely no advantage, and the price would be higher and so would the dues, so why would anyone want to pay more for the same thing.

There was a very casual mention one time about the 11 month advantage, but it was not emphasized at all, just sort of "dropped" into the conversation. Frankly, it never even occurred to us that booking somewhere else could pose a problem. Fortunately for us, we don't tend to travel at "busy" times of the year, so I don't think we'll have much trouble, but I did want to confirm that this is what is being told to people by the guides.

 

[Dean]

I have to add here that we just purchased, and frankly, because we were on a cruise with no way to really research anything, we didn't realize there was any other option than SSR. The guide absolutely sold it to us with the understanding that it really doesn't matter at all where your points are. She went so far as to say as much.

She even said that although AK was an option, she didn't recommend it because there was absolutely no advantage, and the price would be higher and so would the dues, so why would anyone want to pay more for the same thing.

There was a very casual mention one time about the 11 month advantage, but it was not emphasized at all, just sort of "dropped" into the conversation. Frankly, it never even occurred to us that booking somewhere else could pose a problem. Fortunately for us, we don't tend to travel at "busy" times of the year, so I don't think we'll have much trouble, but I did want to confirm that this is what is being told to people by the guides.

There's also likely to be an inherent difference in value between SSR & AKV which will likely match or exceed the difference in the current price. Obviously that assumes one might ever want to sell but you never know. Busy times of the year at WDW have gotten up to around 6 months of the year. I'd say the only times that are likely safe long term are May, Sept and Oct. I would have added Jan to that list a year ago (actually I did) but that seems to have changed somewhat.

 

[icydog]

I proudly count myself in the group who owns SSR and does not stay there!
I did stay at SSR once and I think it will be the last time I do until I schedule a "Golf" vacation some time when my kids are older... say 2020 or so. Until then, I will stay everywhere else on the 7 month window as we go in off times and have no problem getting ressies with my "generic SSR" points.

For us it was a no brainer, we are young (36 and 32) so the extra 12 years is really going to be used by us. At $83 a point for a loaded contract the price was right, and the dues are very low and will likely stay that way (why VB was not considered).
We have had great luck for the one year we have owned, so far staying at AKV, VWL, BCV We are also booked for BWV for Food and Wine in Oct.
I also intend to "poach" at GCV and Hawaii when we have the earliest opportunity.
Rest assured, I have no guilt whatsoever and are very happy with my SSR purchase!
BOB

YUCK!!! That's the problem this particular SSR owner, and many like him, they dislike their own resort! With the numbers of SSR owners they can clog up the system at 7 months. I bought AKV for more money rather than buy SSR. I think in the long run that will prove to be the correct decision if only for a selling prespective. I already see SSR points selling for the same amount as OKW, and OKW owners paid far less to buy into DVC.

But to blow the mind of Bob the poster, since he is gloating so much, I have no guilt at all about reserving a 7 day week using an Interval bonus week ($299 for the week) to trade into DVC resorts like the BCV one bdrm we just left. So lets compare $299 for seven nights in a one bdrm BCV or 252 points which would have cost you $21K to buy in plus maintenance fees for 252 pts.

Now who's gloating. I use my points where I live. I own at OKW, BCV, VB and AKV. Try to get a BCV spring break week with SSR. Good luck with that.

I answered this post in the same spirit the Poster employed. I have been an owner since DVC started and I resent this type of rude post.

 

[StotheK]

I think this shows that what the guides are saying is in fact systematic. We got the exact same line about AKV and highlighting the fact that it's a little more expensive than SSR from our guide at SSR, two different guides. I think some people will start to be disappointed when they can't just book different resorts at will because the system has reached some level of critical mass.

Personally, I would have done a resale at one of the Epcot properties, but my wife has no preference, actually she dislikes Epcot So in the spirit of marital compromise, I figured some sort of DVC is better than the Ho-jo's on I-drive. So we'll probably try to get other resorts at 7 months, and if we don't, that's cool too. My hope is that everything will eventually settle in in the next couple/few years, but I do think that the guides downplaying the 11 month window is a little... messed up.

I have to add here that we just purchased, and frankly, because we were on a cruise with no way to really research anything, we didn't realize there was any other option than SSR. The guide absolutely sold it to us with the understanding that it really doesn't matter at all where your points are. She went so far as to say as much.

She even said that although AK was an option, she didn't recommend it because there was absolutely no advantage, and the price would be higher and so would the dues, so why would anyone want to pay more for the same thing.

There was a very casual mention one time about the 11 month advantage, but it was not emphasized at all, just sort of "dropped" into the conversation. Frankly, it never even occurred to us that booking somewhere else could pose a problem. Fortunately for us, we don't tend to travel at "busy" times of the year, so I don't think we'll have much trouble, but I did want to confirm that this is what is being told to people by the guides.