new member ? SSR vs AKV smaller contract resales

[alirwalsh4]

We are just back from Disney and thinking very hard about buying into DVC. With the incentives of SSR I am leaning towards buying there but I know I want to stay at the Beach Club. If we buy at SSR 160 points and we are able to buy a smaller contract like 25-50 points at the Beach Club does having a small contract allow you to book there 11 months in avance? Also what does ROFR stand for? And how hard is it to get a reservation 7 months in advance at a medium time to travel? I feel like it would be a bad investment for us to try to buy a Beach Club resale because we will be loosing all those years. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks

 

[tink_about_it]

Ak has a couple more years on the contract. If you are leaning more towards SSR, then you should listen to your gut. I'm unsure of your age, but the contracts (resale) do not end for 35 more years. ROFR stands for Disney's Right of First Refusal. Your resale contract is presented to Disney 1st to see if they want to buy it back. (Takes anywhere from a week-3) We just passed ROFR is April and bought a 230 pt. contract at OKW. Many people will tell you to buy where you want to stay. I think it depends on WHEN and WHAT you are primarily booking. It may be hard to get BCV during the wine festival at Epcot or other busy times at 7 months out. If you are wanting to stay at BC some and you wouldn't mind staying at other resorts, then go for the extra years with SSR or AKV. Goodluck with your decision! Do your homework before making a decision!

Oh...you can only use the amount of points you own at BC for booking 11 months out. At 7 months, you could add to it with your other pts.

 

[alirwalsh4]

Thank you for your post. From looking at you family, you and I are the same. Can I ask you why did you choose OKW over a new contract because you too have a young family? thanks, what other home work should I do???

 

[CarolMN]

...(snip).....And how hard is it to get a reservation 7 months in advance at a medium time to travel? ......

What do you mean by a "medium" time to travel? The difficulty of getting DVC accomodations does not necessarily track with the busy times of the theme parks. And it also depends on what size accomodations you will need. For example, if you need/want a 2 bedroom unit at the BCV that has 2 queen beds in the second bedroom, you are going to need the home resort booking advantage no matter what time of the year you go. Those are very, very popular and there are only 25 of them.

Do keep in mind that as DVC continues to grow, there will be more and more members who want to switch resorts at 7 months. BCV is very popular and one of the smallest (in number of units) DVC resorts. It is already difficult to get in there at 7 months for many times of the year - some of those times include times when the parks are relatively uncrowded!

Ask yourself how you will feel about your "investment" if you seldom get to stay at the BCV? Maybe you could consider buying a smaller BCV contract and a larger contract at SSR. Then use banking and borowing to go to BCV every other trip or possibly every third trip.

Good luck with your research -

 

[alirwalsh4]

Hate to sound stupid but this is still so new! If we were to buy lets say 50 points at BCV and bank and borrow, every third year we would have 150 points. we could use those 150 points to make a reservation 11 month out but not any of the points from SSR? Right. So still that wouldn't be enough for a week stay. So chances are if we want to stay there ereyother year or so we really need to buy there? Is that what you think? I haven't even been to the BCV I just know it looks like everything we would want. Not that the other resorts aren't all wonderful too. There to me is just something about the BCV. Thanks

 

[tink_about_it]

Thank you for your post. From looking at you family, you and I are the same. Can I ask you why did you choose OKW over a new contract because you too have a young family? thanks, what other home work should I do???

I wanted OKW. I will be 70 and DH 75 when OKW expires. We plan to add on in the future if one of the future resorts appeals to us. We are happy with the thoughts of staying there for the next 35 years. My oldest DD will be 45 and the youngest 37 when the contract expires. I figure that we will have had our good out of it by then.

If you are similar in age to me, it sounds to me like you should consider a resale at BC since that is what you want. You can always add on through Disney later for SSR. We bought 230 pts. at OKW since that is what we wanted. We bought through The Timeshare Store with Scot. Give them a call and tell them what you are looking for. We found a contract that had 225 points left from 2005 and all points from 2006. Our use year is Dec., so all those points are coming on Dec.1st. All this for $80 per point. (Disney's pts. are somewhere around $95...but you do get the extra years at AKV and SSR)

 

[CarolMN]

Hate to sound stupid but this is still so new! If we were to buy lets say 50 points at BCV and bank and borrow, every third year we would have 150 points. we could use those 150 points to make a reservation 11 month out but not any of the points from SSR? Right. So still that wouldn't be enough for a week stay. So chances are if we want to stay there ereyother year or so we really need to buy there? Is that what you think? I haven't even been to the BCV I just know it looks like everything we would want. Not that the other resorts aren't all wonderful too. There to me is just something about the BCV. Thanks

You don't sound stupid - in fact, I think you are wise to ask questions before you buy!

You are correct that if you bought 50 BCV points, you would have 150 to use every third year at BCV during the 11 month window. You could not use SSR points at BCV until the 7 month window opens. If you need more than 150 points, you could buy a larger contract. You don't have to buy in any special increment or amount (25 is minimum available, though). For example, if your week costs 252 points, you could buy a contract for 84 points and stay every third year.

If you would be disappointed if you couldnt' get a reservtion at BCV and you can see yourself booking more than 7 months in advance, then yes, you should buy a BCV contract.

Do you know when you are most likely to visit? Getting into BCV is relatively easy if you go in September and most of May (other than the holiday periods) or in mid-January to mid-February (other than around MLK Day).

 

[tink_about_it]

Here are some sites to check out:

This is an FAQ about the DIsney Vacation Club:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/faq.shtml

Here are the resorts at WDW for the DVC:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/resorts.htm

Points chart (We bought 230 pts. at Old Key West)

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/DVCpoints.shtml

The Timeshare Store (where we bought)

http://www.dvc-resales.com/

When I go to WDW, I always join this site...I can get the discount code if you decide to join

www.tourguidemike.com

Official DVC site (get the free dvd)

http://dvc.disney.go.com/dvc/index

Another explanation of the DVC:

http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/dvc.htm

Another one:

http://www.mousesavers.com/dvc.html

Another good one:
http://www.tagrel.com/wiki/index.ph...C)_FAQ#What_are_the_.27hidden.27_DVC_costs.3F


Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions!

Anyone else have a website they should check?

 

[DisneyBride'03]

I just wanted to add my thanks for all this great info I just started another thread, but I would probably want to get into OKW or VWL

 

[alirwalsh4]

If you are a DVC can you get the free meal plan when Disney is offering it?

 

[tink_about_it]

You cannot get the free DDP with DVC. You may purchase it or consider renting your points and booking (at your discount) a room at a regular Disney resort for the free DDP if you wanted to sometime.