New to DVC and chose Poly as home resort--bad idea?

[sndral]

I own at AKV and paid cash for my resale points. My next DVC purchase may be direct from Disney as I am thinking about adding on at GF.
With 6 in your family your resort locations will become pretty limited once your youngest turns 3, so your interest in DVC makes sense to me.
There are several resale brokers, one - The Timeshare Store - is a sponsor of DIS.
IMO the biggest difference between buying direct from Disney and buying resale from a broker is price.
I've compared 2 monorail resorts:
1) Price - There are about a dozen BLT listings between all of the brokers right now ranging in price from $100 a point and up. If you paid $105 a point for 300 points (a few points shy of a 2 br. at BLT for a week) it would cost $31,500. That same 300 (a few points shy of 2 studios at the Poly for a week) points at PV would cost $49,500, or $18,000 more. If you are financing this purchase, then the terms you can get from Disney v. Buying resale may make a difference to you as well.
1) Theme - if you love the Poly then BLT won't do, although you may be able to get into the Poly at 7 months with your BLT points (and vice versa)
2) Location - both monorail to MK. BLT walk to MK, Poly walk to TTC for monorail to Epcot.
3) Villas - PV remade hotel rooms, bed and sleeper sofa in every studio. None of the home away from home vibe the 1 br. and up villas give you & no guarantee of connecting villas. BLT 2 br. master with King bed, bedroom with bed and sleeper sofa, living room with sleeper sofa and chair. Kitchen with table. Laundry in villa. Everyone is guaranteed to be in the same villa.

 

[Nolamom3]

Since my youngest is only 6 months old, can I get away with a one bedroom for now and then purchase additional points (maybe at a diff resort to have two home resorts) when she gets older? I know the one bedroom says it sleeps 5. Normally we stay at AOA and it seems like enough room.

 

[MrInfinity]

We are another family of 6 with young kids who are going to be buying at poly! Try not to let the negative sway you. It's a GREAT resort. You will LOVE the access to the monorail. We have stayed there every year for many years along with most of the other deluxe resorts. we love it much more than all others. We debated long and hard between VGF and the poly, and in the end I was too nervous about not being able to book at my own resort owning at the VGF. No one wants to pay 160 a point and not be able to get thier home.

I am with you about not wanting to cook on vacation, and having laundry on site for emergencies is great for us- I don't want to do it every vacation. That's just us. I see the appeal for others, but not for us. Eventually, if we want a one bedroom or two, we can always use our points at another resort. For now, while my kids are young, I am sure we will do well in two connecting rooms. Having FOUR bathrooms and enough space to sleep 10 will do us just fine (and we have stayed in one bedrooms and even a 2 bed in the past)

Kebby, we seem to travel similarly and value like things on vacation... we don't cook, don't care about laundry, and just want to be at the Poly. If buying makes that a better value than renting there, then that's that. This is where we're at. I want to buy but am really tossing around the financials of it. We have a trip planned w/ about a $5000 rental booked... so we could apply that to an initial purchase. I'm this close to pulling the trigger on it, but I don't know. It's tying up a lot of money that right now is otherwise liquid. I am just kind of skeptical of it in general. Not sure why, other than it's a big purchase.

 

[dizfan]

Since my youngest is only 6 months old, can I get away with a one bedroom for now and then purchase additional points (maybe at a diff resort to have two home resorts) when she gets older? I know the one bedroom says it sleeps 5. Normally we stay at AOA and it seems like enough room.

Yes you can. In fact, if you are almost certain to buy, I think you have the right idea of only buying enough 1BR points for now. It requires less money now and gives you a chance to learn the system and what you like or don't like. 2-3 years from now, you may find you love a resort you never thought you would.

However, points can only be used for that specific resort in the 11-7 month booking window.
What you could do is buy enough BLT (or another resort) points for 1BRs for the next few years. Stay in the 1BR units and see how you like them.

If in the future you decide you want points at another resort for home resort booking every 2-3 years, buy 1/2 or 1/3 as many points as you would need for the accommodation. Then, bank/borrow the points to book that resort at 11 months. You may find you don't need to own at the resort you want to stay at. Reality is no one knows what resort bookings will be like in the future.

We are using our BLT points for most of our stays. We plan to use banking/borrowing with our PVB points to stay there every 2-3 years.

 

[Donna M]

You can't combine two resorts's points together to use at the 11 month window.

 

[Kebby]

Kebby, we seem to travel similarly and value like things on vacation... we don't cook, don't care about laundry, and just want to be at the Poly. If buying makes that a better value than renting there, then that's that. This is where we're at. I want to buy but am really tossing around the financials of it. We have a trip planned w/ about a $5000 rental booked... so we could apply that to an initial purchase. I'm this close to pulling the trigger on it, but I don't know. It's tying up a lot of money that right now is otherwise liquid. I am just kind of skeptical of it in general. Not sure why, other than it's a big purchase.

Hi!
This was us also. We had a 6k vacation booked at the poly for the end of the summer. We looked at that price, and it would be the last time we could stay in one room with all our kids. Next time we would need two rooms- YIKES. We have debated for years, and in the end we will have got the value out of what we pay to join in 4 trips... even with discounts its like 5 or 6. To have it recoup in 5 or 6 years and have 50 years of use is good sense to us. It is a hard choice and not one to take lightly. All the best in your decisions! For us, I know it is the right one

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Conntecting rooms are always optional (unless you book it as a category which is why it would be so important for large families to have connecting rooms as a separate booking category at the Polynesian). You may see it as the parents sleep in one room and the kids are expected to sleep alone in the other, which is what the family is anticipating, but as far as the hotel is concerned there is the OPTION for one parent to sleep in each room. Which families don't often see because the parents are looking only with an eye to mom and dad being in the same bed.

 

[Anal Annie]

We bought direct in 2006 - but that was back when you could buy in at a fraction of the price point that it is now (we got in @ $86 / point). If we were to buy today it would likely be on the resale market simply because direct costs too much and we've established we probably won't be using our points in other collections so the resale restrictions don't matter to us. We own at SSR and have (so far) been able to try any resort we wanted at 7 months (we've tried all of the open ones now except for VGF). We only use studios (we're only 3 ppl) and have only used a 1 bedroom once. I also don't really want to cook or do laundry on vacation but gotta say that the w/d in the 1 bedroom unit WAS handy. I did a couple of loads and it was helpful - I could've packed less for sure. The king size bed was a nice treat too BUT we own enough points to have 14 nights a year in studios in "Magic" season so we like to stretch 'em as far as we can and will continue to use studios.

I definitely agree that once your kids are older your vacation habits WILL change. Unless you home school you won't ALWAYS have the luxury to travel in off-season times once your kids are in higher grades in school and sports schedules & dance recitals will throw in further restrictions. You won't want them missing a week of school when they're in HS. They miss too much. You should buy enough points to cover your needs in a higher point season (the price is only going to go UP so adding on later will be more expensive).

I read thru all of the other posts and I didn't see anybody mention that in the past they HAVE reallocated points at a couple of the newer resorts once they established a use pattern. They did this at BLT after it opened. This affected people who only bought enough points for their desired villa size in 1 particular season - suddenly they were short points and could no longer afford to book the same vacation they bought in for. They either had to add on or drop a night. They are now reallocating Aulani for 2016. They're taking all of July and the first half of August from the "magic" season to the "premier" season!! So Aulani owners who bought thinking they could go every July will now have the same problem as the BLT owners a few years ago. (During this reallocation process they will now adjust some other dates to be lower as the total number of points at the resort can't change.) But my point is that this COULD happen in a couple of years. If you buy exactly the number of points you need NOW for 2 studios they MAY / COULD change it later.

Personally, I would definitely consider a BLT resale if I had to have a monorail resort. Take your time to shop & wait for the perfect contract to pop up (you can tell them what you're waiting for & they'll notify you when one comes in). You could get more nights or larger units for a fraction of the price by it requiring less points. You've been given a lot of advice from veteran DVC owners. Buying at the Poly is not a cheap proposition - you should be 100% sure it's the right move.

 

[Dean]

I was thinking BLT was after sales started but before opening, not that it really matters. The fixed week option avoids that issue for the week in question and to a degree, for everything because it forces 10% more points.

 

[Nolamom3]

Listening to everyone's advice, we've decided against the poly. Maybe when our kids are older, we can stay there!

Can anyone tell me the pros/cons of BLT vs GF in terms of easy booking, dues, and anything else I may not be thinking of?

 

[disneynutz]

Listening to everyone's advice, we've decided against the poly. Maybe when our kids are older, we can stay there!

Can anyone tell me the pros/cons of BLT vs GF in terms of easy booking, dues, and anything else I may not be thinking of?

You really need to stay at the resorts that you think you are interested in. We checked BLT out online and bought there when it first opened. BLT just doesn't do it for us, some love it, some don't. We also own at VGF and VWL for MK resorts but as time goes on we tire of the MK crowds. Our favorite resort is BWV and we alternate between BWV, VGF, and VWL.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Listening to everyone's advice, we've decided against the poly. Maybe when our kids are older, we can stay there!

Can anyone tell me the pros/cons of BLT vs GF in terms of easy booking, dues, and anything else I may not be thinking of?

At BLT, you would have two full bathrooms in a one-bedroom unit and three full bathrooms in a two-bedroom unit. As your kids get older, this would be important BLT has the monorail right there and is about a 6 minute walk to the MK from the resort. We own at both BLT and VGF and love both resorts, we our family is not as big as yours. With your family, I would suggest BLT over VGF simply because of the bathrooms. You did say that laundry is not a factor for you, but the first time you have a sick child while at WDW, you would find otherwise. We find we are able to pack far less clothes and just wash a load at night and dry them in the morning. Works well.

 

[Nolamom3]

We're going to keep watch for a BLT resale! Thanks everyone for the input!

 

[Dean]

Listening to everyone's advice, we've decided against the poly. Maybe when our kids are older, we can stay there!

Can anyone tell me the pros/cons of BLT vs GF in terms of easy booking, dues, and anything else I may not be thinking of?

VGF has many of the same issues as the Poly other than the studio situation. In this circumstance BLT resale is clearly a better choice for all but those who would stay at VGF almost exclusively.

 

[ontheuptick]

I love this thread!

Why?

Because Nolamom3 came here in need of advice, got some good advice, and is going to use that good advice to make a much better decision for themselves and their family that will affect them for years to come. Kudos to everyone here for the good advice - Nolamom3 truly isn't a good fit for PVB. IMO, PVB just doesn't work unless your family will fit in a Studio and you are comfortable with that. Counting on connecting just doesn't work. You will have so much more flexibility by buying resale, you can use your home resort for Studios, 1, or 2 bedrooms in the future. At PVB, you are basically stuck with 1 option. And the last thing anyone wants to do is pay a HUGE premium for PVB, and then end up booking elsewhere!

Also, Kudos to Nolamom3 for being very accepting and willing to listen to some good advice!

 

[Nolamom3]

Thank you! I've read the disboards for a long time and have learned a ton of great tips! I knew once we made the decision to purchase DVC, I had to go over it with the experts! I'm sure I'll be asking plenty of questions but I know there's no better place to ask them!

 

[lawboy2001]

This issue of not guaranteeing adjoining studios is really quite a bit of a distraction I think. ALL of the rooms adjoin to one other room. And given the turnover of resort rooms, daily, what are the odds that the sub-set of arriving guests who want to occupy adjoining rooms with their party, won't have this met? Especially when the resort can pre-plan from the requests made when the rooms were booked? Nil or so close to nil it isn't worth worrying about.

 

[Dean]

This issue of not guaranteeing adjoining studios is really quite a bit of a distraction I think. ALL of the rooms adjoin to one other room. And given the turnover of resort rooms, daily, what are the odds that the sub-set of arriving guests who want to occupy adjoining rooms with their party, won't have this met? Especially when the resort can pre-plan from the requests made when the rooms were booked? Nil or so close to nil it isn't worth worrying about.

While I think it's likely the request will be met most of the time I think the risk of it not working out is much greater than nil. If nothing else there's the human factor then there's the chance someone will stay they thought was leaving, the view component, the jigsaw puzzle of fitting all the reservations together and then simply the fact that it's only a request along with many other requests.

 

[nkosiek]

While I think it's likely the request will be met most of the time I think the risk of it not working out is much greater than nil. If nothing else there's the human factor then there's the chance someone will stay they thought was leaving, the view component, the jigsaw puzzle of fitting all the reservations together and then simply the fact that it's only a request along with many other requests.

And that's why I think it will be a separate booking category. I think people will find times when they will find"Standard View-Studios" available to book but not, "Standard View- Adjoining Studios", so if they want to go together, they will have to understand that they won't be next to each other.

 

[DenLo]

And that's why I think it will be a separate booking category. I think people will find times when they will find"Standard View-Studios" available to book but not, "Standard View- Adjoining Studios", so if they want to go together, they will have to understand that they won't be next to each other.

MS is already stating it will not be a guaranteed booking category for adjoining studios. You will just make a request.