It seems everyone is down on 2042 contracts especially BRV. I feel like I’m missing a huge piece of a puzzle and I can’t see it.
Because we're Disney fanatics and envision going until we're floating brains in a jar on top of some sort of mechanized
scooter -- but yet freak out that if something terrible happens and we have to sell we won't get some portion of our money back. There's a lot of spreadsheets that happen on these boards. We can argue pro/con direct v resale and restrictions affecting resale for YEARS, and we have ever since Riviera was the guinea pig in 2019.
What you're missing is you're in your 50s, and you do plan to add on later, probably direct. You have not expressed a desire to pass the contract on to young children and going for another 50 years. Folks don't always read all the details in their excitement to respond.
Also, BR pre excellent refurbishment was a hot mess for years during Covid, and I think there's a mental break by folks where they don't realize how good the refurb was. 2042 BW/BC get all the love, deservedly so, for their location and pool, etc., and BR gets forgotten a bit. I have to admit, I had kind of written it off when we first toured pre refurbishment for the rooms, but man, that rotunda decorated for Christmas is amazing, and the red leather fireside chairs are soooo cozy by the train room. The stone fireplaces and 24/7 cozy feel is wonderful, and the nature sounds piped in the little walkway to get over there is magical with the Christmas lights.
As we have traveled to WDW more, we have come to appreciate the quieter resorts, but that's not everyone's cup of tea. You sound like you love BR but are very nervous about making a mistake. Don't forget, you are not limited to "just" BR! We own at Riviera because it's our favorite, but we have stayed at AKJ, BC, VGF, Poly, SS, OKW on our Riviera points since 2019. We could "sleep around" more if my DH let me book something besides Riviera! LOL. We tend to do week-long trips at Riviera and long weekends in different resorts to try them out painlessly in case we don't like them.
Really, all of the resorts have something going for them depending on the room category and season. They're really great! We love VGF Resort Studios, PIT and SS Studios for couple's trips. We hated SS 2B. We also don't want to be anywhere near a monorail resort during the holidays. Too mental! We know we're in the minority there. OKW we LOVED and never expected that. But we also did that as a resort-only stay after hitting the parks hard the first half of our stay at Riviera. OKW was so great for hosting on the back patio/deck friends to come over and chill with a drink. Their pool had the greatest kid mix with our kids. So friendly and fun. The Community room was massive and had a TON of arts and crafts and games.
Ironically, we were kind of meh on BC because we did NOT enjoy the chaos at Stormalong Bay. Are you sensing a trend here? We like quiet after the parks.
Enjoy BR! It's really a hidden gem. And I don't think the shorter length is THAT terrible at all. I periodically mull over a BR contract because we love BR/CC/WL for the holidays and you need to own there to get in there. We're in our 50s, too, so a contract ending when we're 67 and 73 isn't necessarily a bad thing when we're in retirement. Who knows what our health will be like. If we're doing good, fantastic, we have Riviera until we're 90+. If we're not, we can rent the points out the last few years and call it a day.
. If you’re ok w/ 2 MK area resorts long term & going for 2 br.s now, CCV is a reasonably priced resale alternative w/ an attractive point chart.
