Poll: Favorite advice to prospective buyers about choosing a home resort

[Granny]

For many years I've read advice to prospective buyers on the importance of choosing a home resort. Primarily, the advice seems to fall into three camps:

1. Buy Where You Want To Stay The Most. So popular that it even is referred to by the BWYWTS acronym, this advice promotes the idea that people should choose a home resort that they really like in order to avoid the potential for disappointment if they often have to "settle" for another resort at the 7 month mark.


2. Buy Where You Wouldn't Mind Staying. I believe that Crisi should be credited as the first I saw to advocate this position. This advice suggests that people should avoid buying at a resort that they really wouldn't be happy staying in a lot, but if they are truly okay with staying there if other options fall through at the 7 month window, then the resort should be on the potential "buy list" for a buyer.


3. Buy at the best deal for you. This might be low cost per points, low dues, additional years or what Disney is offering incentives on. This advice suggests that the 7 month mark is usually plenty good (along with the waitlist) for getting into other DVC resorts so why pay the upcharge for a resort with higher dues or shorter life span?



I'm sure there are other axioms out there, but generally speaking, which of these camps do you fall into the most often?

When I started on these boards, there were two on-site DVC options and two off-site DVC options and Disney was selling the third on-site option...VWL. At that time, the advice was overwhelmingly BWYWTS. Has the addition of three more DVC resorts at WDW since then changed that in your mind?

Please feel free to expound on your vote with an explanation or opinion. My intent is to bookmark this as a good discussion for prospective buyers.

I ask that we keep focused to this topic. Other topics such as buying from Disney vs resale are another topic entirely...that might just engender another thread or two!

 

[TenThousandVolts]

IMO- Buy where you want to stay only applies if there is 1 place you really love. If you want to sample all the resorts and don't have a clear favorite then it is Buy where you don't mind staying. (that is the one that pertained to me)

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

I'm a BWYWTS but always add, unless you don't care where you stay or can make reservations only 7 months in advance or less (and anticipate that always being the case). No matter what I always suggest buying a WDW DVC if you want to stay at WDW. You never know what will happen down the road with the management of the off site properties.

HBC

 

[DISNEY FIX]

For many years I've read advice to prospective buyers on the importance of choosing a home resort. Primarily, the advice seems to fall into three camps:

1. Buy Where You Want To Stay The Most. So popular that it even is referred to by the BWYWTS acronym, this advice promotes the idea that people should choose a home resort that they really like in order to avoid the potential for disappointment if they often have to "settle" for another resort at the 7 month mark.


2. Buy Where You Wouldn't Mind Staying. I believe that Crisi should be credited as the first I saw to advocate this position. This advice suggests that people should avoid buying at a resort that they really wouldn't be happy staying in a lot, but if they are truly okay with staying there if other options fall through at the 7 month window, then the resort should be on the potential "buy list" for a buyer.


3. Buy at the best deal for you. This might be low cost per points, low dues, additional years or what Disney is offering incentives on. This advice suggests that the 7 month mark is usually plenty good (along with the waitlist) for getting into other DVC resorts so why pay the upcharge for a resort with higher dues or shorter life span?

In that order.
Good luck
Chris

 

[bobbiwoz]

BWYWTS, we have bought at all of the resorts we want to stay at

 

[DVC Mike]

Another BWYWTS recommendation.

 

[jarestel]

I don't mind staying at any of the WDW DVC resorts and have done so multiple times. But I do have my favorites and I think I would begin to get just a tad disappointed if my favorite resort(s) were difficult to get into using the 7-month (and shorter) window thereby forcing me to rely on the eccentricities of the wait list. Everyone has their own way of rationalizing choices, and mine is to avoid uncertainty and unnecessary problems whenever possible. BWYMWTS works best for me in that regard.

 

[flyerron]

I voted for the sage old advice of buying where you wnat to stay. That said, Most people would be very happy at any DVC location. The key here is that you are on the property of WDW & each resort has a special place in the whole. The selection is different than deciding between locations in Barbados or Aruba or St Martin. DVC is all WDW just different themes.

 

[Granny]

I forgot to put my own opinion in here! I have long been an advocate of BWYWTS, but have moved more into the Buy Where You Don't Mind Staying mode.

I say this because of the significance in differences between the various resorts and if someone truly will be happy staying somewhere but wants to go for another resort or more regularly, then they should be okay. The key words are "truly be happy" instead of "I can live with it but it ain't great". If someone thinks they can be happy at a resort but deep down know that they really don't want to stay there, then it makes no sense to purchase at that resort.

For those who can't/won't book prior to 7 months ahead, then Advice #3 is where I'd go...tell them to go for the best deal since home resort advantage will be minimal in that situation.

Part of this discussion is the core issue of ongoing availability at other resorts at the 7 month mark. Another part is the addition of Room View Categories such as BWV SV & Boardwalk Views, BCV 2-bed second bedroom, and OKW HH Proximity. If that trend continues, home resort may be more important if you are booking a resort looking for specific views/requests.

For those who are voting "Buy the Best Deal", please add some comments. Just because BWYWTS is the standard response on the boards doesn't mean that all advice can't be valid. It's all about opinions, and sharing thoughts with prospective buyers.

 

[Doctor P]

Since you are only guaranteed the ability to stay at your home resort, since no resort is guaranteed to be part of any system that allows one to stay at any other resort, there is only one answer. You must buy where you want to stay. Period. End of story.

 

[TTFN!]

Buy where you want to stay the most but modified:

1) ONLY if you can plan at least 7 months in advance, otherwise a point is a point is a point, until Jim Lewis changes his mind again!

2) Don't buy OKW right now, until the 15 year extension is clarified, in fact, I would suggest caution to any DVC buyer right now (Direct or Resale) to watch what other program changes are comming.

 

[fletch1027]

We fell into the "Buy Where You Don't Mind Staying" category when we bought into SSR this past summer. We were deciding between SSR and AKL and decided that we would not want to have to default to AKL if things did not work out. For us, AKL falls into the "nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there" category...

 

[crisi]

Not surprisingly, I'm a fan of "buy where you don't mind staying." If your heart is at one resort and one resort only, you should own there. But plenty of folks have had ample luck with the seven month window and I think people will continue to have luck - as long as their expectations are realistic. Even if you are restricted to "only home" if you bought a place you aren't disappointed to end up with, you should be content if not happy.

 

[JimMIA]

I'm a "Buy where you don't mind staying" person. However, that comes with several caveats.

There are some people who really want badly to stay at one particular resort. They should buy where they want to stay...provided, as others have said, that they can reliably plan and book in the 11-month window.

There are some people who truly don't care where they stay. They should buy the best deal. (Incidentally, despite my response to this poll, I BOUGHT both of our contracts because they were the best deals going at that time...and I like both resorts.)

I also would caution prospective buyers to thoroughly understand what you are getting when you buy DVC. I've seen SO many posts from newish owners who really have no clue what they bought or how it works. Understanding DVC thoroughly is really key to making a sound decision, IMHO. Especially with all of the changes recently, I would be very careful not to purchase DVC with the expectation of anything except what is absolutely guarenteed -- and that ain't much!

I'm not quite at the point of counseling prospective buyers NOT to buy, but I do think they should forget the pixie dust and really do their homework to avoid disappointment.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Since you are only guaranteed the ability to stay at your home resort, since no resort is guaranteed to be part of any system that allows one to stay at any other resort, there is only one answer. You must buy where you want to stay. Period. End of story.

Yep, Doctor P said it best.

 

[DMKEDM]

I think there might be another category--one that triggered our recent add-on of some BCV points: buy where the 11-month advantage is most meaningful, if you have a particular fondness for that resort...

For my family, we truly love both SSR and BCV. And we really like all the DVC resorts. Sometimes we can (and do) plan 11 months out. Other times we decide to go at 7 months (or closer). At 7 months, we're happy to take what we can get, and we've had very good luck w/the W/L, too...

We figured we'd always have a better shot at getting a villa at SSR at 7 months, just because it's so much bigger. But for BCV, we'd need the 11-month advantage for T-giving (which we do at Disney annually) and/or if we ever get to try the Food & Wine festival. So we added on just enough points at BCV to maximize our chances at T-giving...or to get us a stay for Food & Wine, if ever we decide to try that...

Our BCV points are about 20% of our total...enough to get us Tues-Wed-Thurs of T-giving week...we figure at 7 months our chances of getting the weekend, or the Mon-Tues before, are much higher.

I guess we'll find out next year (this year we're very happily staying at SSR for T-giving) if this thinking "works."

Another very real element for us: because we love BCV every bit as much as SSR, emotionally we wanted to own a bit of that resort, too...the rest of it was justification for the emotional decision!

 

[crisi]

I also would caution prospective buyers to thoroughly understand what you are getting when you buy DVC. I've seen SO many posts from newish owners who really have no clue what they bought or how it works. Understanding DVC thoroughly is really key to making a sound decision, IMHO. Especially with all of the changes recently, I would be very careful not to purchase DVC with the expectation of anything except what is absolutely guarenteed -- and that ain't much!

Newish owners - some of our old time regulars seem to have completely forgotten what they bought of late! Not that they don't have any right to be disappointed by the changes - but I still think that if you stuck to the basic advice - bought where you want to stay, can plan ahead, didn't buy to trade out or cruise or stay at the Poly - the changes themselves aren't significant (although the communication method and spin is disappointing).

 

[DisneyDVCdad]

Make sure you do some research! Don't go in blind!

 

[JimMIA]

Since you are only guaranteed the ability to stay at your home resort, since no resort is guaranteed to be part of any system that allows one to stay at any other resort, there is only one answer. You must buy where you want to stay. Period. End of story.

You are right on the facts, of course. We are not guaranteed access to any resorts other than our own. We are also only guaranteed a one-month home resort advantage.

However, a DVC which took away the ability to stay elsewhere or reduced the home resort advantage to one month would not be worth owning, IMHO.

There's no need to protect myself from that possibility, because I wouldn't want to own DVC under those conditions. This particular boogey-man doesn't worry me a bit, because I'd be gone.

 

[claire_ont]

We had looked at DVC before, but at the time they were only selling SSR. I liked SSR and would enjoy staying there, but for me, it just was not great enough to make me want to spend the money. Then we stayed at AKL this past Feb, and I could have stayed for ever. Something about getting up, making coffee in my room, padding to the balcony and watching the giraffes walk by, gave me such a sense of inner peace. So when I found out there was DVC at AKV - well, the rest is history.

So for me, I bought where I wanted to stay. However, now since I am on this board and have been reading the posts, I am thinking that I REALLY want to do VWL for Christmas sometime, and Food and Wine Festival from BCVs/BWVs... You get the picture.

All I know for sure now is that I do not have nearly enough points, and am totally undecided as to where/when and how to add on (Disney or Resale). So does the advice change for add-ons?