Potential New Member - Am I Doing This Right?

[CanadaDisney05]

For an AP the wisdom on this seems to be an annual pass starts to be worth it if you are doing 9 or more park days annually.

This is only true if the 9 days are not on the same trip. A 10 day park hopper is still cheaper than an annual pass

 

[Jenniebee]

This is only true if the 9 days are not on the same trip. A 10 day park hopper is still cheaper than an annual pass

Ahhh OK - I did not know this!

 

[disneynutz]

One constant with Disney and DVC is that what you know today will change tomorrow. When new to DVC all you will care about is going to Disney, after a short time you will find that things will change and you will have favorite resorts. Problem is you didn't buy there, now what, will you be willing to sell your contract and buy at your favorite resort? Not being able to book your favorite resort at 7 months can be a real downer and that will happen.

We have an October UY and it works well for us, covers Thanksgiving, Christmas, and months through May.

Bill

 

[Miffy]

I just want to point out if you are military or a veteran, you get better deals on tickets than what the annual pass would give you if you only go once a year. i still got the blue card but I don’t ever get the annual pass.

@MJ NH--I'm pretty sure that you have to be active or retired military in order to get a deal on tickets. Veteran is different from retired. If I'm wrong about this, someone please correct me.

ETA: from the Disney website:

• Disney Military Promotional Tickets may be purchased at participating U.S. military sales outlets by Eligible Service Members (defined below) or their spouses (but not both), for use by themselves and family members and friends, as provided herein. These Tickets may not be otherwise transferred, distributed or resold.
• "Eligible Service Members" are active or retired members of the U.S. Military, including the National Guard, Reservists, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service (PHS), and the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Spouses of Military Service Members also qualify if they are able to present valid and active U.S. Military IDs in the absence of active or retired Military Personnel or Commissioned Corps Members.

 

[kboo]

@MJ NH--I'm pretty sure that you have to be active or retired military in order to get a deal on tickets. Veteran is different from retired. If I'm wrong about this, someone please correct me.

ETA: from the Disney website:

• Disney Military Promotional Tickets may be purchased at participating U.S. military sales outlets by Eligible Service Members (defined below) or their spouses (but not both), for use by themselves and family members and friends, as provided herein. These Tickets may not be otherwise transferred, distributed or resold.
• "Eligible Service Members" are active or retired members of the U.S. Military, including the National Guard, Reservists, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service (PHS), and the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Spouses of Military Service Members also qualify if they are able to present valid and active U.S. Military IDs in the absence of active or retired Military Personnel or Commissioned Corps Members.

You are correct. DH is a veteran but not retired, and the only thing we are eligible for are an occasional last minute 10% off rooms at Shades of Green. And I mean VERY random, like "next week! Book today!"

 

[zavandor]

Rule number one of Sleep Around Points is that you have to buy where you don't mind staying. There will be times when you'll have to book your resort at 11 months and cannot switch. If you hate SSR, don't buy there for any reason.
That being said, if you're looking at 1BR you'll likely have a great deal of success switching to other resorts. @Wakey is one of the DIS members who has consistently used this strategy with great success, he might come to give his feedback.

 

[elanderson12]

Rule number one of Sleep Around Points is that you have to buy where you don't mind staying. There will be times when you'll have to book your resort at 11 months and cannot switch. If you hate SSR, don't buy there for any reason.
That being said, if you're looking at 1BR you'll likely have a great deal of success switching to other resorts. @Wakey is one of the DIS members who has consistently used this strategy with great success, he might come to give his feedback.

Thanks so much! That's what I was thinking about the 1BR strategy, since those seem to be some of the best for availability compared to studios or 2BR's. We haven't stayed at SSR before or looked that closely, but we'll be doing the DVC tour there when we visit in January (renting points for our stay at BLT!). I have a feeling we'll make a final decision based on this trip.

 

[bumbershoot]

I know everyone always says “Buy where you want to stay”, but based on our situation wanting to have a variety of experiences in different resorts, I feel like SS might be the way to go. Any insider advice or other resort suggestions?

As someone finally mentioned, that n the absence of a strong love of a resort, you have to figure out where you wouldn’t mind staying.

I haven’t been able to switch my bay lake reservation to my extra-desired 1 bedroom yet, despite having been able to change it at 7 months for previous trips this time of year. I was able to change it to OKW, but my cousin really wants Boardwalk...

Thankfully I won’t mind OKW.

What I would mind is if I couldn’t get out if bay lake. First I don’t have the points for a 1 bedroom along with my other plans. And second the air freshener in that building kills me.

we would almost certainly never plan a trip around an event like Moonlight Magic.

They don’t really announce it in time for an 11 month booking.

What you should ponder is how annoyed you would be if you had a trip booked, and then a MM was going to happen while you’re there and you cannot go.

Also, you have a 2 year old. MK is going to be 'THE PARK' for you for quite a few years.

Eh, not for all families. My cousin’s kids loved Epcot for years. We didn’t go to World until my son was 6, but out at Disneyland resort he loved California Adventure far more than he loved Disneyland.

Not being able to book your favorite resort at 7 months can be a real downer and that will happen.

Yep.

Veteran is different from retired. If I'm wrong about this, someone please correct me.

You’re right. My brother is a veteran bc he had 4 years in the AF, but he doesn’t qualify for discounts. Nor does he qualify for things like boarding plans early, because they generally mean war veterans, and he isn’t one. He’s not comfy taking part in those things when he knows that so many people think “veteran” = “war veteran” and therefore don’t use the correct words.

 

[skier_pete]

Hey thanks for the shout-out on my charts. I haven't read every post on the thread but thought I would add my opinion.

1) If you are truly looking at 1-bedrooms and mostly winter/spring - then SSR is fine - BUT, you should also be sure that if it came down to it you wouldn't mind stay at SSR. I personally don't like the resort, so I wouldn't buy there. The price difference is nice, but over a 40 year contract length, it's a pretty minor cost to pay the extra at BLT. One advantage of owning at BLT is you can book the standard view rooms and save some $$ by using less points.

2) I always recommend - estimate how many points you think you need, and then add 20%. It's not uncommon that you will find that you want to add a day at the end or beginning of your trip, or work an extra short trip in somewhere along the way. So if you are thinking 120 points, I would suggest looking for something around 140-150. This will also ward off the add-on-itis for a little while.

3) With your plan of once every two years - I would NOT buy direct. If you ever decide to go more often, you can always add direct points on at that point. The savings vs direct well offsets any benefits you would get. IMO the ONLY reason to buy direct is for the AP discount. We travel mulitple times in a year to take advantage of that. Otherwise, the other discounts are OK, but not worth the thousands of dollars they cost.

4) Keep reading on here and elsewhere. Knowledge is power with DVC. I know quite a bit (which is how I ended up on the DVC show) but I still am learning new things! And don't be afraid to ask questions - some amazing members on here that are always quick to answer!

 

[iflyjetzzz]

First post here. Great thread with a lot of interesting points of view.
I've already decided a while ago that I'd buy resale instead of direct if I decided to make the plunge.

I used to lean hard toward BLT but SSR is looking a lot better to me. Why? It still beats any other places I've stayed at in Disney and it would still give me the opportunity to trade into a 'better' resort.
Planning a vacation more than 7 months out is pretty much a no-go for us anyway so home resort doesn't carry much weight for us.

I've been hesitant to pull the trigger on buying into DVC due to cost … I can afford it, but I'm also thinking whether or not I want to pay that much more for upgraded accommodations. Last visit, we stayed at the Doubletree Disney Springs (an official Disney partner which got us magic hours) on points; we've also stayed at Shades of Green (wife and I are both mil retirees). My relatives normally stay at Pop Century or similar properties. I could stay at the Swan or Dolphin on Marriott points; we stayed at the Dolphin once long ago.
At Disneyland, we normally stay at Camelot Inn and Suites, a cheap hotel across from Disney's entrance. If we were actually able to stay - at any time- at the Grand Californian, that would be a HUGE upgrade for us.
As much as SSR is being knocked on here, it's still a big upgrade from where we're currently staying. Could I stay there? Definitely. But I wouldn't mind trading into another resort, so I would look at trading into different (ie on the monorail) resorts.

I'm in my late 50s and probably will only buy into DVC for 10-15 years so I have to factor that into the equation. I'll likely resell whatever I eventually buy.

Finally, DVC is a much higher cost than what we're used to. DVC is not a bargain; it's not a savings over other options that are available and will never be a less costly option. The annual maintenance fees alone are more than we normally spend on rooms. But DVC, including SSR, is a very big upgrade compared to our current hotel stays. I'm just about ready to make the plunge into being a DVC owner.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

Planning a vacation more than 7 months out is pretty much a no-go for us anyway so home resort doesn't carry much weight for us.

This is a major redflag. DVC is really meant for those who book early. Rooms fill up fast, especially the more economical rooms.

I'm in my late 50s and probably will only buy into DVC for 10-15 years so I have to factor that into the equation. I'll likely resell whatever I eventually buy.

This can work out, but there is a lot of risk. Historically, DVC has maintained, and even exceeded its value. However, there are a couple of issues with this if your plan is based on it.

1) DVC prices have to go down eventually. It's a matter of when, not if. Remember, these contracts will expire at some point, which eventually makes their value zero.

2) DVC is not a diversified enough of an investment with a long enough track record to make accurate predictions based off of long term trends. Prices could fall off the map tomorrow, especially as DVC keeps adding new restrictions.

All this to say, if I were doing my calculations, I'd make sure that I did several calculations based on expected resale price, including if you got zero back and see how comfortable you are with that risk.
[/quote]

 

[6bowmans]

This is my first post here on DISBoards, so please be gentle!

I’ve spent the last several weeks researching, reading DISBoards threads, reading blog posts, watching every episode of the DVC Show, and crunching numbers in tons of spreadsheets on potential contracts. I feel like I’ve narrowed down my options on what will work best for my family, but I want to run my ideas past experienced members for opinions and suggestions.

First, some background information. My family currently consists of myself, my husband, and my 2 year old son. We may have one more child, but this is still up in the air. I grew up visiting Disney World every year staying in Moderate resorts, but I have now discovered the wonders of DVC villas through renting points. I am a major planner and tend to start planning my Disney vacations very far out, so 7 or 11 months are both reasonable booking windows for us. We live in Illinois, so last minute, spur of the moment trips don’t really happen. At this time, we are always visiting every other year at the same time: the end of January. This could obviously change in 10-15 years with older kids, but right now, it is our favorite time to visit. The more I researched and considered, the more I think buying in would be a great, cost-efficient way to continue our biannual visits and enjoy these resorts.

So, being a young family and keeping long term costs in mind, I focused first on those resorts with low maintenance fees. I believe we have narrowed down our choice to Bay Lake Tower or Saratoga Springs. I initially thought BLT was a no-brainer, as we love the property and location, and having the 11-month window would be really nice. But the more I looked, the more I remembered how much I love experiencing a variety of resorts, not necessarily always staying in the same place. There are several DVC resorts I have not stayed at yet, and I’d love to see them all. I looked extensively at skier_pete’s amazing availability post, and it looks like if I’m diligent, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get a 1 bedroom villa at most any resort at 7 months, assuming we continue our pattern of travelling at the end of January or even into most of the spring and summer if our situation changes down the road. This made me consider buying at Saratoga Springs instead to save that initial buy-in and long-term dues, despite not really intending to use that resort very often. We’re flexible people and tend to love most any Disney resort, so I don’t think we would ever be devastated if our first choice was full.

We have four contracts at AKV (2), BRV, and SSR. We have stayed mostly at AKV and BRV/VWL with a couple of trips at BCV, one at SSR, and one at VGC. We bought before our kids started kindergarten and now they are all out on their own. We would always go in the October-December time frame until the older kids were in middle school because, as others have mentioned, school work/sports/arts begin to become more important. Now that we are empty-nesters, I plan to add to our SSR points so we can do like you plan to do - use the points for 1BR stays at the other DVC resorts. We also do not mind if we get "stuck" at SSR. Our AKV and BRV points we will save for family trips or rent if we need to.

I like the SSR strategy in that you know you will be visiting Disney at least every other year, you are a planner, you want to stay at different resorts, and the initial cash investment is the least (assuming buying resale). You can experience many of DVC resorts, to include SSR, and perhaps 6-7 years from now you will know which resort and park really are your favorites. The time of year you travel will most likely also change (like ours did). By that time (if not before) you will catch addonitis, and you can buy where you want to stay and keep or sell your SSR contract.

Like skier_pete said, the members here are great, so keep asking questions and keep reading posts. I also like his "buy 20% more" strategy - perhaps a 150-pt contract? Not everyone, but most folks do not regret their DVC purchase, but do lament they did not purchase a larger contract. Good luck!

 

[iflyjetzzz]

This is a major redflag. DVC is really meant for those who book early. Rooms fill up fast, especially the more economical rooms.

Thank you for your reply with cautions.
Not being able to use points is a concern to be cautious. If I buy resale and find we're not flexible enough to use the points, I will just turn around and resell the points. No need to keep something that's unusable. However, I suspect that I will find some availability from looking at this availability tool at dvc vacations website.

This can work out, but there is a lot of risk. Historically, DVC has maintained, and even exceeded its value. However, there are a couple of issues with this if your plan is based on it.

1) DVC prices have to go down eventually. It's a matter of when, not if. Remember, these contracts will expire at some point, which eventually makes their value zero.

2) DVC is not a diversified enough of an investment with a long enough track record to make accurate predictions based off of long term trends. Prices could fall off the map tomorrow, especially as DVC keeps adding new restrictions.

All this to say, if I were doing my calculations, I'd make sure that I did several calculations based on expected resale price, including if you got zero back and see how comfortable you are with that risk.

I only mentioned that I'd dispose of the purchase in 10-15 years is because it would be due to old age. I wasn't referring to any financial loss; this is not a purchase where one plans on breaking even on the purchase. I'm perfectly comfortable in getting zero back - this is intended to be a major upgrade on accommodations while visiting Disney. This is not anywhere close to an investment for me - it is more to spend some of our savings.
Since we are getting older, we will be spending more time at the hotel and less time at the parks. That's a big reason for pondering a buy-in.

 

[Sandisw]

Thank you for your reply with cautions.
Not being able to use points is a concern to be cautious. If I buy resale and find we're not flexible enough to use the points, I will just turn around and resell the points. No need to keep something that's unusable. However, I suspect that I will find some availability from looking at this availability tool at dvc vacations website.



I only mentioned that I'd dispose of the purchase in 10-15 years is because it would be due to old age. I wasn't referring to any financial loss; this is not a purchase where one plans on breaking even on the purchase. I'm perfectly comfortable in getting zero back - this is intended to be a major upgrade on accommodations while visiting Disney. This is not anywhere close to an investment for me - it is more to spend some of our savings.
Since we are getting older, we will be spending more time at the hotel and less time at the parks. That's a big reason for pondering a buy-in.

Unless you are a DVC member, any other tool is not a live look at room availability. Even as a member, what I see when I am checking out can be gone by the time I go to book, even minutes to hours later,

I would caution anyone to take those types of tools with a grain of salt. Having said that, if you go in with eyes wide open that booking 7 months or less could prove difficult, or you may need to complete split stays in different room sizes, then you’ll be Able to make a decision that works for you!

 

[eandt]

Thank you so much, everyone! I was heavily leaning toward buying strictly resale, but I just wanted to make sure there really was no reason to even consider direct sales. Good to confirm

Also, I knew everyone talked about how much more difficult it is to take kids out of schools now, but I guess I had wishful thinking about being able to still do a little bit in elementary school. I remember my parents taking my sister and I out for a week every year until I was 12! Now reconsidering kicking my contract up to 160 points to account for travelling in higher point cost seasons in a few years.

I have to keep debating about BLT or SSR, though, now. I feel like every day I lean one way or the other. I also need to reevaluate total costs now that I'm considering the larger contract with the large per point cost discrepancy between the two. It's all just so much to consider!

I never worried about taking my kids out of school, and wouldn't worry about it today. We did it every year at least once. . That factor would never enter into my planning of a family vacation. The schools will get over it. You only have your kids for a blink of an eye, enjoy them, do the things that make your family happy.

 

[iflyjetzzz]

Unless you are a DVC member, any other tool is not a live look at room availability. Even as a member, what I see when I am checking out can be gone by the time I go to book, even minutes to hours later,

I would caution anyone to take those types of tools with a grain of salt. Having said that, if you go in with eyes wide open that booking 7 months or less could prove difficult, or you may need to complete split stays in different room sizes, then you’ll be Able to make a decision that works for you!

OK, thanks. The tool said it updates twice daily.
I'm also probably looking at different inventory than most here. I need the larger properties - 2 bedroom is our sweet spot, not studio/1 bedroom. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it appears that there's more inventory at the 7 month point in the larger room sizes at various properties.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

OK, thanks. The tool said it updates twice daily.
I'm also probably looking at different inventory than most here. I need the larger properties - 2 bedroom is our sweet spot, not studio/1 bedroom. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it appears that there's more inventory at the 7 month point in the larger room sizes at various properties.

Depends. Because of the lockoffs, two bedrooms aren't always aubundant. One bedrooms are actually the easiest

 

[crisi]

If you want to stay at a lot of different resorts, buy SSR. But be aware that availability has changed a LOT over our 15+ years of membership, and what used to be easy to get is no longer easy to get. So make sure that you will be happy at SSR if availability changes. You may decide to sell in a few years if availability tightens for the units/resorts you are interested in.

Also with this plan, you will want to be flexible. Make your reservations at SSR and then make a list in order of want of what you want to switch into. Not "this year we want to stay at BCV" but "this year we will switch to BCV if available, if that isn't available, we'd like to try BLT, if that isn't available, we'd like to try VAKL, if that isn't available, we will just stay at SSR" You may not always be able to switch, but the more resorts you are interested in, the more chances you will have to stay at many resorts.

 

[Sandisw]

OK, thanks. The tool said it updates twice daily.
I'm also probably looking at different inventory than most here. I need the larger properties - 2 bedroom is our sweet spot, not studio/1 bedroom. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it appears that there's more inventory at the 7 month point in the larger room sizes at various properties.

I have seen things change within the hour...and lost out when I hesitated.. depending on when you are going and what you are looking for.

My point was more to recognize that until one is ready to actually book, things can and do change, especially at the more popular resorts. SSR, OKW, and AKV...due to size..tend to have more availability at 7 months.

In terms of 2 bedrooms, BWV is made up only of lock offs so if the studios are booked, so are the 2 bedrooms.

As already mentioned, 1 bedrooms are easier as they sleep the same as studios in most..if not all..cases but are double the points.

 

[iflyjetzzz]

All, thanks once again for the cautions. I understand the booking risks very clearly. I've got a 400 point SSR contract that's going into ROFR now.
This either works for us or I rent the points and then sell a stripped contract when able. It's not the end of the world if this doesn't work for us. I can possibly ballpark 11 months out, but the dates would likely change.
I've read some of the strategies applied by individuals and will see how they work.

Edit: I just want to add that I'm hoping that RIV alleviates some of the booking problems at other resorts, as I suspect there will be some who try to book the new resort, especially with the skyliner being conveniently located to the RIV.