Potential purchase questions

[Leahc117]

Hello - perhaps I am spending too much time on here but I just can’t seem to decide the best way to get into DVC (for my family).
2 adults 3 children (3, 6, 8). We have only stayed at AKL Kidani (studio) by renting points. Our intention is to buy DVC prior to booking any further Disney trips. I apologize if you’ve already answered me in a different post...

1. Home resort - people say buy where you love. I know there availability issues so booking 11 mo at your fav is a good strategy BUT ideally I want to stay at all (most?) of the resorts. Or pick specific resorts for certain trips. Also I think we will would prefer 1-2 BRs And have somewhat flexible travel dates, so perhaps availability will not be too bad.

2. riviera direct - The current promotions have made me consider riviera which I hadn’t looked at before due to the resale restrictions. On the one hand my family could fit in 1 or 2 br and we really enjoyed the skyliner when we tried it out. While I think riviera is beautiful and we would enjoy staying there it’s not high on my list like beach club and wilderness lodge. So I could buy riviera and I assume get everything we want out of it - but it has high MF and resale restrictions...but the longest contract...
(I know I could buy direct at other resorts but someone would have to convince me of the value as the prices seem so high compared to resale)

3. SSR resale - on the other hand - I could get into DVC with an affordable resale contract which I am kind of looking out for now. I feel like more points resale will take me further because then I have more booking options. I think SSR is balanced in terms of contract length, price, and MFS

4. Is it worth it - I don’t always understand the logic here - for me I just divide the purchase price over the length of contract and add annual MFS. I usually get around $1900-2300 depending on resort and resale vs direct. It seems like purchase is not a huge deal compared to MFS but i want to pay cash so there is a limit to my comfort zone. For that price I feel like I will always get my money’s worth unless I rent to only stay in certain studios. I like that DVC will encourage us to make plans every year...and while WDW may have been a place I tried to avoid for years after our first trip with kids we’ve been twice in 2 years. We like to be busy and have plenty to do, we prefer walking to get places - Skyliner and not folding a stroller is awesome, walking or boating to parks also awesome... and we didnt even mind the bus at Kidani - first pick up first drop off.

5. Investment? I think that the fact that you have anything to sell after taking vacations for years is a bonus!

6. Minimum direct is increasing! Does this even matter? I can buy 100 direct now or 200 direct with incentives or 200 resale now and direct someday if I am missing out on something???

‘Thanks for any feedback!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Even if you want to stay at all the resorts, there are some times during the year when you won't be able to book a non-home resort at seven months out. One bedroom villas usually go last, studios and two bedrooms first. Holidays and Fall Frenzy (mid-Sept through early January) are hard to book at seven months out. If you need to go around school holidays, summers are usually not too difficult to book. But points tend to be higher during the summer months. The Epcot area resorts will be hard to book during F&W at seven months out. Early Dec is very hard at seven months out for almost any resort. Don't buy SSR if you don't plan on staying there most of the time.

We bought our first points in 1997 ($50 a point direct) and had five contracts. We sold two and made about $15-20 per point over the price we bought at originally deducting the sales commission. With the insane prices today, you are not going to make much in selling your contract unless you are willing to take a small loss on the sale. Again, current prices are insane to me. I'd never buy to stay in studios. You might as well just book a hotel room. The two of us usually stay in one bedroom villas because we like the king sized bed. The only studio we will stay in is OKW because it has two real beds and the point requirement isn't horrible.

The biggest perk currently (and this could disappear once they start selling APs again) is the ability to purchase a Gold pass, usually only sold to Florida Residents. It gets you four parks, no water parks. If you only go once a year, you might not even go enough to get the benefit of the gold pass. It still costs a lot more than the Premium Annual Pass (all four parks, all water parks, some golf) did the last time we bought that (maybe 2008 or 2009). We are fortunate that we are currently Florida residents and can purchase the Weekday pass. If you want to go Christmas and Easter, you don't want a Gold pass since it is blacked out then. Never based your purchase on the perks because they can disappear overnight. They have.

 

[softballpooh]

Even if you want to stay at all the resorts, there are some times during the year when you won't be able to book a non-home resort at seven months out. One bedroom villas usually go last, studios and two bedrooms first. Holidays and Fall Frenzy (mid-Sept through early January) are hard to book at seven months out. If you need to go around school holidays, summers are usually not too difficult to book. But points tend to be higher during the summer months. The Epcot area resorts will be hard to book during F&W at seven months out. Early Dec is very hard at seven months out for almost any resort. Don't buy SSR if you don't plan on staying there most of the time.

Could you clarify if you mean this timing is for the 11-month window or 7-month window? We're researching a purchase and I'll either always need a studio or 2 bedroom depending on the travel party. So I want to be sure I'm understanding risks here.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Hello - perhaps I am spending too much time on here but I just can’t seem to decide the best way to get into DVC (for my family).
2 adults 3 children (3, 6, 8). We have only stayed at AKL Kidani (studio) by renting points. Our intention is to buy DVC prior to booking any further Disney trips. I apologize if you’ve already answered me in a different post...

1. Home resort - people say buy where you love. I know there availability issues so booking 11 mo at your fav is a good strategy BUT ideally I want to stay at all (most?) of the resorts. Or pick specific resorts for certain trips. Also I think we will would prefer 1-2 BRs And have somewhat flexible travel dates, so perhaps availability will not be too bad.

2. riviera direct - The current promotions have made me consider riviera which I hadn’t looked at before due to the resale restrictions. On the one hand my family could fit in 1 or 2 br and we really enjoyed the skyliner when we tried it out. While I think riviera is beautiful and we would enjoy staying there it’s not high on my list like beach club and wilderness lodge. So I could buy riviera and I assume get everything we want out of it - but it has high MF and resale restrictions...but the longest contract...
(I know I could buy direct at other resorts but someone would have to convince me of the value as the prices seem so high compared to resale)

3. SSR resale - on the other hand - I could get into DVC with an affordable resale contract which I am kind of looking out for now. I feel like more points resale will take me further because then I have more booking options. I think SSR is balanced in terms of contract length, price, and MFS

4. Is it worth it - I don’t always understand the logic here - for me I just divide the purchase price over the length of contract and add annual MFS. I usually get around $1900-2300 depending on resort and resale vs direct. It seems like purchase is not a huge deal compared to MFS but i want to pay cash so there is a limit to my comfort zone. For that price I feel like I will always get my money’s worth unless I rent to only stay in certain studios. I like that DVC will encourage us to make plans every year...and while WDW may have been a place I tried to avoid for years after our first trip with kids we’ve been twice in 2 years. We like to be busy and have plenty to do, we prefer walking to get places - Skyliner and not folding a stroller is awesome, walking or boating to parks also awesome... and we didnt even mind the bus at Kidani - first pick up first drop off.

5. Investment? I think that the fact that you have anything to sell after taking vacations for years is a bonus!

6. Minimum direct is increasing! Does this even matter? I can buy 100 direct now or 200 direct with incentives or 200 resale now and direct someday if I am missing out on something???

‘Thanks for any feedback!

Direct vs resale really boils down to if you feel the benefits of the blue card is worth paying the extra. Depending on which resort you want. We did blt bc we liked being able to walk to mk and monorail to Epcot. Ssr we didn’t care for. I did use our blt points and we stayed at every DVC resort at Disney world. I’m glad we didn’t buy Ssr bc we wouldn’t be happy with having to stay there. With a double stroller we loved staying at mk. We did studios up till our last trip and did a 2 bed. Now we will probably do 1 bed and only studios at poly. We just passed on a poly at $120 pp. so that made it $3 pp plus dues each year for total cost pp.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Could you clarify if you mean this timing is for the 11-month window or 7-month window? We're researching a purchase and I'll either always need a studio or 2 bedroom depending on the travel party. So I want to be sure I'm understanding risks here.

Studios and 2bed availability go before 1 bed. Standard views go before lake view. Some seasons are harder to get vs others. I have been able to put a trip together but we did split stays. Which we enjoyed but I know many would prefer not to change rooms

 

[RoseGold]

1BR with flexible dates is easy enough with SSR points. The question is whether you plan on reselling it. I bought Poly instead of SSR, because it has higher rental and resale potential.

Poly hasn't really taken a hit in Covid, but VGF has, so I bought a VGF contract.

But sounds like SSR would definitely meet all your needs short term, and should be easy enough to sell when you are Disneyed out.

 

[CarolynFH]

Could you clarify if you mean this timing is for the 11-month window or 7-month window? We're researching a purchase and I'll either always need a studio or 2 bedroom depending on the travel party. So I want to be sure I'm understanding risks here.

Some villas go fast at 11 months - VGF studios for 1st 2 weeks of December, for instance - and others book up rapidly at 7 months. It depends on the resort and the dates you’re interested in.
This thread contains historical information that can give you an idea of what has happened in the past. Going forward for the next few years, things are very likely to be different. A lot of people will have extra points they’ve pushed forward from this year to next and points they’ll push from next year to the one after, so resorts that used to be open at 7 months might book up earlier due to people booking their home resorts.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...-bd-charts-september-2019-2-bd-added.3689931/

 

[CastAStone]

3. SSR resale - on the other hand - I could get into DVC with an affordable resale contract which I am kind of looking out for now. I feel like more points resale will take me further because then I have more booking options. I think SSR is balanced in terms of contract length, price, and MFS

Sounds like a good plan to me, just make sure you like the resort because as others have noted, there are times of the year where it’s hard to move. There are also times of year where it isn’t, so you’ll definitely be able to try out all of the resorts eventually if you’re flexible.

At 11 months it is easy to book your home resort 95% of the time, with a few resort-date combos causing problems (others have mentioned some of them). There is no time of year you’d be fighting to get a room at SSR at 11 months.

The easiest resorts to switch into at 7 months are SSR, OKW, and AKV-Kidani, in that order. The hardest at WDW are Beach Club, Grand Floridian, Boardwalk, and Bay Lake Tower, and studios at CCV. In general if you’re switching resorts at 7 months the cheapest “views” will be gone and you’ll have to stay in Lake View or Preferred or whatever.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...The easiest resorts to switch into at 7 months are SSR, OKW, and AKV-Kidani, in that order. The hardest at WDW are Beach Club, Grand Floridian, Boardwalk, and Bay Lake Tower, and studios at CCV. In general if you’re switching resorts at 7 months the cheapest “views” will be gone and you’ll have to stay in Lake View or Preferred or whatever.

I wouldn't count on this all the time. Last year I had an OKW studio booked at 11 months out for early Dec but had to cancel. Then my issue was resolved and we could go at that time. So about nine months out, I tried to book the OKW studio for three nights. I could only get the middle night. I waitlisted the bookend nights separately and eventually got both of them, but it was less than seven months out. I had checked the website a few times each day and never saw either of those two night available. Early Dec is when you need to book your home resort at 11 months out and be happy you got it. I would have been able to get a one bedroom, but didn't have enough points for three nights in a one bedroom.

We've gotten early May in a one bedroom at GFV twice. It's hard any other time of the year. Studios are always hard at GFV anytime of the year.

 

[kniquy]

. Or pick specific resorts for certain trips. Also I think we will would prefer 1-2 BRs And have somewhat flexible travel dates, so perhaps availability will not be too bad.

For your family of 5 there are some resorts with studios which can fit your family of 5, but there are also some resorts which the one bedrooms do not offer any bed for your 5th person - you have to bring your own.

. SSR resale - on the other hand - I could get into DVC with an affordable resale contract which I am kind of looking out for now. I feel like more points resale will take me further because then I have more booking options. I think SSR is balanced in terms of contract length, price, and MFS

Most people after buying in want more points - thus add-on-itus. So if you can buy resale and acquire more points you will be much better off vs buying direct and buying less points. You mentioned Riviera - the point charts are very high and the MF are also high. So really compare if you are to buy a set number of points what you can actually "afford" at other resorts.

It seems like purchase is not a huge deal compared to MFS but i want to pay cash so there is a limit to my comfort zone.

MF over the long term will end up being more than your purchase price, so this is a valid point to consider. This is why buying at SSR is generally a great idea if you actually want to try out a number of different resorts.

. Minimum direct is increasing! Does this even matter? I can buy 100 direct now or 200 direct with incentives or 200 resale now and direct someday if I am missing out on something???

The only real direct benefit that saves you a significant amount of money are the annual passes. So for a family of 5 it could save you approx $400 pp per year - At a savings of $2000 per year that is something to real factor into your purchase. If you don't need AP's then go resale. If you do want AP's then one thing you could do is buy a less expensive resort direct 100 points to get your benefits (SSR or OKW are good options)- forget Riviera with the restrictions. Then add on with a resale at the same resort with the same UY.

You really have to run the numbers a number of ways to get an idea of what situation make the most sense for your family.

Does is make sense to buy SSR resale at ~$100 per point = $20000 (+ closing) for 200 points
Or
Go direct at $160 per point for 100 points - ~=$16000. Then add on 100 point resale at ~$10000. Total ~$26000. But with this scenario you could save $2000 per year on AP's. (Keep in mind any perks can change or be taken away).

 

[davidl81]

I wouldn't count on this all the time. Last year I had an OKW studio booked at 11 months out for early Dec but had to cancel. Then my issue was resolved and we could go at that time. So about nine months out, I tried to book the OKW studio for three nights. I could only get the middle night. I waitlisted the bookend nights separately and eventually got both of them, but it was less than seven months out. I had checked the website a few times each day and never saw either of those two night available. Early Dec is when you need to book your home resort at 11 months out and be happy you got it. I would have been able to get a one bedroom, but didn't have enough points for three nights in a one bedroom.

We've gotten early May in a one bedroom at GFV twice. It's hard any other time of the year. Studios are always hard at GFV anytime of the year.

I would say at 7 months the success rate of having one of those free (meaning checking all three properties and having one of them with open dates) is 99%. It may not be the view you want, but there will almost certainly be rooms. Sure the 1% can happen, but we focus on that 1% a lot some times.

It's why the saying "buy where you love" has to be slightly weighted IMO. If you love VGF or BCV and you want to take 80% of your stays there then you do need to buy there. If you (like myself) kinda bounce between resorts, sometimes BWV, sometimes AKV, sometimes BLT etc then buy where the cost makes the most sense to you with the understanding that you may have to stay there occasionally is super DVC heavy times.

We tend to pick a time of the year to go and then book at 7 months almost always. I will usally look before 7 months and see whats open and you can generally tell if rooms will be there at 7 months to book (ie if 8 months out there are still options at BWV, SSR, AKV, and BLt) then I feel realy good that on that 7 month day I will be able to have a choice of at least a few different resorts. This gets tricky if say you want a value or club room at AKV, but if room type is not important it opens up options a ton.

 

[Deb & Bill]

For your family of 5 there are some resorts with studios which can fit your family of 5, but there are also some resorts which the one bedrooms do not offer any bed for your 5th person - you have to bring your own....

And there are some one bedrooms that only sleep four and no more, like CCV. Those are a hard four in the studio and in the one bedroom. Same with the value villas at AKV, hard four in the studio and one bedroom.