Purchasing first DVC. Need HELP!!! PLEASE

[Sandisw]

Wow! I expected to wake up with no replies! You guys are awesome and have made some amazingly valid points. The easy solution to our problem would be buy more points then 140-175 but we are bootstrapping this first purchase so are hands are tied. We also want to go this Dec and had planned on booking AOA like normal, but now the thought of spending 3-5K just on a room there and not putting it towards a DVC membership is too much for me to bear.

APs were mentioned if you buy direct. At the discounted price (they use to be) for direct members, would it be worth it for a family of 5-6 to buy APs for only 7-9 park days a year.

Also buying at a cheaper resort like SSR; would I be easily able to book things like a 1 bedroom at the GFV or BLT at 7 months out? Or is the home resort really important for getting those 1-2 bedroom reservations?

Thank y’all again so much!

It depends on AP. Can you ever very the time so you get two trips out of one calendar year?

For example go 51 week apart? In that case it could.

Would you eventually want to go more than once a year if you had an AP and points you spare?

While there is no guarantee thise will return, just be sure to compare direct price to your other choices as the difference may not be so large it isn’t worth to not only be eligible but IMO, have points good at the Poly tower at 7 months since it is on your list.

There are some good incentives right now. Maybe up to 200 points? Use a Disney Visa if you have one ti spread out payments for 6 months with no interest?

I would never buy direct only for perks as they can come and go but where those points can be used could be important, especially come 2042 when some resorts expire and could every well come back off limits for resale points bought today.

We bought when we did one trip every summer for 5 to 6 nights but quickly realized how nice it was to get in a few short trips too

 

[wmm1126]

I wouldn't worry about it being the last monorail stop. It's pretty rare that a monorail would be so full that you'd have to wait for more than one more train.

The atmosphere is not for everyone. Some find it lovely and elegant, others find it pretentious or stuffy, others may find it very faux elegant. I can only suggest you take a tour yourself. At the very least, watch as many video tours as possible.



And short walk to the Epcot monorail. Great location for transportation.
As you're soon going to be a family of 6, you will either need 2 studios or a 2 bedroom. 2 studios are much much cheaper than a 2 bedroom at every resort.
So figure out your long term plan -- Would you want 2 bedrooms, which run 300-500 points for a week at most resorts.. Or would you rather book 2 studios, for 200-400 points?
If you'd simply book 2 studios anyway, then PVB may be the perfect fit for you. 1 studio for as long as you can, and then switch to 2 studios.
If you know you're going to want 2 BR units, then PVB isn't for you.




BLT does NOT have amazing views, though that's my subjective opinion. The standard views are obstructed and/or concrete. The lake views are ok. The Theme Park views are blah.... nice to watch fireworks, but you're mostly looking at a parking lot.
BLT studios are small, the smallest among the newish resorts.
BLT has the worst pools, it has no dining without crossing over the skyway to Contemporary.
The big advantage of BLT for you would be 2-bedroom units, that include 3 bathrooms, in a point range of 300 to 500 points most of the year (more for Easter and Christmas).
You could get a 2 bedroom standard view over the summer for a week for 322 points.
In comparison, 2 studios at Poly for the summer for a week would be 306 points.
A 2 BR at GFV over the summer would be 424 points. 2 studios at GVF over the summer would be 278 points.


So if you think you're really going to want 2 bedroom units -- BLT is much "cheaper" than GFV. And Poly doesn't have 2 br units. (and don't know what's going to happen with the tower).
If you're ok with 2 studios, then GFV and Poly both become potentially superior options for bigger rooms, nicer pools, etc.

I wouldn't worry about it being the last monorail stop. It's pretty rare that a monorail would be so full that you'd have to wait for more than one more train.

The atmosphere is not for everyone. Some find it lovely and elegant, others find it pretentious or stuffy, others may find it very faux elegant. I can only suggest you take a tour yourself. At the very least, watch as many video tours as possible.



And short walk to the Epcot monorail. Great location for transportation.
As you're soon going to be a family of 6, you will either need 2 studios or a 2 bedroom. 2 studios are much much cheaper than a 2 bedroom at every resort.
So figure out your long term plan -- Would you want 2 bedrooms, which run 300-500 points for a week at most resorts.. Or would you rather book 2 studios, for 200-400 points?
If you'd simply book 2 studios anyway, then PVB may be the perfect fit for you. 1 studio for as long as you can, and then switch to 2 studios.
If you know you're going to want 2 BR units, then PVB isn't for you.




BLT does NOT have amazing views, though that's my subjective opinion. The standard views are obstructed and/or concrete. The lake views are ok. The Theme Park views are blah.... nice to watch fireworks, but you're mostly looking at a parking lot.
BLT studios are small, the smallest among the newish resorts.
BLT has the worst pools, it has no dining without crossing over the skyway to Contemporary.
The big advantage of BLT for you would be 2-bedroom units, that include 3 bathrooms, in a point range of 300 to 500 points most of the year (more for Easter and Christmas).
You could get a 2 bedroom standard view over the summer for a week for 322 points.
In comparison, 2 studios at Poly for the summer for a week would be 306 points.
A 2 BR at GFV over the summer would be 424 points. 2 studios at GVF over the summer would be 278 points.


So if you think you're really going to want 2 bedroom units -- BLT is much "cheaper" than GFV. And Poly doesn't have 2 br units. (and don't know what's going to happen with the tower).
If you're ok with 2 studios, then GFV and Poly both become potentially superior options for bigger rooms, nicer pools, etc.

In my million hours of research I never once thought of 2 studios instead of a 2 bedroom. I’m actually embarrassed that I didn’t think of that.

 

[RoseGold]

Worth noting that only Poly and the new VGF building have connecting studios. Even then, they never guarantee it. It's quite likely, because it's pretty much all of the hundreds of rooms, but there's no promise.

 

[RoseGold]

Also buying at a cheaper resort like SSR; would I be easily able to book things like a 1 bedroom at the GFV or BLT at 7 months out?

Depends heavily on when you are traveling. I am assuming you are not traveling peak. For the summer, I easily booked Poly and BC 2BR with SSR points.

BLT 1BR is a desirable room because of the low point cost and the extra bathroom, especially the cheapest view category. It is difficult to book. The VGF 1BR is such a high point room, it's often available after 7 months. 1BRs are generally the easiest to book in the system, because of their high point cost. It isn't impossible to get them even at BW or BC.

And there's the waitlist. For something like Poly, which has hundreds of rooms, the waitlist can work. My Poly waitlist even filled on marathon weekend, superpeak.

To me, this is like a game. I think it's kind of fun to see what I am able to get this time.

 

[havoc315]

The VGF 1BR is such a high point room, it's often available after 7 months. 1BRs are generally the easiest to book in the system,

Wait and see.. But 1 VGFs may become impossible to book at 7 months because of the expansion. With the sale of 200 additional studios, almost 2 million more points.. but without the addition of any 1/2 BR units.... The "new" VGF could potentially be out-of-proportion, with the larger rooms going very quickly.

This might not happen. But pre-expansion, there was more than enough supply of 1 BRs to meet the 11 month demand, leaving remaining units at 7 month.
The expansion increases the 11 month demand (by increasing the number of owners), but it does not add to the supply. So quite possibly, there will no longer be enough supply to meet the demand.
It will take 1-2 years from now to really know how it plays out.

 

[havoc315]

APs were mentioned if you buy direct. At the discounted price (they use to be) for direct members, would it be worth it for a family of 5-6 to buy APs for only 7-9 park days a year.

They are worthwhile for 2 or more medium length trips in a 12 month period. It's not a question of number of days, it's number of trips. A 1-visit 9-day ticket will be much cheaper than an AP. But a 1-Visit 5-day ticket plus a 1-visit-4-day ticket may be more costly than an AP.

Also buying at a cheaper resort like SSR; would I be easily able to book things like a 1 bedroom at the GFV or BLT at 7 months out? Or is the home resort really important for getting those 1-2 bedroom reservations?

2-bedrooms are a bit harder than 1 bedrooms. While you typically can get 1 br available for most of the year, there are times when it will be difficult. 2 bedrooms may be quite limited, depending on time of year. When there is availability, you are talking usually about paying extra points for a higher category -- the standard rooms are generally gone before 7 months.

If you're very flexible, willing to do split stays, willing to pay extra points for view categories, willing to adjust your trips to meet the availability, and willing to take SSR when all else fails, then SSR points can work out.

But I wouldn't buy SSR points thinking I'll just use them at a monorail resort whenever I want.

Thank y’all again so much!

 

[Genie+]

1BR will be valuable over 2 studios because kitchen and laundry. Those come in handy on 7-9 day trips, especially where it’s so easy to take an afternoon break from park resorts.

Being you plan to add points later when you’ll need to do 2br, it might work very well for you to think about 2 home resorts. One by MK, the other by Epcot/HS. Beach Club is a great fit with 4 kids. I like Poly best personally for many reasons but with 3 kids BLT would be my top choice for the 1BR.

Goal here would be to split the points needed yearly across 2 resorts. Say you get 150 points BLT now with intention of 150 at BC in 3 years. You can either alternate resort each year by doubling up points with bank/borrow, or do split stays 4 nights each resort every year.

 

[RoseGold]

But I wouldn't buy SSR points thinking I'll just use them at a monorail resort whenever I want.

7 months from now is MLK, a holiday weekend, and it's hours after booking opened. Poly/VGF/BLT are all wide open in studio, 1BR and 2BR except the BLT standard and the VGF 2BR, because they are all lock offs. You can even get a 1BR at BC or BW, or a 1 or 2BR at CCV. My personal favorite, the Poly lake view is even there, not the easiest room, because there aren't a ton of them.

Maybe you can't get your exact choice, but you can get a lot most of the time.

 

[I am Moana of Motunui]

Wow! I expected to wake up with no replies! You guys are awesome and have made some amazingly valid points. The easy solution to our problem would be buy more points then 140-175 but we are bootstrapping this first purchase so are hands are tied. We also want to go this Dec and had planned on booking AOA like normal, but now the thought of spending 3-5K just on a room there and not putting it towards a DVC membership is too much for me to bear.

APs were mentioned if you buy direct. At the discounted price (they use to be) for direct members, would it be worth it for a family of 5-6 to buy APs for only 7-9 park days a year.

Also buying at a cheaper resort like SSR; would I be easily able to book things like a 1 bedroom at the GFV or BLT at 7 months out? Or is the home resort really important for getting those 1-2 bedroom reservations?

Thank y’all again so much!

Maybe instead of booking directly through Disney for your December trip - rent points or a confirmed reservation from a DVC member to stay your top pick - and then do a DVC tour of the other two resorts.

 

[havoc315]

7 months from now is MLK, a holiday weekend, and it's hours after booking opened. Poly/VGF/BLT are all wide open in studio, 1BR and 2BR except the BLT standard and the VGF 2BR, because they are all lock offs. You can even get a 1BR at BC or BW, or a 1 or 2BR at CCV. My personal favorite, the Poly lake view is even there, not the easiest room, because there aren't a ton of them.

Maybe you can't get your exact choice, but you can get a lot most of the time.

MLK isn't exactly a super busy holiday weekend..
Let's look at President's week, 2023 -- 8 months away. So there will be even LESS availability when we actually hit the 7 month mark:
Monorail:
BLT -- No standard rooms left in any category. Only remaining studios are lake view, Theme park view and standard are gone. (I'm guessing all studios will be gone by the 7 month mark)
VGF -- all 1-bedrooms gone (maybe the expansion effect already). All regular deluxe studios gone. Only things left -- 2 BR lake view and resort studios.
Poly -- standard studios available, lake studios are all gone.

So availability is already very limited, 1 month BEFORE the 7-month mark.

At the Epcot area resorts:
RIV -- All studios gone. All standard rooms gone.
BWV -- All standard gone, all studios gone. All 2 BRs gone. Only thing left, Pool view 1 BR and Grand Villa.
BCV -- Gone. Nothing left at all.

So at the 7 month mark, for any high-demand period, you better be prepared for very limited availability.
President's week 2023, you can see availability is already very limited, and we are still a month away from hitting the 7 month mark.
Many resorts will be 100% booked by 7am at the 7 month mark. You shouldn't count on finding any studios, and you have very little chance of standard view rooms.
Of the 6 resorts listed above... of the 5 that offer 1 BR units, only BLT, RIV and BWV have any remaining 1 BR units (none standard). For deluxe studios, only 2 out of the 6 have any deluxe studios remaining.

 

[wmm1126]

Depends heavily on when you are traveling. I am assuming you are not traveling peak. For the summer, I easily booked Poly and BC 2BR with SSR points.

BLT 1BR is a desirable room because of the low point cost and the extra bathroom, especially the cheapest view category. It is difficult to book. The VGF 1BR is such a high point room, it's often available after 7 months. 1BRs are generally the easiest to book in the system, because of their high point cost. It isn't impossible to get them even at BW or BC.

And there's the waitlist. For something like Poly, which has hundreds of rooms, the waitlist can work. My Poly waitlist even filled on marathon weekend, superpeak.

To me, this is like a game. I think it's kind of fun to see what I am able to get this time.

No we are normally traveling at non-peak time except for this year we would like to do early December. Luckily my husband and I both have flexible schedules and can do vacations whenever.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Family of 5 here - BLT owners. Reasons; 1 BR's really sleep 5 and have 2 bathrooms.

 

[havoc315]

No we are normally traveling at non-peak time except for this year we would like to do early December. Luckily my husband and I both have flexible schedules and can do vacations whenever.

Just a warning -- As your kids get older, you lose that flexibility. It depends on how you school your kids, your attitude about pulling kids from schools, etc..
But by the time you have 4th graders and up in public schools, it's very hard to pull them from school for any extended trip. At that point, you're locked into summer and/or school vacations (all of which are very high demand). Obviously, if you home school, etc, you may be in a different situation.

 

[havoc315]

So I would love to do this, it would be my ideal situation. But we are wanting to go either Nov 30- Dec 10, Dec 1-11 Dec 2-12, Dec 3-13, Dec 4-14, Dec 5-15, Dec 6-16, Dec 7-17, Dec 8-18, Dec 9-19, Dec 10-20. (We could maybe even do just 7 days if good availability) I had talked to somebody about renting their points but when they looked on DVC for those dates they said the only thing available for any of those dates is SSR. Could maybe somebody on this thread verify the information I received is correct.

It's much too late to get anything for December of this year. You may get a day here or there, but you aren't going to get a 10 day stretch in any type of room anywhere. Not even SSR.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

My gf puts her three kids and her in a poly studio….. and I have to stay somewhere else… if the three kids get along perfectly…. It might might work…. If they don‘t well….
BLT tower is a 5 or 10 minute walk to MK… it’s pretty easy.

I have stayed in a studio once… and I was not huge…. With two teenage kids, it was ok but only because they were never in the room…

Normally we do a two bed room at BLT and it is a lot nicer….

poly with a family of 6 is a bungalow …. Personally I would not want to buy there if I knew I was going to out grow the room in a year or two…

I think VGF tends to be points pricey…. and I own at BLT so I would lean in that direction….

 

[wmm1126]

It's much too late to get anything for December of this year. You may get a day here or there, but you aren't going to get a 10 day stretch in any type of room anywhere. Not even SSR.

I unfortunately knew this would probably be the case. I will just plan on whichever contract we choose be something for our 2023 vacation. But thanks for letting me know for sure.

Also just for future reference how often would y’all say, your waitlisted resorts actually work out? % wise.

 

[havoc315]

I unfortunately knew this would probably be the case. I will just plan on whichever contract we choose be something for our 2023 vacation. But thanks for letting me know for sure.

Also just for future reference how often would y’all say, your waitlisted resorts actually work out? % wise.

Generally, I'll just say you will have a better chance with a waitlist of getting 1-2 days then getting a full week.
You basically need a cancellation that exactly matches your request. If you wait-listed for a whole week, and someone cancels a 6 day trip... you aren't getting the call from the waitlist. (but several 1-2 day wait list requests may get filled thanks to that 6-day cancel).

 

[kanerf]

I thought there wasn't room for this?

It would require a re-design, but most of the newer studios have the TV wall mounted (and much larger) rather than sitting on the chest of drawers like they have at BLT. You would lose the chest in order to mount the murphy bed.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Wow! I expected to wake up with no replies! You guys are awesome and have made some amazingly valid points. The easy solution to our problem would be buy more points then 140-175 but we are bootstrapping this first purchase so are hands are tied. We also want to go this Dec and had planned on booking AOA like normal, but now the thought of spending 3-5K just on a room there and not putting it towards a DVC membership is too much for me to bear.

APs were mentioned if you buy direct. At the discounted price (they use to be) for direct members, would it be worth it for a family of 5-6 to buy APs for only 7-9 park days a year.

Also buying at a cheaper resort like SSR; would I be easily able to book things like a 1 bedroom at the GFV or BLT at 7 months out? Or is the home resort really important for getting those 1-2 bedroom reservations?

Thank y’all again so much!

1BRs are certainly less in demand so its possible. It may end up costing you more points as the higher point view rooms tend to fill last. The one thing you have to be sure of with this strategy - would you be happy staying at SSR if the switch didn't work out? If the answer is "no", don't do it.

 

[RoseGold]

So availability is already very limited, 1 month BEFORE the 7-month mark.

President's Day is Feb 20 2023. VGF/BLT and Poly all have wide open studios, even the Poly lake view. VGF 2BR, BLT 1 and 2 BR. You can even get a BW studio and BC is showing 1 and 2BR.

I don't consider that very limited at all. That's a huge amount of choice.