Question for those of you who purchased at VB or HHI

[diznyfanatic]

We recently stayed at Vero Beach for the first time using points to stay in an oceanview Inn room and fell in love with this resort and all of its unique offerings. It was such a relaxing way to end our WDW trip. We would also love to try HHI.

My question is, what convinced you to purchase or add on at these resorts rather than allot some of your current points to vacation here and if you had it to do all over again, would you still make the purchase?

 

[CarolMN]

I'd only purchase at VB if I wanted to stay in a Beach Cottage and only purchase at HHI if I wanted to stay there during the late spring, summer or early fall.

I think they are pretty easy to book at 7 months outside of the rooms/times mentioned above.

JMHO. YMMV.

 

[DVCLiz]

I bought 165 points at HH directly from Disney as my first purchase. I can get a 2BR during the summer for five days, which is plenty of time for us at the beach. I did this specifically to have the 11 month advantage at HH, knowing that it would also be fairly easy to use them at WDW during other times of the year if we skipped the beach one year. It's worked out really well for us - we love HH!!! I also bought a BCV resale (also 165 points) so I have some for each of our favorite resorts.

 

[dvc_john]

I own a small number of points at both HH and VB. I like to add a few days at one or the other to my WDW vacations, and by owning there as well as the WDW resorts, I can book the whole vacation at 11 months. I like to plan in advance, and am just not patient enough to rely on the 7 month window on a regular basis.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We bought our VB points, 150 resale, right after our first visit there. We do book 11 months out, whether we need to or not, we just do. We know we want a BC in '08. DH is not a beach person, but he loves the resort. We are happy with our VB purchase.

Bobbi

 

[cruise-o-matic]

We recently stayed at Vero Beach for the first time using points to stay in an oceanview Inn room and fell in love with this resort and all of its unique offerings. It was such a relaxing way to end our WDW trip. We would also love to try HHI.

My question is, what convinced you to purchase or add on at these resorts rather than allot some of your current points to vacation here and if you had it to do all over again, would you still make the purchase?

HHI is a great resort and we've enjoyed our two stays there. Very relaxing and plenty of stuff to do. Spring Break at HHI is very laid back, as opposed to WDW. One of the big advantages to owning HHI is that you have the 11 month advantage to book a studio or 1BR since there are only 21 each of these units, or the 5 GV's. The rest are 2BRs.

One of the main reasons we purchased HHI is that on the resale market HHI points costs less than onsite points. (VB's are the lowest, but the maintenance fees are much higher than HHI, so after a few years, they will actually cost you more.) Plus we liked the option of being able to book summers at HHI so we could alternated between WDW and HHI. So having the 11 month booking advantage was a consideration too.

And if you look at my signature and counters below, we've also been able to book BCV twice and VWL too. So far, we've been very pleased with our decision.

 

[icydog]

We orginally bought Vero so we could get a beach cottage for Easter week. We recently bought a resale contract at Vero Beach so in total we will have 150 +170 points there but they are for different use years.

I have to think I shouldn't have purchased that first contract at Vero through Disney. But they had a great incentive at the time so we bought in. I knew we wanted the Beach Cottage well ahead of time, and if I had been a little smarter I would have bought a resale contract then. But I waited to virtually the last minute to buy the contract and Disney was my only choice.

I bought the new contract at Vero Beach because I have never had trouble getting into WDW with my Vero points. Most of our vacations are planned withing the seven month timeframe and so far I have been able to get what I want at Disney World using my Vero points. Also my new 170 point contract came with 340 points, 170 from '04 and 170 for '05 and 170 coming in December. Even if I decide to sell the contract I will not lose money. And as far as buying HH because the maintenance is cheaper, it will take quite awhile for the break even point with this contract.

 

[Plutofan]

We bought at HH and Vero so that we could get the Beach cottage every other year and a Grand Villa every other year at HH for 5 nights. I would buy points there is you need the 11 month window. HH poinst are one of the cheapest points versus other DVC resorts. Good luck.

 

[diznyfanatic]

Thank you all for the helpful replies. Initially, buying a small contract at Vero, even before seeing it since we all love the beach, was going to be our introduction to DVC. After a closer examination of our needs, we decided to purchase at BWV as we spend a lot of time at Epcot when we visit and wanted to have the home resort booking advantage.

However, after actually seeing and staying at Vero Beach, it exceeded our expectations so much so that a small add on will probably be in the cards for the future.

 

[MagikMom]

Our first DVC purchase was in HH. We chose HH because of the lower cost of maintanance fees. Also, it would allow us to book at the 11 months window for summer vacations. We are going there for the first time in July. If I didn't have the 11 month window I think it would have been harder to book. Also, we are not picky about which resort we stay at while at WDW so booking at the 7 month window is not a problem for us. We did due an add on though We bought another 130 points at SSR. We now have a total of 330 points!

 

[iloveokw]

The older my husband, daughter and myself get the more we enjoy going to Vero and Hilton Head and not the hussle bussel of WDW. We bought because of the 11 month booking window for Spring Break at Vero (we like to go to OKW for a few days and Vero for a few day) and summer at Hilton Head. The older our daughter gets the harder it is to miss school and take vacations at WDW when it isn't busy and we don't do WDW in the summer.

 

[gppnj]

I'd... only purchase at HHI if I wanted to stay there during the late spring, summer or early fall.

My $.02:

I'd say, "I'd only purchase at HHI if I wanted to stay there during the summer."

I think reservations for the late spring and early fall are quite doable when the seven-month window opens.

 

[dpuck1998]

We just purchases VB for two reasons. One is that its only 30 mins away from my inlaws and we want to go during spring break. Also, it's the cheapest in resale (65 per point) so even with the higher maint. fees with my calculations it will be about 14 years before we hit the break even for the cost of other resorts thru resale. Of course my calculations have been wrong before ;-) I'm sure someone will take me to task on it