Questions for HHI owners

[MrsHerbie53]

Hello.
I have some questions for those of you whose Home Resort is Hilton Head.
First, do you go to both HH and WDW when you vacation and if so do you tend to split it evenly? (one trip HH and the next WDW)

Second, if you do go to the DVC resorts at WDW, what months do you go? And how difficult is it to manage reservations at the 7 month or shorter window for you? I am sure much of that depends on the time of year and resort you pick, but I am interested in any of your real life experiences.

I am just wondering if buying at HH would be in our interest. We like the beach although maybe not as much as WDW, but I could see us using both. The time we can go to either will vary as we have kids, but willing to take them out of school when possible. We don't always know 11 months out what we are doing and are fine with "taking our chances". So I really want to hear what some of you do and what you have found over the last few years with booking and your preferences. As HH is a lower cost at resale, it has me wondering. Any thoughts appreciated. THANKS!

 

[monami7]

We own at HHI and honestly have never been there! We do want to go and are planning to at some point. But with 2 adoptions in the last 2 years we have been rather busy and when I relax I want to go HOME TO WDW!

To answer your question we have never had an issue booking at 7 months out. Last year we booked OKW for Dec 2 months in advance.
We are quite flexable though. If you are OK not getting a particular place every time I think you would be fine. We are staying at AKV in April that I booked 7 months out. No problems.
We have been to WDW in Jan, Feb, Dec, Sept, Oct and soon April. Never have had an issue with not getting any room so it works for us!
That being said we want to add points and will probably add a few at OKW next time. Just because we like it there, but we may just add HH points too.
Good Luck on your decision
Heidi

 

[ZerasPride]

We do not normally book our Hilton Head stays in conjunction with our Disneyworld trips. When we go to HH we drive and the 12 hour trip is more than enough for me! When we go to Disney, we usually fly.

I have never had a problem booking anything at the 7 month window and even less. That may not always be the case but we not holiday or summer travelers as our son rarely travels with us now that he is out of his teens. We prefer HH in the November-January timeframe. I like Disneyworld in May and October. This will be our first trip to Disney in January and I'm hoping to make it an annual winter get away.

Just so you know, we did not purchase HH for any other reason than it is the resort we fell in love with. We love it there and I will admit sometimes I do feel "disney-ed" out but I never feel that way about HH.

Let us know when you make your final decision.

 

[madduck]

We live in PA also and our routine is usually 12-14 days at WDW and then we stop for 5 days on the way home. Its a great place to wind down but still have a little bit of the magic.

 

[canes96]

We also own at HHI and haven't been there but plan to next year. We've stayed at all the resorts and have never had much trouble booking other than for the month of OCT timefram.

 

[buzz5985]

Our first purchase was a HH resale. We added on at BWV the following year through Disney.

Now that I look back we have only gone to HH once without going to WDW too. We are in MA so when we go the HH we will drive. One year we drove to HH (with DH sister and family) we continued on the WDW. Last year we went with my sister and her family, but we went to WDW first for a week and then to HH for a week.

I've never had problems booking anywhere at 7 months.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Not an HHI owner, but it is one of our favorite resorts. I'm with Lisa in that we don't ever split between HHI and WDW resorts. Just much too far us. If you are really interested in a beach/WDW split you might look at VBR. That is a two hour drive and many people do that split. Keep in mind the dues for HHI and VBR are higher and over the long haul the dues are by far the greater expense. Also, you need to consider the years left on the contracts. If you are not desiring to visit the beach resorts at peak times you can pretty easily book them at 7 months. Just some food for thought.

 

[njmeisje]

We bought HH as an add on to our BCV points. We have done both-> meaning, some years we have gone to HHI for 8 days at HH, other years we have gone to HH for 5-7 days on our drive home to NJ from WDW. This plan is so relaxing too! We tend to go to HH in July every year, so we bought HH for the 11 mo booking window. Can't comment on the 7mo experience.

Good luck, and enjoy!
Diane

 

[CraftyMouse]

HH is its own destination for us. We drive down from CT for a week and find plenty to do (or not do...relaxing and doing nothing there is fantastic too!) for that amount of time.

Occasionally we'll add a few days to a WDW trip, but usually it's its own vacation.

 

[quentina]

We stay at "Home" every July. We ususally get a 2 bedroom and also a studio as we bring friends along.

We then visit the "world" usually in October or February.

This is a great year for us...we did HHI in July, doing the world in 10 days, The world in February for the Budweiser shootout at Daytona and Home again in July with both rooms.

Now, we have 250 points. We have banked and borrowed many times.

I would rather be in the borrowed state and enjoy as we can afford. We bank if times are tough and airfare is high etc.

I love owning at HHI and would not change it.

I have never not been able to get a reservation at WDW. I am not picky as to where I stay. I have stayed at them all accept BCV and we have that reserved for February. Personally, I think all of the resorts are great and for the amount of time you are actually in a room, it is not worth it to me to be picky. Sometimes, I pick for low points, sometimes due to hubby or kids requests. In a few days we are at VWL...stayed in past, loved it...my parents wanted to stay there, it was available, I booked it.

I will say, I always book when my window opens. I plan and plan and plan...I probably need medication for this Disney disorder.

If you want HHI for summer, I would go this way.