Recommendations for next contract

[prncssjas]

Hi DIS board friends.

I am a current owner of direct points at VB (150 purchased in 2001), another direct contract of VGF when that resort opened and finally a resale add on to VGF two years ago. I am considering another resale contract of 150-175 points for SAP use but not sure on my best bet. I do love Crescent Lake and enjoy the BC or BW very much...the 2042 date does not bother me at all. Is that a good option to consider? I would love the 11 month booking window advantage. On the other hand, I see an abundance of SS contracts a bit cheaper and it's tempting. We typically do not stay at SS and have not for a few years. I would love to hear any insight from folks who are willing to share. For background, it's DH and I and we like to book the 1 bedroom, especially if our DS (young adult) comes along. We also like to book 2 bedrooms to bring along friends and family. We tend to visit in January and February (for race weekends) and the first week of May. That's usually the only time we visit WDW.

 

[intamin]

Seems like you already have MK covered with VGF. Since you don’t care about 2042 end date, BCV I think would make a lot of sense with you wanting to book 2BRs. BW does not have dedicated 2BRs and is composed entirely of 2BR lockoffs so you would be fighting essentially for studios which is not ideal.

 

[prncssjas]

BW does not have dedicated 2BRs and is composed entirely of 2BR lockoffs so you would be fighting essentially for studios which is not ideal.

Ah! I didn't think of this one! Are the 3 bedrooms villas hard to book at the BW (in January/Feb and May?)? I know there was a chart I have seen floating around that looks at room usage but I never looked at the 3 bedroom availability. Thank you so much for your input!

 

[intamin]

Ah! I didn't think of this one! Are the 3 bedrooms villas hard to book at the BW (in January/Feb and May?)? I know there was a chart I have seen floating around that looks at room usage but I never looked at the 3 bedroom availability. Thank you so much for your input!

https://www.dvchelp.com/page/boardwalk-villas-availability-charts

Probably will be able to pick up a few nights here and there but likely won’t fill a whole week or anything like that

 

[prncssjas]

How do you know how "low" you can go when making an offer on re-sale? Is it a few bucks? I am trying to gauge what is reasonable and while I am not trying to low ball any seller, I would like to get a good deal.

 

[jolynne28]

You used the term SAP, which is not what BWV & BCV are. True SAP is simply cheaper points at a resort that you would use to book 7 months out at other places. The Crescent Lake resorts should only be used for their 11 month booking window, so if you're good with staying at either of those all the time, then definitely buy one of those. If you want to use the points at other resorts sometimes I wouldn't bother, those contracts are too expensive per point to make it worthwhile.
SSR is great for SAP, but as someone who owns it I can tell you there's definitely more work involved in making reservations elsewhere. If you typically plan 11 months out and want a guarantee, buy where you want to stay. If you are good with booking 7 months or less in advance, SSR is worth a look.
As for price, check out the ROFR thread, first page. You can see what people are paying for each resort. Most people offer much more than a few bucks below asking, it just depends on the resort and starting price. SSR in the $80s is very doable, BWV in the $100s is happening more and more. BCV will probably run you in the 110s-120s for a good deal.
Good luck!

 

[prncssjas]

SSR is great for SAP, but as someone who owns it I can tell you there's definitely more work involved in making reservations elsewhere. If you typically plan 11 months out and want a guarantee, buy where you want to stay. If you are good with booking 7 months or less in advance, SSR is worth a look.

Thank you so much! Yes, I am very much a planner (11 months is always good for me!) so I get a little worried that I don't have booking priority at 11 months. We love BW/BC but also want options to try other places as needed. I have been studying the ROFR thread all day, lol!! I really appreciate your help. Thank you.

 

[jolynne28]

Thank you so much! Yes, I am very much a planner (11 months is always good for me!) so I get a little worried that I don't have booking priority at 11 months. We love BW/BC but also want options to try other places as needed. I have been studying the ROFR thread all day, lol!! I really appreciate your help. Thank you.

We are about to close on a small BWV contract, but I will only use those points there b/c it doesn't make sense anywhere else. You could alway get something smaller at either there or BCV with the intention of banking the points every other year so you have more to use for the 1-2 bedrooms. Then you could get something else for the alternating year to try other places.

 

[Tatebeck]

If you want an Epcot resort then BWV or BCV resale if you want to stay there frequently, RIV if you want direct SAP+ in the Epcot area.

Or if you want SAP or SAP+ then SSR is the best for SAP and BLT and AKV are in my opinion the best for SAP+ at WDW.

If you have interest in Aulani those can be good SAP+ as well, though it would be possible for you to not get a room at WDW if things go completely wrong with that route

 

[Chili327]

I am considering another resale contract of 150-175 points for SAP use but not sure on my best bet. I do love Crescent Lake and enjoy the BC or BW very much...the 2042 date does not bother me at all. Is that a good option to consider? I would love the 11 month booking window advantage. On the other hand, I see an abundance of SS contracts a bit cheaper and it's tempting.

That all comes down to if you want SAP or you want Crescent lake. (they are 2 different things)

How do you know how "low" you can go when making an offer on re-sale? Is it a few bucks? I am trying to gauge what is reasonable and while I am not trying to low ball any seller, I would like to get a good deal.

https://www.dvcrofr.com/pricing-tool

You used the term SAP, which is not what BWV & BCV are. True SAP is simply cheaper points at a resort that you would use to book 7 months out at other places. The Crescent Lake resorts should only be used for their 11 month booking window, so if you're good with staying at either of those all the time, then definitely buy one of those. If you want to use the points at other resorts sometimes I wouldn't bother, those contracts are too expensive per point to make it worthwhile.
SSR is great for SAP, but as someone who owns it I can tell you there's definitely more work involved in making reservations elsewhere. If you typically plan 11 months out and want a guarantee, buy where you want to stay. If you are good with booking 7 months or less in advance, SSR is worth a look.
As for price, check out the ROFR thread, first page. You can see what people are paying for each resort. Most people offer much more than a few bucks below asking, it just depends on the resort and starting price. SSR in the $80s is very doable, BWV in the $100s is happening more and more. BCV will probably run you in the 110s-120s for a good deal.
Good luck!

All of this, a few questions need to be answered or figured out before you can get a good idea of what is the better choice.

SSR is the best for SAP and BLT and AKV are in my opinion the best for SAP+ at WDW.

I would definitely put CCV over AKV for SAP+ because of the dues, but i love AKV (more than CCV)

 

[jolynne28]

I would definitely put CCV over AKV for SAP+ because of the dues, but i love AKV (more than CCV)

Same. Well accept I don’t love AKV, but many do! Can’t imagine doing the buses for everything.

 

[Chili327]

Same. Well accept I don’t love AKV, but many do! Can’t imagine doing the buses for everything.

Yep its fine for AK & for a couple days, but buses would get old for a whole week. (at least going to the parks would get old, the resort wouldn't get old at all. lol)

 

[intamin]

Thank you so much! Yes, I am very much a planner (11 months is always good for me!) so I get a little worried that I don't have booking priority at 11 months. We love BW/BC but also want options to try other places as needed. I have been studying the ROFR thread all day, lol!! I really appreciate your help. Thank you.

Somehow I skipped over the SAP part.. you could always use your VB/VGF points as SAP but yeah as above BCV/BWV would be horrible for SAP. If you're planning to use these points as SAP at 7 months I'd probably go with CCV/BLT if you want some residual resale value by 2042. If you want to book your rooms out at 11 months and like the Epcot area then BCV/BWV.

Same. Well accept I don’t love AKV, but many do! Can’t imagine doing the buses for everything.

We usually split stay AKV with somewhere else so we're not entirely dependent on buses the whole trip. We're probably in the minority but we're not a fan of the boat transportation from WL unless it's the winter when it's cooler out. I've toyed with the idea of CCV just for value and booking priority during December but IDK if I'm going to be near MK, it's going to be on the monorail personally

 

[Tatebeck]

I skipped CCV because for me if I was considering best deal/location SAP+ it would be BLT over CCV. If considering best theming it would be AKV. CCV is better than most others for SAP, so if you love the resort it is very good as well. Just if I wanted a SAP MK resort, it would be BLT 100 percent

 

[Massachusetts]

Just if I wanted a SAP MK resort, it would be BLT 100 percent

I totally agree. We just did our first BLT contract in March and we are using the points at AKL later this year. We had no trouble booking a 2 bedroom savannah view at 5 months. We generally travel with 3 generations (we aren't hunting studios) so BLT makes the most sense for us as SAP. Plus we are happy to stay at BLT.

 

[prncssjas]

As for price, check out the ROFR thread, first page. You can see what people are paying for each resort. Most people offer much more than a few bucks below asking, it just depends on the resort and starting price. SSR in the $80s is very doable, BWV in the $100s is happening more and more. BCV will probably run you in the 110s-120s for a good deal.
Good luck!

Interestingly enough, I reached out to the broker I used last time for my resale contract at the VGF (used the board sponsor) and he was very nice but pretty much told me that the resale market has "bottomed out" and the prices are going to start going back up. Wait...what??? I am not getting that sense but maybe I am uninformed. He also wanted to tell me that $90 per point on a stripped 160 point Saratoga contract is a good deal. Hmmmm, sounds like I need to keep shopping.

 

[FrancisK7]

You can find all the reported deals for each resort here. you'll get a grasp of what a good deal is by looking at top 20 of each

https://www.dvcrofr.com/pricing-trends

 

[Chili327]

Interestingly enough, I reached out to the broker I used last time for my resale contract at the VGF (used the board sponsor) and he was very nice but pretty much told me that the resale market has "bottomed out" and the prices are going to start going back up. Wait...what??? I am not getting that sense but maybe I am uninformed. He also wanted to tell me that $90 per point on a stripped 160 point Saratoga contract is a good deal. Hmmmm, sounds like I need to keep shopping.

Typical sales guy. lol

You can find all the reported deals for each resort here. you'll get a grasp of what a good deal is by looking at top 20 of each

https://www.dvcrofr.com/pricing-trends

Absolutely, and the pricing tool https://www.dvcrofr.com/pricing-tool

 

[intamin]

Typical sales guy. lol

Lol it's either buy now before prices go even higher than they already are or buy now because the prices are at an all time low! Also, it's somehow both a buyer and seller's market /facepalm. I have to skip forward during some of those parts because it actually bothers me when I hear it in various sponsored podcasts. I know I don't need to tell you this but @prncssjas do your due diligence and look over the ROFR thread and utilize the tools listed above

 

[prncssjas]

I know I don't need to tell you this but @prncssjas do your due diligence and look over the ROFR thread and utilize the tools listed above

Thank you so much, this is why I am here! I really appreciate the help. I have been on the DIS boards for a verrrrrrry long time but only pop in when needed but everyone has been so kind and sharing links to tools I didn't know existed! Thanks again.