Should we purchase at Saratoga Springs?

[laserpastry]

Okay, I need to bounce some thoughts off you wonderful, knowledgeable people. Any advice is appreciated. So, after having an unpleasant experience renting points for the first time, my husband and I have decided that we really want control of our own points and our own reservation. We have been looking into buying resale. We haven't actually stayed at any of the DVC resorts, but we have visited several of them and done plenty of research online. My husband likes Animal Kingdom Lodge, and I like the Grand Floridian. He feels the GF is too stuffy, and, although I like the theming of AKL overall, I find it to be too dark for my tastes. I prefer lighter, brighter theming. Also, I prefer to buy somewhere with a lower annual dues rate, since that will be the majority of the cost over time, and I do have a somewhat frugal heart (well, as frugal as you can actually be while making a luxury purchase). We are also a family of 5, and the GF fits 5 in both studios and 1 bedrooms.

HOWEVER, I noticed that Saratoga Springs seems to be the most economical choice. It also has lighter theming with the new refurbishment. And, we could still use SS points to stay at AKL sometimes. If we bought at SS, we could afford about 200 points, but if we bought at the GF, we could only afford about 100 points. However, if we don't buy at the GF, will we ever be able to stay there? We typically travel in November/December, and I know that's a busy time of year for DVC. Also, I'm a little concerned that if we ever needed/wanted to rent out points that SS is not really in-demand as much as GF would be. (Honestly, I don't know why though. SS is sort of GF-lite IMO. SS has nice rooms with the refurbishment, a great spa, two great feature pools, multiple quiet pools, great dining nearby in Disney Springs, and easy access to any resort via the Disney Springs buses. It even has an option for more rustic theming with the Treehouse Villas. Personally, I think SS is really underrated.) Anyway, I guess I just want some reassurance that we are making the best decision for us if we buy a Saratoga Springs contract.

 

[pinkxray]

I recently bought my first contract and went with Saratoga. My favorite resort is also GF but my DH hates it there so that was out.
I would like to add on at Poly, GF, or BLT in the future but haven’t decided on which on yet.
I am happy to stay at SSR but do hope to try out the other resorts over time and in a few years maybe add on where I really want.
If you plan on traveling Nov/Dec and want to stay at GF you would have to buy there.
We travel in Nov and I know we will mostly use SSR for those trips and hopefully swap out at 7months during the lower seasons of DVC on other trips.

 

[Ruttangel]

It sounds as if you would be very happy at SSR and yes this would definitely be a place you can get more points for your money.
Just to note that SSR is about $100 and VGF is $150 but in my opinion that VGF price is going up and up and is still a good investment.
VGF also is very very difficult to get in Nov/Dec if not impossible.
A VGF studio would be less points than a SSR 1BR and remember the SSR 1BR only sleeps 4 (refurbed rooms 5)but you could have 1 more in the room but that would be on your own air bed with own bedding.
Lots to think about

 

[laserpastry]

It sounds as if you would be very happy at SSR and yes this would definitely be a place you can get more points for your money.
Just to note that SSR is about $100 and VGF is $150 but in my opinion that VGF price is going up and up and is still a good investment.
VGF also is very very difficult to get in Nov/Dec if not impossible.
A VGF studio would be less points than a SSR 1BR and remember the SSR 1BR only sleeps 4 (refurbed rooms 5)but you could have 1 more in the room but that would be on your own air bed with own bedding.
Lots to think about

I was under the impression that smaller (like, under 150 points) VGF contracts were going for more like $170-180/pt. Are smaller VGF contracts really selling for $150/pt? Yes, lots to think about!

 

[bobbiwoz]

A VGF studio in December is hard to get even if you own there. People have been walking them in the past. I found it easier to get in November. We don’t have a lot of VGF points, but we have used them for VGF studios in December with a waitlist That came through after the walkers passed our dates. I didn’t have to walk or waitlist our November dates.

As much as I like VGF, if I always was going to stay there in a studio with 5 people, I think it would disappoint me.

 

[Ruttangel]

I was under the impression that smaller (like, under 150 points) VGF contracts were going for more like $170-180/pt. Are smaller VGF contracts really selling for $150/pt? Yes, lots to think about!

If you can afford 200 SSR at $100 then that’s about 135pts at VGF. You could certainly put in offers at $150 but yes you would have to be patient to get one accepted.

 

[davidl81]

In general if you absolutely love one resort and that’s why you are buying into DVC then buy at that resort. But if you like several of the resorts and want to make the best purchase from a financial stand point then buying SSR resale remains the best way into DVC. At 7 months you can switch out of SSR and at least get AKV 95% of the time. There will generally be other various options also at 7 months.
We own AKV direct but have bought all of our resale contracts at SSR and in the past 6 years I think we have stayed there once. It’s a perfectly fine resort, but we prefer other resorts and have seemed not to have issues switching out at 7 months.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Buy SSR. The point chart at VGF is really high too. We’ve stayed on the hotel side several times before becoming dvc members, but we’ve never actually stayed on the dvc side because the points are high!

 

[Wedgeout]

SSR is a solid home resort. Affordable and as long as purchase enough points for at least one bedroom stays elsewhere, there will be plenty of opportunities to try out other locations.

 

[bwvBound]

We purchased SSR in May 2004 (pre-opening). We were firmly set on BWV (note my handle on this board!) but a series of resale attempts failed and we allowed ourselves to be steered, unhappily, towards SSR.

FWIW, it has worked out quite well for us! We generally book 1BR units and have enjoyed stays across the entire system. 200 points was our original target ... started with 150; added 25 soon after and really thought we'd stop at 200 ... but ended up with 335 as of 2007. We might later downsize dropping either of the larger contracts ... but, for now, we are still enjoying our SSR points all across the system.

Good luck with your decision process.

 

[JasonMak2000]

For what it's worth, I dont think you will regret either option. If you buy SSR you will quickly convince yourself of what a wise financial decision you made. I think you will love the referbed rooms. You will still get to try most other resorts at the very least doing split stays. You will like having easy access to Disney Springs. If you buy VGF you will love the DVC villa side, love monorail access, love the dining options and you will feel kinda special owning at one of Disney's flagship resorts. All of that to say that I think it's a win-win. However, we decided that as our first contract we would want VGF and then look at SSR as an add on for sleep around points. A PP pointed out that SSR will stay in the low $100s most likely in part because it's such a huge resort but VGF will most likely climb higher and higher on the resale market especially if Disney keeps increasing the direct cost.

 

[MinnieMe2669]

We have owned in the past, both WL (back then) and SSR. We never stayed at either using our points. As the kids got older and busier, we were doing Disney less and less (still going at least once per year) and ended up selling our contracts. Now that they are older, we are looking again and SSR is the best price wise over the life of the contract. We have been renting points the last few years now and have never had an issue getting the room we want, at the Resort we want. So the resort doesn't matter to me at all, as far as which one we end up going with. Even the higher cost ones, VB and HH are still cheaper than what we paid to rent points for and are cheaper starting costs. So many decisions to make on this!

 

[The Jackal]

We own 250 points at SSR and 100 points at OKW. We were able to get a 2 bedroom standard at VGF in fall of 2019. One bedrooms at all resorts are usually the last to fill up, so you have a very good chance at 7 moths to get VGF 1 bedroom, studios there are harder, but sometimes available certain times of the year. Sometimes 3 days are available, you could waitlist the remaking days, sometimes they come through sometimes they don’t. AKV/L should be easy to get most of the year, except the value or Concierge rooms. A lot of owners there can’t get them, unless they walk them for months.

 

[Stargazer65]

Yes, you should, because I am.

 

[RexDVC64]

SSR owner here since '09. Never ever had any regrets. Super pleased with the design of the newly refurbished rooms. Love the location next to Disney Springs & the Turf Club on property is decent. Both super convenient. Love the Senses spa (even better than the one at GF). 4 pools to choose from. And of course, it's nice that the dues remain one of the lowest.

 

[RoseGold]

I own SSR, and I've never even been there. I am under contract for VGF, because I wanted to book VGF studios.

VGF only has 47 studios and is one of the smallest DVC properties. Studios usually require 11 month at peak times, but sure maybe you get lucky with SSR points here and there. If you really want VGF studios, SSR is not a great way to do this.

I wouldn't say SSR is not in demand, it's just huge. There are lots of rooms and points floating around, and its booking advantage isn't worth much. SSR is by far the largest DVC property.

The upside of this is that SSR always has a ton coming and going, its value is always very clear, and it would be easy to sell, if that is your plan. I plan to hold my SSR for 10 years, I hope I can sell it for roughly what I bought it for. VGF contracts have been all over the place, because they are rarer. Right now, they seem pretty picked over, but that could change if you are patient.

If you are comfortable staying OKW/SSR, those resorts and their charts will definitely be the best mathematical value, hands down. It should be easy enough to pick up a loaded contract in January.

SSR points will be maybe a little harder to rent. This is a discussion about a couple bucks a point, and you shouldn't buy to rent anyway.

 

[davidl81]

I own SSR, and I've never even been there. I am under contract for VGF, because I wanted to book VGF studios.

VGF only has 47 studios and is one of the smallest DVC properties. Studios usually require 11 month at peak times, but sure maybe you get lucky with SSR points here and there. If you really want VGF studios, SSR is not a great way to do this.

I wouldn't say SSR is not in demand, it's just huge. There are lots of rooms and points floating around, and its booking advantage isn't worth much. SSR is by far the largest DVC property.

The upside of this is that SSR always has a ton coming and going, its value is always very clear, and it would be easy to sell, if that is your plan. I plan to hold my SSR for 10 years, I hope I can sell it for roughly what I bought it for. VGF contracts have been all over the place, because they are rarer. Right now, they seem pretty picked over, but that could change if you are patient.

If you are comfortable staying OKW/SSR, those resorts and their charts will definitely be the best mathematical value, hands down. It should be easy enough to pick up a loaded contract in January.

SSR points will be maybe a little harder to rent. This is a discussion about a couple bucks a point, and you shouldn't buy to rent anyway.

And if you really think about it you may be able to rent VGF points for $19 a point and get $16–17 for SSR points. So if you pay $50 more for the VGF points it would take ballpark 20 years to make up the cost difference from renting (actually longer once you take into account the higher fees at VGF).

 

[Sandisw]

VGF is my favorite resort and I have been lucky to get the studios several times...however, not traveling during December or any other part of fall frenzy.

But, I did get them at 7 months with my SSR points in June, July, and August. I was online right at 8 am and used both waitlists and stalking.

This coming year, I managed December, and then Feb to April for a few nights, but I am confident the December dates were only due to the pandemic and probably some of the other ones too.

So, it is certainly possible but IMO, if you want to be at VGF, I say buy there. We did it when we first became members and spent about $5k more for BLT. We figured even if we only owned for 10 years, we we’re spending only $500 more a year to know we would be happy.

 

[Spark65]

Have you stayed at SSR? Would you be happy if you could only get SSR at times? Depending on what your usual travel times are the possibility of staying at SSR could be your only option.

 

[laserpastry]

Have you stayed at SSR? Would you be happy if you could only get SSR at times? Depending on what your usual travel times are the possibility of staying at SSR could be your only option.

We have not actually stayed at SSR. From what I can tell from all the pictures I've seen and all I've read about it, I believe we would be quite content with it, even if it wasn't our first choice. I'd just like to be able to stay at our first choices occasionally. It sounds like AKL would be easy to make that happen. VGF is a little more up in the air as to whether or not that would ever happen, but I am encouraged by some of the other posts on this thread.