Sight unseen - WWYD?

blueant315

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 5, 2018
My family has recently decided to purchase DVC via resale - a medium sized contract for BLT and a small BWV so we can do a split stay and walk to all parks other than AK. We already have our upcoming December 2018 trip booked via rented points at BLT and AKL (BWV studios weren't available when we booked at 11 months) and we don't plan to return until probably 2020. So we are not in a hurry to find a contract, but anticipate making a purchase in the next few months just to avoid significant price increases. If we purchase this summer we will most likely do so without ever visiting either property. Anyone purchased sight unseen and regretted it? Or changed your mind on what you thought would be your favorite resort?

We will be a couple hours from Orlando in two months for work and could theoretically stay for 3 or 4 nights to check out a few options in person. However it seems unlikely there would be availability at the resorts we're considering (studios at BLT, BWV, and BCV) at this late notice if we tried renting DVC points. I think villa studios are available at all resorts directly through Disney, but then we would spend $2,500 on a 3 day extension of a trip that would otherwise be free - and that does not include going to any parks, just hotel, food, and airfare. That seems steep to us when we are fairly confident in our resort selections.

Also, we are planning to purchase enough points for a week long split stay between BLT and BWV in a 1 bedroom, but only plan to use enough points for a studio for the next 5ish years and rent out un-needed points. Our kids are 1 and 3, so we think studios will be sufficient for some time but know we will want a larger space once they are older (maybe sooner at BLT since the studios are so small). I've seen mixed advice on here regarding if you should buy more points than you need or not. Anyone have any first hand experience on why this is a good or bad plan?

Background: I've been to Disney 3 times - off property 1984, Shades of Green 1995 and Wilderness Lodge 2017. My husband and kids have only been once, on the WL trip. We chose WL for its close location to MK while still having a fairly low price point (compared to monorail resorts) since we were only there 5 days and took mid-day breaks every day for naps. My only second guessing on BLT and BWV for location is wondering if it will really matter that much to us in a few years when we are no longer pushing a stroller back and forth multiple times per day for nap breaks. It still seems like it would be really nice to walk back to my room after a long day at the park instead of waiting through multiple buses like we did the one night we stayed for fireworks on our previous trip. But SSR is a better price point and I'd hate to regret paying for location if it will only matter for a few years. Anyone regret spending the money on a convenient location and wish they'd bought SSR or OKW instead?

Thanks!!!
 
Will you be able to live with a possible poor choice? Can you afford to sell and buy the correct resort if necessary? I am a firm believer in staying prior to buying because we learned from our mistakes. Each resort is different and each have their lovers and haters. We bought BLT prior to it's completion, don't really care for the place and don't really stay there. We visited BCV and AKV and bought those and don't really stay there. We also bought BRV, VGF, and BWV and we love to stay there.

:earsboy: Bill

 
We bought VWL resale sight unseen in 2014 and have never regretted it. We have since stayed there, BCV, AKL and Poly DVC and still love our Boulder Ridge. We did a lot of research and watched a lot of YouTube. It has been great. No regrets.
 
We bought BW in 2002 without ever having been to the BW resort area. Your reasons for wanting those two resorts are sound - you are looking at location. We did it off pictures. Of course, back then there were fewer choices - yet somehow even with all these newer resorts going up, I haven't spent any sleepless nights wishing I owned one of them instead of what I do own.

I'd buy the points for the one bedroom. With young kids, the washer dryer will be priceless. Because its in the unit, you throw today's clothes in it when you get ready for bed, move them to the dryer in the morning, and fold them when you return from the park - no afternoon pool day to do laundry. And when they get to the "she's kicking me" stage (which is just around the corner), you can bring an air mattress and put it on the floor for one of the kids (I don't think either unit has the pull out chair, I know BWV doesn't). The kitchen will make eggs and cereal and toast in the morning easier than standing in line at the Main Street Bakery. IMO, the biggest benefit of DVC is having the space to decompress - which includes being able to separate overstimulated tired children if necessary.
 


When you're in the area maybe just go tour the resorts without staying onsite (or grab a cheaper room onsite). Then watch videos of walk throughs online for the resorts and rooms. Look at room layouts and such. I would prefer to stay at them before buying but this should give you a good idea of what to expect.
 
Anyone purchased sight unseen and regretted it? Or changed your mind on what you thought would be your favorite resort?
I have a feeling that a good percentage of people bought (especially those buying resale) without having step foot on the property. Is it ideal? No. Does it make sense to spend a lot of money to stay at each resort before you buy? No -- because essentially that money could be put towards your contract. Could I afford to stay at a Poly studio - no, but because i have my AKV contract and we are not traveling at a very busy time, I was able to get our first 3 nights at the Poly.

In my scenario we did stay at SSR prior to buying. We were on a tight budget and could only really afford the cheaper resorts and I wanted a longer contract. This left us choosing between SSR, OKW extended and AKV. Having stayed at SSR I realized i didn't like the fact that there was not a palm tree in sight and that it just seemed more of a run of the mill hotel and nothing special. We ended up choosing AKV because it is a unique resort and will certainly feel like a vacation getting away from the norm. We are actually staying there for the first time next week. We have a split stay with Poly at the beginning of our trip, but I am almost afraid that i am going to love poly and will want to add on there.

Maybe in your situation you can buy one contract, which ever would be your larger contract and then get used to the system before buying another. If you are not traveling at really busy times then you will likely be able to plan for split stays so you can try out other resorts before buying the second contract.

Even without being able to visit each and every resort there are numerous youtube videos that can give you a fair idea of what the resort is like and how the rooms are set up. Tim tracker has done some good resort tours and davids dvc has room videos. There are other room videos which provide some commentary. Viewing will help give you better info than just looking at pictures. This may not be the perfect situation but at least you are doing some research. Ask questions here as you might get some pro/con feed back on the resorts you are considering.
 
I agree with Jetsdad. Get a meal at the resort and try out the location, and supplement that with HD videos on YouTube and you are 98% of the way there.

If it's not a financial stretch, I don't think you'll regret staying at an Epcot resort or BLT even if you don't "need" to (from a stroller standpoint)...
 


We bought in 2016 sight unseen at VGF and AKV, love VGF and figured out that just buying VGF would have been better for our situation. We don't mind AKV, but just love VGF and with the points needed for a 2 bedroom it would have been better to have all our points at one resort.

We have 3 young children (1.5, 4, & 6) so we are looking at 2 bedroom units, but I would suggest planning for a 1 bedroom unit because it make naps a lot easier with the extra room.
 
We own at both BLT and BWV. We're a kid-less couple and use BLT for our family trips where take the nieces/nephews. The location can't be beat for little kids. We use the BWV contract for our adult F&W alone trips. We really like both resorts and love the locations.

If I was you I'd probably buy one contract to start...and based on the ages of your kids, I'd buy BLT first. I think you'll appreciate the ease of walking to MK far more at this point versus the proximity to HS & EC that Boardwalk provides. Also, buying only one contract acts a sort of a hedge for you in case you don't really like DVC. Most people never look back once buying and are happy with their decision. But just in case you are that small percentage that DVC doesn't work for you and your family, you won't be at the point where you are trying to unload two contracts versus one.

One last tip I would give is when deciding on how many points you need, don't base your calculations on the Standard view point cost. I would use the Lake View point costs for BLT and Pool/Garden for BWV. While I've had good success getting Standard view rooms in the10 years I've owned, it isn't guaranteed even with 11 month advantage. The last thing you want is not having enough points to take the vacation you want.

Good luck with whatever you decide!
 
We should have bought DVC in 2014 or 2015 when DD1 was little. But, we didn't, we rented points, etc, and ultimately by mid-2016 I thought we should think about buying in 2018. By mid-2016, we had stayed at most of the deluxe resorts, some in DVC but many at the hotels, and I thought my ultimate "plan" would be to get BLT (because VGF and Poly were too pricey, and no 1BR or regular 2BR at Poly) as an MK resort and BWV for an EP resort. We ended up moving our purchasing timetable up a year because we were ready, even though we hadn't stayed everywhere, and in hindsight we were lucky we did because prices went up pretty suddenly after that.

Anyway - we now own BLT and VGF, both as resale. Still wish we could add BCV or BWV but that will have to wait a while. What we liked about BLT, BCV and BWV was the ability to walk to 3 out of the 4 parks - which has been key because we are still deep in stroller days and usually take a midday break. VGF is just our favorite resort altogether, so when prices started going crazy last fall, VGF stayed pretty stable (back then), and so it became more of a relative bargain. We have found that when we are at VGF the trip to MK is still very quick, but we tend to stick around the resort and monorail loop more and spend less time in the parks, having dinner at California Grill or at Poly, and playing at the pools in the afternoon.

We did a lot of walkthroughs on youtube and relied on the DIS for the pros and cons of various resorts. I don't regret not having an EP DVC, though I do wish we'd bought more BLT points (our first purchase). We got 160+25 and I think 200+25 would have been better.

Edited to add: I don't think actually staying in the resorts is necessary to make a decision on DVC. You will get almost the same info and feel for the resort by having a meal or just walking around. And the walk to the parks is something you may really value, even without a stroller.
 
Not unseen, but we had only ever seen AKV once, for dinner, before we purchased. We looked at the point chart, and spent a lot of time looking at resort maps, and felt that it would work with our needs and purchased. No regrets at all.
 
I don't think it's necessary to stay at all the resorts but it definitely helps to walk around and visit if you have time during your work trip, even if don't stay on property. The Boardwalk area is our favorite and we love Epcot more than MK (we go to DLR often enough so the other parks are more different). We were deciding between BCV and BWV and after walking around (we had stayed at the non-DVC portions of both properties), we realized that the BCV building is tucked in the back and the rooms don't really have views. We ultimately bought BWV resale instead for the boardwalk view, plus we like the option of the grand villas. As others have mentioned, you can also get a really good feel for the resorts through virtual tours and YT videos, and great information on them here on the boards. I would agree that if possible, buying enough points for a 1BR would be better since having the w/d, kitchen, and separate living space with kids really makes it more convenient and feel more relaxed. As they get older you may even want 2BRs so they can each have their own bed, but you can always add on more points for that later if you decide that DVC was the right decision for you.
 
My wife and I are cautious people. When we decided to look into DVC, we did a lot of research and then narrowed it down to a few resorts. After we stayed at all the resorts (either CRO or rented points) on our list, we made the decision to buy at BLT. We love the ability to walk to the MK, even though we aren't pushing a stroller. Because we did the research, we found out about resale, and ultimately purchased resale.
 
We bought OKW sight unseen in 2006. We actually hadn't seen any DVC resorts when we bought and had only stayed at POR. We looked at all the possible resorts back then, via info on the internet. But we wanted best bang for our buck so we went with OKW as it was the cheapest WDW DVC resort selling in resale at the time. We have since added HHI, AKV (but resold that) and BWV. We have stayed at every east coast DVC resort except VGF and CCV. We prefer BWV and BCV but will stay at any depending on the trip...what we will do, who is with us, how many points we have to use, how far out we are booking, etc. We also like to just change things up and we like split stays. So I see no issue with folks buying sight unseen especially when they are buying a more desired resort (SSR or VB....then maybe there is some risk of not liking the choice and having harder time renting or reselling maybe).
 
In 2017 we were staying at VGF and walked over to the Poly and asked the CM's at the DVC desk if we could see a studio which was no problem, it took about 5 minutes to arrange with the DVC sales person.
 
I would especially rethink buying BWV unseen, simply because BWV and BCV are about the worst values in resale right now unless you really love the resorts. Walking to parks is nice, but some of the mechanics there may change as the dynamic changes with the gondola dropping at IG.
 
Might want to wait for Riviera to come out in 2019 and see how the gondola system is working, could be worth it to wait a year.
 
We have 3 young children (1.5, 4, & 6) so we are looking at 2 bedroom units, but I would suggest planning for a 1 bedroom unit because it make naps a lot easier with the extra room.

Aint that the truth. It's next to impossible to get my young kids to nap in the studios. I'd have to sit there in total darkness and that's just no fun for me.
 
Aint that the truth. It's next to impossible to get my young kids to nap in the studios. I'd have to sit there in total darkness and that's just no fun for me.

We loved the big closet in the VGF 2 bedroom in the master bedroom, the whole pack-in-play fit in there with plenty of room, it was like a 3rd kid bedroom.
 

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