SMALL CONTRACT OWNERS (50- 90 points), which home resort did you choose and why?

[Tattylou]

Thats like 3 days though in those rooms.

I really think the only place to buy if you are going to have a small contract is going to be:

1. BWV
2. AKV
3. OKW
4. SSR
5. RIV (if you are going exclusively for Tower Studios and are very flexible on dates)

CCV/BRV all are honorable mention along with BLT (if flexible so you can grab a Standard Studio)

I started originally with the idea of BWV and 80 points and grew from there.

Do you say this bc you can book more time with less points at these resorts? Or for another reason?

 

[Tattylou]

It isn't my only contract now. I also have a small contract at AKL. I think that's what happens. You start going every few years and realize you want to go more. That's how they hook you. lol. It would be sufficient if I only wanted to go every few years.... sadly (or not), I love going to Disney and want to go every year. I think starting with a small one at SSR is a great idea. Buying for cash is the way to go. This way you can see if this is sufficient or not. You can buy another small one in the future, or sell and buy one bigger one at a different resort if SSR is not working out for you.
That's why we started small. We were going once every two years on cash for a decade and finally thought we would buy DVC (should have done it earlier). I didn't want to go into debt to do that, so we bought a small resale contract. A few years later added on another.
You are going to love it. We have no regrets at all.

I totally wish I had done it earlier - like a few years ago - back when 50 points direct got you a blue card. My cousin bought 50 on a whim while on vacation in WDW in 2017 and she has all the perks and has no regrets (and she even financed it). We usually go for a week every couple years and maybe a shorter trip the years in between, but I like to go to DL too and don’t mind paying to stay off site there bc there’s so many reasonable hotels in walking distance. We like a beach vacation every so often instead of Disney too. So I think 50 might be a good way to get in without regret. I haven’t found any for resale that work yet though in terms of use year and size and price. I am correct that Disney won’t sell me direct as a new member unless I do 125, right?

 

[4luv2cdisney]

Thats like 3 days though in those rooms.

I really think the only place to buy if you are going to have a small contract is going to be:

1. BWV
2. AKV
3. OKW
4. SSR
5. RIV (if you are going exclusively for Tower Studios and are very flexible on dates)

CCV/BRV all are honorable mention along with BLT (if flexible so you can grab a Standard Studio)

I started originally with the idea of BWV and 80 points and grew from there.

This is pretty much what I determined when I was deciding where to buy also (minus RIV). So, of the list of 4, BWV was the one that I actually needed to own to book. And I went in knowing I didn't really have enough points to trade into POLY, BLT, etc very often.

If it was just DH and I, we could survive on our one 60 point contract until we retire. We can easily go annually and maybe even an extra weekend here or there. Really though, we typically fall into a 2 years on, 1 year off pattern.

Anyway, the plan was always to expand to keep including the kids as they grow and grow their own families and eventually to spend extended time after retirement. Next step for us was (is?) to add another small contract at either SSR or BLT to switch to larger accommodations for the last couple nights of each trip (split stay). We usually only do 1 day at DS and 1 at MK, so we figured with either choice we were limiting our bus time the most we can.

We are only looking for about 80 points to accomplish this. Since that is an odd amount and small contracts are hard to find at a good price, I'm open to adding 40 soon (direct) and another 40 (likely direct) when we're fully borrowed out and need them. It'll take probably 5 years to get there. So, it's not very painful! But things could change if a kid gets married or something in that timeframe. (Not looking like it at this moment though.) I'd possibly go for a 100 point resale if the right one came along at the right price, but I'm pretty firm on not having any 1 contract larger than 100 points.

 

[standardgirl]

Not our only, but our only contract at WDW (as our other DVC is at Aulani). We have a 90pt contract at VGF simply because this is where we would like to stay. Since we've moved out of the US, we won't go every year and hence we get 180pts every second year which is enough for us for either a studio or a 1BR depending on time of year.

 

[chalee94]

Do you say this bc you can book more time with less points at these resorts? Or for another reason?

Right. OKW studios started at 8 pts per night when I bought in. Now it's 10 pts but still low.

 

[pasealfondo9]

I closed my very first DVC contract, 50 Pts. @ BWV, this past December. Basically wanted to have the possibility of staying at value studios for cheap and BWV seemed to have the better overall location (if you want to be close to all parks). On the other hand, we have 3 small kids, so a studios that sleeps 5 was a must for us.

Fortunately my first contract came with some banked points so I was able to reserve two options, December and January. In the end we chose to go January and rented the December reservation (50 points-5 nights) for a price I did not think was possible. I was always told points are rented at around $16-20 but we got a bit more, so overall I´m pretty happy I bought a banked point contract that will help me with my dues and pretty much pay my own stay in January (at least this time around).

BWV seems to provide very good value when standard studios are considered. I know it is hard to get these rooms but so far we have been lucky.

Don´t like the 2042 issue so I don´t think I will be adding more points though. I´m still figuring If I want more points and where, considering my 3 kid situation and the fact I don´t think we will want to stay in studios forever.

 

[pasealfondo9]

sorry, posted same message twice.

 

[carseatguru]

Brand new DVC member here, just purchased my first contract last month: 50 pts at the Poly. I wanted to "get my feet wet" with DVC with a small contract. I will likely add on later, either SSR or OKW. The reasons I chose Poly are monorail access and length of contract.

 

[Tattylou]

Brand new DVC member here, just purchased my first contract last month: 50 pts at the Poly. I wanted to "get my feet wet" with DVC with a small contract. I will likely add on later, either SSR or OKW. The reasons I chose Poly are monorail access and length of contract.

Did you buy resale?

 

[sethschroeder]

Do you say this bc you can book more time with less points at these resorts? Or for another reason?

Combo of the lowest point charts and nicest resorts.

Just as an example in the first week of December:
BWV is 101 or 139 points for a 9 night stay in Studios
Poly is 165 or 206 points for those same 9 nights

It helps that BWV and RIV are what I consider the two best all around resorts at WDW.

With AKV you get the cheapest rooms, can opt for savanna rooms, and they even have club level rooms to splurge on so well rounded with cheap options for most years.

This is pretty much what I determined when I was deciding where to buy also (minus RIV)

Ya I wouldn't do it at RIV but I could see it for someone specifically only wanting Tower Studios and unlike Value rooms at AKV there are more of them and they are very limited in capacity so families can't use them only couples or singles.

 

[Tattylou]

Combo of the lowest point charts and nicest resorts.

Just as an example in the first week of December:
BWV is 101 or 139 points for a 9 night stay in Studios
Poly is 165 or 206 points for those same 9 nights

It helps that BWV and RIV are what I consider the two best all around resorts at WDW.

With AKV you get the cheapest rooms, can opt for savanna rooms, and they even have club level rooms to splurge on so well rounded with cheap options for most years.



Ya I wouldn't do it at RIV but I could see it for someone specifically only wanting Tower Studios and unlike Value rooms at AKV there are more of them and they are very limited in capacity so families can't use them only couples or singles.

Can you tell me about the value studios at AKL? What makes them different from the standard view studios?
How hard are the value ones to get on a busy week (school vacation president’s day week to be precise)?
They show as 88 points, which would be perfect for every other year with 50 point contract. The standard are 116, which would require some one time use points or borrowing.
I see a AKL 50 point with a use year that works for me for resale available now. I’m just considering my options and if AK makes sense to try for my first small contract.
I’ve been obsessing over and researching DVC for a month now. I think I need an intervention.
Edit: I’m actually going to post this question on the AKL thread too.
Thank you!

 

[Lee Matthews]

Can someone explain to me how it works having 2 contracts with varying points.

say my main contract is AKL at 225 points as I want that as my home resort. Dec use year

I then buy a small 50-80 point contract at Boardwalk so I can get the 11 month mark but also a dec use year

when I go to book Boardwalk at the 11 month mark I will only have 50-80 points available won’t I? Not the 225 on top because they won’t become available until the 6 month mark to use on the boardwalk booking?

not sure if I’m making sense

 

[chalee94]

Can someone explain to me how it works having 2 contracts with varying points.

say my main contract is AKL at 225 points as I want that as my home resort. Dec use year

I then buy a small 50-80 point contract at Boardwalk so I can get the 11 month mark.

when I go to book Boardwalk at the 11 month mark I will only have 50-80 points available won’t I? Not the 225 on top because they won’t become available until the 6 month mark to use on the boardwalk booking?

not sure if I’m making sense

you can book BWV at 11 months with BWV pts. You can use banked BWV pts, borrowed BWV pts, current BWV pts or transferred BWV pts from another BWV owner.

your AKV pts will stay on the sidelines for booking BWV till 7 months out.

It's very simple.

Edited to add: you may not replace or re-allocate AKV pts into a BWV reservation booked in the home resort window at the 7 month window. You can only rebook BWV nights with AKV pts if there is still availability not counting the villa that you have already booked.

 

[Lee Matthews]

Ah ok.

so I can’t book at 11 months for a room at BWV that requires more points and take those points from my AKL ‘pool’ to make up the shortfall?

 

[chalee94]

Ah ok.

so I can’t book at 11 months for a room at BWV that requires more points and take those points from my AKL ‘pool’ to make up the shortfall?

No. BWV owners would find it very annoying if someone were using AKV/SSR/whatever non-BWV pts to jump in front of them inside the home resort window.

So DVC does not allow any tricks to defeat the home resort advantage. That is a big part of why BCV is so expensive resale...

 

[Lee Matthews]

Makes sense. I’ll stay at AKL hidden away lol

 

[sethschroeder]

Can you tell me about the value studios at AKL? What makes them different from the standard view studios?
How hard are the value ones to get on a busy week (school vacation president’s day week to be precise)?
They show as 88 points, which would be perfect for every other year with 50 point contract. The standard are 116, which would require some one time use points or borrowing.
I see a AKL 50 point with a use year that works for me for resale available now. I’m just considering my options and if AK makes sense to try for my first small contract.
I’ve been obsessing over and researching DVC for a month now. I think I need an intervention.
Edit: I’m actually going to post this question on the AKL thread too.
Thank you!

Value rooms are going to be hard to get every day of the year for a studio since there are so few rooms. You pretty much would have to rely on walking the reservation.

Standard rooms should be easier but studios in general are not a guarantee if you are very limited on when you can go.

 

[Salf777]

We have a 60 pointer at Grand Floridan we bought resale. We went there two years ago on cash and it cost us half the price of our 60 points resale. We live only 3 hours away and can travel whenever we want. Also we prefer off times the contract we purchased had some banked points so with careful planning and banking have been getting 4 nights a year in a studio. It’s just 2 of us. We love the resort but also the walking distance to Poly, Contemporary for California Grill (yummy) and now the walkway to MK. We also figured even if we use it for 7-10 years could probably sell and still get some money out of it. Even with Florida residents rate we feel we did well. Plus we just love the resort

 

[Lee Matthews]

Can you tell me about the value studios at AKL? What makes them different from the standard view studios?
How hard are the value ones to get on a busy week (school vacation president’s day week to be precise)?
They show as 88 points, which would be perfect for every other year with 50 point contract. The standard are 116, which would require some one time use points or borrowing.
I see a AKL 50 point with a use year that works for me for resale available now. I’m just considering my options and if AK makes sense to try for my first small contract.
I’ve been obsessing over and researching DVC for a month now. I think I need an intervention.
Edit: I’m actually going to post this question on the AKL thread too.
Thank you!

from my research, the value room are only in Jambo house and not Kindani and that they are essentially regular resort rooms with less square foot compared to standard.

 

[chalee94]

from my research, the value room are only in Jambo house and not Kindani and that they are essentially regular resort rooms with less square foot compared to standard.

Correct.

Of the value studios, I believe that 8 are dedicated studios and 10 are part of 2BR lockoffs. 18 total.

They can be savanna view, pool view or parking lot view. (Between stays before AKV-K was sold out and the pandemic, I have hit the trifecta of all 3 types of views.) You cannot request a specific view with a value reservation.