SSR or BLT?

[worldfamous]

Should we take advantage of the low resale or of low maintenance fees? I'm in the buy where don't mind staying mindset. What do you think? We plan to go to Wdw this October. Do you think there will be any availability at DVC?

 

[Sandisw]

If you are planning a trip in October, buying SSR resale will take about 6 weeks or so, bringing you to July before you can book. There might still be availability at SSR or OKW (I think BLT would be a lot harder to get) but October is a popular time for DVC (food and wine) so you never know.

BLT does have lower MF's, but the initial buy in is quite a bit more than SSR. If you really are okay not always staying at BLT, then going that route will cost you more upfront (and no one knows for sure that the MF's will always be the lowest--SSR's are pretty low as well).

I only wanted BLT and bought there, even though I knew it cost me more money. But I would not have been happy anywhere else, can always book 11 months in advance, and wanted to know for sure I had a room there so the extra money was worth it for me.

If you think you would be happy being at SSR, at least when you could not trade out, then that is really the best value right now.

Of course, going with BLT, direct from Disney, will give you points immediately and you could make a reservation within days so your chances of getting an October room somewhere will be greater than going SSR resale.


Give a DVC guide a call and tell him/her that you are considering BLT but not sure whether you would be able to use it in October--they can at least tell you what availability looks like right now. While availability changes daily, at least you would have a true answer of whether or not you have a shot at a room.

Good luck!

 

[disneynutz]

My recommendation is that you buy where you love to stay, not where you don't mind staying.

 

[culli]

Do you have a place you really really want to stay? If you truely don't mind whatever resort that happens to be open, it is hard to beat SSR resale. The difference in price between SSR and BLT I would think far out weight your price savings in MF over the life of the contract (I admit I have not done the finance math on it). Plus you can probably get a loaded SSR contract where as with BLT you will only get the 2009 pts.

We own a bunch of SSR pts that we got loaded at a good price, low MF. For the most part we don't mind any of the resorts and so far have not had an issue getting where we wanted to stay.

However with that said DVC has changed (allowed) our travel habits and we will go 2-3x's a year. If we add more pts it will be at BCV, BLT or BWV becasue for at least once a year we want to be pretty much guarenteed to stay walking distance to a park especially if we have to go in a high demand time of year.

I'm a bang for the buck kinda guy but if you have a fav resort that if you don't stay there will decrease the fun factor of your vacation BUY WHERE YOU WANT TO STAY. If not SSR is one heck of a deal especially if you can get a loaded contract.

 

[Ramsfan28]

Just bought at BLT today! We are really looking forward to many, many years of DVC vacations!!

Already booked at the BLT for next February and plan on going again next September / October.

 

[Sandisw]

Just bought at BLT today! We are really looking forward to many, many years of DVC vacations!!

Already booked at the BLT for next February and plan on going again next September / October.

Congratulations!!! As a BLT fan, welcome home neighbor!!!

 

[Ramsfan28]

Congratulations!!! As a BLT fan, welcome home neighbor!!!

Thanks so much!! I just can't believe it took me all these years to buy at DVC.

 

[Crystal_27]

Should we take advantage of the low resale or of low maintenance fees? I'm in the buy where don't mind staying mindset. What do you think? We plan to go to Wdw this October. Do you think there will be any availability at DVC?

Comparing BLT to SSR is honestly like comparing apples to oranges. The resorts are completely different in terms of size, location to the parks, cost, etc. First of all, you can get SSR resale for about half the cost of BLT. That means that you can either buy twice as many points at SSR, or spend half as much money for your initial buy-in. Second, your transportation options at BLT are vastly better than those at SSR. With SSR, you'll be taking the bus to every park. BLT, however, as monorail access and is within walking distance of MK. Also, when you consider that you pass right by all of the resort busses while walking to MK, essentially you also have easy access to all of the resort restaurants, etc. when buying into BLT. About size, SSR is massive, whereas BLT is on the smallish size of DVC resorts. That means that when BLT sells out, if you don't own there and have the 11 month booking window, you will likely have problems getting a standard or MK view at 7 months. SSR, however, seems to generally have very good availability, even into the 7 month window. That means that generally you are going to have to spend more points at BLT because the only views available are typically going to be lake views, which generally run about 20-30 points more for a week's stay. And, regarding maintenance fees, remember that we don't know what BLT is going to do in terms of maintenance fees. They are the lowest now, but they could skyrocket in the future.

I would recommend that you really look at the costs of buying in (either resale or direct through Disney), look at pictures of both resorts, think about transportation issues, etc. And, while maintenance fees certainly should be a consideration, I wouldn't think that should be a determining factor on where you would want to stay (i.e., I wouldn't pick BLT just because its maintenance fees are low). Either way, best of luck to you!!