Thinking about purchasing! Help!

[shellypaige]

Hi! My husband and I are thinking about purchasing directly through Disney. Either BLT or VGF. Looking at only purchasing 100pts. We'd like to buy poly as well when it's ready. Thoughts on BLT vs VGF?

 

[DavidG1966]

My wife and I just had to make the same decision. We chose the Grand Floridian. We were SOLD the second we drove up to it and saw it. We just purchased a contract yesterday. We will be buying a contract in the Polynesian too when it becomes available.

 

[SugarLoaf]

We sold our BLT points and bought VGF points.

All personal preference, obviously. But we do not care for BLT at all. Very cold, unattractive, exceedingly uncomfortable furniture, huge lack of landscaping, and huge lack of theme. Again, all just our personal experience and opinion.

 

[Dasha Hermosilla]

We own BLT and VGF. BLT you can walk to MK and it has extra bathroom in 1 BR and 2 BR. VGF is gorgeous as it is new and much smaller than BLT. A negative is that it requires more points, so with a 100 point contract you need to compare how many days you will get at each resort.

 

[shellypaige]

We own BLT and VGF. BLT you can walk to MK and it has extra bathroom in 1 BR and 2 BR. VGF is gorgeous as it is new and much smaller than BLT. A negative is that it requires more points, so with a 100 point contract you need to compare how many days you will get at each resort.

That's one of our Dilemmas, 100 points doesn't go very far! We're a family of 5 and right now we have little ones but as time goes on we'll need more space. 300pts would be better but my husband isn't willing to invest that much :/

 

[DizBub]

Look at the point requirements to stay at each place. 100 points won't get you much time at either especially if you think you want anything bigger than a standard studio.

At low point times BLT costs 102 points for a standard studio for a week and VGF is 125 points for the standard studio.

We own at BLT (310 points) and can stay in a standard 2 bedroom in September....or 3 weeks in a standard studio with points left over. We would have to have 375 VGF points to have to standard studio for 3 weeks and 340 for the 2 bedroom for a week. All of the other seasons are higher.

It all comes down to personal preferences. BLT will cost you about 1K more than VGF for 100 points. Personally I am not interested in VGF mainly because of the high point requirements.

 

[DizBub]

That's one of our Dilemmas, 100 points doesn't go very far! We're a family of 5 and right now we have little ones but as time goes on we'll need more space. 300pts would be better but my husband isn't willing to invest that much :/

Ok, you can fit a party of 5 in the VGF studio, not so BLT.

Have you even considered BLT resale? At $100 per point you could buy 150 BLT for what 100 VGF direct will cost. That says 1 bedroom to me.

 

[disneynutz]

If the resort amenities, location, and feel is important to you then I would stay there before buying. We bought BLT before it opened and it is our least favorite resort.

Bill

 

[shellypaige]

Ok, you can fit a party of 5 in the VGF studio, not so BLT. Have you even considered BLT resale? At $100 per point you could buy 150 BLT for what 100 VGF direct will cost. That says 1 bedroom to me.

We thought about BLT resale but someone on another board mentioned that with resale you can only stay at your home resort & you don't get any of the other perks like using points for cruises or buying APs at a discount. Can you shed any light on this?

I can't multi quote from my phone but yes we we realize that 100pt won't buy us an extended stay at BLT.

We're planning on staying at BLT in November so maybe we'll wait until then to decide. I wish GF had a foot bridge so it was walking distance to MK... That would sell us right away!

 

[Dean]

We thought about BLT resale but someone on another board mentioned that with resale you can only stay at your home resort & you don't get any of the other perks like using points for cruises or buying APs at a discount. Can you shed any light on this?

I can't multi quote from my phone but yes we we realize that 100pt won't buy us an extended stay at BLT.

We're planning on staying at BLT in November so maybe we'll wait until then to decide. I wish GF had a foot bridge so it was walking distance to MK... That would sell us right away!

Resale doesn't limit you to only your home resort, that is an unfounded rumor that is not legally possible as I read the paperwork. It also doesn't currently limit you for AP discounts and other on property discounts/perks, I doubt it ever will but that could change. It does limit you from cruises and other cash exchanges which are more costly to do with points than cash anyway plus a small contract wouldn't give you any chances to use points for cruises and the like regardless. Personally if you can't buy enough points to consistently be usable for your family trips (I don't think 100 is with what you're looking at), I wouldn't buy. If you did buy, I think you should seriously consider more than 100 points. I'd rent and stay at BLT and/or VGF before you buy then decide what's best. Given your limitations quoted, 150-200 resale BLT points is likely a much better choice than 100 VGF points. You might also look at VWL given it's location. Or you could just save up and buy more at the Poly when it comes onboard. Another approach, likely the best for most in this situation, is to buy cheaper now resale then do an add on at the Poly when it comes available.

 

[shellypaige]

Resale doesn't limit you to only your home resort, that is an unfounded rumor that is not legally possible as I read the paperwork. It also doesn't currently limit you for AP discounts and other on property discounts/perks, I doubt it ever will but that could change. It does limit you from cruises and other cash exchanges which are more costly to do with points than cash anyway plus a small contract wouldn't give you any chances to use points for cruises and the like regardless. Personally if you can't buy enough points to consistently be usable for your family trips (I don't think 100 is with what you're looking at), I wouldn't buy. If you did buy, I think you should seriously consider more than 100 points. I'd rent and stay at BLT and/or VGF before you buy then decide what's best. Given your limitations quoted, 150-200 resale BLT points is likely a much better choice than 100 VGF points. You might also look at VWL given it's location. Or you could just save up and buy more at the Poly when it comes onboard. Another approach, likely the best for most in this situation, is to buy cheaper now resale then do an add on at the Poly when it comes available.

Thanks for clarifying!!!! Maybe we'll look at resale as it seems to be a better option for our needs!

 

[Fantasia79]

Ha! We're having the same discussion and same plan! We're going to buy VGF now (after tax appt Monday), and add Poly when it's available. Hopefully a 50/50 split. Since we usually go do Disney every two years, were thinking of budgeting points for a one bedroom. Best of luck!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[shellypaige]

Ha! We're having the same discussion and same plan! We're going to buy VGF now (after tax appt Monday), and add Poly when it's available. Hopefully a 50/50 split. Since we usually go do Disney every two years, were thinking of budgeting points for a one bedroom. Best of luck! Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Great minds think alike haha

 

[Dasha Hermosilla]

Ok, you can fit a party of 5 in the VGF studio, not so BLT.

Have you even considered BLT resale? At $100 per point you could buy 150 BLT for what 100 VGF direct will cost. That says 1 bedroom to me.

True. We are a new family of five and maybe for a night I'd stay all of us in a studio, but for a longer trip it would be pretty tight!

I'd wait until you stay at BLT. If your kids are young, you just might find you LOVE being able to walk to/from MK. The points value at BLT is less which is also a nice plus. I also like the three different categories. I know standard is hard to book since its popular, but if you are able to occasionally, it gives you three options of categories.

We have 160 VGF and I have sticker shock each time I look at what point requirements are! We also travel at peak times so that clearly doesn't help. That's another factor.

We bought VGF as we wanted an add on and wanted something different as we already have 320 BLT which gives us plenty of flexibility to stay there as we like. To us, VGF will be an occasional treat and we hope one day it will be our adult vacation destination and then we stay at BLT with the kids.

I also concur you should buy resale!

One other thought.... BLT 1 bedroom sleeps 5, I am not sure if VGF 1 BR sleeps 5 or 4? That is another factor. You don't want to find yourself getting too big for the studio but unable to stay in a 1 BR. Many of the DVC one bedrooms have capacity for 5 but only linens and sleeping space for 4 which can be sooo confusing. BLT 1 BR have capacity for 5 and actually comfortably sleep 5 since they have a sleeper chair in the living room.

 

[Dasha Hermosilla]

We thought about BLT resale but someone on another board mentioned that with resale you can only stay at your home resort & you don't get any of the other perks like using points for cruises or buying APs at a discount. Can you shed any light on this?

I can't multi quote from my phone but yes we we realize that 100pt won't buy us an extended stay at BLT.

We're planning on staying at BLT in November so maybe we'll wait until then to decide. I wish GF had a foot bridge so it was walking distance to MK... That would sell us right away!

What size space have you rented for November? Comparing studios, I have no personal experience, but my understanding is BLT has the smallest DVC studios. Yet another data point!

 

[shellypaige]

We're staying in a 1br lake view in November and what originally sold us on BLT was indeed the idea of walking to MK. We have 3 under 5 so we spend most of our time at MK and the thought of a quick walk instead of relying on the monorail or bus is what led us to BLT.

I'll definitely look into resale!!!