Thinking of buying in...a few questions

[Disney st8 of mind]

I know you all will be a great help with your wisdom! A little back story ... we have been to Disney 6 times, 1 stay at BWI, next 2 at BWV, and 3 at BCV so we do enjoy DVC properties and the Epcot area (although at this point we have nothing to compare it to). We have our next stay booked at VWL.
My DH now wants to buy in. We did already speak to Disney directly and to The Timeshare Store. In buying resale, I think it would be smarter to buy in at the cheapest resort and make our ressies at the 7 month window, but we have a fear of being not liking the location of OKW but not being able to get anything else. We usually travel in August, do you all have much luck getting something that is not your home resort at 7 months?
Next question... what would be the best UY for us to have? I've been told it factors most into when you can bank and such, so is there really a better month for us to have?
I'm sure we'll have more questions soon!

 

[DVC Mike]

Make sure you buy into a resort you'd be happy staying at.

Take a look at http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2152512

 

[pmaurer74]

If you enjoy the EPCOT resorts then buy there. If you ever want to stay at BCV it looks like it is very tough to get in there at 7 months from what I understand. I would buy at BCV or BWV. They say to buy where you like to stay. SSR, AKV and OKW seem to be the easiest to get reservations and BCV one of the hardest. If you think you will travel in the summer maybe consider an April or June UY. You need to bank you points 4 months out from the end of your UY.

I am not expert though. Good luck!

 

[ELMC]

We usually travel in August, do you all have much luck getting something that is not your home resort at 7 months?
Next question... what would be the best UY for us to have? I've been told it factors most into when you can bank and such, so is there really a better month for us to have?

People like to buy a use year that is tailored to their typical travel times. What they try to avoid is a use year that is up to 4 months after they typically vacation because if they had to cancel they would run into problems with being able to bank the points they would've used. So if you typically travel in August, you would want to avoid SEP, OCT, and DEC use years for that reason. Good luck in your search!

 

[Missyrose]

One thing to consider is that as DVC adds more members, it gets harder and harder to get into the more in-demand resorts at the more in-demand times. The resorts with direct access to the parks (BLT, BCV, BWV, VWL) tend to book up faster than the other resorts.

Special events can also make it more difficult to get into resorts at the 7-month mark (mainly because people will buy into these resorts specifically for 11-month access to the events), these events include:

BLT -- During MNSSHP and MVMCP seasons and Food and Wine Festival
BWV -- Food and Wine Festival
BCV -- Food and Wine Festival and summer (Stormalong Bay is popular year-round, but especially so in the summer)
VWL -- Christmas decorations, MNSSHP and MVMCP

The other thing to remember is that "slow" crowd times at the Disney parks don't necessarily translate to slow periods for DVC. Any time you mix low crowds with low point costs, you're going to have very busy DVC resorts.

What this all adds up to is: "Buy where you want to stay." It's simple advice, but it's the most truthful. Buy somewhere where you will be happy staying if another resort you want isn't available at 7 months out. If you go the route of buying the cheapest points you can find, you'll have to be very flexible with dates, resorts and possible split stays (staying at more than one resort on a vacation) to make changing resorts at 7 months work every time.

Good luck!