thinking of DVC

[icharis]

We have been thinking of getting into DVC for a little bit and one hesitation I have is that I am always hearing everything is always booked. This makes me really nervous about about buying resell as they seem to be limiting even more what resorts you can book through.
What we envision is to do a yearly week vacation down to disney world and staying in at least a 1 bedroom. The reason behind the one bedroom is the full fridge and kitchen as we have a 4 year old and one on the way. Its easier to bring foods and stuff that they need as the little beverage coolers that disney has switched too arent cold enough to store things like yogurt. The vision is that we get DVC and we can do a weekly trip, preferably feb-april before the temperatures kick up but to be able to have access to stay at different resorts and not just the same home resort over and over.

How realistic is it to stay at the highly desired resorts for 1 week stays. I wish there was a public way of looking at what is available today for example .

Would love to hear your thoughts

 

[DVCBeachBum]

I think that is incredibly reasonable. The 1-2 beds have a lot more availability than the studio pool of rooms. Just make sure you “buy where you want to stay” so that you have the 11 month booking window and you are more than fine. Even at the 7 month mark I see plenty of options in 1-2 bedrooms at most places. That said, if you want something VERY specific like CCV or VGF on Christmas week well then be prepared to be up at midnight when your booking window opens and have all your use year and that stuff planned around that specific stay.

If you buy resale you will be locked out of Riviera as of now and any future resorts. I have seen a lot of people saying they went with RIV or VGF for direct points because of the incentives and these restrictions and then resale after. VGF has better flexibility for you to resell, RIV has better upfront incentives. All things to think on. We did RIV after a lot of thought. I am going to add on VGF direct as well during the incentives and then keep going after resale for the others I want

 

[KalamityJane]

We have been thinking of getting into DVC for a little bit and one hesitation I have is that I am always hearing everything is always booked. This makes me really nervous about about buying resell as they seem to be limiting even more what resorts you can book through.
What we envision is to do a yearly week vacation down to disney world and staying in at least a 1 bedroom. The reason behind the one bedroom is the full fridge and kitchen as we have a 4 year old and one on the way. Its easier to bring foods and stuff that they need as the little beverage coolers that disney has switched too arent cold enough to store things like yogurt. The vision is that we get DVC and we can do a weekly trip, preferably feb-april before the temperatures kick up but to be able to have access to stay at different resorts and not just the same home resort over and over.

How realistic is it to stay at the highly desired resorts for 1 week stays. I wish there was a public way of looking at what is available today for example .

Would love to hear your thoughts

There’s an availability calendar on DVC resale market that you can check. You also get to book at 11 months out at the resort you buy into, and at 7 months for the others, so that helps a lot with availability.

 

[Kylie kaiser]

We just bought into DVC and I was also worried about availability but I will say I just booked two vacations no problem. A week at AKL in Jan and 4 night stay in October at Riviera in a standard view studio even. In the past when renting points I also found the waitlist to normally come through. For us it’s been worth it already.

 

[Sandisw]

Things do change quite a bit so until you are ready to book, what you may see could be misleading.

1 bedrooms are certainly easier than other places, but I can tell you that a full week at the near park resorts may not be always easy depending on the week you chooose.

I travel then but usually only book 2 nights at my favorites. Sometimes, even that was hard using my SSR points. Now I have both VGF and RIV so I can book at 11 months without issue,

I would definitely choose a home resort you would enjoy so that if you struggle to trade, at least you will be happy.

And, with the more resorts that come online, especially if they are restricted from resale buyers, the more competition you will have

 

[Micca]

The reason behind the one bedroom is the full fridge and kitchen as we have a 4 year old and one on the way. Its easier to bring foods and stuff that they need as the little beverage coolers that disney has switched too arent cold enough to store things like yogurt.

I can't address the issue of availability as our travel schedule is flexible and we can always find something.

But your reasoning on the fridge/kitchen/washer/dryer is spot-on. You can make a grocery store run to stock up on food & drinks. Even if budget is not a concern, it's nice to not have to pay the Disney mark-up on everything for every single meal. With the washer/dryer you can pack less and still have clean clothes for your whole trip.

 

[Her Dotness]

We have been thinking of getting into DVC for a little bit and one hesitation I have is that I am always hearing everything is always booked.

Not necessarily true unless you're trying for the holiday season, spring break times or around Easter (given your Feb.-April time frame)

What we envision is to do a yearly week vacation down to disney world and staying in at least a 1 bedroom.

Then, you're talking bunches of points for "highly desired resorts," Feb.-April, because those months are in the higher points requirement tier.

The Grand Floridian, for instance in 2023, would cost you 301 points for a week in Feb. 1-15 but jumps to 340 per week, Feb. 16-April 1 and also April 10-30. Easter falls in April 2-9 for a whopping 470 points that week. That's the standard view 1br. Lake view will be more.

Beach Club Villas, another very popular resort for young families, would be 251/269/367. 300 BCV points would get you stays there in your frame but will be fairly pricey per point on the resale market. It's in high demand, and nicely priced resales tend to get snapped up quickly.

You'd need around 350 points for flexibility at the VGF then in a 1br, which are often easier to book because they're such points hogs. That will be a wad of money buying in, a big wad, even on resale. (Spotted a 300 pt. VGF resale for as much as a brand new minivan would cost--YIKES!)

What will do you more good to determine how many points would enable you to stay easily at a variety of resorts would be looking at points charts. Here's a link to those to enable you to see how many points you would need for a week in a 1br at any that appeal to you: https://dvcfan.com/2021/12/02/2023-disney-vacation-club-points-charts/

The catch to buying resale is that you couldn't stay at Riviera unless you bought Riviera points. And then, you could only use those points to stay at Riviera.

There are plenty of not-Riviera resorts that are wonderful, but just warning you about the limitations of buying resale if you ever wanted to stay at Riviera.

 

[icharis]

You'd need around 350 points for flexibility at the VGF then in a 1br, which are often easier to book because they're such points hogs. That will be a wad of money buying in, a big wad, even on resale. (Spotted a 300 pt. VGF resale for as much as a brand new minivan would cost--YIKES!)

I didnt know about the limitation that if you bought riviera you could only stay are riviera if it was resell. I knew if it was resell you couldnt do riviera.. Thats why I see 300 point contracts at riviera for 125 a point... Thats a bummer because I thought that was a steal, just doesnt work for me though if thats the case

 

[Her Dotness]

Yeah, that's the resale bite for Riviera.

Buying direct would get rid of that issue...BUT, you'll pay $207 per point for either VGF or RIV currently. 300 points will get you some bucks per point reduced, but that is a heckuva chunk o' change for either resort.

Take a look at SSR resales (Saratoga Springs Resort). That resort has fairly low dues compared with most, and it's huge, so pretty easy to book most times of the year. Price per point is generally quite low for an SSR resale, and you could use those points anywhere else but RIV at 7 months, giving you the variety you say you'd like. Super cheap for a 1br stay compared with the more high-demand resorts, too.

 

[Sandisw]

Yeah, that's the resale bite for Riviera.

Buying direct would get rid of that issue...BUT, you'll pay $207 per point for either VGF or RIV currently. 300 points will get you some bucks per point reduced, but that is a heckuva chunk o' change for either resort.

Take a look at SSR resales (Saratoga Springs Resort). That resort has fairly low dues compared with most, and it's huge, so pretty easy to book most times of the year. Price per point is generally quite low for an SSR resale, and you could use those points anywhere else but RIV at 7 months, giving you the variety you say you'd like. Super cheap for a 1br stay compared with the more high-demand resorts, too.

Incentives for RIV start at 150…the minimum for new buyers, so no one is paying $207. Here are the current ones, courtesy of dvcnews.com

 

[DVCBeachBum]

Yeah, that's the resale bite for Riviera.

Buying direct would get rid of that issue...BUT, you'll pay $207 per point for either VGF or RIV currently. 300 points will get you some bucks per point reduced, but that is a heckuva chunk o' change for either resort.

Take a look at SSR resales (Saratoga Springs Resort). That resort has fairly low dues compared with most, and it's huge, so pretty easy to book most times of the year. Price per point is generally quite low for an SSR resale, and you could use those points anywhere else but RIV at 7 months, giving you the variety you say you'd like. Super cheap for a 1br stay compared with the more high-demand resorts, too.

Except for whatever reason the drunken monkeys are ROFR’ing SSR like crazy right now.

 

[DebLovesPooh]

My home is AKV. Since I joined in 2018, I’ve stayed in AKV, BW, and BC. Those have been in 1-2 bedrooms. I think you will have options as long as you’re online right when your booking date opens at 7-month.

 

[npatellye]

I think you’ll be fine as long as you’re flexible with the resort you get at 7 months. We bought in late 2019 and have since stayed at the following non-home resorts for at least a week in 1 and 2 bedroom units: BCV, CCV, OKW (it wasn’t a home resort for us at the time we stayed), and VGF. BWV will join that list as of November. We also did a 4 night stay at BLT.

 

[RichVIII]

1BRs are wonderful. We typically stayed studios…until we didn’t. We love the space and having the kitchen. Given your statements, I would buy GFV direct and book at 11 months and move around if able. It has no restrictions and long-life and walkable and a monorail away from MK. Resale is a great value, we purchased 3 of 4 contracts that way. Search for “dvc most economical” and that will give you some more information. Think about breaking up your contracts for easy sale in the future.

 

[JoeyPeligroso]

1BRs are wonderful. We typically stayed studios…until we didn’t. We love the space and having the kitchen. Given your statements, I would buy GFV direct and book at 11 months and move around if able. It has no restrictions and long-life and walkable and a monorail away from MK. Resale is a great value, we purchased 3 of 4 contracts that way. Search for “dvc most economical” and that will give you some more information. Think about breaking up your contracts for easy sale in the future.

Very thoughtful comment, agree with these assessments relative to VGF and have personally purchased VGF with some of these principles as my consideration.

Obviously, it’s healthy to be skeptical of whatever DVC is pushing on the direct side and their motivations. However, VGF, remains an excellent choice for a variety of reasons and also happens to be one of the options that is currently attractively priced via the direct route. Clearly it’s not for everyone (neither is a direct purchase), but these are solid comments relative to what VGF does represent.

There has been a lot of speculation as to what will happen to the relative availability of 1 bedroom villas at VGF with the influx of membership ownership and points from the VGF expansion. Good to keep this in mind as you consider any purchase at VGF.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

If you are thinking one bedrooms are your preference, then I would buy resale where you find the best contract. One bedrooms are usually available in the 7 month window, beach club included. Resale restricts you from RIV, but I don't see that as an issue, if you really want RIV some years, rent points from another member. The member perks at the current time, do not justify the direct cost in my opinion. The Only direct perk that was worth the price was the annual pass, and until those return, the perks do not justify cost in my opinion.