Thoughts on resale vs direct, home resort, and NOT booking a studio?

[KnightFamily]

We are finally looking at purchasing into DVC, after 4 years of "what ifs". We know quite a bit of the ins and outs (to the point of scaring our guide on our tour *grins*). But we are unsure of the best way to go for our family.

Background:
Canadian family (and our dollar sucks...) with a 10 month old, but God willing, hope to have more children. So far we have gone to Disney every 2 years. (Honeymoon at Poly, Off-site with friends, and now at the Grand) but we will be looking at every 3 years at DVC. We are the type of people who would rather save up and have a great resort (hence Poly and Grand) vs going more often. On site we have also stayed at AKL. Also, we will never travel during June-Nov 1 due to heat, and we don't like Halloween. We are also homeschooling, so school schedules are not an issue.

What we are looking at:
Right now we can afford a 10k USD (or so) buy in, and always wanting to stay for at least a week. Through Direct we were doing a 50 pt VGF (with the hopes of adding on when our finances are a bit better), just to get into the VGF before it "sells out". Our ideal pt contract at VGF was 140 pts per year so that we could get a 1 bdrm lagoon view in April every 3 years. Until we can afford the 140, we were going get 50. We know that its already on the resale market, and thats why it is causing us pause.

Here's what we want out of our DVC. We want space. We want at least a 1-bedroom, if not bigger to bring friends with us. We usually vacation in April (but would love to do a week near Christmas at least once). We adore the Grand. But we like AKV (just not the buses), but we would always have our car as once the baby is 2 we must pay for her on flights. We are the type of people who want to try a lot of different resorts.

So our question is, are we better to go direct to get our small contract at VGF, knowing that right now it will only give us a studio (which will work, but is not our "ideal"), but we are guaranteed to get into VGF. Or are we better off buying a bigger re-sale contract at say AKV or SSR and hoping we can get a 1 or 2 bdrm at VGF at 7 months out. At 7 months out, we will never be looking to get a studio, anywhere. We will also not always want to stay at VGF.

If re-sale with a different home resort than VGF, it means we can save up for a bit and pay for DVC without using much of a loan.

Sorry for the long post, but your help is greatly appreciated.

 

[sleepydog25]

We are finally looking at purchasing into DVC, after 4 years of "what ifs". We know quite a bit of the ins and outs (to the point of scaring our guide on our tour *grins*). But we are unsure of the best way to go for our family.

Background:
Canadian family (and our dollar sucks...) with a 10 month old, but God willing, hope to have more children. So far we have gone to Disney every 2 years. (Honeymoon at Poly, Off-site with friends, and now at the Grand) but we will be looking at every 3 years at DVC. We are the type of people who would rather save up and have a great resort (hence Poly and Grand) vs going more often. On site we have also stayed at AKL. Also, we will never travel during June-Nov 1 due to heat, and we don't like Halloween. We are also homeschooling, so school schedules are not an issue.

What we are looking at:
Right now we can afford a 10k USD (or so) buy in, and always wanting to stay for at least a week. Through Direct we were doing a 50 pt VGF (with the hopes of adding on when our finances are a bit better), just to get into the VGF before it "sells out". Our ideal pt contract at VGF was 140 pts per year so that we could get a 1 bdrm lagoon view in April every 3 years. Until we can afford the 140, we were going get 50. We know that its already on the resale market, and thats why it is causing us pause.

Here's what we want out of our DVC. We want space. We want at least a 1-bedroom, if not bigger to bring friends with us. We usually vacation in April (but would love to do a week near Christmas at least once). We adore the Grand. But we like AKV (just not the buses), but we would always have our car as once the baby is 2 we must pay for her on flights. We are the type of people who want to try a lot of different resorts.

So our question is, are we better to go direct to get our small contract at VGF, knowing that right now it will only give us a studio (which will work, but is not our "ideal"), but we are guaranteed to get into VGF. Or are we better off buying a bigger re-sale contract at say AKV or SSR and hoping we can get a 1 or 2 bdrm at VGF at 7 months out. At 7 months out, we will never be looking to get a studio, anywhere. We will also not always want to stay at VGF.

If re-sale with a different home resort than VGF, it means we can save up for a bit and pay for DVC without using much of a loan.

Sorry for the long post, but your help is greatly appreciated.

You will get varying replies, but when I first bought into DVC well over a decade ago, the mantra then was much the same as it is now--buy where you want to stay (in your case, the majority of the time). If you truly don't care where you stay, then it matters little which resort you buy; however, that's not what you seem to indicate. Buying at any resort other than the one (or two) you really want puts you in the 7-month time frame for booking those favorites, and in some cases, you just might not get what you want. For example, attempting to get into VWL at Christmas within 7 months is extremely difficult, and the same appears to be true for VGF. BWI during the Food & Wine Festival is a very tough find at the 7-month point, as well. My point is, if you buy SSR (or AKV since you mention it) then you need to be happy with staying there if your 7-month desire doesn't work out. That being said, have you considered VGF resale? I received an email today from TSS with 50, 110, and 180 point contracts for sale. While you won't save as significantly with such a contract over, say, SSR via resale, it would save you some serious dollars. Good luck with your decision!

 

[disneynutz]

I would start with SSR resale, April UY. Use those points to stay at all of the resorts until you learn the system, figure out where you love to stay and learn how difficult it is to book at 7 months.

If you have difficulty booking at your favorite resort, buy their later resale, keep or sell SSR..

Bill

 

[deedisneydream97]

Have you examined the points charts for the week you prefer? I agree, the Grand is quite beautiful and we came very close to adding on there, until we took a good look at the amount of points needed per night. We took the tour right before it opened....we were quite disappointed that the one bedroom only had 1 bathroom. That was another thing that made us not do it. I realize that Bay Lake Towers is very sterile and modern and nothing like the grand. But, in my opinion, their one bedrooms are set up much better because of the two full baths and the additional pull out chair in the living room. And getting a two bedroom lockoff is wonderful, as your guests can close themselves off and will have the own door into the hallway. I guess it is much like AKL that way.

If you go with "cheaper", like SSR, if you end up having to stay there, you may not like it very much. AKL has all of the animals around and lots of distractions. SSR, in my opinion, only has close by shopping and some wonderful pools, but the room views don't offer anything exciting (golf course, gardens). It is a beautiful resort, though. We do own there, but have only stayed there once. We are usually able to use those points for a May trip at a different resort.

BLT has a lot to offer....I love being able to walk to MK. Having the monorail close by is great for the trip to Epcot. Lots of places to eat along the monorail, too. Annual dues are a little cheaper than the other resorts as well.

A one-bedroom lake view in April at the Grand will be 407 points, BLT 301 for lake view & 363 for MK view, AKL would be 272 for savannah view, SSR 241. So at BLT you would be spending less points but have more bathrooms and sleeping space....ditto for AKL.

Please do not mention going resale to your guide, especially if he/she has spent a lot of time with you.

Good luck with whatever you decide. Since you only go down every two of three years, it is kind of hard to try out the different resorts before buying. We've never regretted our DVC purchases.

 

[disneynutz]

Have you examined the points charts for the week you prefer? I agree, the Grand is quite beautiful and we came very close to adding on there, until we took a good look at the amount of points needed per night. We took the tour right before it opened....we were quite disappointed that the one bedroom only had 1 bathroom. That was another thing that made us not do it. I realize that Bay Lake Towers is very sterile and modern and nothing like the grand. But, in my opinion, their one bedrooms are set up much better because of the two full baths and the additional pull out chair in the living room. And getting a two bedroom lockoff is wonderful, as your guests can close themselves off and will have the own door into the hallway. I guess it is much like AKL that way.

If you go with "cheaper", like SSR, if you end up having to stay there, you may not like it very much. AKL has all of the animals around and lots of distractions. SSR, in my opinion, only has close by shopping and some wonderful pools, but the room views don't offer anything exciting (golf course, gardens). It is a beautiful resort, though. We do own there, but have only stayed there once. We are usually able to use those points for a May trip at a different resort.

BLT has a lot to offer....I love being able to walk to MK. Having the monorail close by is great for the trip to Epcot. Lots of places to eat along the monorail, too. Annual dues are a little cheaper than the other resorts as well.

A one-bedroom lake view in April at the Grand will be 407 points, BLT 301 for lake view & 363 for MK view, AKL would be 272 for savannah view, SSR 241. So at BLT you would be spending less points but have more bathrooms and sleeping space....ditto for AKL.

Please do not mention going resale to your guide, especially if he/she has spent a lot of time with you.

Good luck with whatever you decide. Since you only go down every two of three years, it is kind of hard to try out the different resorts before buying. We've never regretted our DVC purchases.

VGF 1 bedroom has a shower, sink, and toilet in one room and a tub and sink in another separated by a pocket door.

Bill

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

deleted and reposted below

 

[deedisneydream97]

The VGF bathroom setup in the one bedroom is really no different than that of BWV. The master bath in the one bedroom also has the toilet and shower and a pedestal sink separated from the the additional sink and jet tub at BWV and BCV as I recall. BLT's set up of the master bath is the same, with the one difference of a second entire full bath off the living area. Granted, it is smaller than the master, but has toilet, sink and shower/tub combo. I think the OP is quite aware of the differences, as they have stayed in AKL (1 BR set up is the same at BLT) and have toured the Grand Floridian.

When the young child becomes a teen, an extra full bath makes all the difference.

OP....I can't help you with the question about use year. Most of our use years are sept. Some are in the spring. I'm always very careful with my planning, so it has never been an issue. I think there is another thread in the "Purchasing DVC" forum that talks about "understanding use year".

Good luck with your decision.

 

[lgpav1]

We purchased in the resale market and saved us about 50%. There are a few options we don't have that we would have if we had purchased from Disney. That said, they are options I don't think we would have used. If I were to add points, I would look at the resale option again.

Also, our home is AK. It's nice.

Good luck!

 

[nalajms]

As owners of all the 3 resorts you mentioned, I would not buy AKV at today's prices because of the higher dues. Most times you would have no problems getting a 1bedroom at AKV using SSR points.

If you're capped by funds and really want to buy in now, I would vote to buy at SSR to the system out. You may realize that you prefer a different resort, or your vacation styles have changed, or you can't always book at exactly 11m or 7m.

I would also look into the points chart as others have suggested. Jan/Feb around non-holiday times are much easier to book and less crowded.

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

I would start with SSR resale, April UY. Use those points to stay at all of the resorts until you learn the system, figure out where you love to stay and learn how difficult it is to book at 7 months.

If you have difficulty booking at your favorite resort, buy their later resale, keep or sell SSR..

Bill

I am not sure I would go with an April use year. Although it would be good for your indicated April travel preference it may be a bit more tricky if you decided to travel at another time of year and had to cancel. Given that you know you would not travel between June and November (like us) I would recommend an October or December use year.

 

[KnightFamily]

Thanks for all your replies. We are still at square one, and unsure what the best possible scenario is, which clearly means we won't be jumping any time soon. We know what the points charts are for every resort, as our guide gave us the full book for 2015 & 2016. I was very upfront with him on everything I knew (including what his limitations are, the resale market, and having a connection at David's rental) so that we knew all avenues of this. He appreciated that we didn't BS him.

He suggested a use year of March, since we always travel in April, but our anniversary is in the end of March. For VGF we were thinking more on the long term end of it, for when we do trips without kids, and also looking at the resort as a whole, for trips where we go to the park less. Poly and BLT hold no interest for us, nor does VWL. We know that there is a high probability that AKL will be where we stay in 3 years (with or without friends coming with us). It seems like our best scenario is owning at SSR and VGF. Both of which we'd be happy staying at if we were "stuck".

We clearly have a lot more research to do.

 

[3pletprincesses]

We are canadians and set a contract to ROFR last month. given that I have 4 kids I need a 2 bdr minimum. I was dead set on buying where I wanted to stay and was aiming for Poly but when the charts came out and how we would need a bungalow at nearly 1000 pts for a week or 2 studios at 310 pts min per year I decided to pass on it and go back to resale. logicly SSR is the cheapest but I don't want to stay there all the time. AKL I would love to stay there so we intended to buy there. Low and below we bought at BLT because we found an awesome contract. worse comes if we dislike the resort we will rent those points out and simply buy another contract at AKL. We are hoping for value rooms as it would save us a lot of points but don't mind having to pay full points either for a room. If you are hoping for a value room or concierge at AKL, than buy AKL. I can say that we kids we rarely travel in april. We most often travel at the end of August when lots of schools in Florida are back to school and ours are still home until the first week of September. With your anniversary in March, I still thinks your March use year is a great idea unless you plan on travelling in the later part of the year or Jan and feb. Good luck to you

 

[zavandor]

We are the type of people who want to try a lot of different resorts.

Long story short: buy SSR

Long story long: buy SSR because if you want to try different resorts, expensive points (for buy in and/or MF) would be as good as cheaper points.
Going every 3 years, it will take you 27 years to try all resorts at least once.

 

[rlovew]

Unless you want a split stay it seems silly to buy at more than 1 resort for every 3 years as you will want to use all your points and if you can't use the points from your 2nd resort at the 7 month window you will not be happy. I would not buy VGF points with plans to stay elsewhere on them You may on occasion get VGF for a week at 7 months but it will probably be less likely to get that long except in a 2 bedroom.

 

[CarolMN]

.....(snip)..........He suggested a use year of March, since we always travel in April, but our anniversary is in the end of March. For VGF we were thinking more on the long term end of it, for when we do trips without kids, and also looking at the resort as a whole, for trips where we go to the park less. .................We clearly have a lot more research to do.

A March use year would be very good if you ever decide to spend your anniversary at WDW.

If you haven't already come across this thread in your research give this thread a look -

Understanding Use Year

Good luck with your research!

 

[dsneygirl]

With the exchange rate now I could not sleep at night if I bought VGF right now. (For Americans who aren't sure our 1 USD costs about $1,25 CAD right now so a 25% markup or almost 200$ a point).

We own at VWL and love it but over the years we have stayed everywhere on property (except GF and new Poly) for a variety of reasons as our needs are different every time. My boys absolutely love AKL for the animals and the pool so it's their first choice. We love BC at Food and Wine or Flower and Garden time. We also do lots of split stays.

Your $10k will go so much further on the resale market. I would try to really crunch the numbers and not just go with your heart. VGF is really popular now but you have 40 years of vacations ahead of you will definitely be able to get it at 7 months out at various times of the year.

 

[Dean]

As you've descsribed your situation (every 3 yrs, limited funds), I wouldn't buy right now. But for the sake of discusson, I'll give a little more info. Every 3 yrs will put you at risk of losing points at times. From what you've posted, you can't afford what you actually want. A trip every 3 yrs won't save you much over renting privately. I do think SSR will give you the best value but I don't know how happy you'll be staying there and trying to trade to other options at 7 months out (and it sounds like you don't either). It's unlikely you'll get GF very often in that situation. My suggestion would be to consider whether you could do every other year most times and rent privately for SSR for your next trip. Keep investigating in the interim and maybe stay a day or 2 extra that trip for the purpose of investigating further. Visit the resorts you don't know, see the rooms, etc. And buy resale if you're saving money doing so, you lose nothing of value from retail though you should know things could change. They can't take the core usage away using the points for DVC resorts.