Great questions, and at the risk of being scolded again for discussing my own personal circumstance I'll chance it because I think it's relevant to what we're discussing...I have two young daughters, one is almost 5 and the other is 6 months, so MK will be the central attraction for us for a long time. The short walk from BLT is huge for us, though I've heard rumors that DVC will no longer allow resale owners access to the walking path and instead make us take a bus to DS to transfer for a bus to MK.
I narrowed down the options to BWV, BCV and BLT, I just really like the letter B. For reasons I still don't understand, the wife hated BWV, was lukewarm on BCV and really liked BLT. All our research was online, articles and you tube etc. I was basically a DVC rep selling my wife on the whole idea. The only time totwl factored in to my sales pitch was analyzing BLT
point chart and I made the point that I saw no reason to spend extra points on lake or park view rooms when we could just go up to totwl to take in the fireworks if we really needed to see the same fireworks show over and over and over lol! I can't spend tens of thousands of discretionary dollars on something without that warm fuzzy feeling Disney is so good at instilling and yes I'll admit to a small extent the idea of visiting totwl contributed to that feeling.
I made my offer on April 29, passed ROFR (happily surprised) on May 24, closed on June 17 (still waiting for account & points) and found out I would not be welcome at totwl on June 24. So timing probably plays a role in the degree of my annoyance. Ranting and raving here has actually been therapeutic. I'm honestly over it now. I know I've irritated some and I'm sorry and I thank you for the free therapy. I've now mourned the loss of something I've never had!
I made two different offers on BLT with two different brokers, I cancelled one within ten days. Totwl never came up in any of the correspondence, it's status may have been disclosed somewhere but I didn't notice it or pay particular attention. Also totwl was not open to anyone during this entire time. I'd already researched exhaustively and wasn't asking any questions, I just wanted the points. Would I still buy BLT resale knowing I'd lose access to totwl? absolutely, 100%. The only thing I'd change in hindsight would be to allocate my 270 points differently. If I could do it over I'd get around 220 at BLT and 50 at BCV. But maybe now I'll spend more points at BLT for rooms with views and just get some extra points for BCV. Perhaps I'll get a case of addonitis soon!
Some have commented with a little smugness things like, oh I guess restrictions matter now to resale buyers. I don't think that's really true.
It seems to me it's only me and one other poster here that are pissed off and that's because we're BLT owners specifically and as I explained above for me the timing of it all stung a little extra for me. Those same people mocking others for $30,000 popcorn buckets would likely just add they hope you also enjoy your $6,000 martinis or whatever. I'm not engaging in that, I think both are unnecessarily smug. I'm firmly in your camp, there's no fine print, we all perform due diligence and bargain for and get what we want. Both resale and direct are taking their own calculated chances/risks with what DVD may or may not do in the future. I personally don't see the value in buying direct with the possible current exception of VGF, maybe. But so what? If you do see the value in it you don't need my approval or validation and vice versa. As the great and wise Paulie D from Jersey Shore once said, "You do you!"