Total newbie to DVC and BLT! Lots of questions, of course!

[maberlyne]

I am so excited! My bf and I just returned from a trip to DL, where we ended up buying 160 points at BLT. Wasn't really planned... of course, it was something we'd kinda always wanted to do. We're huge DL fans, as we live in CA we've been going down about 7-8 times a year, lol! So hey, I think it's officially time to buy!

So we got some of the deals everyone's been mentioning. The two APs, the 160 developer points. The ideal plan is to buy into the GCV as we understood you couldn't get first dibs unless you already owned. So yay, hopefully we'll be adding on very soon here!

This is where my first question comes in. Somewhere along the line I got this idea in my head. Say you have your 160 pts at BLT like we do. Then we add on 100 pts at GCV. So, we will have the home resort advantage, right? If I understand right, it wouldn't be considered an add on (because we will be buying for the first time there)? So part two of the question, the trickier part. So we'll ideally have 260 points. Will we be able to use the total of those 260 (if we wanted to go all out, for example) at GCV with the 11 month home advantage? Or will we be able to only use 100 points with the home advantage (since that's all we really purchased there)? I asked the guide this and he assured me I could, but I wanted to make sure.

Question #3 or so - is there a projected time as to when the new GCV will be open to book? I'd love to visit this year if we buy in! I wonder if there will be incentives for there, too.... hmm.....

Question #4 - with our AP vouchers (which we haven't received yet, so this is hearsay, I guess)... will we be able to put off using them till our current APs expire? I thought he mentioned they expire around June, and our APs expire in July and September. So can we redeem them before June and they'll just tack on an extra year to the expiration date, or will they make us forfeit a few months? I hope not! By the way, I don't expect anyone to really know the answer, just hoping! We want to use them at DLR... though perhaps using them at WDW would be a better idea. Hm.

I think those are all my questions for now. So much to learn! I know NOTHING about DW but I'm excited to learn! Yay!

 

[dianeschlicht]

I am so excited! My bf and I just returned from a trip to DL, where we ended up buying 160 points at BLT. Wasn't really planned... of course, it was something we'd kinda always wanted to do. We're huge DL fans, as we live in CA we've been going down about 7-8 times a year, lol! So hey, I think it's officially time to buy!

So we got some of the deals everyone's been mentioning. The two APs, the 160 developer points. The ideal plan is to buy into the GCV as we understood you couldn't get first dibs unless you already owned. So yay, hopefully we'll be adding on very soon here!

This is where my first question comes in. Somewhere along the line I got this idea in my head. Say you have your 160 pts at BLT like we do. Then we add on 100 pts at GCV. So, we will have the home resort advantage, right? If I understand right, it wouldn't be considered an add on (because we will be buying for the first time there)? So part two of the question, the trickier part. So we'll ideally have 260 points. Will we be able to use the total of those 260 (if we wanted to go all out, for example) at GCV with the 11 month home advantage? Or will we be able to only use 100 points with the home advantage (since that's all we really purchased there)? I asked the guide this and he assured me I could, but I wanted to make sure.You will only be able to use the 100 GCV point at the 11 month mark for GCV stays.

Question #3 or so - is there a projected time as to when the new GCV will be open to book? I'd love to visit this year if we buy in! I wonder if there will be incentives for there, too.... hmm.....I'll let someone else anser that one. I haven't paid much attention to GCV.

Question #4 - with our AP vouchers (which we haven't received yet, so this is hearsay, I guess)... will we be able to put off using them till our current APs expire? I thought he mentioned they expire around June, and our APs expire in July and September. So can we redeem them before June and they'll just tack on an extra year to the expiration date, or will they make us forfeit a few months? I hope not! By the way, I don't expect anyone to really know the answer, just hoping! We want to use them at DLR... though perhaps using them at WDW would be a better idea. Hm.No idea.

I think those are all my questions for now. So much to learn! I know NOTHING about DW but I'm excited to learn! Yay!

I answered the one question I could above. Hopefully someone else will come along who knows your other questions. Remember that home resort advantage is the reason many of us on these boards own at multiple resorts. It's to get that 11 month advantage at that resort. It was the reason I purchased 2 contracts at the same resort to start with. We wanted to make sure we had the 11 month window with both contracts.

Do you EVER plan to go to WDW? If not, you will have to hope GCV is available at the 7 month mark with those 160 points.

 

[bwvBound]

Question #4 - with our AP vouchers (which we haven't received yet, so this is hearsay, I guess)... will we be able to put off using them till our current APs expire? I thought he mentioned they expire around June, and our APs expire in July and September. So can we redeem them before June and they'll just tack on an extra year to the expiration date, or will they make us forfeit a few months? I hope not! By the way, I don't expect anyone to really know the answer, just hoping! We want to use them at DLR... though perhaps using them at WDW would be a better idea. Hm.

The vouchers we received from the DVC Sales Center at DL had a 12 month expiration in CA but NO expiration in FL.

 

[maberlyne]

Thank you both for your help. I had a feeling that that's how it worked with the points you buy at a resort relating to the booking window. The guide said otherwise when I asked, but I had a feeling he didn't understand how I was asking it.

Diane, we do hope to go to WDW! We've always wanted to, so this just gives us a better excuse! I'm excited to try out all the different resorts! I'm a little confused by one thing you mentioned, though. You said you bought two contracts at the same resort. I know other people have said they bought two so they could sell them off or split them easily later on amongst kids. Unless you meant you added on points later to the same resort, I'm confused! (But that's nothing new! )

BMV, thanks for that info, too. Our guide said we'd receive our vouchers within a week or two by FedEx, I believe. Woohoo!