Trying to decide how many points to buy at SSR

[FLYNZ4]

I posted a number of questions yesterday... and here are my current thoughts... I still need help LOL

We are now trying to decide if we want 300 or 450 points... and assuming we want 450... how should we buy them.

First major question: Am I better off buying 450 SSR points right away, or should I buy 150 first, followed by 300 additional points as a current owner? I would hate to buy 450 now, only to find out that we could have bought 150 at $90, and then bought the next 300 at a lower rate.

Second major question: If we were to get 450... are we better off getting them from the same resort (presumably SSR) and same use year? Before you can answer, I probably need to describe my planned usage.

My wife and I plan to make trips about every 1-3 years... spending about two weeks with the kids (college age) in a 2BR. It would take about 600 points per trip to accomplish this. We would probably travel two years in a row... and then take a year off so that we could get two vacations out of each annual pass. Lets assume for sake of argument that the only time we can align schedules of all 5 of us is during the summer... so we might go in August, followed by a June/July vacation.

Part of me wants to get just 300 points at SSR, and the other 150 at BWV. The problem as I see it is that by fracturing my pool of points... it makes it harder to get a "big reservation?. For example, I could use 300 of my points at 11 months... and the next 150 would be tied up until 7 months... unless I wanted to switch units part way through the vacation.

I could alternate using the two resorts for each of the subsequent year's vacations... so one year use my SSR points, and the next year use my BWV points. Assuming I have 150 annual points at BWV... I could have up to 450 for use by banking and borrowing... however, 450 is not enough to get 2 weeks in a 2BR... so this seems like a problem.

Another possibility would be to have a big family reunion someday (when we presumably have grandchildren)... and then we would want to get a Grand Villa for 2 weeks using 3 years worth of points (banked and borrowed). Once again, this does not work great if the points are split across a couple of resorts.

I also thought about splitting the points into two buckets of 225 each (instead of 3 X 150)... but that does not support one of the reasons that I would even go to 450... so that each of my 3 kids could have an individual contract someday.

One last thought... We live on the west coast... so lots of small weekend/short stays are impractical... we would usually want to visit for a longer stay... at least 1 week, and usually 2 weeks.

I would appreciate any thoughts, opinions, or advice.

/Jim

 

[JimC]

Let me try to assist.

There is no price advantage to buying as an owner. If you were buying 600 points from Disney at SSR I would do it in three to four contracts (incase you wanted to keep a small contract for yourselves. There are no closing costs with Disney. The advanatage of the smaller contracts is ease in selling and family allocation later.

I believe if you add-on to an existing contract through Disney you are required to keep the same use year.

We purchased at two resorts primarily because we wanted an 11 month booking window at BCV for December.

One option is to not buy anything at SSR, but to purchase resale where the cost is less, even with closing costs considered (good rule of thumb is the greater of $300 or $2 per point for closing -- and you can negotiate who pays). If you want the longer contract term -- SSR is the place to go. But you might want to consider OKW where you get more units for your points and they have many GVs.

If you are going two out of three years, then you would need 1200 points for the two trips and need 400 point contract to have sufficient points with bank/borrow over three years to travel two.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I second what JimC said. Also, I would definitely buy all of your points at the same resort for the use pattern you are talking about. It is true that two smaller contracts are easier to sell should you decide to get rid of them in the future, but if you are only talking about 400 points, I don't think it is such an issue. I would buy all the points at one resort with the same use year so you could use them all the same way. Know exactly where you want to be though before you buy. If SSR is not your resort of choice, look at a resale for the DVC property you like best.

 

[Pa@okw95]

I would make sure how many points you want to buy by asking the guide at DVC to send you the points chart that pretty much stays the same over the years. I might have bought a different amount than I did if I saw those charts. You must have kids now because you are talking grandkids later. I would look at the charts and figure what you need for a 2 bedroom for X amount of time you wish to stay. If you have cash and you appear to have it you may want to stay over one weekend and probably 12 day stays, just a guess.
Now this thing about seperate contracts for your children when you pass or whatever. Let me tell you about my 3 children, I have one that loves going to WDW, I have another that does not really care one way or another, and a third that is the national park type that thinks WDW is a joke. They are in the upper 20's and all have been to WDW plenty of times when they were kids.
What I am saying is don't think just because you are a Disney nut that your off sping will be even if they are as kids.
Keep in mind that the price is going up on DVC, I think they are going after a different demographic this time around, i expect prices to hit the $100 a point soon and they sky is the limit from there.
If you have the money, just check what you need and buy.

 

[Laurabearz]

Can I toss another option out...

buy at two resorts and swicth 1/2 way thru... one week at SSR, one week at BWV. I know a lot of people dont like to move, but we find it works out nicely, to stay at BWV and Hit Epcot and MGM, then head over to VWL and focus on MK and AK...

Also, GV are nice.... but so is having your own villa. We did a large group trip this past Febuary at OKW, and booked 4 2-bedrooms, 2- 1 bedrooms and 4 studios. Everyone had their own space... and time together. Worked out nicely, esp at bedtime, when everyone's kids are on a different schedule.

We have 5 contracts, 2 Use years, 3 home resorts (whew) and banking(HA) and borrowing (YUP) for the different home resorts has worked out nicely. I dont recomend 2 UY's... but I love having the 11 month window at 3 resorts.

I also know people who have had good luck booking GV's on weekends at the 7 month window. They book Sun-Thursday at the 11 month window, then book the weekeds at the 7 month window..... Just thought I would toss that out.

Caskbil's planner is wonderful. I thought I had it saved to my fave places, but I dont... running a search will bring it up. I love playing with it.

Keep us posted.

 

[dianeschlicht]

They book Sun-Thursday at the 11 month window, then book the weekeds at the 7 month window..... Just thought I would toss that out.

What a great idea! I can see where that would work since many don't want to use the weekend point cost of a GV.

 

[bwvBound]

Originally posted by Laurabearz
I also know people who have had good luck booking GV's on weekends at the 7 month window. They book Sun-Thursday at the 11 month window, then book the weekeds at the 7 month window...

Sorry to ask - but how does that work? I thought the reservation windows were for "any/all nights of the week." Are there different windows for weekends vs weekdays? Or does this suggestion imply changing resorts for the weekend GV stay?

Thanks!

 

[Laurabearz]

Originally posted by bwvBound
Sorry to ask - but how does that work? I thought the reservation windows were for "any/all nights of the week." Are there different windows for weekends vs weekdays? Or does this suggestion imply changing resorts for the weekend GV stay?

Thanks!

To clarify (hopefully) Weekend points are HUGE in some cases (take our preimum Saturday night in a two bedroom at HHI 99 points for ONE night... sigh) so a lot of people just book Sun-Thursday.... leaving weekends open or move to another resort. Premeire season GV at OKW is 162 points for Friday or Saturday nights.... 66 points Sun-Thursday. That's a lot of points... 322 for Fri and Saturday alone...

At the 11 month window you could book back to back Sun-thursdays, with home resort points, then at the 7 month window, use other points for the Friday and Saturday....yes there is a risk involved, but Fri-Saturdays tend to be open.

Hope that helps...

 

[bwvBound]

Oh, gotcha - thanks, Laura!

So if the goal was to book SSR GV and I owned some SSR points and some BWV points ... your suggestion is:

A) book SSR GV Sun-Thurs at 11 month window using SSR points
B) book SSR GV weekend at the 7 month window using BWV points

That makes sense! Thanks!

 

[FLYNZ4]

After some thought... I think I want to consolidate all of my initial points at a single resort. I think it will be the least hassle for making a reservation. With 450 points... we could make a single reservation for up to 1350 points... which at least for now, is enough.

If I was to pick up more credits someday, then it would probably make sense to pick a different resort... to give flexibility in booking various properties. Thanks for the insightful feedback.

/Jim

 

[Dean]

I'm not sure it's is reasonable to buyi 450 points in something you have no experience in. It's your money but I'd certainly take a step back, visit a DVC with a several day stay and decide where you're going with this. You may want to simply get 150-200 points now and see how it goes. Then you could add on if you wanted or even get points at a different resort to use part of the time.

As for buying one or multiple contracts, there's no disadvantage to multiple contracts at the same resort and use year. They are treated as one. I'd highly recommend you get them separated, even if you buy them all at one time.

 

[FLYNZ4]

Originally posted by Dean
I'm not sure it's is reasonable to buyi 450 points in something you have no experience in. It's your money but I'd certainly take a step back, visit a DVC with a several day stay and decide where you're going with this. You may want to simply get 150-200 points now and see how it goes. Then you could add on if you wanted or even get points at a different resort to use part of the time.

As for buying one or multiple contracts, there's no disadvantage to multiple contracts at the same resort and use year. They are treated as one. I'd highly recommend you get them separated, even if you buy them all at one time.

Dean,

Thanks for the comment. We actually have a lot of experience in WDW in general. We have been annual pass holders since 1989... we just have not been staying at DVC. We have stayed in just about every hotel in WDW... and we have toured all of them extensivly... and have probably eaten in every restaurant in the entire WDW property.

We are also accomplished time share owners. We use timeshares about 2-3 times per month (mostly weekends) in the Pacific NW. We use our timeshares as our "vacation home"... usually on coast overlooking the ocean. We are pretty spoiled now, and enjoy staying in a condo over a hotel room. For the past several years, we thought seriously about DVC... but we felt that our "Disney Years" might be over... but we are finding that Debbie and I still like to go by ourselves... and the kids still want to go on family excursions even now that they are all college age.

We have traded into Marriott Cypress Harbour in Orlando for two weeks last summer. We did so because we really have outgrown being able to fit the 5 of us into a hotel room anymore. It was fine when the kids were small... but we are 5 adults now. I really hate paying Disney prices for two hotel rooms. Getting an exchange into a local condo (like the Marriott) is trivial to do in Orlando. It is also very cheap if we use points from our other condos, and reserve within 60 days. There is such a glut of condos in Orlando, that you are guaranteed to get a unit any week of the year. Marriott is considered one of the prime condos (outside of disney)... and we were able to get into a 2BR unit at MCH for a total of $250/week including the price of our points, and the II exchange fees. However... staying off property just is not the same as staying in Disney. I would rather cram us all into a hotel room than stay off property again. This was the first time we had spent any significant time off of the property since 1990.

Our WDW vacations have averaged 2 weeks in length... with durations up to 3 weeks. So while we may be new to DVC... we are not new to either Disney, nor timeshares... so I think we will be fine with 450 points. If we start getting too many... I'm sure we will find a way to take an extra trip.

Also... It appears pretty easy to rent out excess points. Do people here generally find that to be true? Is the going price "really" $10/point, or is that just the asking price? How much do they typically really rent for? I seriously doubt that we will ever need to rent out credits... It's more likely that we will want to rent them from others.

/Jim

 

[Dean]

FLYNZ4, I hope it works out. At least you know what you're getting into and that was my main point.

 

[wanna-b-Tink]

If you know what you want now, I'd get it now.

Initially, we bought the minimum 150 points needed to buy into Boardwalk back in 2000. Looking at all the rooms, we were happy with the studio, and could stay a couple of weeks a year in one during the cheap times.

Then we took my family and got a two bedroom. Needless to say, we don't plan to stay in studios except at HHI. We use this as our halfway stop off point when driving home, and stay one night there each trip.

So, we went to plan B. How many points to stay one week in a OKW two bedroom at the cheapest time of the year. Hence, the 80 point add on at BC.

Then we decided we liked going twice a year. So we have now added on an additional 270 at SSR.

All three locations have the same use year of course, but it would be so much nicer if they were all at the same place so we could book a GV if we wanted to at the 11 month window with no problems. I can't remember exactly what we paid for those initial points, but I think it was around $70. Had I known then what I know now, we could have saved SO MUCH $$$ !!!