Use Year or Resort?

[MickeyNola]

There's a lot going on here. IF I'm reading correctly, you've only had 3 visits and don't have a good feel for long term. In that case committing to DVC might be a very poor option. DVC is notoriously bad to buy to use for non DVC trips. One way around this is to buy planning EOY and using cash or other means for in between trips at Disney or otherwise. That way you get to try out the system with smaller commitment. If you can plan at least by the 7 month window, owning DVC very well may not be a good choice even if going to Disney routinely. IMO home resort does matter but costs matter more once you get up to the level of resort you'd be happy with most trips. Basically assume you will have to stay at that resort every trip and try them all when the opportunity arrises.

As a rule I'm more comfortable seeing people underbuy both in # of points and home resort than over. IF one makes a mistake, better to have $10K invested in SSR than $20-25K in GF or BLT for the same number of points.

Just to clarify, my wife and I have been to Disney 3 times together since we're married, but we've both individually been to WDW more times then I can remember, so I'm pretty confident that we plan on continuing to go to Orlando regularly. I think after all this discussion I'm putting about 60/40 weight on User Year and resort location. I spoke with the Mrs. and I think we'll look for a April UY, since we most likely will travel in May or June, and we're still undecided on the resort choice.

I bolded the part above because I think it's a great point and a good part of how we're looking at DVC as pre-purchasing our future vacations. I know we'll always be able to buy more points if we need them, even if it takes a little time to find them. I'm looking to spend between 10-15K, which isn't chump change, but its what we can tolerate in risk. Some of the listings out there for 25-30K in points just aren't in the cards for us right now.

 

[Dean]

Just to clarify, my wife and I have been to Disney 3 times together since we're married, but we've both individually been to WDW more times then I can remember, so I'm pretty confident that we plan on continuing to go to Orlando regularly. I think after all this discussion I'm putting about 60/40 weight on User Year and resort location. I spoke with the Mrs. and I think we'll look for a April UY, since we most likely will travel in May or June, and we're still undecided on the resort choice.

I bolded the part above because I think it's a great point and a good part of how we're looking at DVC as pre-purchasing our future vacations. I know we'll always be able to buy more points if we need them, even if it takes a little time to find them. I'm looking to spend between 10-15K, which isn't chump change, but its what we can tolerate in risk. Some of the listings out there for 25-30K in points just aren't in the cards for us right now.

Thanks for the clarification and good luck with the choices.