Weighing options - where to buy - HELP!

[Daitcher]

hi Dave,
I'm pretty sure they won't let you slide down the slide with your son AND a margarita in hand....if they do, we can have a contest

We can only dream.

DAVE

 

[Daitcher]

My dh is now leaning toward the BWV because of their standard-view option. Our thought is that perhaps instead of buying one large contract, we should buy two smaller ones. Say, 100-150 points at BWV and another 100-150 at SSR. We're thinking that might give us the best of both worlds?

That isn't a bad idea at all. Just remmebr you must have enough points from each resort to cover ressies at that resort using the 11 month home booking window. Well...... that couldn't have been more confusing. For example, if you want to make a ressie at BWV at 11 months out, to get those standard view rooms, that ressie must use the 100-150 points you mention. You couldn't use SSR points for the BWV until 7 months out. Just be sure to buy enough points at each resort to cover the stays you'll want there each year. This would give you the booking advantage at each resort. Good luck with the decision.


DAVE

 

[Buckalew11]

I'm still debating all this in my mind also. My 3 day time limit to decide was up Friday for the SSR so I have no idea at this point if I have any extra incentives to buy there.

I'm looking at OKW also. Trying to decide whether those 12 years are that important to me and my child. I'll be 89, she'll be 60 in 48 years. If I make it to 89, I seriously doubt I'll be doing much trekking around WDW.

I love staying at the S/D for the convenience of MGM and Epcot so I know those 2 places would appeal to us. But, I think I'd just like to be able to trade there every now and then.

We'll see. Nice to know I'm not alone in kicking around all the options.

 

[Judique]

So if you plan on your longest vacation, say in August, would you pick June as your use year??? Thanks

Yes. You would be booking August with your June points and if you had to cancel....9 months to rebook.

 

[Judique]

Only time will tell how it plays out. For now I'll be the guy drinking margaritas and going down the slide with my 4 year old son at BCV, WALKING into Epcot. I also should mention I'm staying at VB, OKW and VWL this year as well as the 3 BCV trips. I'm not just taking up those BCV rooms, I'm spreading it around. Nice disagreeing with you.

DAVE

Dave,
Enjoy all your vacations and your time with your son...you sound like a great Dad!

ps.....no glass at the pool or hard plastic on the slide....maybe you could get one of those soft things that you spray it in your mouth with??

 

[Disney Doll]

We will be homeschooling, so when I say 'pulling the kids out of school' it's not quite as it sounds. It's a little easier to work ahead to cover the material, or catch up on what you missed, in a homeschool environment. I just didn't expand on the homeschooling aspect because that can be controversial too, and I was trying to sidestep a potential debate.

My dh is now leaning toward the BWV because of their standard-view option. Our thought is that perhaps instead of buying one large contract, we should buy two smaller ones. Say, 100-150 points at BWV and another 100-150 at SSR. We're thinking that might give us the best of both worlds?

Well, the home-schooling aspect chnages things a bit maybe, but I'd still recommend buy where you want to stay.

Your idea of 2 smaller contracts is a good one though, in the event::gasp :: that you ever have to sell your DVC. . It is easier to sell 2 smaller contracts than it is to sell one large one. The average buyer can more easily see spending $20K that $80K on a timeshare, I would imagine. DH & I have 2 contracts, both with OKW as our home resort, for 200 & 230 points.

When DH & I were purchasing in 1997, only OKW & BWV were available. BWV was more expensive per point and for maintenance fees. We toured both, loved both, loved the location of BWV, but loved the size of OKW rooms. It was a difficult decision. However, we asked ourselves one question..."If DVC changed the rules and said we could only stay at our home resort, could we be happy at OKW forever?" Our answer was yes, the cost was less, we liked the laid back feel of the resort, we liked the large room size, we liked the tropical-ness (is that a word??) of it since we live in New England, so we bought there. So ask yourself that question, and answer it honestly. If you always had to stay at SSR, could you be happy and enjoy your vacation, or would there always be a little stab of sadness that you weren't at the BWVs sometimes?

We have always been able to stay where we wanted. We travel at unusual times of the year...we have no children so have no need to arrange vacations around school breaks etc. You, based on your decision to homeschool, will be able to do the same thing...heck, you may be able to include a Disney trip into your curriculum somehow by doing a behind the scenes tour at Epcot or something...you never know!!!!

Your idea to split points between 2 different resorts may be the answer you need.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[DrTomorrow]

[...]I have a hard time thinking we'll be regretting not buying SSR for the extra years - The next 10 years are the ones that count for our family (kids 7,5,4)...

Good luck

First off, I quoted bdb only because the above sentiment comes up so often - not picking on anyone.

That said, it is always important to keep in mind that DVC is a 40-50 year purchase of pre-paid Disney-style vacation. There is a good chance, particularly for those with younger children, that you and your family's likes, dislikes & preferences will change GREATLY over the decades. As the father of a DS25 who went to WDW more than a few times growing up, I can tell you that what appeals to a 5YO doesn't necessarily appeal to a 15YO - or 25YO .

I'm willing to agree that some folks still might want to take the walk to MGM or EPCOT (location, huff, puff, location, wheeze, location) as they age, but - IMHO - the grown-up lure of DTD, the ease of getting off-site (heck, the ease of getting to parking and from car to room) and the laid-back appeal of SRS (particularly as the landscaping matures) will be more consistant.

Once again, follow your heart's desire - after all, it is Disney! Just keep in mind that, unlike a one-shot hotel room, your DVC Home Resort will span decades and many life changes.

IMHO - YMMV - Be well!

 

[Daitcher]

Dave,
Enjoy all your vacations and your time with your son...you sound like a great Dad!

ps.....no glass at the pool or hard plastic on the slide....maybe you could get one of those soft things that you spray it in your mouth with??

DAVE

 

[cg1200]

I am in the exact same boat as BellaBuggy. I'm on the fence about joining DVC in general and then I can't decide on where I should purchase. The whole buy where you like vs the extra 12 years at SSR is one tough decision. We just came back from our first trip to the BWV's and really liked them a lot. I can't envision ever staying at SSR for years to come because my kids are so young that the DTD area holds little appeal to us. I typically like staying on the monorail for easier access to MK but the huge rooms at the BWV were very nice as was the atmosphere which was a concern of mine.

It seems that most people haven't had too much trouble booking at the 7 month window as long as they avoid the busiest weeks of the year (which we'd try to do) and the extra 12 years really makes good financial sense as articulated by Daitcher. At this point (and this could change in the next 10 minutes) I'm leaning toward SSR just for the extra 12 years. I honestly can't see EVER staying there. I am not a big fan of DTD. It's just too far (for me) from the whole Disney vibe. I'm sure the resort is great, etc. I just can't see myself staying there any time soon (if ever).

Knowing this, how wise is it to buy at SSR with almost no intention of ever staying there? Should I just bite the bullet and buy at BWV? Daitcher sure makes a lot of sense to me though...

 

[BellaBuggy]

I know what you mean about Downtown Disney. I honestly don't even picture us going there when the kids are grown - what would we do? Shop? Eat? Go to bars? None of that is really our scene. I love to eat, but I'd rather do that in Epcot. I guess we just don't see the draw to DTD.

I think we are pretty settled on buying two contracts. Probably 100-150 at both BWV and SSR. Then we'll add on from there, as I can convince dh to cough up the cash.

 

[cg1200]

100% agree. DTD does nothing for us.

Can you explain to me why you're going with 2 contracts? What is the advantage of doing it this way? We would only be going to Disney at most every other year and would probably need less than 300 points when we do go. So I was thinking the minimumm 150 contract at SSR would be fine since I could borrow the points from myself to get to the 300 in our use year. You think I should consider two 75 point contracts, one at BWV and the other at SSR?

 

[bobbiwoz]

If SSR was such a valuable commodity, why are there so many incentives to buy? That's what doesn't make sense to me.

I think what makes it somewhat valuable is the fact that you CAN book the other, smaller resorts. Maybe you who bought it without planning to stay there are all financial wizzards. I'm not, but am happy with our homes, BWV, WVL and VB.

Bellabuggy, and the rest who are on the fence, I hope you all are inspired by the pixie dust I'm sending your way! I'm glad our decision has been made, we are only sorry that we didn't make the decision to buy sooner!!

Bobbi

 

[BellaBuggy]

100% agree. DTD does nothing for us.

Can you explain to me why you're going with 2 contracts? What is the advantage of doing it this way? We would only be going to Disney at most every other year and would probably need less than 300 points when we do go. So I was thinking the minimumm 150 contract at SSR would be fine since I could borrow the points from myself to get to the 300 in our use year. You think I should consider two 75 point contracts, one at BWV and the other at SSR?

We are going to go with two contracts for a few reasons. The main being that we really want an Epcot location, and we're thinking BWV because they offer the standard-view rooms which are very low points values (comparable to OKW). BCV is fabulous, and we'd love to trade and stay there sometimes, but they do require higher points. We're going to buy the other SSR points so that we do have a higher number of points, which we're looking for, and they will be at a resort with lower MF, and the points will be good for an additional 12 years. We're young, 28 & 30, so we will likely be able to use our points for the length of the contract, and it would be very sad to see one expire in 2042 and know that we were missing out on another 12 years of 'free' vacations. LOL (I know they aren't free, but I'm sure they will feel that way 30 years from now!) Also because we're young, our savings isn't huge and we don't want to deplete it, so buying two contracts seperately will make it easier for us to afford them, adding on as we can later afford. And from what I have seen, smaller contracts seem to sell better, so if God forbid something should happen that would make that necessary, I think we'd be able to do so faster/easier.

We aren't buying just yet - trying to give this idea some time to gel...maybe I haven't thought of something else that would change my mind. But so far the two contracts seem to give us the best of both worlds.

Something you would need to consider, if you thought about doing that, would be your travel patterns and booking priority. We usually plan a few months ahead of time and go in off-seasons, so this should work well for us. But the 11-month booking window at your home resort is only good with that resort's points, so if for example I needed 120 points for a room at BWV and I only had a 100 point BWV contract, I couldn't transfer 20 points from my SSR contract and reserve that room at 11 months out. You only have priority with the number of points you have at that resort, so each contract should have enough to cover your likely reservations if you need the earlier reservation option. If you will be booking at 7 months or less, then it won't matter, as the points can be transferred however you wish. Does that make sense?

 

[BellaBuggy]

I should also add that we want two different resorts so that if something should change and you are no longer allowed to resort-hop, we'd still have more than one option.

 

[cg1200]

Makes sense. I actually have in my inbox a contract for 150 points at the BWV. I've come around and decided that SSR just doesn't make sense for me. The additional 12 years would be nice but as someone else said earlier in this thread, it's the next 10-12 years that really count. I'll be in my 70's when this thing expires and likely will not care about SSR or BWV at that point.

For me it came down to the 11 month window. I plan our trips really far in advance and I would be very upset if I got shut out of a resort I really liked (such as BWV) and got stuck with SSR at the 7 month window. Granted, that possiblily isn't that likely as of now but it could change. Going with a BWV contract guanrantees me a room at a resort my family loves, in a great location. We will NEVER feel like we are settling.

That said, a 2nd contract at SSR also sounds like a good hedge to take advantage of the additional 12 years and lower fees.

Hopefully I won't change my mind again on the way home. If all goes well, I'll be a DVC member in a couple of months.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this thread. It was so helpful to read others opinions especially the folks on the fence just like me.

 

[mikesmom]

Bellabuggy, it makes perfect sense to me to do the 2 contracts. If you had to dump one later on because of financial reasons or just non-use, it would be easier to get rid of 2 small contracts or have the option of keeping one.

By the way, you mentioned in your original post that you go during slow seasons, but then you mentioned both the first weeks of December and Sept/October. Just a heads up, December is THE busiest season for DVC. Low points and great decorations sell the rooms out fast - particularly at the smaller resorts. October begins the Food & Wine Fest at Epcot, so that makes BCV and BWV quite challenging to reserve at the 7 month mark. Out of school summer holidays are actually easier to book DVC rooms. Since members have other options, they often avoid the high heat, crowded parks time of year. Buying a small contract at one of the Epcot resorts will seem even smarter if you are trying to reserve at those busy times.

 

[rinkwide]

...I'm leaning toward SSR just for the extra 12 years. I honestly can't see EVER staying there...

...I've come around and decided that SSR just doesn't make sense for me. The additional 12 years would be nice but ... it's the next 10-12 years that really count...

Phew, that was a close one!

 

[cg1200]

I changed my mind twice in one thread!! I'm pathetic. I still have to make it home show the contract to the wife and sign it. Who knows what can happen between now and tomorrow??

 

[disneymom3]

I changed my mind twice in one thread!! I'm pathetic. I still have to make it home show the contract to the wife and sign it. Who knows what can happen between now and tomorrow??

Uhh, I would say you are in very good company. I change my mind on this issue about every 10 minutes!!

 

[tigger2on]

Bella buggy
I am in the midst of signing papers and sending in our offer for a resale SSR contract. We are hoping to buy a contract of similar value at BW eventually this year.
Why SSR?
1. 12 extra years = passing on a legacy of vacation memories to our kids & their kids. The memories they will make will be worth it. I see how my kids love it and it's nice to know that maybe oneday, they will also know that feeling as their daughters see a real prince for the first time, or get to ride TOT and scare the pants off them, or have their toddlers hugging a giant stuffed person!!!! PRICELESS
2. We have a disabled child and the pool is accessible. Also since we have never been able to take her on a water slide at the resorts (rules... they suck for the underdog), SSR has a smaller slide she can play on while she is small.
3. WE LOVE THE ADVENTURERS CLUB!!!
4. We usually take my mom aka Gramma, the best sitter in the world. She is not a"parks" kinda lady,but loves to wander DTD.
5. We got a good contract )

Why BWV?
1. Love the promenade. resturants, ambiance, fireworks
2. Like the fact that it is a giant connected building with constant A/C.... for noise factors, we always request one as close to the parking lot at the far end of the building.
3. Boat to MGM/ Epcot or short jaunts.
4. Quiet pool is rarely overcrowded when we go....
5.It was where we had our only night alone during our honeymoon!!!

Good luck on any choice you make.... take in all the advice but do what's good for you.

Suzanne