What are my chances at 7 months or.....

[MJ6987]

....how important is home resort?

Is there somewhere where you can see roughly what the chances are of getting a certain resort at a certain time of year?

We are looking into DVC and I just wondered if home resort is that important or if it is just better to buy the cheapest one (within reason, e.g. Saratoga - not Hilton Head) and then use the 7 month window to book.

After all, DIsney stress how flexible DVC is.

If it makes a difference (I suspect it might), we are from the UK so we would be looking for longer bookings (e.g. 14 nights or spilt 7/7 nights). On the plus side, we should be able to go at fairly "quiet" times such as late October or last two weeks of August.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jerseygal]

Our home resort is Animal Kingdom.
2009: At 7 months booked Grand California Resort, for mid August 2009
2010: At 7 months booked Kidani/Vero, for mid August 2010
2011: At 7 months booked Villas at Wilderness Lodge,for mid August 2010
2012: Booked Saratoga Springs at 4 months, for mid August 2010
2013: Skipped This Year.. Banked Points for Aulani
2014: Booked Aulani at 7 Months for end of May, 2014
This December, 2014: Booked Animal Kingdom Jambo, 11 months out for 4 nights. At 7 months, waitlisted 2 of the nights for Boardwalk Villas and waitlist came through about 3 weeks later..Doing split stay, 2 nights AKV Jambo, 2 nights Boardwalk Villas!

My opinion is if you are great planners, 7 months to the day, you should be
successful!

Love our DVC!!! Couldn't be HAPPIER!

BEST OF LUCK in your decisions!

 

[MJ6987]

Our home resort is Animal Kingdom.
2009: At 7 months booked Grand California Resort, for mid August 2009
2010: At 7 months booked Kidani/Vero, for mid August 2010
2011: At 7 months booked Villas at Wilderness Lodge,for mid August 2010
2012: Booked Saratoga Springs at 4 months, for mid August 2010
2013: Skipped This Year.. Banked Points for Aulani
2014: Booked Aulani at 7 Months for end of May, 2014
This December, 2014: Booked Animal Kingdom Jambo, 11 months out for 4 nights. At 7 months, waitlisted 2 of the nights for Boardwalk Villas and waitlist came through about 3 weeks later..Doing split stay, 2 nights AKV Jambo, 2 nights Boardwalk Villas!

My opinion is if you are great planners, 7 months to the day, you should be
successful!

Love our DVC!!! Couldn't be HAPPIER!

BEST OF LUCK in your decisions!

Sounds good! I am pretty organised, used to making ADR's at 7:00 Eastern time!

 

[LisaS]

I recommend that you read through this very comprehensive post by drusba who has been tracking availability at the WDW resorts for some time now: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=51506136#post51506136

Just so you are aware, October isn't very quiet at the DVC resorts due to Epcot's Food & Wine festival. It runs from mid September through early November. DVC's busy season tends to be different than WDW's. DVC is busiest from the start of the Food & Wine festival in September until sometime in January. Again, see drusba's post for all the details.

Good luck with your research! There is a lot of good information here. I waded through hundreds of threads on the DIS before making a decision to purchase our first DVC contract.

 

[MJ6987]

I recommend that you read through this very comprehensive post by drusba who has been tracking availability at the WDW resorts for some time now: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=51506136#post51506136

Just so you are aware, October isn't very quiet at the DVC resorts due to Epcot's Food & Wine festival. It runs from mid September through early November. DVC's busy season tends to be different than WDW's. DVC is busiest from the start of the Food & Wine festival in September until sometime in January. Again, see drusba's post for all the details.

Good luck with your research! There is a lot of good information here. I waded through hundreds of threads on the DIS before making a decision to purchase our first DVC contract.

Thanks for that!

A follow on question, is availability pretty much guaranteed in your home resort at 11 months? E.g. Say you own at Boardwalk or BCV and want to book 2 weeks during Food and Wine at 11 months out, would you be sure of success?

 

[nalajms]

Thanks for that!

A follow on question, is availability pretty much guaranteed in your home resort at 11 months? E.g. Say you own at Boardwalk or BCV and want to book 2 weeks during Food and Wine at 11 months out, would you be sure of success?

Depends on the room. You will get something at 11m. The BWV standard view (cheapest) and boardwalk views will book up first. Just to give you an example, I tried to book BWV standard view room for the first week of Dec 2014 (busiest DVC time). We were traveling when the 11m window opened. I was a day late, the stardard view and boardwalk views 2bd were gone. That's the extreme. On the flip side, we changed our early May reservation at 5 months. I had booked a 2bd standard view at 11m. I was able to drop 2 nights and book a standard view studio.

Also, you should take the 7m booking successes for 2009-2012 with a grain of salt. The economy was down, and I don't think that many people were traveling. Booking for 2013+ was significantly harder compared to those years.

 

[MJ6987]

Depends on the room. You will get something at 11m. The BWV standard view (cheapest) and boardwalk views will book up first. Just to give you an example, I tried to book BWV standard view room for the first week of Dec 2014 (busiest DVC time). We were traveling when the 11m window opened. I was a day late, the stardard view and boardwalk views 2bd were gone. That's the extreme. On the flip side, we changed our early May reservation at 5 months. I had booked a 2bd standard view at 11m. I was able to drop 2 nights and book a standard view studio.

Also, you should take the 7m booking successes for 2009-2012 with a grain of salt. The economy was down, and I don't think that many people were traveling. Booking for 2013+ was significantly harder compared to those years.

OK thanks. I do like the idea of the Epcot resorts, being able to stagger "home" from the F+W at night! Being from the UK, we need to book 2 weeks real and book early. Maybe Beach Club would be a safer option than Boardwalk then?

 

[nalajms]

OK thanks. I do like the idea of the Epcot resorts, being able to stagger "home" from the F+W at night! Being from the UK, we need to book 2 weeks real and book early. Maybe Beach Club would be a safer option than Boardwalk then?

BVC would be harder (compared to BWV) during busy times because it is a much smaller resort. For my Dec 2014 trip, I was able to book a pool/garden room at BWV. In fact, the 2bedroom pool/garden room was still available at 7m, but gone shortly after.

 

[LisaS]

OK thanks. I do like the idea of the Epcot resorts, being able to stagger "home" from the F+W at night! Being from the UK, we need to book 2 weeks real and book early. Maybe Beach Club would be a safer option than Boardwalk then?

The previous poster was talking specifically about Standard View at BWV. Only 20% of the rooms at BWV are Standard View, 20% are Boardwalk View and the remaining 60% are Pool & Garden View. The first two categories book up quickly, Standard View due to the low point cost and Boardwalk View due to the view.

Studios go quickly so, for example, at 11 months out I could easily book a BWV 1BR Standard View but some of those looking for a Standard View Studio were getting shut out, right at 11 months out for F&W.

There would be no problem getting some sort of Studio at BWV 11 months out (probably Boardwalk View and definitely Pool & Garden View) but the Standard View rooms go very quickly so even BWV owners are not guaranteed to get a Standard View Studio for F&W 11 months out.

 

[MinnieGirl33]

Buy where you want to stay.

 

[disneynutz]

....how important is home resort?

Is there somewhere where you can see roughly what the chances are of getting a certain resort at a certain time of year?

We are looking into DVC and I just wondered if home resort is that important or if it is just better to buy the cheapest one (within reason, e.g. Saratoga - not Hilton Head) and then use the 7 month window to book.

After all, DIsney stress how flexible DVC is.

If it makes a difference (I suspect it might), we are from the UK so we would be looking for longer bookings (e.g. 14 nights or spilt 7/7 nights). On the plus side, we should be able to go at fairly "quiet" times such as late October or last two weeks of August.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

I am currently on a buy SSR kick. Use SSR as a platform to experience the resorts and availability for yourself. Decide which resorts you want to own, buy there and sell SSR.

Bill

 

[MJ6987]

Buy where you want to stay.

I always see this but it's not quite as simple as that.

If where you "want to stay" is Standard View Studios at BWV (or BCV Studios) during F+W (this is pretty accurate for me) and you might not be able to book that even at 11 months out, doesn't that negate the value of having it as home resort?

 

[MJ6987]

I am currently on a buy SSR kick. Use SSR as a platform to experience the resorts and availability for yourself. Decide which resorts you want to own, buy there and sell SSR.

Bill

I assume you lose quite a lot of money buying resale then selling via resale later though? There must be a margin for the brokers, not to mention costs.

 

[disneynutz]

I assume you lose quite a lot of money buying resale then selling via resale later though? There must be a margin for the brokers, not to mention costs.

If you sell through a broker, yes you will have fees but how else can you experience ownership, availability, and get to stay at all of the DVC resorts? You could also use the SSR points for 7 month reservations or you could rent them out to help offset your dues liability.

There are hundreds if not thousands of resale contracts being sold yearly in addition to DVC foreclosures , why, maybe the buyer took their best guess and found out that DVC just didn't work out for them.

Using SSR as a stepping stone is a less expensive way to check things out before paying a premium price for your favorite resort.

 

[disneynutz]

I always see this but it's not quite as simple as that.

If where you "want to stay" is Standard View Studios at BWV (or BCV Studios) during F+W (this is pretty accurate for me) and you might not be able to book that even at 11 months out, doesn't that negate the value of having it as home resort?

It may, but if you don't own there, your chances are really negated.

Bill

 

[LisaS]

If where you "want to stay" is Standard View Studios at BWV (or BCV Studios) during F+W (this is pretty accurate for me) and you might not be able to book that even at 11 months out, doesn't that negate the value of having it as home resort?

It's the difference between having a chance (at 11 months from check in) and having no chance (at 7 months). But if you have your heart set on one of the most difficult rooms to book (BWV, Standard View Studio during F&W) then you must own BWV and may have to use the wait list to get it. After getting shut out of BWV or BCV at 7 months for F&W, many members have added on a small contract at one of those resorts specifically to book during F&W. That has really skewed the demand for that time.

You state that your other top choice is BCV. A studio there for one week in October costs 107 pts, exactly the same as a Boardwalk View or Pool & Garden View studio at BWV. A Standard Studio at BWV is 78 points for one week in October, so that is why they are so much in demand. And if you're considering buying enough points to stay at BCV, you could get a similar-size contract at BWV for less and book at Boardwalk View Studio for the same number of points as a studio at BCV.

Fortunately F&W goes on for several weeks and some periods are busier than others, particularly the two three-day weekends during the festival: 1) Columbus Day weekend (Columbus Day is the second Monday in October), and 2) Veteran's Day weekend in November which is the last weekend of the festival. If you avoid both of those weekends, your chances of getting a Standard View Studio 11 months out are slightly better.

 

[Sandisw]

I always see this but it's not quite as simple as that.

If where you "want to stay" is Standard View Studios at BWV (or BCV Studios) during F+W (this is pretty accurate for me) and you might not be able to book that even at 11 months out, doesn't that negate the value of having it as home resort?

I think when people say this, they are referring to resort. You are correct, if you buy a resort for a particular, popular view, you may have to go with something else.

However, if you want to stay at BWV, owning there will pretty much guarantee you will get one of the rooms at 11 months out...may not be the exact view, but a room there. If you buy SSR, then you will be at the mercy of 7 months and by then, not only could the special views be booked, but so could all of them.

You would be forced to waitlist and possibly be well below home resort owners who couldn't get rooms either.

IMO, you should not buy where you don't want to stay, if that is the only place you could get when you go to book. If you buy SSR and can't seem to trade out as much as you like, are you going to be fine?

For some, resort is not a big issue. For others, like me, it is. I just came back from a 2 night stay at SSR. We were moving my DD 21 down so took what we could. I am a BLT and BWV girl, through and through.

Of course, booking a 6 weeks, I knew I would have to go to SSR. While it was nice--I wanted to change the first day!--and I can see staying there for down time when not planning to visit the parks (I liked the walk to DTD), it would not be something I would want to be at and had I bought that originally to save money, I would have sold it already.

Good luck!

 

[nkosiek]

I always see this but it's not quite as simple as that.

If where you "want to stay" is Standard View Studios at BWV (or BCV Studios) during F+W (this is pretty accurate for me) and you might not be able to book that even at 11 months out, doesn't that negate the value of having it as home resort?

You have it a bit wrong. You want to stay at BWV.

The room booking category is where you're running into trouble. I'd imagine you'll find that Garden/Pool views @ 11 months would be much easier to get, not guaranteed but certainly pretty close.

Booking category based on view is never guaranteed. If BWV is where you want to stay in October, would you be okay using 29 extra points to secure the Pool/Garden. You'd have a much better chance of getting into BWV owning there than not.

As for BCV, it is a much smaller resort, making it much harder to get in period.

 

[MinnieGirl33]

I always see this but it's not quite as simple as that.

If where you "want to stay" is Standard View Studios at BWV (or BCV Studios) during F+W (this is pretty accurate for me) and you might not be able to book that even at 11 months out, doesn't that negate the value of having it as home resort?

The only way to guarantee exactly what you want when & where you want it is to purchase one of the fixed week options and AFAIK, VGF & Aulani are the only resorts with that option.

 

[Sammie]

Honestly I would buy where it's the least expensive.

It is so hard to really know for years and years what you will like.

We just do not see the appeal to the BCV for example over other resorts. The wear and tear on it, is in my opinion one of the worst. It is small, no real counter service, and not so great transport to MK and AKV, two of our favorite parks. There are no great views and some are really undesirable to me due to the fact it is so close to the road.

I find our stay at SSR as enjoyable as any others and at 7 months we have stayed everywhere.

As we age what we like has changed, so I would take Bill's advice and get SSR start small and visit around and then make a decision long term later on.