What do you know now...

[Granny]

How hard is it to get a GV? We'd probably only do this every four years or so but I didn't think it would be that hard! Does it depend on the DVC? We'd buy SSR.

Thanks.

I'd say that GV's anywhere are very difficult to get without home resort booking advantage. Yes, you could get lucky and grab one at the 7 month window during a low DVC booking time of the year, but in general they book quickly since there are so few of them.

If you buy SSR, they have GVs and you have a good chance of grabbing one. If you are trying for the busier times of the year, you will want to call day by day to give you your best chance to secure it exactly at the 11 month window.

 

[erikthewise]

As usual, I'll be difficult.
It's more a matter of what I'm GLAD I didn't know before buying!

I'm glad I didn't know that instead of studios, our family of 4 would be staying in 1BR units all the time. That would have thrown my spreadsheet into a tizzy.

I'm glad I didn't know that we would never (up to now) take advantage of any of the "other" ways of using points.

I'm glad I didn't know how much BCV contracts would be selling for in a few years.

If I had known any of these things (or others), I likely would have bought too many points or not bought at all. As it was, it worked out just about right!

 

[ACDSNY]

Thanks to these boards we found out we could buy a small contract through resale. As a west coaster I still wasn't too sure we would travel to WDW often enough.

In Sept 05 we purchased 100 points at SSR, wish I knew about add-on-itis earlier. We added two 60 point SSR contracts three months later. We normally travel with 6-8 people so we've usually have 2 bedroom units. We'll be trying our first week in a studio for just 2 or 3 of us in Apr 07, I'm not sure I will like downsizing.

I wish we would have bought in sooner. We actually considered buying the during the SSR presale days, boy I wish we took the plunge earlier.

 

[Steamboat Bill]

If you can't afford to buy 100% cash, then rent!

 

[Cindi0511]

How hard is it to get a GV? We'd probably only do this every four years or so but I didn't think it would be that hard! Does it depend on the DVC? We'd buy SSR.

Thanks.

We bought in at SSR last April with a Sept. use year. We're staying in a GV at SSR for the three nights after our cruise, Sept. 28+Oct. 1. I called at the 11-month window for three days straight, and got each day just fine. Now, Christmas might be another story ... Hope it works out for you!