What factors did you consider when purchasing?

[mla973]

We are debating a few re-sale contracts, and I'm torn between which resort to choose. Did you choose based on price per point, likeability of the resort, room choices at resort, length of contract, etc.

(i.e. I like both BWV, mostly for the location and standard room point charges, and SSR, for the extended time frame and theme. If the selling price contracts are about equal for the same number of points, I don't know which to choose. We mostly stay at value/moderates, so any DVC room category will be an upgrade for us.)

Thanks!

 

[JimMIA]

Here's a little light reading material for you. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=778634

It's an old thread, so read the disclaimers and disregard specific prices. But it contains a good bit of wisdom from a number of different posters on many purchasing topics, beginning with choice of home resort.

 

[CarolMN]

Resort choice is very personal. We all like different things.

If you really can't choose, then just go with the best $$ deal. I think you have expressed a good understanding of the "choice" you need to make.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

We chose SSR because of the Price (F&F late 05),
The location we love DTD and can see us their more as we age.
The extra years can be left to DD13 .
Love the parking right at the building.

Now we will start staying at all the resorts but we always book SSR first then see whats up at the 7 month window.

Location is not that important to us as we go enough to just go with the flow.

 

[Anal Annie]

Definitely in this order:
1) Price per point (less $ = more pts.)
2) Longer length of contract (to leave to our DS & his family one day - this might actually make it possible for our GREAT grandkids to be able to go to WDW with DVC)!
3) We plan to bounce around & experiment with all the resorts so the home resort isn't as impt. to us. Have never been to SSR so want to try it for a few nites next yr. - but have also always wanted to stay at VWL and can't wait to go to AKV.

 

[homedad]

we just bought a very small resale(100 points), it was based on in order.
Size of contract(my wife will only go every other year), resort, points that came with contract(we got 2005 and 2006 with purchase).good luck!

 

[Granny]

We are debating a few re-sale contracts, and I'm torn between which resort to choose. Did you choose based on price per point, likeability of the resort, room choices at resort, length of contract, etc.

If you really don't care where you stay, you can buy at any of the on-site DVC resorts. At that point, I'd probably go with OKW or SSR for the lower point schedules and maintenance fees. You can figure out if the extra 12 years are worth the upcharge or not.

Having said that, we bought based on which resorts we like the most. If we only stayed at VWL or BWV for the next few decades, that would still be awesome! But many others don't have that much of an attachment to a particular resort so why pay more for something that isn't that important to you?

Good luck in your decision.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Strictly on the resort. I would rather pay more and be at a place we truly enjoy. Seems like the story of my life and every day am thankful that we are able to do DVC among other really cool family vacations.

HBC

 

[castleri]

When we bought our first contract at OKW the main consideration was maintenance fees- we had a choice of OKW or BWV at the time and just figured the lower MFs and points would work best for us. Then we purchased BCV during the presale and the main reason was SAB with location being second (we actually have only stayed here 4 times) We also got in at a good price. I bought SSR for the extra years and the artist renderings of the pool area looked really great (better than the actual pool in my opinion). Would love to buy AKV but just can't afford it at this point without selling one of the others and ending up with less points. Sure hope there will be availability at the 7 month point as AKL is my son's favorite resort of all.

 

[jdvm]

I think you should buy where you want to stay most often.
John

 

[crisi]

We bought when only BWV, OKW, BCV and VWL were available. We bought resale - which meant at that time our choices were BWV and OKW - no one had even closed on BCV yet (and a DVC guide didn't call us back) and VWL resales were still rare and very expensive. We tried to buy OKW but the deal fell through and we ended up with a similar contract at BWV and are very happy. We could have really ended up at any of those four resorts and been happy - VWL is a favorite of mine, OKW is a great value and appeals to my frugal nature, we'd have bought BCV from Disney had a guide called us back quickly - and been happy, and are thrilled with BWV location and being able to book SV rooms.

What I would do - and I've recommend this a few times. Make a list of all possible attributes - here are a few to get you started:

Location
Theming
Length of Contract
Dues
Room Size
Point Value
Transportation
Parking
Condo vs. Hotel
Price
Pool
Restaurants within walking distance

Weight those - I think decor and theming are very important - you may not. Twelve extra years is meaningless to me, but really important to others. Then rank the resorts against those attributes - once again, it will be very subjective. Some people think BWV/BCV have the best possible location, other people hate the busy nature of those resorts and find it a bad location. Multiple across, score down and something will fall out as the winner.

Then the check is if you change your mind anyway. In the end, go with your heart.

 

[BroganMc]

(i.e. I like both BWV, mostly for the location and standard room point charges, and SSR, for the extended time frame and theme. If the selling price contracts are about equal for the same number of points, I don't know which to choose. We mostly stay at value/moderates, so any DVC room category will be an upgrade for us.)

We bought direct from Disney but had the option to buy other resorts. In the end, the extra 12 years on the contract and price incentives were enough for us to want SSR. We also liked the location and decor, so it wasn't a hard choice to make.

One thing you want to consider is how far your points will go at the home resort. If you love BWV for the Boardwalk or Preferred views you'll end up needing more points for your stay than one at SSR. You can get standard views for less, but then you'll be facing the driveway. If that's ok and you still really want to stay there, buy BWV.

SSR is a big enough resort to handle general DVC demand. So if you want to stay there, you won't have as many problems. (Same goes for OKW and the new AKV.) But BWV is a smaller resort and demand usually makes getting in at busy times harder.