What to do - What to buy?!?!?

[Budshark]

OK - first trip to WDW was in Feb this year. Took our 3 year old and we loved it. I grew up in SoCalif so I was used to going to Disney every month, but we are now in St. Louis. So... to the point at hand:

I've decided to buy in to DVC. The hard part is where? With a 3 year old and hopefully one more on the way, we feel we need to be in a "close" resort such as Wilderness or Boardwalk. However, I want to stretch my dollars (and years) and get one of the newer resorts - like Saratoga or Animal Kingdom. The problem (or question) I have is with Saratoga, you seem far from the parks and that there is more for "older" kids than little ones. And Animal Kingdom - you are soooo far away from everything else and that was our least favorite park when we were there...

So keeping in mind the fact that I want to keep our little ones happy, I can plan at the 11 month time frame, etc... where would you buy? It really is between Saratoga and Animal Kingdom, unless someone has an absolutely compelling reason why it should be at one of the "older" resorts. I hope to eventually own two comparable contracts that can be handed down to the little ones at the right time - which is why the 50 years matters (versus 35...)

Thanks so much!

Chris

 

[DVCLiz]

I'd say Saratoga, especially since you don't sound like an "Animal Kingdom" family as much. In my opinion, the people who are going to be happiest at the new Animal Kingdom DVC are the ones who love the resort on its own, for the animals, etc. (like me!!)

You have little children now, but they do grow up fast, and I think it's worth a little inconvenience in the early days with transportation, etc. in order to have the resources of DTD at your disposal in the future.

Have fun deciding, and remember that you can try all of the others as well during your ownership years!!!

 

[dianeschlicht]

I would reccomend you buy one contract "where you want to be" most right now. For wanting to be near MK, I would say that would be VWL at the moment. IT is close and easy to MK, and has a great theme and lots of fun with the pool and access to the park. Once you get down the road a bit, you might want to buy one of the newer resorts for the extra years to pass on the the kids, but for the time being, there really isn't much difference between 35 years and 50 years. Once we get another 10 years down the road, that could change though, so then you might want to buy a new longer running contract and sell the one that expires sooner. Having 25 years left, will still give it plenty of value (especially if you do VWL, since it is a small resort with a lot of appeal), and you should be able to come away with no loss, and maybe a gain. Of course, you will be paying more for the newer resorts at that point too, so you need to weigh that into the equation. We currently own mostly OKW with a small AKV contract. It is our intention to "trade" the OKW contracts for one at a new resort sometime in the next 10 years. We would sell the OKW contracts while they still have value and buy the newer resort contract to give our adult "kids" (now in their 30's) some extra use out of DVC.

 

[Waseller77]

I am in the same sort of situation - trying to decide between Saratoga or Animal Kingdom Villas with 2 young kids (2.5 yo and 9 months). I already own at HH and I am leaning towards Saratoga because of the cheaper cost and because I will get the 2006 points, plus the 2007 points. The extra points will be helpful for us...

 

[Mtnman44]

Buy what you want right now. I'm sure there will be plenty of upgrade opportunities in the next 20 years. Sounds like you will be a good candidate if/when CRV gets going. If I were you I'd look seriously at AKV. However if you really want to have quick access to a theme park then you really only have a couple choices right now. All of this assumes of course that you travel during high demand times for a particular resort and/or you desire a high demand room type and thus need an 11 month window at your resort. If not, you may be able to get most of what you want, most of the time at the 7 month window at which time your home resort is irrelevant.

 

[Budshark]

Thanks for all the quick replies and advice.

I'm assuming CRV means the rumored Contemporary?

I would assume most of our travel will be off months. I can travel any time, my wife doesn't work, and I have no problem pulling the kids from school for some quality family time in the coming years! So it sounds like the home resort wouldn't matter much. I know the wife has looked at Wilderness and Boardwalk.

Do you think as the program expands that having ownership in Wilderness and Boardwalk will become more important in terms of avoiding being locked out of these at the 7 month window?

Thanks again!
Chris

 

[hope3702]

I just bought SSR (sight unseen) with a One Year Old because:

I wanted the extra years
Place looks amazing
Good for active people
Good for little ones
Good for when kids are older
Close to DTD
Good for a trip without the kids (If that ever happens)
SPA
Golf
Very close to every park

 

[vandy]

I normally recommend to buy where you want to stay. However, you seem to really want the extra years since your kids are so young. That leaves SSR and AKV. You said AKV is your least favorite park so really it is a question of SSR or the others. A lot will depend on the time of year you are planning to travel. Since you stated you can travel in the off months, you will have a very good chance of staying at BCV and BWV even at the 7 month window. I would think SSR would be a good choice for several reasons:

Longer contract than BCV, BWV, OKW or VWL
Lowest annual dues
Lowest purchase price through DVC
Many people with young kids actually love SSR and enjoy the "quiet" time

If you REALLY feel you need to be in one of the other resorts, then buy there. Otherwise, SSR can make sense in your situation.

 

[dwelty]

We just returned from SSR (December) and my 3 year old daughter loved the pool and the community center. We ended up spending 2 days at the resort without going to the parks because she had a ball there. Trust me, your kids will LOVE SSR.

 

[ebenmax]

It sounds to me like you will be able to book at least one of your choice resorts at the 7 month mark since you will be traveling at all "off season" times. Just make sure that your idea of off season is the same as DVCers. I was surprised by some of what I thought would be the off season times that book up early with DVC. However, if you are traveling in DVC off seasons, then it sounds like you would be better off buying SSR (for all reasons mentioned).
While your children are little (which isn't very long compared to a DVC contract) try to book the resorts next to the parks. Then as your family's needs change and the booking may get more difficult your current reasoning will not be such a factor.

Good luck with your decision!!

 

[NYMomof4]

I just wanted to add that SSR has a zero entry pool for the little ones and a shallow area near it. There is also a "mini-waterslide" and the Donald squirty thing for little kids. Though SSR may be further from the parks-the kid(s) may need some down time after a long park day, and the resort is peaceful for that. DTD was a big draw for me, because there is a lot to do there in the evening (shop, walk over with strollers, Ghiradellli, Lego store, Goofy's Candy Co.)

Right now, I have owned for 1 1/2 years and have stayed at all of the DVC resorts except for VWL (going in May!!!), for at least a few days. It may get harder as more people join DVC, but AKV will probably be the big draw for a few years at least.

It sounds like the years are important for your family, as they were for mine, so between SSR and AkV it will be a matter of annual dues fees-with SSR lower. If you could wait to buy, I'd take a trip down and tour the DVC's on your own and see what fits.

Oh-one other thought-some people buy a main contract and then add on a smaller # of points to their favorite resort so they can have a stay there once in awhile with the 11 month window.