What's your experience getting VWL ressie at 7 months?

[DisneyKidds]

We are considering buying DVC. Just a matter of time. Probably a resale, but not sure where. We just stayed at VWL and the wife fell in love. I like the Epcot resort area.

The question is, how difficult is it to get a VWL ressie at 7 months out. I know you should buy where you will stay the most, which will probably be VWL. However, there is more resale availability at BWV so I may get a better deal. I have heard that it can be difficult to get a BWV ressie at 7 months for busier times and I wonder if the same holds true for VWL.

If VWL is note your home resort what has been your experience getting ressies there? Thanks for the help.

 

[Disnydad]

Our "home" is VWL. In early November, we reserved a studio during the school break in April. April 16 to 19. So that was 5 1/2 months out.

Also this past early May we reserved a studio at BWV for the end of August. That was almost 4 months out.

 

[Granny]

I love my VWL dearly, but everything I've read on this board makes me think that BWV is a harder reservation to obtain at 7 months than VWL.

If you guys are really split 50/50, I guess you should go the BWV direction.

OR.....buy 150 points at VWL and 150 (or so) points for BWV and do the alternating banking/borrowing thing and then you have the 11 month ressie advantage at both of your homes!

 

[cherylp3]

I own at BWV - I was able to make a reservation in November 2001 for a studio @ WLV in May 2002

Cheryl

 

[lsutigger]

VWL is not my home resort and I was successful in making a reservation at exactly 7 months from check out date (didn't do the day-by-day thing) at exactly 9:00am on the that date with absolutely no problem! It was a breeze. I got a studio for Oct. 6 - 13, 2001. Ten minutes and I was done. Then I began counting the days until we could go. Hope it is as easy this year when we try to do the same thing. I've already got the "call" date on my calendar!!

 

[tiffany123]

We are new DVC members with our home resort at HH. Just this past week I reserved nights at BWV and VWL under the 7 month window for late June/early July, 2002. I was told while making both reservations (made them on two separate days) that it is much harder to get into BWV at 7 months than VWL. However that may chance once VWL is sold out. Many new buyers may be giving back this year's points through Magical Beginnings and not have the option to "come home" in 2002 unless they borrow points.

 

[Richyams]

There is no way at all to tell what 7 month availability will be like. There are a whole bunch of factors that will be distorting availability this year and next. The buy back is a big one, also the inventory that has been declared ahead of sales. It is a small resort, I expect it to be similar to BWV in difficulty.

Another thing to consider is that they are still selling VB and HH points to people who have no intention of visiting those resorts regularly.

 

[tiffany123]

Yes, Richyams, we own at HH and also intend to visit WDW on a regular basis. Any objections to that from you? We bought at HH d/t the fact that it's a one day drive from us and we love the island. However, we were also told that we would be welcome at any DVC resort. Sounds as though you aren't very welcoming.
We will be spending a full week at HH before travelling to WDW.

 

[Richyams]

While HH and VB are both incredibely beautiful resorts, truely among the finest in the world, they were mistakes for Disney. HH is very small, not as bad of a mistake as VB, but still a mistake. The horribly dissapointing sales at these resorts forced Disney to divest themselves of land bought for the purpose of more DVC resorts. The terrible experiences at these resorts has negated any possibility of there ever being a DVC property not at a park in the future.

That being said, Disney sales has taken to using WDW DVC resorts to sell their failed off site properties. I use the word "Failed" because they are sales failures. VB was radically scaled back due to its failure.

Disney sales staff has become quite adept and shameless with their boldfaced lies to prospective customers. There are many instances that we have heard reported here of fraudulant sales practices by DVC sales staff. We constantly hear of statements from salesman like "Buy at VB, the Magical Beginings rpogram can save you $$$$ and you can stay wherever you want.", "The eleven month window is meaningless, buy HH point, save money upfront and you will never have to visit that resort once."

Or the one I was present for......

"Buy at VB, the dues are lower than BWV and you can stay at BWV with no difficulty at all"

We know haw difficult BWV can be at seven months, can that phrase be deemed anything but fraudulant??????

What I was pointing out is that there is no way at all to determine availibility at VWL now. There are several factors distorting availibility this year. One of those factors is the continued sales of HH and VB points to people who have no intention of ever staying at those resorts. I don't blame the people, although they should never trust a salesman, even a Disney salesman, I do blame DVC sales. I think that they are doing us a terrible diservice by using WDW DVC resorts to sell their failed ventures.

 

[spiceycat]

I may be wrong but DVC is still selling VWL - DVC with the buy back is general a better deal than a resale.

BWV buy the resale.

I owe at several DVC resorts - you just need to adjust your schedule - one year stay at BWV, the next year stay at VWL.

 

[DisneyKidds]

spiceycat - not sure I agree on VWL a better deal thru DVC than resale.

A 300 point VWL DVC contract would be $22,500 (300 x $75). Assume that is for an August use year (what they are currently selling) and I sell back all 300 2001 points at $10 per point (the current offer) the total cost would be $19,500.

If we go resale we can get the points for $65 (maybe better) each for a total of $19,500 plus closing costs of $500 for a grand total of $20,000. The buyer may want me to pay some of the 2001 dues, but with 2002 dues coming due in a month I'd fight that. Even so, if we split it could up the cost by $550, and a max cost of $20,550. Assuming the contract has all the 2001 points left (I wouldn't buy it if it didn't) I can either 1) rent the 2001 points at $10 each bringing my total cost down to $17,550 max and save $2,000 or 2) have 300 points from 2001 that I can bank or use and only spend $1000 more than the DVC contract where I have nothing. An additional $1000 for 300 useable points (or $3.33 a point) is a great bonus.

Is my math wrong or am I missing something? Is there something else that makes the purchase thru DVC a better value. We won't be financing so we don't need that. Thanks for the help .

 

[* Potential DVC'er *]

DK: I think you are right on target (as it's taken me a while to figure that out) - that magical beginnings is a good deal and I almost bought something that would have saved me hardly $1k (one contract I was looking at) over buying through DVC vs. resale.

HOWEVER - I want only - and I mean ONLY to own at OKW, I detest BW and WL is just "ok". So I really have no option but to buy resale - and I guess saving any money is better than saving none.

I like that idea of getting some points to rent off or even bank - that's a good deal - but you'll end up "paying" for that I believe (won't walk away at $58 a point ......) I don't think. We are on hold anyway right now - but I'm still looking and watching!!

 

[one_cat]

We stayed at VWL in Sept - made ressies 8 weeks out at OKW then changed them at the last minute to VWL. BW is the toughest to get into at any time. If you want to stay at VWL I think you'd be doing yourself a big favor by buying there. Years in the future you will say that extra $$$ was worth it to have the 11 month window.