Where to add on

[3girlsfun]

First, I hope this is the right board for this post. If not, I apologize!

We are starting to think through the process of adding on to our DVC. We have 150 points at OKW.

We are a family of 6. When we purchased we were a family of 5, but, the youngest was months old, so, she is just now counting as a person. The 6th member of our family is an infant, so, we can get by with the resorts that sleep 5, but, it is cramping the length of stay for our vacations without paying cash for additional room nights.

The biggest thing we are trying to decide is where to add on points. Can someone give me some "thinking points" that I should be considering as we make this decision?

 

[NoleFan]

What are your favorite resorts? What size room (point charts)? How far in advance do you make reservations?

 

[quandrea]

I think saratoga and animal kingd are a great value. They also have nice long contracts. We live kidani and just added 160 points at sixty a point.

 

[butsy113]

We love having Animal Kingdom. The kids love the animals (not guaranteed to be there for the length of contract), the pools, and the Mara. I love having the option of the value villas to squeeze in an extra trip. The times of year we go we have always been able to get the resorts I want at 7 months. If you want a specific resort at a time of year that is difficult to book, I would consider buying there.

Oh and for your larger family the extra bathroom at Animal Kingdom would be a must for me

 

[disneynutz]

Do you want cheap?

Have you stayed at other resorts so you have a feel of what's available?

Do you even care about the resort?

Without specific info my answers are just guesses.

Bill

 

[luckyman_apd]

So....right now I'm assuming you are getting by with 1br with a sleeper chair at BLT, OKW, and AKV. So in a few years, you will need 2 br for sure. My advice is to add on to OKW where you already own, or maybe SSR, or AKV. I say OKW because you already own there, and booking issues won't change at all. Once you add onto a different resort, you will be facing different booking windows for 11/7 months....and with 2br, you will need all those points. I say SSR because you realistically won't face any issues combing points and booking at either of those resorts at 7 months......except for the busiest times.

These are just my suggestions without knowing more details.

 

[3girlsfun]

We normally always book at the 11 month window at OKW. We have switched our reservation all but one time after that. We have stayed at Animal Kingdom (LOVED IT!!!), Saratoga (LOVED it!!!), Boardwalk (it was "ok" to us, like the location, but, it wasn't our favorite). We have not stayed at BLT, BC. We do like OKW for sure, we just prefer the zero entry pools while our children are young. This will not be that big of a deal for much longer.

I like to feel like I am getting a Value for my money. I want to stay Theme park view at BLT at some point, but, I probably wont stay for the entire week. I never tired of staying at AKL and watching the animals. I love the "condo" feeling at OKW and SSR as well. However, I also think about how nice it would be to be at BLT when my girls are teenagers so they can hop on the monorail and head to go to MK and Epcot.

I have seen the videos of the GF, and I think it is beautiful, and I would love to add on there, but, I have a hard time swallowing that many points.

We normally do 1 week long vacation on our DVC points, then we pay cash for our other trips as often as we can. We buy AP's every other year, and try to maximize the AP the year that we have it. On the "other year" we do a "big" trip to somewhere else. 2015 will be the "other" year, and we will be doing an Alaskan cruise.

We bought our OKW contract resale, and it is the shorter contract year.

What other information would be helpful for y'all to help with suggestions?

 

[spruce]

I agree with others, add on at OKW.

 

[DizBub]

Since you loved AKV and would like to stay at BLT I would advise you to buy there. AKV value and BLT standard view require the 11 month booking window. A previous poster suggested that you add-on to your existing OKW contract, that is a very good suggestion too since you like value for your points. I love that OKW is so reasonable pointwise.