Where to buy in?

[disneynutz]

There are no guarantees, but I think past availability is probably a pretty darn good indicator.

That's what owners thought before Food and Wine, Flower and Garden, Star Wars Weekend, and all of the Marathons.

30 to 50 years is a long time and a lot can happen during your ownership.

Each buyer needs to decide for themselves if they don't care where they stay. Your choice is to maybe spend a few thousand dollars more to guarantee their favorite resort availability or save some money and take a chance.

A few thousand more is a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of thousands that you may spend if you keep your contracts to term.

Bill

 

[bighoo93]

That's what owners thought before Food and Wine, Flower and Garden, Star Wars Weekend, and all of the Marathons.

So it appears you would agree with me that availability is likely to be tighter during the Food and Wine Festival than early September. And that December through New Year's is going to be a popular time for booking DVC resorts. We can't say for sure that someone will be able to book a specific room during a specific week in the future, but you can get a pretty darn good idea of that likelihood based on past availability. dsruba (and I) have been tracking availability at every resort and room type for a while now. I think people would be wise to take that information into account in their decision, using the link that was provided earlier in this thread.

30 to 50 years is a long time and a lot can happen during your ownership.

Well, of course. I can't imagine making a decision to spend thousands of extra dollars today on the possibility that I might not be able to book a room I want 40 years from now!!! But you said "tomorrow", so while I did not assume you meant literally one day out, I was not talking about 30+ years from now either.

A few thousand more is a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of thousands that you may spend if you keep your contracts to term.

That's one way to look at it. Another is that a few thousand dollars today is real money that could be spent on any number of things, or invested and turn into a heck of a lot more over the life of the contract. If it buys you additional value for DVC priority booking, great. If not, it is little more than flushing money away.

 

[disneynutz]

My position still stands, buy anywhere and take a chance or buy where you love to stay and get what you want.

Bill

 

[dmunsil]

So it appears you would agree with me that availability is likely to be tighter during the Food and Wine Festival than early September.

I think his point is that you shouldn't count on that always being true. All that has to happen is for Disney to come up with a new festival or promotion or party or whatnot and now the time you counted on being easy to book is now booked solid at 9 months out.

You just don't know what Disney is going to do. Times that were really low attendance years ago are now super popular because of F&W, Star Wars weekends, etc.

So the bottom line is that buying at a resort you don't mind staying at if everything else is booked is a very good idea, unless you have the most flexible lifestyle in the world and can always adapt to Disney's changes.

 

[bighoo93]

I think his point is that you shouldn't count on that always being true. All that has to happen is for Disney to come up with a new festival or promotion or party or whatnot and now the time you counted on being easy to book is now booked solid at 9 months out.

You just don't know what Disney is going to do. Times that were really low attendance years ago are now super popular because of F&W, Star Wars weekends, etc.

So the bottom line is that buying at a resort you don't mind staying at if everything else is booked is a very good idea, unless you have the most flexible lifestyle in the world and can always adapt to Disney's changes.

It seems like the goal posts are getting moved on me. The statement I responded to was that past availability was not indicative of what will be available tomorrow. I disagree with that, I think its a pretty good indicator of what will be available tomorrow, and certainly better than anything else besides the elusive crystal ball. I don't want to confuse things by taking a position on the new statements that have been made since, many of which I am sure I agree with but they are different.

I would agree, for example, that it is a much weaker indicator of what availability might be like in 50 years. But that wouldn't seem to me to be a good factor to use in making a purchase decision.

 

[dmunsil]

It seems like the goal posts are getting moved on me. The statement I responded to was that past availability was not indicative of what will be available tomorrow. I disagree with that, I think its a pretty good indicator of what will be available tomorrow, and certainly better than anything else besides the elusive crystal ball.

I'm sorry, I didn't intend to move the goalposts, and I don't think Bill was trying to either. We're perhaps talking past each other a bit. The assumption is that a question about how difficult it is to get a room 7 months out at a non-home resort in a thread about what resort to buy is really the age-old question about whether you should buy at your favorite resort or buy the cheapest points you can get and use them to stay at other resorts.

Your point about past availability being a good indicator of availability tomorrow is arguable depending on what you mean by "tomorrow." You obviously don't mean literally tomorrow, you mean some period in the future. I agree that it's a decent indicator of availability next year, but it gets less and less useful the more years you look out. Availability at WDW has changed over the years and will continue to change. You're going to own DVC points for a lot of years, most likely, so making decisions based on current availability patterns may not be wise.

The upshot is that whatever resort you buy could be the only one you can get the specific rooms/nights you want for your preferred time of year at some point in the future. So while I do think most people with a little planning can use their points at many different resorts, I still think it's worth buying at a resort you personally like, because you might find that Disney decides to do a major marathon/party/festival/etc right smack-dab during your favorite time of year and turns your favorite non-home resort from an easy "get" to an nigh-impossible one.

 

[crisi]

I think his point is that you shouldn't count on that always being true. All that has to happen is for Disney to come up with a new festival or promotion or party or whatnot and now the time you counted on being easy to book is now booked solid at 9 months out.

You just don't know what Disney is going to do. Times that were really low attendance years ago are now super popular because of F&W, Star Wars weekends, etc.

So the bottom line is that buying at a resort you don't mind staying at if everything else is booked is a very good idea, unless you have the most flexible lifestyle in the world and can always adapt to Disney's changes.

When we bought it was for the same week in Early October. Food and Wine started the Friday of our last day - we'd check out on Saturday. The year we bought, it was announced - after we purchased, that Food and Wine would start two weeks earlier, changing booking patterns at our home (BWV) dramatically - suddenly to get a standard view room, I was calling day by day at eleven months - or choosing to risk paying more points for a preferred view.

Within a few years it wasn't JUST F&W, the secret was out - October had lovely weather, low crowds and special events (like F&W and the Halloween party).

A few years later, the kids were a little older and OUR plans changed - we stopped pulling them from school and started looking at Summer and Spring Break.

So over the term of your ownership, expect Disney to change, you to change and traffic patterns to change.

 

[disneynutz]

When we bought it was for the same week in Early October. Food and Wine started the Friday of our last day - we'd check out on Saturday. The year we bought, it was announced - after we purchased, that Food and Wine would start two weeks earlier, changing booking patterns at our home (BWV) dramatically - suddenly to get a standard view room, I was calling day by day at eleven months - or choosing to risk paying more points for a preferred view.

Within a few years it wasn't JUST F&W, the secret was out - October had lovely weather, low crowds and special events (like F&W and the Halloween party).

A few years later, the kids were a little older and OUR plans changed - we stopped pulling them from school and started looking at Summer and Spring Break.

So over the term of your ownership, expect Disney to change, you to change and traffic patterns to change.

Good points, and so true.

Bill

 

[crisi]

Good points, and so true.

Bill

None of us can promise someone looking at DVC anything. But we can tell them that over the lives of our contracts - those of us who have owned for ten, fifteen and twenty years - that things have changed. When I bought, there were three DVC resorts onsite - BWV, OKW and VWL - BCV had been announced. You could pool hop to SAB and there was no pool slide at OKW. Early October was dead, no one had ever heard of Free Dining, Disney had a single marathon weekend and we got discounts on UPH tickets. Now, the only Deluxe without a DVC attached is the Yacht Club, there are three times as many DVC rooms on site, early October is part of the busiest DVC time of the year, if you want a ticket discount - you need to go often enough to need APs, we pay for valet parking, and pool hopping has undergone a regular shrinkage.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring - but I know that owning at BWV, I am contractually guarenteed a jump on booking over the hundreds of thousands of members who don't own BWV. And we like it there.

 

[NoleFan]

I don't know what tomorrow will bring - but I know that owning at BWV, I am contractually guarenteed a jump on booking over the hundreds of thousands of members who don't own BWV. And we like it there.

 

[SarahInMN]

We are big believers in "buy where you want to stay." We own at BCV so we can be close to EPCOT for Food and Wine - its so nice to be able to walk back and forth! We just bought into VGF because we like being on the monorail and (nostalgia) we were married at GF. We just weren't certain we would be happy having to always depend on the buses and like being able to walk to the parks.
For us, booking 11 months in advance is no big, and, with my work schedule, its almost a bonus to be able to block out my schedule 11 months in advance.

My advice is buy where you want to stay and don't buy some place where you wouldn't be happy staying.

 

[Disgirl2011]

So, I hear everyone on the resale vs direct. For sure I would want to save money but here is my conundrum. I am planning a trip in May with my dad. I will be receiving part of an inheritance probably 2 weeks before my trip. So what I was thinking was rather than risk trying to rent points and end up with no options but Saratoga Springs (nothing against it just not where I'd ideally like to stay) I was thinking about buying DVC direct.

I've heard buying direct can go quicker and you can even book a reservation almost immediately. What I'm wondering though is would there still be less likely a chance for me getting a different resort other than Saratoga?

You guys have great viewpoints on the different matters when it comes to making a decision of where to buy. Last time I was in I stayed at Animal Kingdom Jambo and loved the atmosphere it was just super unique, the bus rides may have been a little long but it didn't really bother me too bad.

I think there is tons of benefits of buying in at Bay Lake Tower, location and such. I like that the contract is longer than most and that the dues are low, but the buy in is higher, I just need to decide if thats a deal breaker.

Thanks everyone for the input!

 

[timandjanl]

Yes you would be able to book the first trip almost immediately. When I talked to a DVC Guide he told me everything could be done in the first phone call to finalize the purchase. That said, it seems a bit silly to me to spend twice as much money just to try and have a chance at something other than SSR for one trip out of dozens once you are a member. I would probably just stalk the resale boards and move quickly on a listing.

 

[Disgirl2011]

Haha, I think what point I was trying to make and probably failed at was that I was planning on buying in May anyways but I wanted to "save" money by using my new DVC membership to stay rather than either rent points or stay at a non-dvc resort.

I know resale tends to take longer and I really will not have money to use until after the beginning of May. So if they require a deposit it might not be feasible until then.

 

[Minniesgal]

Are you saying you want to buy direct points next May and use them to stay that same month because if you are your chances if there still being anything available are slim at best most likely nil. If I was buying direct for a stay in May I'd be buying by November at the latest

 

[disneynutz]

So, I hear everyone on the resale vs direct. For sure I would want to save money but here is my conundrum. I am planning a trip in May with my dad. I will be receiving part of an inheritance probably 2 weeks before my trip. So what I was thinking was rather than risk trying to rent points and end up with no options but Saratoga Springs (nothing against it just not where I'd ideally like to stay) I was thinking about buying DVC direct.

I've heard buying direct can go quicker and you can even book a reservation almost immediately. What I'm wondering though is would there still be less likely a chance for me getting a different resort other than Saratoga?

You guys have great viewpoints on the different matters when it comes to making a decision of where to buy. Last time I was in I stayed at Animal Kingdom Jambo and loved the atmosphere it was just super unique, the bus rides may have been a little long but it didn't really bother me too bad.

I think there is tons of benefits of buying in at Bay Lake Tower, location and such. I like that the contract is longer than most and that the dues are low, but the buy in is higher, I just need to decide if thats a deal breaker.

Thanks everyone for the input!

Here is what I would do based on years as a DVC owner, owning 6 home resorts and 26 contracts.

Buy direct if you want a VGF fixed week contract or if you want to buy smaller contracts for flexibility or resale value realizing that you are paying a premium price.

Buy at you best guess favorite resort, use those points to stay at all of the DVC resorts to learn which resorts really are your favorite. Buy resale at your favorite resort(s).

Don't buy in a rush just to take a vacation. As a DVC owner your will take 100's of Disney vacations.

Bill

 

[CailinFig]

Here is what I would do based on years as a DVC owner, owning 6 home resorts and 26 contracts.

Buy direct if you want a VGF fixed week contract or if you want to buy smaller contracts for flexibility or resale value realizing that you are paying a premium price.

Buy at you best guess favorite resort, use those points to stay at all of the DVC resorts to learn which resorts really are your favorite. Buy resale at your favorite resort(s).

Don't buy in a rush just to take a vacation. As a DVC owner your will take 100's of Disney vacations.

Bill

I'm new here....it seems like veteran owners own several contracts in several locations. How does that work? You can combine your points from several locations to book one reservation (or more?) I guess I'm just confused why one would buy 1 contract, then buy more at other locations. TIA!

 

[disneynutz]

I'm new here....it seems like veteran owners own several contracts in several locations. How does that work? You can combine your points from several locations to book one reservation (or more?) I guess I'm just confused why one would buy 1 contract, then buy more at other locations. TIA!

Owning a home resort gives you 11 month booking advantage, other resorts you can book at 7 months. At 7 months you can combine points.

If we had it to do over again we would take more time to decide which resorts to call home, that would take us down to 3 home resorts.

Availability can be a challenge for some resorts during certain times of the year. We got tired of not getting what we wanted or having to work to get to stay where we wanted.

Since we are paying thousands and thousands for Disney vacations, being disappointed about your room kind of puts a damper on the magic.

Bill

 

[bighoo93]

As a DVC owner your will take 100's of Disney vacations. Bill

Hundreds??? Oh how I wish this were true...

 

[DougEMG]

My position still stands, buy anywhere and take a chance or buy where you love to stay and get what you want.

Bill

I bought BWV because it is my family's preferred location and I want to make sure we get in even during a slow time of year.

I bought SSR/OKW for the price and I don't mind staying at either of them (but I'd rather be at BWV )

And past performance at the 7 month mark is not guarentee on future performance at the 7 month mark since the mix of resorts and owners is slowly changing over time.