Which option would you choose? BLT vs SSR

[skateshome]

Our plan at his time is to stay at BLT LV studio in May the next number of years. 141 pts for the week.

Offer 1 - BLT home resort 165 points descent price.. Sell 40 points to David's every other year to offset some of the dues. This woul make our dues average around $45 per month when it's all averaged out.

Option 2 - SSR home resort 210 points. $2000 less on the purchase price than BLT. Is would give me 69 points to sell to Davidss to offset dues. This would make our dues about $25 per month when averaged out.

Again our intent is to stay at BLT. We really like it. All the info I've gotten says that BLT LV studios are open at 7 months I'm concerned this may change. Of course we may decide we want to stay at other places as well down the road. This has become confusing LOL!

I'm really not interested in staying at SSR and the only reason I'm thinking buying there it is due to pricing.
We would be looking at staying at BLT, WL, or Polynesian depending on how that plays out and make reservations at 7 months.

Any wisdom here to help me make a decision would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

My best guess is that you would not have too many problems booking BLT LV studio for May at 7 months but the only true way to guarantee is to own there. Now AFAIK David's has a minimum number of points to rent - and that's around 90 so you would likely have to rent out any extra yourself. Or, do what many do and use them up yourself - try a 1BR - just once.

Personally, if I intended to go in May all the time I'd buy the SSR points, but we also are fine with staying at SSR if we aren't able to get something else at 7 months. Also we don't have any place that we absolutely have to stay and are flexible with booking what resorts are open. It sounds like you might not be as flexible so then BLT would probably be better.

 

[skateshome]

Thanks Kat....just thought of another reason for buying SSR instead. Extended stays. We would have enough points to book for 10 or 11 days with SSR points used at BLT. Are there any
Limits on the number of days you can book?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thanks Kat....just thought of another reason for buying SSR instead. Extended stays. We would have enough points to book for 10 or 11 days with SSR points used at BLT. Are there any
Limits on the number of days you can book?

You are able to book as many nights as you have points for. The one restriction is that at exactly 11 months and 7 months you are only able to book up to 7 nights at one time. If you wanted more nightd then you could either call and add on the extra nights once they fell within your booking range or for example if it was 10 nights that you wanted you could wait until 3 days after the 11 or 7 month window started for your stay and you would then be able to book all 10 nights at once.

 

[skateshome]

Can you book 7 days at the 7 month window and then just call each day and add an additional day? Thinking of busy season when it may be important to book right on the 7 month window.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Yes.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Best advice it to buy where you want to stay, but when it comes to a big difference in cost, then you have to consider that too.

I would buy SSR as it is much cheaper then BLT and you want to travel in May and that is generally pretty open for BLT.

Then in the future you could always sell SSR and buy Poly or BLT if you really want to stay there.

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

We recently bought and ended up deciding to pay the premium for BLT as our home, so let me make a few counterpoints -

I knew when and how we wanted to travel NOW, but there is no way I am sure about anything for the next 30-40-something years. With young kids and our trip preferences, I know we'll really, really want BLT for at least the next 5-6 years. I also know when DH and I are going by ourselves, we will want to stay at BLT (like we did before kids). The time of year we go I wasn't sure about - what if DVC booking patterns change? What if events and crowd levels change? What if our jobs, family life, etc change and we don't end up going when we expect? Want a bigger room, or want to bring family or friends? Want to take several smaller trips? As a change, want to make a Christmas trip?

Over all the years I expect to have the contract, the premium for BLT was just not relatively that high. For you that sounds like $2000 over the next 45 years? Really not that much per year.

Ultimately - I am extremely happy we bought at BLT. Why? Imagine you are stalking the availability tool, you know when your 7 month window opens, you get up extra early and go to book - and those rooms at BLT you've been watching and watching are suddenly gone. Or you can only get some of your trip, but not all. You're booking at SSR as a backup plan, waitlisting, checking over and over for openings, hoping it opens, convincing yourself it really won't be that bad, SSR is lovely in its own way, it'll be fun to hit up DTD, etc...

I imagined that, DH imagined that, and we realized we would be really disappointed. I know people like SSR, so nothing against it. I just didn't want to shell out all the money I would be to buy into DVC only to have THAT happen to me. Maybe repeatedly. Ugh!

You sound like you really want BLT. Only you know HOW much you want BLT. Maybe it's that much, maybe it's not, but that exercise (imagining that 7-month booking) was what sealed it for me.

And after we bought - we just barely closed before the 7-month window opened - and I ended up doing a split stay due to availability. If I had to do it every time, I would be really unhappy. I know it's an exception and going forward we can book at 11 months, so I'm cool with it this time. But I went through enough of the availability/waitlist game to know that my guess about how I would feel about the above scenario was right on. We are both very happy we paid the premium for BLT.

 

[suebeelin]

^^^ what mndisneymommy said.

How married are you to BLT? To your May trips?

We travel between October -January, dvc high season. We often go the first two week of December, the super high can't get a non home resort, weeks.

So we bought where we want to stay. We have had dvc for 5 yrs now, and only stayed once at a non home resort (AKL and hated it-- wasn't for us). We booked "last minute" with 4 months to go for an October high season trip.

If you are sure may is your month of travel, then based on current booking patterns, you should be fine getting a BLT lake view studio at 7 months. Maybe even standard studio (not sure).

If you might travel during peak dvc season, especially the first two weeks of December, and you would feel like the trip was a waste if you stayed at SSR or a non BLT resort, then the 11mo window is important (as it was for us).

Good luck!

 

[skateshome]

I would be fine with WL, BC or BW as well to try something different if we decided to travel during the busier times. BLT would be my preference but the others would work as well. Basically want to be within walking distance to a park. DTD doesn't do much for us.

 

[PlutoPony]

Sell 40 points to David's every other year to offset some of the dues. This woul make our dues average around $45 per month when it's all averaged out.

From David's website it sounds like there's a 95 point minimum in order to place points with him.

 

[suebeelin]

I would be fine with WL, BC or BW as well to try something different if we decided to travel during the busier times. BLT would be my preference but the others would work as well. Basically want to be within walking distance to a park. DTD doesn't do much for us.

During dvc busy periods:

You probably won't get BCV (it's even harder to get BCV than BLT!) or BWV during food and wine (sept-nov), but you never know. It's that Waitlist game.

Not sure about WLV, but I think Xmas season is impossible there (December).

From what I understand, BCV and BWV are also pretty tough during the first two weeks of December. I know BCV is one of the toughest to get.

I believe BWV and WLV have decent availabilities between jan-august. You may not get a std view studio at BWV then, but you can get a room there.

Yes, we are park walkers too. BWV and BLT. It was awesome strolling over to Hollywood for the rope drop and getting star tours scheduled, then mosying back to our room for a break, before walking over to Epcot for a quick bite... Then hanging out at the beach in front of BCV. And never needing a bus to break down the stroller that day .

People do say the Waitlist works if you're ok with split stays, and your waitlist is 1-3 days.... We prefer to stay 5+ days in the same room. But that's just us. The waitlist stress would drive me nuts.

 

[Missyrose]

You have to be really, really honest with yourself about how much you want to stay at BLT. If you go once a year, how upset would you be if you had a three-trip streak where you couldn't get BLT. Or you couldn't get seven nights at one of the other close-to-the-parks resorts? For me, DVC is a lot of money to spend to hope I get to stay where I like. So (again, for me) paying the premium to have the home-resort advantage at my desired resorts has been worth it.

 

[CMNJ]

Our plan at his time is to stay at BLT LV studio in May the next number of years. 141 pts for the week.

Offer 1 - BLT home resort 165 points descent price.. Sell 40 points to David's every other year to offset some of the dues. This woul make our dues average around $45 per month when it's all averaged out.

Option 2 - SSR home resort 210 points. $2000 less on the purchase price than BLT. Is would give me 69 points to sell to Davidss to offset dues. This would make our dues about $25 per month when averaged out.

Again our intent is to stay at BLT. We really like it. All the info I've gotten says that BLT LV studios are open at 7 months I'm concerned this may change. Of course we may decide we want to stay at other places as well down the road. This has become confusing LOL!

I'm really not interested in staying at SSR and the only reason I'm thinking buying there it is due to pricing.
We would be looking at staying at BLT, WL, or Polynesian depending on how that plays out and make reservations at 7 months.

Any wisdom here to help me make a decision would be greatly appreciated.

If you really won't be happy at SSR I would think twice about buying there-sure you can always sell as other posters suggested but no one knows if the resale market will decline again and you will have to pay commission on the contract you sell and closing costs on the new one-we just bought our first BWV contract and closed in Feb-at 8 months out there was no avail for any studios for the whole week we wanted in Oct at BWV or any other near park resort-once PVB opened we were able to book there at 7 months-I think owners at near park resorts tend to book earlier (at least for peak times) as they know that at 7 months they may no longer be able to and the rental market seems to have really bolstered that with the whole point premium thing.
We actually just returned from a split BLT/SSR stay (rented points last minute for the SSR portion really cheap). Loved the space we had in the 2 bedroom at SSR but BLT was amazing for the convenience to MK (and Epcot via the monorail)-I REALLY HATE BEING ON PACKED DISNEY BUSES-Plus the furthest bus shelter at MK is almost halfway to BLT lol-we figured if we hadn't had an SSR villa close to the bus stop we would prob have walked almost as far as the MK-BLT walk plus had the wait for the bus and ride back to SSR
The other big variable that may come into play is will avail at MK area resorts drastically change once the Poly sells out-apparently something like 20% of the points there represent the bungalows-so if 20% of the points bought there aren't being used to book those regularly that made lead to a shortage of studios there and at the 7 month window that would mean Poly owners will be competing for the open rooms as well. We haven't owned long but I did a lot of research prior to purchasing and there are many posts about how avail at other resorts has gotten much harder over the years-may might be easy to get into a lake view studio now but there is no guarantee it (poly or WL) will be in the future and BWV and BCV are popular for weekends from mid May to mid June b/c of SWW at DHS
If you would be happy at SSR if you can't trade out then by all means buy there-it is a very pretty resort and the pools are nice-if we weren't going to the parks much I would consider it for a trip-but if you will be disappointed staying there or having to do split stays then I wouldn't-dvc and disney are expensive over the life of a contract so you want to be happy with your resort

 

[deedisneydream97]

I would be fine with WL, BC or BW as well to try something different if we decided to travel during the busier times. BLT would be my preference but the others would work as well. Basically want to be within walking distance to a park. DTD doesn't do much for us.

"DTD doesn't do much for us"....that says a lot. Being fine with WL, BC, BW may not work out in reality. You've received really good advice here. You would really have to be fine with AKL and OKW (and SSR). That being said, we purchased SSR when it first opened and paid way too much. We have only stayed there once (and did not use our points, it was an incentive when we purchased BLT). We have been able to use those points twice for Aluani and for May trips to BWV. But BWV in May is becoming increasing popular because of the Flower and Garden show and I am hoping I'll still be able to do this in years to come. We do own at BWV, in addition to BLT and VWL.

I am wondering if DVC will change the rules about resale (not from Disney) and being able to book outside of your home resort in the future. Not sure how the "rules" are written up, but I remember how people were scrambling to buy resale before the rule about no cruise line from resale points.

 

[com_op_2000]

...
Offer 1 - BLT home resort 165 points descent price.. Sell 40 points to David's every other year to offset some of the dues. This woul make our dues average around $45 per month when it's all averaged out.
Option 2 - SSR home resort 210 points. $2000 less on the purchase price than BLT. Is would give me 69 points to sell to Davidss to offset dues. This would make our dues about $25 per month when averaged out.
...

You do know that renting of points every year is considered commercial renting and is against the rules?

 

[CMOORE185]

It is easy to say you will just rent out the points but not as easy to do it. You should look to just buy the point number you need and forget the renting idea. And I would not buy SSR if you really want BLT that bad. The savings is not worth it.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Also, just because you want to rent 40 or 69 points, those are really odd numbers and may be very difficult to rent and nothing is worse than having unused points at the end of the yearly expiration period.

Of course you could bank one year and borrow from the next year to rent triple the points once every third year (i.e 120 points and 207 points)

How about you wait for a 125 point BLT contract and then use the points yourself and not worry about renting any excess.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I am wondering if DVC will change the rules about resale (not from Disney) and being able to book outside of your home resort in the future. Not sure how the "rules" are written up, but I remember how people were scrambling to buy resale before the rule about no cruise line from resale points.

The wording as I understand it would require the entire resort to be removed from the system, and then that would affect all owners at the resort.

You do know that renting of points every year is considered commercial renting and is against the rules?

There has been no exact definition of what commercial renting is that I've seen, and renting is allowed. I think a few years ago they said something like if an account has 20 or more rentals in a year it may be looked at, but even that was no hard and fast definition of restricting to 20.

 

[skateshome]

Thanks folks! Great advise on all sides. This is the info I need since I have no experience. Keep the advise coming.