Which resort to buy?

[bibbidi_bobbidi_boo]

Do you find it hard to rent at the other hotels when you have wanted to visit or were you able to book right away? We don’t know which resort to make our home resort…we don’t know if we should buy more points for a cheaper price and get into any resort…or pay more for the newer hotel and take less points?

 

[chalee94]

what resort do you really want to stay at?

if you buy SSR and have no choice but to stay at SSR, would you be cool with it or frustrated?

if you have a strong opinion, buy where you want to stay.

if you are more flexible, buy where you don't mind staying.

if you are just happy to be onsite, SSR is probably the best value.

 

[crisi]

Do you find it hard to rent at the other hotels when you have wanted to visit or were you able to book right away? We don’t know which resort to make our home resort…we don’t know if we should buy more points for a cheaper price and get into any resort…or pay more for the newer hotel and take less points?

At certain times of year, getting into a resort other than your home can be tough. Some resorts (Grand Californian) can be difficult at seven months year round. Spend time on the boards. If there is a resort that calls your heart, its worthwhile to own there. If you are happy being at WDW, then buy for value and switch opportunistically. If you want what you want when you want it and that is going to vary from year to year, pay cash or rent points.

Its also going to depend on how much you are willing to spend. Buying expensive Poly points and then booking rooms at the Poly which take a LOT of points is a cool thing to do, if its affordable to you. For a lot of members, its far more realistic to own at SSR and save on dues, upfront point buy in, and the number of points to stay.

Its a mistake to think that you will be able to buy SSR and then get a BLT Standard View room over Christmas or a BWV Standard View room at Food and Wine (it has happened, those people are lucky). Its also a mistake to think that if you buy a cheaper resort you'll never have any opportunity to stay elsewhere. The truth sits in the middle and will depend on what you will be content with and what fits your budget.

 

[supersnoop]

Do you find it hard to rent at the other hotels when you have wanted to visit or were you able to book right away? We don’t know which resort to make our home resort…we don’t know if we should buy more points for a cheaper price and get into any resort…or pay more for the newer hotel and take less points?

How far in advance will you be planning and booking.

 

[DenLo]

You can book at a resort that is not your home resort (the one you bought) at the 7 month mark (before checkin). It really depends on when you will vacation. The problem is the dates you vacation today, may not be the dates you vacation down the road in 5, 10 or 15 years.

Keep in mind DVC resorts are timeshares, and points are sold so that during the entire year all of the rooms are booked at that resort. So the goal is to have 100% occupancy year round. The problem is that members all want to book during the same time periods, which means someone will be shut out or will have to vacation during a period they rather not. Currently booking at the 7 month mark is getting difficult from October through the Disney Marathon in early January, because those months are the most popular dates for members. Home resort owners are booking their home resort for those dates and very few villas are available for anyone to switch resorts at the 7 month to match their reservation dates.

Many purchase SSR on the resale market to save money, but if you do not want to stay there, I would not buy there because eventually more dates will be difficult to book at other resorts. I suggest that you buy where you want to stay.

 

[bibbidi_bobbidi_boo]

Thanks for the info...we are fl residents so we stay away in the hot months. We usually travel early Feb-May. or we go September early October. Maybe 1 year we would like to stay around the holidays. Staying in STUDIOS...I know people say buy where you love. I love Grand Fl or Polynesian, Bay Lake but for half the price and double the points I can buy an Animal Kingdom dues are almost the same. Do I love animal kingdom? Not really my thing wouldn't mind staying there a few times every time NO. But for the price it sounds nice on paper. Disney will tell you it doesn't matter where you own you just need your name on a deed to somewhere...

 

[ToddyLu]

But it does matter once you belong to DVC long enough. What happens is your whole vacation changes and you become more resort focused. The parks don't matter as much and you start to enjoy resort amenities more. You do not feel this the first three years of ownership but it does creep in over time. We can't imagine staying at BLT and love AKV. If we never did the parks again AKV would still provide us with a great vacation. We love the distance from parks, dark rooms the whole vibe. So you really have to think about what kind of vacation vibe do you want and if you have the oppotunity to switch, great, but if not you are stuck thre to spend the week in those surroundings. We spent one night at BLT and never have to stay there again...it was just that different and not us.

 

[ToddyLu]

We are the type of DVC members that if BLT were half the cost of AKV we would not buy there....eat dinner there, absolutely...but purchase....nope. I never in a million years would have thought that these feelings would creep in over time...your home resort just kinda becomes home. The next time you are thre just walk around the resorts, sit by the pool, take a tour...sometimes the resorts will let you see an actual room after 2:00--or they used too.

For instance I could not believe how large GF really is and wow what a walk from my friend's lake view room to the lobby. Thank goodness some nice CM picked us and her luggage up in a golf cart to whisk us away to check out.

 

[chalee94]

If you buy where you want to stay and you book at 11 months out, DVC will work great for you.

If you try to book at exactly 7 months out (in the morning right when booking opens), you will typically have several options for trading for different resorts. (Some options like VGF and BLT-standard view are very tough).

If you're hoping to book on short notice (in DVC terms, that can mean 5 months or less out), then you may find DVC very frustrating...

 

[disneyberry]

Do I love animal kingdom? Not really my thing wouldn't mind staying there a few times every time NO.

The modified version of "buy where you want to stay" is "buy where you don't mind staying every trip". Based on that, you shouldn't buy AKV.

Of course, this is only valid if you definitely plan to book your trips more than 7 months in advance. If you think you're going to be booking your trips 7 months or less in advance, then your home resort doesn't matter. Buy the best contract you can find at a resort with less expensive dues.

 

[CMNJ]

Thanks for the info...we are fl residents so we stay away in the hot months. We usually travel early Feb-May. or we go September early October. Maybe 1 year we would like to stay around the holidays. Staying in STUDIOS...I know people say buy where you love. I love Grand Fl or Polynesian, Bay Lake but for half the price and double the points I can buy an Animal Kingdom dues are almost the same. Do I love animal kingdom? Not really my thing wouldn't mind staying there a few times every time NO. But for the price it sounds nice on paper. Disney will tell you it doesn't matter where you own you just need your name on a deed to somewhere...

If you aren't into the whole animal thing but want cheap I'd buy SSR due to the lower dues-AK is currently the highest dues for WDW DVC properties-if that is worth it to you because you love the theme great but if not SSR is cheap to buy and MF are the 2nd lowest (after BLT)-plus you are right by downtown disney for restaurants/shopping etc

 

[crisi]

You should know that for those October trips, getting a near park resort consistantly will be difficult at seven months. Spring will be easier to move around in - at least historically until Disney does something that creates a February rush.

 

[BlackPearl695]

Does anyone take into consideration the length of the contract? We didn't want a contract that expires in 2042. For the price, it's not enough time for us. We had to weigh the cost against the number of points and the length of the contract, then narrowed it down to 2-3 that we were interested in. Surprisingly, we discovered that when we considered the time remaining on the contract, those lower prices didn't seem so low.

 

[CMNJ]

Does anyone take into consideration the length of the contract? We didn't want a contract that expires in 2042. For the price, it's not enough time for us. We had to weigh the cost against the number of points and the length of the contract, then narrowed it down to 2-3 that we were interested in. Surprisingly, we discovered that when we considered the time remaining on the contract, those lower prices didn't seem so low.

Funny but that's what really pushed us to BWV vs BLT
Didn't want to be on the hook for MF for the extra 18 years-resales are strong now but we are "what if" people-hopefully won't ever be an issue based on the history of DVC thus far (seems contracts are always able to be sold) but you always hear horror stories about timeshares people can't get rid of and just didn't know if we wanted to commit to MF when we are approaching 80

 

[BlackPearl695]

We are in the process of purchasing our 1st DVC and we are putting our son (24) on the contract so he will be able to take it over if there ever comes a time when we can no longer use it.

 

[supersnoop]

Does anyone take into consideration the length of the contract? We didn't want a contract that expires in 2042. For the price, it's not enough time for us. We had to weigh the cost against the number of points and the length of the contract, then narrowed it down to 2-3 that we were interested in. Surprisingly, we discovered that when we considered the time remaining on the contract, those lower prices didn't seem so low.

Yes, I considered the length of the contract, but from a slightly different angle: asset value. In 15 years, a contract with 30 years left will be worth a lot more than one with 12 years left. I don't plan to own DVC forever, so the end date doesn't bother me from that perspective, but I want to be able to get my money back out of it in the future.

 

[michelleiada]

I highly recommend you buy where you want to stay. All of the DVC groups I belong to the biggest complaint that I see is not being able to stay at the resort they prefer. So many people bought into SSR which is huge and a little bit cheaper, but many of them don't want to stay there. They are then very unhappy with DVC when they can't stay at another resort. I would rather spend a little bit more and love my home resort. I bought at BCV because I knew I loved it. I agree with the poster above who said when you own DVC you become more resort focused and the parks become less important. I guess the more often you go the less you feel like you have to do everything in the parks and so you end up spending more time enjoying your resort. "Buy where you want to stay", the best advice I got when I was considering DVC! If you don't care where you stay then certainly go for the cheapest contract.

 

[Dean]

Do you find it hard to rent at the other hotels when you have wanted to visit or were you able to book right away? We don’t know which resort to make our home resort…we don’t know if we should buy more points for a cheaper price and get into any resort…or pay more for the newer hotel and take less points?

Based on the info here and your other thread, I don't get the impression you're ready to buy yet. You need to get a feel enough that you will inherently know the answer between your personal preferences and the other information you can assimilate. IF you get to the point that you decide to buy, you really should sort out your preferences and your best choice, they may not be one and the same. IMO one is better off underbuying in terms of resort and number of points compared to over buying though I wouldn't buy in under around 150 points for most situations. For the Poly & VGF you'll likely need to book right at 11 months out, no reason to buy there if you can't. There is no requirement that one stay at the resort they own at, esp since you're close and should be fairly flexible. For VGF or the Poly I'd buy a fixed week even if it's not a week you will likely use if you can work it out otherwise. As a minimum I'd buy the lowest cost (best long term value) resort that you'd be happy with if you couldn't get anything else and that assumes you're booking more in the 11 month range. If you'll routinely be at 7 months or less you should consider not buying or buy the "cheapest" no matter what, that's generally SSR.

 

[DisneyGirlFlorida]

I went through this same decision before I purchased. I was very, very close to buying SSR for the cheaper points and because I wanted my foot in the door. After much research here, thinking about it, and more research, I went for VGF because I knew if I couldn't get at least ONE stay per year in VGF, it wouldn't be long before I regretted my DVC purchase. For the record, I know I'll be visiting WDW multiple times a year since I'm a FL resident with an annual pass and I do RunDisney events.

Though I'm still waiting on ROFR, not once since I made the commitment to buy did I ever regret or rethink my purchase. Well, that's not true...I REGRET not having more money to buy MORE points right now, but that's off the point

The point I'm making is seriously think and try to visualize yourself staying at SSR year after year, multiple times a year. Can you, would you do it? How does that make you feel? How would it make you feel if you went to reserve 7 months out and the ONLY availability was in SSR, AKV, or somewhere else you really don't prefer? Would you be okay with it or would you with "just once" you could stay at your "favorite" resort?

That's the thought process I took that led me to purchase in VGF.