Why do you have more than one DVC home resort?

[epicureangirl]

I am about to take the plunge and get my first DVC contract (undecided on the home resort thus far), but seeing all the signature lines in this forum, I have noticed a recurring theme:

You can't buy just one!

Please tell me why you bought more than one contract....

Did you not have enough points to take the kind of vacations you wanted to? Were you not able to easily book a resort you loved, and decided to add another contract to your portfolio to book early? Did you start booking some non-Disney resorts and found it to be a good way to take ALL your vacations? Is it just a bit addictive to own a piece of each?

Please tell me. I need to know what I'm in for!

 

[rigsby25]

We bought 210 pts. resale at OKW. Our research showed less points per visit, and less maintenance fees. We bought sight unseen and we were not disappointed. We have also stayed at SSR, VWL, and BC. We are still not disappointed. On one of our trips, having extra time after we checked out and our flight, we decided to go to breakfast at Boma at AK and were bowled over. On our family reunion trip, the 14 of us went to breakfast at Boma, and everyone was bowled over. When the chance came to purchase at AKV, we jumped and bought 100 pts. The only reason is the 11 month advantage in making reservations, although we usually travel in off season (October, May, or January). At 7 months, we can use these points anywhere, even at our beloved OKW.

 

[wildernessDad]

We purchased AKV for the home resort advantage, the fact that some of the rooms hold more people and Kidani will have the extra bathroom in the 1 and 2 bedrooms. We've also added on twice at VWL, so don't any of you VWL enthusiasts think that I am abandoning VWL!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We purchased 230 OKW points back in '97 and added another 150 point OKW contract in 1998. We purposly had both contracts at OKW because we wanted to have all points available at our home resort.

Then along came AKV, and we NEEDED home resort status there, so we purchased a 69 point add-on contract there to get some every third year home resort ressies there.

Just know that multiple resort contracts can make point managment a bit more complex, but certainly not difficult.

 

[mikesmom]

We originally bought at BWV for location - Epcot was absolutely our family's favorite park. We' re even happier we made that decision in recent years, as we have started an annual trip to the Food & Wine Fest and the Epcot location is very important for that.

A couple of years after our initial purchase we started thinking about trips with larger numbers of people. The kids were getting older and starting families, and DH really wanted to be ready for trips with them and their families. OKW has absolutely the best GVs and we felt we needed home resort advantage to get those. Ironically, the trips we have taken with the large group have ended up splitting into multiple rooms at BWV - haven't used a GV yet. The rest of the family is not great about planning very far out. Also, after one group trip we realized it really was helpful to have family in multiple rooms - some down time from each other is more restful. I wouldn't give up my OKW, though. That resort has become my personal favorite. A little bit of distance from the parks can be very restful - we use trips there to really unwind.

 

[tigertamm]

I am in the process of buying 160 SS points and 65 points at AKV. I split because I wasn't sure about my need for points and thought if I HAD to sell some points it would be easier to sell off a small amount. (you can't sell part of your points from what I understand) I also wanted AKV as a home because it looks wonderful!

 

[LindaBabe]

Easy. HE loves Wilderness Lodge. SHE loves Animal Kingdom Lodge.

 

[Granny]

Please tell me why you bought more than one contract....

Did you not have enough points to take the kind of vacations you wanted to?

This is what drove our purchase of an additional contract. Our original purchase was VWL. We bought enough points to stay in a 1BR for the length of time we would normally go. After a couple of trips, we decided that we wanted to stay in 2BR villas to get the extra bathroom and to make the living room available all the time for television watching, etc. So we purchased a second contract at a second resort (BWV) that we also like a lot.

Now we bank one contract and borrow on the other to allow us to alternate resorts each year and still book the entire trip with the home resort advantage. It has worked out great for us!

Were you not able to easily book a resort you loved, and decided to add another contract to your portfolio to book early?

This was important since we wanted to be able to book Standard View at BWV and save points, or sometimes the Boardwalk View. Owning there gives a much better chance of getting either of those categories.

Did you start booking some non-Disney resorts and found it to be a good way to take ALL your vacations? Is it just a bit addictive to own a piece of each?

No, this was not part of our thinking process.


I will say that AKV is tempting because we could go back to reserving 1BR villas with the two bathrooms. We'll see if we can book those easily at the 7 month window. If not, we might have to do an add-on there.

Of course, DW is waiting for CRV. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it!!

 

[MinnieFan]

Our original purchase was VWL. We bought enough points to stay in a 1BR for the length of time we would normally go. After a couple of trips, we decided that we wanted to stay in 2BR villas to get the extra bathroom and to make the living room available all the time for television watching, etc. So we purchased a second contract at a second resort (BWV) that we also like a lot.

Now we bank one contract and borrow on the other to allow us to alternate resorts each year and still book the entire trip with the home resort advantage. It has worked out great for us!

This is exactly what we do (same resorts, too!) and it works out great. The only thing that worries me is that I think I'm starting to fall for AKV - I haven't told DH yet!

 

[tink4ever]

We started with 250 pts at VWL in 2001 which is my favorite. Once we stayed at BCV my DH fell in love with it so we decided since there are now so many DVC owners it might become difficult to book at the 7 month window at BCV so we bought 250 pts at BCV. Now we both own at our favorites and can book both at the 11 month window. So we are very satisfied.

 

[cavecricket]

I thought I might add to this, we only have 1 contract at SSR. We decided to lump all our points at one resort and take our chances at the 7 month window to move around....worse case scenario, we spend 2 weeks a year at SSR ... still a good deal to me! So far we have lucked out every time (even in high occupancy times) We have VWL and AKV split between 2 weeks this year.

On the flip side, when we originally purchased I planned to use our points to stay in a regualr AKL room ( this was before AKV ) so when they ever announced AKV I nearly died....once this contract is paid, I will be searching for AKV resales! lol

 

[jade1]

VWL for XMAS week ressies at 11 months and BCV for Spring Break ressies at 11 months. Left overs are used for BWV in the summer at 7 months.

 

[mommylo]

We always travel at high seasons like summer and Christmas because of the kids, so 7 months booking window just doesn't cut it for us and we like to stay at differnet resorts, hence the 4 "homes"

 

[DVC Grammy]

Two of our "homes" offer different point categories (BWV & AKV) and we wanted that 11-month advantage of getting our first choice!

 

[JimC]

We own at three resorts -- OKW, BCV and AKV -- and have 6 contracts

OKW because we love the resort and the value in terms of points and dues. BCV primarily for the 11 month booking window as well as the location and AKV for the theme (we sold one or our MVCI properties as part of this change to our portfolio)

 

[DVC Mike]

Please tell me why you bought more than one contract....

Did you not have enough points to take the kind of vacations you wanted to? Were you not able to easily book a resort you loved, and decided to add another contract to your portfolio to book early?

We decided we wanted to spend more time at WDW then our initial buy-in. After we decided to add points, it made sense to buy at the resorts we wanted to have the 11-month home resort booking advantage.

So, we bought at our four favorite resorts -- AKV, VWL, BWV, and BCV. We now have the flexibility of booking all four with the home resort booking advantage.

 

[n2mm]

Bought SSR points because they were cheap while hubby was a CM, then bought at BWV for the 11 month advantage of booking during food and wine in October. Also for the pinching of points by staying in a standard room to stretch the points. I used my SSR points for my Spring and Summer visits booking at the 7 month window.

 

[lisaviolet]

We originally bought two contracts at SSR. We thought long and hard about that decision. Ten years we waited to save the money and buy. And the reasons to stick with only SSR were:

• I liked SSR
• SSR was the longest contract at the time
• I wasn't a planner so I could never see using a 11-7 month window
• Disney was selling it
• And I knew I didn't have the personality or patience for resale
• And I don't think we realized that you could buy "soldout" DVC properties direct from DVC at the time

We always loved BWV the most. And I adored VWL but didn't buy because of the above. And then we stayed at BWV. And that was it. And I thought, "oh I can become a planner for ths!", "I can change","I don't care about the extra years for this!". And we sold one SSR contract to afford BWV.

I can see adding VWL and more BWV points for sure especially if they extend the contract time. When I have the money again, that is! Annoying little issue money is...

 

[epicureangirl]

Now we bank one contract and borrow on the other to allow us to alternate resorts each year and still book the entire trip with the home resort advantage. It has worked out great for us!

Great idea! If I could go every year that would be a fantastic way to do it!

 

[epicureangirl]

So, we bought at our four favorite resorts -- AKV, VWL, BWV, and BCV. We now have the flexibility of booking all four with the home resort booking advantage.

Is it correct that you can only book (with home resort booking advantage) the amount of points you have available for that particular resort?

For instance, if I bought 100 AKV and 150 Boardwalk, and had only the one year's points available, I could call for an AKV reservation at 11 months out but they would only allow me to use up to the 100 AKV points? Then at 7 months out I could call back and try to use my 150 (Boardwalk) points to book AKV?