Trying to choose a home resort

[disneynutz]

Originally Posted by Jobelly

I'm busy trying to decide between BCV and SS, and despite loving BCV I think we are heading towards SS because of the extra points we can get and the longer contract length as well as just looking a nice resort.
I was wondering though if you have multiple points at different resorts presumably at 11 months you can only book up to your points limit for that resort and not up to your points for all the resorts. ie if I had 300 at SS and 100 at BCV at 11 months out I could only book at BCV 100 points of vacation and not 400 which would be my total?

You are correct, you can only use home resort points to book at 11 months, you can not combine SSR and BCV to stay at BCV.

There are many who bought SSR with little intention of staying there, they expect to use there points to book at 7 months at the more popular, expensive resorts. There are only so many rooms, the best will be taken by people who own there, the rest will be up for grabs at 7 months by everyone else. As more people buy into the program, the competition will only get tougher.

Bill

[ELMC]

Originally Posted by Jobelly

I'm busy trying to decide between BCV and SS, and despite loving BCV I think we are heading towards SS because of the extra points we can get and the longer contract length as well as just looking a nice resort.
I was wondering though if you have multiple points at different resorts presumably at 11 months you can only book up to your points limit for that resort and not up to your points for all the resorts. ie if I had 300 at SS and 100 at BCV at 11 months out I could only book at BCV 100 points of vacation and not 400 which would be my total?

Yes, sort of. You are correct in your understanding that you cannot combine points from different resorts at the 11 month window. However, you can actually book up to 300 if you bank the previous year's points, use current year's points and borrow from next year.

[E2ME2]

just my $.02.........
We bought at SSR, in October of 2011.
We typically want to go to WDW in January & February, and any resort will do, as long as we are away from the winter in the mid-atlantic
We are also empty nesters now, and being near DTD is just as attractive as being near MK.
Because of that, SSR was the obvious choice for us.
We will always book our 11-month ressie at SSR, and we can then try to move to a different resort at 7-months.
If we are unable to move, we are still happy with SSR.
If we are able to move at 7-months, that's just a bonus.
I'd rather benefit from the lower price per point, and lower MFs, and occasionally score a bonus, then to pay a higher price, and feel like we are over-charged if we opt to stay at SSR anyway.
(I'm hearing, from this forum & the DeeVeeCee news forum, that 7-month ressies in January should not be a problem)
So that's our strategy

[lodge]

Originally Posted by E2ME2

snip..
We are also empty nesters now, and being near DTD is just as attractive as being near MK.

That is a REALLY good point!! I'm rethinking some things from this post alone!! Golfing in retirement!!

[disneynutz]

Originally Posted by E2ME2

We are also empty nesters now, and being near DTD is just as attractive as being near MK.

Same for us but Epcot is our favorite.

Where you spend the most of your time should be a deciding factor.

Bill

[dwight16]

i bought a 160 contract in jan 2011 on the resale market bc mostly bc it was the cheapest. i have done 2 trips and got BWV in may and BCV in oct. now i am looking to add so i am about to get a 25 or 30 point contract at the BW or BC to start to build my points at another resort. personally i have not had a problem with getting good resorts OBV value rooms at BW will go like hot cakes. at 7 months rooms are available at AKL OKW SSR BLT and BW. you pay a few extra points for a lake view or what not but i would get in the door a cheap as you can

[icephoenix25]

We thought long and hard about it, but being in CA and having the GCV being so small we decided to be patient and wait for a resale to come up. Luckily we found a large contract at an incredibly reasonable price. For anyone that will primarily go to Disneyland and looking into being a DVC member, definitely get one with GCV being your home resort. It didn't take us long to learn that it fills up practically everyday that is within the 7 month window for everyone else.

[crisi]

Buy where you won't be disappointed to end up.

DVC is for the long term. We don't have any control over the choices Disney makes.

When we bought BWV way back a dozen years ago, Food and Wine was a four week thing that started in the middle of October - our "standard" vacation was a week the kids had off school the week before that.

The year we bought, Disney pushed Food and Wine to the first week of October. The whole "you will have no problem getting BW or Standard View even if you don't book right away" became "call day by day at eleven months"

Within what seemed like the blink of an eye, the kids were in middle school and October didn't work any more with their schedules - suddenly we were going in Summer.

If you won't mind staying at SSR, then its a lovely resort to buy. If you need to stay at BWV, either buy there, or keep your money in your pocket and rent points.

(Now, the dirty secret is that the resort where my heart is is VWL - I adore it. But, we prefer walking to Epcot over the themeing of VWL - although I care what my room looks like, its the proximity to Epcot that has us not trying to book VWL).

[dbs1228]

Keep your eyes opened I just had my offer excepted (pd asking price) for BWV 55.00 PP which is lower then some SSR contracts listed and it has all this years points and all points going forward. Yes maintenance fees are higher/shorter contract but I want a BWV view when I stay there and i like to know I can get it! BLT is our favorite resort and have plenty of points there also.

[Disbound]

Just another $.02...........
We bought at Saratoga Springs back in 2003. We were newbies and had no idea you could even buy at other resorts then, we just thought you could only buy at the resort that was currently being built. That being said... we have made the trip every year since purchasing. We have booked in March, April, May and September, (as others have said, plans change as kids do!) and we have NEVER stayed in our home resort! This year, we are going in March again, we leave this Saturday actually! We booked at SSR at the 11 month mark, then called to change to BWV with a Boardwalk View at the 7 month mark and got right in no problem. Maybe next week won't be as busy as this week for vacations, I don't really know, but we got right in first try. We have stayed in WLV, BCV, OKW and BLT. Maybe our vacation times were not peak and that is why we have been so lucky, but we don't want to visit during Christmas or Halloween because of the huge crowds anyway so it works for us. Hope you find what works for you! Good luck!