Does my resale buying plan make sense?

[tbre1982]

Hello!
I am looking to buy a 160 point contract for BLT from dvc resale market: August use year, 160 points available 2018, 160 points 2019. I just want to make sure I am thinking it through correctly. Here is our situation:

Next trip: we would like to go for a week Nov 2019 and stay at a 2 bedroom at BLT; per the chart we would need 315 points. So we could use the 160 points from 2018 + 160 points from 2019.

Long term, we plan to go every 2-3 years, at non-peak times, and stay at a 1 or 2 bedroom deluxe resort. My kids are currently 2 & 5 so we are very MK heavy for the immediate future. Hence BLT. Also love epcot, so BLT is great as we can walk to MK/monorail to epcot. We usually bring a set of grandparents which is why we rent a 2 bedroom.​

Other resorts we would like to consider in the future are Boardwalk, AKL and Copper Creek, if potentially possible to book at the 7 month mark.

So....does 160 points, august use year, at BLT make sense for our needs???? I feel like it does, but am not sure if there are factors/issues I am not considering.

Thanks!

 

[Ben E N]

Sounds like it would work to me, especially if you are looking at a contract with a price you like right now. Most ideal obviously is a November UY, but August is plenty close enough. Just know that an August UY makes summer travel, with the exception of early August, risky. If you're good with that, then yes it is good.

 

[tbre1982]

Sounds like it would work to me, especially if you are looking at a contract with a price you like right now. Most ideal obviously is a November UY, but August is plenty close enough. Just know that an August UY makes summer travel, with the exception of early August, risky. If you're good with that, then yes it is good.

I envision us mostly going off season in November or maybe February. We Would never tolerate summer that!!

 

[kristenrice]

November is not off-season for DVC. It falls right in the middle of “fall frenzy” and can be very difficult to book. Plan on always staying at your home resort for your November trips. For February, you may have more success at 7 months at a non-home resort.

 

[disneynutz]

IMO off season doesn't exist. Disney is working hard to keep WDW full all year long. The special events increase their number of days each year. Pretty soon Halloween with start being celebrated in September.

Bill

 

[larissawbb]

IMO off season doesn't exist. Disney is working hard to keep WDW full all year long. The special events increase their number of days each year. Pretty soon Halloween with start being celebrated in September.

Bill

I think they start mid-August this year lol.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Definitely expect to book at 11 months and stay at home for November trips, unless you want to switch to SSR, and maybe not always be able to do that.

 

[tbre1982]

Definitely expect to book at 11 months and stay at home for November trips, unless you want to switch to SSR, and maybe not always be able to do that.

Thanks for the heads up! We would be very happy at blt in November. With Christmas activities, mcmcp and monorail resort decorations BLT is nice that time of year. We definitely have heard "buy where you want to stay"

 

[sndral]

To book for 11/19 @ 11 months you’ll need to have access to your points by Dec. which is 4 1/2 months from now - typically more than enough time assuming you pass ROFR. Verify w/ the broker that there are no factors which could slow down closing (like the owners have a vacation scheduled that you can’t close before or that it’s a probate or other legal type sale or that the sellers are International - all factors which slow things down.)
Once you get your points when you make that 11/19 reservation you’ll just bank the 2018 points and use them along with the 2019 points and have 5 leftover points.
When you are looking at the point cost are you looking at standard view?

 

[tbre1982]

To book for 11/19 @ 11 months you’ll need to have access to your points by Dec. which is 4 1/2 months from now - typically more than enough time assuming you pass ROFR. Verify w/ the broker that there are no factors which could slow down closing (like the owners have a vacation scheduled that you can’t close before or that it’s a probate or other legal type sale or that the sellers are International - all factors which slow things down.)
Once you get your points when you make that 11/19 reservation you’ll just bank the 2018 points and use them along with the 2019 points and have 5 leftover points.
When you are looking at the point cost are you looking at standard view?

320 points would be for Lake view 2BR. It's 285 for standard view but I heard those can be tough to book even at 11 months so I wanted to ensure we have enough points for the next level up jsut in case.
If standard view is available I believe we could do 8 nights instead of 7. That would cost 324 pts (just over our 320) but I heard you can buy a very small #if needed. Is that correct?

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/BLT-Points.htm

 

[4luv2cdisney]

320 points would be for Lake view 2BR. It's 285 for standard view but I heard those can be tough to book even at 11 months so I wanted to ensure we have enough points for the next level up jsut in case.
If standard view is available I believe we could do 8 nights instead of 7. That would cost 324 pts (just over our 320) but I heard you can buy a very small #if needed. Is that correct?

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/BLT-Points.htm

You would be able to borrow points (from your 2020 UY) at 11 months. Buying one-time-use points is only available at the 7 month mark.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

(also assume one time use points will not be helpful in November. They can only be used for units available at the 7 month Mark.)

 

[VTNuke]

That should be enough points for how often you are saying you are going to go. In reality, that's probably not the way you'll end up using the points. You'll go more. You'll have to decide if pulling the kids out of school X time or Y time is worth it (it is by the way). The kids will get older and they'll want to go somewhere else. You'll want to do trips without the kids. You'll figure out you can do 3 trips in 12 months and "save" money by buying an annual pass, then you'll plan one of those trips to just be for the adults. Just know your current plans are current. You may even end up buying 75 points direct to get the discounts, or selling the BLT 160 points and buying 200 OKW points.

I will say it's been getting harder and harder to get exactly what you want at the 7 month window. If you want a standard view studio at the Boardwalk in November or December, you probably aren't getting it at the 7 month window. The more off site DVC's they've added (went from 2 to 4 since I've been an owner, and I'm counting the Disneyland one) the more people that don't have a home resort at WDW are trying to get in at the 7 month window. Makes it even more important today to own where you want to stay, even if it cost more either initially or in maintenance fees.

We love our BWK, but BLT is probably my second favorite. It's really nice being able to walk to MK. But, remember your kids are probably MK centered right now, but will probably become HS centered in 5 or 6 years. Another change with the way you'll want to vacation. BWK also has lower points per stay than BLT. I also think it's easier to get BLT at the 7 month window than BWK at the 7 month in the fall.

 

[CarolMN]

Finding a contract with full 2018 points may be a challenge. You might have better luck if you would consider those that don't have full points until 2019.

FWIW, because you only plan to go every 2 -3 years, you might be better off starting out borrowing (rather than banking). For example for you November 2019 trip, if you bank 2018 and use 2019 points, you will have a few points leftover from 2019. You can bank those, but they would expire on 7/31/2020, which is before you plan to go again.

Contrast that with using 2019 points for your November 2019 trip and borrowing from 2020,. The leftover 202 points can be banked and thus available to use in 2021 - the year of your next trip. You's still have the 2021 points and the ability to borrow from 2022.

Neither scenario works very well going every third year. That often results in "stranded" points - and a very strong temptation to take another trip to avoid letting those points go to waste.

 

[Ben E N]

In reality, that's probably not the way you'll end up using the points. You'll go more.

You'll figure out you can do 3 trips in 12 months and "save" money by buying an annual pass

I just have to throw in that yep, that's right as far as what's happened to me. Bought 185 BLT points to do a 1 BR every couple of years, and now this year it changed to 4 trips using mostly studios, and to make the most out of an AP.
Being a teacher, I work around the school schedule, so you don't even have to pull your kids out of school or go adults only to follow that sort of pattern.
I reccomend buying a few more points as you think you need, as I wish I had done that in the first place. Adding on is a lot more pricey than buying in bulk via resale.

 

[kniquy]

Next trip: we would like to go for a week Nov 2019 and stay at a 2 bedroom at BLT; per the chart we would need 315 points. So we could use the 160 points from 2018 + 160 points from 2019.

Long term, we plan to go every 2-3 years, at non-peak times, and stay at a 1 or 2 bedroom deluxe resort. My kids are currently 2 & 5 so we are very MK heavy for the immediate future. Hence BLT. Also love epcot, so BLT is great as we can walk to MK/monorail to epcot. We usually bring a set of grandparents which is why we rent a 2 bedroom.​

A couple things did jump out to me that could use a little more thought. First off, using a contract to go every 3 years is risky because if you have to cancel a trip chances are you will lose a lot of points. If you truly see only going every 3 years then renting points would be a better option. Going every other year can work with banking, but there is a whole world of banking, borrowing and when points will expire that you might need to explore to really learn the in's/outs of it all.

Your kids are young and school and sports are likely not a factor now in planning. If you are going to home school then going in November or any time of the year is not an issue, but once kids get older and school becomes more demanding and sports start getting in the way you will soon realize that your availability to travel is significantly reduced - so you might be able to go only during school vacation - this might put you in higher points seasons, because when you are looking at November -- that is pretty much the lowest season. Take a look at Davids DVC calculator plug in different times of the year when you might have to travel to see what the points cost would be. You could always buy for what you need now and then add on in a few years when you need more points to stay at different times of the year.

School you can work around with skipping a few days while they are young, but once they get into 4th grade and above school becomes more demanding and skipping more difficult because of the work load and expectations. Sports also interfere -- I would love to do an end of August trip before our kids start school, but soccer practices are already starting (we could probably skip a few practices and be ok) BUT once my 12 twin boys hit high school then certainly tryout and practices will be starting mid august and missing not an option. So definitely put some consideration in your travel habits.

 

[Dean]

I wouldn't do it for every 3 years but it should be OK for usually EOY. I'd still get a small cushion of points or at least be open to slightly larger contracts in case you find a good one. I'd do later UY for travels in November, maybe Oct instead of Aug/Sep if you normally will travel then. And if you decided to travel Easter/Summer at times later would be much better than an August UY.

 

[rg35]

Even though you say you can't tolerate summer heat, with two kids 2-5 will you be pulling them from school during the year for vacations? As they get older, school becomes more demanding and missing a week can be pretty disruptive to the student. In addition there is a greater time demand from extracurricular activities like sports. Personally we don't believe in missing school for vacations and growing up in the 80's that wasn't a thing I remember kids doing but I know it is more popular now.

Basically that's a long winded way of saying you may want to consider a UY that offers more flexibility.

 

[tbre1982]

A couple things did jump out to me that could use a little more thought. First off, using a contract to go every 3 years is risky because if you have to cancel a trip chances are you will lose a lot of points. If you truly see only going every 3 years then renting points would be a better option. Going every other year can work with banking, but there is a whole world of banking, borrowing and when points will expire that you might need to explore to really learn the in's/outs of it all.

Your kids are young and school and sports are likely not a factor now in planning. If you are going to home school then going in November or any time of the year is not an issue, but once kids get older and school becomes more demanding and sports start getting in the way you will soon realize that your availability to travel is significantly reduced - so you might be able to go only during school vacation - this might put you in higher points seasons, because when you are looking at November -- that is pretty much the lowest season. Take a look at Davids DVC calculator plug in different times of the year when you might have to travel to see what the points cost would be. You could always buy for what you need now and then add on in a few years when you need more points to stay at different times of the year.

School you can work around with skipping a few days while they are young, but once they get into 4th grade and above school becomes more demanding and skipping more difficult because of the work load and expectations. Sports also interfere -- I would love to do an end of August trip before our kids start school, but soccer practices are already starting (we could probably skip a few practices and be ok) BUT once my 12 twin boys hit high school then certainly tryout and practices will be starting mid august and missing not an option. So definitely put some consideration in your travel habits.

Very helpful considerations. Thank you for the insight!!! I appreciate the insight into future nuances that I need to consider!!