Does the home resort really matter?

[Mr. Baloo]

I was looking at the resale rates, the vero beach and hilton head resorts can be found for $60+ per point, whereas the WDW resorts start at 70.

Is it really important to make the reservation 11 months out? or can you usually get what you want 7 months out????

Basically, I am curious how important your "home" resort is???

Second, have you ever wanted to use your points to stay at the poly or other deluxe since you purchased your DVC.


Thanks in advance.

[Tagrel]

Hi Mr Baloo!

The ever-popular 'does home resort count' question! :)

It boils down to YOUR flexibility as well as a few other factors.

You will need the 11 month advantage for the following:

1. BWV - Busy times of year always seem to fill up fast, ESPECIALLY the standard view rooms and the grand villas. Also, holidays and early december fill up before the 7 month mark - but the waitlist sometimes works.

2. OKW - Usually has the most availability at the 7 month mark. Still, its tough to get a Grand Villa without the 11 month advantage. Early December and Holidays fills up here quickly as well.

3. VWL - smallest number of units, and very popular. Fills up before 7 month mark often, but waitlist works sometimes. Early Dec fills up really fast (I'm still waitlisted for Dec and tried for ressies at the 8.5 month mark). Holidays are also busy.

4. BCV - Newest, so very popular. I wouldn't wait a day past 7 months, and again - it will fill up quickly on holidays and early Dec.

5. Vero - Lowest initial cost, but highest dues. Need to own here to get the Beach Cottages. They fill up super fast. Also, I believe spring is very busy here as well.

6. HH - Very tough to get summer reservations without the 11 month advantage.

The simple answer is to always buy where you want to stay the most. I would never invest that much money in a resort I would not be happy at. Also, if I want to stay at WDW most of the time, then I would buy at a WDW resort. It would be very stressful and frustrating to never be 'happy' with what I got. Last, it is said that rooms are assigned in the booking order, so those with 11 month reservations will get room requests filled before those made at 7 months. (Not sure how true this is, but we definitely got our 11 month requests last time!)

I've never used my points for the Disney collection. The point cost seems rather high to me. But if I wanted/needed to travel last second and no DVC rooms were available, its a great option to make sure I could get a room on site. Many people DO use their points for the other Disney resorts.

HTH

[dvcreg]

First, Disney recently has started to exercise their Right of First Refusal for resales. Unless they're priced in the $70.00 to $72.00 range, Disney is taking them. (I know that this is true of the onsite resorts, not 100% certain about HH or VB.)

IMHO, it's very important to own at the resort that you intend to stay at the most. There are certain times of year where it's hard to get what you want unless you book as early as possible. You can always waitlist, but why take a chance of not getting what you want?

We've never wanted to stay at a deluxe instead of a DVC resort with our points. There are five of us, and we have some not so fond memories of staying in one room at the Poly. (Having just one bathroom and the ever popular "MOM! She's taking all the blankets and touching me.)

No amount of amenities can compare to having two bathrooms and for everyone to have their own bed. I love having the washer/dryer so we don't have to pack and lug as much luggage.

[DVCByResale]

Hi Mr. Baloo,

The first question to ask yourself is do you make your vacation plans more than 7 months in advance? If your answer is "no" - then it truly won't matter where you buy because at the 7 month window, we are all equal.

The next question to ask yourself is do you travel during peak seasons? If your answer is "no" - then again, be comfortable buying where you get the best deal.

I answer this question as a HH owner who has never gone to HH. I always stay in Orlando or Vero and have always been able to get something when I needed it. Sometimes I had to go on the waitlist, but it always comes through.
Needless to say, I typically don't travel during peak seasons and I NEVER book more than 7 months in advance (more like 3 months or LESS). I'm also happy at any of the Orlando resorts...so if VWL is booked, but BW is open, I am glad to have it.

For many people the initial purchase is a large financial decision and if you can't (or just don't want) to buy Orlando, you really don't have to, IMHO.

Best of luck!
Shontell

[TwirlerGirl]

If you can be a little flexible with WDW reservations and you don't plan on going to WDW every year then the HH resale would be the one I pick. We alternate between HH & WDW. I love HH but own at OKW. We've only stayed at OKW once since purchasing in '97 and that was the 1st week in DEC of 2000. HH has been hard to get in the summer but we go late May or late Aug/early Sept. After four visits, I'm hooked and would love to own there but job market has done us in.

We have stayed at BWV 3X (July, Aug & Sept) and VWL 1X (Sept). We traded out 2x, Vermont and Charleston. Although, we enjoyed each of those stays, I doubt if we would trade out again. Spoiled and feel it was not a great $$ trade as compared to DVC resorts.

If you plan on going to WDW mostly then purchase where you want to stay the most. When we brought only OKW and BWV were available. I loved OKW and felt at the time that the BWV was to busy for me, too much of a walk down those long halls and way too noisy at night and early in the morning. As you can see, after trying it, we found that it suited us on different occasions. All of the WDW resorts are wonderful and each has it's own specialties. I stay at any of them with out a problem.

TwirlerGirl