[jk8]

After reading King's post about VWL I was feeling a bit sad that we did not purchase there instead of SSR. But, then I realized that we rarely plan our WDW trips 11 months out (or even 7) anyway. So, I feel better now. Now, back to your regularly scheduled post....

[DisneyTeacher]

Being able to use the 11 months booking window is important in where you buy. We only have a couple of weeks we can go to WDW so we'll try to always book at 11 months. We can't call and plan our vacation around what's available, I wish we could but we can't right now. For us that made owning where we want to stay was important but I could see how that wouldn't be as important for other people.

I'm glad you're ok with SSR, there's nothing worse than spending all that money then having a regret.

[Elmo]

We bought at the BCV site unseen. I had no clue either way (BCV or Boardwalk). I'd like to add more points, but I don't want to split up the points - even though there have been some good deals. We want that 11 month window as we haven't been inclined to stay elsewhere.

[Prezcatz]

We ended up buying SSR because the prices/incentives were a little better. We figure if we do plan out 11 months early, we know at least we will have a room, and then can put in the request to change the reservation if we really want to stay in another DVC property. As long as we can get there, the rest is gravy!!!

Prezcatz Paul

[bethishooked]

That leads me to ask, if you do want to stay at another DVC resort other than your homebase, how common is it for you to get what you want 7 months out? I'm torn between saving some $$$ with SSR vs. AKV which is where I would want to stay every time.

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by bethishooked

That leads me to ask, if you do want to stay at another DVC resort other than your homebase, how common is it for you to get what you want 7 months out? I'm torn between saving some $$$ with SSR vs. AKV which is where I would want to stay every time.

It really depends. If you are flexible with your dates and resort you might be ok booking another resort at 7 months.

As DVC grows I can see it getting harder and harder to book some of the smaller resorts at 7 months. We bought where we wanted to stay because we can't be flexible with our dates and we knew we want to stay at BCV for most of our trips. It's a lot of money and we wanted to be happy with it for years and years.

I don't know how true it is but I have heard SSR is nearly sold out if not already sold out. We went to a DVC meeting a couple of weeks ago and the CM checking us in said SSR was a week from selling out. Once that happens you can still get points there but usually not discounts or other special offers.

Have you called DVC for information? They will send out a nice book, Dreams I think, plus any information about current specials. If you need a guide left me know, I worked with a wonderful one when we bought.

[momofaprincess]

Originally Posted by DisneyTeacher

It really depends. If you are flexible with your dates and resort you might be ok booking another resort at 7 months.

As DVC grows I can see it getting harder and harder to book some of the smaller resorts at 7 months. We bought where we wanted to stay because we can't be flexible with our dates and we knew we want to stay at BCV for most of our trips. It's a lot of money and we wanted to be happy with it for years and years.

I don't know how true it is but I have heard SSR is nearly sold out if not already sold out. We went to a DVC meeting a couple of weeks ago and the CM checking us in said SSR was a week from selling out. Once that happens you can still get points there but usually not discounts or other special offers.

Have you called DVC for information? They will send out a nice book, Dreams I think, plus any information about current specials. If you need a guide left me know, I worked with a wonderful one when we bought.

I actually heard the same about SSR when we went for our open house. They said they'd pretty much only be selling AKV very soon and they expect that to sell as fast as Beach Club did when that was first released to the public to buy.

DH wanted AKV as our "home" anyway so we weren't even considering SSR. And I'm sure we'll need to take advantage of our 11 month window if we want to be in our home resort.

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by momofaprincess

DH wanted AKV as our "home" anyway so we weren't even considering SSR. And I'm sure we'll need to take advantage of our 11 month window if we want to be in our home resort.

We could have gotten a much better deal had we bought SSR or AKV but we really wanted BCV to be our home. You never know when booking rules will change, 30-50 years is a long time and rules might change over that time. I know not everyone agrees with "buy where you want to stay" but for us it felt like something we needed to do.

[bethishooked]

That's very good advise about once DVC grows and grows, it probably will get harder and harder to book 7 months out. That being said, you just made up my mind that we will go for AKV. Our next trip is in August. I'm hoping DH will agree to go to an open house!

[KingOMiami]

Just so you know, our home resort is VWL but I was able to book our trip last month for Memorial day weekend at AKV at the 7 month window with no problem.

I would think during the big holidays like Christmas it would be hard to book at the 7 month window.

Overall we are extremely happy with our purchase and we are staying at SSR in January so I will let ya know how that goes :)

[NokeyNose]

I kind of regret purchasing SSR (at the time, that was mostly what was available). I never really gave consideration to the fact that we would have a hard time booking a stay in a value season at another hotel by calling 7 months ahead. Now that I know, I regret not buyig into VWL (even if we got it through resale)!

[CDavis9088]

We bought into the AKV in january and was taking a trip in October. We wanted to wait to stay at the AKV till all the construction was done so we waited till the 7 month window was open to try to stay the the BCV but every thing was booked for the time of our trip except for SSR and OKW. So we booked into the SSR, and we got onto so wait lists for others. I later found that the week we are there is the food and wine festival, and this is why it was so booked. If i were to do it all over again i would have just booked at the AKV at the 11th month window and then rechecked for others at the 7th month window. However, a DVC cast member told me that it will be easier to get into AKV by the end of the year since the new section was going to be complete by december

[ssn]

Originally Posted by DisneyTeacher

We could have gotten a much better deal had we bought SSR or AKV but we really wanted BCV to be our home. You never know when booking rules will change, 30-50 years is a long time and rules might change over that time. I know not everyone agrees with "buy where you want to stay" but for us it felt like something we needed to do.

How did you buy into BCV? I so want to buy into DVC, but I would definately want to buy where I want to stay. I would love either WLV or BCV. Did you go through a resale or were you still able to buy direct from Disney?

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by ssn

How did you buy into BCV? I so want to buy into DVC, but I would definately want to buy where I want to stay. I would love either WLV or BCV. Did you go through a resale or were you still able to buy direct from Disney?

We bought BCV through Disney. I told our guide that we only wanted to own at BCV. Once she understood that she got the ball rolling. We had to wait 3 months for the contract to come through but it was worth the wait. There are no closing costs at sold out resorts and you get all your points as soon as your contracts are sent out. Going resale can be about the same wait and you may have to pay closing costs (unless the seller agrees to pay) and the contract may not have any points for a year or two. Going through Disney was stress free and that was worth a few extra dollars per point.

We could have had VWL or BWV in much less time than BCV. I believe our guide said the VWL points were already in the system so there would have been no wait.

If you need a referral and don't already have a guide let me know, we love our guide.

[wdw&tk]

We own at both BCV and SSR, we are like you and usually don't plan 11 months out. We are going Dec 26 to Jan 7/09, we booked our stay at BCV prior to the 7 month window and we booked our other stay at SSR and at the 7 month window we transferred to AKL.

So on our first trip as DVC members we get to stay at two great resorts. Our maintenance fees are more reasonable at SSR and we have 12 extra more years of enjoyment with our SSR points.

Buy what you can afford, and if you don't book close to the 11 month window you may still not get in to your home resort because some of the other DVC resorts don't have as many units as SSR and OKW.

I am just as happy with both purchases, because I know that I am fortunate to have membership in DVC.