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We are leaning toward either BLT or AKV and I mentioned to our DVC rep that we might want to buy 100 points at each.
He told me it was a bad idea, that you need at lease enough points at one resort for a stay.
Is that right?
I figured if I had 100 points I could book either or them at 11 months. But he said no.
I have to say I am getting a bad feeling about this guy. He can't answer many questions (that I have found answers to here or on MouseOwners). Some information he has given me is wrong (he told me that DVC members can pool hop to Stormalong Bay). The information packet he supposedly sent last week Federal Express has never arrived (maybe he sent it Pony Express instead?).
you can book either at 11 months out since they would both be home bases for you, but you can only use that 100 points at 11 months out, you can not use all 200 points at one of the resorts at 11 months. Does that make sense? 100 points won't get you much, maybe a week in a studio, you would then have to wait until 7 months to use your remaining 100 points to try and upgrade to a larger villa at that same resort. Plus I believe you would then have two sets of dues, one for each resort since they different properties!
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Teresa
Sammy 5 years and Peyton 15 months - September 2013
Sounds like you need to ask for a different rep. Our guy Kevin McQuarry, I'll correct the spelling later, was very helpful and answered a TON of our questions.
To answer one of your questions. If you plan staying at AKV only, you can use the 100 AKV pts at the 11 month mark and the 100 BLT pts at the 7 month mark to book your trip. But if you want to move to BLT for part of your trip you can book each leg at the 11-month mark. Hope that made sense. To kinda clarify, you can only use pts that you own at one home resort to book that resort at the 11 month mark, all other pts you can book there at the 7 month mark
Our guide is Joan Lane and she has been excellent! We have actually been in contact with her for several years, just goes to show how long we have been thinking about buying in!
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Teresa
Sammy 5 years and Peyton 15 months - September 2013
Yes, I would owe 100 pts worth of dues to each resort but that is okay. I would be paying 200 points no matter what (whether I bought all at one resort or if I bought at mutiple resorts).
I am still not clear about the booking... I can only book up to my points at the resort 11 months out?
Do you have to book just part of your stay at 11 months and then the rest at 7? I am assuming that at 7 months I can use my points from the other resorts?
What about if I was going to pay cash for part of a stay (if I did not have enough points)?
If I want a week at BLT and don't have enough points, then I can't book the whole trip at 11 months.... Between Nick's issues with transitions and my dislike of packing/unpacking I really don't want a split stay or have to move rooms....
I had ASSUMED (uh oh) that once you bought into a resort your privledges for 11 months were set in stone. But I can see why that would not work, otherwise everyone would just buy a few shares of each resort.....
I guess this is why people end up buying so many more points!!!
Our guide is Joan Lane and she has been excellent! We have actually been in contact with her for several years, just goes to show how long we have been thinking about buying in!
The rep we had spoken with in 2007 is no longer there. The rep we have now must have inherited her phone number because he is who we got when I called for updated information.... I'm really trying to give him a chance (I would hate to get him into trouble) - but on the other hand this is a big investment and this guy is not inspiring confidence.
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We love our rep Amil (that is how I think its spelled) He is wonderful. He explains things very clear. We have 50 points at tree houses and 200 at AKL. So what I did was book both at the 11month window. I just used my bank/borrow with the 50. Trust me if there is a will there is a way.
We love our rep Amil (that is how I think its spelled) He is wonderful. He explains things very clear. We have 50 points at tree houses and 200 at AKL. So what I did was book both at the 11month window. I just used my bank/borrow with the 50. Trust me if there is a will there is a way.
Bank/borrow...... that is a thought
So I could buy 100 at AKV and 100 at BLT. Then if I wanted AKV I could use 100 from this year and borrow 100 from next year of my AKV points while then banking this year's BLT points for next year?
Personally, I'd get another rep. He's answering simple, basic questions wrong . . . I wouldn't want to trust him on the more difficult ones.
I think 100 points from two different resorts would work just fine. What I'd do would be to bank/borrow & vacation one year at BLT & the next trip would be at AKV. That way you'd be using 200 points each year, you'd just rotate where you stay.
So I could buy 100 at AKV and 100 at BLT. Then if I wanted AKV I could use 100 from this year and borrow 100 from next year of my AKV points while then banking this year's BLT points for next year?
Yes, that is correct. You can bank and borrow to give yourself more flexibility.
Owning at two resorts does not give you carte blanche to book with any/all points at 11 months. So it sounds like the Guide's response on this topic was correct. Whether or not there are other issues that would cause you to change is up to you.
Given the pricing and dues the way they are now, BLT is the best offer available IMO. Assuming dues trend upward at similar rates, those AKV points will cost you 25% higher dues than BLT per year for the next 47 years. Make sure you are going to get your money's worth by using them at AKV.
As someone who owns at 3 separate resorts, I will say that it's much more difficult to manage points from separate locations than one single location. You are bound to end up with orphaned points that have to be used at 7 months. (You can bank to give yourself 200 points at one resort in a single year, but what are the odds that you will ever need exactly 200 points for any one trip?) And you have to be much more diligent in watching which contract DVC takes points from when making reservations. Are those issues deal-breakers? That's up to you to decide.
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We have 160 points at AKL and just added another 100 on to BLT. First hand, I can tell you that tjkraz hit the nail on the head - it is kind of a pain in the butt to manage points at multiple resorts. We're lucky that our use dates are the same for both (September), so at least that's one less obstacle in keeping track of when we can book.
I would either pick one, or the other, personally, or at least get 150 points at one of the resorts, if you can swing an extra 50 points to add onto your 200. It's hard planning a vacation when you only have 100 points to play with, trust me - we're running into that same situation for our October trip, in that we only had 100 points to stay, and the cheaper rooms were booked up, even at 11 months out.
Sure, you can go in the "off" seasons, when it's extra cheap, but what if you really want to go in May? Then you're looking at a lot less days to stay. Plus, with the initial popularity of BLT, only being able to book 100 points at 11 months is going to put you into wait-list territory, or "wish and pray a 7 months booking comes through", as I like to call it, once your points for that resort are used up.
Then again, if you're only going for 3-4 days at a time (and you can go from Sun-Thurs), 100 at each would probably do you just fine.
And you could theoretically do the bank and borrow from year to year, but again, that's going to get confusing after awhile, and do you really want to be doing that every year?
I wish we had more than 100 points at BLT, but when we decided to add on to our initial 160, that's all we could afford to pay without having to finance. In fact, as soon as we can afford to add on again, I'd like to add on a simple 50 at BLT so we will have more options during our 11-month window.
As someone who owns at 3 separate resorts, I will say that it's much more difficult to manage points from separate locations than one single location. You are bound to end up with orphaned points that have to be used at 7 months. (You can bank to give yourself 200 points at one resort in a single year, but what are the odds that you will ever need exactly 200 points for any one trip?) And you have to be much more diligent in watching which contract DVC takes points from when making reservations. Are those issues deal-breakers? That's up to you to decide.
Thank you!!! I think I understand how this works now!
Although I think I could manage the 2 resorts (famous last words, right?) it would end up costing me a lot to split my purchase. I can get AKV with $21 off per point if I purchase 200 (or more) points there. Buying only 100 points at 2 resorts does not give me a discount. I actually have more money set aside than what we would need with that big of a discount (the $21).
If I buy in at 200 and try to "live" with that for a while (as if that would be a hardship) then I would be in a better spot to figure out where/if I would like to buy points for after that. I know the dues are a little higher for AKV than BLT but I am sure they will both increase as the years go on....
DH has been the hold out for the past couple of years and now that he is being dazed/dazzled by my Disney math. He is really set on AKV.
That kind of works in my favor.... Say we stay at AKV and are not crazy about it THEN I can say "Oh if only we had picked XXX instead, maybe we should buy some points there." he he he
To be honest, we have only stayed at 1 WDW resort that we did not like, and even that was not horrible.... Ihave been dreaming of DVC for so long that I am pinching myself that we are this serious about it!
Although I think I could manage the 2 resorts (famous last words, right?) it would end up costing me a lot to split my purchase. I can get AKV with $21 off per point if I purchase 200 (or more) points there. Buying only 100 points at 2 resorts does not give me a discount. I actually have more money set aside than what we would need with that big of a discount (the $21).
You might want to double-check that. My understanding is that they should give you discounts equivalent to a 200-pt purchase even if it's split over two resorts.
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I know the dues are a little higher for AKV than BLT but I am sure they will both increase as the years go on....
Yes they will both increase but all things being equal the increases should be about the same 3-4% annually. That means AKV will still continue to rise at a much higher rate.
The biggest reason for the "low" dues at BLT is that the point charts are so much higher. Higher charts means DVC has more points to sell. More points to sell means that each point carries a smaller portion of the total budgetary burden.
Other influences include the fact that BLT is a high-rise (less land to maintain, perhaps lower total property taxes) and AKV has the savanna expenses in its dues. But the point disparity is the biggest factor. Although there may higher-than-average blips in any single resort's budget, I wouldn't expect BLT to EVER significantly bridge that 25% gap between BLT and AKV.
Not trying to steer you in one direction or another...just some things to consider.
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, was very helpful and answered a TON of our questions. 
I'm really trying to give him a chance (I would hate to get him into trouble) - but on the other hand this is a big investment and this guy is not inspiring confidence. 
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