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I hate making big desisions that will affect me for a long time so i need your help to make it please then I can blame you if I hate the desision .... ONLY JOKING
I have decided to buy into DVC. As a present to myself for my hard work im doing at uni. Also I had planned to give myself a blow out trip when i finished uni anyway... my plans were a week at the Boardwalk and a week at Animal Kingdom Lodge. which would have cost me $7400 ish with flights and my DVC buy in is approx $8600. So in my mind dvc buy in is only costing me $2700 (difference minus flights). so i feel for me its really worth it!
My usual vacation plans will be two weeks every other year (due to the flight costs) and really dont mind when I visit (we have no children and not set vacation times at work). So i figure i will buy around 100 points so that i have 200 ish for my vacation.
But here comes the decision part my head says one thing my heart another!
I love the board walk area. I have never stayed there but have been there a few times. We do not drive in the US location is important to us. I love the restaurants on and near the boardwalk and really like the idea of limiting my bus exposure! However I know that the contract is shorter and therefore its not as good value wise. I also like the idea of SSR it seems more laid back close to DTD and the restaurants there and therefore close to the lynx bus to I-drive! and has a cheaper buy in and dues.
I know you dont have to stay at your home resorts all the time but im guessing you should be comfortable with them right.
SOooo...
do I buy 50-60pts at BWV/BCV and then add 50 points on a SSR. so i can have the best of both worlds . This is my heart option.
or do I buy 120 pts at SSR which would be about the same price? and hope I get in at a boarwalk resort at 7 months most of the time? This is my head option.
what would you do.......
__________________
Clare Loves Stitch
"sometimes the right path is not the easiest one"
Grandmother Willow - Pocahontas
Proud DVC owner at BWV from March 2011
Definetly buy the smaller contracts. In the event that you have to sell it is so much easier than a big one. In fact when we bought ours we insisted in getting 50 pts contracts. When the economy got bad and was hard to keep my maint dues etc I sold two 50 pts contract and kept a very small one where I can always add more points or get the points I need from another Member. If they have the same use year I recommend to go with the small ones. For more expert advise go to this site it is wonderful and I have learned A LOT! www.mouseowners.com they are great! Hope this helps!!
Go with your heart option I tell you why also: BWV and BCV are very HARD to get, Saratoga is SO huge you will never be wiouth a room but the other two you NEED the 11 months window to get priority. In other words by the time you can reserve in your Non Home resort (BCV and BWV) the best would be taken you will have to wait to the 7 month window. So you NEED the 11 month window. As you can imagine those two resorts are SO popular because they are within Walking Distance to Epcot and HS also BCV has the BEst pool mini water park!
A couple of points I want to make:
-240 points might get you 2-weeks in a Studio, but not anything bigger.
-I own at SSR, and have had NO PROBLEM booking other resorts at the 7-month window - granted, I typically visit in late August or May (as you can see from my signature) - so, as long as you aren't going to always travel at Peak times, you should be able to find lodging at the place of your choice.
-Longer contract term, more points = more trips!
-240 points might get you 2-weeks in a Studio, but not anything bigger.
-I own at SSR, and have had NO PROBLEM booking other resorts at the 7-month window - granted, I typically visit in late August or May (as you can see from my signature) - so, as long as you aren't going to always travel at Peak times, you should be able to find lodging at the place of your choice.
-Longer contract term, more points = more trips!
I know that i will be limited to a studio but whilst there is only the two of us i dont see this as being an issue, im not keen on cooking on vacation and by the time there is more than two of us im hoping to have added on OR we will just have a week in a 1BR.
whilst i appreciate longer contract = more trips.
I was thinking about that and im not sure at 60 (the age i will be when the 2042 contract ends I will be that keen on 9 hr plain journeys anymore. But I guess it might not take as long by then or we will have run out of fossil fuels and it will be one hell of a pony ride and swim!
Sorry went a bit off topic there!
__________________
Clare Loves Stitch
"sometimes the right path is not the easiest one"
Grandmother Willow - Pocahontas
Proud DVC owner at BWV from March 2011
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I would go for the 120 at SSR
Reasons,
1. Less costly on dues
2. not too hard to get what ever resort you want at 7 months
We own at SSR but have never stayed there yet..
Have got AKL, BLT & Boardwalk at 7 months with no trouble at all, But we are not paying the high dues at them..
We also get studios, but also got a 2 bedroom savanna view at AKL.
Good Luck at what ever choice you make.. There are some great incentives right now from Disney to buy in..
The longer contract is my deciding factor. Just remember you dont HAVE to use those pts at Disney, you can utilize RCI. Plus who knows what 20-30-40 years might bring to DVC, maybe a resort in Europe!!
I'd split between the two resorts. I've always believed in going for the home resort where you're happiest staying and that's why I voted for that one. with your decision!
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My biggest DVC regret is buying a smaller contract. One of our contracts is just 40 points at the BoardWalk and I find it to be a hassle. There are always straggler points left over or we can't quite get what we want at 11 months with the small contract.
Personally I wouldn't buy less than 100 at a single resort going forward.
Before buying the BWV points, we made numerous trips booked at 7 months. If I had to do it all over again, I'd just continue booking 7 months out.
As for the advice of buying smaller contracts for resale purposes, I would advise against it in this situation. Since you are buying fewer than 160 points, you will have to go resale. In resale transactions you usually pay a higher per-point price for small contracts and you would have to pay closing costs twice. Not worth it, IMO. Plus I don't see any real benefit in splitting 120 points into two contracts unless you decide to go with the dual home resorts.
If you are flexible in your travel dates, the best thing to do is educate yourself as to the slowest DVC periods and plan to vacation then. I doubt you would have much trouble booking BWV at 7 months for most of February, late April (when Easter is early), May, late-August or September. Plus, by purchasing at SSR you get the fringe benefits of lower buy-in cost, lower dues and longer contract duration. Not much trade-off for having a 4-month booking priority at BWV, IMO.
you can ride the monrail to Epcot (so it is good for F&W)
you can walk to the MK. the problem even the resale prices for this thing are high. You might be better off buying from Disney. compare the prices and make sure the resaler is honest about their costs.
bwv and bcv may or may not have the extensions that OKW got. No way to tell yet.
but soon BWV will be the same number of years old that OKW was when it was offered.
so you might be able to extend your BWV contract if you want to for more money.
the smaller contracts still sell better than the bigger ones. lots of people can't put out the money for a big contract. so the smaller ones are more attractive.
My biggest DVC regret is buying a smaller contract. One of our contracts is just 40 points at the BoardWalk and I find it to be a hassle. There are always straggler points left over or we can't quite get what we want at 11 months with the small contract.
I am totally with Tim on this. If you have two smaller contracts, you can only book the amount of points you have in that contract at 11 months. While this may not be a problem now as you are looking to bank and borrow, in the future, if you decide to add on and come to Disneymore often, it might become an issue.
We have a very small contract at BWV "just because". As Tim, said, it's a pain, because we always have those pints floating around that we really can't do too much with.
I would recommend going for the points at SSR. If you travel off season, you should be OK at the 7 month window. And if not, SSR is a wonderful, lovely resort!
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I agree with Tim and Sue on the point of the smaller contracts being a pain in that they don't really give you the home resort booking advantage. We purchased 70 points at BCV in order to stay once every three years and we're a little short for what we'd like to do so I would vote for putting all of your dollars into one resort for your first purchase. (lol, I say first purchase because it's very addictive buying DVC points).
I also agree with Cheryl to buy where your heart is. I would love to have the extra length of contract that a newer DVC resort would offer, but family prefers to stay at BWV and BCV so that's where we are and everybody is very happy about it.
DH's favourite part about being on the Boardwalk is heading to the Boardwalk Bakery in the morning - he's an early riser, and even though we hit the parks early for EMH or park opening, he's up a couple of hours before the rest of us to enjoy that tranquility.
I voted for the bigger SSR contract since two smaller ones seem like more to manage and possibly a hassle when trying to book other resorts. I own at SSR, travel during almost peak times and still have no trouble booking at other resorts at the 7 month window.
Your heart option unfortunaly doesn't make much sense to me. You wouldn't have enough points to book at the 11 month window for anything if you did it the way you propose, so it essentially means you wouldn't have a home resort. It's nice to have the security of having an 11 month window somewhere (though, really, except for the Treehouses, SSR is not really bursting at the seams, so it...at least right now...is always available 7 months out).
I'd opt for BLT. Great location. Higher dues, sure...but it's probably the resort on sale from DVC that would get you the most bang for your buck at the 11 month window as I can really see this being even more popular in the future than it is now.
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or we will have run out of fossil fuels and it will be one hell of a pony ride and swim! 
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with your decision!
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