My wife and I are looking at purchasing DVC. It’s something I’ve been thinking about, researching, and running numbers for at least the last two years.
We are thinking of purchasing 200 points at Old Key West, direct from Disney. My basis for this is: 2057 expiration year, I can pick my use year, relative ease of purchase, and I don’t want a stripped contract.
My goal is to stay in a One Bedroom unit for about 5 nights but not always at OKW. I want to try other resorts. We will be traveling mostly in mid February, just after Easter, or possibly in the summer. (school age children)
My concern is resort availability at other resorts for one bedrooms (and studios at the Poly) at the 7 month mark. I’m familiar with the DVChelp.com webpage that shows booking patterns, but some anecdotal help might be nice.
Any thoughts or insight about my plan would be great to hear.
Oh! How exciting to be planning on purchasing DVC! I am a school traveler from the East Coast so my February trips are President’s week, my April week is Patriots Day/Boston Marathon, and I have traveled throughout the summer and Labor Day weekend.
This year is tougher. I made a change in plans and booked President’s week (4 nights) at 7 months. SSR was all that was available but I put in a waitlist for BWV and it come through (even with the tough booking).
In usual times, April school vacation week is easier than February, and the summer has been the easiest to book.
I will always book what I can at 11 months and try to modify or set up a wait list at 7 months. I think it is going to be tough for a few years.
How exciting! I think generally 1 bedrooms are a little easier to book at most resorts, even at 7 months. I was able to string together 5 nights at Poly for this coming May after the 7 month mark. I think BR/CC during the holidays and most resorts over race weekends are pretty difficult to book too. I have 2 50 point contracts at BR and SSR and I’ve gotten studios at many resorts over the years.
We are OKW owners. Our first contract was resale, and we just bought a matching contract, direct, for all the reasons you mention!
We almost always travel end of April (NH school vacation week), after Easter. We love the 2BR at OKW but are staying in a 1BR there for the first time this coming April, split-stayed with a 1BR at Kidani.
Honestly I bought OKW because of the resale price at the time. I never thought we’d stay there. But oh my goodness we LOVE it! It’s definitely an escape from the parks and it totally feels like Home, I think because it’s laid out more like condos than hotel.
We’ve also stayed at Poly (love it but the studio is squishy for us 4) and SS (meh, but great for a DS-centric trip, which it was), also in a studio. Except this year (because of the glut of points owing to Covid) there has been no trouble booking elsewhere, but your highest demand resorts are always gonna be tricky.
One BR tend to go last at most resorts, just to answer your question about that.
I read your trip report when you stayed in the two bedroom and was hoping you would weigh in.
One of points that I remember you mentioning is that having a car didn’t really remove you from the “bubble”. We have been using a car service to get us to and from the resort, and I would think that a rental car wouldn’t cost us that much more.
If you don’t mind me asking, how many points do you have at OKW?
Great to know about the Poly. While our daughters are young (5 and 3 currently), I would like to stay there. As OBNurseNH said, I could see it getting a little “squishy” as they get older.
A big selling point of DVC for us, is having the flexibility of having a little more space than a typical hotel room, or taking a slightly longer trip in a studio.
Poly studios are so large that I think you’ll have several years before they start to feel “squishy” for your family. Even using all 3 sleep surfaces you still have access to a table and 2 chairs, plus a decent sized closet and 2 bathrooms. I loooooooooooove the Poly!
Hi - new DVC owner here. I bought in July at Riviera. I have stayed in the deluxe studio at Riviera, a 2 bedroom paying cash at OKW and I have an upcoming trip in a 2 bedroom at Bay Lake Tower. I booked my early January trip at BLT at the end of July and could initially only find 2 of the 4 nights I needed. I was planning on doing a split stay but then the other two nights opened up a few weeks ago. I generally seem to see more one bedrooms available vs. 2 bedrooms or studios at many of the resorts. OKW and SS usually have lots of availability as close as one month out. Other resorts like Grand Floridian have very limited availability and it seems like you need to book farther out.
We’ve had quite good luck at the 7 month mark for most resorts, possibly because of the better 1 bedroom availability. We book at 11 and then modify at 7. If you’re doing the same I’d guess you’d probably fare pretty well. We haven’t always gotten the resort we wanted at 7 months, but we’ve also never been disappointed with the runner up.
fwiw I’ve found the availability charts that are now at dvchelp to be a good guideline, at least in the before times.
Thank you for the information and that’s great to hear about modifying your reservations. I’m guessing that’s a good strategy that a lot of owners use.
The only real negative with the Riviera resort is that on the resell market it doesn’t hold its value as well because it will then be restricted to only use those points at the Riviera… I would personally buy one of the 14 original resorts.
Here is a snapshot of OKW listings on resale, by comparison. DVC direct right now is $180, so the spread is much greater than the spread between Riv direct and resale.
I know - you’ll say “we are talking really different resorts.” Poly is currently $250 direct and here is a snapshot of their resale pricing now:
It is ABSOLUTELY something to consider and the main reason I wouldn’t buy there. But it’s holding its value better than anyone thought it would given the restriction
I generally book at 11 months but often things come up and I have to change plans. As a Riviera resale owner you will be limited by that one resort’s availability. That scares me (also I am to cheap for those point charts).
