Buy Saratoga instead of Boardwalk, pass Go and collect $200...

We've owned SSR since 2009. We always travel in either early-mid July (but always after the 4th) or early June. We always book a 1 BR for our family of 4 (me, DW, DD22, and DD19). So far, every year when I checked, at 7 months (on the dot), both AKV Standard View and Boardwalk Standard View have been available. We've also booked BLT Standard View twice - both times it was not available at 7 months (we booked Boardwalk at that time) , but we did get in via Wait List (we always book 8 to 10 nights and never want to split stays and change resorts during the trip, so the whole 9 nights had to open up to get into BLT). We are not at all picky about theming, and never spend much time at the pool. Our goal is to save money on hotels so that's why we always look for Standard View rooms, so we can maximize the number of nights we get for our yearly trip.

This has worked well for us, but as many others have said, if you absolutely must stay at Boardwalk or BCV or BLT (or wherever), and you can book at 8 to 11 months, then buy there. And if you are never going to book earlier than 7 months, then points is points, and there is no advantage to owning one resort over another
This is exactly what we do. If you want the 1 bed in July and August you can pretty much get any resort and any view on 7 months, save BLT standard, and AKL club. In fact last year I could easily have got AKL value for two separate weeks.
 
I haven't forgotten about this post. :) I finally bought DVC direct a week ago. 200 points at Copper Creek. Wilderness Lodge is by far my favorite resort. It was a long time coming!:squirrel::dogdance::flower2::rose::dog2:

Oh Wow! Thanks so much for remembering and coming back to report.
Congratulations on your purchase and hope you have many wonderful trips over the years to come.
 
This is exactly what we do. If you want the 1 bed in July and August you can pretty much get any resort and any view on 7 months, save BLT standard, and AKL club. In fact last year I could easily have got AKL value for two separate weeks.

This is why we wanted to buy BLT and AKL. We hope to consistently stay in BLT standard and AKL value (and try concierge at least once).
 
I haven't forgotten about this post. :) I finally bought DVC direct a week ago. 200 points at Copper Creek. Wilderness Lodge is by far my favorite resort. It was a long time coming!:squirrel::dogdance::flower2::rose::dog2:
YAY! Welcome! I thought about it for years too before finally pulling the trigger. Ran the math so many ways with spreadsheets like you... I did a similar thing with the year by year comparison to figure my break-even point.
 


Oh Wow! Thanks so much for remembering and coming back to report.
Congratulations on your purchase and hope you have many wonderful trips over the years to come.
Thank you! The funny thing is, reading back at all this, life has completely changed. The numbers dont really matter. All that matters is you buy where you really want to stay. I ended up buying at my favorite resort. I bought this myself as a single person with no kids, but thinking anything could happen in the future. If it does, this is where I would like to stay on vacation. Here's to hopeful happy endings.
 
As others have said, I would buy where you want to stay.
We purchased BWV and love it. we spend 3 days at F&W. At the end of the night, when others are fighting for a spot on the bus, we are strolling along the Boardwalk to our resort.
After Fantasmic is over and others are waiting for buses, we have a short beautiful walk to our resort.
Each person has to decide what works for them. For us, during F&W, Boardwalk is hard to beat.
 
As others have said, I would buy where you want to stay.
We purchased BWV and love it. we spend 3 days at F&W. At the end of the night, when others are fighting for a spot on the bus, we are strolling along the Boardwalk to our resort.
After Fantasmic is over and others are waiting for buses, we have a short beautiful walk to our resort.
Each person has to decide what works for them. For us, during F&W, Boardwalk is hard to beat.

I agree with you about BWV, it’s my favourite. But I don’t go F&W and take a 1 bed in summer, where I can often get 1 bed Standard View no problems on 7 months, but definitely get pool/ Garden View. With my travel pattern and room type, buy where you want to stay (often touted as gospel) would make no financial sense. I paid 65 a point for a lot of my SSR with longer expiry.
Buy where you want to stay can be good advice, but it can be bad advice.
 


I agree with you about BWV, it’s my favourite. But I don’t go F&W and take a 1 bed in summer, where I can often get 1 bed Standard View no problems on 7 months, but definitely get pool/ Garden View. With my travel pattern and room type, buy where you want to stay (often touted as gospel) would make no financial sense. I paid 65 a point for a lot of my SSR with longer expiry.
Buy where you want to stay can be good advice, but it can be bad advice.

Today, you may be able to book what you want at BWV at 7 months. After SWGE and the updates to EPCOT, that may or may not be true.
It also depends how flexible you are on travel dates. For us, with limited flight options, we cannot be as flexible as somebody who has multiple options or can drive there.
 

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