How did you rationalize that your resort was the best bang for the buck? Let us count the ways.

[CraigInPA]

Agree with all of these. Also - I think we were buying around the same time? prices for the 3 resorts were around:

BLT: $100-110 pp
VGF: $140-150 pp
POLY: mostly still direct at $176, resale around $130

I think BLT was undervalued compared to the other two resorts then.

When I bought, it was shortly after you. BLT was averaging $125, and I got a Fidelity deal at $110. VGF was $160-170, and Poly was pretty much all direct with a tiny number of resale contracts available. Because I had crossed off Poly due to the longhouses they chose to convert, I really didn't look at the resale pricing there. I do recall seeing deals at BRV in the $70's, but it isn't on the monorail (and, WL reminds us too much of our home in the Pocono mountains). My wife wanted to "consider" BRV due to the huge price difference, but reminding her of our experience with a late dinner and getting a cab to get back to Poly was enough to bring her back to a monorail resort.

 

[RamblinWreck]

My wife wasn't going to go for it unless it was the Grand Floridian, so that's all the rationalization I needed!

In hindsight I think I could have gotten her on board with Bay Lake Tower, but she wasn't going to go for anything that wasn't on the monorail and Poly wasn't an option (Because they only have studios).

And then of course we told ourselves that the Grand Floridian is also a really good deal because the contract doesn't expire for another 40+ years, it has low annual dues, etc. What a steal!

 

[bwvBound]

How did you rationalize that your resort was the best bang for the buck? Let us count the ways.​

For us, it was largely "contract duration." We wanted BWV ... but rather purchased SSR, pre-opening, because the salesperson (aka 'guide') pushed us to consider the full 50 years. True, it was the first of its kind since the program began with the location now known as OKW.

 

[disneyfan123]

For us, we always rented points but with the large increase in rental prices over the years, it made buying more appealing as the cost in dues would not increase nearly as much as the rental prices.

We bought SSR a year ago at $125/point with a 160 point contract. We had the cash available which was also a big part of the equation (and no, we wouldn’t have used that money for retirement savings as we also made a large long term investment last summer as well). It was really the first time we were financially and emotionally ready to make a purchase into DVC. Also, with the Canadian dollar being somewhat reasonable vs the US it helped make it an easier decision. Even the though the price per point went up a lot from the year before (was around $100/point in summer of 2020), the exchange rate was about 10% worse so we didn’t feel the bump in price as much as others.

When the initial offering for VGF2 came out the incentives were too good to pass up as they were close to resale prices, if not better. The price per point and having a monorail resort made it well worth the investment.

Now I’d love to have a small contract for an Epcot area resort but the 2042 resorts are too short to be worth it and I’m not sure about Riviera. Maybe one day but we’ll see.

 

[davidl81]

We would very very rarely use the 11 month window as 7 months is about the best we can do planning ahead. We find that we have had good luck at 7 months with choices anyway (with the very rare exceptions of maybe a studio at BW during marathon weekend etc). So for us it was just a factor of what SAP were the best value. AKV was our first purchase (before we knew a ton about DVC), we then added on at SSR purely based on SAP value. We then added on at Aulani when the direct prices for 300 points went down to $133 a point. We sold some of our SSR points when we did this. We wanted all of our points to either be direct or non restricted. We just like the flexibility of booking different resorts and didn't want to worry about it in the future.

I do struggle with value some times though when booking. We tend to do a lot of 1BR and honestly booking RIV or VGF is always tough for me to do when I look at the points per night. Normally I see BWV 1BR for like 60% of the total points needed for RIV and I always choose BWV.

 

[E2ME2]

Same.

We have Riviera because it's awesome, was a good deal, has the Skyliner, and expires in 2070.

We have Beach Club because it's awesome, was a comparatively good deal, has SAB, and expires in 2042.

We have Old Key West because it's awesome, was a good deal, the grand villas are fabulous, and expires in 2057.

So you only buy where "it's awesome" ??
Me too !

 

[BeachClub2014]

So you only buy where "it's awesome" ??
Me too !

Exactly! Life is too short to not go for awesome

 

[Suzabella]

We bought HHI so we could balance out the EOY week with our Marriott to get to HHI every year. It really is our happy place. We've added on 3 times there to move up to 1 bedrooms instead of studios and I 'think' we're finally at the number of points that makes us happy.

We bought BRV because we have always wanted to own there so once we could afford to pay cash, we jumped at the perfect contract for us.

BWV we wanted to be close to EP for festivals. Easy access to HS is a bonus. We only needed a few nights in a studio but actually haven't stayed there on points yet. We stayed one night before and loved the convenience.

 

[Mumof4mice]

We bought resale points in 2018 after a DVC sales presentation at Aulani, before we'd ever been to WDW.

Location, transportation logistics and theming were our priorities. Then, based on the number of contract years remaining and point charts/cost per stay, I calculated a cost per point I was willing to pay, for each resort we were interested in.

I made offers on PVB, BLT, VGF, AKV, BCV, BWV, AUL(sub) and SSR. Ended up with -
PVB - our favourite resort
BLT - for the SV 2BRs
VGF - which we use as SAP

 

[jppeek]

That’s so funny. I did something similar. I went from BWV which I got based on location and value for rooms to flipping that for VGF. Even though I got a great price in that March sale, the point cost is brutal compared to the BWV charts. Don’t regret it one bit though and we’re very excited. Good thing about DVC is that we can can still visit those Epcot resorts.

To the extent I calculated a value for VGF I told myself the contract would around double the time that BWV was and low maintenance fees. You really sell yourself on any resort.

Reading this made me laugh, cause I just did the same thing! Made a pros and cons list for buying VGF, charts for the probable value when we will be done with it and I sold myself so hard on buying points there. Very glad I am not the only one lol

I should have never stayed there, cause now I am grand Floridian whipped bad lol

 

[jppeek]

My first contract was Saratoga resale cause it was the most affordable in Disney world that didn’t end in 2042 and we didn’t care as much about where we stayed. It was just super exciting to know we would be going every year!

Then Poly was available for our dates one trip and we stayed there. The following trip Poly wasn’t available at 7 month mark and I was so depressed having to go back to Saratoga I ended up buying poly resale lol. Getting a taste of monorail convenience hooked me!

Fast forward and VGF was available last year and again this year. While I love Poly I REALLY love the option of the one bedrooms at VGF and just bought there direct to get my blue card!

So now I really should sell one of my other contracts, but the thought of going once every four months has me trying to re-budget to make it work with all of them

 

[standardgirl]

We impulse bought BLT direct when it was being initially sold by Disney when we were on vacation.
We impulse bought a BRV resale after having dinner at WL.
See a pattern?

SSR was the only place we tried to financially rationalize. It was cheap buy in resale, and the points chart was great. Plus we like to stay there! It's walkable to DS, and laid back.

We impulse bought Disneyland Villa in California and I returned it in the next 10 days. The stupidest decision ever in life so far

 

[jimmymc]

Copper Creek ended up being my resort for a few reasons:

1. I love the Wilderness Lodge theming, and staying in the main building is a huge plus.
2. I wanted a further out expiration than 2042.
3. I found an amazing deal on a resale contract back when Disney wasn't buying many back. It was an international seller, the perfect resort and use year, and slightly more points than I was looking for, but at the price point I made it work.
4. Low dues. I believe that when DVC shares a building with the hotel side, the hotel rates subsidize dues by a fair amount, and CC has some of the lowest.

 

[MonaMN]

We are relative newbies (one resale contract purchased last year!) and own at Copper Creek. We love WL and the length of the contract. We were close to buying AKV (and might still add on there sometime) but lower dues and longer contract gave Copper Creek an advantage.

 

[AdamsMum]

BWV and BC - location, location, location.
At the time I bought we always ended the day at Epcot and I hate waiting for buses at park closing. Also, I had no clue about UY, other resorts, dues etc. I saw them, I loved them, I bought them. (At that time there were no complicated restrictions to worry about, and a purchase didn't require the sale of your first born child.) I only wish I'd bought more.

 

[pamkat1820]

We purchased BWV in 2020 we loved the area but my heart wanted BCV. BWV was a smart buy with the price and number of points we wanted.

Now We are currently deciding to add on or sell. Leaning more towards adding on a small 60 contract at SS honestly I have the area we want it’s more about getting additional points at a cheap price right now.

We couldn’t give up 11 months booking in the Epcot area. I hate entering Epcot from the front of the park…. DVC has spoiled me lol