newbie - minimum buy from Disney direct

[Tinkerbell12]

Apologies for delay in getting back to you - jet lag & getting ready for school!

Due to my husband's work, we can only take 1 holiday a year, so we tend to take a 2 week holiday... Again because of the age of the kids, we can only go in the 6 week school holidays.

So we tend to go toward the end of the school holidays in August. We liked OKW because of the size of the 1 bed suite. We are thinking we'd buy enough points to be able to afford to stay on site every other year.

My aim is to be able to use points all over, but with a home base in WDW. We like the idea of the Grand California & the Hawaii resort (but not until the kids are older!)

Its the size of the apartments which draws us to OKW & the resale price of their points...

[Shooby doo]

Tinker you would be able to stay at both Grand Californian & Aulani as both are DVC properties, so doesn't matter where you buy from. My only issue with OKW is the length of the contract -2042, I also don't think that you would have any problem getting OKW at 7 months. For us SSR was better value & the extra 12 years (2054) makes a difference.
SD

[YorkshireT]

You are perfect DVC material. You want a 1 bed and go in quiet DVC times. You can book a 1 bed at any resort 7 months out in August. Buy the biggest bang for the buck - Saratoga and enjoy all the resorts. OKW only has 24 years on it, SSR to 2054. SSR dues are the lowest of all resorts. I own SSR go in August in a 1 bed and even VGF is open. Staying Boardwalk Standard View (low points, highest demand) and Animal Kingdom next year.

[Tinkerbell12]

Thanks Shooby & YorkshireT - I'll take a look at SSR. If as you suggest we won't have an issue booking at 7 months out I won't worry about getting OKW - especially if dues are lower at SSR.

Time to do some more number crunching!

Just been watch evantube (Kids love Evan's lego videos). His family were at the Aulani. Looked rather lovely!

[vhm672]

The only point I would make in addition to the excellent ones already made is that if your travel plans change as the children grow and you are no longer tied to school holidays then don't think it will be easier to book other resorts at 7 months because it isn't school holidays.

DVC has its own peak seasons and from September to the end of the year is much more challenging to book than the end of August.

At present it is very difficult to find any availability at any DVC resort over the next couple of months.