Which resort to buy resale?

[IANF]

Hi Dibbers,

Sorry if this waffles on a bit but wanted some advice and/or views from you seasoned DVC pros!
We will be looking at jumping in on a resale contract within the next couple of months but wanted some advice on my personal thoughts.
Just for ref there are 2 of us, DW and myself both 50, we generally like to vacation Sept/Oct but this is just our general pattern and would be open to change once we have the DVC contract! I generally always hire a car wherever we are.
We are veering away from the No1 piece of advice which is Stay where you would most like to be for reasons below-:
Our fave resort would be BCV where we stayed last Jan but I have pretty much discounted all the 2042 resorts as we would be in our early 70's when contracts ended and would like to think we'd still be visiting Disney then (touch wood!)

We are veering toward SSR as the length of contract suits us plus we would be able to afford to purchase around 300 points there which would allow us to stay in a 1 bed villa for 2 weeks every other year, most advice seems to relate to not being able to book Studios anywhere at 7 months but I assume its a different ballgame with the 1 beds?

We also looked at BLT which we really liked but due to cost we could only get around 200 points there.

Our usage would be for what I believe are called 'Sleeparound points' as we wouldn't be too fussed on where we stay and would like to experience all the different resorts if possible.

All and any assistance greatfully appreciated...

Ian

[saratogajan]

We bought 400 at SSR resale in 2015 (similar age to you). We like all the resorts and my husband is a golfer so that’s his favourite. We like a 1 bed and have so far stayed at BRV GFV CC BLT and BCV along with SSR. It’s the best decision we’ve made. We’ve found it easy getting a 1 bed at the 7 month mark and are glad we could get enough points to cover that. We’ve done studios a couple of times when our adult children wanted to join us. Love the flexibility of our points. Just wish we could get there at the moment! Good luck with your search.

[IANF]

That sound’s superb...just what I had in mind!

[Sara_toga]

We also own a SSR and have no regrets.

Since buying in 2015, in our 50’s, we have stayed at all the resorts 😃

[Dr.JumbaJookiba]

I bought 160 Saratoga Springs points with a June use year in November 2020 with 160 banked from 2020. Managed to bid them down to $102 per point and no reimbursement for 2020 dues to give you an idea of price.

[YorkshireT]

If you are buying enough points for 1 beds, SSR is a great choice. Exactly what we do and we stay mostly where we want most of the time. In fact I’ve never really struggled at all. You have to be prepared to be a bit flexible over exact resort, maybe, sometimes, but personally I have not encountered problems. You also have to be prepared to be on at 1pm 7 months out and have your booking strategy ready.
For example, I was in Beach Club last Xmas, moved to BLT for New Year (got lucky there maybe) and Boardwalk I never seem to have a problem with it being available, having even booked a standard view twice. I’ve had Grand Floridian, Animal Kingdom (even value in summer), Copper Creek (that’s the most difficult to get in some circumstances) and I’ve just booked 4 nights Riviera for a rental standard view and Boulder Ridge (but demand down at mo). I’ve even booked Grand Californian twice but still haven’t got to it!
Next year or so may be a bit more difficult when we are post Covid due to all the banked points in the system but they have mitigated it by limiting borrowing.
I’m of course now delighted to stay in SSR, OKW or AKV if there’s nothing else (and they are always available) so no worries, but I’ve never encountered a situation where I have only had that choice- yet.
Poly is often quite easy to get due to number of studios.
We bought to move around resorts, we like different holidays but do have our favourite -Boardwalk- which I’d buy at were it not for the end date. If I hadn’t bought SSR it would be BLT or Copper Creek. For the way we book, SSR is spot on.
If you have to stay in BLT at NY, have to have BCV in October, have to have Copper Creek at Xmas, buy there. But if you are staying in 1 beds and like to sleep around resorts and have a change, SSR is ideal.
Availability difference between 1 beds and studios at 7 months is marked. Over on the other boards ‘Skier Pete’ did 7 months availability charts (make sure you get the latest ones done maybe 18 months ago) and I’ve actually found those pessimistic. Pete told me he accepted this as he wasn’t on at 8am ET opening to check, it was every couple of days, so he was missing what was open as the booking date opened up.
One thing to bear in mind is October is very busy DVC wise, mainly driven by cheap points per night and food and wine. Crescent Lake resorts are very popular in those times, although post Covid settle down I’d be surprised if you couldn’t get Boardwalk. They are also adjusting points a bit to balance demand in those months (make them more expensive) so consider the 2022 points charts when looking at number. Buy enough for what you think your nights are, and add 20% is my advice and buy multiple lower point contracts if getting over 200 points, but all with same use year.

[IANF]

Many thanks for the replies everyone... YorkshireT, It was one of your earlier posts that got me looking at SSR sleeparound points so a massive thanks for that, can I ask why you would recommed 2 x smaller contracts rather than 1 300 point contract? I assumed buying a larger contract would bring down the price per point?

[saratogajan]

I think it’s because smaller contracts are easier to sell. We bought a larger contract (400) as it cost us less so if we ever sell it (hopefully never!) will get less for it and maybe won’t sell as easy. We’re happy with our contract so for us it’s right. If I was buying more than one I would get the same use year as would find it easier to deal with.

[IANF]

Ah, that makes sense 👍🏻

[JaguarSkills]

We recently just bought our first DVC resale contract and we went for SSR for a number of reasons:

1) I am a golfer and therefore want to be able to sneak away for a round or two when the time permits!

2) I enjoy a beer at the end of the day and the proximity of Disney Springs to SSR made it a really attractive prospect.

3) We got our contract for $87 a point which we thought was an absolute steal. We bought 180 points which we worked out would get us 3 weeks 3 out of every 4 years.

All the above is great, although we haven't been able to go yet

We are booked for 4 July and whilst not confident, we are hopeful.