Sight unseen - WWYD?

SSR seems like a great purchase if we would routinely be able to try out other resorts as you are. Have you had any problems getting what you want? We had such a hard time with our upcoming Dec trip, which is what led me to research buying in. Home resort advantage seems so important - but I am just basing it off this one experience.
We have never had a problem so far getting resorts other than SSR. We normally call right at the 7 month window and have always has success. We have a March use year and tend to travel in the summer months and occasionally the first weekend of October.
 
I’ve only stayed at BLT once, but the trek to fill up my soda mug felt like forever. Maybe not as far as being at the end of the Kidani hall, but you have to go all the way over to the Contemporary. I’m interested in hearing others thoughts on how far the quick service place is!
Yikes - I may have found the one thing that would make me change my mind on the BLT location being awesome. I don't need easy access to food, but I do need Coke Zero readily available. Hopefully Amazon Prime Now carries CZ for me.
 
We stayed at BLT once, lake view, and requested 'near Skyway bridge' and got the very first studio as you came off that bridge. It was a tad noisy of a location but was super close to the CR food CS and bar and shops. Loved that.

Edit to add...Also good about BLT is that you walk all inside to get to all those things. All under one roof essentially, connected by covered bridge. Whereas, the Poly and SSR and OKW are all spread out in multiple buildings. BWV, you have to go out to pool or down to BW.
 
My family has recently decided to purchase DVC via resale - a medium sized contract for BLT and a small BWV so we can do a split stay and walk to all parks other than AK. We already have our upcoming December 2018 trip booked via rented points at BLT and AKL (BWV studios weren't available when we booked at 11 months) and we don't plan to return until probably 2020. So we are not in a hurry to find a contract, but anticipate making a purchase in the next few months just to avoid significant price increases. If we purchase this summer we will most likely do so without ever visiting either property. Anyone purchased sight unseen and regretted it? Or changed your mind on what you thought would be your favorite resort?

We will be a couple hours from Orlando in two months for work and could theoretically stay for 3 or 4 nights to check out a few options in person. However it seems unlikely there would be availability at the resorts we're considering (studios at BLT, BWV, and BCV) at this late notice if we tried renting DVC points. I think villa studios are available at all resorts directly through Disney, but then we would spend $2,500 on a 3 day extension of a trip that would otherwise be free - and that does not include going to any parks, just hotel, food, and airfare. That seems steep to us when we are fairly confident in our resort selections.

Also, we are planning to purchase enough points for a week long split stay between BLT and BWV in a 1 bedroom, but only plan to use enough points for a studio for the next 5ish years and rent out un-needed points. Our kids are 1 and 3, so we think studios will be sufficient for some time but know we will want a larger space once they are older (maybe sooner at BLT since the studios are so small). I've seen mixed advice on here regarding if you should buy more points than you need or not. Anyone have any first hand experience on why this is a good or bad plan?

Background: I've been to Disney 3 times - off property 1984, Shades of Green 1995 and Wilderness Lodge 2017. My husband and kids have only been once, on the WL trip. We chose WL for its close location to MK while still having a fairly low price point (compared to monorail resorts) since we were only there 5 days and took mid-day breaks every day for naps. My only second guessing on BLT and BWV for location is wondering if it will really matter that much to us in a few years when we are no longer pushing a stroller back and forth multiple times per day for nap breaks. It still seems like it would be really nice to walk back to my room after a long day at the park instead of waiting through multiple buses like we did the one night we stayed for fireworks on our previous trip. But SSR is a better price point and I'd hate to regret paying for location if it will only matter for a few years. Anyone regret spending the money on a convenient location and wish they'd bought SSR or OKW instead?

Thanks!!!
I would not buy at this time in this situation. A less than ideal choice can cost significant money and create much aggravation. I'd rent for a trip and allot some time to explore the DVC resorts. Then if it made sense to purchase, I'd only buy one location and try it before finalizing the additional purchase, like in a couple of more years.
 


But even if you buy something you don't really care for, you just wait a few years and Disney will completely change it. The colors you loved or hated are gone. The décor you loved or hated is gone. And they all look like Hampton Inns. The outside will be the same (hopefully), so at least like the outside and location of the resort.
 
We bought a 50-pt contract at HHI and we had never even been to South Carolina! We bought it direct in January 2011 and took our first trip "home" in April 2011. We made the decision based on internet videos, pictures and reviews and I can honestly say it exceeded every expectation. My only regret is that we didn't buy enough points to go every other year instead of every three years.
 
I’ve only stayed at BLT once, but the trek to fill up my soda mug felt like forever. Maybe not as far as being at the end of the Kidani hall, but you have to go all the way over to the Contemporary. I’m interested in hearing others thoughts on how far the quick service place is!
Don't they have the drink stations still at the BLT pool?
 


We bought AKV Kidani while on a cruise, never having seen any of the DVC resorts. We were hooked from the presentation. We were really worried and had some questioning buyer's remorse in the first 6 months after (before we had our vacation) but once we arrived SSR for our first trip (Kidani still wasn't opened yet), and later touring AKV, we knew we made the right decision. It is weird because I was always the one to feel that 1 or 2 trips to Disney would be enough for the kids in their childhood but that cruise, watching the kids with the characters and all. We just knew we would want to go back to Disney often.

After about 5 years, when the kids became teens, we questioned it again. We had been do WDW at least 2x each year and I could tell they were getting tired of it. Read on these boards what others do - just enjoying the resort. Maybe one park day and DS. This advice has really changed our trips and made them more relaxing as well as more teen friendly. We are here now for the moonlight magic event on Tues. It is the only day we are going to the parks. We have annual passes for busch gardens, sea world instead and will enjoy their coasters this time around.

One thing I wish we understood before we bought was the UY. We have a Dec UY, which is not very good for us as we tend to vacation in the fall.
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence! I will probably have that same buyers remorse for a while, but hopefully we find the same overall value you have.

Moonlight Magic sounds wonderful - especially once your kids are teenagers. Have fun!

Unfortunately I really have no idea what our future travel plans will look like, so I don't have a particular UY in mind. We've only been parents for 3.5 years and of course don't have to follow a school calendar yet. We've vacationed the end of September, mid June and early December, so kind of all over the place. I'd like to try out most of the seasonal Disney events, so I don't think there will be a clear preference on UY.
 
But even if you buy something you don't really care for, you just wait a few years and Disney will completely change it. The colors you loved or hated are gone. The décor you loved or hated is gone. And they all look like Hampton Inns. The outside will be the same (hopefully), so at least like the outside and location of the resort.
Certainly DVC will change and our preferences will change over the years. IMO that makes it more important to make good choices up front, not less. The cost (lost savings) for 1-2 trips renting privately is relatively low, the cost of making a bad choice up front could easily be 5 figures but could be as low as 10%. Basically no new buyers new to DVC truly know what they want long term but they can educate themselves enough to make better choices. A retail purchase that's a bad choice can be very expensive but a SSR purchase that ends up not fitting isn't so bad. I'm a big fan of coming to the middle. Don't buy too small (usually under 150) but for larger projected need, underbuy in terms of resort and # of points and give it a try. Maybe buy SSR or BLT (2 best values) and maybe 150-200 when you think you need 300. That way you can easily adjust with little to no cost later.
 
I debated posting to this thread, as I have yet to make my first DVC trip. However, I will throw my two cents in and you can decide if it is worth the asking price. ;)

We purchased SSR resale last October sight unseen. Why? Because we knew we were going to Disney on a reoccuring basis, we needed more room than a value room could provide, and we liked the idea of staying at any of the DVC resorts - even SSR. Resale was the only economical choice for us - perks or no perks. We were able to switch to AKV Kidani Savannah room at 7 months for our first trip. I have my second trip scheduled and have 3 different resorts I am willing to change to at 7 months for that, but if we have to keep our ressie at SSR I am still going to Disney. I am not picky - as long as I am in the Disney bubble. ;)

So, I am more than comfortable with our purchase without seeing SSR. I DID buy where I wanted to stay: Disney property.

PS Dean - we did exactly as you posted above and bought in at the 150 point level. It seems to be the right amount... for now. :cool1:
 
Certainly DVC will change and our preferences will change over the years. IMO that makes it more important to make good choices up front, not less. The cost (lost savings) for 1-2 trips renting privately is relatively low, the cost of making a bad choice up front could easily be 5 figures but could be as low as 10%. Basically no new buyers new to DVC truly know what they want long term but they can educate themselves enough to make better choices. A retail purchase that's a bad choice can be very expensive but a SSR purchase that ends up not fitting isn't so bad. I'm a big fan of coming to the middle. Don't buy too small (usually under 150) but for larger projected need, underbuy in terms of resort and # of points and give it a try. Maybe buy SSR or BLT (2 best values) and maybe 150-200 when you think you need 300. That way you can easily adjust with little to no cost later.
At this point I foresee our needs changing significantly over the course of the years since we will most likely change which parks we visit and will need more space as our children age. So we currently plan to buy 50 points each at BLT, BWV, and Poly. That should get us a 1 week split stay in a studio at Poly and BWV approx every other year for now and then we can hopefully combine the points for a 1 BR split stay between BLT and BWV when we've out grown the studios. We like split stays since that allows us to mostly avoid buses and gives us the opportunity to buy the dining plan for only a portion of the trip. That should also give us the option of adding on a few days in the summer when my work trip is close by (some years we're an hour away from Orlando and others we are 3+ hours out), or we can hopefully sell any excess points in these early years when we don't need a 1 BR. The only potential down-side is if 1 BRs get harder to obtain at the 7 month mark - we will be obligated to follow school calendars at the time we will start needing the 1 BR and will have to go at peak times. Or squeeze ourselves into studios forever with a 3 way split stay :) We're definitely "make do" kind of people, so we are much more likely to live with a "bad" decision than to sell what we bought and buy in the "better" location. Especially since we think our ideal will change from trip to trip. Thanks for your help!
 
I debated posting to this thread, as I have yet to make my first DVC trip. However, I will throw my two cents in and you can decide if it is worth the asking price. ;)

We purchased SSR resale last October sight unseen. Why? Because we knew we were going to Disney on a reoccuring basis, we needed more room than a value room could provide, and we liked the idea of staying at any of the DVC resorts - even SSR. Resale was the only economical choice for us - perks or no perks. We were able to switch to AKV Kidani Savannah room at 7 months for our first trip. I have my second trip scheduled and have 3 different resorts I am willing to change to at 7 months for that, but if we have to keep our ressie at SSR I am still going to Disney. I am not picky - as long as I am in the Disney bubble. ;)

So, I am more than comfortable with our purchase without seeing SSR. I DID buy where I wanted to stay: Disney property.

PS Dean - we did exactly as you posted above and bought in at the 150 point level. It seems to be the right amount... for now. :cool1:
Great attitude and I appreciate everyone's two cents! When you're switching at 7 months out - is this for 1 BR or studio? We plan to get studios for a while, which seem kind of hard to obtain on the shorter notice.
 
Great attitude and I appreciate everyone's two cents! When you're switching at 7 months out - is this for 1 BR or studio? We plan to get studios for a while, which seem kind of hard to obtain on the shorter notice.

Our first trip - when we got the switch - was for a 1BR. The second one - which we will try and switch in June - is for a studio. I have been slowly stalking the RAT and it seems like the 3 resorts we are interested in switching to (BR, BWV, BCV) are all still available... for now.
 
Studios are harder to get. You won't know your patterns, likes and dislikes until you have spent a couple of years doing DVC. I try to offer information that may keep readers from making the same mistakes that we have made. Reading about something is much different than living it and it seems that we all need to live it to see things for ourselves.

:earsboy: Bill

 
I debated posting to this thread, as I have yet to make my first DVC trip. However, I will throw my two cents in and you can decide if it is worth the asking price. ;)

We purchased SSR resale last October sight unseen. Why? Because we knew we were going to Disney on a reoccuring basis, we needed more room than a value room could provide, and we liked the idea of staying at any of the DVC resorts - even SSR. Resale was the only economical choice for us - perks or no perks. We were able to switch to AKV Kidani Savannah room at 7 months for our first trip. I have my second trip scheduled and have 3 different resorts I am willing to change to at 7 months for that, but if we have to keep our ressie at SSR I am still going to Disney. I am not picky - as long as I am in the Disney bubble. ;)

So, I am more than comfortable with our purchase without seeing SSR. I DID buy where I wanted to stay: Disney property.

PS Dean - we did exactly as you posted above and bought in at the 150 point level. It seems to be the right amount... for now. :cool1:
No one will make the perfect choice unless they just luck out. But the better choice we can all make, the better off we will all be. IMO it's about limiting risk and making the best choices possible which usually means missing out on a trip or 2 on points and spending TIME investigating.

At this point I foresee our needs changing significantly over the course of the years since we will most likely change which parks we visit and will need more space as our children age. So we currently plan to buy 50 points each at BLT, BWV, and Poly. That should get us a 1 week split stay in a studio at Poly and BWV approx every other year for now and then we can hopefully combine the points for a 1 BR split stay between BLT and BWV when we've out grown the studios. We like split stays since that allows us to mostly avoid buses and gives us the opportunity to buy the dining plan for only a portion of the trip. That should also give us the option of adding on a few days in the summer when my work trip is close by (some years we're an hour away from Orlando and others we are 3+ hours out), or we can hopefully sell any excess points in these early years when we don't need a 1 BR. The only potential down-side is if 1 BRs get harder to obtain at the 7 month mark - we will be obligated to follow school calendars at the time we will start needing the 1 BR and will have to go at peak times. Or squeeze ourselves into studios forever with a 3 way split stay :) We're definitely "make do" kind of people, so we are much more likely to live with a "bad" decision than to sell what we bought and buy in the "better" location. Especially since we think our ideal will change from trip to trip. Thanks for your help!
One of the reasons I'm not a fan of just buy and try is your last statement, that people won't sell if they made a bad choice but they will be unhappy with the system because of the situation they put themselves into. Personally I'm not a big fan of multiple small contracts at multiple resorts, esp going into the system. It has a significant cost involved and creates other aggravations and risks. As a minimum I'd buy the one that you think is your best option and see how it goes before proceeding. In this situation I also think one needs a cushion of at least 20% above the projected usage and possibly more. Possibly enough to get a 1 BR at least part of the trips. I don't like the bank/borrow plan as it adds significant risk if one has to change/cancel or can't get the desired reservation.

I try to offer information that may keep readers from making the same mistakes that we have made. Reading about something is much different than living it and it seems that we all need to live it to see things for ourselves.

:earsboy: Bill
Exactly, Murphy was an optimist. Things happen, limit risk wherever possible both on the DVC side and the personal side. I've seen too many things happen to people that could have been prevented. The savings on one or 2 trips is not worth a bad decision that could be prevented. But there does come a time when one has to decide whether they are in or out.
 
We purchased AKL sight unseen in 2011 on a cruise. We had been to Disney only twice before...once off site and once at the Contemporary in the garden wing. But the more we thought about it, the more we thought AKL would be our kind of location as we liked the relaxed vibe and of course the theming and the animals. We also bought enough points to get a 1-bedroom once a year or twice with borrowing. We never go thinking we will automatically switch at the 7 month mark as we enjoy our home resort very much.

This year we purchased an Aulani resale contract after staying at the resort twice and thinking we could alternate our vacations every other year between Florida and Hawaii.
 
No one will make the perfect choice unless they just luck out. But the better choice we can all make, the better off we will all be. IMO it's about limiting risk and making the best choices possible which usually means missing out on a trip or 2 on points and spending TIME investigating.

One of the reasons I'm not a fan of just buy and try is your last statement, that people won't sell if they made a bad choice but they will be unhappy with the system because of the situation they put themselves into. Personally I'm not a big fan of multiple small contracts at multiple resorts, esp going into the system. It has a significant cost involved and creates other aggravations and risks. As a minimum I'd buy the one that you think is your best option and see how it goes before proceeding. In this situation I also think one needs a cushion of at least 20% above the projected usage and possibly more. Possibly enough to get a 1 BR at least part of the trips. I don't like the bank/borrow plan as it adds significant risk if one has to change/cancel or can't get the desired reservation.

Exactly, Murphy was an optimist. Things happen, limit risk wherever possible both on the DVC side and the personal side. I've seen too many things happen to people that could have been prevented. The savings on one or 2 trips is not worth a bad decision that could be prevented. But there does come a time when one has to decide whether they are in or out.

We plan to have a Disney trip every other year. If we don't plan to bank or borrow, then we would be committing to buy probably 100 points at each resort. We are ok with this, but then we are committing to renting points out each year. Is that what you'd advise? I am just confused because that seems like a great idea to me, but I have seen several people recommend against it in other threads. I am assuming from the stand point that you can't guarantee they will be marketable in the future, just like you can't guarantee you will be able to re-sell any property you later decide you don't like. So we tried to come up with a few scenarios and the minimum and maximum points we'd need for each location. Ie for a split stay in studios in early December at poly for 3 nights and BWV 4 nights, we'd need 48 and 78 points, respectively. Then we'd need 169 Poly points if we did a whole week in a studio over Spring Break. Or 160 points if we wanted to do a 4 day stay in peak season for a BWV 1 BR and 124 points for a 1 BR at BLT - those would be easily attainable by banking the 150 total points we'd have.

I've also seen a lot of advice to buy smaller contracts in case you want to sell some, but not all of your points down the road. That's partially why we came to the 50/50/50 split - seems like plenty of points all together and we like the thought of having home advantage at 3 different places.

And we would probably be priced out of adding on later if we just bought one or two contracts now and then wanted a third location or more points down the road. It should financially be feasible, but I think we would have a hard time paying twice as much for a property with less life left in it.

Our goal with this purchase is to have a more affordable Deluxe Disney hotel stay every 18-24 months for the next 6 or so years and then every 24-36 months as our kids get older. I can easily see how people use more than that by staying in larger rooms, traveling in larger groups, or taking more frequent trips. But I truly don't see that in our future based on how we've traveled historically. We are too frugal to budget for an annual Disney trip (I mean our "cheap" 4 night trip last summer with our two "free" children and no airfare since paid by my employer cost more than our 7 day all-inclusive honeymoon). And neither of us did much travelling as children or young adults, so there are still SO many other places in the world that we want to see before we'd be ready to commit to annual Disney trips.
 
We plan to have a Disney trip every other year. If we don't plan to bank or borrow, then we would be committing to buy probably 100 points at each resort. We are ok with this, but then we are committing to renting points out each year. Is that what you'd advise? I am just confused because that seems like a great idea to me, but I have seen several people recommend against it in other threads. I am assuming from the stand point that you can't guarantee they will be marketable in the future, just like you can't guarantee you will be able to re-sell any property you later decide you don't like. So we tried to come up with a few scenarios and the minimum and maximum points we'd need for each location. Ie for a split stay in studios in early December at poly for 3 nights and BWV 4 nights, we'd need 48 and 78 points, respectively. Then we'd need 169 Poly points if we did a whole week in a studio over Spring Break. Or 160 points if we wanted to do a 4 day stay in peak season for a BWV 1 BR and 124 points for a 1 BR at BLT - those would be easily attainable by banking the 150 total points we'd have.

I've also seen a lot of advice to buy smaller contracts in case you want to sell some, but not all of your points down the road. That's partially why we came to the 50/50/50 split - seems like plenty of points all together and we like the thought of having home advantage at 3 different places.

And we would probably be priced out of adding on later if we just bought one or two contracts now and then wanted a third location or more points down the road. It should financially be feasible, but I think we would have a hard time paying twice as much for a property with less life left in it.

Our goal with this purchase is to have a more affordable Deluxe Disney hotel stay every 18-24 months for the next 6 or so years and then every 24-36 months as our kids get older. I can easily see how people use more than that by staying in larger rooms, traveling in larger groups, or taking more frequent trips. But I truly don't see that in our future based on how we've traveled historically. We are too frugal to budget for an annual Disney trip (I mean our "cheap" 4 night trip last summer with our two "free" children and no airfare since paid by my employer cost more than our 7 day all-inclusive honeymoon). And neither of us did much travelling as children or young adults, so there are still SO many other places in the world that we want to see before we'd be ready to commit to annual Disney trips.
My advice isn't going to fit your thoughts all that well. Once you get up to around every 36 months, IMO, DVC no longer makes sense. So the question is how likely would it be to go over 36 months and how soon would you get there. Personally I disagree with the idea of buying smaller contracts to have resale options, rarely it makes sense for home priority options. It has has cost, roughly $2500 on 150 points for 3 contracts and since I don't feel buying to sell is reasonable, it's cost that's unnecessary. I also am not convinced they'll be worth more long term, they may be but they may not, I give it 50/50.

I doubt you'll be priced out, I don't see the escalation of the last couple of years carrying forward but who knows. Personally I'd go with one or, at max, 2 contracts given the size you're looking at. I would not plan for split stays routinely. I would plan to avoid banked/borrowed points as much as possible. I'm not a big fan of buying to rent but I would prefer that to the 50/50/50 plan plus I suspect you'll need significantly more than you think anyway.

It seems like ultimate value is your goal, IMO DVC rarely, if ever, saves one money. It's OK to do some trips on points and others some other way, possibly transferring points in or a private rental. Given your posted info I'd likely look at around 150 at BLT and forego the Poly. I suspect you can get in there at 7 months out most of the time but you might have to waitlist at times. As a minimum I wouldn't buy everything all up front as you've posted. Another consideration is you might want to wait on Riviera to compare to BWV and have qualified points at the same time. Obviously lots of variables but I get the sense you're all emotionally tied to this right now and if so, IMO, that alone is reason enough to wait.
 
Our first trip - when we got the switch - was for a 1BR. The second one - which we will try and switch in June - is for a studio. I have been slowly stalking the RAT and it seems like the 3 resorts we are interested in switching to (BR, BWV, BCV) are all still available... for now.
I'm jealous. We decided to stop by Disney for 3 days after my work trip mid-June and there are no studios available to rent during our stay and very limited 1 BR options. So we are debating if we'll get a villa direct with Disney or keep checking to see if anyone cancels. Seems like a long shot at this point for us.
 

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