A little bit of CCV regret and trying to figure out alternatives.

Sanwich

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 3, 2012
This post is mostly going to be me trying to talk myself through a game plan for the future, though I’m curious if folks have any insights or suggestions.

We have been DVC owners for several years (mostly resale before the newest restrictions were added), but in the past year we purchased a semi-small addon direct at CCV, intending to use it for a stay every other year. Prior to purchasing CCV, I debated heavily about it because we mainly stay in studios (no need for the amenities in 1 bedrooms), and of course I had heard about the studio availability issues at CCV. In the end we went with CCV anyway because we really, really love the Lodge, the aesthetic of CCV specifically, and the longer contract length vs BRV. We have used our new points a few times already, but not at CCV... though we purposely had stuff planned elsewhere and weren’t actually trying to get into CCV rooms.

So, over the past 4 months or so I’ve been keeping an eye on the RAT and I’m experiencing some serious fear/regret. We have no problem booking at or near 11 months, but the studio situation is way worse than I imagined. From what I could tell, they’re getting booked within minutes of 11 months, except for the chunk of April around Easter (not a time we would be going). The thought of having to fly by the seat of our pants at 7 months all the time is not particularly appealing, especially for the fall. In short, lesson learned and we’re considering selling that contract and buying elsewhere. This leads to the rest of my post...

Initially I was planning to wait for Reflections, banking on the fact that maybe they wouldn’t repeat the cabin mistake of CCV. But hey, it looks like they’re going to have cabins/bungalows after all, heh. Riviera looks nice, but of course it will have its own issues with the heavy resale restrictions. Once we make our next purchase though, I’m hoping that it will work decently for us and we won’t need to buy or sell again any time soon.

I considered buying Riviera direct, because at least there are no cabins, and we would be fine with staying in the most point-expensive studio category if need be. But I’m leery of the future... once a bunch of resale points are in the system, it seems like it may be CCV all over again with too many folks scrambling to book limited rooms.

I also considered just buying BRV, since the Lodge is where we wanted to own to begin with. We don’t even mind the actual years left on the contract, but the “no brainer” to go resale is less convincing now. Mainly I would still like to be able to use all of our points at Riviera, etc. for a stay if the opportunity arises, which means we would have to buy direct (I know, that’s just what Disney wants). Our UY also seems to be exceedingly rare for BRV resale contracts. But BRV direct prices are pretty crazy; is it ever justifiable to buy places like BRV or BWV direct?

There are a lot of unknowns at this point (especially with Riviera), which makes it more challenging to try and come up with a plan. We aren’t planning to sell or buy immediately, so I suppose there is a little time to see how certain things shake out. I do wish I could go back in time and do things right the first time, though. ;)
 
I think it's a good plan to see how it goes for you at 11 months and booking CCV. If you do eventually decide to sell and BRV is the consideration would you definitely need all of your points available to trade into Riviera? Or could you plan to use your other points and just keep the BRV for other stays? That is what I'd try and do vs paying direct prices for an option. I'd bank/borrow from the other contract(s) before recommending that.
 
What would that look like to you?

Overall I'm happy with the points we've purchased up until this last contract. If I really could go back and do things differently, instead of buying CCV I would have bought a BRV resale contract before the restrictions took effect (I actually did keep an eye out for anything BRV resale in our UY for the months leading up to the decision to buy direct instead... but October seems to be a tough one to find, especially in sub-100 amounts).
 


It sounds like you already have points that work at all properties (current and future). What if you kept looking for the BRV resale in the perfect UY and quantity ... just keep looking, keep looking, keep looking ... and saving towards that purchase. If it turns up, make an offer. If it comes together, great! You are ahead of your plan for point ownership and could rent out the CCV points until you find a reasonable exit point. If not, just keep fishing until the right one comes along?
 
It sounds like you already have points that work at all properties (current and future). What if you kept looking for the BRV resale in the perfect UY and quantity ... just keep looking, keep looking, keep looking ... and saving towards that purchase. If it turns up, make an offer. If it comes together, great! You are ahead of your plan for point ownership and could rent out the CCV points until you find a reasonable exit point. If not, just keep fishing until the right one comes along?

Thanks. You’re right, we do have the luxury of time. I will say that even renting out CCV has been a challenge (for the 11 to 7 month price anyway); gave it a shot with our first year’s points, but of course the points can only be rented if there is availability at the home resort, which there wasn’t. After about a month, we just decided to use the points ourselves after all.
 
The bad news for CCV is that it is 90% sold out. So things are only going to get worse for studios. DVC really needs to figure out the proper ratio of studios to 1,2,3 bedrooms. After 25 years of doing this one would think they would have it figured out by now, apparently not.
 


The bad news for CCV is that it is 90% sold out. So things are only going to get worse for studios. DVC really needs to figure out the proper ratio of studios to 1,2,3 bedrooms. After 25 years of doing this one would think they would have it figured out by now, apparently not.
I don’t think that DVD cares about hitting that studio sweet spot. Think about it. A member purchased enough points to stay a week in a studio during their preferred time of travel. Around the time that the resort sells out, the owner learns that booking a studio at their home resort is like competing in rollerball. What’s a person to follow? Buy more points, of course! And with more points, they can now book 1BRs easily at their home resort at 11 months or even a non-home resort at 7 months.

In the meantime, DVC gets owners to foot the bill for those expensive cabins and bungalows. It’s a genius plan. Evil, but genius.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!













Top