Well I will also say, we prefer taking the car to any park except for MK. Just remember where you parked it! Spent about 20 mins in 90 degree heat and no shade looking for our car at DHS last trip lol.I don't think we will have the time unfortunately the way our trip is planned. My inlaws have never been to Disney World so we have a lot planned for them
Just to clarify, because you might be missing a detail.
We always take a picture at the end of the row to help us remember.
I wish I could swing a night at AKL this trip. With my in-laws coming, and us wanting to at least stay together to help them navigate the magical world since they've never been, it's just not going to happen
I think if SSR has a good resale contract it's not a bad idea. Again, you can book other places at 7 month mark. If you ended up being stuck there some trips...it's not a bad thing, the rooms there are some of the most functional on the propertyI wish I could swing a night at AKL this trip. With my in-laws coming, and us wanting to at least stay together to help them navigate the magical world since they've never been, it's just not going to happen
I think from this thread it's been advised that SSR is too easy to book at the 7 month window and buying resale there wouldn't make sense unless you really loved SSR. This would push me to probably AKL.
Though considering our 'main' travel times and having a preference for the Holiday season, there's a part of me that wants to look more into BR, but I believe those contracts are done in '42 and I'm super curious what this refurb that is suppose to happen would look like. CC was nice when I saw some videos, but I wasn't in love.
I'll disagree on it being easy. I know many are stuck with times they can travel. I've had friends walk at 11 months to get between xmas and NYE. Right after if often a race too so even into Jan a little can be hard.
So my .02 cents worth. AKL is usually not that hard to book at 7 months, unless you are looking for a value studio or concierge level. Those book day 1 at 11 months. Yes, you may have issues with the first 2 weeks of December, but that's going to be true for all DVC resorts, even SSR.I wish I could swing a night at AKL this trip. With my in-laws coming, and us wanting to at least stay together to help them navigate the magical world since they've never been, it's just not going to happen
I think from this thread it's been advised that SSR is too easy to book at the 7 month window and buying resale there wouldn't make sense unless you really loved SSR. This would push me to probably AKL.
Though considering our 'main' travel times and having a preference for the Holiday season, there's a part of me that wants to look more into BR, but I believe those contracts are done in '42 and I'm super curious what this refurb that is suppose to happen would look like. CC was nice when I saw some videos, but I wasn't in love.
I booked 5 Poly studios for Christmas-NYE at 7 months this year. There was a TON of availability. Nothing got difficult until Marathon Weekend, and then it opened up wide open again.
I still think two studios are a better use of points unless you really intend to use the kitchen, but yes, two bathrooms are nice.
Good job! Seriously Polynesian with all the studios is not hard to book ever. Marathon weekend is very hard as a whole no matter where. As a whole there are a LOT of resorts you cannot book at the holidays. Polynesian isn't one of the bigger due to lack of decorations. WL (both) and honestly RR is hard as a whole, VGF (though cannot speak for resort studios) and all those well decorated are really hard to get.
AKL Kidani 1 bedrooms usually are pretty easy to get inside of 7 months as a whole. Not always but *usually* SSR is by far the easiest
I booked 9 nights and every resort was available except Boulder Ridge. Studios at all of them.
Not sure how long you've owned, but that's so not the norm.
Those are usually easily available at 7 months for the vast majority of the year. The 1-beds are universally the last room type to book up.
DVC should never be considered in a "purely financial" mindset. It is NOT an investment that anyone can expect to "make" money on. People keep talking about how you could do so much better investing your money in something, and using the profits for Disney trips. Sorry, but unless you have several hundred thousand dollars at a rate of return greater than almost anything today, you're never going to have enough to stay deluxe for 2-3 trips a year like we do. Just not going to happen. DVC isn't for everyone, I am the first to admit that, as the one and only thing that should be considered when purchasing DVC is the money saved on the deluxe accomadations. Period. Never buy thinking that there will be discounts. Never buy if you think you might make money on a resale. The resale market could crash tomorrow.
I do have a spreadsheet, but it was never a comparison for direct versus resale. All of our points are direct. My spreadsheet has columns for dues, cost of cash room, and money saved. It started with the money initially paid for the points for all 3 contracts. I will add more when we add-on, which we are already looking into. HH or BWV are the 2 we want. So anyway, I take any possible discounts into account, but add in the tax that is charged. As an example, for the 2 trips this year, it would have cost us over $15,700 to pay cash, compared to only $2,800 in dues. We think an almost $13,000 savings just for this year is pretty awesome. To us, that is all we bought for, and all we expect going forward. Anything else they offer is gravy.
