Help me pick the best UY & resort for our family of 5!

[jolynne28]

Hi all! I am heavy into DVC resale purchase research, and need to decide which resort and UY would be best for us. With 3 kids in school, we are probably looking at early June and either Thanksgiving or Christmas break. It looks like June is fairly available at 7 months, so having 11 month priority for Thanksgiving/Christmas makes the most sense to me. What UY would you choose in this situation? We may bank points every now and then to try and do a big family trip every few years with my sister's family and our parents, but I think we'll likely use our points most years.

I was thinking SSR resale, b/c points are points and we can get more for our money. We may drive over tomorrow, stay the night, and just walk around the different resorts we like. Would you do a few smaller contracts at a few different resorts to get priority booking and then do split stays? I know that's more closing costs, but I think we would struggle with paying $10K more for the same amount of points at VGF vs SSR. But then I also think, I have to get a one bedroom at SSR, which is double the points, where certain studios can accommodate 5.

It's a lot to think about, we could use some feedback!

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

I would do a September or October use year for holiday trips. If you're going Thanksgiving or Christmas, you're going to need home resort booking advantage for a solid week-long trip. If you don't mind split stays and waitlists, stockpiling SS isn't a bad idea. Just depends if you'll be disappointed at SS or won't love split stays. If you're okay with it, great deals are out there for SS.

 

[aceshigh73]

Hi all! I am heavy into DVC resale purchase research, and need to decide which resort and UY would be best for us. With 3 kids in school, we are probably looking at early June and either Thanksgiving or Christmas break. It looks like June is fairly available at 7 months, so having 11 month priority for Thanksgiving/Christmas makes the most sense to me. What UY would you choose in this situation? We may bank points every now and then to try and do a big family trip every few years with my sister's family and our parents, but I think we'll likely use our points most years.

I was thinking SSR resale, b/c points are points and we can get more for our money. We may drive over tomorrow, stay the night, and just walk around the different resorts we like. Would you do a few smaller contracts at a few different resorts to get priority booking and then do split stays? I know that's more closing costs, but I think we would struggle with paying $10K more for the same amount of points at VGF vs SSR. But then I also think, I have to get a one bedroom at SSR, which is double the points, where certain studios can accommodate 5.

It's a lot to think about, we could use some feedback!

Hi, yes, it is a lot to think about. Which is why I think you should take some time and think about it. 5 in a studio might get old real quick, especially as the kids age, so I wouldnt put too much into that myself. VGF (original) and Poly studios have split baths (and possibly others, unsure), so thats an option while they are younger.
Do you care about 2042 expiration? If so, stay away from those, who knows what will happen in 2040.
I also wouldnt worry about closing costs too much, its like $700 or so per contract. In the grand scheme of things its a nothing-burger....
My wife and I did what you suggested, we took a trip in early August (nothing like the surface of the sun!!) and we visited every DVC except for OKW. We also spoke with a few different guides. Visit the rooms (even if u dont have an appointment, most were willing to take a walk with you to visit the different room types when you walked up to the sales podiums. (if you ask nicely, they might even send a van to shuttle you around!!)

UY is a tough one. June would work for you.... Gives you a banking window until Jan 31!
SSR is nice, but its almost everyone's "resort of last resort". Meaning when there's nothing left, you look at SSR.
If you dont mind SSR, there's tremendous value in resale (can get for sub $90's with the right contract!).

Personally, with a young family, and you are looking to visit long term, Id probably go Copper Creek or maybe a Poly resale.

Good luck with your decisions...

 

[MagicDVC]

Hi, yes, it is a lot to think about. Which is why I think you should take some time and think about it. 5 in a studio might get old real quick, especially as the kids age, so I wouldnt put too much into that myself. VGF (original) and Poly studios have split baths (and possibly others, unsure), so thats an option while they are younger.
Do you care about 2042 expiration? If so, stay away from those, who knows what will happen in 2040.
I also wouldnt worry about closing costs too much, its like $700 or so per contract. In the grand scheme of things its a nothing-burger....
My wife and I did what you suggested, we took a trip in early August (nothing like the surface of the sun!!) and we visited every DVC except for OKW. We also spoke with a few different guides. Visit the rooms (even if u dont have an appointment, most were willing to take a walk with you to visit the different room types when you walked up to the sales podiums. (if you ask nicely, they might even send a van to shuttle you around!!)

UY is a tough one. June would work for you.... Gives you a banking window until Jan 31!
SSR is nice, but its almost everyone's "resort of last resort". Meaning when there's nothing left, you look at SSR.
If you dont mind SSR, there's tremendous value in resale (can get for sub $90's with the right contract!).

Personally, with a young family, and you are looking to visit long term, Id probably go Copper Creek or maybe a Poly resale.

Good luck with your decisions...

I wouldn't get CCV as a home resort as both the studio and 1BR won't work with family size since they only sleep 4. I'd also pick an October UY as June trips could be cancelled prior to the banking deadline of May 31st.

 

[Tatebeck]

Yeah seems like June may be the best use year for you, unless you ever may want to travel at the end of May, then maybe April use year could be better. But an April use year makes it so you have to bank any points by the end of November. Either would be okay if your main travels are from June through December. Or you could try for something like October use year, then points would need to be banked by the end of May. Those would be the 3 I would be looking at in your situation.

The basic rule is that you want your main travel times to be at the beginning to middle of your use year. Any trips towards the end of a use year are at risk of having points expire if you ever have to cancel one of those trips within 30 days of check in.

As far as picking a resort, buy where you want to stay, or at the very least where you wouldn't mind staying if you are looking for a good value. There are rumblings of some changes that may happen in the future that may make 7 month availability tougher to secure. But nothing concrete yet

 

[lilsonicfan]

We are a family of 5. SSR made sense for us as a place we wouldn't mind staying but also would like flexibility to go elsewhere. However, I'm not willing to do a studio, my kids are 10/12/14 and I need space! I think you want to consider where you want to stay and really do some research to see if those spots are available at the 7 month mark, and if not, consider buying in to those resorts. CCV resale was on my list too bc of the long contract life, but you'd have to be in a 2BR there, which is still not as point-heavy as VGF for example. That's another thing about VGF, it costs a lot of points to stay there.

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

Riviera studios are large and accommodate five. Do a tour of the rooms for your consideration if going direct. Poly studios are the largest and gets you access to the tower being built. You could do Riviera direct and Poly resale. I would tour in February. It's honestly a fun thing to do. We toured almost everything and were glad we did. Every family's needs will be different, but I wouldn't count on getting anything but your home resort at seven months during October-MLK weekend. DVC is packed during those times. June is more open.

As well, studios with three kids gets old really quick, especially as they get bigger. The larger rooms are wonderful. Once you get a hit of a larger room, forget about it. So hard to go back to a studio, I don't care how nice it is.

 

[Genie+]

As newbie DVC owners - a few things I picked up.

Take a good look at the resorts you like most. These are long contracts. Enjoy it best you can, and because price difference gap may be much less than thought after considering extra years and dues.

For instance we recently bought VGF and everyone in my family is thrilled. When we broke down buy-in price per point per year, VGF was only $.50 more per point used compared to SSR. But VGF has $.50 lower dues per point. So it’s same cost per point.

How many points you use per night is where the biggest gaps come. The same night BWV OKW AKL SSR may be 9-15 points/nite, and Poly or VGF 18-25. But those monorail resorts are more functional for family getting ready and of course have great proximity to MK and EP, and all the fun in nearby resorts. And they are gorgeous with tons of amenities. And it could keep you from needing 1BR.

We’ve been learning split stay is too much hassle. It’s nice walking to 3 parks. Transfer Day is rough. We’re trying to stay one place only next 2 trips.

Use Year. October seems the best for your pattern. Have fun! DVC is a ball

 

[jolynne28]

Yeah seems like June may be the best use year for you, unless you ever may want to travel at the end of May, then maybe April use year could be better. But an April use year makes it so you have to bank any points by the end of November. Either would be okay if your main travels are from June through December. Or you could try for something like October use year, then points would need to be banked by the end of May. Those would be the 3 I would be looking at in your situation.

The basic rule is that you want your main travel times to be at the beginning to middle of your use year. Any trips towards the end of a use year are at risk of having points expire if you ever have to cancel one of those trips within 30 days of check in.

As far as picking a resort, buy where you want to stay, or at the very least where you wouldn't mind staying if you are looking for a good value. There are rumblings of some changes that may happen in the future that may make 7 month availability tougher to secure. But nothing concrete yet

Ooh I haven’t heard this, can you share more about the rumored changes?

 

[Tatebeck]

There is absolutely nothing confirmed, but Disney formed a trust group that some people think will be used to offer customers a way to buy into multiple home resorts at once, but they may have less desirable home resorts in there and may cause strain/an increase to 7 month booking. See a bunch of this thread for more info: https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...e-resort-survey.3935147/page-32#post-65206716

 

[Sandisw]

Ooh I haven’t heard this, can you share more about the rumored changes?

There was something appears to indicate that DVC could be exploring to a non specific timeshare plan using a trust model.

Instead of buying a deeded ownership in a resort you buy an interest in the trust and hsve the right to use any of the points that the trust owns.

It is just in its early stages and only have the one document so far.

Always buy where you would be happy staying if you can’t trade at 7 months. I agree that June UY is idea and I’d go with April as a back up.

Trading in June will give you more options than during the holidays.

We love RIV and VGF l…those are our top resorts. But for resale, RIV is limited to just RIv so might not be a good choice for your first contract.

PVB offers some great options for the studios and it looks like, for now, it will have home resort priory at the new tower.

BLT, though is a great choice due to the 1 bedrooms sleeping 5 with two bathrooms!

 

[jolynne28]

Thanks to all that have commented so far. I was thinking October UY as well, so good to know I was on the right track!

Pretty much every post I've read about a family of 5 has said the same thing, studios get old fast. But man, having to use nearly double the points for a 1 bedroom is kind of a tough pill to swallow. I like what I've seen about the new poly tower, but I've been on that thread and people are pretty split on whether or not the new tower will be under the old association, so that makes me nervous. If it's not, what happens to the resale OG Poly resale contracts? Do they tank?

I agree about CCVs, doesn't work for a family of 5. I have pretty much ruled out 2042 contracts, but I have to remember that 2068 contracts mean I'll be 89! I have younger kids but I'm not a young mom. I know we can pass it down, but it seems strange to buy into such a long contract at this point in our lives.

I like the math Genie+ talked about, that's one thing I hadn't considered. But for VGF, I have to buy a lot more points to accommodate us at that resort. A one bedroom standard there is nearly 100 pts more than the same room at SSR for the first week of June. So from that perspective, while the points may cost the same, it takes a lot more, so I'm having a hard time justifying that.

I'm going in February with a gf for the big cheer competition and we are renting DVC and doing split stays for all 4 nights. I've been to nearly every resort, but haven't actually checked out rooms in all of them.

BLT seems very polarizing, I love the more themed resorts, and that one has been described as a concrete jungle on numerous threads. We tend to split time equally between MK, HS, and Epcot, so being super close to MK isn't crucial for us. I've basically ruled out Riviera b/c of the resale restrictions. Maybe i should look at Poly resale a little more closely.

 

[peabody58]

Sept UY has worked extremely well for us. Our main travel months are Sept, Dec, Jan and May.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Having been a DVC member for 20 years, I have found use year is relatively meaningless to me as travel patterns change so often. We evolved from studios to 1 bedroom to 2 bedrooms and the DVC flexibility is great. However, I found it is better to borrow (and even double up) than it is bank as I never lost any unused points that way. Also, the 11 and 7 month booking window is tied to your home resort, not the use year.

Now the resort is a hard one as they all are good, but SSR resale is probably the best value right now.

 

[jason423]

Thanks to all that have commented so far. I was thinking October UY as well, so good to know I was on the right track!

Pretty much every post I've read about a family of 5 has said the same thing, studios get old fast. But man, having to use nearly double the points for a 1 bedroom is kind of a tough pill to swallow. I like what I've seen about the new poly tower, but I've been on that thread and people are pretty split on whether or not the new tower will be under the old association, so that makes me nervous. If it's not, what happens to the resale OG Poly resale contracts? Do they tank?

I agree about CCVs, doesn't work for a family of 5. I have pretty much ruled out 2042 contracts, but I have to remember that 2068 contracts mean I'll be 89! I have younger kids but I'm not a young mom. I know we can pass it down, but it seems strange to buy into such a long contract at this point in our lives.

I like the math Genie+ talked about, that's one thing I hadn't considered. But for VGF, I have to buy a lot more points to accommodate us at that resort. A one bedroom standard there is nearly 100 pts more than the same room at SSR for the first week of June. So from that perspective, while the points may cost the same, it takes a lot more, so I'm having a hard time justifying that.

I'm going in February with a gf for the big cheer competition and we are renting DVC and doing split stays for all 4 nights. I've been to nearly every resort, but haven't actually checked out rooms in all of them.

BLT seems very polarizing, I love the more themed resorts, and that one has been described as a concrete jungle on numerous threads. We tend to split time equally between MK, HS, and Epcot, so being super close to MK isn't crucial for us. I've basically ruled out Riviera b/c of the resale restrictions. Maybe i should look at Poly resale a little more closely.

So if you are planning on a Christmas or a Thanksgiving trip I would definitely lean into the "buy where you want to stay" theory. Availability around the holidays is tight and there is little guarantee you will be able to book elsewhere at 7 months. For summer trips its different as most resorts seem to be available at 7 months with the exception of beach club.

The point stretching is a real benefit of certain resorts. We own at BWV and VGF and the BWV points go way further especially the times when we get a standard view. Polys location is pretty good for trips to both MK and Epcot when you can just walk to the TTC, though that may not apply to the new building where you probably need to do the full monorail loop.

We are a family of 4 and have been fine with studios but five is definitely tighter. Depending on how old your kids are now you may also be fine with studios for the time being and then add if you need to later on. You may get an idea by then as to where you prefer staying, do you need the 1BR, how many more points you really need, etc... and wind up buying a different 2nd resort.

I would not recommend buying a bunch of small contracts at different resorts. The small contracts are usually over priced and split stays can be a pain. While we have done them I prefer saving up from one contract and just doing a bigger stay at one resort every other year rather than using both over the same trip.

 

[kilik64]

We are a family of 5 as well and bought ssr to mainly use as sap. The price point allows you to buy more points which will negate somewhat the point difference of staying in 1br at ssr if you end up there. We stayed there in a studio in March this year (first and only as youngest turns 3 in feb ) and my girls loved it. The paddock pool was great, zero issues with using buses to parks, and being close to Disney Springs was nice. I’m sure we will stay there in a 1br at some point again soon. Trying to hold that off because they say once you do a 1br you won’t go back to studios.

By and large 1br are usually the last rooms to go due to point cost, so there’s a good bet you can get one with stalking/waitlist at 7. Definitely doable in June but harder at thanksgiving/christmas.

If you would be good with only studios at poly, I’d look there as another option. The long contract length there helps it math wise. I wouldn’t bank on 1br there as I bet they will be at least as much as vgf 1br and possibly more.

 

[NVDISFamily]

I think June would would great YU for you and it's one of the higher availability UY on the market 3rd only to December (#1) and February (#2) (as of writing this). Banking deadline is at the end of January so you cover all of your mentioned trips (early Summer and November/December).

We have so far only traveled in Summer to WDW and you are correct it seems easy to get into other resorts at 7 months in the summer months. Your November/December trips may be a more popular time so having booking priority at a resort you love may be worth considering. I recommend a tour and thinking a bit more beyond points per dollar as those points are great to have more of them but aren't worth too much if you cant get the rooms you want.

With a family your size, I'd really consider planning for a 2BR level points in the long run. You will want a door that locks (you and your spouse/partner are on vacation too), it will be nice to not to have to shove everyone in the living room, what if they want to bring friends, more bathrooms make getting ready for and after park days more "fun", and most important hack of all, bring grandparents (or aunts/uncles) along for the ride to have extra people to watch the kids and also have time to sneak off and have some adult time at the parks or in the area....

To that point, CCV is a good long term option that is an iconic destination in November/December. AKV is great too. I'm also a big fan of SSR from a value and room standpoint but I don't think there is anything at the resort itself that's a huge pull but the proximity to Disney Springs is a win.

I'll now argue the other way and say there is some wisdom in going pure value route and getting a ton of cheap SSR points. Having more points = more options and you are going to have a better booking options at 7 months with a big pile of points (get that 2BR I was talking about or splurge for a cabin/bungalow). Heck, sometimes I wonder if it would have been better off going that route and I'd have a huge pile of points. I'd likely have well over 1000 to 1500 more points if I would have just purchased SSR at reasonable market lows. That dues bill would scare me a bit.

Good luck and wish you the best on your adventure.

 

[Mikey15]

Hi all! I am heavy into DVC resale purchase research, and need to decide which resort and UY would be best for us. With 3 kids in school, we are probably looking at early June and either Thanksgiving or Christmas break. It looks like June is fairly available at 7 months, so having 11 month priority for Thanksgiving/Christmas makes the most sense to me. What UY would you choose in this situation? We may bank points every now and then to try and do a big family trip every few years with my sister's family and our parents, but I think we'll likely use our points most years.

I just wanted to mention something about use years. They don’t at all change what time of year you can book 11 months out instead of 7 months out. You can safely take that part out of the use year consideration. What use year dictates is when your points have to be used before they expire (or when they have to be banked before they do).

If your travel is 90% Jun, Nov, Dec, June is absolutely going to be your best use year. The banking deadline for a June UY is Jan 31, so you’ll know by then what points you used or didn’t use and can bank them all. The last 4 months of your UY you can’t bank the points the normal way, say if you canceled for some reason. So unless as someone else mentioned you ~might~ go end of May instead of early June, a June UY is just perfect.

You’d still have 11mo booking priority whether you’re looking at a June trip or a Thanksgiving/Christmas one. 11mo from the first night of the stay is when you can book your home resort.

For an October UY, if you had to cancel days last-minute on a June trip, those points would go into “holding” instead of being able to be banked normally.

 

[PolyRob]

For an October UY, if you had to cancel days last-minute on a June trip, those points would go into “holding” instead of being able to be banked normally.

Not necessarily. If you cancelled last minute June trip (under 31 days) regardless of UY your points would go into holding. An October UY is an issue here because you only have until the end of your UY to use said holding points which would expire on 9/30. That doesn't leave much time given DVC booking patterns.

If you have an October UY and cancelled a trip that starts 6/30 31+ days in advance you could still bank current allotment points since 31 days prior is 5/30 and an October UY banking deadline is 5/31. It isn't ideal, but it's doable. The same issue would present itself if you had banked and/or borrowed points left from that reservation. Those can only be used by 9/30.

 

[pinkxray]

We have very similar travel patterns. Family of 5 with school age children. Our big trip most of the time is following Thanksgiving. Also like going in Oct, Dec, and Jan. Never thought I’d want to go for April break but since I already pulled the kids from school to do an Aulani thanksgiving trip, we are tackling Easter break in WDW. Right now, I don’t like summer in FL but I’m sure as the kids get older we will go in June once in awhile.

We have an Oct use year and I love it. I also considered June and April, but since our main trip is Nov. I liked Oct. We have planned a trip in June and since we usually now more than a month in advance if we need to cancel, I don’t worry too much about the banking deadine of May 31.

We started with SSR resale and it worked well for us around Thanksgiving. (1 bedrooms) The only thing is that we tend to only need 4 nights or so since we usually head to Universal for a few nights. It can be a little more challenging to find what you want for a full week, so sometimes split stays are needed. We also changed dates once and ended up at SSR since we changed so late. SSR is a lovely resort, especially with kids. There is so much to do and the pools are great. It’s never a bad thing to be ”stuck” with SSR.

We added more points this summer and VGF since it is my favorite resort. It’s my buy where I want to stay resort. The points charts are rough especially for a one bedroom. Easter weekend is crazy amount of points for 3 nights. I think it was more than the 4 nights we stayed in a 2 bedroom at CCR a few Decembers ago. So we are doing a studio at VGF for Easter weekend and moving to BLT one bedroom for the rest of the trip.

BLT is a really good option for 5. But like you I had a hard time with theming and if you aren’t big MK people the walk to MK might not sway you. However, BLT has had some really good resale prices lately. It is supposed to getting refurbished over the next year and the rooms should be great. If you can get a decent price for resale it might be worth it to use BLT as your SAP, at least you have a close to park resort for busy times and you get a few more years.

We didn’t consider Poly bc there is no way I’m putting all 5 of us in a studio all the time. However, with the new tower most likely being the same association I’d consider it more now. When we were looking Poly resale was too much $. They were some good deals recently.

My 2nd favorite resort is Copper Creek. It was still in direct sales when we first bought and I didn’t even consider it since we would always need a 2 bedroom for our family of 5. We were lucky enough to swap into CCR two years in a row the week after Thanksgiving and I wished I could go back in time and buy all my points direct at CCR. It is by far the most stunning resort once the Xmas tree and decorations go up. The prices on CCR have dropped a lot of the last few years and if VGF didn’t have the awesome direct sale this year I would have been buying resale CCR.

Make sure you run all the numbers with the points charts. Yes, you have to get a 2 bedroom at CCR but the points charts there are so much lower than VGF, Riviera and probably Poly and Poly tower.

Good luck and have fun deciding.