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Wilderness Lodge Villas

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Mon, 08/26/2013 - 18:34
Poppy44
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Wilderness Lodge Villas

My family and I love the Wilderness Lodge and the Villas. Out of 12 trips to WDW over 24 years, we stayed 8 times at the WL, or the villas, and it is by far our favorite resort. Now that we have grandkids, we are planning to buy into the DVC through a reseller, and we will most often book at the VWL. I'm aware that the general advice is to buy into the DVC resort you want to stay at most often. When visiting with the grandkids, we would most likely visit in mid-October and book a 2BR villa. My wife and I would visit in the spring and need only a studio. In general, our visits will be in less busy seasons and never over any holiday. It seems like I could buy into a DVC resort that costs less than the VWL and save some money up front. Has anyone had experience with trying to book at the VWL within the 7 month window?

A related question: If I have two home resorts, do I have the benefit of the 11 month booking window at both? Are there restrictions on how the points may be combined for a single booking?

One more question: Do DVC members always get a discount on annual passes?
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions on these questions!

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Mon, 08/26/2013 - 19:02
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Mandy
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Poppy44 wrote:
A related question: If I have two home resorts, do I have the benefit of the 11 month booking window at both? Are there restrictions on how the points may be combined for a single booking?

One more question: Do DVC members always get a discount on annual passes?
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions on these questions!

I believe that you do get the 11 month booking window at both and I do believe you get discounts on APs for being a dvc member.

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 19:27
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Skunk
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Mandy wrote:
Poppy44 wrote:
A related question: If I have two home resorts, do I have the benefit of the 11 month booking window at both? Are there restrictions on how the points may be combined for a single booking?

One more question: Do DVC members always get a discount on annual passes?
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions on these questions!

I believe that you do get the 11 month booking window at both and I do believe you get discounts on APs for being a dvc member.

The 11 month booking window only applies to your home resort. The 7 month window applies if not the home resort. Also, points can't be combined from two different contracts(even if same home resort). Would require booking separate reservations from each contract. DVC discount for annual pass is a perk that has been around forever. Not likely that DVC will remove this perk any time soon, but it is always a possibility.

Tue, 08/27/2013 - 00:58
Poppy44
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Thanks all for your input! I did some further investigating and found the following from multiple sources: It looks like you can "in effect" combine your points from two different home resorts at the 7 month mark. This makes sense because you can always book (assuming availability) within the 7 month window at a DVC resort that is not your home resort. So as I understand it, you could book at (say) home resort # 1 at the 11 month mark, but if you did not have enough points at home resort #1 for the full desired stay, you would have to wait until the 7 month point to make use of your points from home resort #2 to book the remainder of your stay. However, by that time home resort #1 might be fully booked and you would be out of luck.

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether the cost to buy in via resale is likely to go down as winter approaches?

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Tue, 08/27/2013 - 01:15
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Kristen K.
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Poppy44 wrote:
Has anyone had experience with trying to book at the VWL within the 7 month window?

Yes - I successfully booked a 2 bedroom Villa at the Wilderness Lodge 7 months out for a June Reservation this year. Wilderness Lodge was my third choice of where to book at 7 months out - other resorts (BLT and BCV) were already full.

Poppy44 wrote:
A related question: If I have two home resorts, do I have the benefit of the 11 month booking window at both?

You can book at 11 months out with the points you have at each particular resort at that resort. You can NOT combine with points from another resort for earlier overall booking.

For instance - I have 160 at AKL and 25 at VGC for 185 points total. Each of those can be booked at 11 months out for only the amount of points that I have at that resort. So without banking or borrowing even though I own 185 points - I can only book 160 points at AKL 11 months out.

To get around that what I usually do when I want to book 11 months out using more points than I have at a single resort is borrow from the next year on the home resort contract. That leaves me with "extra" points at the second resort that I can bank forward to the next year (since I borrowed at the first resort) or - just plan a second trip staying at the other resort.

Poppy44 wrote:
Are there restrictions on how the points may be combined for a single booking?

Yes - as we just talked about there is the 7/11 month booking window that you have to consider.

You also have to consider when your use year is. If the two contracts have different use years it changes when those sets of points become available to book. Both of my contracts have the December use year. That means that every December I get the new points dropped into my account for both contracts. Use years can be different though especially when buying resale. If the contracts aren't on the same drop schedule things can get a lot more confusing when booking because your points become available at different times of year. My "2013" use year is actually in 11 months of calendar year 2014.

Banking and borrowing points also needs to be considered in how you combine them and there are different restrictions that depend on if they have been banked or borrowed. You can only move points from one year to another once. They can't be moved back if you change your mind.

Tue, 08/27/2013 - 12:10
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Poppy44 wrote:
Does anyone have any thoughts on whether the cost to buy in via resale is likely to go down as winter approaches?

Difficult to speculate on what resale prices will be in 3-4 months, but the current trend has prices going up. Found some interesting info on MouseOwners, detailing median resale prices since May, including the median ROFR price:

http://www.mouseowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82064

Hope you are able find a contract that meets your needs!...............sad to see the number of foreclosures at AKV, BLT, and SSR.

Tue, 08/27/2013 - 16:43
Poppy44
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Skunk wrote:
Poppy44 wrote:
Does anyone have any thoughts on whether the cost to buy in via resale is likely to go down as winter approaches?

Difficult to speculate on what resale prices will be in 3-4 months, but the current trend has prices going up. Found some interesting info on MouseOwners, detailing median resale prices since May, including the median ROFR price:

http://www.mouseowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82064

Hope you are able find a contract that meets your needs!...............sad to see the number of foreclosures at AKV, BLT, and SSR.

Thanks Skunk! The data on mouseowners definitely shows the trend of increasing prices. "So what is driving the rapid increase over the last few months? Is it a seasonal thing? I'm definitely going to buy in to DVC, but there aren't many current VWL resale listings, and I'm debating whether to just follow the market on the resale sites for a couple months rather than try to jump in now. I've already booked a 2BR villa at the AKV for January by renting points through David's DVC Point Rentals, which I've used twice before.

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Wed, 08/28/2013 - 13:52
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Higher prices now, due to fewer resale contracts on the market, and Disney ROFR. Unfortunately, when the economy went south, many had to sell their DVC contracts. Buyer's market as so many resale contracts to choose from, both thru resellers and Disney. Buyers low ball with little fear of ROFR. Sellers willing to accept less, just to get out. I purchased BWV resale in 2006 @ $82/pt. Late 2012/early 2013, BWV contracts were going for around $60/pt. Going rate now is $75-$85/pt.

When Disney used ROFR to buy up many resale contracts in April/May, it forced buyers to begin offering more. I expect the higher prices will be in play for a while now, but just because they are asking $80/pt, doesn't mean you can't offer $70/pt. Also, you may determine that the size of the contract, and UY, are equally as important as price. Unfortunately, as there are fewer villas at VWL, the number of resale contracts available to choose from, will likely remain low as well. That said, the perfect resale contract could appear when you least expect it. Good luck!

Wed, 08/28/2013 - 14:56
Poppet
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Absolutely LOVE the Wilderness Lodge. Planning to take my Mom next October to this resort for our family vacation. Such a majestically beautiful resort! If we were able to purchase DVC it would be this resort!

 
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