What's the benefit to owning multiple home resorts?

I have booked consecutive split stays with two home resorts. At the 7 month mark, I may modify one reservation to the other resort; but I like split stays, so I may modify or waitlist one or both reservations to one or two non-home resorts.

The downside of this approach, you may not have enough points from Saratoga for the same nights at a different resort, such as the Poly. Sometimes, this situation may push me to borrow points...

I have stayed in a studio at the Poly tower. We booked a resort view within 7 months and when we got there noticed we were pixie dusted to the ninth floor! It's a beautiful resort.

We own 5 contracts, 4 of which are ones we knew we wanted to stay at during possible busy times and wanted to make sure we got the room we wanted at the 11 month booking window. We didn't want to hope for a waitlist to come through or to stalk the site for what we're looking for.
We Have:

• Boulder Ridge for Thanksgiving for the Holidays

• Polynesian for Spring Break for Theme Park Views

• Grand Californian because it's already hard enough to get into

• Animal Kingdom because we HAVE TO HAVE a Savanna view
  

Besides the 11 month booking window, I'm not sure there are any other benefits to having multiple home resorts in the same use year.

With a large family, I would personally buy more resale points at your current home resort to make it easier to do longer stays at the same resort. Split stays sound like a pain with 6 people.

I think there are two important questions:

1) As a family of 6, would you like split stays? (sounds like alot of work packing up!)

2) If booking at the 11 month window is important to you, then keep all the points at one resort.

Use that larger pool of points at 7 months as you wish. Its the simpliest approach.

Additionally, Polynesian has a longer deed!

A lot of people go the route of adding on points at different home resorts to benefit from home resort priority at those different resorts. If you're a studio family or like split stays, I think that strategy works. We're not a studio family and we don't like split stays. So, I prefer a different approach. I would continue to add points at the same resort (direct or resale) until you have a enough points for the accommodations you see your family growing into and taking account of the points charts for your most likely travel times.

I started out as a direct RIV owner, buying enough points for a 1 BR. But, I see our family eventually growing into 2 BRs. So, before I branched out to other resorts, I bought enough points for a 2 BR at RIV. I went all direct, but another strategy you could employ is a mix and direct and resale points.

Different 11 month booking windows (using those specific points) or add-on itis means you're always looking for the best deal so you might not be able to buy all into the same resort, for a price you want to pay that is :) I fall into the latter :D

There are a mulittude of other reasons but I'm sure these are probably some of the top reasons.

We often do split stays. Parks are MK heavy when we are BLT, then EPCOT heavy when at BCV. If you primarily just want to stay at your home resort, I don't see any advantage. If you want to try a bunch of resorts, probably best to buy the resort of best value for "sleeparound" points.

Thank you for all the replies! We will "always" be scheduling out a family trip each year - that was the reason we finally committed to DVC - and that 11 month window for Poly is pretty important. We currently have enough points to do a 2 bedroom for the stay we desire.

What accelerated the discussion of adding on more points now rather later (we want to get 4 contracts total so each child could have one if they wanted) was taking one of my superintendents and my electrical friend for a end of year work trip. It was both couples first time at WDW and they were blown away. One couple is currently getting a 50-pt contract at Poly so they can go every other year and the other is looking at a Saratoga Springs contract in the next year or so. BUT - with all that the electrician friends have 50 points to spend this year when the contract passed ROFR and we're now talking about going AGAIN for Jollywood Nights with them. Our main contract is spoken for on the family trip this OCT and the cost to do it without an additional contact feels like we're using money we would have spent on points for a single time trip.

That circles back to keeping Poly or getting a resale contract. The cost-per-point is more desirable at other resorts and we want to branch out and try other resorts soon. With what everyone has said, as long as we have enough for our 11-month window then a second resort allows us a benefit to have that window for another spot, flexibility for last minute trips and saving money. And, it really doesn't seem like the Bungalows or the Cabins ever sell out and I can modify the trip to capture on of those at the 7 month mark if I wanted (barring certain busy times of the year)?

Appreciate it all!

DH

Given that new information, then I think starting to look a new home resort is a great idea! As to which resort, that depends on a quite a few factors. Do you just want more points to try out other resorts? Is there a certain category of room at a certain resort where you need home resort priority? How interested are you in staying at RIV, CFW, VDH, and new resorts?

If you don't know, and all you're looking for right now is more points for more stays, I'd probably suggest resale SSR. The up front cost is cheaper and the dues are reasonable. But, you get basically no benefit from home resort priority at SSR.

BLT and CCV are two resorts where the buy in cost is a bit more, the dues are still very low, and you do get some benefit from home resort priority. But, not all rooms at all times of the year need home resort priority there either, so it's always important to know whether you need it at a particular resort. A great resource are the availability tables at www.dvcfieldguide.com. They have charts that show you just how difficult various rooms are to get at the 7 month mark and at different times of the year. It can be very useful in knowing whether you need home resort priority at a give resort or whether it might be really easy to book at 7 months using points from someplace like SSR.

Those are a few suggestions as a staring point. Hope they're helpful.

Love your signature line: "Banking is not part of my DVC Journey"

Definitely - we do want to stay at the Treehouse Villas at some point. We may look into a smaller contract than initially considered b/c we do want to make sure that we leave powder dry to see how the new Lakeshore Lodge comes in. We'll have our direct points with Poly to allow us to book there at 7 months at some point but that could be another home resort. It came down to CCV and Poly when we bought our first contract..... Poly won out b/c of location and couldn't be happier. The rooms and cabins over at Copper Creek just look awesome.

EDIT: Have been looking at Copper Creek and Boardwalk a lot. I'm trying to put the 2042 expiration to the side for the shopping but not always easy. Mind you, I'll be 62 so it's not like I wouldn't have enjoyed the years of ownership. It does have higher dues too.

https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/blog/best-economical-dvc-resorts-to-purchase-fall-2025/

You might find that analysis interesting. CCV is almost the top of the most economical resorts to own given its average resale price, low dues, and length of contract. Home resort priority matters there quite a bit, especially for times like December. It also has a great points chart - I think it is the last one in the MK area we will see like it. The one significant con that does keep some people away from CCV is that its studios and 1 BRs only sleep 4, so if you're a family of 5, you're going to need enough points for a 2 BR. But, if you look at the points charts, a 2 BR at CCV is about the same or less than many 1 BRs at Poly, GF, and BLT.

BWV, like all of the 2042s, is not the most economical choice. They do have a resort view room category that is a real bargain, but the studios in that room category are heavily walked and can be difficult to get. And, because there are no dedicated 2 BRs at BWV, that means resort view 2 BRs are also very difficult to get. Still, many people love BWV, both the resort itself and the walking distance to both Epcot and HS. I recently stayed there in a BW view 1 BR and really liked it, but not enough to overcome the economics of a 2042 resort so I can't ever see myself buying points there. But, plenty of people do and, if you do, it can be a good choice. I think points at 2042 resorts are best viewed similarly to resale RIV points - they make sense to buy if you plan to use those points at those resorts. If you want sleep around points (or SAP), they're not the best options.

Thank you - the idea of SAP is making more sense now. We do want to go to different resorts but we can do split stays to capture some of those (like Boardwalk) if we really want. If we do a non-Poly contract then that's used for extra nights or quick / less planned trips (like this new December option).

I did a quick read through and maybe I missed it, but it seems like this would be a great example for banking and borrowing. You could buy at a second resort and instead of having to do a split stay, just borrow from your home resort from the next year. You could do Poly every other year and have 2 years points, and in the in-between year you could do a new home resort, borrow ahead, and have double the points there. That would give 1 big trip every year, alternating resorts, with the ability to book each at 11 months with no split stays. Any points left over from both contract's could be combined and used for an "extra" trip(s) booked at the 7 month window, or you could bank the extra (time permitting).

It's mainly for having multiple 11 month windows. In the example you have, many owners will bank/borrow all 100 points every other year, meaning they'll have 200 points at one resort this year and 200 points at the other resort next year, all usable for the 11 month booking window. Or in the case of traveling twice a year, they might own 150 at Boardwalk for food and wine season and 150 at AKL for a spring trip. There are definitely ways to use them without always doing split stays.

Much of the important factors have already been discussed. One thing I'll add, which is a big component for my decision making, is the cost of dues over time.

If you plan on holding these contracts for a long time, then adding different resorts allows you to diversify your "dues portfolio". Almost thinking of them as they were stocks, you want to estimate how much you will pay over the course of 10, 20, 30, etc years of ownership in dues.

We own at BLT(100pts resale) and Poly(150 direct). BLT is our favorite resort, and there have been times where I wish I had unified points at the 11 month window. That being said, the Poly has not only lower dues now, its rate of increase historically is also lower. Grand Floridian also has not only lower dues, but also a lower rate of increase historically. I've broken out spreadsheets on this, because if you plan on owning for a while, often it's far better to pay a little extra now up front, and get the bigger savings on the back end. Depending on where you own, where you want to stay, etc that is a reason someone might want to buy a different resort as well.

Monkey Wrench thrown into the mix...... another Home Resort that we would definitely stay at rather than just extra points for a resort that we wouldn't stay at much. ;)

I bought at RIV, SSR, and Poly thinking that banking borrowing while leveraging the 11 month window. Well, that strategy hasn’t been deployed once. All 7 month booking or less and staying where we feel like on a whim. The best plans of mice and men….

We’re the same as we’re are local and looking at SSR SAPs for this reason alone.

My optimal situation would be to have home resorts by each of the parks so I can schedule a park-centric trip at any of them at 11 months. Riviera covers Hollywood Studios and Epcot pretty well, although not as well as Boardwalk or Beach Club. Bay Lake Tower is there at Magic Kingdom. I just need to talk myself into an Animal Kingdom Lodge add-on in a few years and I'll have them covered.

The more home resorts I own will effectively reduce the remaining number of resorts I have to consider during the next bout of add onitis

Ok.... opinions on having close use years? We have December and been wanting to make life easy by keeping it that way, BUT I've seen some February ones that are very tempting. I'm trying to find Dec UY with 2025 points since I want a second trip this year without borrowing from next year. The February 2026 are this years points so I could use them immediately and not feel like I'm borrowing.

I wouldn't get a different UY just for a particular contract. You will create two DVC memberships and the points cannot be combined for a single reservation unless you transfer points from one membership to the other and that is limited to one in OR out per membership per UY. DVC can also change the rules on transfers any time (and have changed them in the past). Multiple UYs will needlessly complicate your DVC ownership IMO. Resale contracts come along all the time - I'd wait for one and the same UY. Head over to dvcforless.com and set yourself up an alert for contracts that meet resort and UY and you'll be instantly notified when one comes on the market.

I would only get a second UY if I had a specific use for that second UY and were comfortable that those points can stand on their own and won't need to be combined with my other points.

Thank you - knowing that they cant be combined easily answers that question!

I own at Poly and VGF. I bought at Poly because VGF was already sold out. Plus we love the Poly. We also need a studio that sleeps 5 which limits us somewhat. Not a fan of the 2042 expiration either. While my family isn’t fond of split stays, I love them. We did one last year at the Riv and VGF and this year we’re doing BW and VGF for point utilization. If I buy another contract it’ll be at a different resort with the same use year.

We own 75 points at BWV and 100 pts at VGC. We bank and borrow in order to alternate between resorts. Boardwalk on even number years and Grand Cal on odds. They are different use years, but being on different coasts makes it easy to keep straight lol. If you have two (or more) favorite resorts at WDW or DLR, I definitely see the value in owning at multiple home resorts for alternating like we do or split stays as some of the previous posters do.

Being an international member who likes to take friends and family to experience WDW, I use the 11 month window at SSR to ensure I've got "somewhere" for everyone to stay, even if it is the resort of last resort. Flights are released around the 11 month mark too, so that helps with planning.

I've also got a contract at BLT, which very rarely gets used at BLT. But it's there for those special trips to celebrate big bithdays and significant milestones.

In reality I book at 11 months, then swap at 7 months to another resort, currently tending to favour Poly, Wilderness, Beach and Old Key Geoff

I own at two resorts and was not a problem when the kids were young and were in the same villa with us. If we needed extra points at one resort stay, I would borrow. Now that the kids (two out of three) own their own DVC contract at another resort (three with mine/use some of my points), it became difficult to stay at the same resort when we all want to travel together (4 bookings). We have had some luck with waitlisting.

It is nice to have multiple resorts and have enough in each to cover one complete stay. Pick and choose which one you want to stay in when your 11 month window opens up and it is necessary to book at that time. When you want a larger villa, extra villas for yourself, family or friends - you might not be together. It's all good. Just our travels plans/patterns change daily or down the road. If my sons had one of my same resort, it would have been nice/easier :)