Number of points and add-onitis

[mustinjourney]

To be clear -- I'm not asking "how many points should I buy." What I'm trying to get is a sense of is what is the norm.

What I'd like to know is:

How many points did you buy in your first contract?

How many points do you have now?

Assuming you have added more points, how long before you bought your second contract?

How many contracts do you currently have?

Did you add on at the same or different resort?

***edit -- what do you know now that you wish you knew when you first bought (other than prices seem to keep going up). And how often do you have to rent out unused points?

I'm still waiting for my first contract to clear estoppel and closing -- but I can feel myself already wanting to buy more. I almost pulled the trigger on another contract just yesterday, but I kept telling myself it would be prudent to hold off a few months to at least see how the whole thing works.

 

[intertile]

To be clear -- I'm not asking "how many points should I buy." What I'm trying to get is a sense of is what is the norm.

What I'd like to know is:

How many points did you buy in your first contract?

How many points do you have now?

Assuming you have added more points, how long before you bought your second contract?

How many contracts do you currently have?

Did you add on at the same or different resort?

I'm still waiting for my first contract to clear estoppel and closing -- but I can feel myself already wanting to buy more. I almost pulled the trigger on another contract just yesterday, but I kept telling myself it would be prudent to hold off a few months to at least see how the whole thing works.

First contact was 220 points at SSR direct. We didn't know about resale at the time. We purchased enough points to get a 2 bedroom for 5 nights every year at thanksgiving. Also allowed us to step up to a grand villa by banking and borrowing if we ever decided to do a large trip.
First add-on was 2-50 pt contacts at vgf when the resort opened. Second add-on was another 50 pt contact at vgf via resale. Looking for at least 1 more 50 pt contact at vgf.

For us...we liked Ssr, but loved VGF. We actually use the ssr points to rent out almost always now. We prefer VGF, which is why I keep adding on, so we can book a 1 bedroom every year at Thanksgiving.

To answer your question, have you stayed at the different resorts? Is the contract you are buying at your preferred resort, or do you not know where that is yet?
I would suggest you wait and try it out first...over the next six months, you'll start to see how many points you need a year to vacation at wdw the way you want. Then you can decide if you want more than 1 home resort.

I am personally hoping for a new studios/epcot area resort. Either completely new or possibly YC (improbable). That is the only way I see myself adding on at another home resort.

 

[mustinjourney]

First contact was 220 points at SSR direct. We didn't know about resale at the time. We purchased enough points to get a 2 bedroom for 5 nights every year at thanksgiving. Also allowed us to step up to a grand villa by banking and borrowing if we ever decided to do a large trip.
First add-on was 2-50 pt contacts at vgf when the resort opened. Second add-on was another 50 pt contact at vgf via resale. Looking for at least 1 more 50 pt contact at vgf.

For us...we liked Ssr, but loved VGF. We actually use the ssr points to rent out almost always now. We prefer VGF, which is why I keep adding on, so we can book a 1 bedroom every year at Thanksgiving.

To answer your question, have you stayed at the different resorts? Is the contract you are buying at your preferred resort, or do you not know where that is yet?
I would suggest you wait and try it out first...over the next six months, you'll start to see how many points you need a year to vacation at wdw the way you want. Then you can decide if you want more than 1 home resort.

I am personally hoping for a new studios/epcot area resort. Either completely new or possibly YC (improbable). That is the only way I see myself adding on at another home resort.

We've only stayed at Riverside Port orleans and VGF (did a split stay in Feb 2016 on a cash reservation). Spent a small fortune for 4 days at club level GF (>$600 a night), and quickly realized DVC would provide some real savings.

Am under contract right now for 150 points at VGF with a Dec UY. Right now, planning on doing a late Nov. 2017 trip and Dec. 2018 trip with 2 BR at VGF with each set of grandparents. The contract also has 46 points that we have to use prior to Dec 2016, so DW and I are going to try and book something during F&W to see what that's all about. No idea where we'll stay, but I'm guessing since it'll be within 4 months booking, our options will be limited.

If that goes well, I can easily foresee an add on. I honestly wouldn't mind getting another 150 points at VGF and then maybe 100 or so at BCV. 300 points at VGF is a good amount to rent the 2bd villas for 6-7 days depending on time of year, which is why I wouldn't mind getting a second contract. Assuming F&W is everything it's cracked up to be, the 100 points at BCV would be nice for an adults only trip. Have the cash on hand -- so money is not an issue as far as financing. In fact, buying into DVC would probably help me out since my day trading has proved quite ineffective the last 4 years.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

We ended up with zero points, but had quite a ride getting there!!!

At one point we had (can't remember exactly) about 2000 points with 21 contracts, all direct from Disney. It too several years to amass this....

600 VWL
350 VB
500 AKV
450 VGC

Something like that.... It truly became an addiction. We always bought where we wanted to stay, so I can't imagine what things would be like now with the Poly.

Due to many noticeable Disney cutbacks, plus an impending job loss, we sold all our contracts in short order. We did reasonably well. The Timeshare Store did a TREMENDOUS job for us.

MG

 

[mustinjourney]

We ended up with zero points, but had quite a ride getting there!!!

At one point we had (can't remember exactly) about 2000 points with 21 contracts, all direct from Disney. It too several years to amass this....

600 VWL
350 VB
500 AKV
450 VGC

Something like that.... It truly became an addiction. We always bought where we wanted to stay, so I can't imagine what things would be like now with the Poly.

Due to many noticeable Disney cutbacks, plus an impending job loss, we sold all our contracts in short order. We did reasonably well. The Timeshare Store did a TREMENDOUS job for us.

MG

Wow...you know you're addicted when...

 

[CarolynFH]

At the time we bought, DS was 13 & DD was 9. They couldn't share a bed, so we needed a 2 BR. We were routinely coming for Thanksgiving week. OKW & BWV were the only onsite DVC resorts, and we had stayed at BWV and loved it. So we bought enough points (300) to stay at BWV for Thanksgiving week. No add-ons yet, but now we're retired and can visit more often, it's been tempting!

 

[com_op_2000]

What I'd like to know is:
How many points did you buy in your first contract? 200
How many points do you have now? 346
Assuming you have added more points, how long before you bought your second contract? 6 years and then 13 years
How many contracts do you currently have? 3
Did you add on at the same or different resort? same but the last contract was a different UY cause our traveling pattern was changing.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first bought (other than prices seem to keep going up).
We have used our points the same as when we stayed onsite in the hotels. We do not do near the number of days in the parks as we use too. We have found and IMHO you will eventually find things outside the parks that we/you will like better. Some of those things, depending on what you are into, and how your family evolves and vacation pattern changes over time:
sports: golf, mini-golf, fishing, marathon, bowling, ESPN Club, WWS/ESPN Zone, etc
shopping: DTD, area outlet malls, large scale malls
drinking: Jellyrolls, Raglan Road, monorail tour of resorts, walking tour of resorts in the Boardwalk area
movies: DTD 24 screen theater some with meals served by waiters
night clubbing: Jellyrolls, Atlantic Dance, Raglan Road, Citywalk
resort tours: monorail tour of resorts, Boardwalk around the lake tour of resorts, horse drawn tour of FWC, AKL/AKV
offsite: Gaylord Palms Resort, Citywalk, swamp tour
eating: Formal GF 5* Chef's Table @ V&As
How often do you have to rent out unused points? Never have/Never will, we have family and friends that we would treat/gift stays rather than rent out our points. Plus we do not like the idea of renting and the possible problems that can be encountered.

 

[ktmo]

We have only just started. We just got 150 BCV points with a June use year. Bought in December. We just returned from our first DVC stay at BWV in a 1 bedroom. We have two more trips this year planned.

I am thinking we need more points. I think a two bedroom would be lovely for us. So, I want to work on getting enough points for that. I think our next contract will be at a newer resort - BLT or VGF. We are staying at BLT this summer. If I like it that is probably where I will add on. I am thinking of buying few smaller contracts over time.

 

[bwvBound]

How many points did you buy in your first contract?
150 SSR, 2004 -- but we knew, even then, that our needs would be 200 points for "BWV, 7 nights, 1BR, every January" for a work-related conference. We started with the 150, banked the first year (as we already had our 2005 reservation booked via exchange) and knew we had a couple years to 'catch up' as we burned off those banked points.

How many points do you have now?
335, all SSR

Assuming you have added more points, how long before you bought your second contract?
Our second was a 25 point cash add-on about 10-months (?) after the original purchase. Again, we knew our original purchase was below our need -- and bought the add-on when some cash became available.

How many contracts do you currently have?
Three:

• 150 points, initial purchase in 2004
• 25 point add-on sometime early 2005
• 160 point add-on in 2007

That 160 point add-on was a complete surprise. We were at Disneyland and visited the sales center for a tour of the Grand Cal model. The 'guide' there was good -- really good. She threw out an array of incentives (a pair of APs for either DL or WDW; a matching set of Developer points; etc) and then made her strike: "Oh, I see this is the last day of your current UY. You know, if you buy today you get triple* points ..." Oh, my -- yes the triple points combined with the AP vouchers did us in! This put us well over our original plan and we started taking non-conference "bonus" trips!

*Triple Points: We received 160 points from the current 2006 UY plus 160 Developer Points plus 160 points the following day (10/1) as we entered our 2007 UY.

Did you add on at the same or different resort?
All same resort; all same UY
We thought about adding on at the Grand Californian when it was announced -- but figured, as locals, that we'd never use the 11-month booking window. We probably should have added a small contract there as the dues have remained more stable than I expected.

***edit -- what do you know now that you wish you knew when you first bought (other than prices seem to keep going up).
I wish I had a crystal ball to see the future:

• How BIG was SSR gonna end up?? Wow ... 4 phases, huh? Seems the 3rd phase pushed SSR into the "overly large; too many units/owners" category. The 4th phase was a gift -- the Treehouse Units which I love.
• California -- when? If the Grand Cal had been available in 2004, we would have bought there instead, of course!

FWIW, it took us 6 years from first look (1998) to first purchase (2004). In between we went from "no timeshares" to DVC as our 4th timeshare. No regrets on those other timeshares -- we do quite well vacationing. As for the DVC purchase, the most important lessons learned here and employed in our purchase:

• Multiple small contracts provide greater flexibility than a single large contract. This allows one to adjust ownership over time if needed.
• UY matters! At least it does to me ... and I resent it. Our other points-based timeshare is so much easier, more flexible and more generous! It was hard to overcome this -- but I've accepted that, to me, DVC is a 2nd-rate timeshare product.

On buying DVC, we knew we wanted BWV/DEC-UY. When multiple resale attempts fell through, we went back to the DVC sales center and handed over our credit card to be added to the waitlist for BWV/DEC-UY. How we ended up with SSR/OCT-UY is a story of deception -- but we are OK with it. We don't feel bonded to our "home resort" -- but then again, we didn't bother visiting SSR until the Treehouses were added many years into our ownership. We had no trouble using our DVC points as intended: booking BWV each January until our conference ended in 2015. We consider our DVC points to be 'network' points and use them for visits to: Vero, Animal Kingdom Villas (multiple trips including Club level), OKW, Wilderness Lodge, Grand Cal (many, many trips -- including two this year), Aulani, etc. We were thrilled to complete a 'bucket list' trip to The Manhattan Club for Thanksgiving a couple years back when that property was offered via DVC's Concierge Collection. Going forward, I think most of our points will be used between Grand Cal and Aulani.

And how often do you have to rent out unused points?
In 12 years of ownership I've "rented out" 1 reservation to family for a solo-trip (w/out us). Other than that, we've been blessed to invite family to join us every few years in larger units w/out any expectation of payment.

 

[jekjones1558]

To be clear -- I'm not asking "how many points should I buy." What I'm trying to get is a sense of is what is the norm.

What I'd like to know is:

How many points did you buy in your first contract?

We bought 220 points at BWV in 1999. We had no idea how many points to buy so we did as our guide suggested. At that time there were only 2 resorts to buy---OKW and BWV. We didn't even know about OKW. We had just stumbled upon the BWV preview rooms while visiting the Boardwalk and we signed on the spot. We also had no idea there was a resale market. We were clueless about use year, just took what was offered.

How many points do you have now?
We now have 1150 points.

Assuming you have added more points, how long before you bought your second contract?
We bought our first add-on of 100 more BWV points about 1½ years later, direct from Disney again.

How many contracts do you currently have?
We now have 7 contracts, all October use year.

Did you add on at the same or different resort?
5 of our add-ons are at BWV. One contract is 230 points at OKW. We bought that OKW one resale and planned to use it for booking the bargain GVs at 11 months. But we have only done a GV at OKW once. Family prefers BWV.

***edit -- what do you know now that you wish you knew when you first bought (other than prices seem to keep going up). And how often do you have to rent out unused points?
We were ignorant when we bought and yet everything has turned out just great. No regrets. We rented out points a couple of times when I was still tied to a teaching calendar and DH was having health issues. We actually still get point transfers into our account sometimes when we need them for big family trips! We don't anticipate ever having to rent out points again. Family members have now been on trips so often with us that they feel perfectly confident using our points while we aren't there.

I'm still waiting for my first contract to clear estoppel and closing -- but I can feel myself already wanting to buy more. I almost pulled the trigger on another contract just yesterday, but I kept telling myself it would be prudent to hold off a few months to at least see how the whole thing works.

 

[TCRAIG]

How many points did you buy in your first contract?
150 SSR, 2004 -- but we knew, even then, that our needs would be 200 points for "BWV, 7 nights, 1BR, every January" for a work-related conference. We started with the 150, banked the first year (as we already had our 2005 reservation booked via exchange) and knew we had a couple years to 'catch up' as we burned off those banked points.

How many points do you have now?
335, all SSR

Assuming you have added more points, how long before you bought your second contract?
Our second was a 25 point cash add-on about 10-months (?) after the original purchase. Again, we knew our original purchase was below our need -- and bought the add-on when some cash became available.

How many contracts do you currently have?
Three:

• 150 points, initial purchase in 2004
• 25 point add-on sometime early 2005
• 160 point add-on in 2007

That 160 point add-on was a complete surprise. We were at Disneyland and visited the sales center for a tour of the Grand Cal model. The 'guide' there was good -- really good. She threw out an array of incentives (a pair of APs for either DL or WDW; a matching set of Developer points; etc) and then made her strike: "Oh, I see this is the last day of your current UY. You know, if you buy today you get triple* points ..." Oh, my -- yes the triple points combined with the AP vouchers did us in! This put us well over our original plan and we started taking non-conference "bonus" trips!

*Triple Points: We received 160 points from the current 2006 UY plus 160 Developer Points plus 160 points the following day (10/1) as we entered our 2007 UY.

Did you add on at the same or different resort?
All same resort; all same UY
We thought about adding on at the Grand Californian when it was announced -- but figured, as locals, that we'd never use the 11-month booking window. We probably should have added a small contract there as the dues have remained more stable than I expected.

***edit -- what do you know now that you wish you knew when you first bought (other than prices seem to keep going up).
I wish I had a crystal ball to see the future:

• How BIG was SSR gonna end up?? Wow ... 4 phases, huh? Seems the 3rd phase pushed SSR into the "overly large; too many units/owners" category. The 4th phase was a gift -- the Treehouse Units which I love.
• California -- when? If the Grand Cal had been available in 2004, we would have bought there instead, of course!

FWIW, it took us 6 years from first look (1998) to first purchase (2004). In between we went from "no timeshares" to DVC as our 4th timeshare. No regrets on those other timeshares -- we do quite well vacationing. As for the DVC purchase, the most important lessons learned here and employed in our purchase:

• Multiple small contracts provide greater flexibility than a single large contract. This allows one to adjust ownership over time if needed.
• UY matters! At least it does to me ... and I resent it. Our other points-based timeshare is so much easier, more flexible and more generous! It was hard to overcome this -- but I've accepted that, to me, DVC is a 2nd-rate timeshare product.

On buying DVC, we knew we wanted BWV/DEC-UY. When multiple resale attempts fell through, we went back to the DVC sales center and handed over our credit card to be added to the waitlist for BWV/DEC-UY. How we ended up with SSR/OCT-UY is a story of deception -- but we are OK with it. We don't feel bonded to our "home resort" -- but then again, we didn't bother visiting SSR until the Treehouses were added many years into our ownership. We had no trouble using our DVC points as intended: booking BWV each January until our conference ended in 2015. We consider our DVC points to be 'network' points and use them for visits to: Vero, Animal Kingdom Villas (multiple trips including Club level), OKW, Wilderness Lodge, Grand Cal (many, many trips -- including two this year), Aulani, etc. We were thrilled to complete a 'bucket list' trip to The Manhattan Club for Thanksgiving a couple years back when that property was offered via DVC's Concierge Collection. Going forward, I think most of our points will be used between Grand Cal and Aulani.

And how often do you have to rent out unused points?
In 12 years of ownership I've "rented out" 1 reservation to family for a solo-trip (w/out us). Other than that, we've been blessed to invite family to join us every few years in larger units w/out any expectation of payment.

 

[TCRAIG]

What I'd like to know is:

How many points did you buy in your first contract?
160 SS June UY - resale (thanks TSS) - 2010 - Wanted OKW but figured I'd buy SS because of the longer contract - and use at OKW

How many points do you have now?
Total of 873 - and it's just the hubby and myself - we got 3 times a year and always get a 1 BR
then every other year - my daughter and I go for F&W and MNSSHP - we get a 2 BR for that...

Assuming you have added more points, how long before you bought your second contract?
Figured June was not a good UY for May trips - so bought 3 small (85, 50, 70) OKW (thanks again TSS) with an Oct UY in 2011 and 2014 - have used those 205 OKW to stay at OKW, SS, AK, BC, BWV and VGF....
Then our daughter used our SS points to stay at HHI - again in May - and loved it - so bought 150 resale for HHI - Dec UY - 2012 ish
Then in 2013 she and I went to Disney for Food and Wine - loved staying at BC (109 points June UY) - so bought direct in 2015 after being on the WL for 2 years - by the time those points were available - BC was already books for 2015 - so we split between BLT and BC - and guess what - she loved BLT - so I've been on the Lookout for small BLT contract - while I was looking - I saw a PREFECT small resale (thanks again TSS) for WLV - 87 points - Oct UY - so I bought them so we could stay at WLV in Dec EOY in March of this year (2016).
Then - still on the hunt for BLT - I called my DVC Rep and she was able to get a few (59) BLT points with a June UY - bought those just last week
and then I told her my dream was to own at VGF - needed 103 points to stay in May - with Oct or Dec UY - She had April so I grabbed them - last week
Still would love to have another 2 BLT contracts - June UY - 1 for 100 points and 1 for 81 points or there about...but that'll have to wait til next year!!

How many contracts do you currently have?
9 Contracts 4 Use Year - only way I can keep straight is that I know the June UY points are for Sept and Dec trips, Oct UY is for Dec and May, Dec UY is strictly for HH in May and April is for every 3 years in May...

Did you add on at the same or different resort? SS/OKW/HH/BC/WLV/BLT/VGF

***edit -- what do you know now that you wish you knew when you first bought (other than prices seem to keep going up)
June is NOT a good UY for May
And how often do you have to rent out unused points?
I rented points for the first time in 2015 - OKW and BC - daughter getting married - needed the $$ and time - I may start renting my SS points going forward - once I find another 100 BLT points for June....

 

[mustinjourney]

What I'd like to know is:

How many points did you buy in your first contract?
160 SS June UY - resale (thanks TSS) - 2010 - Wanted OKW but figured I'd buy SS because of the longer contract - and use at OKW

How many points do you have now?
Total of 873 - and it's just the hubby and myself - we got 3 times a year and always get a 1 BR
then every other year - my daughter and I go for F&W and MNSSHP - we get a 2 BR for that...

Assuming you have added more points, how long before you bought your second contract?
Figured June was not a good UY for May trips - so bought 3 small (85, 50, 70) OKW (thanks again TSS) with an Oct UY in 2011 and 2014 - have used those 205 OKW to stay at OKW, SS, AK, BC, BWV and VGF....
Then our daughter used our SS points to stay at HHI - again in May - and loved it - so bought 150 resale for HHI - Dec UY - 2012 ish
Then in 2013 she and I went to Disney for Food and Wine - loved staying at BC (109 points June UY) - so bought direct in 2015 after being on the WL for 2 years - by the time those points were available - BC was already books for 2015 - so we split between BLT and BC - and guess what - she loved BLT - so I've been on the Lookout for small BLT contract - while I was looking - I saw a PREFECT small resale (thanks again TSS) for WLV - 87 points - Oct UY - so I bought them so we could stay at WLV in Dec EOY in March of this year (2016).
Then - still on the hunt for BLT - I called my DVC Rep and she was able to get a few (59) BLT points with a June UY - bought those just last week
and then I told her my dream was to own at VGF - needed 103 points to stay in May - with Oct or Dec UY - She had April so I grabbed them - last week
Still would love to have another 2 BLT contracts - June UY - 1 for 100 points and 1 for 81 points or there about...but that'll have to wait til next year!!

How many contracts do you currently have?
9 Contracts 4 Use Year - only way I can keep straight is that I know the June UY points are for Sept and Dec trips, Oct UY is for Dec and May, Dec UY is strictly for HH in May and April is for every 3 years in May...

Did you add on at the same or different resort? SS/OKW/HH/BC/WLV/BLT/VGF

***edit -- what do you know now that you wish you knew when you first bought (other than prices seem to keep going up)
June is NOT a good UY for May
And how often do you have to rent out unused points?
I rented points for the first time in 2015 - OKW and BC - daughter getting married - needed the $$ and time - I may start renting my SS points going forward - once I find another 100 BLT points for June....

holy cow. my head is spinning trying to figure this situation out.

 

[Dean]

To be clear -- I'm not asking "how many points should I buy." What I'm trying to get is a sense of is what is the norm.

What I'd like to know is:

How many points did you buy in your first contract?

How many points do you have now?

Assuming you have added more points, how long before you bought your second contract?

How many contracts do you currently have?

Did you add on at the same or different resort?

***edit -- what do you know now that you wish you knew when you first bought (other than prices seem to keep going up). And how often do you have to rent out unused points?

I'm still waiting for my first contract to clear estoppel and closing -- but I can feel myself already wanting to buy more. I almost pulled the trigger on another contract just yesterday, but I kept telling myself it would be prudent to hold off a few months to at least see how the whole thing works.

It's all over the place for a number of reasons including that we all have different plans, priorities, families and needs. Take your track record, family and projected needs to get some idea of how many points you need. For someone starting out I'd generally recommend they underbuy as long as it's at least 150 points and overbuy if they determine they need less than that. Also, for those looking at smaller units and/or lower seasons, it's generally best to build in a cushion of at least 10% and sometimes 20%. While buying multiple contracts just to get smaller contracts doesn't make sense until you get up to in excess of 300-350 points, if one finds themselves in that situation or has a true need for multiple home resorts, that can be the best approach. Generally it's best to have the same UY. Unless one has a specific plan and need, I'd definitely try for the same UY with very limited exceptions.

 

[mustinjourney]

It's all over the place for a number of reasons including that we all have different plans, priorities, families and needs. Take your track record, family and projected needs to get some idea of how many points you need. For someone starting out I'd generally recommend they underbuy as long as it's at least 150 points and overbuy if they determine they need less than that. Also, for those looking at smaller units and/or lower seasons, it's generally best to build in a cushion of at least 10% and sometimes 20%. While buying multiple contracts just to get smaller contracts doesn't make sense until you get up to in excess of 300-350 points, if one finds themselves in that situation or has a true need for multiple home resorts, that can be the best approach. Generally it's best to have the same UY. Unless one has a specific plan and need, I'd definitely try for the same UY with very limited exceptions.

is transferring between two different UY that much of a pain in the ***?

I'm actually considering getting two different UY b/c we like to vacation in Feb/Mar and Nov/Dec. The current UY is Dec, so that makes the Nov/Dec trips a little difficult, so I was thinking of adding an Aug/or April UY. That way the Apr/Aug points can be used for the late year trips and the Dec UY can be used for the Feb/Mar trips.

 

[Dean]

is transferring between two different UY that much of a pain in the ***?

I'm actually considering getting two different UY b/c we like to vacation in Feb/Mar and Nov/Dec. The current UY is Dec, so that makes the Nov/Dec trips a little difficult, so I was thinking of adding an Aug/or April UY. That way the Apr/Aug points can be used for the late year trips and the Dec UY can be used for the Feb/Mar trips.

It depends but for many, yes it is a pain. The transferred points don't currently show up online if different UY is my understanding so you'd have to call and miss the 8 am online option. Plus it doesn't help the stated issue since transferred points retain their UY. But for some having two UY for specific trips can be worth it. Personally I'd only do different UY if it provided a significant benefit in terms of targeted trips and/or if the additional wait lists offered a true advantage (not just theoretical). I doubt it does based on the info you provided. Even then they need to be stand alone size minimum of say 150 or more each. For your current situation it might be worth it, it depends on other factors including how often you'll likely stay in Nov rather than just Dec. One consideration is whether to just sell and rebuy a different UY, esp if you need more points anyway. There are lots of variables here both technical and personal. To give an informed opinion we'd need to know how many points you have, how many your looking to add, your home resort, your planned new home resort, what % of the time you're likely to be booking late in your current UY, and the chances of future changes/cancelations for trips that are late in your current UY. Dec is ideal for Dec and Feb/March trips and the UY's you mentioned would not be especially good for when you state you'll travel. The ideal UY for that situation is Oct as a single one or for an added one to cover Nov.

 

[BlazerFan]

is transferring between two different UY that much of a pain in the ***?

I'm actually considering getting two different UY b/c we like to vacation in Feb/Mar and Nov/Dec. The current UY is Dec, so that makes the Nov/Dec trips a little difficult, so I was thinking of adding an Aug/or April UY. That way the Apr/Aug points can be used for the late year trips and the Dec UY can be used for the Feb/Mar trips.

Our use year is June which was perfect in the beginning. I do a lot of the runDisney races. Then they moved Tinkerbell to May, that's a horrible time for a June use year. All of our June points are direct but I found an October resale that was just over what we need for Tinkberbell weekend. Those points will mostly for that weekend and if we have extras banked we can use them for other short stays so at this point I don't think we will have to worry about transferring.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We started with 160 points AKV resale contract fully loaded. We had a complete blast burning through those points. At the time I was traveling a lot for work, and always had enough frequent flier miles to fly the whole family down 2-3 times a year for free. About a year later we purchased 2, 150 pt SSR contracts with a different use year. Our intent with these points was to use half and rent out the other half. Well it's been four years now and we've yet to rent out a single point. We have a total of 460 points. I've also switched jobs, no longer travel and earn miles, and have to travel during school breaks. Our situation has changed significantly, but so far we have still been able to use our points.

If I could do it all again I would definitely have my points have all the same use year. I get confused all the time as to which points I have available, and transferring gets complicated too because depending on the time of year one contract might not have received its points yet. And you can't transfer borrowed points or can't borrow transferred points. Or something. Ugh. It's just a mess.

 

[Debbie Jean]

Bought 150 SSR Dec use year points (perfect for Christmas trips) direct in 2005. Didn't really know about resale but loved the Disney Springs location.

Bought 150 BWV Sept. use year points (perfect for F&W) resale in 2010.

Small family so 300 total points is usually sufficient... but when I've needed extra, I have been lucky enough to find some wonderful fellow members to purchase transfer points from

My biggest dilemma at the moment is that against all my preconceived notions, I have fallen in love with the Poly Villas! Who knew? This may require changes further on down the line, I'm thinking. LOL

 

[r5moores]

We purchased SSR resale in 2014- 200 pts contract fully loaded with 2013 pts, 2014 pts and 2015 pts coming. Seller paid all closing and MF's. We are closing this Wednesday on our second contract, 210 pts OKW fully loaded with all 2015 and 2016 pts with 2017 to come with seller again paying all closing and MF's. So, for us we have 410 pts total and purchased all within 2 years. Hopefully this should hold us for at least another two years