100 points?

[karsen11]

Hi!!!
So I just started looking into DVC, and I see that the minimum # of points is 100. As of right now it is just my husband and I. In the next year or two we hope to expand our family by 1, and that will be it for us..,
So what will 100 points get us? Can we add more points way down the road if needed?
Thanks!

 

[Millionaire2K]

I think 100 points is a good start. I had 100 points for 5 years. I just added 200 more.

A few things to figure out:

1. How long are your trips?
2. How often do you go to WDW?
3. Where do you normally stay?
4. When do you normally visit?

With this info if will be easier to know if 100 points will work for you. I mean if you visit every year and always stay at GF for a week at xmas, then no way is 100 points good.

PS. Yes you can always add extra points at anytime.

 

[karsen11]

We like to visit 1 time per year usually in September or October for about 7 days and usually stay at a value or moderate resort because we are so rarely int the room

 

[Msmithmd]

If you're comfortable with value resorts, don't buy DVC.

If you don't have the cash on hand, don't buy DVC.

If you want nicer accommodations than a value, are certain you will visit Disney at least every other year for a minimum of the next two decades, and have the cash to pay in full up front, then do buy DVC.

But spend a minimum of several months to a year reading these boards before you purchase, to fully understand what you are, and what you are not, getting with a purchase.

You do add a few (very expensive point-wise) options with a direct purchase. You save half to two-thirds of the cost with resale.

Either might be the right answer for you, depending on where you want to stay. But you need to research way more, before you allocate tens of thousands of dollars to the purchase.

The host page for disboards has point charts for each resort. David's vacation rentals has a very useful calculator that allows you to compare points costs for specific trip dates and lodging sizes. Become familiar with both.

Good luck with your research and decision!

 

[Millionaire2K]

We like to visit 1 time per year usually in September or October for about 7 days and usually stay at a value or moderate resort because we are so rarely int the room

Ok so here is what you can do for a straight up 100 points. I'm not gonna start a debate as to weather you should buy. I will leave that to you. However I did not buy DVC until I was able to pay cash for the points. I did not want to finance the contract. I also went resale with my 2nd purchase and saved $10,000!

6N/7D in Sept you can do:

6N/7D Nights in Oct you can do:

Remember you can also mess around with points. You're not stuck wit 100 to use. With different banking and trip strategy's you can have much better stays.

Example for 120 point stays:

1st year bank 100 points
2nd year use 120 points and bank 80 points
3rd year use 120 points and bank 60 points
4th year use 125 points and bank 40 points
5th year use 120 points and bank 20 points
6th year use 120 points
7th year bank 100 points
repeat.

Or:

1st year use 120 points by borrowing 20 from 2nd year
2nd year use 120 points by borrowing 40 from 3rd year
3rd year use 120 points by borrowing 60 from 4th year
4th year use 120 points by borrowing 80 from 5th year
5th year use 120 points by borrowing 100 from 6th year
6th year no trip
repeat

 

[karsen11]

We are no longer happy staying at value resorts, and we have decided that we want to do at least once a year ( we have been twice this year, oct and June)... We know that we have a ton more research to do, just kinda getting a feel for things!!!
Next question are your park tickets included? We normally do water park hoper and more.

 

[Msmithmd]

We are no longer happy staying at value resorts, and we have decided that we want to do at least once a year ( we have been twice this year, oct and June)... We know that we have a ton more research to do, just kinda getting a feel for things!!! Next question are your park tickets included? We normally do water park hoper and more.

Nope. DVC does have discounts on annual passes. Those can be improved or discontinued at any time. Do not make a purchase dependent on the discounts because they are not a part of ownership (ie not guaranteed in any way.) There is no discount on single visit tickets.

 

[chalee94]

Next question are your park tickets included? We normally do water park hoper and more.

DVC covers accommodations only. tickets, food and other travel costs are definitely something to keep in mind in deciding whether you can really afford DVC.

 

[karsen11]

Are you entitled to free dining?

 

[pachelbel9]

Are you entitled to free dining?

No

 

[Msmithmd]

There is no such thing as free dining. It is simply a promotion whereby Disney charges full rack rate for cash rooms, in seasons where they otherwise couldn't fill them even with rate discounts. In exchange, they tell you that you are getting a certain value in food, by doubling to tripling the price tags on that food, and suggesting you do the math that makes you believe this is a good deal.

Not that "free" dining doesn't potentially save a couple dollars for people who would pay these prices for multiple meals and snacks every day, plus pay the extreme hotel rates daily anyway. I'm just saying that you have to follow a lot of imaginary math to get to the point where you believe "free" dining is anything resembling free.

The point is that DVC is a real discount, long term, on your lodging. There is zero business case for Disney to also offer you "free" food, when they have already sold you a true long-term discount on the lodging.

 

[DisK]

FWIW, The minimum is now 50 points.

 

[a742246]

Did you look into buying resale? The price is about 40-50% less!

 

[lovin'fl]

I recommend resales too and you can buy as few as 25 points via resale. If you do buy through Disney direct, you can get any resort (they try to sell you on Aulani and VGF, but you can get any of the resorts though may have to go on waiting list for points to become available). You can, and likely will as it's addicting, add on but you cannot break up a contract to re-sell (so don't buy a 300 pointer thinking you could sell off 100 points if you find it's too many...I always suggest buying multiple smaller contracts so that you can downsize if needed and smaller contracts re-sell easier too). Buying a resale will save you a ton of $$$...maybe half (we bought 100 AKV points for $66pp when it was selling direct for $135 or something like that). It takes 60-75 days to buy a resale (has to go through ROFR where Disney has the right to buy it themselves for what you offered). The sponsor of these boards is a DVC re-seller...there should be a link at top of page to see the contracts they have for sale.

If you want VGF, then go through Disney direct. If you need to finance or wish to use a credit card, it's easiest to go through Disney direct. If you want less than 100 points, it may be best to go direct for those too as the smaller contracts get snapped up so quickly on the resale market and go for higher prices (so the savings isn't as great). If you want points quick...resale isn't quick but some direct points can't be had quick either (like BCV). Good luck in your hunt for a DVC contract!!

ETA: none of my response above is answering the question you asked. Sorry. But 100 points is a good place to start for a couple. We added on 80 BWV points direct this year for DH and I to go for F&W. We can get a studio for F&W for a week in standard view and almost a week in preferred view (we bought BWV over BCV so that we can save points with standard view).

 

[lovin'fl]

Oh, and also, what we do is get the discounted AP (PAP really as twice now they offered the PAP for a GREAT deal) and we get the TIW card for dining discounts. But we do several trips with our PAPs and we are a family of 5...so we save a lot on dining with the TIW card...for you, a couple going just once a year, you may be best just getting the DVC dining discounts (right now certain places offer DVC discounts). You could still get the AP or PAP and do your week next year a weeks sooner than this year (so that both weeks fall under the AP timeframe, and then the TIW card might also work out well)...then don't renew the AP but wait for your next trip to buy again and do the 2 trips a week less than a year apart...I hope that makes sense.

Here is dining discount chart:
http://allears.net/pl/disc_dining.pdf

 

[bakerworld]

We started out with 160 points, went twice and talked our son into using the 'extra' - the next year our daughter took up the slack. Then we added another 100 points because we wanted a different venue. Then we added another 55 points to get another venue.

We bought the first contract thinking we could trade into other venues - which is VERY doable from mid-Jan to September.

Resale is probably the way to go to save the most $$ and can be financed if that's your preference (it was for us) but really think about where you want to stay in October and buy in that area. The resale market is frustrating enough - especially when looking for 100 or lower points.

 

[Splashboat]

7 Nights in Sept you can do:

7 Nights in Oct you can do:

Am I missing something? I thought the points looked low for 7 nights so I looked at AKV and BWV (2014 and 2015) and can't find points as low as you have them on your chart. Did you mean 6 nights?

 

[karsen11]

Thank you all so much, this is a big help!!! I'm sure I'll be back with many more questions though!

 

[RipperSB]

Am I missing something? I thought the points looked low for 7 nights so I looked at AKV and BWV (2014 and 2015) and can't find points as low as you have them on your chart. Did you mean 6 nights?

I agree, those numbers are for a six night stay starting on a Sunday.

 

[Millionaire2K]

I agree, those numbers are for a six night stay starting on a Sunday.

Woops yes. I meant 6N/7D.