2026 Dues Predictions and Questions

[havoc315]

I am only searching the dates I am currently searching to get a reservation I need. So when I add in SSR, BWV, OKW studio 3 nights in October to my search I get

BWV - 48 points
SSR - 48 points
OKW - 47 points

That’s just 1 room type, 1 view type. Dues are paid on all points, all views, all room types.

3 days in October 2026: 10/16-10/19
SSR: 48-54 points (51 average)
BWV: 46-58 points (52 average)
OKW: 47 points (47 average)

So on average, for the 3 day window you selected, studio guests are paying 10% higher points for SSR and BWV than for OKW.
Yes, some studio guests are paying about the same, but some studio guests are paying 20% more.

The difference is even more, for bigger units.

 

[eticketplease]

Assuming cost of points are the same and availability is not a problem (apparently the ASSUMPTIONS ARE WRONG as cost can vary between $11-15 per point and you absolutely need home resort priority at certain resorts),
if all you calculate is cost per night in terms of dues/MF (might change depending on time of the year):

• BWV resort view is absolutely the winner of weekdays unless AKV Value is considered
• SSR is the lowest for weekends (surprise) and BWV next
• OKW is not bad for certain weekdays (e.g., 10pt/night and is actually #2, not much higher than BWV)

Even though I don’t love OKW or SSR after staying at both, they are not bad financially if you play wisely.

How did resort view at AKL fare? I have always found that to be cheaper than SSR and OKW when we go (seasons 6 & 7 )

 

[havoc315]

I did do higher category rooms and you said "dues dont care about views" I also did 2 bedrooms.

Ok…

Last one— 2 BR— I’m going to narrow is to the 2 extremes. Really try to simply this:

Cheapest 2 BR:
Sticking to 1 summer week:
Poly - 202 to 292
OKW- 107

And shock.. Poly dues are much lower per point than OKW.

Now, not every single resort will line up perfectly — there are other factors. But the resort point distribution is one of the largest factors. Think we’ve proven this hypothesis, beaten it to death.
Resorts with more “expensive” rooms have lower dues per point.
Resorts with “cheaper” rooms have higher dues per point.

This isn’t debatable. It’s math.

Anyway we will see maybe tomorrow everyone will wake up and agree with you and say you are right and I am wrong, but from where I sit I just don't see it. Nothing you show me will make me believe paying OKW dues is worth it (unless one loves OKW or gets a low low up front price)

 

[eticketplease]

Sticking to 1 summer week:

Why not some examples from all 7 seasons to actually test this. We can all pick the one one that works best for our situation.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Ok…

Last one— 2 BR— I’m going to narrow is to the 2 extremes. Really try to simply this:

Cheapest 2 BR:
Sticking to 1 summer week:
Poly - 202 to 292
OKW- 107

And shock.. Poly dues are much lower per point than OKW.

Now, not every single resort will line up perfectly — there are other factors. But the resort point distribution is one of the largest factors. Think we’ve proven this hypothesis, beaten it to death.
Resorts with more “expensive” rooms have lower dues per point.
Resorts with “cheaper” rooms have higher dues per point.

This isn’t debatable. It’s math.

I don’t know or care to search for what days you chose but I bet SSR, CCV, BRV, BWV are close to that OKW points number but with much lower dues than OKW. Again.. there is no reason mathematically to pay OKW dues unless you love OKW or get a good buy in price. Period.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Why not some examples from all 7 seasons to actually test this. We can all pick the one one that works best for our situation.

I just chose 3 days next month I need that I have searched for a minimum of 50 times today. Fingers crossed it finally pops up for me!

 

[havoc315]

Why not some examples from all 7 seasons to actually test this. We can all pick the one one that works best for our situation.

Because I don’t have hours and hours. But if GF is more points than OKW in summer… it will also be more points at Christmas, also more points at Spring break, also more points in September.

 

[havoc315]

I don’t know or care to search for what days you chose but I bet SSR, CCV, BRV, BWV are close to that OKW points number but with much lower dues than OKW. Again.. there is no reason mathematically to pay OKW dues unless you love OKW or get a good buy in price. Period.

I laid out the numbers. There is no “reason” to buy DVC at all. I’m not trying to tell anyone what DVC to buy.

I’m only discussing why some resorts have higher dues.

It’s a fact that OKW that the mean points for a room at OKW is lower than the mean at the other resorts.

Saying they are “close”… only 10-20% different in point value. Well, the dues are also “close”.. only 10-20% difference as well.

Go ahead, I’ll admit I’m wrong if you can find ANY week where studios and 1 BRs are the same at SSR as studios and 1 BRs at OKW.

In other words — 1 week where the average of a standard and preferred view SSR room, is the same as a room at OKW.

Already showed that you were way off about the 3 days in October. SSR was more than 10% higher than OKW.

Again, this has nothing to do with “reason to buy.” It’s simply how dues are calculated. In some cases, a room at SSR will be the same as OKW, because SSR has multiple views — so if you get a standard room at SSR, it may be the same as OKW. But for calculation of dues, all rooms count, not just standard view. And the average for rooms at SSR is higher points than the average for rooms at OKW. Every single day of the year.

If I have time later. I’ll put the operating budgets to show maintenance cost per room.
I’m willing to bet the maintenance cost per room is very very similar beteeen OKW and SSR. But under your theory, OKW costs 20% more to maintain. Under my theory, the cost to maintain per room is very similar, but it’s allocated over fewer points.

 

[eticketplease]

Because I don’t have hours and hours. But if GF is more points than OKW in summer… it will also be more points at Christmas, also more points at Spring break, also more points in September.

If it takes you hours to look at a point chart and see that it’s higher or lower than another point chart I apologize. I thought that would be pretty easy since it shows season one is x amount of points for a studio and x amount of points for season three for a studio right on the same sheet. I will say that it’s a lot easier when they used to be called adventure season, etc., rather than having no names.

Not sure why we’re throwing out grand flo as even you didn’t mention grand flow as an example earlier. We all know grand flo will be higher than old key West. Not sure where you were going with that.

 

[airjay75]

Let me see if I can bridge the gap .

Resorts with more “expensive” rooms have lower dues per point.
Resorts with “cheaper” rooms have higher dues per point.

Again.. there is no reason mathematically to pay OKW dues unless you love OKW or get a good buy in price. Period.

I might insert "generally" or "tends to" into @havoc315's statement, but it seems to me that both of these above statements are basically true.

I think @havoc315 is making the point that if you divide a resorts total maintenance costs by the number of points at that resort, you're going to have higher dues if the number of points at that resort is less. Without doing a lot of analysis, hard to prove this statement with more certainty, but I can see how some of the examples given support that hypothesis. Basically, it's an argument that the actual costs to run each of these DVC resorts isn't that much different, it's just that the number of points at the entire resort are smaller/larger than others.

But, I also think @VGCgroupie's point is true and probably the one that matters to most of us a bit more. If we were all just picking a resort to book our preferred accommodation at the same time of year, and we only wanted to purchase the necessary points required for that reservation and assumed dues would remain constant at that resort, sure, maybe OKW will be the same or comparable to other resorts because, although the dues/point are higher, you generally need less points to book there. So, your average annual dues cost of 1 week in a 1 BR villa might be similar at OKW to the average annual dues cost of a 1 BR villa at other resorts (and, by average, I mean average across all view categories).

But, with some exceptions, most of us don't buy points planning to use them exclusively at our home resort, and that is particularly so with OKW and SSR. Sure, there are some OKW/SSR lovers out there, but I'd say most buy those resorts for the cheap up front cost planning to mostly use them elsewhere. And, if that is the case, it generally makes zero sense to buy OKW. Even if you want to stay at OKW most of the time, because home resort priority doesn't matter that much, it would be cheaper to buy the number of points needed for your OKW stay at a different resort with lower dues and then use them at OKW.

 

[atthebeachclub]

I stayed there last month and I thought it was fantastic! Full disclosure - it was my first stay ever in a deluxe resort at WDW, so maybe I'm just easy to please.

My room had issues. They weren’t that hard to fix, and they fixed them, but it should have been noticed before they assigned the room a guest.

 

[havoc315]

If it takes you hours to look at a point chart and see that it’s higher or lower than another point chart I apologize. I thought that would be pretty easy since it shows season one is x amount of points for a studio and x amount of points for season three for a studio right on the same sheet. I will say that it’s a lot easier when they used to be called adventure season, etc., rather than having no names.

Not sure why we’re throwing out grand flo as even you didn’t mention grand flow as an example earlier. We all know grand flo will be higher than old key West. Not sure where you were going with that.

The most obvious illustration. I know for a fact that the different seasons don’t change the relative point difference. It’s not like OKW is cheaper in winter but SSR is cheaper in summer.

The seasons are irrelevant.

Ultimately, it comes down to the ANNUAL operating budget, and the number of points it is spread over.

If operating expenses are $50 million and they are spread over 10 million points, the dues will be lower than if you spread the $50 million over 5 million points.

 

[havoc315]

Let me see if I can bridge the gap .




I might insert "generally" or "tends to" into @havoc315's statement, but it seems to me that both of these above statements are basically true.

I think @havoc315 is making the point that if you divide a resorts total maintenance costs by the number of points at that resort, you're going to have higher dues if the number of points at that resort is less. Without doing a lot of analysis, hard to prove this statement with more certainty, but I can see how some of the examples given support that hypothesis. Basically, it's an argument that the actual costs to run each of these DVC resorts isn't that much different, it's just that the number of points at the entire resort are smaller/larger than others.

But, I also think @VGCgroupie's point is true and probably the one that matters to most of us a bit more. If we were all just picking a resort to book our preferred accommodation at the same time of year, and we only wanted to purchase the necessary points required for that reservation and assumed dues would remain constant at that resort, sure, maybe OKW will be the same or comparable to other resorts because, although the dues/point are higher, you generally need less points to book there. So, your average annual dues cost of 1 week in a 1 BR villa might be similar at OKW to the average annual dues cost of a 1 BR villa at other resorts (and, by average, I mean average across all view categories).

But, with some exceptions, most of us don't buy points planning to use them exclusively at our home resort, and that is particularly so with OKW and SSR. Sure, there are some OKW/SSR lovers out there, but I'd say most buy those resorts for the cheap up front cost planning to mostly use them elsewhere. And, if that is the case, it generally makes zero sense to buy OKW. Even if you want to stay at OKW most of the time, because home resort priority doesn't matter that much, it would be cheaper to buy the number of points needed for your OKW stay at a different resort with lower dues and then use them at OKW.

You are 100% correct. I’m not trying to give any buying advice. If anything, the only buying advice I’m giving is that looking at the raw dues per point can be misleading. That’s it.

I’m only trying to explain WHY some resorts have higher or lower dues. Not attempting to give buying advice. From a consumer standpoint — if there was no home resort advantage, it would make sense to buy at the resort with the lowest dues, and “sleep around.”

But again, I’m not trying to give any buying advice. Only explaining the WHY behind dues.

 

[eticketplease]

. I know for a fact that the different seasons don’t change the relative point difference. It’s not like OKW is cheaper in winter but SSR is cheaper in summer.

The seasons are irrelevant.

So season seven doesn’t count for you with it being less at Saratoga then old Key West?
Good to know, Disney invested a lot of time planning out these point charts and expanding the seasons because none of them matter

 

[Sandisw]

BLT doesn't really fit this.

If you compare BLT and PVB they both have three similar view categories and are on the monorail. PVB requires a lot more points in every single category while BLT has larger units outside of deluxe studios and it's the closest walkable MK resort.

BLT and PVB dues are almost the same and BLT dues were cheaper than PVB before PVB IT brought down the price.

Isn’t about the cost to operate it though? Since both BLT and PVB are shared resorts, you have look at the cash equivalent side too n

I haven’t looked but what is the occupancy difference between CR and Poly cash?

Now that PVB has a lot more rooms, they are going to be able to spread the shared costs out more than before.

 

[Sandisw]

The most obvious illustration. I know for a fact that the different seasons don’t change the relative point difference. It’s not like OKW is cheaper in winter but SSR is cheaper in summer.

The seasons are irrelevant.

Ultimately, it comes down to the ANNUAL operating budget, and the number of points it is spread over.

If operating expenses are $50 million and they are spread over 10 million points, the dues will be lower than if you spread the $50 million over 5 million points.

Exactly! Now, a good question might be as to why operating costs at resorts that seem similar can be so different.

 

[havoc315]

So season seven doesn’t count for you with it being less at Saratoga then old Key West?
Good to know, Disney invested a lot of time planning out these point charts and expanding the seasons because none of them matter

SSR isn’t less than OKW in “season 7.”

Remember for dues, it’s the average across all room types. You can’t just use standard rooms. The average for rooms st SSR is higher than the average at OKW in EVERY season.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

My prediction is that BLT dues will actually go down because I bought another 160 point contract this year and want my dues to be cheaper .
In reality though seems like BLT dues have been alternating between a 5% increase and a 2.5%(ish) increase over the past several years. Assuming that the increase last year covered most of the cost of the refurbishment, I’m hoping for a lower 2-3% increase in 2026.

 

[Patmcpsu]

I predict Poly will have dues continue to go down. I just posted a new threat about how expensive points charts decrease the $/pt in annual fees. PIT has an expensive points chart, and as more of those rooms get declared, it will dilute the maintenance burden.

 

[DoubleBaconBLT]

To me, the takeaway on all of this is that the best strategy is to buy where the dues are low and use the points whenever possible at resorts with cheaper points charts.