A hypothetical situation

[melissa70]

The dues eat you alive with no real home resort advantage for 1 bedrooms.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, look at the thread that shows the most economical to own OVER TIME.

But what if Disney makes more restrictions if hou bought resale you can only stay at home resort? Is that possible? If so , AKL is a place I could visit every year

 

[Sandisw]

But what if Disney makes more restrictions if hou bought resale you can only stay at home resort? Is that possible? If so , AKL is a place I could visit every year

This can happen but only under certain circumstances that are spelled out in the contracts.

But, that situation would apply to all points at the resort and not just resale because that resort would no longer be part of BVTC.

But, they could certainly decide to increase a home resort period for popular resorts which means you can’t trade into them as a non owner as soon…

Sounds to me like you feel AKV meets your needs and I certainly wouldn’t buy something else just because on paper it might be a slightly better financial deal.

 

[Wedgeout]

Initial purchase is a known dollar amount. Most likely already in some slush fund. The dues are the unknown factor. At first, you must know you can budget yearly, at least $10 per point. Soon it will be a budget of $15 a point yearly. (If it comes in less per year..great.. but you must expect the unexpected and have a cost of living budget to handle it, already prepared.

You are a unique member, only wanting one bedrooms every time. Therefore, get those resale points locked in. Whatever the amount….160, 200, 250, 300, or 1000 points! Make the decision that works best for you. Pick the resort that works best for you.

Stay away from direct at first. I feel you know this and understand it’s not the correct path for you here. Perhaps direct will become right for you in the future, but today it’s not.

 

[PolyRob]

@melissa70 I would personally step back for a minute and consider what you're truly looking to buy.

You rescinded BRV. You then stated you wanted a small SAP contract, most likely SSR since it's the cheapest so you could try every one-bedroom. Now you're looking at 300 AKV because there is "no time to mess around."

200 AKV points would get you a full week in a one-bedroom during early December in a resort view one-bedroom. 300 points is a good ~70 points higher than Savanna view and puts you in Club territory.

DVC isn't going anywhere. You need to ultimately decide if you want a true "value" like buying the cheapest SSR contract loaded with points and low dues while rolling the dice under 7-months OR paying a premium for a resort you will be ok staying at if you can't pick something else up under 7-months. You've come around to AKV, but if BRV is still your favorite resort it would make sense to buy that instead.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Is

But what if Disney makes more restrictions if hou bought resale you can only stay at home resort? Is that possible? If so , AKL is a place I could visit every year

The lawsuits that would happen….

 

[AstroBlasters]

Initial purchase is a known dollar amount. Most likely already in some slush fund. The dues are the unknown factor. At first, you must know you can budget yearly, at least $10 per point. Soon it will be a budget of $15 a point yearly. (If it comes in less per year..great.. but you must expect the unexpected and have a cost of living budget to handle it, already prepared.

You are a unique member, only wanting one bedrooms every time. Therefore, get those resale points locked in. Whatever the amount….160, 200, 250, 300, or 1000 points! Make the decision that works best for you. Pick the resort that works best for you.

Stay away from direct at first. I feel you know this and understand it’s not the correct path for you here. Perhaps direct will become right for you in the future, but today it’s not.

I could have made a case for an OCT UY direct if they could have gotten 2024 points banked into 2025 with no dues… too late now….

Also, IMO…I believe what you are describing is known as hyperbolic discounting of future cash flows.

 

[Girlstar30]

I’m glad you said this about the dvc agents because talking with a few of them now I’ve noticed exactly that. No f’s given!!

What do y’all think about the animal Kingdom?

Yes unfortunately it seems like a numbers game, i can see why, since most people probably use board sponsor and Fidelity they're probably swamped

 

[Girlstar30]

One of the first questions I asked a broker was, who do you represent? They represent neither buyer nor seller - they are merely a transaction facilitator. They make money if a sale occurs and more money if the price/point is higher. You haven't probably gotten this far yet, but some brokers will let you pick the title company to use because the title company is actually the entity that does most of the work to close the purchase and sale. And, I think it's fair to say that not all are created equal, both in price and service. I think two of the better regarded ones by folks on these boards are dvcclosings.com and masontiitle.com.

AKV - well, you're a 1 BR preferred view person, which at AKV means safari view (which I personally think is great). You need home resort priority during the holidays (sort of like almost every DVC resort more or less), and you need home resort priority for their value and club level 1 BR villas. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you can't guarantee a view with those and they can be incredibly difficult to book, even if you're ready to go at 8 am 11 months from your desired reservation date - people probably "walk" them. The club/value room inventory is very low and they are a quite unique category of rooms. For all other 1 BR villas (really, regardless of view), you'd be better off economically with SSR points and using them to book AKV when you want to stay there. They're pretty easy to book at 7 months.

I loved Mason Title both times we used them. I am not a Magic Vacation Title Fan.

Akv 1 bedroom club level is pretty easy to get for owners during non peak season there is a lot of availability. I havent stayed in Club level or value yet

Im not a person that wants the value rooms, I think theyre the best option for people that dont have a lot of points.

Club level is appealing, its really cool they have these different options, its another reason our membership there is worth it. We like to have a lot of options since we're keeping this thing for years.

Aside from that we truly love the resort. We stayed this year and were staying again next year when there's other SAP options available so that tells me we made the right choice. We also are very excited to bring family here to see the animals from the balcony and it has one of my favorite pools. The food is phenomenal. The cast members are some of the best and the resort is beautiful. Doesn't get much better than that in my book.

The grand villa has a pool table, I believe its the only one. The resort for us has the same fun vibe we felt at bwv. If you love a resort, you wont regret owning there

Im sure the refurb will be beautiful. If you like the resort go for it, there's nothing else like it.

 

[Girlstar30]

I don't mean to take you in another direction lol, but if I had to wait even longer with all of these holiday delays I would have gone insane and you seem a little driven by your emotions like me

If you like Poly, and it seems like you have the cash, I say go poly direct. Then you can book 320 points worth of stays immediately and add on resale to it stress free right after. Book your welcome home stay, they may even be able to get you something wonderful for this holiday season, what a great way to start maybe BRV for the holidays! That ain't gunna happen with resale now, with direct youll have a chance at something good

Absolutely gorgeous rooms, one of the best views of fireworks, on the monorail line and the last chance to own direct without restrictions. Now is the time to buy direct imo. The incentives suck but I dont see the need for them to make them better. The resorts are selling better than ever and January was the time last year that the price went up even higher.

 

[Girlstar30]

Since you love AKV I think its a better choice than brv, sorry im catching up with the thread

In February I paid $95 a point and I was happy with that, I would make offers at $92 and try to get to $95 although I heard the price went up, you never know

 

[disneylandtour]

This can happen but only under certain circumstances that are spelled out in the contracts.

But, that situation would apply to all points at the resort and not just resale because that resort would no longer be part of BVTC.

But, they could certainly decide to increase a home resort period for popular resorts which means you can’t trade into them as a non owner as soon…

Sounds to me like you feel AKV meets your needs and I certainly wouldn’t buy something else just because on paper it might be a slightly better financial deal.

As someone who has about 300 AVK points, maybe this helps...

Biggest downsides
- Transportation, bus only.
- Jambo pool is nearly always packed...and sorta small, though there are things I like about it (more below)
- Furnishings in the rooms are not as nice s some other DVCs, particularly VGF and BLT. Also, room finishings, mud work, tiles, etc. don't feel as upper end as they do in other DVCs.
- Parking at Jambo can be extremely hot summer
- Feels very disconnected from any other Disney area. Most DVCs (though not all) give you the ability to walk to nearby area of interest. Again, for me personally, this is more of an issue for a longer stay. If you're just going to the parks at 8am and coming back at night, no big issue at all.


An Upside that is also a Downside
- The food, overall, is fabulous. But if you're staying there for 5+ nights, it's a lot of meals that lean toward one type of cuisine (African/Indian), unless you want to drive or take a bus out of the resort

Biggest upsides.
- Lobby areas are lovely on both sides of the resort, but particularly Jambo
- Value rooms are fabulous for their point value
- Only DVC club rooms
- The uniqueness of Savanna views
- Covered parking, which is only at Kidani. (Honestly, I prefer Jambo as a resort, mainly because of the access to quick service, the nice lobby, Victoria Falls Lounge, and the more adult-focused pool area, even if the pool area there is small. I realize Pro-Jambo is an unpopular opinion, so feel free to hit reply to let me know how I've gone wrong)
- If you have kids, the Kidani pool has one of the nicest waterplay areas on property.
- Very few tourists (not staying at AKV) milling around, particularly during the day. Side note: Poly is my favorite resort, but one of the biggest downsides there (also GF), at least for me, is how many general tourists come there each day to check it out or chill for a few hours. And I can't complain because back when I was younger, I had many a Mai Tai at the Tiki Terrace, while staying elsewhere.. But I also find it nice to be at a resort where the indoor spaces are relatively empty during the day.

 

[Brian Noble]

What is your opinion on what is a right price per point for a larger contract at AKL?

For context: I believe that my time and energy is worth something, and when I am ready to buy, I am ready to buy. I do not need to save the last $3/pt if it means an extra few months in goofing around with offers. I do this with "regular" real estate too. If I am buying a house, I am willing to offer a little more for the right fit at the right time. If I am selling a house, I'm willing to price it a smidge lower so that it doesn't sit. This might cost me a few extra dollars in the end, but I am buying a lot of peace of mind along the way.

When it comes to DVC, I use as my starting point the "average sales prices" for contracts over the past month. There are two brokers that publish these numbers; one of them breaks it down roughly by contract size.

https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/blog/dvc-resale-average-sales-prices-for-september-2025/
https://www.fidelityrealestate.com/blog/september-2025-average-dvc-resale-price-per-point/

I think of these as average prices for an average contract---a full allocation of the "usable points", neither stripped nor loaded. I mostly ignore distressed points whether they are there or not. Points are distressed if they have less than about a half year's worth of use when I am making the offer. So, for example, In September, I made an offer on a FEB UY contract, with full UY26 and UY27 points, but none in or banked from UY25. I consider that an "average" contract. Others would insist that the "average' contract includes banked UY25 points, but see the context above.

An average price for an average contract is, IMO, fair. If that's the price I am paying, I do not feel like I got a terrible deal, but neither did I get a great one. If I see a contract that is at or near average and a great fit for what I want, I would start offering a smidge under what I eventually want to settle on. If I see a contract comfortably under that average, I would not mess around and just offer asking.

In the first third of the calendar year, it is reasonable to pay for that year's Dues. In the last quarter, it is reasonable for the seller to cover them. In the interim, I might push the sales price a little lower and/or negotiate them. You also have to think about how you want to value "extra" or "missing" points. I figure they are about $7-$10 above and beyond dues, give or take.

What I would do is go through the ROFR thread and see what others are paying

A lot of buyers on the DIS do this. You can, but the ROFR thread tends to be the bottom of the market range for a variety of reasons. Most of those are better-than-average deals. I don't need a better than average deal, so I anchor on average prices, not ROFR. (And for the record, sellers on DIS definitely do not use the ROFR thread to set expectations.)

 

[disneylandtour]

I think there can be many valid opinions in all this.

For an actual house, as Brian said, I'm too more willing to focus on location, the build of the house, etc., less on exact market comps. Houses aren't entirely interchangeable. But in DVC, one contract is identical to the next, so personally I am more willing haggle more, as some one else's 100 point resale contract at Poly is no different (except for UY and possible banked/stripped points) to the 100 point Poly contract I'm presently making an offer on: in terms of what you own and where you stay, except for notations on the deed, it's all identical. When completing a sale, I do personally feel better if I get it at the low end of the market. I've never sold a DVC contract, though I have a handful now. So there's no investment mind set here. It simply makes me feel more satisfied--or to put it in cliched terms, to sleep better--and to realize that maybe I have a grand or two to spend on something else or to invest. So my starting point might be different than the one described above: I'd take the average and then subtract 10% or thereabouts. I'd also look through the ROFR thread and see what the low end really is--and again, aim for that. But also, I don't see shopping for DVC as "work." Sometimes dealing with the brokers is work. The shopping part, for me, though, isn't. I find it somewhat relaxing to check a couple (and that means, exactly two) DVC resale sites each day. (I'm mostly down to--there's a couple of resale places that I'm happy to deal with, and some others that have problems and that I avoid.). I also feel like I can see general trends in pricing by checking those sites each day. But again, for me--and for my actual job I live on a computer--so this is a pleasant break when I finish something I'm working on. I can check the resale sites. Or check the DVC site for the off-chance of an available day at GCV, etc. But of course to each their own.

 

[Girlstar30]

I dont see anything wrong with throwing out what you want to pay and see what happens.

You can always change your offer and it can go really fast.

Some people have thrown out offers when they didnt really need points because they were sure it was so low it wouldnt be accepted (me), and it did right away

 

[VGCgroupie]

I dont see anything wrong with throwing out what you want to pay and see what happens.

You can always change your offer and it can go really fast.

Some people have thrown out offers when they didnt really need points because they were sure it was so low it wouldnt be accepted (me), and it did right away

For me I want the bottom price no matter the effort I have to put in. I could sell every single one of my resale contracts today at a profit. I get satisfaction daily seeing prices well over what I paid, I track the market for my home resorts just to feed my ego.

 

[Girlstar30]

For me I want the bottom price no matter the effort I have to put in. I could sell every single one of my resale contracts today at a profit. I get satisfaction daily seeing prices well over what I paid, I track the market for my home resorts just to feed my ego.

Same I just checked akv today on dvcforless to make sure I paid less