Add-Ons - Need some Advice!

[SuperRob]

My wife and I have been talking about adding points since the arrival of our unexpected bonus ... our daughter!

We hadn't planned on having kids when we bought, and we weren't when we learned we were expecting, but she's amazing, and we're so glad she's joined our family! But now, we're thinking our cozy studios and meager 60 point contract might be quickly outgrown.

So I need some advice. We're considering adding on in a variety of ways. Our goal is to be able to travel about as often as we do now (every two to three years), but we'd like to stay in a one-bedroom rather than a studio.

The first thing we're looking at is how many points we'd need. 60 has worked, and since we bought in 2011, we've stayed at Aulani for five nights (Island View Studio, not our first choice, but it's what was available), Grand Californian for four nights (Studio), the Grand Floridian for seven nights (Standard View Studio), and we just booked seven nights at Aulani (Standard View Studio). We try to stay off-season (September for WDW), so we'd still need relatively few points, but we're trying to figure out what will work.

Then we're trying to decide if we should do a straight add on, or buy a new contract and sell our current one. We don't know if there are plusses or minuses to either, or if it's more complicated to manage multiple contracts. With the addition of our daughter, contract length and willing it to her is a factor as well.

We also don't know if there is any advantage with an add-on of taking a second home resort or not, or if having a different Use Year is a problem. We're at SSR now, we like the relatively low dues, and when we bought it was just $99 a point. The costs are a lot higher now, which will limit what we could buy direct. April has been fine as a UY right now (my wife's birthday is April), but we don't know if multiple UY's will be needlessly complicated.

Lastly, is whether we should buy direct or not. With the addition of the Poly villas (great if we would stick with Studios) and the announcement of even more villas at the Wilderness Lodge, it sounds like we'll have direct buying opportunities for a while. (Believe it or not, our current contract was a direct buy, at just 60 points!) That said, we don't think there's much chance at all that we'd use the points anywhere else, so we don't think the restrictions on resale contracts is too much of a negative.

If you've gotten this far ... thanks! Obviously, I have lots of questions, and I'm months away from pulling the trigger, but any insights you all have would be welcome. Thanks!

 

[davper]

I cannot speak to managing multiple contracts, but I can tell you my mindset when I bought. I just bought mine.

I wanted to be able to go down every 2 years and stay in a 1-bedroom. Occasionally, I might want to invite friends and family to stay in a 2-bedroom. So I wanted to have the flexibility of borrowing enough points to make that happen.

I looked into the point cost of each 1-bedroom in the resorts I wanted to stay in during the times of year that I would go. I found that a 150 point contract would allow me to do that. Actually, 136 points would have been enough but impossible to find. And if I wanted to extend the gap to 3 years, then I could do a 2-bedroom as well with that quantity of points.

If I was in your position and I was happy in my current home resort and use year, I would look into buying a 100 contract for the same use year and resort. My understanding is the management is simple.
Otherwise, I would sell the 60 and buy a ~150.

 

[SuperRob]

I looked into the point cost of each 1-bedroom in the resorts I wanted to stay in during the times of year that I would go. I found that a 150 point contract would allow me to do that. Actually, 136 points would have been enough but impossible to find. And if I wanted to extend the gap to 3 years, then I could do a 2-bedroom as well with that quantity of points.

Did you buy resale? It sounds like you did, but you didn't specify.

 

[davper]

Yes I did. I was not interested in any of the resorts currently being sold direct.

 

[disneynutz]

My suggestions, buy resale if you can.
Buy the best UY for your vacation patterns.
Buy one UY, title all contracts the same.
Decide on your favorite resort(s) and buy there for the 11 month booking advantage which becomes more important every year.
Sell if your contract isn't working for you.

Bill

 

[SuperRob]

My suggestions, buy resale if you can.
Buy the best UY for your vacation patterns.
Buy one UY, title all contracts the same.
Decide on your favorite resort(s) and buy there for the 11 month booking advantage which becomes more important every year.
Sell if your contract isn't working for you.

Bill

Thanks, Bill. My primary concern has been cost of dues (which is why we bought at SSR). If you pay cash for the points (as we do), it helps with the value tremendously to keep the dues as low as possible. I know the advantages of having your home resort be where you want to stay, but we probably can't afford to buy enough points at the resort we want to stay at (we have expensive tastes!), so the home resort is less important. But I asked to find out if there is some other advantage to having multiple home resorts (or disadvantages other than management) that I might not be aware of.

I'll be completely honest, I'm still not sure how to factor in the Use Year. Our current one is April, which works since my wife's birthday is in April, but we try to travel in September, or maybe when she's older, my daughter's birthday. But the way I see it, when you have to plan your trips so far in advance, the actual UY doesn't seem to matter too much. You have your points that year. (Unless there's a value to having them available the specific month you want to travel that I'm not getting.)

I do think we'll try to buy resale, if only because we could get more points than we could directly through Disney. We wouldn't mind owning at the Poly, if we'd planned to stay in Studios, but if we want the one-bedroom option, we'll be better off somewhere else.

 

[chalee94]

I'll be completely honest, I'm still not sure how to factor in the Use Year. Our current one is April, which works since my wife's birthday is in April, but we try to travel in September, or maybe when she's older, my daughter's birthday. But the way I see it, when you have to plan your trips so far in advance, the actual UY doesn't seem to matter too much. You have your points that year. (Unless there's a value to having them available the specific month you want to travel that I'm not getting.)

1) UY month typically doesn't matter much unless you have to cancel. then it provides a small bit of insurance if you travel early in your UY and may bite you if you travel at the end of your UY - but as long as you don't cancel a trip in jan/feb/march for an april UY, you are probably fine.

2) if you buy a new contract with a different UY, you are not technically "adding on" but buying a separate master contract (and in effect, owning two different memberships - which can be a positive if you are a great planner but can trip you up and cost you points if you are not careful.)

 

[lovin'fl]

As a person with 6 contracts in 2 different use years, I suggest adding on the same UY. However, I also suggest getting a different resort for another 11 month priority for booking. Maybe go for the place you'd like to most stay at. I also suggest resale, unless you want Poly or want to wait for the new VWL II.

 

[Savagekids]

Resale for sure. If you keep your current SSR contract be sure to match the use year. I'd suggest that if you do decide to add another small contract to get a different home resort. Last I checked BLT was smartest finically when considering price per point and maintenance fees but a few others were getting close. If you're happy with SSR, getting a bigger contract there will simplify the bookkeeping for you. But you will have the hassle of selling and extra closing costs.

Other things to consider: As DD gets older you may not want to travel in the off seasons as much. She will go to school someday unless you plan to homeschool. I wouldn't restrict yourself to much on the points. As she gets even older and don't go as much you may want to sell of some of you points but not all.

She may also want to stay in different places and thus another home resort could come in handing for booking.

As I'm writing this, I realized I'm more in favor of adding on at another resort than selling and getting on big contract. Think about it and do what's right for you. Above all, pay cash and buy resale.

 

[SuperRob]

Other things to consider: As DD gets older you may not want to travel in the off seasons as much. She will go to school someday unless you plan to homeschool. I wouldn't restrict yourself to much on the points. As she gets even older and don't go as much you may want to sell of some of you points but not all.

We do that mostly to keep our costs down. . But thanks for the advice!