Adding on points at Disney Vacation resorts

[chuckcorden]

I just received the newsletter, DVC News, by email this morning. Within the news was the section "Did You Know?" I have included the full section below. My questions will follow.

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Current DVC members can add-on any number of points 25 and above. The add-on purchase can be at the member's current Home resort or at another resort.

For add-ons of 25 to 49 points, the member must pay cash (or credit card.) No financing is available.

DVC will finance an add-on purchase of 50 or more points.

In order to receive any promotional discounts on the add-on purchase, additional minimums may apply. Currently those adding 50 or more points at Saratoga Springs will receive a discount of $10 off per point. AKV add-ons require a minimum 100 point purchase in order to obtain a $8 per point discount. No discounts are currently available at other resorts, however prices do vary in response to the popularity and ending date of the specific resort.

Current members are not charged any closing costs on add-on purchases.
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Before I call MS to purchase points, there are a few things that I have to clear up.

I always knew that a member could buy points at the different resorts through Disney but I thought the purchase would be based on availability. However, the section that I quoted implies that the purchase can happen at any time regardless of availability. Is this so?

My home resort is SSR where I have 250 points and I love this resort but I am tempted to purchase 100 points at the AKV with the discount of $8.00 per point. However, AKV is still some distance from where I want to be. My personal favorites would probably be BWV or the BCV because of their locations. I will repeat my question: Can I purchase 100 points at either of these locations without being concerned about availability?

If I am able to purchase additional points, what is the price that Disney asks for the points from, say, BWV, BCV, or, for that matter, AKV? Is there some place where I find this info?

Thanks for any help.

 

[pouncingpluto]

Yes, you can, or at least you can waitlist for them through DVC. BCV is $101 per point, and BWV is $98 per point.

 

[DVCLiz]

You cannot purchase points anywhere regardless of availability. That's because Disney must have the points currently available in their inventory in order to be able to sell them to you. What you CAN do is call your guide and tell him/her what you want. Your guide will check availability for you. You may get lucky and be able to purchase at that time - for example, they may have exercised a ROFR recently and have points in inventory to sell. Then again, you may be way down on a list of people who woudl like the same thing you would like. In that case, you'd go on a waitlist. Some people clear the waitlist pretty quickly, some take a very long time.

So the answer is - although it's not specifically stated, there is an implied piece of information in that statement from Disney -"subject to availability".

Good luck with your add-on!!!

 

[jbrowna]

We recently purchased an add-on for OKW. When we initially inquired about it, our guide asked our use year (December), and then said, "I'll check the inventory." They had over 5,000! So, apparently, what points they have available depends on the use year.

Strictly speaking, all "add-ons" must be for the same use year you currently have. However, if you wanted to buy a new master contract (160 points minimum), you could select a different use year -- presumably one with inventory immediately available -- if that's an issue.

Have your guide check the inventory for your particular case -- it costs nothing to ask! If they don't have the points available now for the use year you want, that doesn't mean they won't have points become available later. You can put yourself on a waitlist, which will lock in the current pricing.

Good luck!

 

[mprewitt]

Yes, you can purchase points at other DVC resorts, subject to availability.

For example, last month I called and added on points at VWL and BWV. Since they were immediately available for my Use Year, they were added on, my credit card was charged, and they appeared in a couple of days on dvcmember.com. There is no closing cost. It is quick and easy.

However, sometimes the points may not be available for your Use Year. In that case, you can ask to be wait-listed. I am on a wait list to add-on points at BCV.

You can only add-on points for your existing use year. This, if you have a March Use Year and call to add-on points, but they only have points available for other use years, you go on the waiting list.

The prices just jumped up on June 5. For BCV, the price is $101, for BWV and VWL, the price is $98, etc. Just call your Guide and you can get the latest pricing.

I think BCV has the least amount of availability.

 

[crisi]

The other "subject to availability" thing you need to know. You only have home resort advantage for the points belonging to the home resort. If you have 150 SSR points and 25 BWV points, you only get the home resort advantage for the 25 BWV points - the 150 SSR points work like they always have - you wait until seven months opens up. Some people buy a small add on believing that will get them home resort advantage for all their points at that resort, and it doesn't work that way. However, with banking and borrowing, you can get a good stay out of a relatively few points every three years.