Advice - Getting to 150 Direct

[SugarSweetLee]

Good Morning wonderful people.

Looking for some guidance from the experts here. We bought our first contract last year resale for 100 points at Copper Creek, our absolute favorite resort at WDW. We wanted to make sure this was right for us and now we know we want to own 150 direct for the benefits, mainly for the discounted Sorcerer passes ( which will save us 1k per year). Also, I believe they will just be continually adding on to the member benefits as time goes on (Just my hunch, I know it could easily go the other way at any time).

Here is where I need the help. I am thinking of doing a 50 point direct add on now to Copper Creek to give us 150 there to use since we like it so much. My thought was then to wait and see if what offers may come up in the future to do a 100 point contract at a “good” price. We aren’t really picky where we buy at, our main goal is just to get to 150. I was thinking about a Poly contract but since we already have Copper Creek in the MK area was thinking it makes more sense to do either Boardwalk or Beach Club, or possibly Animal Kingdom as we enjoy the resort there and also very much enjoy Boma (specifically for breakfast).

Im not willing to finance this, Im going to pay cash, and looking at current deals im not excited about putting out 30k right now, which is why i thought the slow roll would be a good option for us. I also want to do the additional 50 points now as we are looking at Aulani in 2026 and I don’t have enough points with borrowing.

I should note that we almost always stay in Studios. It’s just the 2 of us and we never really need anything more than that. Also we travel in the off peak times, generally in December - February as we like the weather and our vacation schedules are totally flexible.

Thanks very much for all your thoughts in helping us out with this, I really appreciate the insight!

Are you willing to consider buying 150 direct in one go (somewhere with a decent incentive) and selling your resale points to offset the expense?

 

[Steelers0854]

I’m a proponent of direct and CCV is my favorite resort, and I wouldn’t buy direct CCV. The resale market for that resort is just too good right now.

Yea, this made me think again as well, it’s such a hard decision! We were just talking the other day and kick ourselves for not buying in when we did our first DVC visit several years ago and could have bought in at 75 points with all the benefits. I don’t really want to be in that same place in another few years. To me the money isnt what is valuable, it’s my time at one of the most amazing places we can vacation to. But still……. Double the price……ooooof thats hard lol.

with what you are specifically trying to do, I think your plan makes sense.

It also won't hurt to have 50 unrestricted points so you can try new resorts as they come online....

Thanks!

Reminder though that just because a membership is eligible for membership extras, doesn't mean that all the points in a membership qualify for the extras.
For example: if a moonlight magic registration requires you are staying on membership extra eligible points, your stay cannot be on the ineligible points even if those points reside in the same membership (I have a combo of direct and resale in my eligible membership and that point has burned me a couple times when the "event" requires I'm staying on eligible points)

Had never heard of this before, good to know!

Are you willing to consider buying 150 direct in one go (somewhere with a decent incentive) and selling your resale points to offset the expense?

This is the rub, Even with the incentives im not sure I can realistically get down to around 20k for a 150 direct purchase, which is where I would want to be with a single purchase. If I could I would just keep out 100 CCV and take the 150 and be done (lol, for now probably). We really do want points at CCV, so it would have to be a 150 offer at CCV if we were to sell our resale contract and I don’t think that will ever happen.

 

[Sandisw]

Yea, this made me think again as well, it’s such a hard decision! We were just talking the other day and kick ourselves for not buying in when we did our first DVC visit several years ago and could have bought in at 75 points with all the benefits. I don’t really want to be in that same place in another few years. To me the money isnt what is valuable, it’s my time at one of the most amazing places we can vacation to. But still……. Double the price……ooooof thats hard lol.



Thanks!



Had never heard of this before, good to know!



This is the rub, Even with the incentives im not sure I can realistically get down to around 20k for a 150 direct purchase, which is where I would want to be with a single purchase. If I could I would just keep out 100 CCV and take the 150 and be done (lol, for now probably). We really do want points at CCV, so it would have to be a 150 offer at CCV if we were to sell our resale contract and I don’t think that will ever happen.

Just to clarify, DVC has not yet prevented anyone from using their membership extras benefits if they were staying on resale points.

I have qualified for the early registration for three different Moonlight Magic events while my stay was booked on resale points.

While that could change, right now, they have not put that in play.

 

[Chili327]

Just to clarify, DVC has not yet prevented anyone from using their membership extras benefits if they were staying on resale points.

I have definitely been denied discounts and access. lol

*edit*
Oh you mean someone that qualifies, but is actually staying on resale points, got it, my mistake.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Haven’t read through all the posts, but I couldn’t/wouldnt leave money on Disneys table. Getting incentives at 150 really is what makes direct more reasonable. I’d save until you can get to 150. Also remember magical beginnings on some properties will get you a chunk of that up front money back. Paying direct non incentivized pricing is not a smart DVC move imo.

 

[pixieprincess925]

Just to clarify, DVC has not yet prevented anyone from using their membership extras benefits if they were staying on resale points.

I have qualified for the early registration for three different Moonlight Magic events while my stay was booked on resale points.

While that could change, right now, they have not put that in play.

I remember trying to register for a moonlight magic a couple years back when I was staying on my resale points and not being able to qualify - but my memory is hazy enough these days that I'll take your memory instead

 

[atthebeachclub]

You may want to check out this thread. Saratoga might not be your dream resort, but could be reasonably reasonable for direct points to stay elsewhere. https://www.disboards.com/threads/ssr-incentives-are-back.3956338/#post-65803739

 

[DanCali]

I hope you're right. I'm kind of worried they may bump everything up to a base of $239 come January.

They just raised a bunch of other prices, like annual passes. Disney tends to raise prices close to yearly. This has me concerned. The last raise for DVC for currently active resorts was January of this year so probably have a few months.

Increasing the base price would seem counterproductive. There are only so many people willing to pay $225/pt. Once they buy, DVC may have to lower the price (i.e., increase incentives) in order to induce more demand, or sales will decline. Adding the MB rebate in one of the next incentive rounds would seem like a no-brainer thing to do since they already offer it for other resorts and Poly is an aberration in that regard.

 

[Steelers0854]

You may want to check out this thread. Saratoga might not be your dream resort, but could be reasonably reasonable for direct points to stay elsewhere. https://www.disboards.com/threads/ssr-incentives-are-back.3956338/#post-65803739

Funny enough our guide just sent me Saratoga Springs today, incentive is $15pp on a 150, which brings it to $28,500, still too much for me right now, but I appreciate the link ill check out the thread.

 

[atthebeachclub]

Funny enough our guide just sent me Saratoga Springs today, incentive is $15pp on a 150, which brings it to $28,500, still too much for me right now, but I appreciate the link ill check out the thread.

You could ask about Magical Beginnings too…

 

[Steelers0854]

Would I be crazy to consider a 150 point Poly contract, take advantage of the slight discount down to $215pp? Yes its more than I wanted to pay at one time, but it gets me all of my 150, at a monorail resort, resale contracts are posted for about $185 so not a huge premium, and I don’t have the resale restrictions like I would if we bought at one of the new resorts?

My thought was to split the contract into a 50 and 100, wait until about half way through the month of November to do it, as the current deals end Dec 11, im assuming new deals would start immediately after that and we can see if a better deal pops up and if not we close on this deal?

 

[lmf77]

Increasing the base price would seem counterproductive. There are only so many people willing to pay $225/pt. Once they buy, DVC may have to lower the price (i.e., increase incentives) in order to induce more demand, or sales will decline. Adding the MB rebate in one of the next incentive rounds would seem like a no-brainer thing to do since they already offer it for other resorts and Poly is an aberration in that regard.

Keeping prices high and offering higher incentives is a smart approach, especially since incentives aren’t offered on smaller contracts. It’s a method to push people into more points. Especially if the incentive on the higher points is really good.

I’ll be pleasantly surprised if DVC doesn’t raise prices early next year. And I expect they’ll announce ahead of time of a price increase to push more sales before it occurs.

It would be nice if they offered MB for Poly.

 

[lmf77]

Would I be crazy to consider a 150 point Poly contract, take advantage of the slight discount down to $215pp? Yes its more than I wanted to pay at one time, but it gets me all of my 150, at a monorail resort, resale contracts are posted for about $185 so not a huge premium, and I don’t have the resale restrictions like I would if we bought at one of the new resorts?

My thought was to split the contract into a 50 and 100, wait until about half way through the month of November to do it, as the current deals end Dec 11, im assuming new deals would start immediately after that and we can see if a better deal pops up and if not we close on this deal?

I think that you should buy where you want to stay. Poly is where I want to stay so that’s why I plan to buy there.

The contract life on Poly is Jan 2066, shorter than the other new resorts, and shorter than Copper Creek. So you’d be paying more for a shorter contract life.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Would I be crazy to consider a 150 point Poly contract, take advantage of the slight discount down to $215pp? Yes its more than I wanted to pay at one time, but it gets me all of my 150, at a monorail resort, resale contracts are posted for about $185 so not a huge premium, and I don’t have the resale restrictions like I would if we bought at one of the new resorts?

My thought was to split the contract into a 50 and 100, wait until about half way through the month of November to do it, as the current deals end Dec 11, im assuming new deals would start immediately after that and we can see if a better deal pops up and if not we close on this deal?

If you really want direct points that will not be restricted if you need to sell down the road then I would sign the contract on Dec 10th so that you are within your 10 day cancellation window if the next round of incentives improves.

 

[chlwodud85]

Just curious is the direct benefit worth the additional price that you will have to pay?

It seems like cost is a key factor in your decision then resale would probably solve this issue and some of the benefits that you would get from direct can be worked around.

I think the only big benefit that resale people dont get is the ability to get tickets to Moonlight magic (or those type of DVC only events) and access to lounge

So you can consider resale and save yourself a big chunk of coin and use that saving on future trips

 

[tx911]

Just curious is the direct benefit worth the additional price that you will have to pay?

It seems like cost is a key factor in your decision then resale would probably solve this issue and some of the benefits that you would get from direct can be worked around.

I think the only big benefit that resale people dont get is the ability to get tickets to Moonlight magic (or those type of DVC only events) and access to lounge

So you can consider resale and save yourself a big chunk of coin and use that saving on future trips

Don’t underestimate the ability to use your points anywhere with a direct purchase.

Just very recently, I was in a position of trying to get a room for a single night with pretty short notice. It turned out that a Tower studio popped up at Riviera. I was two points short and the only points I had that I could borrow were resale points, so I was unable to book it!

So forget about blue card perks and lounges. The real question is, how much is FREEDOM worth to you?

 

[chlwodud85]

Don’t underestimate the ability to use your points anywhere with a direct purchase.

Just very recently, I was in a position of trying to get a room for a single night with pretty short notice. It turned out that a Tower studio popped up at Riviera. I was two points short and the only points I had that I could borrow were resale points, so I was unable to book it!

So forget about blue card perks and lounges. The real question is, how much is FREEDOM worth to you?

Well right now its only with Riviera and Cabins at wilderness and VDH so its not really a big disadvantage

Also, last second options are still available with SSR or OKW so its more like is paying 2x to 2.5x to gain the ability to book at those those 3 resorts (and potential future resorts we don't know about).

Disney can always make changes to the rules but I believe its not in there best interest to restrict current usage to Resale owners as this will negatively impact there business

 

[VGCgroupie]

Would I be crazy to consider a 150 point Poly contract, take advantage of the slight discount down to $215pp? Yes its more than I wanted to pay at one time, but it gets me all of my 150, at a monorail resort, resale contracts are posted for about $185 so not a huge premium, and I don’t have the resale restrictions like I would if we bought at one of the new resorts?

My thought was to split the contract into a 50 and 100, wait until about half way through the month of November to do it, as the current deals end Dec 11, im assuming new deals would start immediately after that and we can see if a better deal pops up and if not we close on this deal?

Seems like a solid plan to me.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Well right now its only with Riviera and Cabins at wilderness and VDH so its not really a big disadvantage

Also, last second options are still available with SSR or OKW so its more like is paying 2x to 2.5x to gain the ability to book at those those 3 resorts (and potential future resorts we don't know about).

Disney can always make changes to the rules but I believe its not in there best interest to restrict current usage to Resale owners as this will negatively impact there business

How do you know that being restricted from
Riviera, Cabins, Disneyland Hotel are not a big deal to the OP?

Why do you assume that people should be OK settling for OKW and SSR?

Why are you discounting access to future associations (BW,BC,BRV post 2042; Disneyland Forward) ?

Discounted APs? Discounts on food and merchandise?

Access to any other program they dream up that only applies to DVC-Y? Special lounges, Top of The World Lounge, Special events at Aulani, Welcome Home Weeks.

I get that YOU may not care about these things, but your statement implies that your OPINIONS and PERSONAL PREFERENCES are universal truths.

 

[DanCali]

Don’t underestimate the ability to use your points anywhere with a direct purchase.

Just very recently, I was in a position of trying to get a room for a single night with pretty short notice. It turned out that a Tower studio popped up at Riviera. I was two points short and the only points I had that I could borrow were resale points, so I was unable to book it!

Not sure what the exact points situation was but if you were just missing 2 points, this is where one-time-use points (which have no restrictions) can be useful. In fact, for just one night, you can operate just with OTU points and without any direct points. Obviously, calling in to buy/use them risks losing a desired reservation, but that option of OTU points should always be kept in mind!