Advice please

[disdad19]

All - I'm relatively new to the DVC concept, having just taken a tour and talked to an agent last week. However, I've read as much as possible over the past week, and I think I have a pretty good grasp of the major issues.

My family prefers to stay at Yacht/Beach Club or Boardwalk Inn, but we are not thrilled about the 25 year expiration for those properties. My current thinking is that we will purchase resale points at Grand Floridian and then purchase a small amount (25 points) direct from Disney to become official members with benefits/perks.

My thinking is as follows - We usually travel in low seasons and hopefully will get to stay in an EPCOT location most of the time booking 7 months out. If for some reason we decided to visit during Christmas/other busy season, we wouldn't mind staying at VGF (although we would mind staying at Poly or animal kingdom, we didn't care for those). Additionally, I think VGF points will be fairly easy to lease given its great location on the monorail.

Does this sound like a good plan or am I missing something? Will Disney have 25 VGF points to sell us or should I not count on this?

Thanks all, hoping to be part of DVC in the near future!

 

[icydog]

Thanks for posting and Welcome to the Dis

Some thoughts on your post:

First of all make sure that the points you're buying resale are really a bargain. If you can, buy a contract with banked points from two years. For instance, if you were looking at a Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian December use year, then your contract should have all the points from Dec 2015, 2016 and be elligible to receive all the 2017 points on Dec 1, 2017.

Also, buy where you want to go. If you want to stay at Disney's Beach Club Villas or Disney's Boardwalk Villas then buy there! Those resorts are very often sold out at 7 months, and most of the time, at 10 months!

Don't count on great rentals $$ at Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian. THE most sought after resort is still BCV. If you rent through an agency you'll get the same amount of money for your points as a BCV renter will get for a much cheaper contract.

There's a lot to this. And sometimes it does make sense to buy from Disney. I would hang around a bit more to get the feel for DVC before plunking down a ton of money!

 

[TCRAIG]

All - I'm relatively new to the DVC concept, having just taken a tour and talked to an agent last week. However, I've read as much as possible over the past week, and I think I have a pretty good grasp of the major issues.

My family prefers to stay at Yacht/Beach Club or Boardwalk Inn, but we are not thrilled about the 25 year expiration for those properties. My current thinking is that we will purchase resale points at Grand Floridian and then purchase a small amount (25 points) direct from Disney to become official members with benefits/perks.

My thinking is as follows - We usually travel in low seasons and hopefully will get to stay in an EPCOT location most of the time booking 7 months out. If for some reason we decided to visit during Christmas/other busy season, we wouldn't mind staying at VGF (although we would mind staying at Poly or animal kingdom, we didn't care for those). Additionally, I think VGF points will be fairly easy to lease given its great location on the monorail.

Does this sound like a good plan or am I missing something? Will Disney have 25 VGF points to sell us or should I not count on this?

Thanks all, hoping to be part of DVC in the near future!

There is no wait list for VGF points direct - so you just have to luck into them when Disney decides to act on their ROFR. I've had my Disney rep looking for 32 April UY points for almost a year - no luck

 

[icydog]

There is no wait list for VGF points direct - so you just have to luck into them when Disney decides to act on their ROFR. I've had my Disney rep looking for 32 April UY points for almost a year - no luck

32 points? That's an odd number.

 

[TCRAIG]

32 points? That's an odd number.

Yeah - most of my points are odd amounts - 87 Wilderness - 109 BC - 103 GF -Etc - I go 3X a year and like to alternate where I stay...

 

[disdad19]

Thanks for posting and Welcome to the Dis

Some thoughts on your post:

First of all make sure that the points you're buying resale are really a bargain. If you can, buy a contract with banked points from two years. For instance, if you were looking at a Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian December use year, then your contract should have all the points from Dec 2015, 2016 and be elligible to receive all the 2017 points on Dec 1, 2017.

Also, buy where you want to go. If you want to stay at Disney's Beach Club Villas or Disney's Boardwalk Villas then buy there! Those resorts are very often sold out at 7 months, and most of the time, at 10 months!

Don't count on great rentals $$ at Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian. THE most sought after resort is still BCV. If you rent through an agency you'll get the same amount of money for your points as a BCV renter will get for a much cheaper contract.

There's a lot to this. And sometimes it does make sense to buy from Disney. I would hang around a bit more to get the feel for DVC before plunking down a ton of money!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'm really struggling with the whole buy where you want to stay concept because of the expiration years. As you know, the DVC program is very front-heavy as far as price is concerned, so the further you get from the initial payment, the better deal it becomes. I can probably break even at 25 years, but I am even more certain that I will 40 years from now. And I have heard different things about rooms filling up. Some, like you, say they will be full at 7 months. Others have said that they can usually get what they want at 7 months, as long as it's not a busy season. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm willing to part with that much money for a 25 year deal. Again, thanks for your thoughts. Any other opinions also welcome!

 

[disdad19]

There is no wait list for VGF points direct - so you just have to luck into them when Disney decides to act on their ROFR. I've had my Disney rep looking for 32 April UY points for almost a year - no luck

Interesting. Does Disney break up/rearrange contracts when they exercise their ROFR? If they bought back 50 points, would they sell you 32 and offer the other 18 to another taker? Or are you at the mercy of the exact number of points they buy back? If the latter, seems like it'd be extremely tough to get what you want.

 

[Dean]

All - I'm relatively new to the DVC concept, having just taken a tour and talked to an agent last week. However, I've read as much as possible over the past week, and I think I have a pretty good grasp of the major issues.

My family prefers to stay at Yacht/Beach Club or Boardwalk Inn, but we are not thrilled about the 25 year expiration for those properties. My current thinking is that we will purchase resale points at Grand Floridian and then purchase a small amount (25 points) direct from Disney to become official members with benefits/perks.

My thinking is as follows - We usually travel in low seasons and hopefully will get to stay in an EPCOT location most of the time booking 7 months out. If for some reason we decided to visit during Christmas/other busy season, we wouldn't mind staying at VGF (although we would mind staying at Poly or animal kingdom, we didn't care for those). Additionally, I think VGF points will be fairly easy to lease given its great location on the monorail.

Does this sound like a good plan or am I missing something? Will Disney have 25 VGF points to sell us or should I not count on this?

Thanks all, hoping to be part of DVC in the near future!

I would not approach it as you are. I'd either buy BWV (cheaper than BCV) and use for standard view OR I'd look at something cheaper resale like SSR. BLT will likely be cheaper long term because of the lower dues there second only to SSR. That said, I don't think it realistic to think you can get into the EPCOT resorts routinely at 7 months out though I'm confident it could happen part of the time. To me you'd be setting yourself up for failure with this plan to get back to EPCOT resorts most of the time.

 

[Dean]

Interesting. Does Disney break up/rearrange contracts when they exercise their ROFR? If they bought back 50 points, would they sell you 32 and offer the other 18 to another taker? Or are you at the mercy of the exact number of points they buy back? If the latter, seems like it'd be extremely tough to get what you want.

Yes, they can and do.

 

[TCRAIG]

Interesting. Does Disney break up/rearrange contracts when they exercise their ROFR? If they bought back 50 points, would they sell you 32 and offer the other 18 to another taker? Or are you at the mercy of the exact number of points they buy back? If the latter, seems like it'd be extremely tough to get what you want.

25 is the minimum buy in. Although Disney is somewhat secretive about the process - sometimes they will break up a contract they bought back and sometimes they prefer to fill a request for someone looking for a large contract.

 

[chalee94]

My thinking is as follows - We usually travel in low seasons and hopefully will get to stay in an EPCOT location most of the time booking 7 months out. If for some reason we decided to visit during Christmas/other busy season, we wouldn't mind staying at VGF (although we would mind staying at Poly or animal kingdom, we didn't care for those).

what is "low season" to you exactly? Jan/Feb weeks with no marathons or holidays - July/August - you can probably get a trade for many options at 7 months out.

but the 1st week of Dec is peak season for DVC bookings. booking the fall during Epcot food and wine at an Epcot resort means planning at 11 months out - not likely at all at 7 months. So you may need to learn the DVC calendar, which is a bit different than wdw in general...

 

[_auroraborealis_]

VGF can also be very hard to book studios much of the year, so to lease them you would have to be willing to go private and book at 8AM for renters to go premium. At 7 months, points are points and no one will pay extra for a VGF point.

DVC high season runs from late September through the marathon. If you would be traveling in this time, expect to stay at your home resort, generally. I say generally, because if you snooze with VGF points between 7-11 months for fall, you will be scrambling and wait listing at 7 months.

You won't get BWV or BCV at 7 months in the fall.

 

[disdad19]

I really appreciate all the input. We have traditionally traveled late Jan/early Feb, which is why I thought we would likely be able to get a room near EPCOT. But I do know that things change (especially when we're talking about the next 45 years), and we may someday want to travel during a busier DVC season. So, _auroraborealis_, please clarify something for me. Are you saying I would possibly be able to rent out my VGF points between 11 and 7 months, but after that point it would be difficult? Or that it would be difficult no matter when I did it? Thanks again!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I wouldn't get too hung up on the 25 years at BWV or BCV because that's still a quarter of a century of travel to DisneyWorld and staying at those resorts. I'm not certain what the average is for people to own DVC but that might be enough. If you're still going you could always buy another contract somewhere else or go back to hotels too.

Renting VGF at 7 months. All they were saying is that they are equal to all other resort points at that time so you just wouldn't be able to rent at a premium. In the home priority period you can get more for the VGF points.

 

[MrInfinity]

You know, I really don't like your plan!

You said you like the YC/BC, but you don't want points there because they expire sooner.

You are looking at the VGF, but haven't said anything about it that you actually like other than you wouldn't mind staying there and you believe it has rental potential.

You're more concerned about leasing your points out than using them for your own fun.

Really why are you buying somewhere you don't really want, intending to lease them to other people, and hoping to transfer into where you'd like to be -- at a disadvantage, for the next 25 or 40 years? That's so unnecessarily complicated.

Buy where you want to stay. Who cares if it ends in 25 years. What good does 40 years of not getting to stay in the Beach Club do you? You can rent out your points any time. But if you want to go to WDW, that will be the least of your concerns! Seriously if you're a Disney fan, getting rid of your points will not be your problem. We already want more.

I'm being deliberately facetious, hope you take this that way. I hope you buy in -- it's so much fun! But really I can't recommend more strongly you buy property where you want to stay. Good luck!!

 

[kniquy]

travel in low seasons

If this is truly DVC low seasons (talking Jan after marathon to beginning of september) then I would not buy an expensive resort like VGF. I would buy SSR (much lower buy in), book at 7 months and choose from what is available. If you think you will be traveling between septemer - marathon W/e in Jan -- and are going to have a preference of where you want to stay, then definitly buy where you heart is set on staying.

Will Disney have 25 VGF points to sell us or should I not count on this?

Buying a VGF resale with this plan is probably risky, they may not have the point to sell to you. I believe VGF was one of the resorts that had no waitlis. But if you went with the above plan and bought SSR chances are you would have no problem buying a 25 point direct. Buying the direct small contract really only makes sense if you plan on buying annual passes every year. Otherwise there isn't enough savings from other discounts ect to make up for paying the $176 (or whatever SSR is) for those 25 points

 

[kniquy]

As for the length of contract. You need to figure out your travel plans/habits/desires. We chose AKV because we plan on still using our contract when our kids are older and when we eventually have grandkids. Who knows what will really happen but if i bought one of the 2042 contracts then it could pose a couple problems:

1. We would be just at retirement when the contract was going to expire.
2. Even if we get to or close to retirement age and then decide to sell --we would not make anything back having a 2042 contract that only had 2 years left, but with a 2057 contract that has 17 years left we would be able to sell it and make a little something back.

These were just a couple things that persuaded us to go with a longer expiration based on where we are in our life. There are a number of resorts with the longer expiration so you just need to figure out what you can afford, where you really want to stay and where you think you might be in 20-25 years.

 

[disneynutz]

My lessons learned as a DVC owner:
Buy where you love to stay.
Buy the best UY for your vacation dates.
Book at 11 months.
Book online.
Buy more points than you think that you will need and rent the extras if unused.
Don't wait list.
Use email with MS to make changes, don't call.
Expect that Disney will do what's best for Disney, perks, policies, and rules will change.

Bill

 

[_auroraborealis_]

My point is that you can only charge a premium rental rate for a point in its home resort season, and if you can get the room at that resort.

Most people renting VGF want studios. Most people who bought VGF bought points for studios. There is an extended season of the year where if you didn't book at 11 months, you won't be able to get a full studio week at VGF, whether booking for self or others. It negates the premium-ness of that point.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'm really struggling with the whole buy where you want to stay concept because of the expiration years. As you know, the DVC program is very front-heavy as far as price is concerned, so the further you get from the initial payment, the better deal it becomes. I can probably break even at 25 years, but I am even more certain that I will 40 years from now. And I have heard different things about rooms filling up. Some, like you, say they will be full at 7 months. Others have said that they can usually get what they want at 7 months, as long as it's not a busy season. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm willing to part with that much money for a 25 year deal. Again, thanks for your thoughts. Any other opinions also welcome!

I can completely sympathize with your hesitation for a shorter contract. DH and I are in our early 30's, we have a 1 year old and plan to have more kids. I still envisioned traveling to Disney when my kids are in college and when DH and I are in our 50's. This is why DH and I struggled with buying at VWL which is our favorite resort. In the end we did it anyway because our love of the resort trumped the contract length. We compromised by buying a smaller contract there and will likely add a larger contract at AKV or BLT at some point down the line. Maybe they will also have other options at that point. I think the biggest concern for you is that the 7 month booking window is real hit or miss. DVC is a big investment and would you want to fork over all the money, go to book your first trip and realize there is no availability? If you plan to travel in low demand time and have flexible dates it might make sense but then you also have to factor in the unpredictability of future demand (i.e adding another DVC resort increasing the number of people seeking 7 month reservations). Plus VGF is awfully expensive, even for a resale contract to be just "ok" if you had to stay there.