All About Fixed Weeks (RIV/CCV/AUL/VGF/POLY/TOWER/VHD/FWC Charts)

[Brian Noble]

You do when you buy, don’t you? If I want 150 points, then I buy 150 points.

Sort of. If you can use 165, then you are buying 165, and sometimes you spend 15 of those to avoid having to wake up and use an atomic clock to make a hard-to-get booking. That sounds silly, but I've done silly things to avoid inconvenience.

 

[twincruisers]

For use year it is like a normal contract. You can choose one most of the time if you like, or they will give you one. Typically it's smart to get a use year a few months ahead of the fixed week, not after the fixed week to avoid missing the banking deadline etc.

FW contracts can't change, they are set. If Disney adjusts a period to cost more points, congrats you get a discount now on the week when you use the FW. If they decrease the point cost for a period you can book normally instead of using the FW and still get the lower cost. It effectively can give you a hedge against a travel period increase on the week of your choice.

Unless you meant do the fixed week costs go up at new resorts, then yes. The FW point cost is based on the normal reservation at each hotel. So a FW for a room at the Poly Tower will usually bend more than the same FW with the same view category at RIV for example

Hmm, I was on Team VGC, but FW option does open the door for Team VDH to be more meaningful option as VGC has no FWs. The fact that points don't change is not a bad price to pay for the 10% up-front premium.

Does this also mean TOT and other taxes and fees stay the same since your annual points count doesn't change?

 

[Sandisw]

Sort of. If you can use 165, then you are buying 165, and sometimes you spend 15 of those to avoid having to wake up and use an atomic clock to make a hard-to-get booking. That sounds silly, but I've done silly things to avoid inconvenience.

Sure, if you want those extras, then it might make sense

But if one will never use a FW…and we won’t ever do 7 nights at one resort, even if we did do a 7 night trip…I won’t be benefiting from not having to try for a hard to get room since I’d have to book it myself as it would be less than 7 days.

So, it really has no benefit.

 

[Brian Noble]

There still is a benefit, though it is very marginal:

If there are two 165 point contracts, one includes a favorite week and one does not, the one that does might have more value to some buyers.

I would 100% ignore this, though.

In other words: "Has no value to you" is not the same as "has no value."

 

[VGCgroupie]

Hmm, I was on Team VGC, but FW option does open the door for Team VDH to be more meaningful option as VGC has no FWs. The fact that points don't change is not a bad price to pay for the 10% up-front premium.

Does this also mean TOT and other taxes and fees stay the same since your annual points count doesn't change?

I am 100% team VGC. But I bought VDH w/ a FW and then some extra on the side. TOT is charged based on the amount of points used to book the room for that stay at VDH.

 

[twincruisers]

I am 100% team VGC. But I bought VDH w/ a FW and then some extra on the side. TOT is charged based on the amount of points used to book the room for that stay at VDH.

So taking that to conclusion, so points are set upon purchase so TOT and other taxes and fees won't go up annually. Do I have that right?

 

[VGCgroupie]

So taking that to conclusion, so points are set upon purchase so TOT and other taxes and fees won't go up annually. Do I have that right?

Maintenance fees change every year at every resort not just VDH. The TOT can and likely will go up annually. With TOT you pay the tax based on how points it took to stay in the room at VDH. If you dont stay at VDH you dont pay any extra taxes. FW doesnt change how the TOT is charged, I thought your initial question was regarding TOT and FW. Also TOT is built into the MF at VGC its a much much lower % than VDH but its still there and will be part of the reason MF's go up.

 

[twincruisers]

Maintenance fees change every year at every resort not just VDH. The TOT can and likely will go up annually. With TOT you pay the tax based on how points it took to stay in the room at VDH. If you dont stay at VDH you dont pay any extra taxes. FW doesnt change how the TOT is charged, I thought your initial question was regarding TOT and FW. Also TOT is built into the MF at VGC its a much much lower % than VDH but its still there and will be part of the reason MF's go up.

Ok, got it, so MF will change annually per point so that goes up, got it. But the FW part with TOT is something I'm a little unclear on.

If in a FW contract our points don't change from Year 1 to Year 50, wouldn't TOT stay the same too? My question was still related to FW and TOT, but maybe asked in a different way. Hopefully that is more clear now that I didn't mix in MF into the question.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Ok, got it, so MF will change annually per point so that goes up, got it. But the FW part with TOT is something I'm a little unclear on.

If in a FW contract our points don't change from Year 1 to Year 50, wouldn't TOT stay the same too? My question was still related to FW and TOT, but maybe asked in a different way. Hopefully that is more clear now that I didn't mix in MF into the question.

The amount of points it takes to stay on your FW doesn't change. What does change is how much the tax costs per point. So my fixed week is 138 points. Whenever I choose to use my week I am charged whatever the current TOT is for 138 points at checkout. If i choose to not stay my FW and get a room for 1 night for 24 points I pay tax on 24 points at checkout. If I choose to stay at VGC or somewhere at WDW I dont pay any tax at checkout.

Hopefully this makes sense. The tax rate can change every year.

 

[twincruisers]

The amount of points it takes to stay on your FW doesn't change. What does change is how much the tax costs per point. So my fixed week is 138 points. Whenever I choose to use my week I am charged whatever the current TOT is for 138 points at checkout. If i choose to not stay my FW and get a room for 1 night for 24 points I pay tax on 24 points at checkout. If I choose to stay at VGC or somewhere at WDW I dont pay any tax at checkout.

Hopefully this makes sense. The tax rate can change every year.

Got it, there was an assumption in there that I wasn't making. TOT can change the tax rate, but I was assuming it steady for the purposes of the question. But if the TOT is constant and the number of points stays the same, my annual trip to VDH would have the same checkout bill each year.

I would also assume that the TOT would be based on the $ per point that I paid at purchase for the life of the FW. Not variable with the rising values of VDH's annual base point value.

 

[Sandisw]

There still is a benefit, though it is very marginal:

If there are two 165 point contracts, one includes a favorite week and one does not, the one that does might have more value to some buyers.

I would 100% ignore this, though.

In other words: "Has no value to you" is not the same as "has no value."

Which was what my post was about…why I see no value or benefit in owning a FW…which was an answer to why everyone wouldn’t buy a FW from the start.

 

[ShaneDJ]

..,wouldn't TOT stay the same too?

No.

Very simply: TOT will change and TOT will go up.

That has nothing to do with Fixed Weeks.

TOT is one of the main reasons why people don’t want to buy/use points at VDH.

 

[Sandisw]

Got it, there was an assumption in there that I wasn't making. TOT can change the tax rate, but I was assuming it steady for the purposes of the question. But if the TOT is constant and the number of points stays the same, my annual trip to VDH would have the same checkout bill each year.

I would also assume that the TOT would be based on the $ per point that I paid at purchase for the life of the FW. Not variable with the rising values of VDH's annual base point value.

The ToT tax is an annual rate and can and will go up, just like MFs will go up.

So, if thr TOT in 2025 is $2,84…making up that number and you have a FW for 100 points, your tax is $284.

If it goes to $3 in 2026, then you pay $300, etc.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Got it, there was an assumption in there that I wasn't making. TOT can change the tax rate, but I was assuming it steady for the purposes of the question. But if the TOT is constant and the number of points stays the same, my annual trip to VDH would have the same checkout bill each year.

I would also assume that the TOT would be based on the $ per point that I paid at purchase for the life of the FW. Not variable with the rising values of VDH's annual base point value.

Maybe this will help. Below is the cost per point. Only charged when you stay at VDH and charged on whatever the point cost is per night regardless if it’s a FW stay.

In 2024 you pay 2.78 per point at checkout when you stay at VDH

In 2025 you pay 2.87 per point at checkout when you stay at VDH

We don’t know what the price per point will be for 2026 yet.

 

[twincruisers]

Great replies, thank you!

After all that, I'm back on Team VGC again.

 

[WeIcomeHome]

I'll share my thought process to add to the FW UY conversation.

I bought FW 39 but plan to travel March to June and Sept/October most years. Week 39 starts the last couple days of September but if I had a September or June UY it wouldn't have aligned with my preferred travel times as banking deadlines would have made late spring trips riskier. I went with a March UY which has a banking deadline of October 31st so I can still bank points if I had to cancel 31 days in advance. This also means most years when I don't use my FW I will likely have a different reservation booked 12 months before and my FW won't be booked.

 

[Mikey15]

I'll share my thought process to add to the FW UY conversation.

I bought FW 39 but plan to travel March to June and Sept/October most years. Week 39 starts the last couple days of September but if I had a September or June UY it wouldn't have aligned with my preferred travel times as banking deadlines would have made late spring trips riskier. I went with a March UY which has a banking deadline of October 31st so I can still bank points if I had to cancel 31 days in advance. This also means most years when I don't use my FW I will likely have a different reservation booked 12 months before and my FW won't be booked.

Seems like a good flexible setup.

My pie-in-the-sky setup is kind of the opposite. We tend to travel in the fall (Oct to early Nov) but week 19 is a sort-of deal as well as great timing for me for a spring trip in years we want to / are able to go twice. I’d either be looking at Apr UY (so the odd December trip could be adjusted 30 days out and still banked) or Oct UY (a cancelled May FW trip 30 days out could still be banked). Sounds weird to have a May FW and Oct UY but it sounds like you’ve done the same math. June / July / Aug are my least likely times to go to FL.

 

[BrianLo]

There still is a benefit, though it is very marginal:

If there are two 165 point contracts, one includes a favorite week and one does not, the one that does might have more value to some buyers.

I would 100% ignore this, though.

In other words: "Has no value to you" is not the same as "has no value."

I’m with @Sandisw on this one. Might is the operative word here. It’s a gamble. It might also have less value if potential novice buyers are confused by it or the Dis-poster circa 2024 picked some random easy to book unit and week no one wants in ten years. Especially if the points chart worsens against their favour. I know there’s a logical argument that a point is a point, but anything to make the contact seem less than decreases the pool of buyers.

On the other hand, I think splitting a 165 into three definitely increases the value. This is well tested in the market. Random fixed weeks, just because, really aren’t yet.

So I side on the you have to actually want to use it sometimes. Plus it should probably be a unit and week that you actually expect is difficult to book. Otherwise just buy the points total you actually want and pay to split the contract into pieces.

 

[Tatebeck]

I’m with @Sandisw on this one. Might is the operative word here. It’s a gamble. It might also have less value if potential novice buyers are confused by it or the Dis-poster circa 2024 picked some random easy to book unit and week no one wants in ten years. Especially if the points chart worsens against their favour. I know there’s a logical argument that a point is a point, but anything to make the contact seem less than decreases the pool of buyers.

On the other hand, I think splitting a 165 into three definitely increases the value. This is well tested in the market. Random fixed weeks, just because, really aren’t yet.

So I side on the you have to actually want to use it sometimes. Plus it should probably be a unit and week that you actually expect is difficult to book. Otherwise just buy the points total you actually want and pay to split the contract into pieces.

In a way I agree, just picking a random week isn't likely to help in any meaningful way. But picking a lower point chart room in early December for example is a pretty safe bet.

But, if there is a decent fixed week for around the number of points you want to buy, it doesn't cost you anything up front to add a fixed week. You only "lose" some value when you actually use the fixed week (and depending on the week, it may actually save you points if it was a cheap week when the FW chart was made or if Disney has raised the point cost of that period after you bought the FW).

It DOES cost you more to split a contract up into smaller chunks. So in a way that is actually more of a gamble. If you never sell, then that money was technically wasted, but if you got a fixed week but never used it, you never wasted anything.

It's just another option you can choose from at the end of the day. How much benefit you get out of a fixed week vs splitting contracts just depends on what fixed week you have and if you ever end up selling it. There is no way to know how Disney will adjust the point charts ahead of time or if you will end up selling the contract in the future. It could be considered a "gamble" either way.

I kind of did a bit of both with my 300 pt direct purchase to get to the best incentive level when I bought. 2 fixed weeks in a harder to book standard view at RIV + 1 small contract. 1 for week 39 during a "discounted" week that actually costs less than booking normally during Food and Wine for Epcot access, and 1 week 50 during early December when booking is tough. 114pts, 135 points, and a 51 point extra contract. I don't imagine any of them would be that hard to sell but now I have various options to use, keep, sell, etc. in the future.

 

[Sandisw]

In a way I agree, just picking a random week isn't likely to help in any meaningful way. But picking a lower point chart room in early December for example is a pretty safe bet.

But, if there is a decent fixed week for around the number of points you want to buy, it doesn't cost you anything up front to add a fixed week. You only "lose" some value when you actually use the fixed week (and depending on the week, it may actually save you points if it was a cheap week when the FW chart was made or if Disney has raised the point cost of that period after you bought the FW).

It DOES cost you more to split a contract up into smaller chunks. So in a way that is actually more of a gamble. If you never sell, then that money was technically wasted, but if you got a fixed week but never used it, you never wasted anything.

It's just another option you can at the end of the day. How much benefit you get out of a fixed week vs splitting contracts just depends on what fixed week you have and if you ever end up selling it. There is no way to know how Disney will adjust the point charts ahead of time or if you will end up selling the contract in the future. It could be considered a "gamble" either way.

I kind of did a bit of both with my 300 pt direct purchase to get to the best incentive level when I bought. 2 fixed weeks in a harder to book standard view at RIV + 1 small contract. 1 for week 39 during a "discounted" week that actually costs less than booking normally during Food and Wine for Epcot access, and 1 week 50 during early December when booking is tough. 114pts, 135 points, and a 51 point extra contract. I don't imagine any of them would be that hard to sell but now I have various options to use, keep, sell, etc. in the future.

But isn’t one of the benefits of a FW that it might sell better?

Wouldn’t smaller contracts sell better as well? Let’s go back to my example…if I buy 150 points as a 100 and 50, it’s costing me $250 extra

If I buy a FW contract for 150, I can only sell it as a FW contract?

Again, if one is never going to use it, then it makes no logical sense IMO to buy one. So, that is why no everyone gets them.

It doesn’t make sense for all situations.