Another "If, Then, When, What" thread- VDH direct, VGC Resale or neither?

[nalababybear]

Perfect, thank you for your input!! I checked the GCV availability tables and for some reason all of February and all of November seem to be instantly gone at 11 months but of course I have no idea why lol.

Point charts best for both Feb and Nov. Nov after veterans day is holiday overlays in full force so that hits a point, weather, and holiday environment.

Feb president's weekend is a very popular week. Plus many local passes are blocked out so really popular for visitors.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

So I am a local and never stay more than 2-3 nights when at DLR, but I think a fixed week during the week of Thanksgiving, or the last two weeks of the year may keep the most value because those are the times people reliably have a whole week off work/school. Mid-June might also be good because the weather is still usually quite pleasant and many of the schools are out?

 

[Disfamwa]

Since I’m crowd-sourcing our California contract choices anyway- we are going to buy a fixed week at VDH to hedge a little against the devaluation if we want to sell with the restrictions. I don’t know CA patterns at all, but want to buy a week and room type that would be in demand. Do you guys think that the duo studios or the preferred view regular studios would be more popular and harder to get?

I think a better hedge would be splitting your contract into two 75 point contracts. I think there are way more people who wouldn’t mind committing to 75 points that can only be used at VDH.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

I think a better hedge would be splitting your contract into two 75 point contracts. I think there are way more people who wouldn’t mind committing to 75 points that can only be used at VDH.

I could see this going either way. Small contracts have historically had a premium, but resale buyers tend to be more savvy and if restricted resale points turn out to be a nightmare they will be willing to pay a premium for a contract they know they can actually use at the week they want for annual trips. I wonder what the smallest FW you can get is? A 100 pt FW and 50 miscellaneous points might be the best of both worlds?

 

[pangyal]

If anyone has interest in seeing where this landed- first of all, thank you so much to all who responded as it really helped us shape this decision! We ended with:

1.) 100 resale VGC, due to be sent to ROFR soon, hopefully (and yes, I will post it in the ROFR thread ).

2.) Week 48 (US Thanksgiving week) in a standard studio at VDH- 161 points.

Thank you all for helping us to decide!

 

[VGCgroupie]

If anyone has interest in seeing where this landed- first of all, thank you so much to all who responded as it really helped us shape this decision! We ended with:

1.) 100 resale VGC, due to be sent to ROFR soon, hopefully (and yes, I will post it in the ROFR thread ).

2.) Week 48 (US Thanksgiving week) in a standard studio at VDH- 161 points.

Thank you all for helping us to decide!

Best of both worlds congrats!

 

[Tatebeck]

Congrats, welcome home neighbor!

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

If anyone has interest in seeing where this landed- first of all, thank you so much to all who responded as it really helped us shape this decision! We ended with:

1.) 100 resale VGC, due to be sent to ROFR soon, hopefully (and yes, I will post it in the ROFR thread ).

2.) Week 48 (US Thanksgiving week) in a standard studio at VDH- 161 points.

Thank you all for helping us to decide!

Looks like a great plan to me— Thanksgiving week in a studio should be easy to rent or sell, and it’s automatically booked for you, perfect. Did these end up being roughly equally expensive?

 

[pangyal]

Looks like a great plan to me— Thanksgiving week in a studio should be easy to rent or sell, and it’s automatically booked for you, perfect. Did these end up being roughly equally expensive?

The VDH was more, but not by a factor of 1.6, which is how many more points we got there as compared to VGC. They were both pretty eye-watering, though

 

[MartyParty]

Hello all,

I'm hoping to get the DisBoard's collective mind on this for me . Quick background- we have a lot of WDW points, a mix of resale and direct. We also have Aulani, which we are targeting to use every three years. The problem is, every time we have wanted to tack on DL to an Aulani stay, it's been a nailbiting ordeal of both walking the room and offering sacrifices to the VGC deities to get our room. So, we are thinking about adding on a California contract. The current incentives for VDH are pretty tempting, though I'm not crazy about the restrictions devaluing the contract if we sell. The transient tax is also yucky when added on. However, the contract is longer than VGC. We've stayed at VGC a number of times and loved it, but the cost per point is somewhat insane compared to VDH direct. We do want to stay on property.

Any advice or food for thought would be much appreciated !

Based on what you’ve described I’m going to say you want VDH direct. That gives you the most room choice for booking a stay in California.

Basing this on the fact that you already have a lot of mixed points, traveling to Aulani every 3 years, and that flexibility is more important for booking in California.

If it is price that matters, then VGC resale. Prices have been coming down. And as you already have some direct points you can book VDH at the 7 month mark if wanting to stay at VDH.

VDH will have more rooms once sold out. But if you’re craving VGC then buy there.

Good luck…

 

[MartyParty]

If anyone has interest in seeing where this landed- first of all, thank you so much to all who responded as it really helped us shape this decision! We ended with:

1.) 100 resale VGC, due to be sent to ROFR soon, hopefully (and yes, I will post it in the ROFR thread ).

2.) Week 48 (US Thanksgiving week) in a standard studio at VDH- 161 points.

Thank you all for helping us to decide!

Oops, missed your earlier post and decision. Congrats VGC!

We were in a similar spot wanting to book stays in California and rooms being difficult to get.

 

[NVDISFamily]

Resort day - Grey Wolf

I’m sorry, I’m not 100% sure what this reference or slang is and I’m usually the translator for that type of stuff for my wife

 

[MartyParty]

Like with everything on here all a matter of perspective. All things considered the walk from DL to VDH is not bad at all. The pool at VDH is superior to the one at VGC but then some people love having their balconies which largely aren’t available at VDH. The VGC rooms definitely need their refurb though, IMO they’re in worse shape than AKVs and are later on the refurb schedule but I’m sure will turn out great regardless.

I will admit if there’s any chance that you’ll use the points somewhat regularly at Aulani or Disney World VDH may be the way to go because then you’ll get direct and be able to use the points anywhere and you won’t be hit with the higher VDH transient taxes. I think the ToT just left a sour taste for DVC members when already paired with somewhat high dues.

But yeah, like I said everything is in the eye of the beholder. Some people LOVE OKW and want to stay there every time, and then you have people like me who will probably never spend our points there again. People love to hate on Riviera and yet we love it. VDH and VGC, more of the same.

A bit late to the party here but sharing thoughts anyways. Had to find a new job, found it, and been working extra to make the new job work.

Well stated re: perspective matters is totally key. This is probably the real guiding light for most folks. We live in Texas, so flying between FL or CA is potato potatoe. We prefer CA parks for the usual reasons most folk's do. And when it comes to walking from VDH to the main gates, I've clocked it out to be about the same walk as from BLT to MK's gate (we own at BLT). So for us the perspective is the same albeit VDH has the Disney theming that BLT does not (we like both by the way).

Would I rather have VGC? Yes absolutely....if direct. We're direct points people as we like the flexibility and want to have options for the future new locations that come online. We also never plan our trips at 11 months out albeit Disney or not Disney. Life's to crazy at the moment with our young adult kids in university / work. Fingers crossed they open that 3rd DVC resort in Downtown Disney next decade?! Again all perspective. Thanks for sharing.

Ok break over. Back to work...

 

[sparkhill]

I’m sorry, I’m not 100% sure what this reference or slang is and I’m usually the translator for that type of stuff for my wife

I think it may be a typo, referencing https://www.greatwolf.com/

 

[NVDISFamily]

I think it may be a typo, referencing https://www.greatwolf.com/

Ah okay. That’s a fun spot. We lucked out on a pre DVC trip and scored a stay there for a few nights via Hotwire. Kids had a blast but you had to get comfortable to the smell of the chemicals during each re-entry into the hotel. We like getting our gold passes to Knott’s and doing Soak City when we can.

 

[nalababybear]

I’m sorry, I’m not 100% sure what this reference or slang is and I’m usually the translator for that type of stuff for my wife

Meant to say great wolf lodge. That's our resort day stay. Down the road a little

 

[nalababybear]

If anyone has interest in seeing where this landed- first of all, thank you so much to all who responded as it really helped us shape this decision! We ended with:

1.) 100 resale VGC, due to be sent to ROFR soon, hopefully (and yes, I will post it in the ROFR thread ).

2.) Week 48 (US Thanksgiving week) in a standard studio at VDH- 161 points.

Thank you all for helping us to decide!

Welcome home x2! You split the baby and a great choice doing a fixed week. And still have the ability to choose out in the future for other resorts being direct points.

 

[SusieQ93]

What are the odds of buying VGC direct? How long is the typical wait for direct points to come through? We are wanting a small contract - not ready to pull the trigger for a couple months. The price difference between direct and resale for a small contract is negligible, so would be nice to get a loaded contract in our current UY and just have the buying process be easy. I’ve considered VDH and have a stay in September so can make a final judgment then, but my feeling on it is that I will sometimes regret not having VGC if I buy VDH, but if I buy VGC would not have those same feelings about not having VDH.

 

[VGCgroupie]

What are the odds of buying VGC direct? How long is the typical wait for direct points to come through? We are wanting a small contract - not ready to pull the trigger for a couple months. The price difference between direct and resale for a small contract is negligible, so would be nice to get a loaded contract in our current UY and just have the buying process be easy. I’ve considered VDH and have a stay in September so can make a final judgment then, but my feeling on it is that I will sometimes regret not having VGC if I buy VDH, but if I buy VGC would not have those same feelings about not having VDH.

I was told no when I tried to buy direct end of May. People who have guides that are good will often check and call people when they see availability pop up. Problem with this is, I think quality of guides is highly variable so the probability of them looking for you daily could be slim.

There are a few under 100 point contracts currently on the resale market. I saw another 50 point last week come on the market and it sold within a day. I’d keep an eye out on resale too.

 

[VGCgroupie]

1.) 100 resale VGC, due to be sent to ROFR soon, hopefully (and yes, I will post it in the ROFR thread !

Just over here patiently waiting to see what you paid….I kid I kid….. kind of.