Any insight on purchasing grand californian direct?

[AquaDame]

I cannot get an agent to answer my questions without calling (though they were more than happy to send me the generic information packet about Aulani and Grand Floridian after I asked them NOT to). Does anyone know what the current cost per point is, and about how long the wait list is currently? I know it can change day to day but even a rough estimate would be wonderful.

Thank you, we are trying to decide between the not yet announced Poly & purchasing closer to home!

 

[dmunsil]

The direct price is $165/point with no incentives. No idea on the waiting list length. There have been reports of it being really long (like a year), and reports of it being not too bad (3 months or so). It may depend on which use year you need. If you don't care about use year, that should shorten the wait, I would think.

I think you're going to need to call them to get the current info. They won't send any info of that nature via email, ever. It's policy, because the company doesn't want to be held to a promise made by a sales person who didn't understand the situation correctly (or, heaven forbid, lied about something).

 

[AquaDame]

So it's ok to make mistakes and lie on the phone? Technically UY doesn't matter since we don't own yet and aren't tied to school breaks though I would love a specific one of course. The price point is very helpful, thank you! I think that is the same for VGF, isn't it? Was thinking it might be a little less but I know thats just the first drop in the bucket! Thank you!

 

[dmunsil]

So it's ok to make mistakes and lie on the phone?

Of course not. Look at it from Disney's perspective - if they get a "bad apple" into their sales staff, and he or she makes foolish promises left and right, if those promises were made verbally Disney has more room to fix things once they figure out that this person is a problem and turfs them out.

People cut other people more slack when they are remembering a promise made verbally some time ago rather than in an email they can print out and brandish at the poor customer service rep who has to deal with the fallout.

These policies are not uncommon in any kind of high-dollar sales environment. You probably can't get a car salesman to commit to anything via email at most dealerships. Real estate agents tend to like to talk things over on the phone or face to face as much as possible. Even if we assume that they're completely reputable, they can make mistakes as well, and they'd prefer to limit the damage those mistakes can cause.

This is why, over and over, people say that when dealing with big money deals, anything that isn't in writing should be considered...speculative, let's say.

Here's an example: a salesperson might say to you, "DVC members can buy annual passes for the same price as local Florida residents!" And this is true - with caveats. It only applies to one specific annual pass, not all of them, and it's an ancillary perk that is not in the contract and Disney can take away or modify any time. Lots of things that a DVC salesperson might say to you could be true, but really should come with a lot of footnotes. Strangely enough, salespeople don't like to cover all that fine print...

Technically UY doesn't matter since we don't own yet and aren't tied to school breaks though I would love a specific one of course. The price point is very helpful, thank you! I think that is the same for VGF, isn't it? Was thinking it might be a little less but I know thats just the first drop in the bucket! Thank you!

VGC is higher than VGF ($165 vs. $150 per point). Have you considered resale? I just bought some VGC resale, and while there aren't very many resale contracts for VGC each month, there are some, and if you are diligent you can certainly snag one for much less than $165. You can put the savings toward buying some Poly points when they become available.

 

[Minniesgal]

The waitlist isn't that long but if you call a guide will give you a reasonable estimate. We were on the waitlist this year and it took about 3 months. We didn't buy them in the end becasue we found them resale while we were waiting but we would have bought if resale hadn't worked.

 

[tjkraz]

It is DVC policy to not respond to sales-related inquiries via email. The liability is simply too great.

The policy isn't based solely upon a fear of lies or deception. Poorly phrased or misleading written responses could be held against Disney, and prove very costly in the long run. We're talking about a 5-figure real estate investment.

Even when speaking to a DVC sales rep, the responses you get are little more than their opinion or interpretation of the program rules.

Honestly you're better off asking questions here if you want to get fair and balanced feedback. That's not to say a DVC rep would mislead you, but at the end of the day they are paid salespeople who must meet quotas in order to pay their mortgage.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

It is DVC policy to not respond to sales-related inquiries via email. The liability is simply too great.

The policy isn't based solely upon a fear of lies or deception. Poorly phrased or misleading written responses could be held against Disney, and prove very costly in the long run. We're talking about a 5-figure real estate investment.

Even when speaking to a DVC sales rep, the responses you get are little more than their opinion or interpretation of the program rules.

Honestly you're better off asking questions here if you want to get fair and balanced feedback. That's not to say a DVC rep would mislead you, but at the end of the day they are paid salespeople who must meet quotas in order to pay their mortgage.

In addition folks have been known to "tamper" with emails. We had a situation like that recently where I work, the email that came back to us was NOT the same as what went out... the 'responder' had changed our initial email and "hoped" we would not notice. (we did!)

 

[Disney 24/7]

I was on the wait list for VGC (July 2012) and got the call 9 months later (March 2013) that 62pt contract is available. I wanted a specific use year, March, to match my BLT and Aulani contracts. Maybe the wait list is shorter for the other use years but I do know March contracts are hard to come by.

 

[BlazerFan]

I've been on the VGC wait list since mid March with no luck so far. I told my guide I would take any use year but not luck. I think I fell off the list because its more than 6 months but I has him add me to the list again this summer so I would have another place in line.

 

[luv2sleep]

I was in the list last year and it came through in my use year after a month. I turned it down though.

 

[disneydenisel]

We had been on the VGC waitlist for just over six months and I asked for either of two UYs and the waitlist just cleared on Friday !

I knew we still wanted the points because I could not get a single VGC contract resale since Disney kept exercising ROFR . This was our first direct purchase and the points were in our account and banked by Saturday .

Good luck with your decision. You have nothing to lose by getting on the direct waitlist and in the meantime, if you find a resale contract that sticks, then you can get off the list or wait for it to clear and say no thanks . It's all good!

 

[BlazerFan]

We had been on the VGC waitlist for just over six months and I asked for either of two UYs and the waitlist just cleared on Friday !

I knew we still wanted the points because I could not get a single VGC contract resale since Disney kept exercising ROFR . This was our first direct purchase and the points were in our account and banked by Saturday .

Good luck with your decision. You have nothing to lose by getting on the direct waitlist and in the meantime, if you find a resale contract that sticks, then you can get off the list or wait for it to clear and say no thanks . It's all good!

What use year and how many points? I got on the list on March 16 and asked for any use year in any increment of 50 or more.

 

[BlazerFan]

We had been on the VGC waitlist for just over six months and I asked for either of two UYs and the waitlist just cleared on Friday !

It's all good!

Oh, and congratulations!!!

 

[disneydenisel]

What use year and how many points? I got on the list on March 16 and asked for any use year in any increment of 50 or more.

I asked for June or Dec UY, 50 x 2, or 100 points, whichever came first. Dec came up first, so we are buying that. We got on the list on March 14!!! Two days before you. Maybe you'll get a call very soon. Sending pixie dust !

Thanks for your congratulations .

 

[BlazerFan]

I asked for June or Dec UY, 50 x 2, or 100 points, whichever came first. Dec came up first, so we are buying that. We got on the list on March 14!!! Two days before you. Maybe you'll get a call very soon. Sending pixie dust !

Thanks for your congratulations .

That is good news! We have a June use year but I wouldn't mind a different use year for April-May trips. Did you get all 100 or just 50?

 

[disneydenisel]

That is good news! We have a June use year but I wouldn't mind a different use year for April-May trips. Did you get all 100 or just 50?

After waiting so long, it was an easy decision ! All 100 points!

 

[AquaDame]

VGC is higher than VGF ($165 vs. $150 per point). Have you considered resale? I just bought some VGC resale, and while there aren't very many resale contracts for VGC each month, there are some, and if you are diligent you can certainly snag one for much less than $165. You can put the savings toward buying some Poly points when they become available.

\

I know, its insane! I bet Poly will be similar in price by the time it comes out. We tend to just do long weekends at DLR though, so 100 pointsish should do us fine.

I've been on the VGC wait list since mid March with no luck so far. I told my guide I would take any use year but not luck. I think I fell off the list because its more than 6 months but I has him add me to the list again this summer so I would have another place in line.

Drat - we could do any use year as well since we don't own yet; was hoping that would help. I didn't know there was a 6 month limit to the list either.

We had been on the VGC waitlist for just over six months and I asked for either of two UYs and the waitlist just cleared on Friday !

I knew we still wanted the points because I could not get a single VGC contract resale since Disney kept exercising ROFR . This was our first direct purchase and the points were in our account and banked by Saturday .

Good luck with your decision. You have nothing to lose by getting on the direct waitlist and in the meantime, if you find a resale contract that sticks, then you can get off the list or wait for it to clear and say no thanks . It's all good!

Congrats on yours! I did not know you were not obligated if it came through... that and the 6 month waiting list changes things...!

 

[chrisaman]

We are currently in ROFR with VGC for a 100 point contract. We are paying $115 a point with no 2013 points. First points coming 2014 December use year. Hopefully it makes it through but there are VGC's out there for resale. My opinion is why buy it direct. If you want to use the points in non DVC places, why not buy a cheaper place for soemthing like that. We bought small resale for the 11 month booking at VGC then will buy elsewhere where it is cheaper for other trips. Somewhere like SS

 

[AquaDame]

GCV is the only one I am thinking of going direct for - the only reason is how often they get ROFRed and how fast they go - I have not been able to hop fast enough even if I was 100% certain Poly is out. I am also making the assumption that GCV is almost never available 7 months out for a studio and I'm not sure how I can find that out.

Edit: what the heck, I may as well go more into detail. The fact is, we live on the west coast. We love both parks, but honestly my husband prefers DLR - its easier walking, you don't have to deal with buses, the airfare is cheaper and getting to Florida is a PIA. We love it at WDW too though - frankly they just have more stuff to do and all the cruise ships are leaving from the SE US!- and I love love love the Poly. I'm not sure what they are going to do with it by the time they are done though... will the charm be stripped away? Will Trader Sams be as impossible to go have a drink in as it is in DLR for the crowds? But then, if I buy in to GCV and then they turn around and open a new resort with themeing I like better (we live in the PacNW, so the themeing in GCV doesn't impress me and the DLH monorail pool blows theirs out of the water!) will I be kicking myself? It seems to make the most sense to buy in at Poly, try to use it sometimes in GCV (and be annoyed when we can't, but the motels on harbour are fine and cheap) and wait and see what they do for DLR after Aulani sufficiently sells.

 

[Breyean]

We are currently in ROFR with VGC for a 100 point contract. We are paying $115 a point with no 2013 points. First points coming 2014 December use year. Hopefully it makes it through but there are VGC's out there for resale. My opinion is why buy it direct. If you want to use the points in non DVC places, why not buy a cheaper place for soemthing like that. We bought small resale for the 11 month booking at VGC then will buy elsewhere where it is cheaper for other trips. Somewhere like SS

Good luck to you. I have been kicking the tires on a potential VGC add on and spoke with my go-to sales person where I've bought several resales. My last was 125 at VGC this past January for $90, loaded, right before things zoomed!

She said she's seen VGC contracts passing recently at $105, while under that they were ROFR'd. Then she offered me a contract priced at $89! I laughed. It wasn't my UY and it was too many points, but why list something THAT low when you JUST SAID $105 is the ROFR line? Even if the sellers were desperate (they supposedly were), they could still move a VGC contract pretty fast for $10-15 more than that!

On what you said about points, I agree, and that's what we do. We have OKW points since forever, and use them for as many things as possible. For example, we had used our VGC points for a GV next Feb at 11 months. Then, at the 7 month mark, we used our OKW points to add an extra night in the GV.

Always feels like I really scored whenever I can get VGC using OKW points! And we use our OKW points, even borrowing when we need to, for our WDW trips. NEVER touch the VGC points except for stays there.