Anyone else buying before they increase the blue card minimum?

[zapple]

We just did. We already have a BW contract that qualifies, but we wanted to get a resort with a longer term before they increase the minimum again or raise prices.

The guide said that Blue card minimum is going up on October 19. She didn't say by how much (I didn't ask), but she did confirm October 19. We were able to get a December use year, I know some people were wondering about that. She said we can bank the current points, but I haven't called to do so yet.

She said that they had a lot of contracts available at OKW, SSR, BLT and Poly in particular, in various use years.

We decided on OKW, for the price and amount of time left, and wanted December to match our use year. We called today and the guide said they had 100 pt December at OKW, so we purchased it over the phone. The guide called back a few minutes later and said the contract was gone before she could submit it, it went to someone on the waiting list. She said that there were several people already waiting for Dec OKW points. She put us on the wait list and said that they had Feb and March available right now. I asked if SSR or AKV were available in Dec and she said no to SSR, but yes to AKV.

So we bought the AKV contract to get those 2019 points (we already have a resale there), but she said that she would keep checking for an OKW for us and if one comes through in the next 30 days, before our contract closes, then we can switch to OKW and be refunded the difference. We haven't gotten our new credit card with a 0% 15 month intro offer yet, so we put 10% down on our Disney visa and we have 30 days to call member accounting and pay the rest.

Just sharing our direct purchase experience before they raise the minimum again.

 

[luckyharri77]

I think about it every year or so, but I can’t justify the price difference retail vs resale. I really try (it’s hard lining up ads-on contracts with UY, direct would be so much easier), but ahh...can’t do it.

 

[tdavenport]

We bought 100 points direct at Poly today with a June use year since we’re also in the process of closing on a resale VGC contract with that use year. We live in Alaska so only had the options to buy Poly, Copper Creek, Aulani and Riviera direct. We know we can’t really justify the price, but we’re pretty happy knowing that we got exactly what we want—VGC, Poly, and a blue card.

 

[DVC Fanatic]

We were very fortunate to buy 75 points at VGF a few years ago when that was the minimum. It was hard to justify the price at the time, but looking at the 2-3 price increases and now the minimum being raised to 125 points, we are very glad we did. We added a resale contract with the same UY and finally quenched our add-on-itis. Enjoy.

 

[Stargazer65]

Just curious, what was the minimum back in 2010? That's when I first got in with 100 pts direct, I wasn't even aware of resales.

 

[Bing Showei]

Just curious, what was the minimum back in 2010? That's when I first got in with 100 pts direct, I wasn't even aware of resales.

In 2010, the minimum was 0.

 

[Stargazer65]

In 2010, the minimum was 0.

Ah, when did they first start the minimum thing for a blue card?

 

[Spinster Travel]

I'll admit that I really WANT to buy Direct before the minimum goes up but I just can't bring myself to do it. I just closed on a Poly resale and told myself that was all I needed for the time being. I am headed down for a stay in a few weeks and imagine that I'll be kicking myself for not adding on before the increase.....I still have time to change my mind...

 

[MassMike21]

I have been getting pretty big fomo over this one. I don't own yet, basically have been on analysis paralisis thinking prices would plummet at some point on resale. My guide was going to touch base today or tomorrow to see if I wanted to pull the trigger on a 100 point SSR contract.

I think right now for a family of my size (3) it is really tough to justify the extra $6.5k to buy direct vs resale. I can't imagine us taking advantage of the AP discount too often. We already have Disney Visa for some of the dining discounts. The moonlight magic is hit or miss on your timing. I still would spend money to do a Halloween party event anyways. You can bridge the gap a little bit by like banking your immediate points or selling them. But I still think you are in the red for like $4-5k minimum vs resale and that seems like a long way to make up saving a $100-$200 here every year or so of travel. The resale restrictions although ideal, don't bother me. I think I could be pretty happy with the accommodations over the next 30+ years as is.

I think the only thing that might make me pull the trigger would be if they had some reason to believe a new benefit was coming out or there was a really attractive financing option (ie: 0% for 5 years).

 

[dvc lover 1970]

Is the blue card minimum definitely going up? I can see purchasing the contract with the longer expiration plan - 2042 to what is AKV 2057? That is another 15 years. We have a mix of points between resale and direct, so we have a range of expiring contracts between 2042-2067. I will expire before my last contract expires. I think AKV is a good buy-love the resort!

 

[pkrieger2287]

I'm really shocked that they are not correlating the minimum increase with some sort of direct perk announcement. There isn't much right now to appeal to be a blue card member.

 

[Ruttangel]

They haven’t come up with anything that makes it worth it for me, until they do there is no point buying in the hope that they add something epic later on.

 

[braysmommy]

I have been getting pretty big fomo over this one. I don't own yet, basically have been on analysis paralisis thinking prices would plummet at some point on resale. My guide was going to touch base today or tomorrow to see if I wanted to pull the trigger on a 100 point SSR contract.

I think right now for a family of my size (3) it is really tough to justify the extra $6.5k to buy direct vs resale. I can't imagine us taking advantage of the AP discount too often. We already have Disney Visa for some of the dining discounts. The moonlight magic is hit or miss on your timing. I still would spend money to do a Halloween party event anyways. You can bridge the gap a little bit by like banking your immediate points or selling them. But I still think you are in the red for like $4-5k minimum vs resale and that seems like a long way to make up saving a $100-$200 here every year or so of travel. The resale restrictions although ideal, don't bother me. I think I could be pretty happy with the accommodations over the next 30+ years as is.

I think the only thing that might make me pull the trigger would be if they had some reason to believe a new benefit was coming out or there was a really attractive financing option (ie: 0% for 5 years).

I'm in the same boat but it is just me and my son so would take years but I almost bought for the blue card until the voice of reason kicked in!

 

[TinkB278]

I'm really shocked that they are not correlating the minimum increase with some sort of direct perk announcement. There isn't much right now to appeal to be a blue card member.

Do you think something might be in the works that won’t be announced until that day?

 

[Lorana]

Do you think something might be in the works that won’t be announced until that day?

I think someone posted a while back that there were some guides excited about what they were going to do for direct perks... but then we heard nothing. Not sure if that was just a guide trying to hype someone to buy direct, or a case where Disney changed its mind... or maybe something is coming.

I wouldn't buy direct expecting something new to be announced, but I am hoping that they do add to direct perks. It might also be that they offer different incentives like they used to do, like adding APs with the purchase.

 

[Sandisw]

Ah, when did they first start the minimum thing for a blue card?

Perks were eliminated in April 2012 I believe.

 

[Sandisw]

Do you think something might be in the works that won’t be announced until that day?

I could see that they will. Also, WDW has begun allowing the purchase for select guests right now.

So, its very possible that we will see that expanded to DVC owners really soon.

I would love to see them allow us to purchase daily tickets at a discount since many go through other discount sellers.

 

[Stargazer65]

Perks were eliminated in April 2012 I believe.

Ah, okay. That explains why there was no spiel about direct vs resales that I remember when I was being magically pulled into DVC during that vacation. It didn't matter anyway, they already sucked us in with the "free vacation incentive".

 

[db24]

We just did. We already have a BW contract that qualifies, but we wanted to get a resort with a longer term before they increase the minimum again or raise prices.

The guide said that Blue card minimum is going up on October 19. She didn't say by how much (I didn't ask), but she did confirm October 19. We were able to get a December use year, I know some people were wondering about that. She said we can bank the current points, but I haven't called to do so yet.

She said that they had a lot of contracts available at OKW, SSR, BLT and Poly in particular, in various use years.

We decided on OKW, for the price and amount of time left, and wanted December to match our use year. We called today and the guide said they had 100 pt December at OKW, so we purchased it over the phone. The guide called back a few minutes later and said the contract was gone before she could submit it, it went to someone on the waiting list. She said that there were several people already waiting for Dec OKW points. She put us on the wait list and said that they had Feb and March available right now. I asked if SSR or AKV were available in Dec and she said no to SSR, but yes to AKV.

So we bought the AKV contract to get those 2019 points (we already have a resale there), but she said that she would keep checking for an OKW for us and if one comes through in the next 30 days, before our contract closes, then we can switch to OKW and be refunded the difference. We haven't gotten our new credit card with a 0% 15 month intro offer yet, so we put 10% down on our Disney visa and we have 30 days to call member accounting and pay the rest.

Just sharing our direct purchase experience before they raise the minimum again.

We just bought AKV before the minimum increases also. We already own resale there and was able to match up our use year. At first we started to buy OKW but decided to pay a little extra and change to AKV. It's our favorite resort and thought it was worth paying the extra for that. I have confirmed with a couple guides that the increase is happening on October 19th to 125 points.

You might want to confirm with your guide before switching your home resort after the 19th because you usually get a whole new contract to sign when that happens. Just make sure they don't give you a new contract with a 125 point minimum if the OKW you want becomes available. We actually had started buying OKW and then changed to AKV. When we changed they cancelled the OKW contract and wrote a new contract for us to sign for AKV.

 

[TinkB278]

Slightly off topic but are you given an actual physical blue card?