Aye, aye, aye! Need help with some numbers here from some vets (purchasing).

[Ben E N]

Actually, OKW has studios (Sun through Thur) for 10 points per night in Sept, Jan and early Dec. So other than the extra points needed for the Fri and Sat (13 points per night), you could get close to 20 nights for 200 points.

While this is definitely true for now, I would not buy points planning on this being the future of accommodations costs.
As we saw with the attempted 2020 points chart change, Disney wants to significantly increase the cost of studio rooms across the board.

 

[Deb & Bill]

What would you recommend-- and how do I judge which is best? Which would be better-- cheaper points at BRV, or longer use for CC?

BRV are a bit larger than the CCV, but there are no grand villas if those are important or CC Cabins. BRV tends to be a bit easier to book except for the Christmas holidays because it has been there longer than CCV, but everyone wants to stay at WL for the holidays.

 

[SwirlTheCitrus]

While this is definitely true for now, I would not buy points planning on this being the future of accommodations costs.
As we saw with the attempted 2020 points chart change, Disney wants to significantly increase the cost of studio rooms across the board.

Wow...okay, so the cast member told me that the points could never change. What is the proposal? Is there a document I could read about this?

 

[Deb & Bill]

Wow...okay, so the cast member told me that the points could never change. What is the proposal? Is there a document I could read about this?

The total number of points for each resort should not change unless they add to the resorts, like they did at OKW when they added the last three buildings around 1999. But the number of points required for a single night can change (as it has done in the past). Where points go up, they must go down for another time, category of villa, somewhere. So if studios go up, maybe two bedrooms go down. It also happened at SSR when they raised the number of points required for the THV and lowered the points required for the other villas. BUT, DVC tried to do some creative bookkeeping with the 2020 points and were called out on it.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

Wow...okay, so the cast member told me that the points could never change. What is the proposal? Is there a document I could read about this?

They told me the same thing but from what I gather is that they point charts can change, but the overall points on the point charts cannot be changed.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

They told me the same thing but from what I gather is that they point charts can change, but the overall points on the point charts cannot be changed.

And even that is not strictly true. If they get away with the lock off premium shift in the next update, it changes.

 

[kniquy]

Please tell me your thoughts/caveats/pitfalls/ etc. for the following idea, or recommend any other better ideas!

• 1. My family loves Contemporary, and so I was thinking about purchasing resale at BLT; worst case scenario we would be locked into this resort, no? We would need around 200 points.
• 2. Right now there is a sale at Aulani; if 200 points are purchased, 240 points are given, with bonus points beginning at 150. This seems to be too good to be true-- what am I missing?
  • Are ALL resorts hard to get at the 7 month window? which ones might be available to me? What might be a better investment, particularly if I start at 75 points?
• 3. I assume that RR is a bad idea? What's up with that? So, I could USE those points to book all 14 resorts, but if I were to sell the contract, it would be for metaphorically pennies on the dollar because the new owner would be locked in to that one resort (do I have that correct)?

Just some thoughts as I read through your situation.

1. As of right now if you buy BLT resale you have access to the other 14 resorts -- could this change -- possibly, but as past restrictions have been implemented current resale owners are grandfathered in. I don't know if they could go in an impose new restrictions on grandfathered in resale owners. I think they would be in a world of mess with many, many upset owners. So i don't think they would go this route. They could next year say all resale owners can only use points at their home resort. Have you looked at the point cost of the various resorts? You mention wanting to buy 200 points, where your first step is to look at the points charts of when you want to travel and from there figure out how many points to fit in those trips. I love the Davids DVC rental website. It provides you an at a glance point look at all resorts and all room categories. It will help you see the points cost different between the different resorts you are considering. You may want different resorts if you are traveling at different times of the year. From the points charts you can easily see that BLT is very point expensive (unless you snag a standard room) where as BRV is much cheaper -- so essentially you need less points to stay at the same time.

2. Do not buy off property if you want to stay on property. This could end in disappointment when you want to stay on property in a studio during food and wine - you look at 7 months and there are no studios available.

3. Riviera is a risky purchase. If you are ok with losing money if you have to sell in 5 years then go ahead and purchase, but if you want a resort that will hold value at this point it makes more sense to go with the legacy resorts.

As for splitting up purchases -- many people own multiple contracts. I think it just takes properly plotting out when you want to travel and which resort you want to stay at. I think starting out i would only do 2 resorts of the same UY. So you could do BLT and buy cheaper SSR points for sleeping around.

 

[skier_pete]

Thank you for that link-- I have been trying to find a resource!
So, from the underlying consensus here, is it a BAD purchase to buy the minimum 75 to get the perks? I was considering buying from resale and the minimum 75 at least from Disney. What are your thoughts?

So - let's say you buy 75 points from DVC for the benefits - versus 75 additional points at the same resort resale. using SSR - you will spend about $4875 more for the direct points. The main benefit is a reduced cost Gold AP versus the public Platinum AP. If you think you would use that - it's around $400 savings for each person - so by the time you buy 12 Gold APs (assuming they don't eliminate this in the near future - which they could) you would break even. Another way is the merch discount. 20% merch means you have to spend ~$25,000 on merch to be worth buying direct. I think that would take me about 50 years to reach, but each his own. There's a 10% food discount too which is harder to calculate - but again how fast will you buy $49,000 worth of food. Really the AP is the main financial incentive and if that isn't something you would use then I likely wouldn't buy direct.

A second way to look at it is you are saying you want to buy at BLT. Resale at BLT is $145 a point - so maybe instead of buying 225 points at BLT, you buy 150 points at BLT resale and 75 points SSR direct. Now you are only paying about $20 more per point for those 75 points versus the BLT contract, so now it only costs you $1500 extra. Of course the problem here is now you have two home resorts. Assuming you wisely buy the same Use Year, you can combine those points at 7 months advance, so you could use your BLT points to book 11 months at BLT, and then SSR points at maybe BLT buy maybe somewhere else. The question is really how important is BLT to you?

 

[mustinjourney]

A second way to look at it is you are saying you want to buy at BLT. Resale at BLT is $145 a point - so maybe instead of buying 225 points at BLT, you buy 150 points at BLT resale and 75 points SSR direct. Now you are only paying about $20 more per point for those 75 points versus the BLT contract, so now it only costs you $1500 extra. Of course the problem here is now you have two home resorts. Assuming you wisely buy the same Use Year, you can combine those points at 7 months advance, so you could use your BLT points to book 11 months at BLT, and then SSR points at maybe BLT buy maybe somewhere else. The question is really how important is BLT to you?

Great post as always!

Just wanted to add that another option for the OP (if they don't like doing split stays) could be to bank/borrow their BLT contract to get their 11 month stays, and then use the SSR points for the other trips when the BLT points are deplenished.

 

[DaveNan]

Wow...okay, so the cast member told me that the points could never change. What is the proposal? Is there a document I could read about this?

There is a long thread that grew very quickly last Dec/Jan

https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...to-stop-revert-the-2020-reallocation.3726101/
What everyone said here is accurate, but I will try to add a little more detail. DVD cannot increase the total number of points to reserve "deeded" villas. If they increase one season, view, or villa category they have to have a corresponding decrease in another. Based on how long a season is and the ratio of the different views/villa size, the daily changes may not be equal, but the overall number of points needed can't change. The gray area comes in with "deeded". If you look at Lock-off 2 BR's, it always takes more points to reserve it as a studio + a 1BR than it does to reserve it as a 2BR. The "can't increase the overall points needed" applies to the deeded 2BR number of points, not to the studio + 1BR number of points. In the original 2020 point charts the lock-off premium was increased. The studio and 1BR rates went up by 0%-15%, while the 2BR rate stayed the same or went down. In resorts with both deeded studios and 2BR's, since the deeded studio rates went up with the increased point requirement for studios there was a corresponding drop in the 2BR rate.

So ignoring the "deeded" villa factor, the number of points it takes to book a studio for the entire year went up. It caused quite a stir and many complaints to Disney. Right before the 11 month window for booking 1/1/2020, Disney came out with revised 2020 charts that matched the 2019 charts. But the official line was, they revised the charts because of poor communication of the change, not because it violated the letter of the rule and they maintained they had the right to make the change. Many believe the change differed from how they have marketed the product for years and time will tell if they make another run at this.

 

[ELMC]

THIS is interesting-- the cast member hinged his entire sales pitch on the idea that we could be locked into one resort in the future, and outright called all resale "trash" that he "wouldn't go near."

Methinks this guy was a tad shady.

Keep in mind that "trash" he is referring to is still a DVC contract. Direct, resale, they're both DVC, and regardless of the perks, bells, whistles, or options, they both fundamentally guarantee the right to stay at your home resort. Is that trash?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Keep in mind that "trash" he is referring to is still a DVC contract. Direct, resale, they're both DVC, and regardless of the perks, bells, whistles, or options, they both fundamentally guarantee the right to stay at your home resort. Is that trash?

And of course the DVC rep wouldn't go near resale. He gets no commission on it.

 

[sethschroeder]

20% merch means you have to spend ~$25,000 on merch to be worth buying direct.

I mean that is only 1 of the Cinderella Castles or R2D2 units.

 

[skier_pete]

There is a long thread that grew very quickly last Dec/Jan

https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...to-stop-revert-the-2020-reallocation.3726101/
What everyone said here is accurate, but I will try to add a little more detail. DVD cannot increase the total number of points to reserve "deeded" villas. If they increase one season, view, or villa category they have to have a corresponding decrease in another. Based on how long a season is and the ratio of the different views/villa size, the daily changes may not be equal, but the overall number of points needed can't change. The gray area comes in with "deeded". If you look at Lock-off 2 BR's, it always takes more points to reserve it as a studio + a 1BR than it does to reserve it as a 2BR. The "can't increase the overall points needed" applies to the deeded 2BR number of points, not to the studio + 1BR number of points. In the original 2020 point charts the lock-off premium was increased. The studio and 1BR rates went up by 0%-15%, while the 2BR rate stayed the same or went down. In resorts with both deeded studios and 2BR's, since the deeded studio rates went up with the increased point requirement for studios there was a corresponding drop in the 2BR rate.

So ignoring the "deeded" villa factor, the number of points it takes to book a studio for the entire year went up. It caused quite a stir and many complaints to Disney. Right before the 11 month window for booking 1/1/2020, Disney came out with revised 2020 charts that matched the 2019 charts. But the official line was, they revised the charts because of poor communication of the change, not because it violated the letter of the rule and they maintained they had the right to make the change. Many believe the change differed from how they have marketed the product for years and time will tell if they make another run at this.

Nice summary of that whole debacle. I was in on the conversation and was one of many board members that called DVC with their displeasure. In the end, they DID roll back that change - while at the same time more or less indicating they were going to do it again in 2021 only with better "communication". This issue is a "To be Continued..." one.

 

[Ben E N]

Nice summary of that whole debacle. I was in on the conversation and was one of many board members that called DVC with their displeasure. In the end, they DID roll back that change - while at the same time more or less indicating they were going to do it again in 2021 only with better "communication". This issue is a "To be Continued..." one.

With no one knowing what will change, other than that some sort of change is more likely than not, it is probably best to plan to buy 20% or so more points that you think you will need. Odds are strong they will be put to good use one way or another anyway.

 

[pamkat1820]

We just left Disney yesterday I did the tour for the first time because I was curious. Yes they tried hard sell will me also pushing me to check my credit (4xs he asked me) offering double my points if I buy now for a one time use but I had to give him a deposit of $500 right then and there. Needless to say I did the tour with my mom and left my husband with the kids. But he wanted that credit check with out talking to my husband first....

I’m not stupid if I get home and call him back he still won’t give me the same offer.... don’t believe it. Sorry

They seem very desperate for some reason I don’t know why makes me wonder why!

 

[Jdella27229]

Also do not forget about the maintenance fees. I’m at Cooper Creek and they’re reasonable. The Riviera is more expensive.

 

[EYL]

So, from the underlying consensus here, is it a BAD purchase to buy the minimum 75 to get the perks? I was considering buying from resale and the minimum 75 at least from Disney. What are your thoughts?

I wholly agree with the others' calculations that buying 75 points direct to get the *instant* (cash) perks isn't worth it unless you can make it up with AP discounts. But I'll throw in another consideration for you so that you can value it personally... Another "perk" of those 75 direct points are that you can use it to book any future DVC resort starting with Riviera and on. I'm not sure what that's worth to you (since "value" differs from people to people), but it's there. For those that are content with the L14 or don't sleep around, this "perk" is worthless. For those, like me, who wonder what other resorts DVC might come out with, it's a headache to think about when debating 75 points resale or direct!

 

[CarolMN]

There is a long thread that grew very quickly last Dec/Jan

https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...to-stop-revert-the-2020-reallocation.3726101/
What everyone said here is accurate, but I will try to add a little more detail. DVD cannot increase the total number of points to reserve "deeded" villas. If they increase one season, view, or villa category they have to have a corresponding decrease in another. Based on how long a season is and the ratio of the different views/villa size, the daily changes may not be equal, but the overall number of points needed can't change. The gray area comes in with "deeded". If you look at Lock-off 2 BR's, it always takes more points to reserve it as a studio + a 1BR than it does to reserve it as a 2BR. The "can't increase the overall points needed" applies to the deeded 2BR number of points, not to the studio + 1BR number of points. In the original 2020 point charts the lock-off premium was increased. The studio and 1BR rates went up by 0%-15%, while the 2BR rate stayed the same or went down. In resorts with both deeded studios and 2BR's, since the deeded studio rates went up with the increased point requirement for studios there was a corresponding drop in the 2BR rate.

So ignoring the "deeded" villa factor, the number of points it takes to book a studio for the entire year went up. It caused quite a stir and many complaints to Disney. Right before the 11 month window for booking 1/1/2020, Disney came out with revised 2020 charts that matched the 2019 charts. But the official line was, they revised the charts because of poor communication of the change, not because it violated the letter of the rule and they maintained they had the right to make the change. Many believe the change differed from how they have marketed the product for years and time will tell if they make another run at this.

Instead of "deeded", I think you mean "dedicated" . Perhaps auto-correct got you.

Otherwise, a good summary of our concern. Lock-off premiums didn't increase as much for resorts with both dedicated & lock-off studios and 1 bedrooms. But the increases were very counterintuitive, especially for the resorts that have only lock-off two bedrooms.

 

[AaronEuth]

You probably would still get the 2x one time use point offer, as thats not really a deal but how direct buying works depending on your use year.

Say you purchased a December use year today. You would be charged a prorated rate for the 2018 points (5 months of dues), and receive your full allotment of 2018 points. Then in December you would get your 2019 points.

The only way this becomes a perk, is if you convinced them to give you a use year that is already in 2019, with 2018 points.