BLT Resale vs. Poly Direct Add-On vs. RIV Direct Add-On

[ark101]

A few questions for anyone. I know everything at PIT is hard to book at the 7-month window - new resort, everyone wants to try it, limited inventory. Everyone seems to say that 1 BR preferred view at BLT is fairly easy to book at 7-month mark. Anyone have experience with 2 BR villas at BLT and/or 1 or 2 BR villas at VGF and how hard those are to book at 7-month mark? If you're willing to do a split stay where you only want to secure one of those at BLT or VGF for 3-4 nights, is it easier? Trying to get a feel for just how easy it will be to use RIV points on at least one of the resorts on the monorail at the 7-month mark.

From personal experience, booking 1BR is significantly easier than studios or 2BRs (other than point intensive bungalows or cabins probably). Then booking preferred view at BLT is usually much easier than booking resort view at VGF. I think using your RIV points at either BLT or VGF should be ok most times of the year specially if you are flexible about the room view category and willing to stay in 1BRs. First couple weeks of Dec is one time I think you may have difficulty or maybe during other one offs like Run Disney, some long weekends, special events etc.

 

[muppets3d]

Honestly you could buy Saratoga purely as SAP's if you see yourself sticking with 1 bedroom villas. The world is your oyster at 7 months with 1 bedroom villas.

 

[airjay75]

Honestly you could buy Saratoga purely as SAP's if you see yourself sticking with 1 bedroom villas. The world is your oyster at 7 months with 1 bedroom villas.

It’s probably worth me giving that some thought and running some numbers. Obviously wouldn’t give me any “future proofing” of RIV stays since I wouldn’t be able to use them there, but it would probably be one of the cheapest ways to simply get more points.

 

[muppets3d]

It’s probably worth me giving that some thought and running some numbers. Obviously wouldn’t give me any “future proofing” of RIV stays since I wouldn’t be able to use them there, but it would probably be one of the cheapest ways to simply get more points.

You could wait for a fire sale of a sold out resort - a few years ago they had a pretty good sale of AKV points and I added on 200 then. Last year they had OKW on sale. Obviously still more expensive than resale, but won't be restricted from booking at Riviera and future resorts at the 7 month mark.

 

[Brian Noble]

[Never mind; I confused even myself. I've been on DIS too long today!]

 

[PolyRob]

As I continue to think about this, unless one of two things happen - either (1) suddenly decide I love PIT and the overall Poly resort, or (2) decide I have to have priority booking at BLT in the 7-11 month window for some reason - I might be leaning towards Option 3 and buying more direct points at RIV. Gets me my SAPs, helps provide some future proofing if I need priority booking on larger rooms at RIV, and it seems like I'll be able to get access to at least 1 BR Preferred View BLT rooms most of the time.

I think one thing that always steers me away from RIV are the resale restrictions and, accordingly, lower resale value - feel like I'm putting more money at risk. But, if I actually look at what 50 point contracts at RIV are fetching vs. what 50 point contracts at Poly are fetching, the difference is not as great as I might have thought. (And, to be clear, I would be buying with a long-term plan in mind, I just always think about worst case and sunk costs with these purchases.)

A few questions for anyone. I know everything at PIT is hard to book at the 7-month window - new resort, everyone wants to try it, limited inventory. Everyone seems to say that 1 BR preferred view at BLT is fairly easy to book at 7-month mark. Anyone have experience with 2 BR villas at BLT and/or 1 or 2 BR villas at VGF and how hard those are to book at 7-month mark? If you're willing to do a split stay where you only want to secure one of those at BLT or VGF for 3-4 nights, is it easier? Trying to get a feel for just how easy it will be to use RIV points on at least one of the resorts on the monorail at the 7-month mark.

I will add that, unless there is a big sale during the next incentive period or I become very confident in wanting more RIV points after my July trip (and want to take advantage of magical beginnings), I may well wait until after my Feb. 2026 trip to pull any trigger - I think I am finally realizing the importance of slowing things down and taking my time.

OOF I started a reply here, but got caught up between work and the Switch2 release to finalize and reply

VGF one-bedroom availability, especially preferred view, isn't too bad outside of the holiday season (Thanksgiving to NYE) because one-bedrooms require so many points. Same with dedicated two-bedroom units.

Lock-off two-bedrooms are difficult because deluxe studios are in high demand. All the new Big Pine Key points made booking deluxe studios even more of a challenge, especially at popular times of the year when the points charts are low.

If you'd always be happy staying at RIV, then adding more RIV may honestly be your best option. That is how I feel about VGF. I would never be sad if I was "stuck" staying there. If it were the same price as PVB right now I would buy it direct no questions asked. I am trying to convince myself PVB IT may not be bad since it's basically in the parking lot of VGF and I could probably get VGF resort studios, especially preferred in the spring. Then another part of me says I would rather guarantee myself the larger VGF units for the exact dates I want in the home resort booking window and I look at the resale contracts in disappointment (price, points status, ROFR, etc).

I do think it is good to explore the MK resort area first because RIV is only one DVC resort. There are so many options and the monorail resorts are great, especially for rope dropping MK, closing down MK after fireworks, hard ticketed MK events, or just casually watching fireworks from your room or resort. I had stayed at all the WDW deluxe resorts except AKL so I knew what my favorite area was overall before committing to it. If a walkable Crescent Lake pops up with 50 years I would buy that too, but not as many points as VGF.

 

[airjay75]

OOF I started a reply here, but got caught up between work and the Switch2 release to finalize and reply

VGF one-bedroom availability, especially preferred view, isn't too bad outside of the holiday season (Thanksgiving to NYE) because one-bedrooms require so many points. Same with dedicated two-bedroom units.

Lock-off two-bedrooms are difficult because deluxe studios are in high demand. All the new Big Pine Key points made booking deluxe studios even more of a challenge, especially at popular times of the year when the points charts are low.

If you'd always be happy staying at RIV, then adding more RIV may honestly be your best option. That is how I feel about VGF. I would never be sad if I was "stuck" staying there. If it were the same price as PVB right now I would buy it direct no questions asked. I am trying to convince myself PVB IT may not be bad since it's basically in the parking lot of VGF and I could probably get VGF resort studios, especially preferred in the spring. Then another part of me says I would rather guarantee myself the larger VGF units for the exact dates I want in the home resort booking window and I look at the resale contracts in disappointment (price, points status, ROFR, etc).

I do think it is good to explore the MK resort area first because RIV is only one DVC resort. There are so many options and the monorail resorts are great, especially for rope dropping MK, closing down MK after fireworks, hard ticketed MK events, or just casually watching fireworks from your room or resort. I had stayed at all the WDW deluxe resorts except AKL so I knew what my favorite area was overall before committing to it. If a walkable Crescent Lake pops up with 50 years I would buy that too, but not as many points as VGF.

Thank you! Appreciate all that super helpful info. (And hope you managed to get your hands on a Switch2 .)

The more time goes on and the more info I get from everyone, the more I seem to be settling on more direct RIV points as the likely way to go. More points at a single resort gives me more flexibility for 2 BR accommodations in the future should I decide I want them, and it does seem that, at least for 1 BRs, I should be able to get something in the MK area in most 7 month windows. Even if I do decide I love VGF or PIT, there just is no way I'm buying enough points at either of those resorts to have priority booking for anything other than studios or 1 BRs for a few days per year. BLT resale, in theory, I could buy quite a bit of points for the same price as direct RIV points that could be nice, but I think I'd have to be certain I really love BLT. But, definitely going to give things some more time here to shake out - do a good tour of the monorail resorts in July, evaluate next round of incentives, and, unless those incentives are too good resist, do an actual stay in February 2026 at one or more of the MK resorts.

 

[PolyRob]

Thank you! Appreciate all that super helpful info. (And hope you managed to get your hands on a Switch2 .)

The more time goes on and the more info I get from everyone, the more I seem to be settling on more direct RIV points as the likely way to go. More points at a single resort gives me more flexibility for 2 BR accommodations in the future should I decide I want them, and it does seem that, at least for 1 BRs, I should be able to get something in the MK area in most 7 month windows. Even if I do decide I love VGF or PIT, there just is no way I'm buying enough points at either of those resorts to have priority booking for anything other than studios or 1 BRs for a few days per year. BLT resale, in theory, I could buy quite a bit of points for the same price as direct RIV points that could be nice, but I think I'd have to be certain I really love BLT. But, definitely going to give things some more time here to shake out - do a good tour of the monorail resorts in July, evaluate next round of incentives, and, unless those incentives are too good resist, do an actual stay in February 2026 at one or more of the MK resorts.

Thank you! I was fortunate my pre-order came by 7am on release day so I was just busy playing

Another positive thing about more points at one resort is that it's easy to reallocate points because you have the same home resort booking priority. You'll see people mention "contract locks" when modifying under 7 months. That doesn't really matter when all your points are from the same resort/restriction bucket.

For example you have an October and a March trip booked with your October UY and you have banked points on the October reservation. Say plans change and you cancel the October trip 31+ days in advance. You can then modify the March reservation, select the contracts with the banked points, and replace all the current UY allotment points on the March reservation with the banked points. Now you can bank current UY allotment forward by 5/31. It makes things simpler if you're ok with one home resort.