Blue Card decision for Poly, Copper Creek, or VDH?

[Girlstar30]

Thank you! For some reason my guide sent me the incentive pricing sheet for new members when I told him I had decided on VDH. I became a resale member in July 2025, but he told me the year requirement was only for financing and not cash buyers to get the member discount (I am paying with my Disney VISA). I sent him an email since he isn’t working today to ask. Last week he told me I qualified for the member discount, so I’m hoping this was just an error!

We arent closing till March and we're not responsible for dues yet but we will have to back pay from when we signed before closing

 

[Sandisw]

They better not charge

Who owns the lot? Is it a common element of VDh is owned by the hotel and owners get to use by paying a share of it?

If the cost to maintain the lots is included in the MFs already, they can’t charge.

If the lot is only a shared expens, and Disney owns it, then the contract will say that and what could happen.

It’s like the pools atVGF. They belong to Disney and owners are given the right to use as long as we pay a share of costs.

 

[Girlstar30]

Who owns the lot? Is it a common element of VDh is owned by the hotel and owners get to use by paying a share of it?

If the cost to maintain the lots is included in the MFs already, they can’t charge.

If the lot is only a shared expens, and Disney owns it, then the contract will say that and what could happen.

It’s like the pools atVGF. They belong to Disney and owners are given the right to use as long as we pay a share of costs.

I need to start reading lol I have no idea

 

[Sandisw]

I need to start reading lol I have no idea

Yeah…even the pools at PVB…not 100% sure about the new one…are owned by the hotel and owners get RTU.

While I would never expect that Disney would restrict owners, because then they pay for it all, the contract allows for it.

At BLT, the pool is declared as a common element so it is different.

 

[Makai]

It turns out my guide thinks I can only do a 100-50 split on my direct contract because I am getting a new UY (September), so it becomes a 100 point minimum purchase. He is going to double check on this, but that split still works well for me. He said in the past they could do 50-50-50 but no longer.

 

[davidhr]

It turns out my guide thinks I can only do a 100-50 split on my direct contract because I am getting a new UY (September), so it becomes a 100 point minimum purchase. He is going to double check on this, but that split still works well for me. He said in the past they could do 50-50-50 but no longer.

As far as I’m aware, he’s correct.

 

[VGCgroupie]

It turns out my guide thinks I can only do a 100-50 split on my direct contract because I am getting a new UY (September), so it becomes a 100 point minimum purchase. He is going to double check on this, but that split still works well for me. He said in the past they could do 50-50-50 but no longer.

Interesting. Let us know what happens. I’ve not heard this but most are adding in to a current UY usually.

 

[Wedgeout]

Different UY is a completely new membership. (Same account). Same happens if deed ownership changes on a purchase.

 

[Makai]

Different UY is a completely new membership. (Same account). Same happens if deed ownership changes on a purchase.

Will I still get the member add on incentive discount?

 

[Wedgeout]

Will I still get the member add on incentive discount?

That part would think so or get approval for, but not sure on that one.

 

[juliebee]

It turns out my guide thinks I can only do a 100-50 split on my direct contract because I am getting a new UY (September), so it becomes a 100 point minimum purchase. He is going to double check on this, but that split still works well for me. He said in the past they could do 50-50-50 but no longer.

That makes sense to me as it's a 100 point minimum for a new member. Since it's a new UY, that seems consistent with the new membership minimum.

 

[Makai]

Found one more reason I need to choose VDH for my Blue Card. Just watched some videos of those garden view balconies & duo Jungle Book studios! With how popular it will be to have a balcony at VDH with limited room types, I am happy to have this 11 month priority!

 

[DoubleBaconBLT]

Will I still get the member add on incentive discount?

Yes. I did when I bought at Poly with a December UY after already owning BLT with a June UY.

 

[DoubleBaconBLT]

Found one more reason I need to choose VDH for my Blue Card. Just watched some videos of those garden view balconies & duo Jungle Book studios! With how popular it will be to have a balcony at VDH with limited room types, I am happy to have this 11 month priority!

I have been to Disneyland one time, in the 1990s, so take this with a grain of salt. But I would not buy at VDH. The spreadsheets just can't justify it. The dues are high, the point chart is high, the taxes are high. It just doesn't make sense.

At $10.54, the dues are higher than every WDW resort except Cabins at Fort Wilderness (which no one is buying because of the crazy high dues) and Old Key West. So if you ever use your VDH points to stay at any of those other resorts, you're paying very high dues for those stays. Additionally, this year only 3 WDW resorts had a higher increase than VDH. So it's not like VGF or RIV where dues are not really moving up as fast.

The Transient Occupant Tax at VDH is $2.96 per point. That is bonkers to me. If you own there and use your points there, you're paying $13.50 per point! So even if you got your VDH contract for a steal at say, $150 per point on the resale market, you're paying 150/47 = $3.19, plus the $13.50 = $16.69 per point. On average, that will mean a 2BR at VDH will cost you over $1040 per night. That's more than the average for any of the WDW 2BRs. The VGC dues have the TOT baked in, but they're only $9.52, so for a direct comparison, you'd have to take out the TOT. That makes the comparison dues for VGC $6.56. Remember that the total cost of owning VDH is heavily weighted toward the dues and taxes each year. A 100 point contract might cost $15K up front, but the total dues and taxes will be $78,443. (That's not the actual dollars paid over the contract; that's the total discounted back to the present, assuming a rate of growth equal to the discount rate). This means 84% of the total cost is made up in dues and taxes.

I think VDH could possibly make sense if 1) you REALLY LOVE VDH and value it highly, 2) you buy it resale and are patient for a good deal, and 3) you only visit in the lower cost travel periods on the point chart. And you should only WANT to use those points at VDH because they're really expensive. You can literally rent DVC points to use at WDW for cheaper per point than buying VDH direct. Even with all of this, I'm not convinced you couldn't do better just booking bounceback offers or the other frequent 25-35% off discounts they offer.

Adding insult to injury on all of this - the onsite benefits at Disneyland keep getting clawed away. No more early entry, no more dedicated park entrance. And unlike WDW, staying offsite at Disneyland can easily still mean walking distance to the parks. I really don't see a reason to pay a premium to stay onsite at Disneyland unless you just really love those resorts and place a crazy high value on them.

Note that none of the above mathematical drawbacks apply to Poly or Copper Creek. Both of those have cheaper point charts (at Poly you can book connecting studios and it's very close to the point cost of a 2BR at CCV, and it sleeps 10 with 4 showers). Both of those have way lower dues ($8.33 and $9.02 respectively) and $0 TOT taxes. Both have plenty of years to expiration (2066 and 2068, vs VDH in 2074). I would recommend buying Poly direct or CCV resale.

If you buy direct, all of the math favors buying the month before your use year. You'll get a whole extra year's worth of points on the contract and only pay a few weeks of prorated dues for them. It's crazy to me that people drop tens of thousands on DVC without knowing this, and also crazy that people don't talk about it more. When I was buying direct at Poly last September, I was offered a June UY (matching my BLT contract). This would come with 2025 points and expire in 2066 (41 years' worth of points). I mentioned that we plan to travel for Memorial Day and want a December UY to facilitate that. That meant our contract would come with the 2024 points (because the 2025 Use Year would start in December 2025) and still expire in 2066 (42 years' worth of points). This meant an extra 2.44% more total points at an added cost of $0 (because we would be paying prorated dues from our signing date regardless). I shudder to think how many people miss this and just take whatever UY the guide throws out there.

 

[Brian Noble]

I have been to Disneyland one time, in the 1990s, so take this with a grain of salt.

I think this is the thing, though. Disneyland is a different beast. The hotels on Harbor are right there. Several are closer to the Esplanade than the Disneyland Hotel, and they are between 1/3 to 1/2 the price.

And yet.

If you think the Only Disney Will Do crowd is passionate in Floida, the California crowd puts them to shame. It's not a lot of people, but it doesn't have to be---they only have three hotels they have to fill. Just 2,400 rooms. Disney World? 37,000.

I sometimes say that DVC is a niche product. It is of interest only to people who (a) expect to go to a Disney parks destination at least once every two years and (b) are comfortable paying several hundreds of dollars a night for what amounts to a fairly standard hotel room as the entry point. In Anaheim, it is a niche product inside a niche product.

And, that's fine! It works for the people it works for, and that's all it needs to do.

 

[Makai]

I have been to Disneyland one time, in the 1990s, so take this with a grain of salt. But I would not buy at VDH. The spreadsheets just can't justify it. The dues are high, the point chart is high, the taxes are high. It just doesn't make sense.

At $10.54, the dues are higher than every WDW resort except Cabins at Fort Wilderness (which no one is buying because of the crazy high dues) and Old Key West. So if you ever use your VDH points to stay at any of those other resorts, you're paying very high dues for those stays. Additionally, this year only 3 WDW resorts had a higher increase than VDH. So it's not like VGF or RIV where dues are not really moving up as fast.

The Transient Occupant Tax at VDH is $2.96 per point. That is bonkers to me. If you own there and use your points there, you're paying $13.50 per point! So even if you got your VDH contract for a steal at say, $150 per point on the resale market, you're paying 150/47 = $3.19, plus the $13.50 = $16.69 per point. On average, that will mean a 2BR at VDH will cost you over $1040 per night. That's more than the average for any of the WDW 2BRs. The VGC dues have the TOT baked in, but they're only $9.52, so for a direct comparison, you'd have to take out the TOT. That makes the comparison dues for VGC $6.56. Remember that the total cost of owning VDH is heavily weighted toward the dues and taxes each year. A 100 point contract might cost $15K up front, but the total dues and taxes will be $78,443. (That's not the actual dollars paid over the contract; that's the total discounted back to the present, assuming a rate of growth equal to the discount rate). This means 84% of the total cost is made up in dues and taxes.

I think VDH could possibly make sense if 1) you REALLY LOVE VDH and value it highly, 2) you buy it resale and are patient for a good deal, and 3) you only visit in the lower cost travel periods on the point chart. And you should only WANT to use those points at VDH because they're really expensive. You can literally rent DVC points to use at WDW for cheaper per point than buying VDH direct. Even with all of this, I'm not convinced you couldn't do better just booking bounceback offers or the other frequent 25-35% off discounts they offer.

Adding insult to injury on all of this - the onsite benefits at Disneyland keep getting clawed away. No more early entry, no more dedicated park entrance. And unlike WDW, staying offsite at Disneyland can easily still mean walking distance to the parks. I really don't see a reason to pay a premium to stay onsite at Disneyland unless you just really love those resorts and place a crazy high value on them.

Note that none of the above mathematical drawbacks apply to Poly or Copper Creek. Both of those have cheaper point charts (at Poly you can book connecting studios and it's very close to the point cost of a 2BR at CCV, and it sleeps 10 with 4 showers). Both of those have way lower dues ($8.33 and $9.02 respectively) and $0 TOT taxes. Both have plenty of years to expiration (2066 and 2068, vs VDH in 2074). I would recommend buying Poly direct or CCV resale.

The annual dues were one of my big concerns going into a VDH contract. I am splitting up my contract if I end up needing the resale off ramp. I had to decide if the extra in dues was worth being an owner at VDH, and the answer is YES. With what I am saving at buy in cost vs Poly, it’s a wash over the next 10 years. The other factors are not an issue for me. I did the math on my past cash stays with the biggest discount off rack rate, and with VDH I still came out ahead.

The TOT is a use tax that I would be paying at any hotel on Harbor Blvd, and isn’t it a higher tax percentage than VDH to stay offsite? I visit Disneyland once a year to once every two years as a popular spot to reunite with family as a California native, and rarely stay offsite. Being in the Disney bubble is a must for me. The 11 month priority is more valuable at VDH than at Poly and CCV since there are many WDW hotels I can choose between with my resale points. Only two options in California, and I prefer the theming of VDH to VGC (with the exception of Christmas). I pay cash for the Disneyland hotels before staying at the motels on Harbor Blvd (Westin would be the exception).

The resale price is closer to the incentive pricing right now than the others, so it makes the most sense for my Blue Card points. No idea what the future resale will be with Disneyland Forward, but we LOVE the Disneyland Hotel. I will not buy VDH resale because I want these points to give me access to the other restricted resorts at WDW.

 

[Makai]

If you buy direct, all of the math favors buying the month before your use year. You'll get a whole extra year's worth of points on the contract and only pay a few weeks of prorated dues for them. It's crazy to me that people drop tens of thousands on DVC without knowing this, and also crazy that people don't talk about it more. When I was buying direct at Poly last September, I was offered a June UY (matching my BLT contract). This would come with 2025 points and expire in 2066 (41 years' worth of points). I mentioned that we plan to travel for Memorial Day and want a December UY to facilitate that. That meant our contract would come with the 2024 points (because the 2025 Use Year would start in December 2025) and still expire in 2066 (42 years' worth of points). This meant an extra 2.44% more total points at an added cost of $0 (because we would be paying prorated dues from our signing date regardless). I shudder to think how many people miss this and just take whatever UY the guide throws out there.

Thankfully my guide told me about this, but I had also heard about it on some DVC podcasts. My current UY is March, but I am doing a new UY of September for VDH. I was told I get the 2025 points without paying any annual dues on those points, and doing Magical Beginnings for them (even if I stick with my March UY). On the 2026 points, my guide said I will pay the annual dues pro-rated, so I do get January discounted off if I buy now. If we delay to the next round of incentives if they turn out to be better, I will get even better pro-rated annual dues until we get closer to my new September UY.

 

[atthebeachclub]

My current UY is March, but I am doing a new UY of September for VDH. I was told I get the 2025 points without paying any annual dues on those points, and doing Magical Beginnings for them. On the 2026 points, my guide said I will pay the annual dues pro-rated, so I do get January discounted off if I buy now. If we delay to the next round of incentives if they turn out to be better, I will get even better pro-rated annual dues until we get closer to my new September UY.

Your chances of the next round being better are pretty slim I think. Incentives right now are good.

 

[Makai]

If you think the Only Disney Will Do crowd is passionate in Floida, the California crowd puts them to shame. It's not a lot of people, but it doesn't have to be---they only have three hotels they have to fill. Just 2,400 rooms. Disney World? 37,000.

Truth.

 

[airjay75]

If you buy direct, all of the math favors buying the month before your use year.

If we delay to the next round of incentives if they turn out to be better, I will get even better pro-rated annual dues until we get closer to my new September UY.

I ran the math on this a couple of times last year. Almost every incentive period (but not all) will result in a slightly higher cost for the purchase of your points. If you delay until the end of the next incentive period, yes, this will be offset, at least partially, by paying less prorated dues for the year. But, when I ran the math, the increase in purchase price for the points was almost always more than the savings you would get by paying less prorated dues for the current year.

So, yes, if the time you are ready to purchase happens to come just before the start of your UY, that's great. But, if not, I also don't think that's a compelling reason to wait. With few exceptions, the cheapest time to buy direct points is the current incentive period.