Blue card vs white card

[eandt]

Unless you have a larger family and will go more than once a year, I don’t think the math will work for most resorts. For me, my time is worth a lot to me, enough to make up for the financial loss of buying direct. Not having to look for the right contract only to potentially lose it to ROFR and then repeat is very worth it to me. The ability to book all future resorts is worth a lot to me too. But that’s just me. Time and ability to book future resorts means nothing to some. I think Disney knows this too and they know they do not have to make the blue card benefits that desirable. People are willing to pay direct because they don’t know better or prefer the non-financial benefits like getting the fixed week, having unrestricted points, or the ease of purchase and guarantee of current UY points, or some combination. Would any of these affect your decision?

Yes most of those things are of some value to us with the exception of fixed week as we are not that type of traveler. I was getting myself in the direct mindset but asked my guide today if he had any idea when or even if the AP's would come back. I wasn't surprised he didn't know WHEN but when he also mentioned that there had been no information on IF they would come back that was a surprise. I honestly didn't think this would even be a question and for us is probably pushing us back toward resale again.

So the ease of purchase, the current year points, picking a UY, ability to stay at future resorts to an extent and not fighting the offer/rofr battle do have an affect on our decision but whether it's an 6-8k or more affect I am not sure. Having the AP option even though probably not enough to make up the entire difference would at least take some of the sting out it. I expect direct sales to continue to be stale and I am not sure that the down turn is totally flu related.

 

[eandt]

Just to be clear, the DVC AP pricing does still exist, Anyone who has a DVC or had a DVC AP is paying the DVC price for new and the renewal.

Yes, no one can by a new one, but plenty of renewals being sold and plenty of DVC owners getting new ones if they canceled during the closure,

There is absolutely nothing to suggest that WDW APs will not be returning. If the plan was to eliminate, they would not have opened sales back up for the recovery offer,

It might not be the plan but my guide advised me today that there has been no information provided to them when or even IF AP's would be returning. I was more than surprised to hear him say that.

 

[Sandisw]

It might not be the plan but my guide advised me today that there has been no information provided to them when or even IF AP's would be returning. I was more than surprised to hear him say that.

I think they have to inform you of that because DVC does not control APs. So, I do understand being cautious in sales.

However, I follow information for not only DVC bur WDW programs in general and even for others, including FL residents, no indication that the AP program is going anywhere,

Of course anything can happen, and when deciding to buy DVC, even before this, one needs to understand it’s not guarantee , but some of what has happened since the suspension of sales, like still allowing renewals and new ones to certain people, it does lead one to believe WDW most likely won’t be eliminating them.

 

[eandt]

I hope you are right! I don't know all the ins/outs of who controls what but I think that they are doing these salepeople a disservice by keeping them out of the loop on a "perk" as valuable as the AP discount. My guide actually said that the DVC ticket perk right now is 2 extra days on a 4 day ticket which if I am not mistaken is being offered to the public. The other things are nice but most have no real value to entice a person like me that is on the fence of which way to go. Again I realize that we would probably never recoup the entire difference in upfront cost between resale vs direct but it could close the gap enough that the other none monetary things discussed above tip the scale. I want to feel good about the deal whether it be not paying more than I need to on resale or making sure that I don't feel cheated on benefits on direct.

 

[ScubaCat]

Just a general observation -

They did just increase the minimum direct purchase amount to 125 points. While nothing really shocks me any more with this current regime running things, I'd still be surprised if that went along with reducing the benefits in the long term. I suspect APs will return when capacity reaches a higher level and they can accommodate all resort guests at 100%.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I think having the buy-in minimum at 125 is actually a good thing in the long run for the health of the system as a whole. I think the smaller buy-in size that was around for a while really contributed to the strain on studio availability. This may help balance out demand across room sizes over time.

 

[eandt]

I think having the buy-in minimum at 125 is actually a good thing in the long run for the health of the system as a whole. I think the smaller buy-in size that was around for a while really contributed to the strain on studio availability. This may help balance out demand across room sizes over time.

Perhaps that is true but the health of my wallet takes a hit with the larger minimum. My plan of attack was to buy the minimum,, which when we started thinking about this in late 2019 had just gone from 75 to 100, and then buy a few points via resale to add on. Now it's become an either/or for me, if we buy resale I will probably never spend the $ to buy the minimum direct and likewise if we have to shell out the extra 5k for 25 more points to meet the minimum we wouldn't add resale any time soon. Sad part is even with increase in minimum we were still prepared to bite the bullet and go direct because for whatever reason that "blue card" status means something to us but they have taken away the most valueable "perk" and according to our guide it is unknown when or even if it will ever be back. We were planning an October trip but unless something changes in the very near future we will put the kibosh to that and just wait out the tide to see if benefits return while we continue to search for the perfect resale contract. Whichever happens first will get our $

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Perhaps that is true but the health of my wallet takes a hit with the larger minimum. My plan of attack was to buy the minimum,, which when we started thinking about this in late 2019 had just gone from 75 to 100, and then buy a few points via resale to add on. Now it's become an either/or for me, if we buy resale I will probably never spend the $ to buy the minimum direct and likewise if we have to shell out the extra 5k for 25 more points to meet the minimum we wouldn't add resale any time soon. Sad part is even with increase in minimum we were still prepared to bite the bullet and go direct because for whatever reason that "blue card" status means something to us but they have taken away the most valueable "perk" and according to our guide it is unknown when or even if it will ever be back. We were planning an October trip but unless something changes in the very near future we will put the kibosh to that and just wait out the tide to see if benefits return while we continue to search for the perfect resale contract. Whichever happens first will get our $

Oh, I don't disagree. The higher threshold for buy-in makes it more challenging, and that is really frustrating for many people, I'm sure. I hope you can get what you want.