Considering DVC and several questions.... Long

[Dbktmc]

Hi everyone!

First, I need to thank all of you experts out there who are willing to help us newbies as we consider DVC. You are an amazing resource for all of us!

My husband and I have been considering purchasing DVC for quite some time. I have been lurking on this board off and on for about 6 months and I think that I have some things figured out. We normally go to Disney every year to every other year and stay 9-10 nights in a deluxe resort. We onlhy have one young son so we plan on only purchasing enough points to stay in a studio and not in a 1 bedroom or larger . Due to the high costs I think we have decided to purchase enough points to only stay every other year and will rely on banking points.

I have decided on a May or June UY as I am a teacher and only travel in the summer months (June- August...almost always) or in December (once every few years). I know that June would be my best bet right now but we will be retiring in 12 short years and I can see us visiting in May-December so that is why I am considering a May UY date.

I have to admit that there are some other things that I am confused about and I was hoping for some guidance. I am going to number my questions for easy reference.

1. I know that several months ago Disney changed the "perks" for resale purchases. I know that if I purchase resale I will no longer have the ability to purchase discounted AP's and I know that I would not be able to visit the DVC lounges. While I would be sad not to have these perks, it is not a deal breaker for me to not have them. However, I would definitely want to be able to use my points to visit other locations such as Hilton Head, Hawaii and cruises. Am I able to use resale points for these vacations?

2. I have been lurking on Disney's website to see what resorts are available for purchase and the only two resorts that are showing up are the Poly and Aulani. Are these the only 2 resorts that are available or will Disney sell me other resorts where they have points based on buying back contracts? (Through ROFR)

3. If I purchase at a resort such as AKL through resale and book a stay at my 11 month window am I able to check to see if there is availability at another resort at the 7 month window PRIOR to cancelling my AKL stay? I am most interested in staying on the monorail line due to convenience. I understand that I should purchase where I want to stay but the price for resale at AKL is tempting. I have stayed at AKL for 3 of my past 5 trips and I do like it... I just don't "love" it due to location.

I'm sure that I have other questions but these are the ones that I can think of right now.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

1. I know that several months ago Disney changed the "perks" for resale purchases. I know that if I purchase resale I will no longer have the ability to purchase discounted AP's and I know that I would not be able to visit the DVC lounges. While I would be sad not to have these perks, it is not a deal breaker for me to not have them. However, I would definitely want to be able to use my points to visit other locations such as Hilton Head, Hawaii and cruises. Am I able to use resale points for these vacations?

Aulani - Hawaii - YES
Hilton Head - YES
Cruises - NO

2. I have been lurking on Disney's website to see what resorts are available for purchase and the only two resorts that are showing up are the Poly and Aulani. Are these the only 2 resorts that are available or will Disney sell me other resorts where they have points based on buying back contracts? (Through ROFR)

Disney will sell points to all resorts if they have them, but will steer you to Poly and Aulani. If they do not have the points available right now for a resort you want, chances are they can get it for you in 2-3 weeks.

3. If I purchase at a resort such as AKL through resale and book a stay at my 11 month window am I able to check to see if there is availability at another resort at the 7 month window PRIOR to cancelling my AKL stay? I am most interested in staying on the monorail line due to convenience. I understand that I should purchase where I want to stay but the price for resale at AKL is tempting. I have stayed at AKL for 3 of my past 5 trips and I do like it... I just don't "love" it due to location.

Yes, you can check first. However, unless you have enough points, you must cancel the 11 month ressie before booking the 7 month ressie. To mitigate the risk that someone will snap up the 7 month ressie after you have cancelled your first reservation but before you have reserved the 7 month reservation, you can call member services and ask them to do it for you, or you can use a "two browser trick" that I have not used personally but you can find by doing a google search on these boards.

Good luck

 

[_auroraborealis_]

To elaborate on 1, you do not want to use points for cruises. You are already discussing the large expense. The net value of a point used to cruise is generally about $7 per point on that trade. By comparison, you can rent the point and get $11-15 per point on that rental, pay your dues, and use the remainder to pay cash for a cruise via Costco or another agency who will have discounts. The DVC trade for a cruise is based on a negotiated rate that is, frankly, not very good, and a poor value for your points.

Re: 2, if you are not going to be needing a Gold AP, and do not want Poly as your home resort, buying resale will save you thousands of dollars over buying any other resort direct from Disney. Going every other year, I cannot see the Gold AP access having a value equal to several thousand dollars for you.

Re: 3, if you are generally booking for summer, you will be able to switch at 7 months, although only rarely to the lowest-point rooms (AKV Value, BLT Standard, BWV Standard), and you may not have a good shot at certain other rooms (VGF studios, unless you split stays or have flexibility). I think the future where you might travel in fall is distant enough you shouldn't make a home resort choice based on fall frenzy (where you'll generally need to stay where you buy).

In general, the top value for resale points is Saratoga, followed by BLT, followed by AKV. This value is determined not just on initial outlay, but also on annual dues. Be sure to account not only for initial contract cost but the dues. If you really want monorail, I would strongly consider BLT over AKV, as over 10 years the cost balances out. Without considering dues increases, 10 years of AKV dues for 100 points is $6600; 10 years of BLT dues for 100 points is $5600. As you approach 15 years of ownership, the higher buy in cost vs. dues becomes a nearly-0 difference, with a home resort advantage on the monorail, and a higher value for the point should you need to rent them out.

If cost is your overriding concern, buy Saratoga.

 

[kniquy]

1. I know that several months ago Disney changed the "perks" for resale purchases. I know that if I purchase resale I will no longer have the ability to purchase discounted AP's and I know that I would not be able to visit the DVC lounges. While I would be sad not to have these perks, it is not a deal breaker for me to not have them. However, I would definitely want to be able to use my points to visit other locations such as Hilton Head, Hawaii and cruises. Am I able to use resale points for these vacations?

With your travel habits of going every other year -- you would not get any benefit from the "perks". the lounge is probably going to disappear and you can still go to TOWL. If you decided to go every year the work around would be to buy the resort you want resale and then add on a 25 point direct contract -- but that would cost you at least $4000 ($160 per point) -- the AP savings would take quite a number of years to recoupe your direct buy.

2. I have been lurking on Disney's website to see what resorts are available for purchase and the only two resorts that are showing up are the Poly and Aulani. Are these the only 2 resorts that are available or will Disney sell me other resorts where they have points based on buying back contracts? (Through ROFR)

You can find all resorts for sale on the resale market. I have noticed that are beginning to be a larger number of poly contracts and the prices are still a savings from direct.

3. If I purchase at a resort such as AKL through resale and book a stay at my 11 month window am I able to check to see if there is availability at another resort at the 7 month window PRIOR to cancelling my AKL stay? I am most interested in staying on the monorail line due to convenience. I understand that I should purchase where I want to stay but the price for resale at AKL is tempting. I have stayed at AKL for 3 of my past 5 trips and I do like it... I just don't "love" it due to location.

Online you view all the resorts and availability -- the best strategy is to book your home resort and then change to somewhere else at 7 months. To do this you would need to call MS -- so in the phone call they would hold the new reservation/cancel the old and book the new -- without leaving you homeless. You can accomplish the same online, but you might lose your new reservation, if someone books quicker than you. If you are typically traveling in summer there is more availability - if you want December you must book your home and hope that something else opens up at 7 months, but at least you would have something.

 

[disneynutz]

Perks and extras come and go with each management change and we have had a few. Expect more changes to come. The only thing that you can count on is your home resort so buy where you love to stay.

Bill

 

[ziravan]

Another poster said a 25 point add on would cost you $4,125, But.

Say you want 150 total points and buy 125 AKV points for $90/ point and 25 Poly points for $167.

That would cost you $16,425 including about $1000 in closing costs for 2 contracts (125x90 + 167x25)

If just bought 150 AKV at $90 plus $500 for closing cost for 1 contract, then: $14,000.

So. The 125 point AKV resale plus the 25 point Poly direct contract that gives you perks is only $2,425 more expensive for the same 150 points if you bought them all at AKV without perks.

Plus you'd have the extra perk of banking and borrowing days into Poly at the 11 month window every 3rd year.

(As a reference point, a 150 pt direct Poly contract will cost you about $25,500 including closing.)

 

[ziravan]

Or. If you bought 50 Poly direct and 100 AKV resale: $18,350 including closing on 2 contracts.

$4350 more than just AKV resale but now you're in business. Now you have enough Poly points to bank and borrow a full week stay every 3rd yr.

Best of both worlds. You can work the AKV points knowing that you have a backup plan to stay at monorail at least some of the time.

If the perks don't matter to you at all, consider the same monorail/AKV mix with both contracts being resale and you can choose between VGF or BLT as well and for less money than above.

Also consider substituting BWV or BCV for AKV if in 12 short years at retirement you find being at the back door to EPCOT for F&W sounds appealing at all. THEN. If you had 100 BWV and 50 VGF points (or 100 VGF and 50 BWV since both are resale), for example, you're really in business. It would be far easier to book AKV at 7 months over time than the near park resorts.

Plus. If you decide you want to buy both resale, you can buy one now, get into the system and learn it from the inside, and buy the other later, say in a year or so. That allows you the flexibility to split your purchase up and refine your second resort choice based on experience in the system.

 

[LisaS]

I have decided on a May or June UY as I am a teacher and only travel in the summer months (June- August...almost always) or in December (once every few years). I know that June would be my best bet right now but we will be retiring in 12 short years and I can see us visiting in May-December so that is why I am considering a May UY date.

Unfortunately there is no May Use Year. There are 8 UYs: Feb, Mar, Apr, Jun, Aug, Sep, Oct and Dec.

 

[PlutoFan10]

Regarding question 2, Disney does have points for sale at other resorts but they will push you to the 2 currently being offered (and soon to the new Copper Creek ones at Wilderness Lodge). Resale has a process called Right of First Refusal (ROFR) and the points they snatch up by basically denying a resale purchase are available at a set price (goes up yearly, generally). If they don't have the number of points and use year a buyer requests, the buyer gets wait listed. If the wait list grows too long (as with VGF right now and perhaps others), they temporarily close the wait list. BCV is another that is normally in this "closed for direct sale" state. If you are able to get on a wait list the time can vary on when those points become available. Your guide will(or should) status you on where you are on the wait list. You may be lucky and wait only about a week or you may wait several months for the points you want to become available. If you are already a member and adding on, the points go into your account almost immediately. If you are a new member you wait a number of weeks (cant recall -- maybe 4?) after turning in your paperwork for the points to become available for your use. Bottom line, resale is a great deal for a first purchase of 100 points or more. Small contracts are hard to come by and per point cost is higher than a larger contract. After that, if you want to add on something small, like 25 to 50 points, direct can be quick and hassle-free (no ROFR wait). One more thing, even though you are just a family of 3, you may want to try a 1 bedroom some time. The space difference is incredible, you have a full kitchen to make quick meals and save money, and have a washer/dryer in your villa. When your child gets older, they may appreciate the privacy of not sleeping in the same room as Mom and Dad (get their own room by sleeping on the pull out in the living room -- generally comfortable). Some resorts, such as BLT, have a 2nd bathroom for even more convenience in a 1BR. We normally book a 1 BR for just the 2 of us, and if our grown son is able at the last minute to join us, he has a place to stay with a bit of privacy.

 

[PlutoFan10]

One more thing about buying direct...
let's say you buy 100 points in April 2017 and have a June use year. You will get (and quickly bank) 2016 use year points (because your 2017 use year doesn't start until June), then on June 1, you will get your 2017 points. So efficetive June 1, you'll have 200 points to use. This is always nice! When you buy resale you have to see what the seller has left in points. A "loaded contract" with current year and maybe banked points will cost more than a "stripped" contract (no current year points and they may have borrowed from next year). If you buy a stripped contract, it could be awhile before you'd have points to use.

 

[Dean]

Hi everyone!

First, I need to thank all of you experts out there who are willing to help us newbies as we consider DVC. You are an amazing resource for all of us!

My husband and I have been considering purchasing DVC for quite some time. I have been lurking on this board off and on for about 6 months and I think that I have some things figured out. We normally go to Disney every year to every other year and stay 9-10 nights in a deluxe resort. We onlhy have one young son so we plan on only purchasing enough points to stay in a studio and not in a 1 bedroom or larger . Due to the high costs I think we have decided to purchase enough points to only stay every other year and will rely on banking points.

I have decided on a May or June UY as I am a teacher and only travel in the summer months (June- August...almost always) or in December (once every few years). I know that June would be my best bet right now but we will be retiring in 12 short years and I can see us visiting in May-December so that is why I am considering a May UY date.

I have to admit that there are some other things that I am confused about and I was hoping for some guidance. I am going to number my questions for easy reference.

1. I know that several months ago Disney changed the "perks" for resale purchases. I know that if I purchase resale I will no longer have the ability to purchase discounted AP's and I know that I would not be able to visit the DVC lounges. While I would be sad not to have these perks, it is not a deal breaker for me to not have them. However, I would definitely want to be able to use my points to visit other locations such as Hilton Head, Hawaii and cruises. Am I able to use resale points for these vacations?

2. I have been lurking on Disney's website to see what resorts are available for purchase and the only two resorts that are showing up are the Poly and Aulani. Are these the only 2 resorts that are available or will Disney sell me other resorts where they have points based on buying back contracts? (Through ROFR)

3. If I purchase at a resort such as AKL through resale and book a stay at my 11 month window am I able to check to see if there is availability at another resort at the 7 month window PRIOR to cancelling my AKL stay? I am most interested in staying on the monorail line due to convenience. I understand that I should purchase where I want to stay but the price for resale at AKL is tempting. I have stayed at AKL for 3 of my past 5 trips and I do like it... I just don't "love" it due to location.

I'm sure that I have other questions but these are the ones that I can think of right now.

There are zero situations where it makes sense to buy DVC to use for cruises. The return on points consistently means you'd pay more than if you simply had points and paid OOP for the cruises. The BEST you could ask for would be to break even and even that's unlikely. Given your plan of a studio EOY, I'd suggest you buy a cushion. Trying to cut it too close is asking for trouble. For studios for magic season 10% should be sufficient but 20% would be better. I'd generally discourage being under around 150 points though. I would evaluate buying less and doing a direct add on vs buying all resale and foregoing the perks. If you would use the pass discounts, I'd definitely buy a little less resale and do the ad on retail to give you options. Even if not, I'd still consider it to give options later. I would not buy retail unless I planned to buy VGF, VGC, BRV or Poly AND stay there almost all of my trips.

 

[bumbershoot]

We onlhy have one young son so we plan on only purchasing enough points to stay in a studio and not in a 1 bedroom or larger . Due to the high costs I think we have decided to purchase enough points to only stay every other year and will rely on banking points.

Studio every other year...does that room give you more than just getting a normal room?we stay in studios often but we also have done trips with a 2 bed at OKW or a 1 bedroom. We aren't married to studios.

Small sons grow fast. Trust me on this. They go from cuddly munchkins to big tall broad stinky guys checking their mustache profess every hour, and it seems to happen in a millisecond.

I would plan for that not for now. Especially since you're planning every other year. This year maybe he's 3 but the next trip 5 then 7 then... Each trip he'll be that much more grown and you'll all want more space in a room.


For us we bought the minimum at the time direct which was 160. It has continued to work. Gives us options.

But now I want more points, specifically at GF, because DS and I fell in LOVE with the place.

DS being that 12 year old cuddly munchkin who is about 5'7" and growing every two weeks with his lowering voice and his broad shoulders and his big feet lol. Fairly certain it was just yesterday that we were watching Blues Clues.

 

[mustinjourney]

Another poster said a 25 point add on would cost you $4,125, But.

Say you want 150 total points and buy 125 AKV points for $90/ point and 25 Poly points for $167.

That would cost you $16,425 including about $1000 in closing costs for 2 contracts (125x90 + 167x25)

If just bought 150 AKV at $90 plus $500 for closing cost for 1 contract, then: $14,000.

So. The 125 point AKV resale plus the 25 point Poly direct contract that gives you perks is only $2,425 more expensive for the same 150 points if you bought them all at AKV without perks.

Plus you'd have the extra perk of banking and borrowing days into Poly at the 11 month window every 3rd year.

(As a reference point, a 150 pt direct Poly contract will cost you about $25,500 including closing.)

Closing costs on 25 points direct is only $100 or so.

Also, DO NOT buy 25 stand alone points (points at a different resort). They aren't enough by themselves to book much of anything. I learned this the hard way.

 

[supersnoop]

Also, DO NOT buy 25 stand alone points (points at a different resort). They aren't enough by themselves to book much of anything. I learned this the hard way.

I own 25 points at BWV. That's enough for five days in a standard studio every other year during Food & Wine. At least that was the plan. Since my contract came with banked points, we've been able to get two or three weekend days each year for three years.

 

[Dean]

Closing costs on 25 points direct is only $100 or so.

Also, DO NOT buy 25 stand alone points (points at a different resort). They aren't enough by themselves to book much of anything. I learned this the hard way.

IMO it depends. There are 3 viable approaches. One is to do an add on at the same resort or a resort one plans to do a resale add on later, another is to get the cheapest points possible that one can use otherwise (7 month window) and the last is where one can make a small contract work essentially stand alone. It's best if one can incorporate that into their plans upfront and make a better initial purchase decision.

 

[mustinjourney]

I own 25 points at BWV. That's enough for five days in a standard studio every other year during Food & Wine. At least that was the plan. Since my contract came with banked points, we've been able to get two or three weekend days each year for three years.

In your situation, it certainly works. Of course, BWV standard view is an outlier with its 10 point requirement. And those rooms aren't always an easy task in procuring. Also -- OP is going in the summer, which would be 14/19 points a day, so even banking every other year would only give them 3 nights.

I was really responding to the idea of getting 25 direct (in order to get member benefits), with the points to be used at Poly. This would be a poor idea in my opinion, since logistically speaking, the user would only be able to get 1 night in a studio each year during the summer.

In any case, my real point was if you are going to buy the small direct contract at a different resort, make sure you have a plan for those points. Don't just buy the minimum 25 in order to get the direct benefits at the cheapest costs. If you're going to spend the extra money, make it also work for your situation. I made this mistake, so I'm hoping other people can learn from my error. I looked at it solely from an overall cost standpoint and failed to consider the long term usage implications.

I would have said this in the first comment -- but I was on my phone and did not feel like typing that much information.

Good news for me is that I am a little lucky in that 5 nights during F&W cost 75 points, which is 3 years worth of points exactly. Of course, if I have to cancel that trip last second, I could be in a world of hurt losing all those points in one fell swoop. At some point, I'd like to add on to the BCV direct contract with another 100-150 points at BCV -- but DW has put the brakes on my purchasing anymore points. :-(

 

[mustinjourney]

IMO it depends. There are 3 viable approaches. One is to do an add on at the same resort or a resort one plans to do a resale add on later, another is to get the cheapest points possible that one can use otherwise (7 month window) and the last is where one can make a small contract work essentially stand alone. It's best if one can incorporate that into their plans upfront and make a better initial purchase decision.

very well said.