December 2028 Trip

[IsDVCForMe?]

Hello all you Disney lovers. Been researching DVC, especially resale, and considering purchasing a contract.

We have a plan to go this year already and paid by family, but would like to go at least once every 3 years beginning in 2028.

If we’re planning to go in December 2028, when would be the best time to buy a contract? Would like to bank the points from 2027 and borrow from 2029. Thinking our use year would be October.

 

[airjay75]

If you buy resale points, you'll want those points loaded and ready to go before the 11-month window opens up. And, if you're attempting to do something like say, a studio, a BLT resort view room, or a 2 BR lock-off, you'd probably want those loaded several months before to try and "walk" the reservation since December reservations can be pretty difficult to get. Personally, I'd want those points loaded no later than November of 2027.

It can take 2-3 months for the resale process to play out and have the points loaded to your account. So, I'd be looking to purchase no later than the end of summer 2027.

You can bank 2027 points into 2028, but you really wouldn't want a contract with 2026 points on it (or 2026 points that are banked into 2027). You can find contracts that don't have any 2025 or 2026 points on them now (and probably even some that have been stripped of 2027 points) - but, make sure you don't agree to pay dues on any points you won't be receiving. If 2027 points are gone, demand a credit of some sort for the dues on those points. You an sometimes get pretty good deals on stripped contracts, but you're also rolling the dice a little bit because that is a long time before you'll have points to use, and anything could happen to the resale market between now and when you actually have points to use.

Note that buying direct points is a whole different game. There, you can have member services book a "welcome home" stay for you, and a great use of that would be a December stay.

 

[IsDVCForMe?]

If you buy resale points, you'll want those points loaded and ready to go before the 11-month window opens up. And, if you're attempting to do something like say, a studio, a BLT resort view room, or a 2 BR lock-off, you'd probably want those loaded several months before to try and "walk" the reservation since December reservations can be pretty difficult to get. Personally, I'd want those points loaded no later than November of 2027.

It can take 2-3 months for the resale process to play out and have the points loaded to your account. So, I'd be looking to purchase no later than the end of summer 2027.

You can bank 2027 points into 2028, but you really wouldn't want a contract with 2026 points on it (or 2026 points that are banked into 2027). You can find contracts that don't have any 2025 or 2026 points on them now (and probably even some that have been stripped of 2027 points) - but, make sure you don't agree to pay dues on any points you won't be receiving. If 2027 points are gone, demand a credit of some sort for the dues on those points. You an sometimes get pretty good deals on stripped contracts, but you're also rolling the dice a little bit because that is a long time before you'll have points to use, and anything could happen to the resale market between now and when you actually have points to use.

Note that buying direct points is a whole different game. There, you can have member services book a "welcome home" stay for you, and a great use of that would be a December stay.

This is good information. How difficult is it to get a studio at OKW or SSR between October and December?

 

[airjay75]

This is good information. How difficult is it to get a studio at OKW or SSR between October and December?

https://dvcfieldguide.com/availability-tables

The tables at that website are a great way to familiarize yourself with what availability looks like at different times. Those two resorts are going to be two of the easier resorts to get during that time, especially if you own there. You might even be able to piece together a stay at SSR if you bought points at a different home resort if you're willing to do some stalking and waitlisting.

 

[CarolynFH]

would like to go at least once every 3 years

Be aware that going every three years can easily lead to stranded (lost) points, because a given reservation is unlikely to require exactly three years worth of points, and you can’t move points more than one year forward or backward. So points management can be tricky and detailed planning is necessary, not to mention hoping that when DVC reallocates the points charts to manage demand as they’re required to do, they don’t completely mess up your plans.

Going at least every other year is much easier to manage. And in actuality, many DVC owners find themselves going more frequently than they originally planned, so the issue works itself out. And they’re here asking for advice related to adding on!