Direct Add-On and Two Contract Questions..

[fearthisinc]

I just had a few questions regarding the purchase of a direct add-on and owning two contracts.. We are in the process of closing on a large Animal Kingdom contract which consists of 400 points per year with a December Use Year.. With that in mind, here are the questions:

1) Being that we have an Animal Kingdom home resort, can the 25 point add on be for a different home resort? Or since we have no points anywhere else, would we be required to purchase the new member minimum? We would leave the Use Year as December for ease of banking/borrowing/combining/etc.. The reason being is that we are already considering purchasing a small contract either at the Beach Club, Bay Lake, or the Polynesian in the future.. Perhaps after a year of ownership and seeing how the Animal Kingdom points work out at other resorts at the 7 month window.. Mostly looking at the Poly or Bay Lake for our December trip.. I don't think we will have to big of an issue in October as we are very flexible with the month, but I have heard the 1st week of December is the hardest to book and that is our usual time frame of the December trip....

2) Is the 25 point add on considered its own separate contract whereby it could be sold individually if needed? Even if added on to the current Animal Kingdom contract?

3) Regarding the purchase of a second resale contract.. As stated we are closing on an Animal Kingdom contract with 400 points. If, for example, we picked up a 100 point Bay Lake resale contract with a December Use Year, is there a way to differentiate the points when booking? For example, let's say we wanted to use the 11 month window to secure a couple day trip at Bay Lake in both October and December where it would cost 40 points each stay. That would leave 20 points from the Bay Lake contract.. Then say at the 7 month window we wanted to use the Animal Kingdom points to extend the stay at Bay Lake, if it is available. Does Disney automatically use the Bay Lake points first when booking any stay at Bay Lake? Can you choose which points are used for each booking (at the 7 month window)? The reason being is if you decide to book another stay at Bay Lake and still be able to use the remaining 20 points at the 11 month window.

 

[ScubaCat]

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes, you always specify which contract to take the points from. We own a couple of BCV contracts with the same UY, and even then I have to pick which one to use first.

 

[fearthisinc]

Thanks for the info.. Appreciate the fast reply.. Just wanted to double check some of the info I found and make sure it was all 100% accurate.. We definitely know we will be doing the 25 point add on to get the member perks, but as stated we are contemplating getting another home resort.. Now to just decide which.. We love the Beach Club, but mostly for our summer trips.. I talked with two coworkers who are DVC and that own at Boardwalk and BLT and they have both booked at Beach Club during summer without issues at the 7 month mark.. We usually do two summer trips with one being the last half of May to first half of June and the other being at the end of August to beginning of September... I am thinking we should be fine to use our points for at least one trip during those times at Beach Club so not sure if its worth picking up a contract just for Beach Club.. I would think we would rather need it for the December trip to get on the monorail..

 

[disneynutz]

I would hold off on the direct purchase until you experience other resorts using your AKV points. Once you decide on your favorite after staying there, you can buy your direct add-on.

Bill

 

[fearthisinc]

I would hold off on the direct purchase until you experience other resorts using your AKV points. Once you decide on your favorite after staying there, you can buy your direct add-on.

Bill

We are most definitely holding off for a bit until we figure out exactly which way to go.. However, with that said, we have been going to Disney for the past 14 years as a couple and go multiple times per year.. I personally have also been going beyond that since I was about 10 years old lol... We have stayed at many of the resorts.. Actually now that I think about it.. I think the only resorts we have not stayed at are Contemporary, Pop Century, Art of Animation,the Swan/Dolphin, Coronodo Springs, Saratoga Springs, and Old Key West.. Our direct purchase would mostly likely have been a Beach Club or Polynesian.. Bay Lake is nice as it has the bigger rooms to choose from as the family expands, but we are not big fans of the atmosphere at all... Hands down it is a great location.. But just can't beat the theme of Polynesian.. We also like to spend time around the resort and the Contemporary has a very "business" or "commercial" feel to us.. Like I said.. I think we are going to see how the next year or so goes using our Animal Kingdom points at the resorts and seeing if we have any difficulty.. Unless of course a contract comes up for a good deal.. Then all bets are off...

 

[_auroraborealis_]

It's important, especially if you like a resort for a summer trip, to keep in mind what you can get with a 25-point contract. Even bank-borrow for 3 years, that gets you 4 weeknights in a BCV studio every 3 years, or 3 weeknights at Poly. Weekends cost more, of course.

 

[fearthisinc]

Auroraborealis - the 25 point add on was simply to get the member perks.. we were also planning on possible picking up an additional contract.. if we decide to get the additional contract we would do the direct points at that resort to "beef" up that contract.. for example, with the Poly we like to do Monday to Sunday th first week of December which we have heard could be impossible at the 7 month mark... that would cost us 102 points.. so we could pick up a contract with about 100 points and do the direct add on of 25 points and we would have the week covered plus could bank some.. or we could pick up a small 50 point contract and do the 25 point add on which would give us 75 points which would allow us a Wednesday to Sunday trip..

 

[Dean]

I would hold off on the direct purchase until you experience other resorts using your AKV points. Once you decide on your favorite after staying there, you can buy your direct add-on.

Bill

Maybe for 1 to 2 visits but not much more. IF one can get real value out of the perks, esp the passes, I'd do it up front.

 

[disneynutz]

We are most definitely holding off for a bit until we figure out exactly which way to go.. However, with that said, we have been going to Disney for the past 14 years as a couple and go multiple times per year.. I personally have also been going beyond that since I was about 10 years old lol... We have stayed at many of the resorts.. Actually now that I think about it.. I think the only resorts we have not stayed at are Contemporary, Pop Century, Art of Animation,the Swan/Dolphin, Coronodo Springs, Saratoga Springs, and Old Key West.. Our direct purchase would mostly likely have been a Beach Club or Polynesian.. Bay Lake is nice as it has the bigger rooms to choose from as the family expands, but we are not big fans of the atmosphere at all... Hands down it is a great location.. But just can't beat the theme of Polynesian.. We also like to spend time around the resort and the Contemporary has a very "business" or "commercial" feel to us.. Like I said.. I think we are going to see how the next year or so goes using our Animal Kingdom points at the resorts and seeing if we have any difficulty.. Unless of course a contract comes up for a good deal.. Then all bets are off...

Staying in a DVC room is different than staying at the resort. The DVC room locations and views are not always the best. An example would be that BCV is located behind the BC with not much in the way of views.

Bill

 

[ktmo]

I kind of did what you are looking at doing. We started off with 150 points at BCV (purchased resale 2015). I knew that I eventually wanted a resort with a longer life span. Our second trip as DVC owners was at BLT. I knew that I wanted to own there. I had some extra cash, so I picked up a small add-on direct contract (30 points). I figured I would start accumulating BLT points as they years went on. I wasn't worried that it was such a small amount. I figured it would get me a couple of nights in a studio, when it was just me and the girls. I am currently up to 160 BLT points (some resale and some direct).

 

[mustinjourney]

check out this posting so you can get a decent idea of availability.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...tudios-some-1-bedrooms-prepared-2015.3419112/

 

[PicsNPistons]

We're looking at this exact scenario right now, have an AKV resale and either going to add on direct 25 for AKV or another resort.

Great to see the answers to the original post as that saved me time

I'm sure this has been answered before however I'll ask it again....is there any downside to buying that 25 pt direct at another resort that's not your original?

 

[pdude81]

We're looking at this exact scenario right now, have an AKV resale and either going to add on direct 25 for AKV or another resort.

Great to see the answers to the original post as that saved me time

I'm sure this has been answered before however I'll ask it again....is there any downside to buying that 25 pt direct at another resort that's not your original?

The downside is that can only use those points between 11 and 7 months at a different resort. The upside is kind of the same as the downside, you could use those points between 11 and 7 months at a different resort and book a split stay in 11 month window. AKV availability has been better than a lot of resorts in the past but past performance is no guarantee of future results.

 

[mustinjourney]

We're looking at this exact scenario right now, have an AKV resale and either going to add on direct 25 for AKV or another resort.

Great to see the answers to the original post as that saved me time

I'm sure this has been answered before however I'll ask it again....is there any downside to buying that 25 pt direct at another resort that's not your original?

The downside is 25 points is not a lot of points, so you'd have to bank and borrow to make a stay...which means you'll only stay there once every three years.

I made that mistake. I bought VGF resale and then 25 points at BCV direct. I didn't even consider how many points I'd need -- I was just focused on getting the minimum needed direct in order to make the best "deal" possible. I somewhat lucked out in that 5 nights during F&W is exactly 75 points -- but that still means I can only go for 5 nights every three years in a studio. Granted, I can always add-on a resale contract later to get more points -- but that means I'll have to match the UY, which isn't always easy (especially right now).

If you're going to buy at a different resort, make the assumption that those points are going to be used for a different purpose (e.g., F&W trip without the kids) and figure out how many points are needed for that purpose. 25 points at BWV can go a long way since a standard room is only 10 points per night, which means you can do 5 nights every other year.

 

[brinkley07]

We just did a direct add on after our resale purchase. All are the same use year and all at AKL. If you decide to buy at a sold out resort just remember you may get stuck on a waitlist. We waited for around a month, and I ended up with 2 small contracts to make up my points. Oddly I have a 20 and 12 point contract for the 32 points I wanted to add. From what I've read and heard from others recently we were lucky to get our points as the waits at AKL for our UY of Sept have been getting very lengthy.