Does ANYONE think it's a good idea to buy direct from Disney??

[loveglobe]

After visiting WDW 18 times (and DLR 20+, and every other Disneyland in the world except Shanghai), I'm finally in a place in life where buying DVC makes financial sense. I've had a few meetings with a DVC guide, but I'm a planner and like to analyze things thoroughly. After doing a ton of research and pouring through the threads on this board, it seems like the overwhelming consensus is buy resale not direct though Disney unless you want a Guaranteed Week or want like 400+ points all with the same use year (neither of which I need). Is there ANYONE out there who can provide another solid reason to buy direct from Disney?

I've done the math and realize that using points for the Collections really doesn't make sense now (which is a main perk of buying direct), but to play devil's advocate here as an example, 25 years from now when DCL or Adventures By Disney cost an even more exorbitant amount of money, wouldn't it make some sense to use points at that time? I am a die hard Disney fan and plan to keep this contract for the full life of it, not sell in ten years once the kids grow up. BLT would be my top choice resort, but VGF is a very nice second and there aren't many resale options for either one of those in the market right now.

Thanks in advance!

 

[beer dave]

I think you may be mistaken about the availability of BLT on resale--

Definitely less availability, but how many do you need?

 

[loveglobe]

I should've been more specific - we'd like a Sept UY, somewhere between 200-250 points. I don't believe there are any VGF resales fitting that description right now (even when combining two different listings though that would then require double the closing costs) and maybe just one BLT if at all. There's a lot of June out there for some reason. And definitely fewer resales out there in general for these two resorts than any of the others especially like AKL and SSR etc. I believe BLT goes very quickly as per this thread http://www.disboards.com/threads/interested-in-selling-our-blt-points-where-to-start.3375157/ so anything I see listed right now I'm going to assume it won't be available when I'm actually ready to pull the trigger....

 

[loveglobe]

PS beer dave your tag line made me LOL : )

 

[SecretPoohLove]

We think it is a great idea to buy direct. We are current BLT owners amd wanted to add on to our home resort. We looked at the resale market, but to try to get the contract we need,then wait 3 months just for disney to take them in rofr, and then start over again, was not appealing for us. So not we are on the waitlist and are on the other side of that rofr process....sorry folks. However, if we wanted a different resort, we would definitely do resale.

 

[loveglobe]

Hmm ok so for you buying direct was a convenience thing and the security of knowing that you'd get exactly what you want in a shorter amount of time. How long did they quote you for the BLT waitlist? Did you have to specify your preferred UY and number of points? And do you know if non-members can buy BLT through Disney or are they only selling Aulani and VGF to the public?

 

[SecretPoohLove]

They told me 1-2 months as there were a couple of families ahead of us. We specified the points we wanted and the use year. Not sure about your last question, but I believe non owners can get on the waitlist, but there probably a bigger point buy in required. I saw a list maybe on the info they sent us for poly as to the minimum points to buy into the sold out resorts which makes me think you can still do it.

 

[beer dave]

We think it is a great idea to buy direct. We are current BLT owners amd wanted to add on to our home resort. We looked at the resale market, but to try to get the contract we need,then wait 3 months just for disney to take them in rofr, and then start over again, was not appealing for us. So not we are on the waitlist and are on the other side of that rofr process....sorry folks. However, if we wanted a different resort, we would definitely do resale.

FYI-- ROFR is about 3 weeks. We signed contract for AKV Dec 18, through ROFR and are having closing this week.

Also, if you look at the ROFR thread, they take maybe 5%, if that. They have to have a perfect match waiting. (your waiting list through them.)

 

[beer dave]

PS beer dave your tag line made me LOL : )

Glad you liked it. Welcomt to the boards.

 

[SecretPoohLove]

I meant 3 months for the whole process, not rofr. The June contracts are being snapped up fast and I noticed a couple recently have not passed rofr, hence our decision to go direct.

 

[loveglobe]

Thanks you guys this is all very helpful! The current resale market for BLT is about $100 pp give or take, while Disney is selling for $170 I believe. If you're buying a small add on that's not a huge difference so I can see why you'd want to do that, but for 200 points or so which is what we're considering, it's several thousand dollars. So I guess the question I'm trying to figure out is that for the convenience and time saving and trading points benefits is it worth it going direct and paying that premium. I'm leaning towards yes but then again I do love a bargain. Any thoughts on what I wrote originally about the value of using points for the Collections in the future when the cash costs for those are much higher than they are now?

 

[nalajms]

I would go direct if it's VGF. At $165 direct, assuming you'll get 2014 points if you buy a Sept UY right now, it's a wash compared to resale. If you were buying BLT, I would still go resale. yes, the process takes longer, but for me it's a big price difference. $170 direct versus maybe $100? Have you thought about buying at both resorts? Get the VGF direct and wait for the BLT resale? It'll be easier to sell a 100pt contract than a 200pt, if you ever need to sell.

As to your question about using DVC points for other stuff.... when the prices for other stuff goes up, they will likely require more points and additional fees The only think you are locking in with a DVC purchase is DVC rooms.

 

[SecretPoohLove]

I don't think using the points toward the disney collection are a good use of points anyway unless I had some extra that I needed to use or lose.

 

[heynowirv]

The fact is the perks all come and go ,Disney Collection,DCL.The only guarantee is the properties.Personally if you're looking to buy in @ 200-250 points buying resale would be a significant savings.Just be patient and keep looking at the resale brokers till you find what your looking for.
Good Luck

 

[SecretPoohLove]

By the way, by going direct, I am getting 2014 amd 2015 points ....just some extra info. Loded contracts seems to be creeping up in ppp.

 

[nalajms]

Are you signed up for the emailing lists? One of the brokers allow you to select the resorts you want for alerts. It's more work, and you'll need to be ready to pull the trigger as soon as you see the listing.

 

[Lauren in NC]

I would expect that as time goes on, the amount of points needed to trade in to those would also increase and that it'd continue to be a bad deal (if they even still allow it - remember, the only thing guaranteed is that you can stay at your home resort!). For me, the possibility that it may make more sense at some point in the future isn't worth an extra $70pp, and if I were to buy direct, it wouldn't be a factor in my calculations. At this point of my life, however, I'm not very interested in DCL or ABD, so if it's something you see yourself doing every year or so instead of a DL/WDW trip, DVC may not be for you. Potential situations where I'd buy direct: small add-on contract in the same UY, new resort that I absolutely had to have, or if I wanted a fixed week during a hard to book time (VGF during early December!).

We're in the process of closing on our first contract now. Once we determined that DVC would be a good fit for us and set a budget, I sat down and figured what resort we wanted, which UYs we preferred, and a point range that would allow us to take the number of vacations we wanted during specific time periods. I signed up for a bunch of emails from different timeshare brokers, and kept an eye out. Within about a month we found a contract for the resort we wanted in the perfect UY for us. We did end up at the high range of the amount of points we wanted, but we were able to negotiate the price per point down to still fit within our budget. Based on a $160 direct price, we got 78 more points by going resale than by going direct. That's pretty much an entire extra vacation every year! We probably lucked out by finding our nearly-perfect contract so quickly, but I think those extra points are going to make up for the 4-6 months it'll take to finish the process.

 

[loveglobe]

These are all very good points, no pun intended! Another factor we're still trying to figure out is if we truly want VGF or BLT as our home resort. Right now since we'd probably be vacationing with family/friends we'd prefer BLT but once we're empty nesters we'll probably prefer VGF. I just posted a separate thread about this here http://www.disboards.com/threads/blt-versus-vgf.3377935/ but since you are all giving me awesome feedback, maybe you can give me your thoughts on this question too?

Also, our guide just let me know that if we want to have a Sept UY at VGF we'd have to start the paperwork today because they're switching to Oct now that it's February. So of course we now have to make a fairly quick call on whether to buy direct or go with resale! : 0

 

[loveglobe]

nalajms we have thought about splitting the points between the two resorts, but the thing is we'd like to go for at least a week at a time so if the points are split then I believe we'd lose the home resort 11 month booking advantage... unless you can book with home resort points and cash at 11 mo and then switch out the cash for the other resort's points at 7 mo?

Lauren may I ask which resort and UY you wanted? It does seem like you lucked out finding exactly what you wanted so quickly - congrats!

It seems like no one sees any real value in using points for the Collections. I didn't realize that DVC could increase the points values for these ones, and had assumed that it would be similar to the DVC resorts where the points values are fairly set. I guess if you had extra points to use but didn't want to stay at a DVC resort, you'd be better off renting them and then paying cash for whatever hotel you want to stay at, even in the future....?

 

[heynowirv]

By the way, by going direct, I am getting 2014 amd 2015 points ....just some extra info. Loded contracts seems to be creeping up in ppp.

And you're buying them by paying MF's for 2014.They aren't giving them to you for nothing.