dvc add on ??'s, disney vs resale

[jwhitmyer]

I'm a current DVC member at BCV. We just returned from a great trip at BCV with the entire family over New Year's...another story... We decided our 200 points probably won't do and wanted to add on more.

After some research, we found it may be more dificult to do than I thought. BCV is "sold out" and I was told by my MS guide if I only wanted to add on 50 - 100 points I would have to wait on a waiting list (already 50 people long) and could only add on if it was in the same use year as mine (december) since my add on was less than 150pts. He then proceeded to tell me about two available packages one worth 170 points with a use year in April, and another with 106 pts and a use year in October. When I expressed an interest in the October one, he said I couldn't have it because they can't change the use year if the purchase is worth less than 150pts. I really don't care if it has the same use year, and asked if I could have two seperate contracts and he said I couldn't. Call me suspicious, but why did he mention them in the first place? I was then told about the great deal on Saratoga springs and discounts. I really don't want to have a contract at another place because I'm not so sure I want to deal with a headache with the 7 vs 11 month window.

I've contacted two other resale places but was told that BCV would be dificult to get with such a small contract. I'm willing to wait, but wanted to see if any one had any ideas.

I may just cave and get the saratoga springs contract because the price was just $83/pt vs $92/pt at BCV.

 

[spiceycat]

Call your guide back and tell him you are going to look into the resale market - since he can't help you.

hopefully he made get his manager to allow you to buy one of those BCV contracts.....

otherwise just get on some mailing list at resalers for those BCV points.

 

[jwhitmyer]

I already put my name on a few lists with the resellers, particularly the timeshare store.
I was mostly suspicious that he wouldn't sell me the 106 pt contract in october. I thought as a dvc member I could buy another contract and not have a minimum of 150 pts. felt he was manipulating me to purchase SSR.
I was thinking of calling back and asking another guide about the policy about add ons to see if the story is consistant.
He did offer to sell me the April BCV contract but I would have to purchase 150 pts.
Again my current use year is December and that's why he said I had to buy at least 150 pts if the use year was different.

Another question for people with multiple site contracts... Leaving the 7 vs 11 month reservation dillema by the wayside, is it easy to combine points. I'm just worried that I want to make a reservation and be a few points shy in either contract and have to use points from the other one to make up the difference. If you use a contract, do you need to use points to cover a "whole day" or can you combine points to make up the difference? ie 10 pts from one and 2 pts from another to cover 1 day in a studio?

 

[vascubaguy]

Umm... to my knowledge, yes you can have 2 contracts and more than 1 UY! If you wanted that 170 pt contract at BCV, they should be able to set you up with a new contract #, new UY, and all that jazz. The key is that you have to buy at least 150 new points to get a new contract. Actually, they could let you buy just 150 pts from that contract.

And that other contract that is just over 100 pts, they would have to set you up with a new contract because the UY is different. For DVC to set that up, it has to be with at least 150 points, which is why they wouldn't allow you to add that on.

Another question for people with multiple site contracts... Leaving the 7 vs 11 month reservation dillema by the wayside, is it easy to combine points. I'm just worried that I want to make a reservation and be a few points shy in either contract and have to use points from the other one to make up the difference. If you use a contract, do you need to use points to cover a "whole day" or can you combine points to make up the difference? ie 10 pts from one and 2 pts from another to cover 1 day in a studio?

You can combine the points to meet what you need; however, you can not combine the points and still get the 11-month booking window. For instance, if you were booking a room at BCV and had enough for all but 1 night (say you just needed 1 more point), you wouldn't be able to book that 1 night at the 11-months unless you borrowed a point from your next BCV UY. They couldn't take 1 point from an SSR contract to book that room for that 1 night. You would have to wait until the 7 month window.

Now if you typically don't book until the 7-months, it doesn't matter where your points are, they are all the same at that time.

 

[jwhitmyer]

thanks for the info!
At least I feel my guide wasn't giving a line of bull. I guess if I have to have a new conract with a new UY then I'm treated as a new client again and have to get at least 150 pts. pity. I had my checkbook all ready...lol

I'm sure I can handle the 11 vs 7 month booking window. I recently came back from a new years trip, it was great but won't be doing that for a long time...lol way too busy. I like going in the off seasons like Jan and October and haven't had difficulty making ressies in the past.

May wait a week to see what comes up with a resale but thinking about just adding on the 120 pts at SSR. The price is great compared to adding on at BCV and I don't think I'll have a problem still using it at BCV at the 7 month window.

Has anyone had experience on the waiting lists with places like TTS? how long did you wait?

 

[Master Grayson]

I did an add on this week (BWV) when I called my guide told me they had 306 pts for my UY(April) I wanted 200 but he could not give me a 200 contract. He said the building was full and wasn't able to do a full 200 pt contract so he split the pts and gave me 2-100pt contracts, I currently have five different contracts all at the BWV all April UY. I know they try to get the same UY for members to make it eaiser but if you want a different UY there's no reason why you can't have it. I'd call back and ask for another guide.

 

[Caskbill]

You can have more than one Master Contract (and thus more than one blue Membership card number), either by purchasing a different use year month through Disney (150 point minimum purchase), or by purchasing resale (no minimum, just whatever contracts are available)

Keep in mind there are some distinctions between having two separate contracts with two different use years.

1. Points cannot be combined in any way to make a single reservation, even if the points are at the same resort.

2. Points are not combined to determine banking percentages. Each contract has it's own separate banking window and amount.

Examples:

Disney Master Contract with an Add on: 200 points at BCV and 100 Points at OKW. At 7-months it's treated exactly as a 300 point contract for making reservations at any resort. For example, making a 250 point reservation at VWL, you could use all 200 BCV points, and 50 OKW points.

For banking purposes, it's treated all the time as a 300 point contract. Thus if you were in your 50% banking window, had used all 200 BCV points and none of the OKW points, you could still bank all 100 OKW points since 50% of 300 is 150 points bankable.

Two different Master Contracts: Using the same 200 BCV and 100 OKW example: At 7-months you want to make a reservation at VWL for 250 points. You can't. Say it was a 7-day vacation. You might have to make 5 days using for example 180 BCV points, then use two days using 70 OKW points. This gives you two separate reservations. You then link the reservations so you don't have to move. You now have 20 points remaining in your BCV account, and 30 points remaining in your OKW account.

Another example: You want to make a 5-day reservation somewhere, at 18 points/day, or 90 points total. You have 15 BCV points remaining and 75 OKW points remaining (90 total). You could only make a 4 day reservation using 72 of your OKW points. You can't combine the remaining 3 OKW points with the 15 BCV points to reserve that last day. (You might be able to transfer points depending on the use years involved, and some other factors)

Banking: You used all 200 BCV points but none of your OKW points. You're into your 50% banking window. You may only bank half (50) of your 100 OKW points. The other 50 points must be used or will be lost.

 

[Caskbill]

Another question for people with multiple site contracts... Leaving the 7 vs 11 month reservation dillema by the wayside, is it easy to combine points. I'm just worried that I want to make a reservation and be a few points shy in either contract and have to use points from the other one to make up the difference. If you use a contract, do you need to use points to cover a "whole day" or can you combine points to make up the difference? ie 10 pts from one and 2 pts from another to cover 1 day in a studio?

If the contracts have the same BASE NUMBER and therefore are under the same Membership Number, then yes. For example you have your original contract and an Add-On contract to that contract. The first contract might be number 12345.000 and the Add-on would be 12345.001 where the extension .000 indicates the original "Master" contract, and the extension .001 indicates an ADD-On contract.

Points from those two contracts can be combined in any way you want for making a reservation.

If on the other hand, they are both separate contracts because they have different use years, then each contract has it's own blue card Membership number, and individual Master Contract numbers. For example, your first contract might be 12345.000 and your second contract would be 56789.000

In this case, you cannot combine the points to make the reservation.

 

[jwhitmyer]

wow! that makes a HUGE difference! Exactly what I wanted to hear.

So...If I buy a resale unless it is part of my UY is that considered a new master contract? I want the flexibility of combining points (the whole reason of adding on)

What about this whole SSR promotion? would that be considered a new Master contract or an add on?

 

[jwhitmyer]

thanks for clarifying that Caskbill. It seems for me a resale would not be my best choice because more than likely it would be a new contract. Not terrible, but I don't want the hassle of micromanaging every point and balancing each contract seperately. For me, I want to combine the points and be able to use them interchangably. 7 month vs 11 month window is less of an issue.

Seems the SSR is winning... : )

 

[bobbiwoz]

When we bought resale twice, we bought the same use year as our original contract. I did notify the retailer and I was told by someone on the boards here to also notify DVC that there was going to be an add one that we wanted included with the original contract. Maybe this was unnecessary, but everything worked out fine, and we have all our points under one contract.

Bobbi

 

[jwhitmyer]

alright, now you all are just confusing me.... : )
so If I buy a resale in the same use year, it MAY not be considered a new contract...
more food for thought...
I guess ultimately I want to be BCV or BWV so maybe I should broaden my small contract search for Boardwalk as well...

 

[bobbiwoz]

No, I don't mean to confuse you. It seems that there had been a case, or maybe it's an "urban legend" that perhaps the name was mispelled, or the 2 names in different order, but the resale wasn't recognized as "belonging" to existing DVC members. I read that, and maybe I over reacted, but I did inform our retailer and all did go as it should.

Bobbi

 

[jwhitmyer]

just git a call from pat at the Timeshare store. only one day on the list and she had a BCV contract for me. Wow! this is going fast!

I asked her specifically about the member contracts, and yes they will be seperate contracts one UY Oct, and the original UY December, but she said I would have no problem combining points. If I had to I could transfer points from one contract to the other. That may be a limited number of times a year, but hey, still worth it.

 

[bobbiwoz]

just git a call from pat at the Timeshare store. only one day on the list and she had a BCV contract for me. Wow! this is going fast!

Great! For how many points?

Bobbi

 

[jwhitmyer]

100 pts, UY October, 49 pts available now and 100 available in Oct '06.
$90 / pt which I'm willing to pay. Disney, had nothing available, and would put me on a rather long list, credit card number up front of course. Rather do domething on a contract available now.