DVC Decision Help

[Eeyore's the Best]

Hi all, been scoring these boards recently. I have a trip planned in November and I am considering buying DVC. I'm pretty sure I have decided I'm only interested in buying direct. I have $50K Canadian to spend. We like to go for two weeks minimum each year, usually two weeks in a row in November or February. Sometimes we do the one week in February if we are doing two in November or vice versa.

We always stay at Pop and don't mind it there really but would love the idea of staying somewhere nicer. I would really only consider a resort if it had as many alternate forms of transportation as possible other than buses to the parks. For example we like Pop because of the Skyliner. I think my top choices would be any of the monorail resorts (love the Grand Flo) or Riviera or Boardwalk. We tend to plan far ahead so booking ahead of time is not an issue. It's just me and my sister that go so we don't need a lot of room.

I think my issue will be that I might not be able have enough points to be able to stay for the two weeks/sometimes 3 weeks and will end up paying for stays each year regardless. I was considering just putting the money in a separate savings account and using it for a nicer vacation every so often, but it seems to me the price of some of these DVC resorts are so high, just priced out our two weeks in November at Boardwalk instead of Pop and it was $15K more! Or maybe we save and borrow points and do a DVC resort every couple of years? I don't know....

Just looking for some thoughts etc. if you had my 50K to spend what would you do? I could go a little higher if it was close and it made sense. I've been learning a lot about DVC but I still feel like I have a lot to learn.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions from all you DVC experts

 

[savvy101787]

Have you looked at the point charts to see how many you might need to take this amount of trips? One thing to consider is buying direct at two separate home resorts if you plan to do different areas of WDW (eg one at VGF for monorail/TC and one at RIV for skyliner). That could help give you some flexibility with points for different weeks.

PS I too am a convert from Pop stays with family to DVC!

 

[Nabas]

Since you want to do 2-3 week stays, my initial suggestion is that you plan to do DVC stays every other year.

Consider buying direct at RIV or VGF (the 2 resorts that Disney is actively selling) so that you have access to the alternative transportation you want.

Plus this gives you other perks such as late nights at Epcot and Magic Kingdom. (Subject to change.)

 

[EmilyGahr]

$50k would get you about 250 points, likely enough for a 2-week stay, depending where/when you go.

Have you considered buying direct for your 2-week stay, and then buying a smaller resale contract to cover your 1-week stay?

 

[Sandisw]

Since you are used to stay at Pop, then a studio will meet your needs for now which means you can cover a good number of days you want to travel.

With your times, an Oct UY would work well, and right now, if you buy RIV, you will get 2021 points…that will give you some extra for the first few years.

For example, if you bought 250 points, you could bank them and start the 2022 UY with 500…that would certainly help for the next few years!

RIV is our favorite and I think a great home resort. It is a little less, points wise, than VGF.

Either one are great sources.

 

[PalmettoPath]

50K CAD is approx. 38K USD at the moment. We just added 200 VGF (March 2022) to our contract and with exchange rates that ended up costing us approx. 47K CAD. So 200 points range is likely what you'd be looking at if you were to purchase VGF direct.

 

[Nabas]

$50k would get you about 250 points, likely enough for a 2-week stay, depending where/when you go.

The OP has $50K Canadian, about $38K USD.

That’s roughly about 200 points at RIV with a $3800 Developer Credit.

The OP mentioned going in February or November. Depending on what kind of Studio, that’s 139 to 195 points for one week.

An alternative would be to buy resale at OKW or SSR which cost less, but then they don’t get the alternative forms of theme park transportation they said they wanted.

 

[kandlsutton]

An alternative would be to buy resale at OKW or SSR which cost less, but then they don’t get the alternative forms of theme park transportation they said they wanted.

And buying resale knocks out ability to use points at Riviera and likely future new resorts, if OP is interested in those options. But the point charts are more friendly at the older resorts.

Definitely look at the point charts to help determine how many points you need for your travel plans. If you want Boardwalk or Beach Club in November, you either need to own there for 11 mo booking window or be open to split stays at multiple resorts.

OP said that they plan ahead, but with DVC that means 11-7 months in advance at your home resort. If planning 7 months or less out, then points are points and home resort doesn't really matter - get the resort with lowest buy-in cost and maintenance fees (currently Grand Flo beats out Riviera on maintenance fees but buy-in is slightly higher and no 2021 points with Grand Flo).

Also make sure you understand Use Year and banking windows. Planning 11 months in advance can be tricky - unexpected things come up and trips have to move or get cancelled.

 

[Eeyore's the Best]

Hi, all great thoughts. Def need to do some more research into the Use Year, haven't really grasped the concept on that one yet.

 

[tjkraz]

Hi, all great thoughts. Def need to do some more research into the Use Year, haven't really grasped the concept on that one yet.

The short answer is the ideal Use Year comes immediately before your most frequent travel dates. If you will often vacation toward the end of the year, an August or September Use Year gives you the greatest flexibility to reschedule or bank the points. August points would be valid every year for stays from 8/1 through the following 7/31. If you have to reschedule an October visit, you have a lot of options.

Of course, your travel patterns are likely to change as your family ages so it's one of those topics that's probably not worth overthinking.

Use Years are basically a way of spreading out the points so that not every owner has points which expire at the same time. If everyone had points that were valid from January - December, there would likely be a huge rush toward the end of every year to use any points that were at risk of expiring.

If buying direct from Disney, there are some benefits to getting points for a Use Year that's close to ending. For instance, if you buy an August Use Year today, DVC will usually give you the points that are valid from 8/1/21 through 7/31/22--and allow you to bank them. Then in about 6 weeks you'd get another full set of points. But this is just a one-time bonus, and it's not available on the Grand Floridian points they are selling now due to the mid-year opening of the new rooms.

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

I vote Riviera! Great resort, Skyliner, and if your sister and you want to really stretch points, you could do a Tower Studio to get more days out of the trip. Plus, like PP said, depending on your use year, you can double the points for the buy-in, make your reservation immediately buying direct, and have access to the new Poly 2.0 and Disneyland Tower coming on board in the next two years. Standard view at Riviera are hard to get, but 11-month booking window and you being able to make reservations in advance will greatly help you. I'm so excited for you! You'll lose your mind after doing Pop, switching over to DVC. Congratulations on whatever you decide!

 

[CarolynFH]

I agree that you might want to look at the points charts to find out how many points you'd need to stay where you want. RIV, VGF & BWV all have studios and 1BR villas, Poly has only studios. The 2023 points charts are HERE ; the 2024 charts won't be out until the end of the year, and it’s possible that there will be another reallocation of points making October through December more expensive and January through September less expensive. Because BWV is older, the number of points needed to stay are lower than the other DVC resorts you're considering, but OTOH if you plan to buy direct, the direct price per point is ridiculously high compared to RIV - you'd maybe want to compare the cost of the number of points needed per stay, or seriously consider resale.

And here's the link to the Understanding Use Year thread - might be helpful to you as well.

 

[DVCanadian]

I know you said you were interested in direct but You’ve got enough money to buy around 250 points at SSR. Buy as many as you can (or feel that you need).

Sounds like you are planning to book studios.
If you can plan at 11 months book at SSR,then switch at 7 months. You mentioned staying two weeks or longer, you are a good candidate for split stays if that interests you, it also increases you chances of success at 7 months. If you don’t mind where you stay buy the cheapest points (lower buy in and lower ongoing dues).

We bought our points at par back around 2010, the exchange rate is no joke!

 

[disney dumbo]

Fun to give an opinion on spending 50K ha!

I'd buy the minimum points Disney sells direct at your favorite resort... on monorail for me. So you get in on perks of buying direct. Then you also can add on points direct if you want in 25 point increments. Then use the rest of the money to buy resale points at cheapest place you can... I like SSR (I don't own there, but usually found it open for bookings)... with elevator in building, bus somewhat convenient to my room, parking near my room, Disney Springs so easy to get to, longer contract life than some fun resorts. Work that plan for a few years... don't like it... resale SSR and buy direct or another resale at where you want to be. I think this plan would give you a taste of your upgrade and the most points for your money. Plus an opporunity to try different resorts... cheaper than diving in to the most expensive. You might find once you stay somewhere else, you enjoy those perks too. I do believe in buying where you want to stay, if you can plan 11 months advance. But it's not the end all. I also like having lots of points to stay period!

We own at 3 resorts... some of my plans are 7 months... so can grab others. Life has changed for me since buying... easy to plan when my kids were little... on to grandkids now, much more complicated!

Good Luck and report back!