Effective 2/25/2018, you need at least 75 direct points to qualify for Membership Extras

[disneynutz]

Hundreds? My wife and I count the figure spent on admission, food, and extras in the thousands of dollars per year... However, while that money goes to Disney, it doesn't trickle down to DVD, who is paying for perks out of its marketing budget. It's not DVC, to whom we pay maintenance fees, that is paying for the perks. So, DVD has every right to decide who gets those perks. That they keep grandfathering older contracts to get these perks is astounding to me.

Good catch, I forget the words, "hundreds of thousands of dollars". We once projected dues, contract cost, travel, admission, food, extras on just our 200 point contract, over 50 years we will be spending $300,000 dollars counting inflation.

Bill

 

[brent02139]

Forgot to add, 50 point akv feb UY was available when I called.

 

[kboo]

I just realized that the timing of this new 75-point requirement is no accident - we have President's weekend and then the Princess marathon weekend coming up. We are going for the whole week - crowd calendars are estimating Wednesday to be a 6 overall, but all the other days before and after are at 8-10. That's a lot of people to talk up the whole, "buy now before there's more restrictions" spiel.

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

If I add 25 pts but a a dif UY and resort is it considered a new contract, can you do that?
I have 300 at SSR , and was thinking we may want to 1 day sell to get at a different resort. If I did it as a add on with the same UY and resort would I be able to keep just the 25 and see the 300?

The rep when we bought lied about so much I dont trust anything they would tell me. I trust the experts here on the dis.

 

[Ben E N]

If I add 25 pts but a a dif UY and resort is it considered a new contract, can you do that?
I have 300 at SSR , and was thinking we may want to 1 day sell to get at a different resort. If I did it as a add on with the same UY and resort would I be able to keep just the 25 and see the 300?

The rep when we bought lied about so much I dont trust anything they would tell me. I trust the experts here on the dis.

You can do some other resorts, but not a separate UY. That is a new contract and has a 50 point minimum.

 

[Crusader10hky]

Here's another hypothetical that someone was asking, me but I'll use my point structure as an example.

I have a resale contract (post-2016) for 200 BLT Oct UY. Say I really wanted to purchase a 25 point BLT Oct UY direct and had been waiting around until one became available. If I purchase a 25 point direct contract for say OKW July UY, I'll be grandfathered into membership extras eligibility. A year from now, my desired BLT 25 point add-on becomes available and I purchase it direct. If I sold off the OKW contract after that, am I still grandfathered into membership extras because I maintained at least 25 direct points as per the previous guidelines? Or do I lose it because the date of purchase of the BLT 25 points was after the cutoff, thus requiring 75 direct points?

I am not desperately awaiting this answer, but I thought it was an interesting scenario worth mentioning.


2 trains 168 miles apart are traveling towards one another with a velocity of.......

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

If I add 25 pts but a a dif UY and resort is it considered a new contract, can you do that?
I have 300 at SSR , and was thinking we may want to 1 day sell to get at a different resort. If I did it as a add on with the same UY and resort would I be able to keep just the 25 and see the 300?

The rep when we bought lied about so much I dont trust anything they would tell me. I trust the experts here on the dis.

A different UY is a brand new membership and that usually means a 50 points purchase. If you were to do an add on of 25 points to your existing UY you would be able to later sell the 300 SSR points and keep that 25 points. What can't be done is to sell some of the 300 points contract and just keep some of those.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Here's another hypothetical that someone was asking, me but I'll use my point structure as an example.

I have a resale contract (post-2016) for 200 BLT Oct UY. Say I really wanted to purchase a 25 point BLT Oct UY direct and had been waiting around until one became available. If I purchase a 25 point direct contract for say OKW July UY, I'll be grandfathered into membership extras eligibility. A year from now, my desired BLT 25 point add-on becomes available and I purchase it direct. If I sold off the OKW contract after that, am I still grandfathered into membership extras because I maintained at least 25 direct points as per the previous guidelines? Or do I lose it because the date of purchase of the BLT 25 points was after the cutoff, thus requiring 75 direct points?

I am not desperately awaiting this answer, but I thought it was an interesting scenario worth mentioning.


2 trains 168 miles apart are traveling towards one another with a velocity of.......

Selling the qualified membership contract has meant that you are not qualified anymore. Only time will tell for certain but my assumption based on DVC's history is that selling the 25 OKW points would leave you unqualified for member extras. That you bought BLT 25 points after the fact would mean you'd now have to buy 50 more to be qualified again - assuming it was still a 75 points threshold.

 

[mab2012]

What if it was indeed a new category? "Membership Extras" as we all know them stay the same. Those grandfathered in still get them. Except they no longer offer AP discounts, lounge access, Moonlight Magic, etc. Those "perks" would just go the way of the valet parking dodo. You could of course still rent DVDs and pool hop, though. TOTWL is also yours to enjoy.

Instead, they introduce the all-new "Disney's Friends with More Benefits" Program. It's this whole other thing. Sure you can go to TOTWL, get your DVDs with your "Membership Extras" but now you also get to attend Starlight Specials, an after hour events available to Disney Vacation Club members with "Disney Friends with More Benefits" and their peasant guests (not to be confused with the now non-existent Moonlight Magic - it's a totally different thing), Forever Magic Living (FML) passes (they sound like annual passes, but totally different), etc.

Now included with all Disney Vacation Memberships when you purchase your real estate interest directly through Disney Vacation Development, Inc.

They could probably do this. I don't really think they will, at least not anytime soon, because it would burn a great deal of goodwill, and would certainly drive home the "don't buy for the perks" message loud and clear. (And while they are legally obliged to remind buyers of that fact, it's obviously not the message they want them to hear.) I think there's also some possibility that this could be open to legal challenge as a thinly veiled attempt to do an end-run around their contractual obligations, but I don't know if that would be likely to succeed.

Currently a DVC member? No problem! You can apply to have the new "Disney Friends with More Benefits" membership applied to your current membership. Upon DVD review, membership to the new program may be granted to current members.

I think this part would get them into trouble. First, why would they bother? If they're willing to strip benefits from existing members, including original direct purchasers, there's no reason to bother offering those back through some backdoor. Second, the goodwill that would be burned by stripping existing owners of benefits would be NOTHING compared to the firestorm that would ensue if they were to start offering those benefits back to "selected" owners through some arbitrary, undisclosed process. And third, if it did get out that the "eligibility" for being allowed into the new benefits program was a prior direct purchase of X points, that would definitely be open to legal challenge as a poor attempt to subvert their contractual obligations. And I doubt the courts would look kindly on such a clumsy, underhanded technique.

I really don't believe that grandfathered contract holders have anything much to worry about. Far more likely is that they will start creating tiers of benefits depending on level of qualified point ownership, but I think existing memberships would have to be grandfathered into that scheme as well. The play there would be to entice existing owners to buy even more direct points in order to qualify for a higher "tier" of benefits. In addition to new purchasers, of course.

Also worth noting that grandfathered memberships will not be grandfathered forever. Resales will already be reducing the pool, and in another 20ish years, many of those grandfathered memberships will start to expire. So if Disney really wants to get rid of currently qualified members, all they have to do is wait.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

I just broke down and called DVD to start the paperwork. I was going to watch the resales(our next trip is 2020), buy a small contract, then add 25 points later. But this change and the small savings from resell (because it's a small contract) didn't make sense for me to go resale any more. I guess their tactic worked on me.

I bought a small contract in October. There is very little savings right now resale - vs - direct on small contracts. It's difficult, but you kind of have to ignore a lot of the generalizations on here knowing that they really don't apply to you. The premium on my "not smart with my money, uninformed buyer" direct points is already more than 50% "refunded" at this moment. I have less than 75 points but will be grandfathered in. One more set of APs and I'm ahead of the game.

 

[ziravan]

I bought a small contract in October. There is very little savings right now resale - vs - direct on small contracts. It's difficult, but you kind of have to ignore a lot of the generalizations on here knowing that they really don't apply to you. The premium on my "not smart with my money, uninformed buyer" direct points is already more than 50% "refunded" at this moment. I have less than 75 points but will be grandfathered in. One more set of APs and I'm ahead of the game.

Buying direct is almost never a good deal with almost any timeshare. As a rule.

There are exceptions to every rule and with DVC, more than most.

I own 6 timeshare contracts with 2 companies, DVC and Wyndham. Only one of those contracts, Poly, is a direct contract.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

Would an add on be part of original contract? We wanted to protect our larger point investment by adding children to small contract not sure 25 points would be separate.

I really don't have personal experience with this, but since you can sell off a 25 point add-on, I don't see why you couldn't change the deed on only the 25. It's a question to ask before purchasing, I suppose. It will result in a new membership complete with a separate membership number, etc since it will have different owners. I have heard the term "gratuitous transfer" used. So, that's what I'd ask my guide about. And there is info on these boards about how to do it yourself inexpensively.

 

[Ben E N]

I really don't have personal experience with this, but since you can sell off a 25 point add-on, I don't see why you couldn't change the deed on only the 25. It's a question to ask before purchasing, I suppose. It will result in a new membership complete with a separate membership number, etc since it will have different owners. I have heard the term "gratuitous transfer" used. So, that's what I'd ask my guide about. And there is info on these boards about how to do it yourself inexpensively.

I would be willing to bet that they would consider that transfer to be similar to a sale and to remove the direct perks associated with it. Otherwise, people would be gaming the system left and right.

 

[LadyLvsTramp]

I really don't have personal experience with this, but since you can sell off a 25 point add-on, I don't see why you couldn't change the deed on only the 25. It's a question to ask before purchasing, I suppose. It will result in a new membership complete with a separate membership number, etc since it will have different owners. I have heard the term "gratuitous transfer" used. So, that's what I'd ask my guide about. And there is info on these boards about how to do it yourself inexpensively.

I tried a 25 point add on but they said could not add names it would attach to original AKL and we did not want kids on larger contracts because it is an asset legally and we want to maintain control until we decide to turn it over to them!

 

[Ben E N]

I tried a 25 point add on but they said could not add names it would attach to original AKL and we did not want kids on larger contracts because it is an asset legally and we want to maintain control until we decide to turn it over to them!

That just seems to make the most sense. Otherwise, I would just add 25 points to my contract and name it in the name of all of my extended family, allowing them access to all of my benefits. I don't even want my own parents having access to my points, though, so I would never do this with more than 25 points. Disney was smart in closing this potential "loophole" before it ever had the chance to open.

 

[LadyLvsTramp]

That just seems to make the most sense. Otherwise, I would just add 25 points to my contract and name it in the name of all of my extended family, allowing them access to all of my benefits. I don't even want my own parents having access to my points, though, so I would never do this with more than 25 points. Disney was smart in closing this potential "loophole" before it ever had the chance to open.

I only wanted to add my children because they were minors when we purchased from Disney and they enjoy going now they are raising families. We purchased for our children and grandchildren! You can only put 6 persons on a contract.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

Buying direct is almost never a good deal with almost any timeshare. As a rule.

There are exceptions to every rule and with DVC, more than most.

I own 6 timeshare contracts with 2 companies, DVC and Wyndham. Only one of those contracts, Poly, is a direct contract.

Yes, it's hard to say what I would have paid for my contract via resale since none came up while I was looking. Even in looking at current listings and at the ROFR thread, there aren't a lot to compare to. There's one....and it looks like they got a really good deal. Anyway, I'd say my direct points cost me anywhere from $1500 - 2500 more than resale and I've already saved more than $1000 with my benefits. So, my circumstances qualify as an exception.

It's hard because I feel like people are comparing different things. Obviously adding on a full 75 points that you wouldn't normally buy, is a lot of money for benefits of any kind! But paying even $50/pt more for 75 points that you were buying anyway is $3750. That may be totally worth it for some families. And if you really wanted those benefits and they were worth it for 25, then the cost really just went up $2500.

I'll say it again, someone has to buy direct. They need to make direct purchases more "valuable". There has to be incentive. So, I really don't think its about making resale buyers 2nd class citizens, it's about making some people choose to pay a premium for the (not guaranteed, ever-changing) benefits.

 

[ziravan]

Yes, it's hard to say what I would have paid for my contract via resale since none came up while I was looking. Even in looking at current listings and at the ROFR thread, there aren't a lot to compare to. There's one....and it looks like they got a really good deal. Anyway, I'd say my direct points cost me anywhere from $1500 - 2500 more than resale and I've already saved more than $1000 with my benefits. So, my circumstances qualify as an exception.

It's hard because I feel like people are comparing different things. Obviously adding on a full 75 points that you wouldn't normally buy, is a lot of money for benefits of any kind! But paying even $50/pt more for 75 points that you were buying anyway is $3750. That may be totally worth it for some families. And if you really wanted those benefits and they were worth it for 25, then the cost really just went up $2500.

I'll say it again, someone has to buy direct. They need to make direct purchases more "valuable". There has to be incentive. So, I really don't think its about making resale buyers 2nd class citizens, it's about making some people choose to pay a premium for the (not guaranteed, ever-changing) benefits.

Somebody has to buy resale, but DVC has a captive audience of tens of thousands each week.

They don’t drive you back and forth to the airport as a courtesy. We refer to taking MDE as being ‘prisoners of Disney’.

Since they have a captive audience, they should take advantage of that before they play (the unnecessary) 2nd class citizen game.

I’m not suggesting they refuse to give you a parking pass unless you agree to attend an “owner’s update.” There are degrees to everything.

But. For example, when I have friends /family /renters use points, there’s a place to check that they’re not members on the reservation. DVC knows who they are! What a perfect opportunity to invite someone to a free meal/presentation - somebody actually trying out the product. I’m not talking about badgering them; but they don’t even ask.

If I had an EPCOT lounge in MY park, and I was trying to sell points, each of the millions of annual visitors would know it. There’d be a huge sign at the park entrance that says:

“DVC members, Welcome Home! Your exclusive lounge is on the 2nd floor of the Imagination Pavilion! (Ask how YOU can become a member, too!)”

All those booths would advertise free FPs in exchange for a presentation.

I don’t fault DVC for trying to drum up business. But THEY decided to stylize their timeshare as a club. They decided (correctly) that they could afford to be different than other timeshares. They need to own it.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

I only wanted to add my children because they were minors when we purchased from Disney and they enjoy going now they are raising families. We purchased for our children and grandchildren! You can only put 6 persons on a contract.

Yes, I read up-thread that someone already asked about retaining status with a gratuitous transfer and they were told it will retain status. I hope that remains true. I purchased in October but it was a Christmas surprise for my husband. His name isn't on it yet (because he would have needed to know about it to sign). So, it's in my name and my 19 yo daughter. We discussed it on Christmas and DH is fine with leaving it as is until my now 16 yo turns 18 and we will add them both. So, I'd be really upset if it didn't retain direct status.

I can see where they would exclude changing the names on just the add on.

 

[skier_pete]

It's as simple as a marketing tool folks.

"Why should I buy resale?"
Pre-restrictions sales pitch: "Ummmm...."
Now: "Look at all these extra benefits! And the only difference is the up-front fees!"

So, yeah - that's how it is...