First Time DVC Buyer needing help deciding Riv/GFV Direct vs AKL Resale

[Arbogast]

Additional question, if I buy 150 points Direct at Riv for a Dec UY am I better off buying these and then adding on as an official dvc member instead of buying 175 points as a non member?

 

[RoseGold]

Additional question, if I buy 150 points Direct at Riv for a Dec UY am I better off buying these and then adding on as an official dvc member instead of buying 175 points as a non member?

I'd split it into 75 and 75. They won't let you do that as a new member.

 

[Sandisw]

Additional question, if I buy 150 points Direct at Riv for a Dec UY am I better off buying these and then adding on as an official dvc member instead of buying 175 points as a non member?

It depends on the difference in price but the smallest add on for RIV is 50 points so you can’t get to 175 unless you start there.

As a new buyer the initial contract can’t be smaller than 150.…and Discounts for current owners don’t start until 100 points, so it seems like 175, even without current owner discounts, will be better unless you want more than that.

 

[Her Dotness]

Additional question, if I buy 150 points Direct at Riv for a Dec UY am I better off buying these and then adding on as an official dvc member instead of buying 175 points as a non member?

It matters, IMO, in how eager you are to have a sure thing with points speedily loaded vs. waiting possibly 6-8 weeks to see if your resale makes it through ROFR. And then, perhaps another month or two for all the processing to be completed.

With direct, there's virtually no wait at all once your payment clears. You'll get your points within hours ordinarily. Resale can take a couple months even after payment is made for your points to be added--our experience with buying a resale under current conditions.

Maybe I'm just impatient and greedy, but I found buying a resale much more frustrating what with all the wait, wait compared to our direct buy-in. It seemed instant and virtually effortless in comparison.

We bought 100 VGF points direct initially, adding a 25-pointer the same way a couple years later. Easy-peasy. Getting an OKW resale ROFRd early this year and then waiting 3 months start-to-finish to conclude a VGF resale was annoying and frustrating to me.

If you're asking does it make a difference adding when already a DVC Member, not really, I'd say. Not unless you want to direct-buy a new DVC resort, because current members could buy "new VGF" a month sooner than non-members.

I don't know of any other add-on advantage to already being a member when you add, whether buying direct or resale.

 

[Nabas]

I am trying to decide between 150 points at RIV/GFV direct or 200 points resale at AKL. I thought I would throw a poll up to see what you all thought.

Have you been to all 3 resorts?

If so, which is your favorite?

I would not buy at any until I have walked through to get a sense of how much I like it.

 

[sethschroeder]

Would never buy AKV unless it was at a good discount over other resale contracts.

AKV is easy to get at 7 months and it's not a location we would really want to stay most years.

I pick direct RIV or VGF based on if you like MK or Epcot more.

Otherwise I look at resale at places like BWV or BLT.

 

[Prince John Robin Hood]

We have VGF and AKV and as others have said a big positive for AKV is the point chart. For our upcoming trip we'll be spending half the points per night on a value studio compared to VGF studio. If we could only keep one contract it would be VGF but I love AKV for cheap point rooms and SAP.

 

[NVDISFamily]

We are very rapidly finding it hard to not buy points at VGF to get cheaper points than VGC and to give us something to try and explore WDW resorts. At first my wife was a hard no on VGF and we didn't watch as many videos about the villas there.

Due to the current deals and the great resale value (helps if for some unforeseen reason we have to sell) we gave it a second look. After watching more videos we picked up on certain charms such as the Marry Poppins theme that we didn't realize was there. This moved my wife from a somewhat strong no to a yea that's really nice. The kids love the pool and splash pad stuff and I'm really keen to walk over to the Poly and explore that resort. Copper Creek would be an instant buy if we could get the same deal as VGF for direct points but it seems like we should be able to book that and other resorts at the 7 month mark over the years. We now would not feel that we would be stuck if we had to use the 11 month window to get VGF as it seems like a very nice place to stay.

Current plan is now to buy a good chunk less VGC resale and buy 300 to 400 at VGF to lock in the discount. This all depends on our first contract getting through and closing in time for the deals but I've been in contact with my guide and it seems like they are going to do their best to try and let me get the member prices if all goes well

 

[Arbogast]

Have you been to all 3 resorts?

If so, which is your favorite?

I would not buy at any until I have walked through to get a sense of how much I like it.

I loved staying at AKL but this was before I had a baby (first coming next week!) I've toured Riv and really liked it, GFV I have never stayed. I'm worried about the logistics of taking a stroller everywhere and being stuck on AKL buses vs Monorail or Skyliner

 

[Arbogast]

Would never buy AKV unless it was at a good discount over other resale contracts.

AKV is easy to get at 7 months and it's not a location we would really want to stay most years.

I pick direct RIV or VGF based on if you like MK or Epcot more.

Otherwise I look at resale at places like BWV or BLT.

I prefer the Epcot/HS combo over MK, though I enjoy all of the parks

 

[alohatok1986]

AKV sold out

Sorry maybe I'm missing something but as of a couple weeks ago AKV was still available to buy direct?

 

[pks_domer]

I loved staying at AKL but this was before I had a baby (first coming next week!) I've toured Riv and really liked it, GFV I have never stayed. I'm worried about the logistics of taking a stroller everywhere and being stuck on AKL buses vs Monorail or Skyliner

We actually stayed at AKV on our first trip with our daughter (she was 16 months). We went in late Jan, so crowds were pretty low, but bus with stroller wasn't bad (I'd expect it to be a nightmare at a busy time of year though). We also drive rather than fly to WDW, and so far it's been easy to get the kids around regardless.

Staying at BLT next trip, though, so we'll see what walkable to MK does to my perspective!

 

[Leight19]

I loved staying at AKL but this was before I had a baby (first coming next week!) I've toured Riv and really liked it, GFV I have never stayed. I'm worried about the logistics of taking a stroller everywhere and being stuck on AKL buses vs Monorail or Skyliner

I think this is good point. My love of akv is built on assumption bus travel isn’t a big issue. We have 3 kids 8 months to 4yrs and busses were not fun this last trip. However, we had our car for first time and thought driving to parks (except MK) was much easier then we anticipated and is now our default plan until strollers are gone haha.

 

[Sandisw]

Sorry maybe I'm missing something but as of a couple weeks ago AKV was still available to buy direct?

AKV is considered a sold out resort as it is no longer in active sales. That doesn’t mean you can’t get points, but they have to have the in stock. That isnt always the case.

Right now, with RIV and VGF, plus AUL, they have millions of points so getting what you want is not an issue.

 

[Her Dotness]

As a 4-year-old trapped in a retiree body, I suggest considering that Second Law of DVC Resort Choice: Location, location, LOCATION. Because MK IS Disney World for most small kids--and "hybrids" like me.

You, presumably being an adult-in-adult-body, say you prefer EP/DHS. Consider that for at least the first 2-3 years (maybe more) of your child's life, you're likely to spend more time in the MK than anywhere else.

It's not much fun being dependent upon a bus to MK from RIV or AKL, particularly for rope drop.

With the current ParkHopper restrictions, you can't Skyliner to the International Gateway until after 2:00 p.m. to get through Epcot to the monorail to MK. You're kinda stuck starting your park day in EP or DHS and waiting until the height of the afternoon heat or the evening to get into MK.

With a VGF direct buy, you've MK one monorail stop away, about a 10-minute ride, and the boat from MK back to the GF can be refreshing and relaxing after an MK morning.

When your kid(s) get older and share your preference for EP/DHS, you can gradually switch to 7-months bookings at an EP resort, maybe eventually selling your VGF points.

Disclaimer: We've owned VGF for going on 6 years, bought in at off-sale prices even. Naturally, I'm going to pitch for it, since we've loved the GF for over 10 years.

 

[Her Dotness]

AKV is considered a sold out resort as it is no longer in active sales. That doesn’t mean you can’t get points, but they have to have the in stock. That isnt always the case.

True. However, if you're not in a hurry, you can buy an off-sale resort. That's what we did buying into VGF.

I can only speak to how that was done 6ish years ago. The process may be different these days.

We waitlisted for the minimum and were told that we'd remain on the list for six months unless that many points became available, which could happen at any time.

We got a call a little over a month later and had 2 weeks to decide. Our guide explained that it's a take-it-or-leave-it with no additional waitlisting if we declined the offer.

No question, we snapped it up and added 25 direct VGF points a couple years later.

So, it can be done but could take longer than buying resale for Disney to get the points--and off-sale prices are painful.

P.S. If you're wondering why we didn't look for a VGF resale, we had no idea the resale market existed. Babes in the woods.

 

[DVCsloth]

As a 4-year-old trapped in a retiree body, I suggest considering that Second Law of DVC Resort Choice: Location, location, LOCATION. Because MK IS Disney World for most small kids--and "hybrids" like me.

You, presumably being an adult-in-adult-body, say you prefer EP/DHS. Consider that for at least the first 2-3 years (maybe more) of your child's life, you're likely to spend more time in the MK than anywhere else.

It's not much fun being dependent upon a bus to MK from RIV or AKL, particularly for rope drop.

With the current ParkHopper restrictions, you can't Skyliner to the International Gateway until after 2:00 p.m. to get through Epcot to the monorail to MK. You're kinda stuck starting your park day in EP or DHS and waiting until the height of the afternoon heat or the evening to get into MK.

With a VGF direct buy, you've MK one monorail stop away, about a 10-minute ride, and the boat from MK back to the GF can be refreshing and relaxing after an MK morning.

When your kid(s) get older and share your preference for EP/DHS, you can gradually switch to 7-months bookings at an EP resort, maybe eventually selling your VGF points.

Disclaimer: We've owned VGF for going on 6 years, bought in at off-sale prices even. Naturally, I'm going to pitch for it, since we've loved the GF for over 10 years.

Thats at good point but, you may look at it the other way around as well. The little ones are going to get older, and your family may visit Epcot/HS more often. Buy Riviera now and you have really good access to 2 parks. I actually think the Disney busses are awesome and run for the most part like clockwork. It was a little bit of a hassle with the strollers, but we're well out of that now. We drive to Disney and our vehicle usually never leaves the parking lot. We usually like to go to the water parks so I may try to drive there this trip instead of switching busses like we had to the last 2 times.

 

[Arbogast]

Thats at good point but, you may look at it the other way around as well. The little ones are going to get older, and your family may visit Epcot/HS more often. Buy Riviera now and you have really good access to 2 parks. I actually think the Disney busses are awesome and run for the most part like clockwork. It was a little bit of a hassle with the strollers, but we're well out of that now. We drive to Disney and our vehicle usually never leaves the parking lot. We usually like to go to the water parks so I may try to drive there this trip instead of switching busses like we had to the last 2 times.

I agree the bus system is great, the stroller part always seemed inconvenient, but this would be my first time going with a kid and I don't have any actual experience.

 

[redboat45]

If you want to be able to stay at Riviera then you shouldn't buy AKL resale. You won't be able to use those points there.

 

[Suzabella]

Here's my issue, how much more do I need to love Riv over GFV to make it worth it? I love the location being by epcot and HS, but I don't love the restrictions. I do like the 48 years Riv has left in the contract being only 32 years old and starting a family soon.

Trust me, your vacation preferences change over time. Will you still be going to Disney in 48 years? We still go after 20 years but do fewer park days now that kids are grown and not nearly as often.

I don't like the restrictions with RR which is why we passed on that resort and added on someplace else last summer. It will always be last on my list.

I agree with Rose Gold but I have one question. Have you stayed at all 3? If not, I would before I purchased.