For those of you who add on points?

[tammymacb]

Have you added on more points at your original resort? Have you bought different?

I'm buying 100 points at BWV and I've already decided that I'm going to need more.. So, should I try to add on by calling Disney directly after I close and buying more BWV directly from Disney? Should I go for another resale with the same UY?

Or...should I buy a few points at another resort? Maybe OKW for a change of pace??

 

[Buckeye Fan]

I'm in the same boat you are. We own 2 contracts at SSR - a 120 and a 270. I've already decided that if I add on to SSR, I will definitely keep the same UY. It allows you to treat all of your contracts as one big pool of points (as you can put them all under the same master contract). Where you run into problems with split contracts (whether the same or different resort) is when you're just shy of covering a reservation. If you need 50 points to cover a night, you can't take 25 points from one contract and 25 from the other, just like to you can't mix points and cash for the same night. The only way you can do this is to transfer points from one contract to the other, and Dis only allows 1 transfer in or out per UY. If you purchase through Dis, they'll make you take the same UY unless you're adding 160 points or more. Then you have a choice. Advantage of Dis - no closing costs and almost immediate access to points. Cons - even with closing costs, you can get some resorts much cheaper via resale, though the lower point contracts do sell for more per point.

As for purchasing at another resort...is it more important to you to have the booking advantage at another resort or be able to pool all of your points at the 8 - 11 month mark? If you think you're going to ever rent GVs, I've heard they're hard to book at the 7 month window. In that case, you'd definitely need pooled points at your home resort. If not and you want to bank/borrow points every two or three years, you would definitely have enough points to cover a reservation and that would give you a second home resort booking advantage.

As I said, we're in the same boat. We're actually considering a 100 points at VB. I just don't know if I want to pay the MFs. I also thought of OKW, as I LOVE the resort. Or...we could wait on that phantom resort with the monorail!

 

[sajetto]

Our first contract was at SSR with 300 points so there were already enough there for an extended stay in that one resort or for a GV with banking and borrowing.

Our first add on was 150 points at AKV. They were purchased for booking priority at Christmas time. We don't need any more than that there.

Our second add on was 151 points at OKW. WE LOVE the resort and wanted 11 month booking priority for other peak times.

Our next planned add on will be at OKW again so that we have enough points to book a GV every other year.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

Our first contract was at SSR with 300 points so there were already enough there for an extended stay in that one resort or for a GV with banking and borrowing.

Excellent point. For the money, it would be better to use the SSR to make one or two bedroom ressies and then buy points at OKW for a GV if that's what I really wanted to do. I just ran the numbers for the same week in July. A GV at OKW was 501 points versus 719 at SSR.

Our second add on was 151 points at OKW. WE LOVE the resort and wanted 11 month booking priority for other peak times. Our next planned add on will be at OKW again so that we have enough points to book a GV every other year.

I love OKW, too. Any downsides to have different contracts and/or different UYs? I understand the whole transfer challenge, but do you have to worry about UYs as well? If I did have the Aug/Feb combo and needed to transfer a small number of points from a Feb contract to complete a ressie, is there an issue doing that? Didn't know if there were some rules about crossing UY with transferred points. Also, is it a big deal to link a reservation if you're using some points from one contract to make part of the reservation and some points on the other contract to finish it? I don't want to have to go down, check out and check back in, but am not sure if you even have to do that.

To the OP, thanks for posting the thread!!!

 

[sajetto]

Buckeye Fan, I don't have any experience with different UYs so I wouldn't have the answer to that question. We added on to OKW very recently and paid the $96 per point directly through Disney in order to have the 2057 expiration and the same DEC UY. We wanted to keep things simple by having a master contract with the add ons connected to it.

I will say that if I didn't already have 300 points at SSR, I probably would have added on there when we did the AKV add on since the incentives were so good. OKW has always been our first love (we stayed there for our wedding and honeymon) and we just had to have points there.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

OKW has always been our first love (we stayed there for our wedding and honeymon) and we just had to have points there.

How awesome!!! It holds special memories for us, too. We took DS there when he was 3 and went with BIL/SIL because they owned there. We weren't members at the time, but paid to stay in a 1-BR. After a few trips (almost every year), we decided it was pretty stupid to throw our money away when we could own.

Thanks for your response. Hopefully, someone with experience will post, as I'm really trying to decide among OKW, SSR and VB.

 

[sajetto]

Thanks for your response. Hopefully, someone with experience will post, as I'm really trying to decide among OKW, SSR and VB.

OKW really is a special resort. I can see where making your decision is tough though. SSR has such a good incentive right now and VB is one of the resorts that you really need an 11 month booking window for during many travel periods. Those maintance fees are a little high, but if you don't plan on adding any more than 100 points it could be do-able. OKW is easy to get into, unless you want a GV, but at the same time you'd have to own a pretty decent amount of points in order to do so. Hmmmm decisions, decisions. Best of luck with that one!

 

[DVC Mike]

I have added on several times and have accumulated points at our four favorite resorts. We get the 11-mo booking advantage at each. All have the same Use Year and are within the same contract. They are numbered xxx.0 through xxx.14. It is simple for me to manage the points and I've never had a problem doing so.

 

[CarolMN]

I love OKW, too. Any downsides to have different contracts and/or different UYs? I understand the whole transfer challenge, but do you have to worry about UYs as well? If I did have the Aug/Feb combo and needed to transfer a small number of points from a Feb contract to complete a ressie, is there an issue doing that? Didn't know if there were some rules about crossing UY with transferred points.

You can transfer between the August contract and the February contract, but since they are totally separate contracts/memberships, you can only do it once per use year. For example, let's say a night costs 22 points. You have only 20 left in the August contract. You can transfer 2 points from the February contract to complete the reservation. (If the home resorts are not the same for the two contracts, you'd have to wait until the 7 month booking window to use the 2 points). Now you have used up your one transfer for the use year for both contracts.

If the contracts had the same use year and it was a Master/add on deal), you wouldn't have to worry about transfers between them at all, even if the add on was a different home resort. The points can be freely combined at any time. Except, you'd still have to wait for the 7 month window to combine the points if you had different home resorts.

Also, is it a big deal to link a reservation if you're using some points from one contract to make part of the reservation and some points on the other contract to finish it? I don't want to have to go down, check out and check back in, but am not sure if you even have to do that.

To the OP, thanks for posting the thread!!!

All you have to do is call MS and ask the CM to link the reservations together. It's not a big deal and you won't have to change rooms or check out and back in again between the reservations. The two reservations have to be for the exact same thing, though. In other words, if you have a lock off studio for one and a dedicated for the other, then you can't link the reservations and you will have to change rooms. Again, you have to reserve whole nights from a single contract if your contracts are not a Master/Add on deal. - if the contracts are separate / different memberships, you can't combine points for a single night without doing a transfer.

 

[Merilyn]

We bought OKW in 1994 when there was only one DVC resort. We have since added on to OKW 3 more times. We bought VB several years ago to have the 11 month window for the cottages. We have enough to vacation there every other year after our Orlando trip. It is so much easier to maintain the same UY wherever you buy an addon. I think unless you have enough points at a resort to use only those for a stay, it doesn't make much since to have another Orlando resort. For instance, you have enough for a week at say OKW and only enough for 3 days at SSR then are you going to make a move or only use the SSR every other years?

So to the same contract and use year, please consider the problems with two member numbers. I just added on to my OKW with the same use year. I had not taken my sister off the original. She passed away . They had to give me a new contract and member number. You would think this isn't a problem but it is.

1. If you bank points then they can't be transferred to the other contract if you want to us them for a reservation. You would have to make reservations with points for several days from each of them. (Say, 3 days from one and then 4 days from the other.) Also, you have to have the exact number needed in both for this reservation. Remember, you can't transfer them!

2. You can only transfer once per year so I can only transfer points from one contract to the other once a year to make a reservation.

3. You have two II memberships and can't use points from both contracts to make a trade. You have to have enough in one to make that trade.

4. I have only had two memberships for a couple of months and already I have a problem. I wanted to use my banked points to make a trade Oct
2008. I have a Sept UY with points I need to use by Aug 31, 2008 so making a trade would let me keep those points past Aug 2008.
I have banked points in both membership numbers. I was not able to use both so I still have points I have to use by Aug 31, 2008.

5. I know many people have different member numbers but I don't see how this is easy unless you have enough to make trips using each contract separately. Or in my case use my VB every other year.

I just didn't know all the facts before I did the addon this time and wish I had done things differently. Also, make sure your contract says the proper wording. To take my sister off, we have to probate her will in FL. It didn't say "right of surviorship". Another mistake we didn't realize. We bought all the points from Disney and they are not allowed to tell you to word it this way to makes things easier if one has to be taken off.

Just a little additional information to consider when you do an addon. Hope this helps.
Merilyn