Grand Floridian Direct Purchase- HELP!

[Gordon Gekko]

I don't see this mentioned, but when you purchase resale aren't you buying the remainder of the contract? Therefore it's not the full 50 years, and why the price would be lower. Along with not getting the perks others have talked about.

Poly is 2066 expiration so essentially a moot point with GF being 2064. If I’m accurate

 

[Disnid]

Disney wanted to make sure the resale market remembers who sand box they are in…..

That with a reminder the ROFR is still a real thing…..

But YES, it is an amazing deal….

I bought RIV over 2 years ago at 180 with the prior years points. So may also be a way for Disney to sell point and combat inflation.

I have made the point in other threads, and and I’ll make it here again…..

If the difference between direct and resale is 20 dollars per point (hypothetical). It does not make sense to buy resale…..

Annual passes alone made up the difference for me this year….. alone

And over 40 years .50 a point, per year to make sure you can use the points where ever you want I pretty simple math.

I agree with most of your points but I disagree that as a blanket statement it doesn’t make sense to buy resale and the math is easy. You aren’t saving money if they get you to overspend. Disney is doing all this because the math is hard, rebates, referrals, point buy backs, annual passes (with blackouts), minimum contract sizes, different use years, contract end dates, on and on. If you are all in on Disney you can’t go wrong with either, so then the question is which is better, and I don’t think you could answer that without each persons scenario.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Temporary Sidetrack:

Just a note that AP's are not guaranteed as @PolyRob stated. To expand: we've just gone a couple years without them until they came back earlier this year. Currently, there is not a discount on the AP, just the ability to buy the Sorcerer's Pass (the old Gold pass, I think) instead of whatever it is they are calling the Platinum Pass now (which anyone can buy, you don't have to be DVC or FL resident). Prior to the pandemic, we used to get a discount on various APs (including the best, back in 2012 when they sold Premium Annual Passes - that included golf, waterparks, etc - with no blackout dates - for $399 per person).

In mid-2019, right before the pandemic, the Platinum Plus (which included golf at Oak Trail, waterparks, etc.) was $999 for DVC, but $1219 for general public and the regular Platinum (without the other) was $899 vs. $1119 for the general public. The Gold Pass (which is somewhat analogous to the Sorcerer was $699 for DVC members and FL residents only).

As you can see, APs have gone up tremendously. The Sorcerer is now $969...

Anyway, if you have a high point total and travel to WDW multiple times a year (or if you just stagger visits like early July one year and late June the next) you can see where an AP is worth it. That said, we discovered something during the pandemic, in that what the pandemic did to us is move us to use points elsewhere (we went to Aulani in 2021, 2022, and 2023!) and now we don't see ourselves going more than 2 years without going to Aulani...

Now back to regular programming...

This is very true….

however, this year alone my family of 8 saved 8000 dollars on not having to buy 2 10 day passes and one or two 3 days passes ….

so one the difference between direct and resale is more than covered in one years annual passes you are money ahead ….

 

[Straulin]

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned in this thread is the split option. If you want 250 points and are not overly concerned about resale restrictions, you might be better off to go 150 direct for benefits and another 100 resale.

When we bought VGF in April, by the math, I would have gone up to 200 points direct before considering buying any resale. We landed at 175 so did all direct. I haven’t done the math for the current promotions.

For us, the annual pass benefit was substantial. We are a family of four traveling to WDW about 3 times per year (this year 3, 3, 4, and 5 trips for each of us). The sorcerer pass eligibility saved us $430 per person so $1,720 total for this year.

So for the $7500 mentioned, that is less than 5 years of annual pass savings for my family. (Remember membership benefits are not guaranteed, so there is a risk to that math.)

 

[Robbie Cottam]

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned in this thread is the split option. If you want 250 points and are not overly concerned about resale restrictions, you might be better off to go 150 direct for benefits and another 100 resale.

When we bought VGF in April, by the math, I would have gone up to 200 points direct before considering buying any resale. We landed at 175 so did all direct. I haven’t done the math for the current promotions.

For us, the annual pass benefit was substantial. We are a family of four traveling to WDW about 3 times per year (this year 3, 3, 4, and 5 trips for each of us). The sorcerer pass eligibility saved us $430 per person so $1,720 total for this year.

So for the $7500 mentioned, that is less than 5 years of annual pass savings for my family. (Remember membership benefits are not guaranteed, so there is a risk to that math.)

Since Disney suspended annual passes, we spent more than an extra 1200 per person, per year, on day passes, water park passes, etc. for those in my family that lost their annual pass one way or another during covid….

 

[Philsfan77]

This is very true….

however, this year alone my family of 8 saved 8000 dollars on not having to buy 2 10 day passes and one or two 3 days passes ….

so one the difference between direct and resale is more than covered in one years annual passes you are money ahead ….

I get what you are trying to say here...but reality is, someone in that situation would just buy the more expensive annual pass if they were traveling that way, which all DVC members direct or resale can do. Only savings that can really be factored in is the difference between the sorcerers pass and the Incredi-pass. For your family of 8 it is still substantial at around $3500 in savings.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

I get what you are trying to say here...but reality is, someone in that situation would just buy the more expensive annual pass if they were traveling that way, which all DVC members direct or resale can do. Only savings that can really be factored in is the difference between the sorcerers pass and the Incredi-pass. For your family of 8 it is still substantial at around $3500 in savings.

So if I understand you correctly,
What you are trying to say is that someone trying to save money would save 3000 dollars this year to buy resale, then pay an extra 3500 dollars each year on annual passes…….

Have you heard of being penny wise and pound foolish ….

So the reality is, if I’m understanding you correctly, at delta of 20 dollars per point and the 150 point minimum for the “blue card” someone looking to save money would spend more money year one to get less ?

 

[Sandisw]

I get what you are trying to say here...but reality is, someone in that situation would just buy the more expensive annual pass if they were traveling that way, which all DVC members direct or resale can do. Only savings that can really be factored in is the difference between the sorcerers pass and the Incredi-pass. For your family of 8 it is still substantial at around $3500 in savings.

I think this just shows that the difference may simply not take that long to make up for however long the option for DVC owners to buy a less expensive pass exists.

Not guaranteed, but at least when discounts and extras do exist, you get them!

That is why even $7500 upfront, depending on family size, could be recouped within a few years.

 

[Philsfan77]

I think this just shows that the difference may simply not take that long to make up for however long the option for DVC owners to buy a less expensive pass exists.

Not guaranteed, but at least when discounts and extras do exist, you get them!

That is why even $7500 upfront, depending on family size, could be recouped within a few years.

Absolutely! For a family of 8 (like person I was responding to) you will recoup that money in 2 years basically...for a family of 4 you're looking at basically 4 years of annual passes.

 

[Philsfan77]

So if I understand you correctly,
What you are trying to say is that someone trying to save money would save 3000 dollars this year to buy resale, then pay an extra 3500 dollars each year on annual passes…….

Have you heard of being penny wise and pound foolish ….

So the reality is, if I’m understanding you correctly, at delta of 20 dollars per point and the 150 point minimum for the “blue card” someone looking to save money would spend more money year one to get less ?

Thats not what I am saying at all. I am simply saying you didn't save $8000 and recoup all your money in one year versus someone who would buy resale. You saved $3500 because if they had the same travel pattern as you this year, they would buy the more expensive annual pass.

Compared against opening post situation where they are saving $7500 buying resale...it would take them 2 years to recoup just about all of their money...assuming they also were a family of 8. Still a great decision in my opinion. If they are a family of 4 it would take them 4 years (which again is a great decision IMO). You can't compare your cost savings of what your park tickets would have been if you didn't have the sorcerers pass (which is what it appeared you were doing).

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Thats not what I am saying at all. I am simply saying you didn't save $8000 and recoup all your money in one year versus someone who would buy resale. You saved $3500. Compared against opening post situation where they are saving $7500 buying resale...it would take them 2 years to recoup just about all of their money...assuming they also were a family of 8. Still a great decision in my opinion. If they are a family of 4 it would take them 4 years. You can't compare your cost savings of what your park tickets would have been if you didn't have the sorcerers pass (which is what it appeared you were doing).

So I’m summary, my my promise was valid. My timeframe was off by your standards?

Is that a more accurate summary ?

 

[radiodome21]

For me I was looking for a Poly resale contract for 150 points but with the aforementioned incentives that I did qualify for I went direct with VGF. On our trip to Disneyland earlier in the month I was able to use the blue card benefits. It was nice, no doubt. My kids are 13 and 15 and we’re not married to a certain time to take Disney vacations but having the ability to use them at new resorts going forward was the icing on the cake. Especially since it wasn’t that much of a difference in cost and I was able to close a heck of a lot quicker and faster. And I was able to put the whole expense on credit cards (no financing) and get a bunch of points and miles. Not sure if you can do that with resale purchases so forgive me on that. I did take advantage of MB because weren’t going to WDW by January 31, as we have a February use year. Can’t wait for our first trip.

 

[Philsfan77]

So I’m summary, my my promise was valid. My timeframe was off by your standards?

Is that a more accurate summary ?

Not about the timeframe for me...it's about you advocating factoring in savings of 2 10 day passes and a 3 day pass as part of the math. Those passes don't matter at all in the savings analysis and shouldn't be factored in.

All that should be factored in is the savings of the Incredipass versus the Sorcerers. I simply chimed in because I wouldnt want someone learning DVC and trying to do the math based on their own situation to factor that element in. Keep it simple...difference between incredipass and sorcerers is all that matters for the math.

We both agree its a smart decision...how we are getting there and what is relevant to the math are different though

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Not about the timeframe for me...it's about you advocating factoring in savings of 2 10 day passes and a 3 day pass as part of the math. Those passes don't matter at all in the savings analysis and shouldn't be factored in.

All that should be factored in is the savings of the Incredipass versus the Sorcerers. I simply chimed in because I wouldnt want someone learning DVC and trying to do the math based on their own situation to factor that element in. Keep it simple...difference between incredipass and sorcerers is all that matters for the math.

We both agree its a smart decision...how we are getting there and what is relevant to the math are different though

Good enough

 

[AstroBlasters]

I wish DVC had a discounted Disneyland Magic Key… that might move some direct points on the West Coast!

 

[tidefan]

Not about the timeframe for me...it's about you advocating factoring in savings of 2 10 day passes and a 3 day pass as part of the math. Those passes don't matter at all in the savings analysis and shouldn't be factored in.

All that should be factored in is the savings of the Incredipass versus the Sorcerers. I simply chimed in because I wouldnt want someone learning DVC and trying to do the math based on their own situation to factor that element in. Keep it simple...difference between incredipass and sorcerers is all that matters for the math.

We both agree its a smart decision...how we are getting there and what is relevant to the math are different though

Just to add.. If you go over holidays (like NYE, Christmas, etc.) then the Sorcerer's Pass won't help, so this is also a "when you typically visit" scenario as well.