Help choosing home resort

[Leight19]

Yes, we would be staying in studios to maximize our points. We would go all year round - definitely a summer trip and something over Thanksgiving break and Spring break. I can plan out our trips more than 7 months in advance if needed.

The 50 pt contracts are the only ones in my budget right now if I’m paying outright and I’ve heard it’s not worth doing DVC if you have to finance it. Do you guy agree?

It sounds like we would be pretty much always be staying at SSR and OKW in our case. Any other thoughts?

As some noted you may want to check point charts bit to make sure you know what getting into. From message it sounds like you’d want to travel summer, spring, and thanksgiving. 50 points would not be enough for these trips in a year (correct me if I misread your intent). To put in perspective, okw is one of cheapest point charts and costs 11 to 15 points a night for studio in those timeframes for weekdays in 2021. Weekends go up more and are 15 to 19 points a day. This means 50 points would get you something like 2 to 4 nights per year pending what season and day of week you stay. You could do one of your small trips if that’s your intent but definitely not multiple in year.

If you decide to go forward, in terms of where to purchase okw would be one of the lowest buy in with great point charts but higher dues then some other options and less years unless find extended contract. There is a discussions here that have spreadsheets go over the cost per night taking into account average purchase price, dues, and point per night. From these Saratoga tends to be one of the best values. Akv is also a great option and is the most economical if you can score the value rooms but inventory is limited enough I would not budget for points assuming you can always get them.

 

[nangosix]

I called about Riviera last week. For current DVC owners the minimum contract I was told direct is now 50. For non-members the number is 125.

 

[starfrenzy]

Oops

 

[DVCanadian]

I called about Riviera last week. For current DVC owners the minimum contract I was told direct is now 50. For non-members the number is 125.

Right, that is the minimum at the resort being actively sold.
Dvcnews is reporting that 50 is the minimum for direct for some of the sold out resorts (SSR, OKW). Asking about Riv isn’t the same thing.

 

[Tattylou]

DVCnews.com in their direct pricing area lists 50 points as the minimum direct for a few sold out resorts.
Indicates that you could buy 50 SSR for $165pp.
Disney itself shows 125 as the minimum for resorts currently for sale.

Well I have the answer!! I chatted with Adarsh on the Disney DVC site and was told 125 is minimum for perks, but you can buy less than 125 direct from Disney for certain resorts. So DVCnews.com is correct.

 

[MommybearFL]

As some noted you may want to check point charts bit to make sure you know what getting into. From message it sounds like you’d want to travel summer, spring, and thanksgiving. 50 points would not be enough for these trips in a year (correct me if I misread your intent). To put in perspective, okw is one of cheapest point charts and costs 11 to 15 points a night for studio in those timeframes for weekdays in 2021. Weekends go up more and are 15 to 19 points a day. This means 50 points would get you something like 2 to 4 nights per year pending what season and day of week you stay. You could do one of your small trips if that’s your intent but definitely not multiple in year.

If you decide to go forward, in terms of where to purchase okw would be one of the lowest buy in with great point charts but higher dues then some other options and less years unless find extended contract. There is a discussions here that have spreadsheets go over the cost per night taking into account average purchase price, dues, and point per night. From these Saratoga tends to be one of the best values. Akv is also a great option and is the most economical if you can score the value rooms but inventory is limited enough I would not budget for points assuming you can always get them.

Thank you for the thoughtful info. Yes, I got very excited when I saw the 7 point value rooms at AKV but then I read on here that they are almost impossible to get. Is that correct?

I think we are leaning toward a 50 pt resale Saratoga springs contract that we can pay for without financing and just planning a couple small 2 night trips a year around that when school is out (eg summer or spring break or thanksgiving break - not all three). Then we can add on points later as we save up more money.

 

[RoseGold]

If you are very budget conscious, I wouldn’t say DVC is the right choice.

You can travel off season and on specials and can’t beat a Little Mermaid room for cash in the long run. The DVC math only works against deluxe rooms.

With the perks of the bubble mattering less and less, no extra magic hours for example, it’s not even that easy to argue to stay on site if your goal is budget. Of course, if your goal is budget, disney isn’t the answer at all .

 

[MommybearFL]

If you are very budget conscious, I wouldn’t say DVC is the right choice.

You can travel off season and on specials and can’t beat a Little Mermaid room for cash in the long run. The DVC math only works against deluxe rooms.

With the perks of the bubble mattering less and less, no extra magic hours for example, it’s not even that easy to argue to stay on site if your goal is budget. Of course, if your goal is budget, disney isn’t the answer at all .

We usually stay at moderate resorts. I just paid $400 a night plus all the added food costs at a Disney resort last week. I think we can save money staying at similar resorts in the DVC universe by planning our points wisely.

 

[RoseGold]

I mean this kindly, but you don’t seem to understand this system. There are tons of places you can price out the point cost for the various room types by date. 50 points isnt enough for any of those trips, and certainly not all of them.

 

[Jelly563]

You said summer trip, Thanksgiving wknd & spring break.... Well, if you stay in a lake studio at Poly that is going to cost about 23 pts a night so 50 points wont go too far.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

We travel on a 60 point contract, but it's really best for non-weekend, non-peak travel.

BWV and AKV have lowest point studios but are hard to get the lowest price options even for owners, but it's not impossible.

OKW is next lowest points and decent 7 month availability.

SSR can be more points than OKW but still low, plus lowest dues, and easiest availability if you happen to want to travel on a whim.

So, you may want to choose AKV or BWV as a strategy to at least try for their lower point rooms, because OKW and SSR are more likely available no matter where you own.

Or just buy SSR or OKW, but you will almost certainly not get the lowest point rooms anywhere else. You have a shot at rooms at other resorts if flexible and especially for trying to grab only 2 nights, but you will also eat up all your points on 2-3 nights.

 

[CSLucas]

We usually stay at moderate resorts. I just paid $400 a night plus all the added food costs at a Disney resort last week. I think we can save money staying at similar resorts in the DVC universe by planning our points wisely.

If you are happy staying at moderate resorts, then I agree with others that I would postpone purchasing. It doesn't sound like SSR or OKW are where you really want to be, and personally I would save that money and grow it over the next few years until you can afford to pay cash where you really want to be. The MFs on SSR would amount to $355 a year, and OKW would be $418 for 50 points. I would use that money to book moderate rooms for now and then save up some more until you can get what you want (I think you said Boardwalk). The only reason we decided on DVC is that we only want to ever stay at VGF or BLT. If we had been happy staying somewhere else then we wouldn't have done it.

I would also say from what I have seen other people post on here that the next few years are going to be extra hard to book studios because people have so many points they are trying to use up. It might make sense to wait for some of that frenzy to pass, save some money for the next year, and then revisit the situation.

If you're super stuck on buying right now (can't blame you), then I don't think that financing is ALWAYS a bad decision. Make yourself an amortization table and see how much interest you would pay.

 

[Nikkinic14]

Greetings! After a great trip to Disney last week we are planning to buy into DVC to save money on future vacations. We have two young children and live in South Florida. We usually take frequent small trips (2-3nights) a year and would stay in the smallest rooms to save money. We are very budget conscious. We can purchase a small 50 point contract for OKW or Saratoga without financing. Or we could finance something larger but we still would only want 50 points.

What are the chances we will be able to stay at other resorts if we buy OKW or SS? We are happy to stay at OKW but would like to have some additional options and stay at different places sometimes.

Great question- I’ll be interested to see what others say.

 

[MommybearFL]

If you are happy staying at moderate resorts, then I agree with others that I would postpone purchasing. It doesn't sound like SSR or OKW are where you really want to be, and personally I would save that money and grow it over the next few years until you can afford to pay cash where you really want to be. The MFs on SSR would amount to $355 a year, and OKW would be $418 for 50 points. I would use that money to book moderate rooms for now and then save up some more until you can get what you want (I think you said Boardwalk). The only reason we decided on DVC is that we only want to ever stay at VGF or BLT. If we had been happy staying somewhere else then we wouldn't have done it.

I would also say from what I have seen other people post on here that the next few years are going to be extra hard to book studios because people have so many points they are trying to use up. It might make sense to wait for some of that frenzy to pass, save some money for the next year, and then revisit the situation.

If you're super stuck on buying right now (can't blame you), then I don't think that financing is ALWAYS a bad decision. Make yourself an amortization table and see how much interest you would pay.

The issue is that we wouldn’t be saving our money for a DVC if we continue to vacation at these expensive Disney resorts.

And AKV or BW are ideals, and we could actually buy an AKV contract now but it’s like twice the price for the same points as an OKW contract.
It just doesn’t make financial sense to do that when we would be perfectly happy at OKW.

 

[CSLucas]

The issue is that we wouldn’t be saving our money for a DVC if we continue to vacation at these expensive Disney resorts.

And AKV or BW are ideals, and we could actually buy an AKV contract now but it’s like twice the price for the same points as an OKW contract.
It just doesn’t make financial sense to do that when we would be perfectly happy at OKW.

Are you buying direct? With resale there is only a $16/pt difference between AKL and OKW based on average resale prices ($23/pt difference for Boardwalk). With such a small difference I would finance the difference if you need to and get what you want

Edited to say: if you really do want SSR or OKW then go for it, it just sounded from your previous posts like it wasn't where you wanted to stay and I think it would be a huge bummer to buy in only to find out you can't stay where you want

 

[MommybearFL]

Are you buying direct? With resale there is only a $16/pt difference between AKL and OKW based on average resale prices ($23/pt difference for Boardwalk). With such a small difference I would finance the difference if you need to and get what you want

I’m buying resale. I’ve been pouring over the resale sites all week and it’s about a $2000 difference between a 50 point contract at AKL and OKW. I can swing the $2000 but it’s not worth it in my opinion since we will be able to use AKL anyway. We live locally and are completely flexible in our vacation times.

 

[Lva5]

Where did you see that? I like convenience of direct and honestly some of the resale 50 point contracts I see are priced pretty close to direct for SSR. I thought it was 125 min buy in for new members. I hope you are correct actually. Where can we find this info?

Pretty sure it is now 125 minimum for newbies. If you buy as small as a 25 point resale contract and become a member then you are eligible to add on.

The point minimum for a blue card is 125 points. I thought you could buy smaller than that direct but last time I talked to them was before the blue minimum increase. A call to DVC sales would easily clear this up.

To answer the original question: There is almost always something available somewhere for shorter trips, especially if you're planning them well in advance. If budget is a concern I think SSR/OKW is the best choice. Financing a purchase like this is a terrible idea; you are right to want to pay cash.

 

[Tattylou]

The point minimum for a blue card is 125 points. I thought you could buy smaller than that direct but last time I talked to them was before the blue minimum increase. A call to DVC sales would easily clear this up.

To answer the original question: There is almost always something available somewhere for shorter trips, especially if you're planning them well in advance. If budget is a concern I think SSR/OKW is the best choice. Financing a purchase like this is a terrible idea; you are right to want to pay cash.

I did chat with DVC yesterday after that post - it is in this thread someplace I believe that I mention the outcome of the chat. They confirmed blue card required 125 min buy in for new member. However, the guide said a new member can buy less than 125 direct at certain resorts.