Help me decide ”how” to buy

[ArtOfAnimationGotMe]

So I think I Will start a New thread instead of hijacking another thread here.
So Here’s my ”dilemma”:
I want to buy DVC resale. 100 points to start with. Then add some direct when I travel to Disney next time, ( I w to buy 25-30 points direct riviera.)

First I had decided that AKL would be the right choice. But my fiancee likes copper creeks design more. So then I thought 100 points CC would be the way.

Buuuut, since I live in sweden, I would really like to stretch my points (I will only book studios), so the Value-rooms at AKL is really tempting. (I know they go fast, but still)...

I will try to book everything at the 11 month mark.

So then I thought 50 point AKL and 50 point CCV.

thought/tips/what would you do?

 

[Philsfan77]

Value rooms are very, very hard to get. People walk them all the time, so you will need to be prepared ahead of the 11-month mark in theory to book them because there are only 10 of them. I would not buy there/base points around being able to secure them. Base your points there around booking standard view and hope to get lucky. You shouldn't have any issues getting a standard view there at 11-months.

CCV studios are some of the hardest to get as well (even at 11-months).

It can also be challenging to get a small contract like that via resale (you'll need to be patient and hope one comes available). Process could take awhile.

Owning 2 resorts is a good idea IMO overall though. It gives you flexibility and 2 home resort options at the 11-month window. I would probably shy away from CCV though, as I am seeing members almost daily right now, questioning buying there because they can't get studios.

 

[RoseGold]

If you are flexible on timing, the 11 month value might not be a terrible plan. You would know 11 months out, so you'd be able to book flights around it. Eventually, after doing this EVERY.SINGLE.DAY you'd be able to book something. Once you got a toe in, you could walk it to where you wanted it. This is a hassle, but maybe possible.

You are considering buying land in Florida and subjecting yourself to US tax law and probate, if something happens to you. Especially as an international buyer, this is a big commitment that is difficult to untangle. If your estate is not ready to probate land in Florida when you die, you aren't ready. This transaction has closing costs and commissions to sell. After all that, this small contract might not have been worth it at all for a few hundred bucks saved on a hotel room.

There's nothing wrong with a normal, cost-effective hotel room, like the Little Mermaid rooms, or even the Good Neighbor off site hotels. Or just rent points!

 

[ArtOfAnimationGotMe]

Thank you for your answers.

Well a Little Mermaid room is what got me hooked staying on property.
The problem with those rooms is the cost. When I check prices this november now for 9 nights it’s 2000 USD. (No special offers right now) last year I payed about 1000 USD for 7 nights.

My calculations for My ”DVC-plan” gets me under that cost.

But I definitely see a point. I think a big thing with DVC is the feeling of being a ”member”.
I have thought about DVC and crunching Numbers for a year and thinking back and forth.

AKL would be the cheaper route, but
Maybe I should buy 100 point CC, hoping to be able to try and get studios at CCV, and then booking standard at AKL/SSR/OKW if I can’t get CCV studios. But by buying at CCV I at least get the chance.

Buying 50/50 would be ideal. But I think it Will be hard to get matching Use year and stuff.

 

[RoseGold]

You don't have to buy international real estate to try out this plan. Rent some points, rent a hotel room on the cash side, try it out first. Maybe you think the WL decor is cheesy. Maybe you changed your mind and want to be walking distance to something. Maybe you're sick of Florida in general, and you'd rather go to Paris. Maybe you'd rather try Tokyo Disneysea next time!

Before I touched this, I'd talk to a lawyer in Sweden. I know my estate lawyer would be very happy with the huge bill coming his way, if I told him I needed to add in a Swedish cabin to probate. There are many stories here about people being forced to find FL lawyers and go through Florida probate: https://www.disboards.com/threads/doing-probate-with-dvc-deeds-in-florida-lawyers.2238927/ Becoming a "member" is a big legal obligation, and this is a lot, for a discussion of a few hundred bucks.

If your primary objective is cost, WDW is not the best plan period. If you're trying to be economical at WDW, there are many ways outside of DVC to accomplish that goal.

 

[CraigInPA]

Consider how long you think you'll own your DVC membership. If you believe you'll sell before 2042, and you like CCV, you'll find BRV to be cheaper, the same resort (although in a different building), and with a similar point structure.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Buy a contract you will outlive so you don’t have to worry about probate lol

 

[The Jackal]

I don’t think DVC will sell just 25-30 points at RIV. They put a minimum of 50 points contracts there and CCV. I think someone was buying well over 100 points and had the contact broken down into smaller contracts and had one worth 25, but I don’t think you can buy one out right. But with Covid who knows. What time of year do you plan to visit and how many days. Also is this going to be a yearly trip or every other year? Good luck in your decision

 

[ArtOfAnimationGotMe]

Hmm. Seems like it is a bit more complicated then I thought. When my daughter turns 18 I can gift it to her, or sell it when I get to old to travel (which hopefully isn’t for another 25-30 years), I guess.

we will probably go for 6-7 nights each year or 12-14 nights every other year, mostly in November.

 

[TonyCnLV]

im just gonna throw this out there and say that booking 14 nights at the same resort on DVC points might be a lot harder than booking a room on cash at disney. not to discourage anything but remember to be prepared to possibly do a split stay or have to do a lo of stalking on the website to be able to match up that many dates in a row. i would second someones push for boulder ridge though and see what you think and you can always sell, and switch to copper creek later if you find you really like DVC and it works for you, knowing that international travelers tend to do longer stays at disney than us in the US who might go more times in the year with less days each stay.

 

[sethschroeder]

booking 14 nights at the same resort on DVC points might be a lot harder than booking a room on cash at disney

If you are booking at 11 months and your points are all at the same resort you are fine but if you start having points from different resorts 100% on this as moving at 7 months is not a guarantee.

Seems like it is a bit more complicated then I thought.

Is there a reason you are looking at RIV specifically? With what you are outlining I would honestly just get everything resale likely. The downside to having resale points and RIV Direct points is that you can never consolidate all your points to RIV unless you are banking/borrowing them all to the same year.

I would work out how many nights do you really want to stay? Are you just looking for a lower cost room or does the resort matter?

 

[Sunnyore]

I wouldn't recommend buying 50 points at both AKV and CCV to start if you are planning on booking at 11 month window. The problem I ran into with small points balance at different resorts is I was only able to book 2-3 days only unless I bank or borrow from other years. If that's your plan then that's fine but otherwise I would choose either CCV or AKV for the full 100 points so you have more to work with. Or you are okay with booking at 7 months then you can combine the points. I can't imagine flying internationally for just a 2-3 day trip at a time. You can try for a split stay too but it has to work for the limit # of points for each resort at 11 months.

 

[ArtOfAnimationGotMe]

Again, Thank you for your excellent answers.

Well most likely I will go every other year. Banking and borrowing. I know I wrote 6-7 days each year, but honestly I don’t think that will happen very often. So that’s why I’m thinking 50/50 CCV/AKL.

My thoughts about buying RiV direct is getting 25-points or so. ( I have read that you can buy 25 points direct as an existing member).

buying so few points is simply because I have a set budget of what I intend to spend on DVC.
If I can get a 25-50 point RIV resale I will jump on that. Me and my family love the Skyliner. When we stayed at art of animation we rode it just for the fun of it. And Riviera looked amazing when we saw it. (I guess I could buy BWV for the skyliner, but then it’s ”only” 20 years left on the contract, like BRV below).

BRV vs CCV: i would like to buy CCV because of the longer contract, love the look of the studios. I don’t know if my daughter wants it when she is older, but then I can sell it and still maybe get a fair price for it. The downside seems to be the Booking ”nightmare”. But I will book at 11 month window.
BRV positive thing is that it is cheaper but if I want to sell in 10-15 years I won’t get much for it I guess.

Any more thoughts on my thoughts?

 

[Mkaiser1]

Just my opinion (and I'm not yet a DVC member but doing a LOT of research into it):
Given the travel duration (which includes getting to the airport, being there a while before departure, the flight, security, baggage claim (unless Disney reinstate that at some point), magical express travel etc, we won't be going for less than a week each time and will likely be going for 2 weeks. But anything more than aa few days and I'm assuming I'll need to book at the 11month window for sure. So I would be buying where I plan to stay every time unless it's banking/borrowing but that would also mean alternating which resort I stayed at each time I travelled too.

Just for info, but I'm sure you know this, you'll need 114/121 points for a week in a Studio in CCV in 2021/2022.

Also for info, I've done ALOT of maths and BWV is cheaper to but each point than CCV and cheaper dues and over the lifetime of the contract or if you sold CCV in 25years, the 'per holiday/vacation cost' at BWV is still cheaper than CCV.

One other thought: CCV is not on the Skyliner, nor is it likely to be if they did a phase 2 (it's MOST likely that would link AKV as AKV can currently only use buses). But this is of course totally me guessing.

Finally: Factor in the exchange rate. This is really important for international buyers. In the UK, I can get more dollars for my pound than I have been able to get for 3 years when it was equal to now, but it hasn't changed dramatically over that period and it has been 4.5 years since I've been able to do better. We've now left the EU so it's anyone's guess what could happen to the pound now (although I'm optimistic). Not wanting to turn this political at all (please let's not go there guys), but you might want to consider if you think the strength of the dollar could up/down given the eminent change in leadership too.

 

[ArtOfAnimationGotMe]

Yes, I have taken the exchange rate for a spin as well. When I was at Disney in november 2019 I payed 10 Swedish Krona for 1 USD. Right now that is 8 SEK for 1 USD. What Will happen now, nobody knows. But I feel stressed, because IF the exchange rate goes up to 10 again, that is quite the jump in cost.

So like I said, I am a bit stressed to buy NOW.

Just need to find the perfect contract. And decide where to buy.
Feels like all I do is lurk around https://www.dvcstore.com and https://www.dvcresalemarket.com

It’s almost a full time job searching and thinking.

 

[sethschroeder]

I have a set budget of what I intend to spend on DVC.

You might get more benefit out of buying everything at BWV honestly and then hope you can pick up 1 or 2 nights at CCV or BRV through a waitlist.

BWV is going to be lower cost upfront, per year, and has lower point charts. The downside is expiration but that is offset by not having the CCV issues of booking as much. Plus having all points at BWV means you don't have to plan a split stay every time and you can book your full stay instead of hoping you can grab rooms at two different resorts at a tougher time to book part of the year.

BWV is a great resort as well and walkable to two resorts (or boat) plus is close to the skyliner if you really want to take it to HS sometime.

You might find a RIV resale contract but if you do you can only book there and your CCV points could never combine with RIV at a resort.

 

[ElizabethG]

I think you are better off picking a single resort. Lets say you have 3 resorts: CCV resale, AKV resale, RIV direct and plan to go every other year. At the 11-month mark, you would have to book a split stay for those three resorts. So, you would have to move twice during your trip.

Then, at seven months, you could try to consolidate it to one resort, with the exception of RIV. To stay at RIV, you would not be able to use your resale points. So, staying there would always require a split stay.
At seven months you may be able to get a standard view at AKV, but you would not get your whole trip in a studio at CCV or at RIV.

So, consider how many times you would want to move resorts during your trip. Having all your points at one resort would allow your to book that stay and have the possibility of moving at 7 months.

 

[I Run Long]

Well, I'll tell you our strategy. We are international new DVC resale owners. Not as "international" as you - we are from the west coast of Canada so it is quite the trip. Due to the flight and the exchange rate we bought enough points to go every other year. We focused in on when we usually travel and what type of accommodations we like. We have decided that we love 1 bedrooms. It is just my husband and I now but we like having a washer and dryer as well as full kitchen I looked at how many points we would require for 4 trips in a 1 bedroom if we travelled every other year (so 4 trips in 8 years). We typically travel early September and stay for 2 weeks. We came up with 180 points when looking at SSR, OKW or AKV. We've previously stayed at all three and so picking which one to target was difficult. We ruled out OKW only due to it's high membership dues (well we think they're high) - SSR and AKV were the cheapest for us. I tried 3 times for a SSR contract but each one got taken at ROFR. So I set my sights for AKV and passed on my first contract offer. We couldn't be happier! So although we don't live as far away from the magic as you do, we knew that every other year was what we wanted. Direct was never in the cards for us as we just do not feel there is any benefit that outweighs the cost. Expiry date of the contract didn't factor into the decision for us either since both my husband and myself will be expired before the contract or too old to know the difference.

 

[ArtOfAnimationGotMe]

Yes, I was also set to buy at AKL at first, but the rest of my family think that CCV is closer to ”everything else”.

And now PVB pops into my mind as an alternative. I dismissed poly early in the process because of the high price, but now that I can get it 20% off (because of exchange-rate)... then Maybe I should buy there. More points per night though.

Yeah, you see, I have trouble deciding. Always.

So now I’m thinking 100 CCV or Poly. And then add riviera direct, so I can use it elsewhere if I want to.

 

[ArtOfAnimationGotMe]

Alright, so I think it will be Poly. Expensive resort, but it speaks to me. Well not more/much more expensive to buy than CCV, but more per night. Or, MAYBE 50/50 Poly CCV, but seems like ”a lot of work”, combining and such.

I showed videos of the resort for my family, and they preferred poly to CCV.

I know, I’m buying it ”unseen”, but i have researched for 15 months. renting before I buy, is not an option when traveling from sweden. I’d rather put that chunk of money into buying straight away. If I Don’t like it I can use the points as SAP I guess, or sell.

now I just need to find my unicorn contract.