How Many Points Do You Own?

[heynowirv]

We own 301 ,190 OKW 111 SSR and getting ready to send another 75 point contract into ROFR at OKW which will bring us to 376.It will also bring us to 5 separate contracts with the same UY.

 

[ArcticTeacher]

We own 210 at Aulani (50 direct and 160 resale). We are in the process of closing on 115 more resale Aulani points.

 

[CarolynFH]

We own 300 points because that’s what we needed to stay in a 2-bedroom villa for Thanksgiving week at BWV. Of course, when we bought the only DVC resorts were OKW and BWV, so we didn’t need to prepare to “sleep around”!

 

[vint43]

We have 770 points all purchased direct across multiple smaller contracts.

We will probably go back down to 570 points (not sure). We just purchased more at the Riviera and will probably sell some of our GFV points in a year or so.

We almost always stay in 2 bedrooms and occasionally get 1 bedrooms if we decide to do a Christmas trip that year (our older kids often join us currently).

We have a lot of points. However, what we have come to appreciate is that our second week at Disney (the second trip of the year) really improves the overall benefit for us.

This is because we get annual passes and tables in wonderland. The cost of the annual pass with DVC discount runs similar to a full week park hopper pass. Tables in wonderland can be tricky to get full value in just one week (especially after the price increase) but very easy over two weeks.

So, the second week, we are really just paying for our meals at a discount and plane tickets to Florida. This almost always comes out way cheaper than an alternative vacation somewhere else that year.

It is a real luxury to be able to spend 2 weeks each year at Disney (i.e. we are not kidding ourselves that this is an affordable plan). However, it has really changed the way we vacation at Disney.

We hardly ever use all of our fast passes. We enjoy the resort much more. We always explore new dining options (using a ride service like lyft has made resort to resort dining so much easier and opens up so many more dining options). We seek out shows and other entertainment vs. just rides. We relax a lot more and never rush out in a morning or stay out later than we really want. It really has become more a "vacation home" than just a place to sleep and get easy access to the parks.

As we approach retirement, we plan to spend 3-4 weeks (or more depending on how many points we keep) in the winter at Disney using 1 bedrooms and studios.

So we plan to keep on using our points as the years pass by.

We plan to do this vs. "finding a place in Florida" many of the fellow midwest people do as they retire and want to reduce the time they spend up here in winter.

So, we did not purchase an RV and we are not planning to buy a vacation home in Florida (or elsewhere). Compared to those options, for us, DVC has been working well so far.

Things change. So, this plan might change. However, this is where it sits today.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

We are a family of 3 who plan to visit Walt Disney World every 2-3 years. (We also visit Disneyland and go on Disney Cruises.) We own 75 points at CCV, which will allow us to get a 1BR for 5-6 nights every couple of years. We didn't buy more because, again, we also like to go to Disneyland and on DCL. (It was fun to get lucky booking at VGC once, but I know that will never happen again, and VGC points are too expensive for us to own right now.)

 

[CaliAdventurer]

We have two resorts- Aulani and VGF for a total of 1100 pts. We started with 600 but both of those resorts are point intensive to book and we needed more. I’m tempted to add 200 ish at either an Epcot resort or VGC which would really round things out but tbh, I think a good solid number to Ben happy with for awhile is around 300-350. You do have so much more flexibly when you don’t have to scrimp, it’s always the lowest points that book first.

 

[lovin'fl]

These are not recent threads, but may be of some assistance here as this has been a common question over the years!

2005 (but has recent posts) - https://disboards.com/threads/dis-dvc-1000-point-club-post-1-updated-03-24-19.872388/

2007 - https://disboards.com/threads/how-many-dvc-points-do-you-own.1540465/

2008 - https://disboards.com/threads/how-many-dvc-points-do-you-own.1922219/

2010 - https://disboards.com/threads/how-many-dvc-points-do-you-own.2413471/

Enjoy!

These old threads are pretty irrelevant now since the newer resorts take a lot more points to book.


OP, we have 650 (at 4 resorts). That gets us about 3 trips a year for about 14-21 nights depending on what type room and what season we book (we don't tend to book the higher point resorts like VGF/Poly/BLT). It is more than we need though. We can rent some out (which we did recently but likely won't again due to pain of having to claim on taxes) or book larger room types (2BR, 3BR, cabin...etc and we are doing that now instead). We started with 200 and that was a good amount. We had a goal of buying about 1500 in order to snow bird a bit (get like 6-8 weeks of winter). But all the negative changes with Disney and DVC....we have reconsidered that and won't be adding anymore points.

 

[browniemtb]

We started with 310 at BWV and went twice a year while our girls were young. Once the boys came we slowed travels down, staying DVC wasn't our issue, it's cost of flights, meals, and park tickets. 4 is one thing 6 is another. Flash forward, one girl in college another just about to go in, we sold 1 contract for half the points. Sad day but I guess that's life. Love our DVC.

 

[Ginger R]

We own 210 BWV points resale and just purchased 75 direct SSR points so 285 total and that will get us in one bedrooms which is what we prefer, in all seasons except Premiere season.

 

[bianca]

Yesterday, we had 525. Today we have 575, as we did a 50 point add-on at Riviera yesterday. We have found the add-ons to help in securing studio stays or short visits at resorts my husband and I stay at by ourselves. The bigger contracts we use for family stays with the kids and grand kids. Our larger contracts are BRV (150), SSR (150) and AKV (200). We also have a small 25 point contract at Poly. We didn't start out thinking we'd ever have this many points, but once we had married kids and grandkids, our needs changed.

 

[skier_pete]

We are a family of 3 - we bought 160 points at AKV in 2014 resale. This allows us about 1-2 trips per year in studios. We love going down for F&W, so we bought another 75 point contract at BWV - giving us 235 points which is plenty for 2 trips a year. This is enough for us most years, but honestly I would like another 100 points more to allow more like 2-3 trips a year or to invite friends, but holding off right now for a number of reasons.

I would suggest that you should look at (a) the size room you want, (b) how many days a year you want, (c) the resort you plan to own at for home preference and look across a few times of year to calculate how many points. Assume you will need enough points for the largest room category - for instance at BLT use Lake View points as the standard, at Riviera, use Preferred points.

Then I would suggest you buy at least 20% more points than whatever you just calculated.

 

[aoconnor]

Started with 50 at AKV, added another 110, then upped to 250 which is a good amount for me. I tend to go 8 nights total per year-- 5 nights in a one or two bedroom and a 3 night long weekend in a studio. 250 points allows me to stay at pretty much any of the resorts with that pattern, as long every now and then I mix in a cheaper resort or travel season.

I plan to add 50 points at VGF to have as my base for long weekends sometime soon. Assuming the 2020 reallocation goes through next year, 50 points should still get me 3 nights in alternating seasons 2 out of every 3 years.

 

[ClosetDisMom]

We own 145 SSR... currently. We bought resale in 2017. I looked at points charts and knew I wanted a 1BR during July for 6 nights every other year. I calculated that I could get just about any 1BR (not GFV or BLT Theme Park, but oh well) with ~300. We found a contract for 145 thinking we would bank/borrow to use every other year... Then we went and I discovered that we had 59 points "left over." So, we planned mini trips so that we would be in WDW every 9 or so months... Then we decided to add another night to our second mini trip (coming up in Sept.) which would require OTU points and we also stayed at BWV in January and discovered what all the fuss was about, being able to walk to Epcot... So, then I put in an offer on a tiny BCV contract that is in ROFR so that I can have an 11 month window there for a trip and to give us a few more points for wiggle room (upgrade to 1 BR all the time or - as my DH wants - to go every 6 month)... Then we also took my mom with us last trip and she is "interested" in maybe getting a contract of her own, which I would be more than happy to "manage" for her to do joint trips on occasion. So, I am still stalking resale sites for a small contract for her...

Moral of my story: add-on-itis is real; know going in that DVC WILL change your vacation patterns; give yourself a 20% buffer from the amount you originally calculate; don't underestimate that power of "buy where you want to stay"

I used to read about people on the boards with huge point counts and think "why do they need so many? That's crazy." I think there is a thread somewhere on this that is the "1000+ Club." Now I think "#lifegoals" when I read about 200, 300, 400, or more points totals...