How many points for 1st time buyers?

[DisneyBill]

Anyone know the average number of points that are purchased by a new member for their initial purchase?

 

[gazeborob]

Don't know, but it is never ENOUGH!

 

[Blackunicorn]

No, but I'll bet that it depends on their individual situations. It seems to me--and I don't mean to offend anyone--that the people who are retiring/retired tend to get around 200 points, and the parents with younger children at home tend to get around 150.

We have two kids under ten years of age, and we bought the absolute maximum that we could afford, 160 points.

 

[HookdonWDW]

When we made our first purchase, our children were 15 and 6. We purchased 200 points, and added another 100 before we closed on the original contract.


P.S. - No plans to retire anytime soon!

Edited to add: We currently own 400 points.

 

[rsschneck]

I am 34, DH 35, and DD 7. We purchased 300 points 10/02. We paid that off within a year and purchased another 100 points. When we first talked to our guide we thought we would need 450-500 points and by the way it looks we were probably right. I think we will see how the 400 does for us, but you never know!

 

[jaysue]

We purchased 270 at BCV to start at 36yrs old and then added on:

50 BCV

then

130 VB

then

50 VB

then

163 SSR

For a grand total of 663 points

We feel pretty full and have no plans anytime soon to add anymore

Addonits can be dangerous

thanks
jaysue

 

[macca_uk]

I think it also depends on where you live in the world and how many beds you need. I am in the UK and purchased 350pts BCV as I wanted to be able to come for at least 2 weeks at a time. So far used pts for 4 day trip to Disneyland Paris last December plus have 2 week stay in 2 bed at BCV on October (So already have had to borrow points from '05!)

 

[chunkygal]

We bought when points were 62 each. We bought 215, cause this was about the minimum for a 1 week exchange overseas ar at other resorts. About a year later we added 300 more when we fell in love with boardwalk. This is the best money we have ever spent!!

One year at disney we rented a plain room at Wilderness Lodge for 1 week. With food and room and extras it was over $4000. When we saw how we could cook and spread out ...

We have given it to friends, had family reunions, gone on cruises, given rewards to employees, treated friends... Almost everyone who has been with us has bought , too.

We own Marriot in Hawaii and Disney is a better program than Marriot Vacation Club -- but they have better facilitites in Hawaii.
The exchange resorts in Hawaii for disney we visited were a little run down (Sands of Kahana).

This is the first year I am not using all my points. My husband & I are looking forward to 1 month a year in a 1 bedroom at retirement.

 

[Pa@okw95]

I bought 270 because that is what the video they sent me used as an example. I would say 300 points would be about right unless you only want to go every other year. Most members need a two bedroom because they have kids, so around 300 would be a nice comfort zone.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We're nearing retirement (not quickly enough!)-there's just the 2 of us now-but we bought only 150 points, figuring all we'd ever need was a studio. Boy, were we wrong! "once you try a 1 BR, you'll never go back"? That's us! So we added 25 points, then 100, and looking to add a little more.

 

[pat-rick]

You need to figure it this way:

Number in family = size of room ( studio, 1 bd, 2 bd) points per night

How long do you want to stay to make the trip memorable.

time of year from point chart gives points needed Sunday to Thursday and Friday/ Saturday.

You can then figure how many points you need

Then DOUBLE IT, thats what we did.

Bought 200 to give DVC a try, figured what we needed for a family trip and bought 50 more plus borrowed a of the next year .

The Next year we bought 300 more.


No matter how much you think you need its never correct.
You need to figure what you need and what you can afford.

 

[crisi]

I'd guess you are looking at a Weibull distribution with a mode somewhere in the neighborhood of 200-250 points. I think most people start with the assumption that they will stay in a studio with occational one or two bedroom nights, are looking to get in inexpensively (if one can use that word at all talking about the initial cost of DVC).

This board is atypical - in that many of the people here visit Disney far more often than I suspect the "average" DVC member does. I'd guess the average member is somewhat more likely to go once a year or every other year, where the average on this board is two or more times a year. We get a lot of converts from other places on this board - people who are pretty educated about DVC before they buy in.

Also, I'd suspect that most people buy low because they suspect there must be a catch and the timeshare salesman is trying to "talk them into" more points (even if they aren't pushy) and because DVC doesn't tend to be pushy, they walk out with the number of points they went into buy.

We bought 150 points and are doing fine with no intention of adding on. We just had the "hey the price is going up, if we were going to add on, now is a good time" and decided that we were ok. So not everyone needs more points. We may occationally need to rent, or do our Saturday arrival night someplace else - but that is more cost effective than owning points we don't really need. (we fit pa's model - every other year we spend 300 and stay in a 2 bedroom for a week).

 

[pumpkinboy]

Well said, crisi.

 

[Laurabearz]

My first suggestion for first time buyers is to download and play with.... Caskbills world famous DVC Planner

We were a family of 4 when we first bought in... but we knew that we were going to want 2 bedrooms from the get go... So our initial purchase was for 430 points (2 resale contracts at OKW... 200+230)

 

[DisneyBill]

Interesting how we all rationalize, calculate, budget, and scheme our way into DVC purchases! What I was hoping to find is someone who had maybe a bit of Martha Stewart knowledge, I mean inside knowledge, of what DVC knows is the average actual number. - Thanks!

 

[momtofour]

When I was considering buying into SSR, my guide told me that the average member owns 270 points. I don't know what the average initial point purchase is. I am under contract for 160 points and will see how that suits our needs. One of my biggest fears was that I was going to feel locked in. That is why I started with a relatively small amount of points. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney. I just didn't want to get to the point where the magic starts lessening because we are there so often.

 

[RCM]

We figured what points needed to take the whole family in premier time about every three years(2 married, 2out of college , 13 yr. old and 6 grandbabies under 3 yrs.). The off years are for us to decide how we want to divy up the rest.

 

[SimbaCub]

Originally I bought 150 points in May 1997. Then in August I decided I "had to have" another 100 OKW points as they were selling out and the price was going to be increasing. That first add on was addicting. As soon as I heard VWL was building I talked with my guide about how many points I would need and bought 2 separate 150 point contracts based on travel habits. Then 3 months later I realized bringing friends/family would mean at least a 1 bedroom so I quickly added on another 50 to ensure at least a week with guests and a couple of days for me by myself. I am now up to 600 points for my trips but I "think" I am done adding as I haven't bought any additional points since my VWL add ons. . .



SimbaCub
BCV May 2004

 

[SCDizneyDawn]

When I first bought I had been reading these boards already for a couple of years. So, I told my husband how everybody always adds on and we should get more points than we thought we could use. For us that number was 375. Some how, they still were not enough and we have added on two times now and own 627 points now. I think we could be done now!

So, even planning ahead, knowing most people add on, we still found they were not enough!

 

[Disney Doll]

We first bought 200 in 1997(I was 35,DH 39, no kids). In 2001, we bought anohter 230. I could almost justify buying another 70-170, to give us an even 500 or 600.