How many points to buy?

[Minnie824]

So, I talked to my guide? the other day and she sent a package out which we have not yet gotten. I'm sure a lot of my questions will be answered from that, but in the meantime, I was looking around the threads here, and on wdwinfo.com. DH & I are starting to look into buying. Possibly at AK, or we may wait til this summer to see if Contemporary is announced. Anyway, I was looking at the point calculator to see how many points it would be for a 2 bedroom at AK for the week of Thanksgiving. Thats the week we're currently going this year, staying at GF. It came up to like 360 some points. That seems like a lot, and I'm guessing would cost a ton to buy that many points? Whats a good number to buy? We love going that time of year, so that is probably when a lot of our trips would occur.

Also, just thought of another question...what if we owned AK DVC and wanted to stay at the GF? How many points per night is that and how would we go about getting our points turned into a room at a regular hotel?

Thanks for any info!

 

[bigdave10000]

What kind of accommodations are you used to at the GF? Do you get a 2 BR suite there now? How much does that cost? I just want to see if you are comparing apples to apples.

It does make it easier since you know when you want to travel every year.

Your second question. Yes you can stay at other Disney non-DVC resorts on points but it is not a good value to do it that way. You get much more bang for your buck by staying at a DVC resort.

 

[Boston5602]

The amount of points you need is something only you can answer. You got 360 points for a 2 bedroom for your vacation this year. Is this always your vacation time , every year always a 2 bedroom ?

If you go every other year you would only need half the points with banking and borrowing .

You need to decide what your vacations may or may not look like for the next few years and compare it to the accommodations you would like and amount of time and see what the points are .

Best of Luck , and let me say I did it this way and still have added on twice in the last 20 months !

 

[Minnie824]

Thanks. Just to clarify...we're not doing DVC for our vacation this year...just staying at the Grand Floridian, garden view room. I was just trying to get an idea, based on the time, and what type of room we'd want, how many points it would cost us. Thanks again!

 

[bigdave10000]

Ok, so if you stayed at AKV in a SV Studio it would cost you 135 points for the week. Wouldn't that be similar to the GF room? Or you could stay in a 1BR SV for 268 points. Or you could stay in the 2BR Sun-Thur for 200.

There are lots of options. No right answers. No one can say what is best for you.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I think between 150-175 is a good number to start with. It will get you 1 bdrms. most seasons, and 2 bdrms. every other year.

 

[tomandrobin]

Personally, I think you should start with around 160 points. Then add-on after you burn thru your developer and extra points.

 

[CPTJAK]

When you get your information there are Point Charts also this site has Point Charts that will give you a good idea of point requirements at different resorts (AKLV) has several categories as well standard room, value, savana view etc...

So as a general rule people quote enough points for 5 nights (sunday-Thursday) as these are the lowest point totals in a 2 bedroom.

I however do not see an advantage to getting more than the minimum if buying directly from DVC (160 points currently), since adding on is simple and does not cost any extra (i.e. no closing costs).

 

[PAcpl]

The amount of points you need is something only you can answer. You got 360 points for a 2 bedroom for your vacation this year. Is this always your vacation time , every year always a 2 bedroom ?

If you go every other year you would only need half the points with banking and borrowing .

You need to decide what your vacations may or may not look like for the next few years and compare it to the accommodations you would like and amount of time and see what the points are .

Best of Luck , and let me say I did it this way and still have added on twice in the last 20 months !

I did exactly what Boston is explaining. I purchased into AKV's. I know that we plan on doing Disney every other year, and since we do not have children I know we are going to be going in September, every other year. If I purchased 160 points at AKV that would give us 320 points to use every other year. A 2BR concierge view at AKV will cost 329 points for the week in September. That would leave us 9 points short every trip. So it would have been silly not to add on the additional 5 points to my initial purchase. So now this gives us 165 points to use each year and 330 points every 2 years. Which will allow us to upgrade to the 2BR concierge room. Do we need a room this size, no, but for an additional 5 points we would have been crazy not to do it.

HTH,

Brian

 

[PAcpl]

I however do not see an advantage to getting more than the minimum if buying directly from DVC (160 points currently), since adding on is simple and does not cost any extra (i.e. no closing costs).

This is a great point. Keep in mind in the future if you ever did decide to sell, you have to sell per contract. So if you have 1 contract of 200 points you would have to sell all 200 points. But if you picked up 1 contract at 160 points and another contract of 40 points you can sell either one separately. And as the Captain said, there are no closing costs for ad on's, so ad on as little or as much as you would like. Just do it in smaller increments.

 

[ccw]

Here's a testimonial for buying a small contract---I bought 80 OKW points (resale) about eight years ago and have gone to Disney many times since then (not every year/twice one year). Have stayed in studios, 2 bedrooms, and will soon be staying for the second time in a Grand Villa. If i were to pay cash for the Grand Villa just for a three night stay, it would be just shy of what I paid for my whole contract so, clearly, I am a happy DVC member. I am miserly with my points (obviously), making liberal use of banking and borrowing and always going for short trips. I have stayed offsite on a weekend to save points and I have also stayed at a moderate to save weekend points. OKW is my home resort and also my favorite so that help, too, when planning with fewer points. When it comes time to pay those annual dues, I am always glad to be looking at just a few hundred dollars instead of what I would be paying to control more points. Works for me and I have no regrets about my small contract but, then again, I really like three-four night stays and am lucky enough to have low airfares from RDU that make short trips doable. DVC was definitely a wonderful deal for me.

Buy what you can afford and do not over-buy!!!!!!!!

 

[chalee94]

Also, just thought of another question...what if we owned AK DVC and wanted to stay at the GF? How many points per night is that and how would we go about getting our points turned into a room at a regular hotel?

for reference, if you wanted to book the GF for november in 2008, rates start at 47 pts per night for a garden view room (sun-thurs) going up to 85 pts per night on weekends. there would also be a $95 charge to make the reservation.

point costs at the GF can change from year to year and may be different in 2009.

 

[CarrianneB]

I agree with all the other posters. Figure out what you think your travel plans might be for the next few years, and then base it on that. We were originally going to buy 217 point (one week at AKV the last week in October) as that is when we normally travel.

At the time, (last October) the promotion was 160 developer points with a new 225 point contract. So our guide called us back a day or two later and let us know that. We upped the contract to 225 and are heading to DGC for Spring Break on those developer points.

So I would also recommend seeing if you are close to a promotion like that. I believe we had to buy as one 225 point contract to get the deal, and that is what we did. If my guide was mistaken, so be it, I'm still happy with my 225 points.

 

[byoung]

We have been very happy with our 200 points.