How many points to purchase?

[PoohBearFamily]

Hi! Brand new to the DVC concept. Our family of 6 loves to go to Aulani (2 bdrm villa), so considering if buying DVC is worth it. If we go for 7 nights only it seems too quick if a trip for the travel cost to Hawaii - if we wanted to stay for 10-14 nights annually, how many DVC pts to buy?

Also, what if we wanted to go to WDW or DL? If Aulani is our home resort can we go to, say, the Grand Californian or the Riviera? And can you use these on a cruise?

Thanks!

 

[Girlstar30]

Hi! Brand new to the DVC concept. Our family of 6 loves to go to Aulani (2 bdrm villa), so considering if buying DVC is worth it. If we go for 7 nights only it seems too quick if a trip for the travel cost to Hawaii - if we wanted to stay for 10-14 nights annually, how many DVC pts to buy?

Also, what if we wanted to go to WDW or DL? If Aulani is our home resort can we go to, say, the Grand Californian or the Riviera? And can you use these on a cruise?

Thanks!

Grand Californian is extremely hard to get into if you're not an owner. There is a very limited amount of rooms and it is a very popular resort.

You have to be flexible and pick up reservations that people cancel for that one if you dont own there pretty much.

 

[Spinster Travel]

If you buy your points directly from Disney, you will be able to use those points at all of the DVC Resorts. If you buy them on the resale market you will not be able to use them at Riviera, Disneyland Hotel or the Cabins at Fort Wilderness. If you opt to purchase a mixture of points from both Disney and the Resale market than only those points purchased directly from Disney can be used at those 3 resorts I just mentioned.

In addition, while you CAN use points on a Cruise - everyone here will advise you that it is a horrible use of points based on the value. What you would want to do is rent the points out and then take the cash to pay for the cruise. You'll be much better off cost-wise.

As for the amount of points you'd want annually - that entirely depends on the time of year you want to go. I'm less versed in Aulani than others, but imagine someone will chime in with a suggested amount of points.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Hi! Brand new to the DVC concept. Our family of 6 loves to go to Aulani (2 bdrm villa), so considering if buying DVC is worth it. If we go for 7 nights only it seems too quick if a trip for the travel cost to Hawaii - if we wanted to stay for 10-14 nights annually, how many DVC pts to buy?

Also, what if we wanted to go to WDW or DL? If Aulani is our home resort can we go to, say, the Grand Californian or the Riviera? And can you use these on a cruise?

Thanks!

Check out the points chart for Aulani. Compare when you typically want to travel against the room size and make your points calculations based on that info. https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/vacation-planning/points-charts

 

[squeezeplay101]

Hi! Brand new to the DVC concept. Our family of 6 loves to go to Aulani (2 bdrm villa), so considering if buying DVC is worth it. If we go for 7 nights only it seems too quick if a trip for the travel cost to Hawaii - if we wanted to stay for 10-14 nights annually, how many DVC pts to buy?

Also, what if we wanted to go to WDW or DL? If Aulani is our home resort can we go to, say, the Grand Californian or the Riviera? And can you use these on a cruise?

Thanks!

Like said above, best to reference the DVC Points Chart for Aulani, but this info below may help a bit:​

​

Estimated DVC Points for 2-Bedroom Villas (Per Night)​

View Type	Low Season	High Season
Standard View	~41 pts	~56 pts
Island Gardens View	~44 pts	~59 pts
Poolside Gardens View	~47 pts	~62 pts
Ocean View	~52 pts	~72 pts

These are per night estimates. Multiply by 14 nights for a full stay.

Total Points Estimate for 14 Nights​

• Standard View: ~574 to 784 points
• Island Gardens View: ~616 to 826 points
• Poolside Gardens View: ~658 to 868 points
• Ocean View: ~728 to 1,008 points

These numbers can shift slightly depending on exact travel dates and whether your stay overlaps different DVC seasons (e.g., Adventure, Choice, Premier).

 

[Brian Noble]

If we go for 7 nights only it seems too quick if a trip for the travel cost to Hawaii - if we wanted to stay for 10-14 nights annually, how many DVC pts to buy?

I'm with you---if I am flying that far, a week is a little too short. However, I don't stay at the same resort the whole time, and rarely stay on just one island. For example, next summer I'm spending a week at Hilton's Grand Waikikian, and will pair that with a week on either Kaua'i or the Big Island, either in one of the Wyndham resorts or the Waikoloa Hiltons.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Also, what if we wanted to go to WDW or DL? If Aulani is our home resort can we go to, say, the Grand Californian or the Riviera? And can you use these on a cruise?

Thanks!

You can buy Aulani on the resale market for about half the price of buying direct from Disney. If you mostly want Aulani, it makes sense to buy there. If you buy resale, you cannot use those points at restricted resorts such as Riviera and the Villas at the Disneyland hotel. You can use them at lots of other resorts, though.

If you purchase through Disney, you can use those points at all resorts and you can trade for the cruise. The point trade for the cruise is very low and many would say it's a waste of money, but if you aren't going to use the points at a DVC resort and they will expire, you can think of the cruise as cutting your loses.

There are rare Aulani resale contracts with lower annual dues (due to a major mistake when it first opened up for sale). Those are priced higher than the regular ones, but you save a ton of money in the long term. You cannot use resale points for cruise exchange.

 

[Girlstar30]

I would look into cruise swapping with David's and DVC Rental Store for cruising. They sell your points for you and use those points to book your cruise and you get way more value than swapping with Disney. We're definetely going to do it sometime in the near future!

I know there are some people on this board that have done it with ease. DVC rental store claims that by doing it this way you are free from taxes, some on here will argue that that may be false, but its another thing to consider

 

[Joroc0801]

Sounds like you may be a great candidate for a hybrid ownership approach. Buy the necessary Aulani points on the resale market to meet your yearly needs for Aulani. Then after you feel comfortable with DVC ownership, how it works, and better understand the market you can make a direct purchase at the resort that best suits your needs outside Aulani. You'd still be able to use your Aulani points at the original 14 within the 7m window if you decided you didn't want to go to Hawaii for a year.

It just seems to me that Aulani is where you want to be consistently and you can maximize the value for those stays by going resale. When you're ready to venture into the other resorts you have your Aulani points but can add on direct if you feel you need some unrestricted points.