I'm all in!

[ajsanford]

Congrats!! We bought riv a couple of weeks ago as well and couldn’t be happier. They worked hard to turn our cash stay that was two weeks away at aulani to a dvc stay on points when it was showing up as fully booked online! We just got back today actually from the trip!
Can’t wait to actually make our way to RIV!

 

[HIRyeDVC]

Congratulations! A beautiful resort you’ll go home to for many many years to come. Hope to stay there one day

 

[npatellye]

This has nothing to do with leverage. Contractually, whatever booking benefit DVC/DVD extends to you - they must extend to all blue card members. Maybe DVD would claim this 'benefit' is available to all new blue card members - but based on the recent complaining I heard, that didn't seem to be the case.

See, they gave you not just some random week, but one of most highly desirable weeks of the year - a week that many others, even at their 11 month booking window were not able to book this year because of overwhelming demand. And you 'booked' it with essentially 5 and a half months of lead time. Impossible under any other circumstance.

I gotta wonder if DVD is routinely keeping some rooms out of DVC inventory during certain times of the year for direct sales of a certain point size and up. There definitely was some funny business going on this year with booking certain resorts during the 50th and Christmas.

Then again, maybe this scenario is only possible because much of RIV is still unsold.

Disney has a certain number of points at each resort. i assume those points are what they use for welcome home visits. Our welcome home visit was cancelled due to the closure but we were able to book that with less than 5 months notice.

 

[npatellye]

I wonder if this is for direct purchase only, or for first time resale purchasers as well?

This is for new members who purchase direct AFAIK.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We purchased 250 pts at Riviera direct yesterday. Super excited! Just wanted to say thank you to all for the information you have compiled here. It was an invaluable resource for us as we evaluated our options.

First trip scheduled for December 17-24 for a 1 BR preferred. Can't wait to go

Welcome Home!

 

[Sandisw]

This has nothing to do with leverage. Contractually, whatever booking benefit DVC/DVD extends to you - they must extend to all blue card members. Maybe DVD would claim this 'benefit' is available to all new blue card members - but based on the recent complaining I heard, that didn't seem to be the case.

See, they gave you not just some random week, but one of most highly desirable weeks of the year - a week that many others, even at their 11 month booking window were not able to book this year because of overwhelming demand. And you 'booked' it with essentially 5 and a half months of lead time. Impossible under any other circumstance.

I gotta wonder if DVD is routinely keeping some rooms out of DVC inventory during certain times of the year for direct sales of a certain point size and up. There definitely was some funny business going on this year with booking certain resorts during the 50th and Christmas.

Then again, maybe this scenario is only possible because much of RIV is still unsold.

The points owned by DVD can be used to reserve rooms just like the rest of us. They also have the rooms they take for trade which allows them to sell for cash, but nothing says they can’t pull them back for these new buyers.

From what I have read, that this benefit is for those buying and booking within that 7 month window to get them something. Or, for a home resort in active sales that can easily be booked by DVC from DVD inventory.

Once someone already books a trip, they don’t usually offer because it is supposed to be a way of helping navigate the booking process.

So while the busy week got booked, it was at RIV which I am sure is a room owned by DVD

 

[masupo]

I bought Riv and didn't mention anything about my first trip during my purchase. I was within the 7 month window for this past Easter - it might've been within 6 months when I called to make the reservation. We wanted a standard view dedicated 2 bedroom at Riviera for Easter week. There was nothing available via a regular DVC reservation but they were able to reserve it for my 'welcome home' trip. The CM gave me the impression they pulled it from cash inventory at Riv.

 

[Grumpy Mouse]

The points owned by DVD can be used to reserve rooms just like the rest of us. They also have the rooms they take for trade which allows them to sell for cash, but nothing says they can’t pull them back for these new buyers.

From what I have read, that this benefit is for those buying and booking within that 7 month window to get them something. Or, for a home resort in active sales that can easily be booked by DVC from DVD inventory.

Once someone already books a trip, they don’t usually offer because it is supposed to be a way of helping navigate the booking process.

So while the busy week got booked, it was at RIV which I am sure is a room owned by DVD

The issue is DVD doesn't announce this benefit. Period. They certainly didn't say anything to us when we bought direct at RIV (our guide DID say they'd 'do something nice for us' for our Welcome Home visit - which of course didn't happen - well, unless you count keeping us from buying AP's - lol) and they obviously didn't say anything to many others - leading to some pretty hard feelings as you've read.

Any benefit that's either a secret or there's a time-limit on - is not a benefit. It's just favoritism.

Typical Disney. Some get pixie-dust - others just dust.

The good news is that DISboards can - and usually does - provide important information for the new owner.

 

[Mike9865]

So we made one small change to our contract, we opted to secure a guaranteed reservation for week #51. This should give us coverage for Christmas on some years and it will always include my birthday that is a few days before.

One question I had however, does the guaranteed week pass on to a new owner if I sold the contract? Or will it pass to our kids when we are ready to pass this along to them?

 

[HIRyeDVC]

So we made one small change to our contract, we opted to secure a guaranteed reservation for week #51. This should give us coverage for Christmas on some years and it will always include my birthday that is a few days before.

One question I had however, does the guaranteed week pass on to a new owner if I sold the contract? Or will it pass to our kids when we are ready to pass this along to them?

Yes, guaranteed contracts stay on the contract until it expires, even if you sell it to another owner or pass it onto your children.

 

[AnnaS]

Congrats!!! Enjoy and Happy Planning!