Is my idea crazy?

[jamier2]

Hi, we are shopping resale points now, and we are buying PVB. We want to end up with about 250 points. We plan to go on 2 or 3 trips per year and since there are 5 of us, the discount on APs would really add up. If we buy 100 direct (assuming we can get them) we would have to buy a minimum of 100 at PVB, and given direct price of $235 and resale of about $135 that would add approximately 10K to our buy in. That is my plan A and we should save about $2500 per year (assuming prices at todays rate and no changes) on our annual passes since we could get the gold pass. Doing this we would break even on the extra price of the direct points (on just the AP discount alone) in approximately 4 years.

So here's the crazy idea: What if we bought direct at OKW? The minimum for new members to buy direct there is 50 points (price of 156) according to a chart I found on **********.com. I thought about buying that, getting my blue DVC card, and going ahead with the 250 poly points resale after we secure the blue DVC card. If we did that, then resold the original OKW points (say for $85 per point) we would have paid $60 x 50 points ($3000) for the blue card.

If we buy 100 points at PVB direct we would pay $100 extra x 100 points ($10,000).

Assuming I could find the points I want, and we did this plan, would Disney revoke my blue card? I'd have the points on the same use year for sure, but since they're different resorts I was curious what would happen.

Any DVC gurus out there ever consider this? I'm sure I am not the first to consider it. I know (assuming the chart on **********.com was accurate) I could just hold the OKW points for the benefits but I really wouldn't want an extra (and extra expensive) 50 points that I couldn't really use much.

Thanks for reading through my convoluted question.

 

[CastAStone]

The minimum for a Blue Card is 100 direct points regardless of the resort.

They’ll let you buy less than 100 points at OKW, SSR, VB and HHI, but you don’t get the blue card benefits without a 100 point direct purchase.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

You have to have 100 points direct for a blue card. No matter the resort. The minimum listed is just the minimum they will sell you.

 

[Paul 55555]

And if you sell your direct points you lose your blue card.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

To sum up prior answers: your idea is not a good one and will not work. You have not figured out a secret way around Disney's restrictions.

 

[jamier2]

To sum up prior answers: your idea is not a good one and will not work. You have not figured out a secret way around Disney's restrictions.

I guess thanks for summing those up. Now I don't have to bother reading them.

 

[AaronEuth]

Buying 100 Direct Poly and the rest resale is a good idea; like you said it will pay for itself in 4 years. This does assume the Gold AP Discount continues; as that is an unlisted perk and not guaranteed.

As mentioned, it requires 100 points for direct membership, and you have to be the owner of those points. If you sold your direct points, the next time you went to print a new card with an updated expiration date it would no longer be blue. Maybe there is a window where you could buy the AP and then sell the direct points, but that would only let you sneak part of 1 year.

Have you considered doing 100 points Direct at Old Key west? And mixing in some Old Key west trips? You could always view the 100 OKW as your 7 month sleep around points to try out the other resorts.

100 OKW Direct = $16500 vs 100 Poly Direct = $24500 (Btw Poly Direct is 245, not 235, it went up Oct 2019)
https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/blog/dvc-resale-average-sales-prices-for-october-2019/
The total investment would be only slightly more than buying 250 Poly Resale; and the direct perks would quickly pay off and start putting you ahead.

 

[jamier2]

AaronEuth I will have to look into the option of buying and keeping the OKW points. I like the idea of trying a few more resorts (we’ve stayed at poly x3, GF x1 and AK x2). My wife would happily stay at Poly every single time. I’ll show her the math and maybe she’ll come around.

 

[AaronEuth]

AaronEuth I will have to look into the option of buying and keeping the OKW points. I like the idea of trying a few more resorts (we’ve stayed at poly x3, GF x1 and AK x2). My wife would happily stay at Poly every single time. I’ll show her the math and maybe she’ll come around.

They also don't have to be OKW Direct Points, that just happens to be the cheapest direct resort. If she hates OKW, but likes AKV, the same principle applies it would just cost an extra $2100 for 100 points. Which is still $5900 less than 100 Direct Polynesian points. Still $4600 more than 250 resale poly though; but in your situation the Annual Pass discount will take care of that pretty quick.

 

[heynowirv]

Or Direct SSR the same price as OKW but doesn't expire until 2054 vs OKW 2042

 

[JETSDAD]

Or Direct SSR the same price as OKW but doesn't expire until 2054 vs OKW 2042

OKW direct are all extended so they expire 2057.

 

[Sandisw]

Or Direct SSR the same price as OKW but doesn't expire until 2054 vs OKW 2042

Direct OKW expires 2057

 

[heynowirv]

Direct OKW expires 2057

Right, I forgot since I never took the extension..

 

[Pizzaman12]

AaronEuth I will have to look into the option of buying and keeping the OKW points. I like the idea of trying a few more resorts (we’ve stayed at poly x3, GF x1 and AK x2). My wife would happily stay at Poly every single time. I’ll show her the math and maybe she’ll come around.

With the obvious caveat that we're in a really, really weird time right now, you could always rent out the OKW points in the future if you're not going to use them. This may be tougher to do in the near-term depending on what DVC does relative to points expiration. But, I suspect long-term you should be able to rent them out and recoup your investment without much of an issue.

 

[CarolMN]

AaronEuth I will have to look into the option of buying and keeping the OKW points. I like the idea of trying a few more resorts (we’ve stayed at poly x3, GF x1 and AK x2). My wife would happily stay at Poly every single time. I’ll show her the math and maybe she’ll come around.

If your wife will be wishing you were at the POLY and you can't get in at 7 months, all the savings will soon be forgotten. Don't buy anywhere that won't make you both happy if you end up staying there. Buyers remorse will hit like a ton of bricks if you do!

Good luck with your decision.

 

[fixerupper]

Something else to think about though, you say there are 5 of you. As your kids get older and bigger are you still going to be happy staying together in a studio? You may welcome some other points to use at other resorts with 1br in the future.

 

[jamier2]

You guys make some very good points. I really appreciate all the info and suggestions.

We think that the Poly should be good for us, but if that changes as the kids grow our plan is to keep the 100 direct Poly points for the long term as we will be going without the kids at some point (15 years or so) - and we love it there. We figure once the kids are out we probably wouldn't be going as much so 100 points should be about right for one visit a year or one longer visit every couple of years. Both of us could see using the PVB as home base indefinitely.

If things change with us enjoying the PVB studios, we plan to use those 150 resale points for 1-2 BR units in other resorts at the 7 month mark. I figure if we do that for a few years we would be able to try out many of the other resorts. If we find a second that feels like home, we would probably buy there for 11 month priority and either keep or sell the extra PVB points.

I can't put my finger on it but we just didn't really love the AKV. We absolutely love Sanaa and Boma and yet didn't like staying there. I think it was mainly transportation that irritated us. We may change our mind if they actually do extend the Skyliner there. We really liked that when we were there in February.

I guess the truth is there's no way to be 100% sure on what things will be like in 5-10 years anyway. For now our plan is still to go ahead with buying 150 or so resale and 100 direct at PVB. I've made three offers since Friday and hopefully one will work out soon.

 

[Kaadk]

...We may change our mind if they actually do extend the Skyliner there. ...

Off topic, but where did you hear about them possibly expanding the Skyliner? Given how far out from the existing Skyliner lines it is, I can't really see it coming there any time soon. More likely, if there's going to be any expansion, I'd predict it heads east, towards Typhoon Lagoon/Disney Springs/OKW/SSR instead of west towards AKL. If it does head towards OKW, then that might give that resort a boost, being a new transportation option.

 

[CastAStone]

Off topic, but where did you hear about them possibly expanding the Skyliner? Given how far out from the existing Skyliner lines it is, I can't really see it coming there any time soon. More likely, if there's going to be any expansion, I'd predict it heads east, towards Typhoon Lagoon/Disney Springs/OKW/SSR instead of west towards AKL. If it does head towards OKW, then that might give that resort a boost, being a new transportation option.

The original skyliner rumor several years ago had phase 2 to AK, AKL and AKV, as well as CSR and Blizzard Beach, with phase 3 closer to what you describe. Before the shutdown there was speculation (I wouldn’t call it more than that) that Disney was happy with how things were going and might approve the first expansion soon, whatever soon meant.

One recent bit of speculation:
https://ziggyknowsdisney.com/new-di...-coming/#Disney_Skyliner_Future_Expansion_Map
PS Disney included a shot of Kidani in some Skyliner materials at one point which to many people sent phase 2 from rumor to plan.

 

[jamier2]

Off topic, but where did you hear about them possibly expanding the Skyliner?

After our trip in February we noticed they were really doing some kind of big project at the entry to AK. I just googled and found a fair amount of speculation about it, but nothing concrete. We really enjoyed using the skyliner and I would bet it would be less expensive and give more customer satisfaction in the long run. I liked not really having a line to wait in like the bus.