Looking for Advice

[oilheadbob]

Hello Listers:

My DW and I are thinking of buying in to DVC. My question is I have read that you can buy in for as little as 100 pts now at AKV, but is that enough pts? Can you add an extra night onto a stay if you exceed your point limit? If so, what price might I expect to pay. There is so much information to digest, not sure whether to buy in at 100 or 160.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[browniemtb]

Hello Listers:

My DW and I are thinking of buying in to DVC. My question is I have read that you can buy in for as little as 100 pts now at AKV, but is that enough pts? Can you add an extra night onto a stay if you exceed your point limit? If so, what price might I expect to pay. There is so much information to digest, not sure whether to buy in at 100 or 160.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

100 points could be enough depending on your travel habits. Technically between banking and borrowing you could have 300 points at your disposal every 3rd year or 200 every other. The other things to think about is when you travel...some months take more points for a stay, size of accomodations will impact the points as well. What we did is looked at the point chart...found when we would travel most....saw what a week would be every year and bought that amount of points.

Your other question....you can use a combo of cash and points but the cash cost would depend on time of year, resort, and size of room.

Well you've come to the right place for answers....that people here helped us through our purchase and there has been no regrets...good luck

 

[bobbiwoz]

You can bank the points to the next Use Year and you can borrow points so, at most every 3 years you would have 300 points to use. Is this enough? Have you looked at the point charts? There's a link on this page.

You cannot do a one time loan from Members Services of points. You either use points or you use cash. Sometimes there's a member discount on the room, I think that's a 25% discount off rack rates, but sometimes you have to pay the full amount.

We began looking at DVC in 1996 and that was one of the hardest things for me to understand, just how did people know how many points to buy. We finally bought in 2003 because we had a goal. We wanted to be able to rent so many villas for a very special 85th birthday party for my DMom. We have since more than tripled the amount of points that we bought then. That's because we now have 3 DGC whose parents love WDW as much as we do!

Bobbi

 

[WaltEeyoreWorld]

The best way is to view the point charts and determine what size room and when you would normally want to travel. However, you can always add on points later so plan only for what you think you need now rather than 5 years from now. You can add on points to you contract in as small as 25 point increments so you can gradually change how you vacation. Also note that you sell in same increments that you buy so if you plans change and you go to Disney less but own a one time purchase of 300 points but find you really only need 100 points, you would be forced into selling the entire 300 if you wanted to down size. Another good reason to buy what you think you need now and then add on as you vacation plans change. Good luck with the decision.

 

[GoofItUp]

DH and I are also looking at buying DVC and have struggled with how many points we need (ok...want). There is a discrepancy between how much I want to pay right now and how many points I want. I think we're going to start with around 160 points (I really want 210) and then look at adding on later. Of course, I keep checking the resale listings hoping to find a 210 point contract that will fit my budget. Hey, a girl can hope!

 

[bczang]

My wife and I bought in a year ago and also debated how many points to buy. Based on our historical travel patterns and plans for the future I created a list with 3 - 4 years of hypothetical vacations. We live 4.5 hours from Hilton Head so visiting there was also factored in. I use the points charts on this site as well as the DVC "Teaser Book" that I got from Disney and calculated how many points it would take to fulfill my hypothetical plan (my plan also included banking and borrowing of points - it was very detailed!!). That helped out a lot. At the time 160 points was the minimum and we decided to go with 160.

One small wrinkle in my plan... after our first trip to SSR we realized that Villas were the only way to travel (we have a 14 month old) and quickly added 200 points! 360 is a little more than we need but it allows us to splurge sometimes, for example we are going to WDW for 6 nights over Christmas (2 in WVL and 4 in SSR), we would never have been able to do that with 100 (or 160) points unless we borrowed all of next years points.

Hope this helps a little!

 

[Disney_Villain]

My question is I have read that you can buy in for as little as 100 pts now at AKV, but is that enough pts?

You really need to look at the points charts - and decide (based on season, length of stay and desired room type) what your travel habits will be like each year.

Disney Vacation Club Collection Points Charts:

http://dvcnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=127&Itemid=105

 

[dianeschlicht]

DH and I are also looking at buying DVC and have struggled with how many points we need (ok...want). There is a discrepancy between how much I want to pay right now and how many points I want. I think we're going to start with around 160 points (I really want 210) and then look at adding on later. Of course, I keep checking the resale listings hoping to find a 210 point contract that will fit my budget. Hey, a girl can hope!

Keep looking, because there are plenty of 210 OKW contracts around. I believe at one time the minimum buy in was 230.

 

[Goofy DVC]

Also think about what resort might be best as your home resort. Your home resort gives you 4 extra months to reserve accomadations. Often called the 11 month window.You can reserve 7 to 11 months prior to your trip,while others must wait until 7 months prior.With Disney building more resorts it is becoming more difficult to reseve rooms at the smaller resorts.Buy where you like.Don't get swayed by the crowd. The newest resort might not be best for you, and what you enjoy.Once you pick a home resort preference, look at that point chart. It will help you figure out how many points you might need.
Good luck.

 

[ckg]

I'd like to add that 160 is the amount you would need (I believe for high season) to do an II or RCI trade (whichever it is). We went with 160 for that reason as it gave us the most flexibility to pretty much guarantee us at least a week a year no matter how we used it.

Of course we just recently added on another 160 and have only done one trade where we paid the II rate for a 1br and got upgraded to a 2 br at a Marriot on Hilton Head so that worked out well. Now at 320 I am very comfortable for our family of 4. We absolutely love the flexibility of DVC's point system for larger groups of people and a room we can spread out in with family and more importanly friends. My only peeve is I would like a better bell service so I don't have to futz with luggage (I'm on vacation and that means no work to me)