Looking to do and add on- need your input please!

[karebear1]

We love our DVC!! Love it so much that we've decided it's time for an add on, but I really can't think straight.... must be too excited at the prospect! So- can you help me out??

How did you decide where to add on, how many points and use year for your add on? Is it best just to add on at the same resort and use the same use year? I'm having a hard time trying to think this through in my head- and I'd appreciate any input you could give me.

THANKS EVERYONE!

 

[drusba]

If you add-on through Disney you will get the use year you have now. How many points to buy and where boils down to personal choice. Factors include: (a) what you want them for -- e.g. to take longer or more trips at home resort or do you want to get another resort for an occasional trip and have the 11 month booking window; (b) how many points you think you actually need or want right now for what you are planning to do; (c) do you have to finance--through Disney minimum point buy is 25 but minimum to finance is 50; (d) is the price discount important -- you need to buy 100 points to get any ongoing discount off the price of points at BLT, AKV, or SSR.

Our personal experience: for many years we have had BWV and added on there only, mainly to increase trip time, until two years ago when we added on AKV (and actually bought enough for a week's stay there). We have no desire to add-on at any other resort

 

[wildernessDad]

As mentioned, adding on through Disney will get you the same UY.

If you add on at a different resort, then you will have two home resorts and you can only use your home resort's points at the 11 month mark. For example, you can use your BCV's points to books BCV at the 11 month mark and you can use your AKV (assuming you added on there) points to book AKV at the 11 month mark. You cannot combine points until the 7 month mark to book a stay at another DVC resort.

My advice is to add on where you want to stay. If you want the 11 month advantage at a different resort, then add on that resort.

 

[karebear1]

Really??? If you add on through Disney you can only get the same use year you already have?? Didn't know that!

Hmmmmmm..... if that's the case, I might have to buy resale. Any disadvantage/advantage to buying resale?

 

[pickles]

Really??? If you add on through Disney you can only get the same use year you already have?? Didn't know that!

Hmmmmmm..... if that's the case, I might have to buy resale. Any disadvantage/advantage to buying resale?

not true. I bought okw aug uy(in sept 08) and then added on akv dec uy and I did that just about 2 months ago

I had to request it and I had to agree I was ok with my choice and the extra keeping track I would have to do with banking etc..

I chose the one I did as it had 08 points, 09 points and I got dev points since we were in 09 when I added on I felt that was a good deal. I wouldhave prefered aug uy as that fits are travel times better, but I can learn to live with dec

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Really??? If you add on through Disney you can only get the same use year you already have?? Didn't know that!

Hmmmmmm..... if that's the case, I might have to buy resale. Any disadvantage/advantage to buying resale?

For UY it depends on how many points you are looking at buying. IF you add on the required minimum for a new buyer then you can do a different UY. It's only if you add on less that it will be the same.

Currently you could add on 160 points at BLT or GCV and get a new UY. I believe that they are still doing 100 pt minimums for AKV and possibly SSR (really not certain about that one) and you could get a new UY.

Resale takes longer to close, but if you don't need the points tomorrow then there can be a large financial benefit in purchasing that way. And it's also a way to add on points in a different UY for less than the minimum Disney requires. When you make a resale offer Disney will have the right of first refusal on the sale and could buy it back but now is a very good time to get a deal as prices have been dropping.

 

[Jaaron2]

Well for one I need to stop adding on, I currently have eight contracts between two resorts (with different use years)We just added on again at BCV (which we seem to do after staying there).

Anyway to answer your question the number of home resorts you have should only be determined by where you want to stay. If you have one main preference and tend to stay there the most I would suggest keeping your points in that resort (especially if it a resort that can be tough to get into at 7 months - BCV, BWV etc).

The UY would be determined by your travel habbits. If you tend to travel during two different seasons (i.e. spring and fall) it could be worth while to have to different UY to give you a better banking window. If not then IMHO I would just keep it under one UY.

Also depending on where you want to stay some UY are much harder to get add ons than others. This might be something you want to check with your guide. We have an April UY for BCV and have never had a problem adding on. I have read where others have waited 8-12 months to have add ons come through with summer UY at BCV.

We have one rule when adding on- only add on what we can pay for in cash
Therefore the eight contracts it makes more sense for us to let our finances dictate how much we can add on.

Good Luck. I will be interested to see what you decide!

 

[DMKEDM]

An important planning point, I think: If you "add on" points w/a different use year, it's a new master contract, w/a different contract number--you need to buy the required minimum (or buy thru resale)...you can title it however you want. If you add on w/the same use year, you can use your existing master contract (same contract number followed by a dot and the number of add-on it is--e.g., I have one master, w/3 add-ons...my contracts are xxxxxxx.0, xxxxxx.1, xxxxxxx.2 and xxxxxxx.3)--the new points must be titled exactly the same way as the master...

More than one master contract gets you a new layer of complication if and when it happens that you want to combine points ...although more than one master also gives you more flexibility w/use year...(each master can have whatever use year you want/is available)...

You won't have any trouble, at 7 months (or later), combining points from your two (or more) "master" contracts so long as you have sufficient points in each contract to cover the "cost" of a night...e.g., if you're making a 150-point reservation, at 30 points/night, you can pull those 30 points from either or both (or more) of your master contracts...what you cannot do is pull some of the 30 points needed for one night from one contract and the rest from another...

If you "add on," however (meaning add points w/the same use year to an existing master contract), you can combine points on a nightly basis (again, for example, if you need 30 points for one night and have 15 points in one contract and 15 in another it's not a problem if it's a true "add-on" (same use year, same master contract)...not doable, however, if you use two master contracts which each have 15 points left in them...or at least it's not doable w/out some serious planning (you're limited to one transfer, in or out, per use year...so you can't transfer out of one and into the other unless you're at a time during the year when you're in two different use years...complicated!)

This only matters if you find yourself in a situation where you're "using up" points...but seems to me like it's an important planning factor to consider...

Good luck w/your choice!

 

[wildernessDad]

not true. I bought okw aug uy(in sept 08) and then added on akv dec uy and I did that just about 2 months ago

I had to request it and I had to agree I was ok with my choice and the extra keeping track I would have to do with banking etc..

I chose the one I did as it had 08 points, 09 points and I got dev points since we were in 09 when I added on I felt that was a good deal. I wouldhave prefered aug uy as that fits are travel times better, but I can learn to live with dec

You must have added on 160 points or more to enable you to have a new contract. Or with AKV, perhaps only 100 points was sufficient as new members can come in at the 100 point level there. But, if you are going to add on say 50 points through Disney, you will not be able to get a different UY.

 

[karebear1]

Oh my hecK people!! You are all so wonderful!!!!

So- the first thing to do would be to decide which resort I want to add on, then how many points, then decide if I want to keep the use year the same.

NEW QUESTION 1:
Our usual pattern of trips to WDW usually falls from November to January. Right now we have an October use year. I would like to expand these trips into early spring probably no later then the end of March/ the first two weeks of April. Would keeping an October use year be a good thing for me or do you think it would be a good thing to go for a Feb. use year??

NEW QUSTION 2:
I LOVE BCV's, but we have a new grandson, and we've been thinking about may be doing the add on at AKV. This will allow him to be near the animals and AKV's has 3BR that BCV doesn't. I think it might be next to impossible to get a 3BR at the 7th month window- so that's why we're thinking about buying into AKV. Any thoughts on this??

 

[karebear1]

An important planning point, I think: If you "add on" points w/a different use year, it's a new master contract, w/a different contract number--you need to buy the required minimum (or buy thru resale)...you can title it however you want. If you add on w/the same use year, you can use your existing master contract (same contract number followed by a dot and the number of add-on it is--e.g., I have one master, w/3 add-ons...my contracts are xxxxxxx.0, xxxxxx.1, xxxxxxx.2 and xxxxxxx.3)--the new points must be titled exactly the same way as the master...

More than one master contract gets you a new layer of complication if and when it happens that you want to combine points ...although more than one master also gives you more flexibility w/use year...(each master can have whatever use year you want/is available)...

You won't have any trouble, at 7 months (or later), combining points from your two (or more) "master" contracts so long as you have sufficient points in each contract to cover the "cost" of a night...e.g., if you're making a 150-point reservation, at 30 points/night, you can pull those 30 points from either or both (or more) of your master contracts...what you cannot do is pull some of the 30 points needed for one night from one contract and the rest from another...

If you "add on," however (meaning add points w/the same use year to an existing master contract), you can combine points on a nightly basis (again, for example, if you need 30 points for one night and have 15 points in one contract and 15 in another it's not a problem if it's a true "add-on" (same use year, same master contract)...not doable, however, if you use two master contracts which each have 15 points left in them...or at least it's not doable w/out some serious planning (you're limited to one transfer, in or out, per use year...so you can't transfer out of one and into the other unless you're at a time during the year when you're in two different use years...complicated!)

This only matters if you find yourself in a situation where you're "using up" points...but seems to me like it's an important planning factor to consider...

Good luck w/your choice!

If you put your additional contracts under your first contarct as you suggest, if you ever want to sell one of the 2 contracts, are you able to or do they essentially becoming one big contract with all points having to be sold (if add on resort is the same resort as the original)???

 

[DMKEDM]

I can sell each or any of my five contracts separately...I have a 150-point master contract at SSR; my 3 add-on's (to my one master) are 115 points, 100 points, 50 points and 50 points....I can sell each one separately...

Did that answer your question?

 

[Buckeye Fan]

So- the first thing to do would be to decide which resort I want to add on, then how many points, then decide if I want to keep the use year the same.

NEW QUESTION 1:
Our usual pattern of trips to WDW usually falls from November to January. Right now we have an October use year. I would like to expand these trips into early spring probably no later then the end of March/ the first two weeks of April. Would keeping an October use year be a good thing for me or do you think it would be a good thing to go for a Feb. use year??

Personally, unless your UY isn't working for you, I would stick with October. I say this for two reasons:
1) You can bank your points through the end of May with an Oct UY. This means if you schedule and have to cancel a trip, you aren't going to be forced to plan something by the end of your UY in Sept.
2) We have 3 contracts, 2 UYs. I did that on purpose, because DH is a teacher and we have an Aug UY. It really doesn't work too well for us, so I wanted some flexibility. With that said, it's not hard, it's just not as easy to "combine" points for a vacation between or among contracts. For example, I booked BCV this summer. I booked night one (Sat) with my Aug UY points, nights 2 - 6 with my Dec UY, and night 7 with my Aug UY. I was trying to figure out how to use 150 points (or I would lose them), and nights 2 - 6 were exactly 150 points. If these were all under 1 contract, I would have just booked the 7 nights (which was well over 150 points) and called it a day!

NEW QUSTION 2:
I LOVE BCV's, but we have a new grandson, and we've been thinking about may be doing the add on at AKV. This will allow him to be near the animals and AKV's has 3BR that BCV doesn't. I think it might be next to impossible to get a 3BR at the 7th month window- so that's why we're thinking about buying into AKV. Any thoughts on this??

Not sure how many points your are buying, but that would be a consideration for me personally. In order to take advantage of the 8 - 11 month booking window, you have to own enough points at that given resort to book what you want every year (or every 2nd/3rd year with banking/borrowing). You can't combine all of your points at 8 - 11 months to book, you can only use the points your own at that resort.

As for BCV, you will be limited if you want a grand villa. However, do you want to stay in GVs often? If not, we traveled with a big party and did 2 2-BRs. We actually preferred it, because it gave us 2 living room spaces. Several nights, the "boys" watched sports in one villa, while the "girls" had some peace and quiet in the other one! LOL! The only risk you run is that having villas close together is just a request. You could end up on separate floors (or buildings depending on where you're staying).

With that said, we bought where we wanted to stay. We love SSR, and have enough points there. When we added on, we added on at VB so that we can book a 2-BR for a week in the summer. We tried to book there a couple of times, and didn't have any luck, so we wanted to take the luck factor out of it. On the flip side, I have had wonderful luck at WDW, so haven't felt the need to add on another WDW resort. We like to hop, though, so if I try a resort and it's not available, I move on to the next one on my list!!!

Best of luck with your decision!!! It's sure a fun one to consider.

 

[Jaaron2]

NEW QUSTION 2:
[/QUOTE]I LOVE BCV's, but we have a new grandson, and we've been thinking about may be doing the add on at AKV. This will allow him to be near the animals and AKV's has 3BR that BCV doesn't. I think it might be next to impossible to get a 3BR at the 7th month window- so that's why we're thinking about buying into AKV. Any thoughts on this??[/QUOTE]

You see, we just think alike! As you can tell by my signature i went the exact same routeWe split our points between BCV and AKV. We went with AKV because of the larger rooms, new resort, longer contract. We are really looking forward to the first time we get to stay in a three bedroom.

We have 250 points at each resort. We bank and borrow at each resort every other year to take a couple long vacations.

 

[pickles]

You must have added on 160 points or more to enable you to have a new contract. Or with AKV, perhaps only 100 points was sufficient as new members can come in at the 100 point level there. But, if you are going to add on say 50 points through Disney, you will not be able to get a different UY.

yes my original purchase was resale okw for 50pts aug uy and then I added on 2 contracts(at the same time) of 100 points each with dec uy for AKV. I went with smaller contracts in case I needed to sell..finacial hardships or if i wanted to gift them to my children later on when they are older.

So, i assume I have 2 master contracts and one of the mastr contracts has an add on with the same uy

depending what you are wanting to do, direct can be good, and of course resale can be good.
One must compare like to like. Often the resale ones are missing current year points, so while cheaper to buy, there is a lag of points you can use.
Be sure to really ask what is available for the month and resort you are wanting when dealing direct. If i hadnt been rather pushy, i dont think i would have been told about the dec uy one that was available(08 points, 09 points and dev points) My guide tried to really point me towards same UY, and I understand why.
Just be sure you look at all angles and possiblities and find the one that suits your needs best