On Cruise - Considering Between More in RIV or New Contract at Poly

Vulnox

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Nov 25, 2020
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We have 200 points at Riviera and love the resort. There are four of us, two adults and two kids.

We sometimes do trips with friends of ours that also have two kids. Previously they stayed with us at RIV in a two bedroom.

As is often the case, we find ourselves coming to Disney more since joining DVC, and our two kids are getting older. So we have been doing almost entirely one and two bedrooms and the borrowing is getting tough.

We are on the Disney Fantasy now and did a DVC member event and talked to a CM. They have good incentives and the magical beginnings, and the RIV incentives are a lot better. But we are seriously considering having at least 150 points at Poly so we could do a split stay and be on a Magic Kingdom property.

Here’s where I am unsure which way to go.

We may want to do more two bedrooms with our friends, or even go for a three bedroom as all the kids get much older. That might mean having a heavier stock of points at RIV would be beneficial. We could even trade into Poly if we are lucky at the 7 month window and still do a split stay. I don’t know how tough getting Poly two bedrooms at seven months is though generally in the October to January time we tend to go.

Alternatively, we do 150 points direct at Poly and could still do two bedrooms at RIV, but would only need maybe three nights there instead of five and then two at Poly.

That seems good from the perspective of having high flexibility, but hurts our ability to maybe do a three bedroom at RIV since all the points aren’t available at once.

Curious what others would do. If you don’t love RIV, I know everyone has different ideals but we’re big fans. I wouldn’t be upset to have more there. But Poly is a close second.

Thanks all!
 
If you are only looking at the two, and don't plan to sell, I would go with Riv.

The Poly point chart for 1 and 2 bedrooms is really high (compared to 014 resorts). I have a family of 5, so I am also often in 1 or 2 bedrooms, and have avoided Poly because of the point chart and lack of real incentives to justify a purchase there. I know folks focus a lot on incentives and upfront costs, but point charts really matter (and remaining contract life I suppose). However, I think Poly, as a product, will remain in demand. Disney knows what they have with Poly.

Riv, on the other hand, while the incentives are much better than poly, the resale restrictions really give me pause. But economically and if you want to stay direct, I would buy there over Poly personally.

Just my thought process, I grabbed BLT (resale) to use as SAPs. Dues are reasonable, and I would never feel "stuck" with a room there. (I've actually only stayed there one time). Buying resale and having more points allowed me to stay at Poly, but I just couldn't get behind buying there.

Hope this helps!
 
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Is there an extra incentive for being on the cruise? Will you be back home soon?

curious about the cruise offer as well

This was a little weird because during the presentation I know they said something along the lines of a cruise specific extra incentive but when we talked about it during the meeting the incentives appeared to be standard plus magical beginnings.

Maybe they misspoke or I misunderstood their intent, I would hope they weren’t being dishonest because that seemed like a super easy one to be called out on.

I think what they may have meant also because it did come up is that existing incentives expire/price per point goes up on I believe February 9th and our cruise docks on the 6th. So roughly around when we get home. So they may have said take advantage of incentives during the cruise and meant it in that way.

In any case, the printout we got looks normal. $26 per point discount at 200 points for Riviera plus magical beginnings.

Thanks all for the thoughts so far. I was also considering 150 point resale for Riviera. We have a September use year and I see a few available and it would save us about $10k. Wouldn’t be able to use the additional points to rent at Poly, but could maybe rent them out and just rent someone’s Poly points. $10k plus funds from renting when needed buys a lot of flexibility. 😄
 
Wouldn’t be able to use the additional points to rent at Poly, but could maybe rent them out and just rent someone’s Poly points. $20k plus funds from renting when needed buys a lot of flexibility. 😄
Seems like too much hassle to rent out / rent in.

If you're happy with staying at RIV at least once very other year then go for it. Otherwise stick with RIV direct
 
This was a little weird because during the presentation I know they said something along the lines of a cruise specific extra incentive but when we talked about it during the meeting the incentives appeared to be standard plus magical beginnings.

Maybe they misspoke or I misunderstood their intent, I would hope they weren’t being dishonest because that seemed like a super easy one to be called out on.

I think what they may have meant also because it did come up is that existing incentives expire/price per point goes up on I believe February 9th and our cruise docks on the 6th. So roughly around when we get home. So they may have said take advantage of incentives during the cruise and meant it in that way.

In any case, the printout we got looks normal. $26 per point discount at 200 points for Riviera plus magical beginnings.

Thanks all for the thoughts so far. I was also considering 150 point resale for Riviera. We have a September use year and I see a few available and it would save us about $10k. Wouldn’t be able to use the additional points to rent at Poly, but could maybe rent them out and just rent someone’s Poly points. $10k plus funds from renting when needed buys a lot of flexibility. 😄

If there is no extra incentive I would wait until you get home to research and ponder. New prices and new incentive start Feb 10. So you just need to decide by then.
 
I too would vote for more RIV points becaue it does allow you to secure those larger rooms without issue! In terms of cruise extras, sometimes I think they are referring to the tote bag (or whatever extra special thing they are giving) vs. an incentive off pricing.

There have been times when there was something small....the Castaway Club discount...but that isn't always the case! Have fun on the Fantasy!
 
We own Riviera and Poly. I would vote match your use year at Riviera. The points chart goes way farther there and is important to have 11 month priority for Resort view most of which still are not a bad view. The views at Poly tower are not very good without Theme park view which has a crazy points chart. If you want theme park view in a 1 bedroom you can most likely get when you want most of the year at 7 months. If you want the longhouse studios same thing. Better incentives as well.
 
Thank you all very much! I love this community and you’ve all helped a lot. I was leaning towards more at RIV as we’ve traditionally been able to get into other resorts within the seven month window, even if not Poly every time, and keeping it simple plus the chance at the three bedrooms just makes sense. I think we will go back and talk to the on ship rep later today.

Have a great day!
 
This was a little weird because during the presentation I know they said something along the lines of a cruise specific extra incentive but when we talked about it during the meeting the incentives appeared to be standard plus magical beginnings. Maybe they misspoke or I misunderstood their intent, I would hope they weren’t being dishonest because that seemed like a super easy one to be called out on.

I have bought contracts on cruises twice now (CFW and Poly) but I cruise DCL generally once a month and almost always spend a little time to listen to the current incentives pitch - the guides have always acknowledged behind closed doors that the incentives on shore and on the ship are the same (exception is the DVC member cruise which has different/better pricing). You can confirm that yourself when the guides show you their incentive sheets and compare them to the ones posted here or elsewhere. The little tote bag thing is another "incentive", but my wife has several of them and they are clearly getting worse in terms of quality - don't let that bag be a reason to buy on the boat!

I was also considering 150 point resale for Riviera. We have a September use year and I see a few available and it would save us about $10k. Wouldn’t be able to use the additional points to rent at Poly, but could maybe rent them out and just rent someone’s Poly points. $10k plus funds from renting when needed buys a lot of flexibility. 😄

You like Riviera a lot and are happy to stay there (and only there) with at least some of your points - that would free up your other direct points for other resort stays (including Poly) or Riviera in bigger accommodations. If that is true, why buy Direct incremental points at Riviera? I think you should save yourself the $10K with resale Riviera and turn the rest of your points into SAP+.
 
Well we did it. Ended up adding 160 points at Riviera. I was going for 150 but I remember so many doing 160 and there’s been so many cases where we’ve been 2-8 points off and there was just something to that little extra.

So we now have 360 at Riviera and did the magical beginnings for our 2025 points since we’re already booked for our trips through the end of the year on the points we have.

I made sure to put you all down as referrals, or enablers, either way. 😄

Anything more from here I think will be resale because I feel we have enough SAP to survive even when they start reissuing the 2042 resorts in case they make those resale restricted.

Thanks again!
 
Well we did it. Ended up adding 160 points at Riviera. I was going for 150 but I remember so many doing 160 and there’s been so many cases where we’ve been 2-8 points off and there was just something to that little extra.

So we now have 360 at Riviera and did the magical beginnings for our 2025 points since we’re already booked for our trips through the end of the year on the points we have.

I made sure to put you all down as referrals, or enablers, either way. 😄

Anything more from here I think will be resale because I feel we have enough SAP to survive even when they start reissuing the 2042 resorts in case they make those resale restricted.

Thanks again!
Congratulations, neighbor!
 











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