Poly owner, Help me spend $20k-ish

[tx911]

FWIW, I’m in the opposite situation. I have 300 RIV direct (and a few resale contracts at other resorts) but realizing I need another small direct contract to bump me up to a 2BR for a week. I know the numbers work in favor of more Riviera but I like the idea of a diverse portfolio and leaning towards adding on a FW at POLY.

I'm stalking to see what the 7-month availability will be at Poly. Right now it looks like not great.

Re the OP, if I had 250 at Poly I would be looking at diversifying into an Epcot resort. For me that would be Riviera.

 

[sndral]

We have 200 poly direct and 50 poly resale. East coast family of 3 with tween. What are we buying at WDW before Tuesday price increase?

Too little information for me to offer any advice. How often do you go, when do you go, & how long do you stay? I guess my question is what do you want these new points to do for you? More stays, longer stays, split stays, bigger villas?
If you’ve been using your Poly points to stay in studios do you want to upgrade to 1 or 2 br. villas? If so & if you go for several days during popular times & like staying at the same resort, then more Poly seems to be your answer.
If your goal is to go for longer stays & you don’t like split stays, then having an 11 month home resort booking window makes life easier than playing the 7 month dance.
OTH, if you want to alternate MK area stays w/ Epcot/DHS area stays, or enjoy split stays, then perhaps add Riviera, but 100 points won’t get you very much there & I’m personally not a fan of towers on small footprints, so I have no interest in owning or staying at the Riviera, but those who own there love the place so . To be fair, I think the exterior of the Poly Tower is as unattractive as the Riviera - although at least the Poly Tower is ‘part of’ the overall Poly grounds & the new Wailua restaurant is lovely.

 

[intamin]

FWIW, I’m in the opposite situation. I have 300 RIV direct (and a few resale contracts at other resorts) but realizing I need another small direct contract to bump me up to a 2BR for a week. I know the numbers work in favor of more Riviera but I like the idea of a diverse portfolio and leaning towards adding on a FW at POLY.

Yeah, the problem I'm having RN is we don't know what the availability of the Poly tower will be in the long term so that could potentially mean being forced to book preferred view at 11 months pending availability.

 

[Disney Spaz]

I am in the camp of buy where you want to stay the most. If Poly is your families favorite I say add on there especially if you are extending the length of your current trips or plan on getting larger rooms. If you feel a bigger pull to the Epcot/HS area then I agree look in that area. Everything is personal preference. If it was me and our family we would add on 50 CCV to go from studios to 2bdrms with a 50 Poly add on as well but that is what works best for my family and how we vacation.

I will say as much as I like having 3 resorts now and all the options it offers we added on to our original VGF contracts a bunch until we had the minimum amount there for bigger rooms for a longer time for our yearly family trip. Our CCV and Poly add on were soley to add a Thanksgiving trips and to rotate every other year between resorts. If your plans are for 1 large trip I say stick with Poly, unless you love split stays.

 

[intamin]

I am in the camp of buy where you want to stay the most. If Poly is your families favorite I say add on there especially if you are extending the length of your current trips or plan on getting larger rooms. If you feel a bigger pull to the Epcot/HS area then I agree look in that area. Everything is personal preference. If it was me and our family we would add on 50 CCR to go from studios to 2bdrms with a 50 Poly add on as well but that is what works best for my family and how we vacation.

I will say as much as I like having 3 resorts now and all the options it offers we added on to our original VGF contracts a bunch until we had the minimum amount there for bigger rooms for a longer time for our yearly family trip. Our CCR and Poly add on were soley to add a Thanksgiving trips and to rotate every other year between resorts. If your plans are for 1 large trip I say stick with Poly, unless you love split stays.

You writing CCR makes me think of credence Clearwater revival

 

[DonkeyHoTay]

You writing CCR makes me think of credence Clearwater revival

I consider every trip through Disney to be a run through the jungle.

 

[Disney Spaz]

You writing CCR makes me think of credence Clearwater revival

I swear I do it all the time and I don't know why my brain keeps putting an R instead of a V.

 

[TCRAIG]

Why would anyone hate Riviera

It’s my least favorite DVC - I don’t like the lobby, points chart is too high, not many good views, pool too small, too many young kids (yeah, I’m an old grouch ), and NOT a fan of the Skyliner at all (don’t care for heights and since I’m on an ECV, I always have to wait for a disable cabin)…

 

[TCRAIG]

If it was me, since I don’t like RIV and I like 1BRs and you have a tween, I would get a BCV or BWV resale contract…they have much better/varied access to HS and Epcot than RIV and there’s still enough years left (IMO). Great pools and points charts along with them being much more difficult to book than RIV so the ‘Home Court’ advantage is well worth it in lieu of years left on the contracts.

 

[Cfabar1]

For us, we like big rooms so I would say buy more at Poly based on how I use it...

 

[DVCsloth]

Another good option imo is to add poly resale or direct and check availability of other resorts at 7 months.
Looking back from when I first purchased at VGF direct and then grandfathered resale, I would have just kept VGF
and visited other resorts at 7 months. Sold all of our VGF but used it for 10 years and actually made a little bit of money on it. Now we only have Riviera and CCV, but we really like both resorts and usually alternate between the two.

 

[Lorana]

We have 200 poly direct and 50 poly resale. East coast family of 3 with tween. What are we buying at WDW before Tuesday price increase?

If you're wanting more direct-with-incentives, I'd either build up Poly so you can do 1 and 2 bedrooms, or pick up Riviera so you have an Epcot/Hollywood Studios centered resort.

However, one can make an argument for easier access to EPCOT via Poly, so if it were me, I'd totally spend the $20k on Animal Kingdom Lodge. But that's because I love the theming, I love watching the animals, and I love the Animal Kingdom.

 

[atthebeachclub]

It’s my least favorite DVC - I don’t like the lobby, points chart is too high, not many good views, pool too small, too many young kids (yeah, I’m an old grouch ), and NOT a fan of the Skyliner at all (don’t care for heights and since I’m on an ECV, I always have to wait for a disable cabin)…

I’ve tried talking myself into Riviera direct because the buy in is lower, but I strongly dislike the Skyliner, the dues are high, the point chart isn’t great, I really really dislike the resale restrictions, and the location isn’t walkable to anywhere but Caribbean Beach. But I like the buy in price and it has studios and 1 bedrooms my family would fit in.

So….I am struggling. If I could always guarantee I could stay elsewhere with my points it would be easier to stomach.

I think this means I will continue to sit on the resale fence unless a better offer comes along. Poly could be justifiable if it had a less expensive buy in. The point charts aren’t great and neither is walkability but a lot of the rest of the resort is at least ok for me.

 

[Chili327]

I would own at 2 for home advantage. You can do the banking/borrowing to get the points doubled up so they act as larger contracts!

This!

 

[AstroBlasters]

I know someone who may have to sell RIV within a year or two of buying it direct…. the depreciation hit because of the restrictions is severe.

 

[atthebeachclub]

I know someone who may have to sell RIV within a year or two of buying it direct…. the depreciation hit because of the restrictions is severe.

That would be terrible.

 

[AstroBlasters]

That would be terrible.

Exactly. Buying a few 50 points Poly contracts will have some depreciation…. but the risk is significantly less than RIV.

 

[atthebeachclub]

Exactly. Buying a few 50 points Poly contracts will have some depreciation…. but the risk is significantly less than RIV.

I think the biggest risk with Rivera for me is my complete lack of interest in staying there. But also the value when buying direct is tough for me, as one who always buys used cars so I feel the depreciation hit less when I drive it off the lot.

 

[Jwaire]

To be fair, we don’t have the slightest clue what’s going to happen with RIV resale until it sells out. It’s a very popular resort and will remain so. It also rents for top dollar five years after opening, which says something.

I don't know why the resort is so controversial here. I guess because it's the first to have resale restrictions, but just today I've read multiple posts here claiming "It's never gonna sell out.","They have so many points left to sell." and "Its dues are among the highest."

None of that is true. It's 76%+ sold out and on track to sell out before Lakeshore Lodge opens.

As far as RIV dues, they're pretty middle of the road. $9.06. SSR is $8.54. AKL is $9.64. OKW is $10.51.

Considering the size of the resort, the fact that the entire resort is DVC, it has Skyliner and doesn't have inflated cabins or bungalows, that's not too bad IMO.

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

It’s funny how different we all are. I’ve stayed at RIV and Poly more than any other resort and if I HAD to choose a favorite, these two likely trade places daily. If you’re looking to buy based on food, hospitality, point charts (comparing these two, anyway), buy-in cost, and rooms, Riviera wins it for me. If you’re looking at just vibes, poly is hard to beat across all resorts.

In your situation, I’d probably buy RIV because diversity is always great and you can always add resale poly later for a much better price. Also, I’d get at least 105 pts lol I know point charts can fluctuate but as it stands, for 8mos of the year you can stay in a SV studio for for 6-7 nts for 105pts or less. Happy buying!