Purchasing Questions

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Hello everyone.

DH and I are sort of thinking about looking into buying DVC in a couple of years. Basically, right now we are kind of doing some researching to see if it would make sense for us to pursue later on.

I have been reading this board and learning a lot but I do have a couple of questions.

I understand most of the benefits and drawbacks of buying direct vs resale. Or at least I think I do, I suppose no one ever really knows what they don't know. But I understand the perks that come with direct and the shorter contract but much cheaper price of buying resale. My question is about home resort. I understand that you should buy at the resort that you want to stay at most often. But does Disney have points for sale at all resorts or just a few? We would likely be interested in BLT and BCV but I'm not sure if they are "sold out" so to speak or not. Also, what is ROFR?

Also, I basically understand UY. You have the number of points in your contract to use each year. I'm a little fuzzy on the banking and borrowing and all that but that isn't really relevant to my question. I was reading on the "what would you do differently" thread and some people were commenting that they would have done a different use year. I understand if you have multiple contracts it would get confusing if they had different UY's but is there some sort of advantage to having a particular UY over another?

TIA

 

[_auroraborealis_]

But does Disney have points for sale at all resorts or just a few?

They'll generally sell you any of them save one or two. You will pay anywhere from 50% more to double the cost of resale for sold-out properties. Resale contracts carry the same expiration dates, as expiration is based on property RTU and not source of contract.

We would likely be interested in BLT and BCV but I'm not sure if they are "sold out" so to speak or not.

They are long sold out. Current direct costs for BLT are $180 per point, and for BCV is $160 per point. Depending on contract size, this is $60-80 per point more than resale, so you would need to be purchasing direct based on non-financial priorities.

Also, what is ROFR?

When selling/buying a resale contract, Disney can exercise Right of First Refusal and buy it from the owner at the offering cost if they think the offer is too low/they want the points for some reason. This is not that common unless someone is fire-sale on their points.

is there some sort of advantage to having a particular UY over another?

If you travel at a similar time regularly, a good UY is insurance against cancellation issues.

 

[Turn the Page]

They'll generally sell you any of them save one or two. You will pay anywhere from 50% more to double the cost of resale for sold-out properties. Resale contracts carry the same expiration dates, as expiration is based on property RTU and not source of contract.



They are long sold out. Current direct costs for BLT are $180 per point, and for BCV is $160 per point. Depending on contract size, this is $60-80 per point more than resale, so you would need to be purchasing direct based on non-financial priorities.


When selling/buying a resale contract, Disney can exercise Right of First Refusal and buy it from the owner at the offering cost if they think the offer is too low/they want the points for some reason. This is not that common unless someone is fire-sale on their points.


If you travel at a similar time regularly, a good UY is insurance against cancellation issues.

Interesting, thank you. How is a good UY insurance against cancellations?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

UY matters most if you have to cancel a vacation that will occur in the last 4 months of your UY. Banking of points is not allowed during the last four months of your Use Year and you don’t have much time to reschedule before the points expire.

In general, if you travel the same time every year or frequently enough to have a "usual," you want your UY to be shortly before your typical travel window, not after.

The Use Year months are: Feb, Mar, Apr, Jun, Aug, Sep, Oct and Dec.

So, say you normally travel in September every year. June or August would be better UYs than October for you.

UY has nothing to do with when you can book a trip, just what points are available and where they "come from" in terms of award date.

 

[Turn the Page]

UY matters most if you have to cancel a vacation that will occur in the last 4 months of your UY. Banking of points is not allowed during the last four months of your Use Year and you don’t have much time to reschedule before the points expire.

In general, if you travel the same time every year or frequently enough to have a "usual," you want your UY to be shortly before your typical travel window, not after.

The Use Year months are: Feb, Mar, Apr, Jun, Aug, Sep, Oct and Dec.

So, say you normally travel in September every year. June or August would be better UYs than October for you.

UY has nothing to do with when you can book a trip, just what points are available and where they "come from" in terms of award date.

Ok now I understand. Thank you. If that did happen and you had to cancel a trip in the last few months of your US could you then rent the points out?

 

[drusba]

Disney is currently selling Poly and Aulani (Hawaii) and will start selling Copper Creek at Wilderness Lodge sometime in the near future. The other resorts were formally sold out in the past but they still get sold by Disney, including because of recapture of points due to foreclosures on loans and Disney's exercise of right of first refusal for a resale. However, for the sold out resorts you can sometimes have wait lists because nothing is available currently and for some like VGF the wait lists can become so long that they stop taking wait lists for a time. As to Disney's price, all are much higher than you can get them resale, e.g., BLT is $180 per point and BCV $160 through Disney, see http://www.dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-program/financial/pricing-a-promotions.

You do not get perks if you purchase resale. There are two sets of perks. One is the Disney Collections, the ability to trade out (at high point costs) to the Disney hotels, the cruise, and certain special vacations like adventure vacations that could include rafting down a river. Those would require any new purchaser to use only points purchased from Disney. Many members do not consider those to be of any real value. The other is discounts, such as for AP's, dining, purchases at the WDW stores, golf and other recreation items having a cost, and use of special programs like the lounge at Epcot or after hour DVC events at parks. Those simply require you to own "some" points from Disney. One way a new resale purchaser can capture all those discounts and special programs is to simply buy a 25 point (the lowest possible) add on from Disney after doing the resale purchase.

For any given trip in a particular use year, you can use "current" use year points meaning those applicable to that particular use year during which the trip occurs, "banked" use year points, meaning those banked into that current use year when the trip will occur from the prior use year, or "borrowed" use year points, meaning those borrowed from the use year subsequent to the the one during which the trip occurs. In other words, banking and borrowing allow you to use in one year up to three years of points. Of course, doing either activity reduces the points you can use in the use year from which points are banked or borrowed. Moreover, once borrowed, points can never be put back into the year they came from and, if you have to cancel the trip, they will have to be used for a trip that occurs no later than the end of the use year into which they points have been banked or borrowed. Points cannot be banked more than one use year, e.g., 2017 points could be banked into your 2018 use year but not your 2019 use year. Likewise, borrowed points can only come back into the immediate prior use year.

Banking is permitted for points if, and only if, you do the banking act no later than the end of the eighth month of the use year from which the points are being banked. It is particularly that rule that leads to recommendations that you should consider buying a use year that has a beginning month no more than three to four months before you usually go to WDW. The reason is because if you have to cancel the trip two to three months before you go, you will still to be able to bank any current use year points used. Example, you have a Feb use year and usually go in April. For an April 2018 trip, the Feb 2018 points are the "current" use year points (even though you make the reservation at your home resort at 11 months out in May 2017) . Assume you must cancel in Feb 2018. Those points come back into your account as Feb 2018 points that can then be used for any other trip before Jan 31, 2019, or can be banked into the Feb 2019 use year, thus giving you lots of time to use them.

Now assume, you have an April use year and usually go in February. For a Feb 2018 trip, the April 2017 points would be the current use year points. Now assume in December 2017, you have to cancel. Those current use year points go back into your April 2017 use year, but cannot be banked because they had to be banked by end of Nov 2017. Result: you have a bunch of points sitting there in Dec 2017 that have to be used for a trip that ends by no later than March 31, 2018 or the points are forever lost.

In other words, if you actually have a usual time of year to go annually, then try to get a use year with a use year month that starts near but before that usual trip time as a hedge against the risk of cancellation.

As to what you can do if stuck with points that cannot be banked and you are less than four months from end of use year, yes, you can possibly rent them, but you may find that very difficult to do including because nothing may still be open to reserve at the DVC resorts.

 

[Turn the Page]

Thank you for all the information. That really cleared up a few things for me.

 

[Turn the Page]

I have another question.

Say I own 150 points at BLT and buy a 25 point add on direct from Disney for BCV both in the same UY. Can I book BCV at 11 months for only 25 points worth or would I be able to book all 175 points at the 11 month window?

 

[mco65]

We toured just a few weeks ago and they were only selling SS and Poly direct..

Maybe Aulani (Hawaii) was available and we simply didn't get to that point. not sure.. ??

 

[Matty B13]

If you have kids and have to travel during school vacations during February and April, a December UY makes the most since. This was the only mistake we made when buying resale.

Also, when buying direct they might not have points at the resort right when you call, but they might have them in a few days or weeks. We called about VGF and got a call back after a month, to bad for them that we had already started a resale purchase.

 

[disneynutz]

I have another question.

Say I own 150 points at BLT and buy a 25 point add on direct from Disney for BCV both in the same UY. Can I book BCV at 11 months for only 25 points worth or would I be able to book all 175 points at the 11 month window?

If DVC allowed that, nobody would buy many points at the more expensive more popular resorts. You can only use home resort points at 11 months.

Bill

 

[chalee94]

I have another question.

Say I own 150 points at BLT and buy a 25 point add on direct from Disney for BCV both in the same UY. Can I book BCV at 11 months for only 25 points worth or would I be able to book all 175 points at the 11 month window?

To book BCV at least 11 months out, you can only use pts from the BCV contract. The BLT pts would be sidelined till 7 months.