Questions/Advice buying Feb 2026

[Hypaflex]

Hi all,

I am planning on buying direct this cycle. This is my first time buying. I am planning to buy toward the end of this incentive cycle to get an eye on next cycle incentives before signing. I have gone on an in-person tour months ago with my guide. I have a few questions/needing advice from anyone willing to help

1. I am wanting to make sure I have add on discounts in line to minimize cost as much as possible. So far I have:
- Refer a friend discount/dream it forward
- Magical beginnings
- I do not have a Disney visa, but am aware of that one. Anything else I may be missing?

2. I am leaning toward 180 points. Should I ask to break this up into three 60 point contracts? I am leaning toward doing that in case I need to resell. Is there an additional fee(s) or other cons in doing this?

3. When would you all recommend I reach out to my guide to officially commit and "get the ball rolling"? I.e., if I am wanting to wait until the end of this cycle to see next incentives, how soon should I reach out to ensure I don't wait too long during this cycle to commit?

Thank you all so very much for the help!!

 

[pzw90]

1."Refer a friend discount/dream it forward" No longer available. Maybe look into the D23 discount I think it was good through 2026
2. Do you own already? minimum is 100 as new buyer. 25 as add-ons. There is also a new $500 fee for each contract (for the resale buyer) when you sell, so the value proposition of small contracts goes down.
3. About a week before the cycle ends, maybe a little less.

Where are you looking to buy?

 

[Hypaflex]

1."Refer a friend discount/dream it forward" No longer available. Maybe look into the D23 discount I think it was good through 2026
2. Do you own already? minimum is 100 as new buyer. 25 as add-ons. There is also a new $500 fee for each contract (for the resale buyer) when you sell, so the value proposition of small contracts goes down.
3. About a week before the cycle ends, maybe a little less.

Where are you looking to buy?

Thanks for the help. First time buyer. Looking into PIT

 

[muppets3d]

There is no dream it forward discount any more.

Disney Visas are free as well...so if they're offering a Disney Visa discount (or if nothing else, 6 months same as cash financing which is always available) - why not sign up for one?

You have to pay a ~$300 doc fee for each contract you buy so you pay an extra $300 or so every time you break up a contract. I don't know the exact cost but it adds up.

I can't remember the last time that the incentives for new members were better the next cycle, especially when the next cycle was coupled with a price increase. The incentives would go up to hide some of the price increase, but never all of it.

You can reach out to a guide any time, they will do a "tour" over the phone and send you pricing. That pricing is good for 7 days. You make the decision to buy, they send you the contract and you put down your down payment, you have 30 days to sign the contract.

You could actually buy today and just stretch out your payments until after the new incentive period begins, that way if the new incentives are better they can rewrite your deal. They will rewrite a deal any time before you close if new incentives come out that you're eligible for.

 

[jcolvin5]

Not as often discussed, but I’ll point out that Cast Member and Military (active/retired) are also good incentives if they apply to you or anyone on the deed.

 

[Brian Noble]

I would not bother splitting a contract below 200, personally. If you do, keep in mind that if you sell some and go below 150, you will no longer be eligible for direct purchase perks. That may have some implications for how you split.

I will also predict that the post-2/10 net price wil not be lower than it is right now, because the base price is going up.

 

[juliebee]

1. Check out this thread for all the current deals/incentives. Be sure to look at the New Member pricing section if you don't own points currently- https://www.disboards.com/threads/winter-dec-25-jan-26-direct-incentives.3976354/
If you don't have a D23 membership, you can get a gold membership for free if you are a Disney+ subscriber.

All the best to you!

 

[Hypaflex]

There is no dream it forward discount any more.

Disney Visas are free as well...so if they're offering a Disney Visa discount (or if nothing else, 6 months same as cash financing which is always available) - why not sign up for one?

You have to pay a ~$300 doc fee for each contract you buy so you pay an extra $300 or so every time you break up a contract. I don't know the exact cost but it adds up.

I can't remember the last time that the incentives for new members were better the next cycle, especially when the next cycle was coupled with a price increase. The incentives would go up to hide some of the price increase, but never all of it.

You can reach out to a guide any time, they will do a "tour" over the phone and send you pricing. That pricing is good for 7 days. You make the decision to buy, they send you the contract and you put down your down payment, you have 30 days to sign the contract.

You could actually buy today and just stretch out your payments until after the new incentive period begins, that way if the new incentives are better they can rewrite your deal. They will rewrite a deal any time before you close if new incentives come out that you're eligible for.

I think I am leaning away from a Disney Visa as I plan on putting the down payment on my main credit card. I am just going to finance the rest through Disney, so did not see where the Disney Visa would even come into play at all? Please let me know if I am missing something. Thank you

 

[RMDVC24]

1. See responses above
2. As mentioned above, double check minimums for new members. Also, keep in mind that you will have to pay separate closing costs for each contract.
3. The process is really quick once you give your guide the go ahead. Any time within the last week is good.

 

[muppets3d]

I think I am leaning away from a Disney Visa as I plan on putting the down payment on my main credit card. I am just going to finance the rest through Disney, so did not see where the Disney Visa would even come into play at all? Please let me know if I am missing something. Thank you

If they are offering a discount right now for owning a Disney visa, you're leaving money on the table. Of course that discount comes and goes and may not be in effect right now, so no worries.

If you can pay off your purchase in 6 months, then you can put the contract on a Disney Visa. Disney Visa gives you 6 months same as cash financing on direct points.

You can put your down payment on the Disney Visa, and the remaining amount of your purchase can be split up into payments over the following 60 days. Each of those charges gets their own 6 month same as cash financing. I added on a Riviera add-on back in August and still have almost 3 months left to pay it off of my Disney Visa for example.

While I will concede that every bit helps, if you're planning to finance your purchase at 10% or greater interest you're really tripping over dollars to save pennies in analysis paralysis over all these small (relatively speaking) discounts. A few months of interest on a DVC mortgage will eat up pretty much all these discounts.

 

[airjay75]

I wouldn’t bother breaking that contract up any smaller, especially since you’re buying Poly where a resale buyer will retain the ability to exchange into the O14 resorts.

The current incentive period ends on February 9th. If it were me, I’d get a hold of my guide about a week before that to do an official tour which will result in an official offer based on current incentives that will be good for 7 days. Then you can see what the new round of incentives will be before saying yes.

I don’t believe there are any Disney Visa incentives currently but you might want to pick one up in case the next round does have one.

 

[Chili327]

Splitting them up can be a good idea, but if you're going to, I would make it so at least 1 or 2 add up to 150 (not sure a 30pt is possible or worth doing though), so they will retain the member benefits. Maybe more worth while if buying 200 or more. But yes there are additional fees in doing this.

 

[eticketplease]

I think I am leaning away from a Disney Visa as I plan on putting the down payment on my main credit card. I am just going to finance the rest through Disney, so did not see where the Disney Visa would even come into play at all? Please let me know if I am missing something. Thank you

As others have stated sometimes there are promotions where Disney Visa holders get some extra dollars off of a contract and you don't even have to put the purchase on it just be a Disney Visa Card holder.
The main appeal of the Disney Visa is that if you put the down payment on that card you will have 6 months of 0% to pay that down payment with Chase.
You would then get 1% back assuming that you would do the no annual fee option. You could then use that 1% to apply to the balance generated from the down payment.
You also earn a $200 statement credit after $500 in purchases which obviously your down payment would meet.

However you might look at another credit card such as the $0 AF Freedom Unlimited which gives 1.5% back, $300 after $500 in purchases during the first 3 months and 0% for 15 months.

I'm not sure what your main credit card is but hopefully it is earning something on travel/hotels as that is what DVC codes as.

 

[eticketplease]

Splitting them up can be a good idea, but if you're going to, I would make it so at least 1 or 2 add up to 150 (not sure a 30pt is possible or worth doing though), so they will retain the member benefits. Maybe more worth while if buying 200 or more. But yes there are additional fees in doing this.

I wonder if the OP can afford another 20 points. The incentive goes from $6 off ($229 a point = $41,220) to $9 off ($226 a point = $45,200 [extra 20 points end up being $199 a point]) not much but we all know the PVB point charts are high so more points you have for there the better off one would be.

This would also allow OP to do a 150 and a 50 which is much easier to track and keeps the blue card intact if selling the 50 pointer down the road.

 

[airjay75]

I wonder if the OP can afford another 20 points. The incentive goes from $6 off ($229 a point = $41,220) to $9 off ($226 a point = $45,200 [extra 20 points end up being $199 a point]) not much but we all know the PVB point charts are high so more points you have for there the better off one would be.

This would also allow OP to do a 150 and a 50 which is much easier to track and keeps the blue card intact if selling the 50 pointer down the road.

I thought about suggesting that same thing and think that is an excellent idea if OP can afford that. And then, breaking it up that way could make a lot of sense.

 

[RoseGold]

If you are thinking really long term, I would seriously consider the structure you are buying into, if your justification is Blue Card. Years ago, I probably would have said I would buy in a trust, but now I believe I would buy as an LLC.

If you are thinking short term, direct is much harder to justify over incredible resale deals right now.

Edit: I would never buy direct if you are financing. It completely flips the math against straight cash, which is already aggressive. I would rent points or stay cash or Marriott or whatever until I could avoid those costs. I can think of scenarios that financing resale might still be better than cash, but probably still wouldn't do it.