Riveria direct

[Sandisw]

The link provided is great to follow and read as it gives a ton of info about FWs. But to answer your questions for anyone on this thread:




Only if the week never changes in point cost.
Also the cost of the FW is set when the resort first opened and doesn’t change, so as point charts change, you’ll pay less or more.

Part of the reason I bought my FWs at CCV was because Thanksgiving Week (#47) was already at 123 points for the week but the FW only cost 118 to purchase. As of 2023, 2 of my 3 FWs are now less than the cost of the week, and one is equal to. If Disney continues to raise the fall and December charts, my weeks become more valuable.

If you follow the link in the thread above, it has the FW price charts so you can see the costs of existing FWs (if available) vs the cost of the week in 2022 and 2023 point charts.



We don’t plan in always traveling during our FWs. In fact we got them to have the option of them in the future, but we have yet to actually use them (we went during Thanksgiving this year, but with family, and so didn’t use the studio). I wanted the guarantee, but since those points otherwise act like any other points, the guarantee was nice to have *should I choose to use it.* I love the idea if we want to go in FW 44, 47 or 48 if not having to walk those weeks or the stress of trying to book them, especially as studios are hard to come by at CCV. And while one could argue we should have gotten them as 1BRs (our preference), we figured that once the kids are grown, we might do studios more often when it’s only the two of us (and I’m not as worried about upgrading to a studio if we want it).

If you decide you don’t want to pay the premium and would rather walk the week, you can do that. Disney will see the existing reservation and determine you opted out for the year. You will not get charged the premium if you make the reservation, so it’s a valid option to cancel out and book your own.

I was thinking about this and where the current changes in the point charts are a true savings would be for those buying a FW now for one that has gone up in price.

So, you know you can get a FW for 110 points that would cost you 120 with points buying today, then you go in knowing it’s not a premium.

Anyone who sees it as something they will use, it’s a good deal.

 

[rubybutt]

You're not missing anything. If you plan to own for at least 15+ years, the direct pricing on Riviera is a great option. I'd much rather pay $178 for Riviera than $150+ for a resort whose contract expires sooner and with restrictions on the use of the points.
Ease of renting points -- Depends how far in advance you rent them out. And you won't necessarily be able to rent out every point. If someone wants to rent 294 of your 300 points, you're not going to be able to find anyone to take the remaining 6.
But if you put them out on the rental market far before they expire, you can always find a taker. Prices of $15 to $20 per point.

$20-22 per point for RIV

 

[havoc315]

$20-22 per point for RIV

I haven't seen that. I've rented out RIV points for $18. And if renting out with less than 7 months, they aren't worth any more than any other.

 

[Vulnox]

Well we finally pulled the trigger, again I guess, and bought 200 points at Riviera. I am still a bit stressed about it, probably because I read too much here and second guess the decision every so often. But we had a trip coming up in February, and another big one in November. It will be our 5 and 7 year olds (6 and 8 by then) first time at Disney for the November trip, and our Feb trip is just my wife and I and a couple friends to go and scout out how things are operating and that (that is our cover story anyway) before we bring the kids since we haven't been since 2019.

The costs to stay on property for decent size rooms for how big a group we are bringing was coming in so high that our Feb and Nov trips alone will have been a little under 1/4th of the total cost to join DVC, and we weren't even looking at staying at DVC properties, we were looking at what it would cost for our two families to stay at mid-tier Disney resorts like Caribbean Beach.

Our "Welcome Home" trip in Feb will actually not be at Riviera, we are going to stay at Beachclub in a 1 BR. Our guide was able to get us a few options for 1BR, but we wanted to keep the point cost down for this trip since it is less about resort time and more about scoping out the parks for our November trip with the kids. It's only a few days also. Our November trip will be almost a week, so that one will be a 2BR at Riviera and we intend to make full use of all the amenities.

Our guide mentioned we would be getting an email about the Magical Beginnings offer, but since we will need our '21 and '22 points for the two bookings, not a lot of value there. We did get an extra $500 incentive since we had an existing booking (before we decided to just do DVC, we reserved a standard room at Beachclub, cash). They called it a pre-arrival credit. So that was nice at least.

I mentioned at the start that this is our second trigger pull, we actually bought at Riviera back in February of 2020. We closed, and I think it was about 6 days later or something that Covid really had taken hold and my company sent us all to WAH, and so did my wife's. We had no idea where things were headed so we called on the last day we could pull out with no penalty and did so. Disney was great about it thankfully and got all the money back. We have been watching it since, and aside from missing the summer incentives back in I think it was 2020, I am still exciting to be giving it another try.

 

[Sandisw]

Well we finally pulled the trigger, again I guess, and bought 200 points at Riviera. I am still a bit stressed about it, probably because I read too much here and second guess the decision every so often. But we had a trip coming up in February, and another big one in November. It will be our 5 and 7 year olds (6 and 8 by then) first time at Disney for the November trip, and our Feb trip is just my wife and I and a couple friends to go and scout out how things are operating and that (that is our cover story anyway) before we bring the kids since we haven't been since 2019.

The costs to stay on property for decent size rooms for how big a group we are bringing was coming in so high that our Feb and Nov trips alone will have been a little under 1/4th of the total cost to join DVC, and we weren't even looking at staying at DVC properties, we were looking at what it would cost for our two families to stay at mid-tier Disney resorts like Caribbean Beach.

Our "Welcome Home" trip in Feb will actually not be at Riviera, we are going to stay at Beachclub in a 1 BR. Our guide was able to get us a few options for 1BR, but we wanted to keep the point cost down for this trip since it is less about resort time and more about scoping out the parks for our November trip with the kids. It's only a few days also. Our November trip will be almost a week, so that one will be a 2BR at Riviera and we intend to make full use of all the amenities.

Our guide mentioned we would be getting an email about the Magical Beginnings offer, but since we will need our '21 and '22 points for the two bookings, not a lot of value there. We did get an extra $500 incentive since we had an existing booking (before we decided to just do DVC, we reserved a standard room at Beachclub, cash). They called it a pre-arrival credit. So that was nice at least.

I mentioned at the start that this is our second trigger pull, we actually bought at Riviera back in February of 2020. We closed, and I think it was about 6 days later or something that Covid really had taken hold and my company sent us all to WAH, and so did my wife's. We had no idea where things were headed so we called on the last day we could pull out with no penalty and did so. Disney was great about it thankfully and got all the money back. We have been watching it since, and aside from missing the summer incentives back in I think it was 2020, I am still exciting to be giving it another try.

Congrats! I think you will be very happy with it!! We love the resort and so glad we own points there!!!

 

[Vulnox]

Congrats! I think you will be very happy with it!! We love the resort and so glad we own points there!!!

Thank you! Yeah I am excited for the first real trip and staying there, but hoping we can check it out a bit more in the Feb trip. We did buy a little bit sight unseen which I know isn't always the best. When we were at WDW in 2019, they were still selling before the opening of RIV, but we got to tour the room models at SSR, and since then I have read reviews/reactions to the onsite dining and all that so while we haven't stayed there, I still feel I knew it fairly well. I also loved the skyliner on our trip, which I won't lie played a big part in sticking with RIV. I am more about convenience options when on vacation than maximizing point values or whatever, and the Skyliner and easy bus routes and all that from RIV are a huge plus.

 

[rubybutt]

Well we finally pulled the trigger, again I guess, and bought 200 points at Riviera. I am still a bit stressed about it, probably because I read too much here and second guess the decision every so often. But we had a trip coming up in February, and another big one in November. It will be our 5 and 7 year olds (6 and 8 by then) first time at Disney for the November trip, and our Feb trip is just my wife and I and a couple friends to go and scout out how things are operating and that (that is our cover story anyway) before we bring the kids since we haven't been since 2019.

The costs to stay on property for decent size rooms for how big a group we are bringing was coming in so high that our Feb and Nov trips alone will have been a little under 1/4th of the total cost to join DVC, and we weren't even looking at staying at DVC properties, we were looking at what it would cost for our two families to stay at mid-tier Disney resorts like Caribbean Beach.

Our "Welcome Home" trip in Feb will actually not be at Riviera, we are going to stay at Beachclub in a 1 BR. Our guide was able to get us a few options for 1BR, but we wanted to keep the point cost down for this trip since it is less about resort time and more about scoping out the parks for our November trip with the kids. It's only a few days also. Our November trip will be almost a week, so that one will be a 2BR at Riviera and we intend to make full use of all the amenities.

Our guide mentioned we would be getting an email about the Magical Beginnings offer, but since we will need our '21 and '22 points for the two bookings, not a lot of value there. We did get an extra $500 incentive since we had an existing booking (before we decided to just do DVC, we reserved a standard room at Beachclub, cash). They called it a pre-arrival credit. So that was nice at least.

I mentioned at the start that this is our second trigger pull, we actually bought at Riviera back in February of 2020. We closed, and I think it was about 6 days later or something that Covid really had taken hold and my company sent us all to WAH, and so did my wife's. We had no idea where things were headed so we called on the last day we could pull out with no penalty and did so. Disney was great about it thankfully and got all the money back. We have been watching it since, and aside from missing the summer incentives back in I think it was 2020, I am still exciting to be giving it another try.

Awesome. Congrats. We had the same issue when we bought RIV direct. We needed a room during marathon week and everything was pretty much booked up. We would have ended up paying like 20% of the cost of DVC if we would have stayed cash. It really made it a no brainer in our minds!

 

[Jimmy Geppetto]

I haven't seen that. I've rented out RIV points for $18. And if renting out with less than 7 months, they aren't worth any more than any other.

I’ve had no problem renting mine for $20 pp. Of course that’s at 7+ month mark. Most points drop in value after 7 months. For obvious reasons.

 

[havoc315]

I’ve had no problem renting mine for $20 pp. Of course that’s at 7+ month mark. Most points drop in value after 7 months. For obvious reasons.

You did well. Looking at the rental board here, even at 11 months, most people are asking $16 to $17 for Riviera points.

 

[CVTmarie23]

If you bought a smaller contract and then add on resale, would you buy the resale contract at a different resort? Just remember if you buy resale Riviera that can ONLY be used at Riviera, and if you buy somewhere else it can't be used at Riviera at all. Maybe if you know there are certain weeks you'd definitely book riviera at 11 months, buy enough direct to cover that and then buy the rest at a less expensive resort and plan on trying the other resorts out with those points. I 100% love Riviera too, I just worry about if I ever need to sell the contract down the line that it will be harder to sell due to the resale restrictions. I am waiting on ROFR on a SSR contract, but now you have me wanting to look more into the incentives for buying higher point amounts direct...lol. If Disney takes my contract I don't think I can go through all this waiting again, and then know that I'll still have to wait even more for closing and membership and then points...

I'm not sure what the best strategy is. Since we live closer and are able to go often I'm ok with buying less riveria, but it seems like the best value (discount) is when you buy 300 points. If it didn't have the resale restrictions I would buy right now, but I'm just unsure how that will play out. We don't plan to purchase and sell later, but it does concern me that the restrictions might devalue it's value once it's not the brand new property.

My husband is starting to think we will be better off just renting forever vs owning.

 

[Vulnox]

I'm not sure what the best strategy is. Since we live closer and are able to go often I'm ok with buying less riveria, but it seems like the best value (discount) is when you buy 300 points. If it didn't have the resale restrictions I would buy right now, but I'm just unsure how that will play out. We don't plan to purchase and sell later, but it does concern me that the restrictions might devalue it's value once it's not the brand new property.

My husband is starting to think we will be better off just renting forever vs owning.

A few things to note, I don't think buying 300 points because it's the biggest discount makes the most sense. Sure your guide will point out the per point price is lower, but overall the discount amount isn't that huge. If you are getting 200 points for 185 and 300 points for 175 (as a for-instance), you are "saving" $1000 by paying an extra $15,500. That is great for Disney, but unless you see a benefit to those extra points it isn't that great for you really. I would buy the number of points you need.

As to the resale restriction, I wouldn't let that hinder you either. Riviera resale prices are still floating somewhat in line with the other resorts compared to their comparable retail price. You can get 300 points for 175-ish a point, and resale is in the 150 range. So worrying about resale restriction so far seems like worrying about very little overall. Plus, the resale restriction isn't going to be limited to RIV. Heck, if it wasn't for COVID, I think Reflections might be selling now, or nearly would have been, and it would also have the restriction. We also don't know what that restriction will look like I don't think, although someone can correct me if wrong. It may be that RIV resale can trade into Reflections if it ever happens, or VGF2, or whatever the newer resorts are. Or maybe not. If not, then all the resorts coming up on their contract end dates will likely be refreshed and have the restriction anyway. Less of a concern for some of the pre-Riviera more recent resorts since their dates are still way out, but the pool of resorts that don't have resale restrictions are going to shrink.

So not saying that resale restriction is a non-issue, it just won't be a Riviera exclusive issue forever, and so far doesn't seem to be obviously hurting resale values. I remember people claiming that Riviera resale was going to be a fraction of retail because of the restrictions and the sky was falling, but two years in now and they have been steady and respectable. No telling what the future will bring as more resale contract volume shows up, but nobody knows that future so I wouldn't stress about it too much.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

Do not buy in this price point with intent of renting out extra points. If the economy changes points do not rent for a premium, and they are much more difficult to rent. If you like RIV then buy there and 178bis a good price. Break it into two 150 contracts or even 150 50 50 50.
That way if you need to downsize you can

 

[Bearval]

We took a tour today of the bwv today and they sent us to riveria which we fell in love with. We are still waiting on details but buying direct 300 points at riveria gave the biggest discount on price per point ($178pp).

We had the intention to purchase resale contracts but have been hesitant because of the restrictions and not being able to stay at the riveria.

We have 3 young children and are 2 hours away. We usually rent points and stay in studios at the poly because of the room sizes. We have done 1 bedrooms and will probably start booking those more as the kids get older.

I know we could save a significant amount by purchasing resale but I don't love the idea of not being able to stay at the riveria or other future resorts. Other resales we have looked at had prices of 150-170/point (we haven't looked much) so it doesn't seem like a huge huge jump for this particular incentive.

If we decided to rent points out that we wouldn't use, is that hard to do? What kind of prices can you get for them? We really like the riveria and are ok paying more for that incentive but i was so set on doing a resale that this feels like I am missing something.

Break them up into two 150 point contracts so if you ever decide to sell one of the contracts you are still a blue card holder also if in the future you decide to gift them to your children ( you either have one too many children or you are short 150 points here) they will still be blue card members since they will each have 150 direct points.

 

[rubybutt]

You did well. Looking at the rental board here, even at 11 months, most people are asking $16 to $17 for Riviera points.

There are other places to rent than here. I get $21 without any issue.

 

[havoc315]

There are other places to rent than here. I get $21 without any issue.

What's the secret? I don't know any place where I can reliably get $21.

 

[DVChris]

What's the secret? I don't know any place where I can reliably get $21.

There are many Facebook groups for renting out or transferring points.

 

[havoc315]

There are many Facebook groups for renting out or transferring points.

Im on a couple of the facebook groups.... I see RIV points being rented for $15-$17 currently, can you show me a facebook group where I can get $21?

 

[Disneynewb0001]

Break them up into two 150 point contracts so if you ever decide to sell one of the contracts you are still a blue card holder also if in the future you decide to gift them to your children ( you either have one too many children or you are short 150 points here) they will still be blue card members since they will each have 150 direct points.

I haven't thought of this, if you obtain blue card status and you sell to the point where your point level goes below the blue card minimum threshold then your blue card status is revoked?

What if the threshold for bluebird status is higher than when you originally bought in?

For example, if you bought in multiple direct contracts 100 pts (no blue card status yet) then an additional 50 points (blue card status achieved since this put you over the present day 150 pt threshold to achieve blue card status) and then an additional 100 points bringing your total to 250 direct points. If in the future the threshold changes to 200points for blue card status and you sell your 100 point contract, leaving you with 150 points, your blue card is changed to white card?

 

[BamaGuy44]

I haven't thought of this, if you obtain blue card status and you sell to the point where your point level goes below the blue card minimum threshold then your blue card status is revoked?

What if the threshold for bluebird status is higher than when you originally bought in?

For example, if you bought in multiple direct contracts 100 pts (no blue card status yet) then an additional 50 points (blue card status achieved since this put you over the present day 150 pt threshold to achieve blue card status) and then an additional 100 points bringing your total to 250 direct points. If in the future the threshold changes to 200points for blue card status and you sell your 100 point contract, leaving you with 150 points, your blue card is changed to white card?

As I understand it, yes, if you dip below the minimum you lose "blue card status". But good question as to which minimum they would use? Would it be the minimum at the time you got a blue card, or the current minimum?

 

[Sandisw]

As I understand it, yes, if you dip below the minimum you lose "blue card status". But good question as to which minimum they would use? Would it be the minimum at the time you got a blue card, or the current minimum?

If the memberships falls below the minimum for a blue card, the only way back is to meet the new minimum. So, owners who have grandfathered contracts, or contracts for less than 150 that qualify, once sold, that membership needs to reach whatever is in place.

I had grandfathered points in my Dec UY. When I sold them, my card went immediately to white (same day it disappeared). I know have to get to 150 in that membership for it to have its own blue card. Since I have an Aug UY with one, its not an issue.

But, I will say that when I add on my VGF next year, it will be in Dec UY, and there is a chance I will add more direct points in the next few years so both memberships have it, in case I do have to sell something down the road!!!