Second contract

[melissa70]

Hello everyone! I know I haven’t even closed on my first contract yet but believe it or not. I’m already thinking of a second one. The best advice I have gotten was to stay where you love because the more I read the more I see how difficult it may be to get what you want when you want it without at least an 11 month advantage. So those of you who have more than one contract, which I see there are many of you lol, did you choose resort where you absolutely wanted to stay or did you choose what was better economically just to have more points on hand? I keep going back and forth between Poly and SSR. I would love to hear all of your thoughts

 

[atthebeachclub]

Are you thinking of a second resale contract or a direct contract? What is your heart telling you it wants? It’s easiest to just own one or two resorts unless you travel often. I think Polynesian and SSR are both good choices, provided you want to stay at either now and then. I haven’t personally bought anywhere I wouldn’t stay, and I recommend that!

 

[Sandisw]

We have bought and sold but other than SSR, it was always where we wanted to be.

We have RIv and VGF as our main places to stay and then use SSR to upgrade at 7 months to larger rooms or to try and replace nights I booked in home resort at 7 months stil there

We got such a great deal on SSR in 2017 that it made sense given I wanted to be at Disney monthly from Dec to March for 3 to 4 nights as part of my retirement.

But, we enjoy SSR for times when it’s not a park heavy or no park trip and will pair with RIV

 

[melissa70]

Are you thinking of a second resale contract or a direct contract? What is your heart telling you it wants? It’s easiest to just own one or two resorts unless you travel often. I think Polynesian and SSR are both good choices, provided you want to stay at either now and then. I haven’t personally bought anywhere I wouldn’t stay, and I recommend that!

I’m thinking resale. My heart says Poly my pocketbook says Saratoga

 

[VGCgroupie]

I think the advice for this is exactly the same as the advice you got previously

 

[atthebeachclub]

If you buy somewhere you don’t want to stay, you will just end up paying more when you eventually flip that contract to buy what you want.

 

[melissa70]

We have bought and sold but other than SSR, it was always where we wanted to be.

We have RIv and VGF as our main places to stay and then use SSR to upgrade at 7 months to larger rooms or to try and replace nights I booked in home resort at 7 months stil there

We got such a great deal on SSR in 2017 that it made sense given I wanted to be at Disney monthly from Dec to March for 3 to 4 nights as part of my retirement.

But, we enjoy SSR for times when it’s not a park heavy or no park trip and will pair with RIV

Yes, I was wondering about that. So you can book your home resort at 11 months and then use your points from SSR to extend your stay or upgrade your room if available.

 

[atthebeachclub]

(Also: I recommend waiting to close so you can see how booking works!)

 

[melissa70]

I’m also wondering if I held out, does anyone see Polynesian direct going on sale anytime soon? The resale prices are pretty high so if Disney direct would come down, it would almost be the same

 

[melissa70]

(Also: I recommend waiting to close so you can see how booking works!)

Oh yes, absolutely I will wait. Just thinking and planning.

 

[atthebeachclub]

Direct sales seem to usually be best in the summer. Or when they NEED to clear out inventory for another upcoming resort opening. Or when the economy is really really dire and there are questions to how Disney will weather it (I believe).

My honest advice is this: you want Poly direct? Just buy it when you can stomach the price. Maybe wait until a month or two just before your use year to save on dues, or when an OK sale is on. Prices direct are almost never “good”. They’re just “less bad” usually.

 

[tx911]

Hello everyone! I know I haven’t even closed on my first contract yet but believe it or not. I’m already thinking of a second one. The best advice I have gotten was to stay where you love because the more I read the more I see how difficult it may be to get what you want when you want it without at least an 11 month advantage. So those of you who have more than one contract, which I see there are many of you lol, did you choose resort where you absolutely wanted to stay or did you choose what was better economically just to have more points on hand? I keep going back and forth between Poly and SSR. I would love to hear all of your thoughts

I think step one is being honest with yourself about whether you really need more points. It's very easy to get caught up in the high that comes from accumulating points without really asking this question.

If you do in fact decide you need more points, I always have taken the "buy where you want to stay" guideline to heart. After VGF, I wanted a resort in the Epcot area, and then on the West Coast, always the only goal being able to book the rooms I want at the resorts I want. I have also gravitated towards owning a larger pool of points at fewer resorts over owning fewer points at many resorts, thus allowing larger villas at the resorts I really like. Good luck as you figure things out on your DVC journey!

 

[RuntheMouse]

We love all 4 resorts that we own at. We do a lot of trips and split stays and we have all geographic areas covered. I would think about where you like to spend the most time and then work from there!

 

[PolyRob]

So those of you who have more than one contract, which I see there are many of you lol, did you choose resort where you absolutely wanted to stay or did you choose what was better economically just to have more points on hand?

Just pointing out the fact you can have more than one contract at the same home resort.

 

[Sandisw]

Yes, I was wondering about that. So you can book your home resort at 11 months and then use your points from SSR to extend your stay or upgrade your room if available.

Yes! You can’t swap the points if things are booked, but you can book nights at the beginning and end if still there and then shorten the original.

I do this all the time and have a lot of great success!

It can take work with stalking and waitlists but in the end, I get to book at 11 months to know I have it but use SSR points at 7 months when I can!

 

[Girlstar30]

How often do you plan on going? If you love Disney you're going to want to buy direct at some point I guarantee it.

Youre going to start getting stuff in the mail about fun things that only direct people can go to. Chances are you may be in the park during a Moonlight magic or character greeting or holiday show and you're going to wish you bought direct.

The general consensus here is that buying Poly direct is preferred over Poly resale, especially if you're not direct yet because the price difference isnt that big and youll get to use the points at future and current restricted resorts.

Poly is the last chance to buy a resort with incentives without restrictions. If this is your last purchase, I say Poly direct. If your going to keep needing points I see nothing wrong with SSR and then Poly direct. As others have said you may have to stay there one year, but many owners here have not had that happen.

If you're going to have an odd number of contracts it makes transferring harder than having two or four with the one transfer in/out rule. We have three memberships and I cant wait to have four so we can transfer twice.

We went all resale first because we need to finance to have all these points and wanted the better financing term after you wait a year for direct plus have time to pay them off before getting a big direct contract to pay down. We valued the rooms for our trips more than the extras which we will get anyways after our year is up.

Like you we want one bedrooms and 2 bedrooms for extended family trips and SSR was our pathway to get there.

We dont regret our decision and would do it this way again even tho the fomo does hit, this was best for us. If we had the funds, I would have bought my direct contract right after my first resale and then SSR third in an ideal world. Instead we went with the one I loved first (blt) which happened to have low dues win win, the one my wife loved second (akv) and big SSR contract to enhance our stays. Poly will be our direct last.

 

[typeamom72]

I know I haven’t even closed on my first contract yet but believe it or not. I’m already thinking of a second one.

We’ve been owners for a couple of years, and I’ve been thinking of a second contract since I put an offer in on our first one. It’s addictive. If I remember correctly, you have a healthy number of points coming, so I would take a couple of trips first before committing to a second contract. I have done the same back-and-forth - direct or resale? SSR or more AKV or different resort? - and we haven’t bought more points yet because, honestly (and kind of sadly, because I am just looking for an excuse to buy), we’ve had enough points so far with what we’ve got.

We do have a stay at SSR coming up to see if we like it enough to buy resale, even though it doesn’t give us an advantage at a “popular” resort. I like how far the points charts will stretch (longer stays than at Poly for the same points spend). However, the points charts won’t matter if I don’t want to stay there again, so an exploratory trip is a must. My husband thinks he will love it because of its easy access to Disney Springs. We shall see!

 

[kanerf]

AKL, BLT, BRV, BWV, OKW, POLY and RIV owner here. All of the resorts have their benefits and drawbacks due to distance or transportation options. RIV of course has the resale restrictions. If you want POLY hold out for it. There are new resale contracts every week.

 

[melissa70]

How often do you plan on going? If you love Disney you're going to want to buy direct at some point I guarantee it.

Youre going to start getting stuff in the mail about fun things that only direct people can go to. Chances are you may be in the park during a Moonlight magic or character greeting or holiday show and you're going to wish you bought direct.

The general consensus here is that buying Poly direct is preferred over Poly resale, especially if you're not direct yet because the price difference isnt that big and youll get to use the points at future and current restricted resorts.

Poly is the last chance to buy a resort with incentives without restrictions. If this is your last purchase, I say Poly direct. If your going to keep needing points I see nothing wrong with SSR and then Poly direct. As others have said you may have to stay there one year, but many owners here have not had that happen.

If you're going to have an odd number of contracts it makes transferring harder than having two or four with the one transfer in/out rule. We have three memberships and I cant wait to have four so we can transfer twice.

We went all resale first because we need to finance to have all these points and wanted the better financing term after you wait a year for direct plus have time to pay them off before getting a big direct contract to pay down. We valued the rooms for our trips more than the extras which we will get anyways after our year is up.

Like you we want one bedrooms and 2 bedrooms for extended family trips and SSR was our pathway to get there.

We dont regret our decision and would do it this way again even tho the fomo does hit, this was best for us. If we had the funds, I would have bought my direct contract right after my first resale and then SSR third in an ideal world. Instead we went with the one I loved first (blt) which happened to have low dues win win, the one my wife loved second (akv) and big SSR contract to enhance our stays. Poly will be our direct last.

I love your plan! How often do you visit WDW?

 

[melissa70]

We’ve been owners for a couple of years, and I’ve been thinking of a second contract since I put an offer in on our first one. It’s addictive. If I remember correctly, you have a healthy number of points coming, so I would take a couple of trips first before committing to a second contract. I have done the same back-and-forth - direct or resale? SSR or more AKV or different resort? - and we haven’t bought more points yet because, honestly (and kind of sadly, because I am just looking for an excuse to buy), we’ve had enough points so far with what we’ve got.

We do have a stay at SSR coming up to see if we like it enough to buy resale, even though it doesn’t give us an advantage at a “popular” resort. I like how far the points charts will stretch (longer stays than at Poly for the same points spend). However, the points charts won’t matter if I don’t want to stay there again, so an exploratory trip is a must. My husband thinks he will love it because of its easy access to Disney Springs. We shall see!

How do you like owning at AKL? Do you ever try to book the first or second week of December?