Taking the plunge- Does this plan make sense?

[CaliAdventurer]

The more I read the more confuseled I become! : ) I've been lurking and soaking up what wisdom I can and finally got DH to let me have a go! (the 900 pts we rented this year has helped persuade him that we should take the plunge, more like)

Here's my deal:
We are currently in ROFR 600 pts for Aulani with a February UY- we intend to go to Aulani during Feb President's week each year for the foreseeable future ( I found that it is difficult to rent for that week and rack is INSANE)
We plan to go to WDW for the third week of October for the foreseeable future (FW makes this very crowded).
It is sounding like it is unlikely that we will ever book that week anywhere but perhaps SSR within 7 mos (does that seem right?). So we are considering buying approx 225 pts at VGF so that we can borrow from it and stay at VGF or every other year and use the remaining Aulani pts to book one of the easier resorts like SSR or AKL in the off year.

We live on the west coast so trips with school aged kids, so we will never be spontaneous (for the next 20). I would not like to ever change resorts mid trip.

Is this a sound plan?
Does it make sense to have a different UY for the WDW pts? If so, what is a good month. It seems like most resale contracts are June and December there?

 

[Deb & Bill]

Sounds like a plan. But you will have way more points than I will ever have. You really rented 900 points?

December won't work too good with October trips unless you don't ever plan to cancel. It would be hard to rebook your stay before the end of your UY. Unless you could cancel before you couldn't bank those points. But banked points could be lost if you didn't reschedule before by Nov 30. June would work okay.

 

[bwvBound]

Howdy! Different UY for the different coasts/destinations makes a good deal of sense. As Disneyland locals, we gave it serious thought ourselves. For our travel patterns, an OCT-UY is "best fit" for WDW travel ... but an APR-UY would be better for our CA/HI patterns. It isn't crazy ... provided you've mapped your intended travel windows carefully and given everything a good, hard review. Good luck.

 

[Minniesgal]

Sounds like a sensible plan but it is a lot of points to buy all at once. We only have 430 but we started with only 220 and built it up so we were comfortable with using them before we went all in. You might want to considered using the first set and checking you are all good with the system before buying more. Points will always be there no real need to jump all in.

have you calculated the annual dues on 900 points?

 

[disneynutz]

A 600 point contract is way to large IMO, should you want to reduce your Aulani holdings, it's getting rid of 600 points or nothing. You did buy a contract with the dues partially paid by Disney for 50 years, correct?

Bill

 

[CaliAdventurer]

Sounds like a plan. But you will have way more points than I will ever have. You really rented 900 points?

December won't work too good with October trips unless you don't ever plan to cancel. It would be hard to rebook your stay before the end of your UY. Unless you could cancel before you couldn't bank those points. But banked points could be lost if you didn't reschedule before by Nov 30. June would work okay.

Thanks!! That's what I needed to figure. It's like higher math all the ins and outs of DVC!
We did in fact rent 900 pts. For one week in GVF (we leave in 3 days!!!) in a 2bed and one week in Aulani for Spring Break 2 bed. And they wanted 12k for Feb President's Week rack!!

We stayed at SSR last October rack and had a great time. DH is a golfer and I grew up with DL so WDW is perfect for us! Aulani is equal distance for us from home (Seattle) so that's the logic.

 

[CaliAdventurer]

Howdy! Different UY for the different coasts/destinations makes a good deal of sense. As Disneyland locals, we gave it serious thought ourselves. For our travel patterns, an OCT-UY is "best fit" for WDW travel ... but an APR-UY would be better for our CA/HI patterns. It isn't crazy ... provided you've mapped your intended travel windows carefully and given everything a good, hard review. Good luck.

Sounds like a sensible plan but it is a lot of points to buy all at once. We only have 430 but we started with only 220 and built it up so we were comfortable with using them before we went all in. You might want to considered using the first set and checking you are all good with the system before buying more. Points will always be there no real need to jump all in.

have you calculated the annual dues on 900 points?

I think I needed to hear this. It's hard with the prices going up since I first looked in January. But you're right, I need to get into the system and see what it feels like. We spent around 13k for the rental points this year so I feel like even comparing it to that we will break even in a decade? I've never gone a year in my life without Disney and I'd like the security of knowing that in down times we can still afford it. Although the AP increase is a bummer since we have premier and now that probably doesn't pencil. We go to DL a few times a year but it has been crowded to the point of not enjoying it on occasion.

I am definitely going to take your advice and cool my jets for a full year. We are staying at the VGF starting Friday and then I guess we'll see. I want to check out BLT. But frankly, in another life I think I was a Victorian/Edwardian so when I go to GF I feel like I stepped into the movie "Somewhere in Time" and Christopher Reeve will step up and take my hand. : )

 

[CaliAdventurer]

Howdy! Different UY for the different coasts/destinations makes a good deal of sense. As Disneyland locals, we gave it serious thought ourselves. For our travel patterns, an OCT-UY is "best fit" for WDW travel ... but an APR-UY would be better for our CA/HI patterns. It isn't crazy ... provided you've mapped your intended travel windows carefully and given everything a good, hard review. Good luck.

When we do buy again, then I will defintely do different UY I think. TY!!!! I love that you are DL folks! At first we only wanted VGC but now we decided to just pay cash when we go there. I'm so excited for all the expansion! See you there : )

 

[CaliAdventurer]

A 600 point contract is way to large IMO, should you want to reduce your Aulani holdings, it's getting rid of 600 points or nothing. You did buy a contract with the dues partially paid by Disney for 50 years, correct?

Bill

Of course not! haha. I havent seen any in a little while. This one, if we get it, is loaded so that is a perq'. Because it's a bigger contract the price is pretty good that I don't think we would lose much when we tried to sell,( famous last words!!) if we tried to sell. They are really building up Ko'Olina are and so I'm hoping we love it forever. Since we want to go on a popular time, if we didn't have the points we would never stay there. And well, its too late now. hahahaha

 

[Dean]

A few random thoughts. 2 contracts and 2 UY makes sense but isn't a big deal either way IMO. I know many are enamered with multiple smaller contracts but IMO the costs to do so are not worth it for most situations. For Aulani and a large contract, I would make sure I got a subsidized contract even if I had to pay more. I'm not a big fan of a super large contract like this though. One may not have all choices for WDW at 7 months but it's unlikely it'll be SSR only consistently.

 

[CaliAdventurer]

A few random thoughts. 2 contracts and 2 UY makes sense but isn't a big deal either way IMO. I know many are enamored with multiple smaller contracts but IMO the costs to do so are not worth it for most situations. For Aulani and a large contract, I would make sure I got a subsidized contract even if I had to pay more. I'm not a big fan of a super large contract like this though. One may not have all choices for WDW at 7 months but it's unlikely it'll be SSR only consistently.

One of my thoughts was the costs associated with closing multiple contracts. Is there a reason why most seem to be adverse to a larger contract in one besides resale? To be honest, I don't really understand how you can you can combine points. My understanding is that you cannot even combine points even the same UY except at the 7 month mark, is that right?

My reasoning was that we will need 2 bedrooms for a long haul. We will be going at Easter (our school gets 1.5 weeks instead of 1), President's week or the 3rd week of October. A 2 bedroom for Spring Break 9 days at Aualani is 650+ pts. It seems that many of the Aulani contracts are biggish. For the cost perhaps? I know that Aulani is a big resort and the 7th month mark shouldn't be a problem most of the time if we bought WDW points instead but it is a problem for February and I would imagine potentially Easter?

I would love the subsidized dues but its too late for that now, right? Unless Disney ROFR's it. Right?

As for 7 mos mark, reading here it seems like the 2 bedrooms are in less demand than Studios and 1 beds. Is that your experience? Would my chances of booking a full week at WDW increase if I'm looking at a 2bed?

At any rate, the 600 pts pays for a great Spring Break in Hawaii with significant savings despite the higher annuals. The plane tickets are comparable to WDW or HNL for us. So, I'm hoping it a win!

 

[Dean]

One of my thoughts was the costs associated with closing multiple contracts. Is there a reason why most seem to be adverse to a larger contract in one besides resale? To be honest, I don't really understand how you can you can combine points. My understanding is that you cannot even combine points even the same UY except at the 7 month mark, is that right?

My reasoning was that we will need 2 bedrooms for a long haul. We will be going at Easter (our school gets 1.5 weeks instead of 1), President's week or the 3rd week of October. A 2 bedroom for Spring Break 9 days at Aualani is 650+ pts. It seems that many of the Aulani contracts are biggish. For the cost perhaps? I know that Aulani is a big resort and the 7th month mark shouldn't be a problem most of the time if we bought WDW points instead but it is a problem for February and I would imagine potentially Easter?

I would love the subsidized dues but its too late for that now, right? Unless Disney ROFR's it. Right?

As for 7 mos mark, reading here it seems like the 2 bedrooms are in less demand than Studios and 1 beds. Is that your experience? Would my chances of booking a full week at WDW increase if I'm looking at a 2bed?

At any rate, the 600 pts pays for a great Spring Break in Hawaii with significant savings despite the higher annuals. The plane tickets are comparable to WDW or HNL for us. So, I'm hoping it a win!

The thinking is that it gives you insurance in case you decide to sell some later or change your mix of points. As a rule I think the cost is too high though there are exceptions. I do believe that once you hit around 250 for each contract it's best to start looking elsewhere. However, there is savings to be had on larger contracts so it may be that for some the added risk is worth it. Combining points is easy if they are under the same master. You can do so at 11 months out if the same home resort and at 7 months out for multiple resorts or for use at a non home resort. If they are under different master contracts such as different UY or different ownership group, the only way to directly combine is to transfer with a current limit of once per UY. In your situation and only looking at DVC I'd personally look at Aulani in the 300-400 or so range but only subsidized contracts, maybe a little larger so that I could get what I wanted EOY and likely either SSR, BLT or AKV at WDW maybe in the 200 range. Just realize you're going to be going all in for Disney to the tune of $50K up front and $3500-4000 a yr roughly. Why not give it a try on a smaller scale and see how it works. Truthfully, for HI, I'd personally look look at Marriott over DVC with multiple resorts on 3 islands or something like Wyndham, Westin or Shell. Oahu isn't that difficult a trade for a 2 BR. You can still back out under some circumstances but it depends on specifics.

 

[disneynutz]

One of my thoughts was the costs associated with closing multiple contracts. Is there a reason why most seem to be adverse to a larger contract in one besides resale? To be honest, I don't really understand how you can you can combine points. My understanding is that you cannot even combine points even the same UY except at the 7 month mark, is that right?

My reasoning was that we will need 2 bedrooms for a long haul. We will be going at Easter (our school gets 1.5 weeks instead of 1), President's week or the 3rd week of October. A 2 bedroom for Spring Break 9 days at Aualani is 650+ pts. It seems that many of the Aulani contracts are biggish. For the cost perhaps? I know that Aulani is a big resort and the 7th month mark shouldn't be a problem most of the time if we bought WDW points instead but it is a problem for February and I would imagine potentially Easter?

I would love the subsidized dues but its too late for that now, right? Unless Disney ROFR's it. Right?

As for 7 mos mark, reading here it seems like the 2 bedrooms are in less demand than Studios and 1 beds. Is that your experience? Would my chances of booking a full week at WDW increase if I'm looking at a 2bed?

At any rate, the 600 pts pays for a great Spring Break in Hawaii with significant savings despite the higher annuals. The plane tickets are comparable to WDW or HNL for us. So, I'm hoping it a win!

At this point I would close on your 600 pointer and use it to feel out the system. Keep learning and make your next purchase after you have stayed at several WDW resorts. It's a safe bet that we have all made DVC mistakes, we purchased BLT before staying there and it has turned out to be our least favorite resort. The management of DVC is also becoming a disappointment for us and I don't expect it to improve.

Bill

 

[CaliAdventurer]

Boo : ((( Well there's no use crying over spilled milk. I'm still excited and I will definitely take the advice to chill out for awhile and try them all out and of course, I will be hitting up Bill and Dean before moving forward. : )
As an aside, you you know if you can write off giving points to charity auctions? I know with vacation you cannot but does this differ?

 

[Dean]

Boo : ((( Well there's no use crying over spilled milk. I'm still excited and I will definitely take the advice to chill out for awhile and try them all out and of course, I will be hitting up Bill and Dean before moving forward. : )
As an aside, you you know if you can write off giving points to charity auctions? I know with vacation you cannot but does this differ?

You cannot write off partial use, all you could write off is if you gave ownership of the points which would not fit within your plans. It's no different than owning a condo, you could't write off a single week or anything similar. It can still be a good thing for a good cause. What you can do is rent it out then donate the proceeds and write off the proceeds.

 

[disneynutz]

Experience will be your guide and after the honeymoon is over you will be able to get a better feel for the DVC resorts. Who knows what the future will be, you might grow tired of Aulani, feel that WDW gives you more bang for your buck or DL may become your favorite. Once you do some split stays and experience all of the above including availability, room layouts and views, seasons, and dealing with the DVC you might decide on a different path and sell your Aulani contract, things could be worse.

Keep reading so once your contract is loaded and your account is set up you will have a good idea of what to expect. Have fun!

Bill

 

[Counterfiend]

600 seems like such a huge commitment to me. Ha. Even if the plan sounds great I'm not sure even in my wildest I could use that many points that often.

 

[DMOMof3]

But frankly, in another life I think I was a Victorian/Edwardian so when I go to GF I feel like I stepped into the movie "Somewhere in Time" and Christopher Reeve will step up and take my hand. : )

Just had to jump in here! MY FAVORITE MOVIE!!!! Love the soundtrack too!