thank you

[mom2rb]

I have been reading this board for the last 5 days. My husband and I will be putting down a deposit Thursday for SSR. The only thing left to do is pick how many points we want. We are thinging about 250. I would love some input about how many most people start with. Thanks for all the info on the board it made deciding to buy so much easier.

 

[SimbaNoodle]

Congratulations and Welcome Home. I started out with 250 points and have added on 60 and in the process of a 100 point SSR add-on. We try to go to the World at least twice a year and I like to stay in the one and two bedroom villas.

The best advice I can give you: If you plan to stay in mainly studio rooms, never, ever stay in a 1 br, especially at OKW, you won't be able to stay in a studio again.

 

[Richyams]

Welcome home and to the DIS, we are actually better than MS at answering questions.

Started with 230, minimum buy in, back in '92. During the first trip in '93, we realized that we were going to need a 200 point add on. The cool part is that the average per point cost for those was about $54 direct from Disney.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

How many points you start with should really depend on your situation.

Two things you have to consider are how many people you plan on having stay with you (we have 4 kids and the two of us, so we always need a two bedroom) and what time of year you plan to go? We always go during the high point, school vacation times. As a result we started with a high number of points (350) because we knew we would need them based on our family needs.

Good luck and welcome.

HBC

 

[HookdonWDW]

Congratulations! We started out saying that we wanted between 150 - 200, so we bought 200 because everyone always tells you not to buy just the minimum you think you'll need. So, we just KNEW we'd be fine with 200 points ...

Well, before the ink was dry on the original contract, we were waiting for a second contract for an extra 100 points (our two contracts closed within 2 days of each other!) We patted ourselves on the back again, and just KNEW we'd NEVER need more than 300 points.

Now, 18 months later, we're sitting around tossing around the idea of another 150 points, and it's not really a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

The moral of this tale is, no matter where you start, you'll most likely find yourself wishing that you'd bought more, so you might as well start with as much as you can COMFORTABLY afford...

 

[timC]

Many times (particularly for fanatics like us), your DVC vacation desires outgrow your first purchase. That's why most of us have added on, afterward... Even this forum has helped to fuel more add-ons. We're all Disney fanatics!

My advice would be to consider the following requirements:
1) What room size do you need?
2) What are the seasons and length of stays do you expect?
3) IMO you should include weekend's in your plan.

Check the charts, and go with that.

Welcome to the boards, and good luck with your purchase!

 

[tinkgrl]

Hi,

Congrats & welcome home! We have 210 points. Enough to stay in a one bedroom most of the time. Good luck!

Allison an associate

 

[Dizzie]

We bought 250 point in 2001. I thought that would be perfect. But now we are adding on at SSR. We will be adding somewhere between 150 and 250 points. Right now we travel in low point seasons, but as the kids get older we will be traveling during the summer and holiday seasons so we will need more points. And then when the grandkids come along in 30 years we will need bigger or more units! We also like to use our points for weekend stays because we have to travel so far and want to stay longer, once a year. We also use our point for cruises, concierge collection and II. I know some people choose to rent points and pay cash for those trips but for our family we use points with a cash value of about $6.20/point for comparison. As everyone else said, get points for the size unit and time period you will most often use.

Welcome and enjoy!

 

[BriarRose59]

We purchased 200 points last month at SSR because I thought that would be enough for our stay in a 2 bedroom next Thanksgiving since we were only going to stay at WDW Sat-Wed then go to US Wed-Sun. Well, the plans have changed. We are now going to US Sat-Tues and WDW Tues-Sun so I need 54 more points. I am waiting until close to the end of this month to see if the special runs out. If it does, I will add on by Oct. 31, if not I will wait until I go in Dec., but I will definitely be adding on 60-100 points before the end of the year at SSR. You need to check the points needed for when you are most likely to take your vacations. That's where the points charts come in handy. My girls are older so I want enough points for a 2 bedroom so we can have 2 bathrooms. It gets crowded when you have mom and 2 teenage daughters sharing one bathroom! Poor dad doesn't have a chance!! You will enjoy whatever you decide, but I would buy a few more points if you can afford it so that you don't have to think about renting, borrowing, etc.

 

[dyingtodisney]

We bought our first contract of 200 points at SSR with first trip home planned in June for 12 days in a studio....I do know definitely will need to add on probably 100 more points in the next year

 

[rsschneck]

We purchased a 300 point OKW resale in November 2002. Stayed in a 2 bedroom @ HHI in July and did a cash night in a studio. We decided that a studio wasn't for us (felt too much like a hotel room). Anyway, we are thinking of an add-on. Actually, deciding between HHI resale or SSR for the extra years, pool, spa, etc. We will look at models in a couple of weeks and then decide. We are planning on an add-on of 100 points. We figure we will finally end up with 500-600 points because we like to take friends and family, plus we would like to go for a longer stay since we live in Oregon.

Buy what you can afford! Don't bury yourself in debt you can always add-on later either through Disney or resale.

Hope everyone has helped.

 

[mikesmom]

We started with 200 at BWV and thought it would be plenty for our 2 out of 3 years trips. Then a few months later BWV was close to sellout, we grabbed another 100 points there.

When DH got the bug to invite extended family along from time to time we picked up 150 OKW points on a resale to make sure we could get a GV once in a while.

I think we're done

 

[dianeschlicht]

We started with 230 points at OKW and quickly decided we needed more, so we added another 150 points a year later. We feel (for us) we have just the right number of points. On the other side...our friends bought a resale of 151 points, and it is just right for them. They don't want to go more often than every 2-3 years.

 

[mbb]

Just 160 points here!! When we looked at maintenance costs, and IF we ever have to sell , that seemed like the magic number to us. The only problem is, we just purchased in Aug - thanks to many helpful tips from the everyone here - and we're already practising our steps for the add-on dance!

 

[ArnyVee]

We actually started doing research on DVC in about April of this year and with the help of everyone on these boards we finally got the contract we wanted.

75 points!

That's right, all we needed initially was a contract with 75 points and we ended up getting a resale with an additional 75 points already banked! So, we technically started out with 150 points although we have a 75 point contract.

Basically, it all depends on how long you will be staying on your trip(s), time of year you will be going & size of the accomodations that you'd like to have. We are within about a three hour drive from WDW and can pop over whenever we'd like to. So, we plan on some small getaways here and there.

As everyone knows though, no matter what you start with, "ADD-ONitis" will kick in shortly thereafter. So, be careful!

By the way, Rich is right....do your research here on the DISboards and ask any question that you might think about after reading the DVC Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) info at the top of the message boards.

Good luck with your decision and be ready to hear...."Welcome Home!"

 

[crazywig]

we just bought last month. 170pts at BWV. why 170? well, that's as many points as we could buy with the cash we had. we did not want to finance.

170 is fine for us NOW. we have one ds, age 17 months. a studio will be good for a few years until he gets bigger (or we have another child)....then i think we'll have to add on.....honestly we've already discussed it and we haven't even closed yet!

we only travel in the off season, but like another poster mentioned, in the future we anticipate having to go during (gasp!) school vacations.

 

[K9pal]

Oh geez, now I wonder if we should buy more!! We just received our papers this week for 150 at SSR. It's just the 2 of us and we normally go in Sept., usually every other year but sometimes once a year. We figured a studio would be fine. But I keep thinking how much nicer a 1 BR was... and we have 3 very young grandchildren we might be taking to WDW someday...

 

[dmoore22]

Another Hearty Welcome Home:

We purchased a 300 pt. resale at OKW with 225 points banked. We then found another 100 pt add on at OKW. No regrets! We have six kids(3 are out of the nest young adults) which actually made DVC a bargain once we calculated the cost for the family if we went pay as you go. Ditto on the comment about staying in a Studio. Once you've been in a one or two br at OKW you'll never go back. We're considering another add-on.

 

[mom2rb]

Thanks again we went ahead and bought 300 just to be safe.
They are doing 2 sets of 150 so we can give them to the kids when they grow up. But I doubt I will ever part with them.

 

[BriarRose59]

Congratulations and Welcome Home!