Thoughts about adding on points

[Instagramhusband]

My wife and I have all resale contracts, 2 use years., and 555 points total.
One of the contract is a Riviera contract with 200 hundred points and a June use year. The others are Poly 100, Saratoga with two contracts June use year with 255 total points.

Our thoughts initially were all about just having SAP, as we pretty much enjoy lots of small stays in Studios with either just she and I or Her and a girlfriend or our teenager and us. She fell in love with Riviera and wanted to own there despite the restrictions. Given we don't have a particular time of year we like to go this all seemed to be perfect for us.

Then my father passed and now my 84 year old Mom is with us about 1/3 of the time and we have to take her on some of our trips so we need 2 bedroom villas alot more now. So needless to say we need more points period now. We are currently working thru the exercise of Direct thru Disney vs resale again. IF we go Direct, I would prefer Poly. We own 100 points resale with a March use year now.

So one question is if I buy Poly direct, is it a no brainer to do a March use year as well?
If I felt I only needed 75 to 100 points is that nonsensical to do it direct? I realize I could end up wanting 50 more sooner rather than later and could have had the full direct Disney benefits for it.

For those that are Direct owners that have owned resales, tell me if the benefits are that big of a difference. If we were to stay with resale, I am open to different resorts with the best value but with a mind towards availability of the bigger villas .

 

[Brian Noble]

those that are Direct owners that have owned resales, tell me if the benefits are that big of a difference.

I don't think they are, with one very important exception: they are unrestricted. Direct points could be added to either a RIV stay or a non-RIV stay. Resale points can only be added to one or the other. If you are content to bring Mom only on your non-RIV stays, and keep to studios at RIV, I think I would be looking for a non-RIV resale.

As for UY: I would be inclined to add to the UY in which I already had the most points, to simplify things.

The value of Direct for me, beyond "book wherever you want" is more emotional than dollars-and-cents. I dig being a Blue Card member, even though it does not pencil out in dollars-and-cents to do it.

 

[MyDogTink]

I would keep Poly points in the same UY. Look at the point charts for a a 2 BR at poly. If you go direct, you probably want at least 150 for direct member benefits. Additionally, with the 2 BR point charts, it will be easy to use 150 points. As an alternative, the 1 BR in poly tower have two full baths so perhaps you wouldn’t need a 2 BR there.

 

[Instagramhusband]

I would keep Poly points in the same UY. Look at the point charts for a a 2 BR at poly. If you go direct, you probably want at least 150 for direct member benefits. Additionally, with the 2 BR point charts, it will be easy to use 150 points. As an alternative, the 1 BR in poly tower have two full baths so perhaps you wouldn’t need a 2 BR there.

Good point about the bathrooms.

 

[Disney Spaz]

I would keep Poly points in the same UY. Look at the point charts for a a 2 BR at poly. If you go direct, you probably want at least 150 for direct member benefits. Additionally, with the 2 BR point charts, it will be easy to use 150 points. As an alternative, the 1 BR in poly tower have two full baths so perhaps you wouldn’t need a 2 BR there.

Having just stayed in a 1bdrm with 2 bathrooms I promise it is a game changer at least for us. We are a party of 3, DH, Me and DD (19) and that second bathroom is why we bought into Poly. We are now looking at an add on at CCV to move up to a 2bdrm there just to have the 2nd bathroom.

 

[RuntheMouse]

For those that are Direct owners that have owned resales, tell me if the benefits are that big of a difference. If we were to stay with resale, I am open to different resorts with the best value but with a mind towards availability of the bigger villas .

We started with resale but ended up with 150 direct at RIV. We would have been fine staying all resale. We decided on direct because we get APs every year and the liked the ability to buy Sorcerer passes instead of Incredipass. We also liked the flexibility of the unrestricted points at RIV although we love it there so I don’t trade those points out! Since we became blue card holders, we’ve done 2 Moonlight Magic events, ride previews, Moana 2 preview and used the lounges. So it’s been nice for us but not a necessity.

 

[WinterSolider]

The value of Direct for me, beyond "book wherever you want" is more emotional than dollars-and-cents. I dig being a Blue Card member, even though it does not pencil out in dollars-and-cents to do it.

I agree with every word of this. I didn't feel like a "real" member when I was resale-only, and I wanted those sparkly wristbands at Aulani, so I yolo'ed into a Direct OKWe when they ran a good sale a couple of years ago. I expect I'll keep my direct contract forever but if I add on (absent a fire sale) it will probably be resale.

I don't think they are, with one very important exception: they are unrestricted. Direct points could be added to either a RIV stay or a non-RIV stay. Resale points can only be added to one or the other. If you are content to bring Mom only on your non-RIV stays, and keep to studios at RIV, I think I would be looking for a non-RIV resale.

To add to this, if someone is currently resale-only and considering adding Direct, they should buy a Direct contract that is big enough to book trips on its own. If you're going to be depending on combining your Direct and Resale contracts together to book reservations, you're essentially neutering your Direct contract by making it de facto restricted.

 

[RMDVC24]

We were resale only and recently took the plunge to add 150 points direct. The main reason was to have unrestricted points. However, as a couple people noted already, being a ‘blue card’ member feels like we’re ’Real’ DVC members. Seeing DVC-Y made us very happy . As far as use year, I would definitely stick with the same UY you already have.

 

[DonkeyHoTay]

I wanted those sparkly wristbands at Aulani, so I yolo'ed into a Direct OKWe when they ran a good sale a couple of years ago.

Oh yes. That was something else. Agree with the YOLO too.

 

[airjay75]

If I understand correctly, all of your points are June UY except your 100 Poly points. Here's a thought. Sell your resale Poly points and buy 250 direct Poly points instead and match your June UY to all your other points.

According to Fidelity (https://www.fidelityrealestate.com/blog/november-2025-average-dvc-resale-price-per-point/), Poly contracts of that size are selling for an average of $167.10/point. Site sponsor is a little lower, but they don't break it out by contract size. Let's just keep it simple and say $165/point.

So, you net $165 x 100 = $16,500.
Subtract commission, site sponsor charges 9.5%, but you could probably list with a cheaper broker, but, let's say 9.5% or about $1,568.
Subtract $150 estoppel fee.
You would net about $14,782

If you buy 250 direct points at Poly, incentives are currently $5/point on 100-149 points, $9/point on 150-199 points, $11/point on 200-249 points, and $13/point on 250-299 points. Then, tack on magical beginnings which is available on 150+ point purchases.

250 points at $222/point - $5,000 MB = $50,500 (you can also put all of that on credit cards and get some cash back too)
Subtract $14,872 for total expense of $35,628. In other words, it took you about $237/point to buy those extra 150 points.

OTOH, if you keep your 100 Poly resale points, then a 150 point direct purchase would be:
150 points at $226/point - $3,000 MB = $30,900. That's about $206/point.

So, for about $30/point more (about $4,700), you can have 250 unrestricted points, all with a June UY that can be used at RIV and all future resorts. No dealing with UY transfers, and easy to combine with your RIV resale points. That would be an easy decision for me.

If you listed that 100 point Poly contract now on the site sponsor and it had full points, I bet you could push that $165/point asking price up to $175 or $180 per point, and wouldn't be surprised if you could shed another $5/point off the differential. With the new $500 resale fee coming into effect on January 1st, I bet someone would snag it up quickly.

Just some food for thought.