Thoughts on buying Direct

[LuigiSpice]

Every time I look at the cost effectiveness and usefulness of buying direct, it just doesn't seem to make sense for me.................right now. I am a teacher and about 15-20 years from retirement. I currently have zero flexibility in travel and would rarely be in position to need an annual pass or have any real chance of being around during a Moonlight Magic. But my thought is, I will be in that position in the future and if I wait until then, who the hell knows how much of an investment getting a direct contract will be. I guess my thought is, it might be worth grabbing a 75 point contract and take the $5Kish hit at the moment as an investment in potential gains and opportunities down the line.

I know I'm going to get the "only you can decide how much its worth to you" responses and I appreciate that, I guess what I'm wondering is if that is at least a logical thought process or am I missing something that would push me one way or another. I am not currently a member but would like to get a total of 175-200 points in the end. Thank you all for your continued insights on this board.

 

[skippytx]

What resort are you thinking about buying at? The delta will be smaller at SSR or OKW so it might be easier to justify. I know I can't personally justify the 75+ dollar a point difference at BLT right now.

I will say if you do want direct, you're better off doing it sooner rather than seeing what comes later. I'm fortunate I got in at 25 points. They're not going to relax the restrictions in the future, thats for sure.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Personally, unless you are a Florida resident, at THIS TIME I see very little downside to getting 75 points direct with the rest resale. I doubt the AP discount is going away anytime soon.

 

[goofy kc]

I understand! We are teachers and right now we do go a few times a year but the long game is one long 3-4 week visit each year. Buying direct gives us access to benefits that we aren't able to use now (Moonlight Magic) but down the line we are hopeful there will be something we CAN use. I know, I know, benefits aren't guaranteed and can be taken away at any moment, but I am pretty sure there will be something around when we are able to take advantage of it.
We've bought resale too to build our point totals.

 

[LuigiSpice]

What resort are you thinking about buying at?

If I was to do it, Riviera really appeals to me. I don't like the resale restrictions but I feel the $30 a point difference between that and the "cheap" resorts would be worth it. We also just got back from WL and my wife fell in love with that resort, but at 210 a point that would hurt a bit more.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

Couple of things to remember.

1) If you buy 75 points at Riviera direct, and the rest resale at one of the L14 resorts, you cannot use your resale points at Riviera. So make sure the 75 points will get you enough nights at Riviera to justify it. Otherwise your better off buying Saratoga direct.

2) The Membership Benefits are not the only perk of going direct. The ability to use your points at Riviera and any other future resorts is another perk to consider. For some this is very important. For others its not. But keep in mind, the 75 point minimum doesn't affect this perk. As to point number 1, only the points purchased direct can be used at any future resorts including Riviera.

3) These won't lower the price enough to break even, but just keep in mind when doing your cost analysis. A) direct means your getting the full allotment of current year points, and paying pro rated annual dues. You can technically rent out these bonus points to bring your effective cost down. B) Direct lets you pay the whole thing buy credit card. Means you can get a healthy amount of credit card points or cash back. C) Probably doesn't affect you, but for any other non-Americans looking at DVC, you can get an FX fee free credit card to make the purchase. This can save you another chunk of change on the foreign exchange.

4) My SO is a teacher as well, so what we plan on doing is travelling one year at the end of August, and the next year in July. This will allow us to take advantage of the annual pass discount. I just did the math for myself. A family of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids) purchasing 10 day single park tickets in the summer for 2 years, plus memory maker would cost about $4,650. 4 Gold passes are about $3,000. Even if I only get to use it one time before they disappear, thats still $1,600 of savings up front.

5) Closing costs are usually a few hundred dollars cheaper when going direct.

6) When you start adding all the different savings, the price difference over 35 - 50 years can start becoming negligible, especially on 75 points. Of course, this is resort dependent.

 

[CraigInPA]

Also, consider that after 15 years of yearly trips, you might be "over" the whole Disney thing. I have read here that the average owner holds for under 15 years.

 

[jarestel]

Also, consider that after 15 years of yearly trips, you might be "over" the whole Disney thing.

This is a good point and especially for folks who are concerned about resale value. Those who are buying 2042 resorts today are probably paying at or near the top of the curve. It will decrease rapidly as we approach the end of the contract. BWV and BCV, in 10-15 years, will sell for nowhere near what people are paying for them today.

That doesn't mean one shouldn't consider a 2042 resort if that's where you really want to be and you don't view timeshares as "investments". The real payoff for DVC comes in memories, not necessarily in cash.

 

[LuigiSpice]

Also, consider that after 15 years of yearly trips, you might be "over" the whole Disney thing. I have read here that the average owner holds for under 15 years.

To be honest, this is why I am hesitant about the 2042 resorts as I would assume I wouldn't be going yearly until I retire in 15-20 years. I figured I'd bank/borrow for bigger rooms or longer stays while the kid is around, then when he grows up my wife and I would be able to go more often. And since we are spoiled deluxe resort people, this seems like the best way to allow that to happen.

 

[Sandisw]

With that being your start up idea, I don't think it is a bad one. I just retired from teaching and so I too was limited in travel. We did summer trips every year. Before I was DVC, we did buy AP's a few times and then just made the summer trips 51 weeks apart so I got two trips from one pass. This way, was only buying a ticket every other year.

So, even with being limited to maybe that once a year trip, you could make the DVC Gold pass work. I just got my DD 23 a 5 day park hopper for our upcoming F & W trip and it cost me around $500 ish so planning creatively with those trips could make it beneficial to take advantage of the DVC AP and begin to even out the price difference from buying direct.

 

[jodifla]

What about buying direct OKW? That would have the 2057 date.

I am a direct member, and use as many of the perks as possible. I have even cruised on them and done a hotel exchange.

 

[AaronEuth]

We are debating much the same thing for an addon to our current 120 resale. A Copper creek direct 75 point contract vs a resale 100.

Cost: Cost would be basically the same at current prices.

Negative of direct: 25 less points per year (note: I am having trouble picturing a scenario in which 200 points total would not be sufficient for my vacation habit$). his basically equates to 1.5 to 2 nights less in a value per trip. But we would still have enough points to do at least a week and a half per trip.

Pros for direct:
Minor dues saving per year with 25 less points

Limited access to at least try future new resorts with 75 points.

Access to Discounted AP. This is probably not going to be a factor, but having the option would allow us to do an 11 month gap and save on tickets at either end.

Access to member events. Probably a non factor, but hey if one trip out of 20 falls on moonlight magic that is at least something.

Earlier access to Parties - minor but nice

Discounts if elect not to buy ap

Match my Use year for whatever resort we buy without having to stalk resale. So this would be a nice perk of the addon.

Protection from future restrictions

For me, personally, I feel like I would rather addon less points and have all of the above benefits for the same price.

 

[kboo]

(note: I am having trouble picturing a scenario in which 200 points total would not be sufficient for my vacation habit$).

To be fair, I do have a friend IRL who has 2 kids and has taken awesome WDW trips maybe every 18 months, and made do with 100 AKV points for YEARS. But he's an anomaly. I think he also has family members who also own DVC, so they pool their points for some trips.

 

[AaronEuth]

Oh I can certainly see a scenario in which I use 2000 points. I also see my wife divorcing me if we go more than once a year max. I pretty much intend to alternate years and on the off years let her plan a grown up vacation.

 

[kboo]

Oh I can certainly see a scenario in which I use 2000 points. I also see my wife divorcing me if we go more than once a year max. I pretty much intend to alternate years and on the off years let her plan a grown up vacation.

HAHA. My DH is the less-Disney person (he used to be non-Disney, so we bought in thinking we'd go maybe every 18 months) - we went to WDW for our 25th anniversary without kids, and had a very grown-up vacation (including dinners at California Grill and V&A).

 

[MJ NH]

Oh I can certainly see a scenario in which I use 2000 points. I also see my wife divorcing me if we go more than once a year max. I pretty much intend to alternate years and on the off years let her plan a grown up vacation.

My wife loved this post as I’m trying to get her to go twice in 3 months.

 

[zavandor]

I pretty much intend to alternate years and on the off years let her plan a boring vacation.

Fixed for you.

 

[AaronEuth]

My wife loved this post as I’m trying to get her to go twice in 3 months.

Her : Honey....we should visit France, or even Italy!

Me: We could do both!

Her: You better not tell me that we're going to Epcot

Me: We're going to Epcot!!!

 

[LuigiSpice]

Thank you all for your insights, it's been very helpful. One more question, the idea of renting out points seems nice, but how much of a given is it that you will be able to do that? Especially if our points are at SSR or OKW?

 

[bakerworld]

People love SSR and OKW - not me ... but others LOL. FYI someone posted the minimum buy in direct is shortly going to be 100 points. Truthfully, without park tickets, SSR and OKW are very nice resort vacations. In May we're going to AK for 5 nights and I'm lobbying for no park tickets