"Trash" Points for 2nd Contract?

[logan115]

I often turn out to be a contrarian on "buy where you want to stay," because I think many folks do that who don't really plan and book their vacations in the 11-month window. If you don't use the home resort advantage, obviously it doesn't matter where you own.

Except...I would never buy points at a resort where I would be unhappy staying. I wouldn't want to get "stuck" in a home resort because my hopes of booking VWL for Christmas proved unrealistic.

Nor would I buy points at any non-WDW resort with the intent of using them primarily at WDW. Just too many bad things can happen with that scenario.

Remember that we are really only guaranteed that we can use our points at our home resort. Yes, we're allowed to use them anywhere, and always have been. And yes, the ability to use your points at a variety of resorts is a major selling point of DVC. No, I can't think of any reason why DVC would change that. But they could, and I wouldn't want to be stuck owning a timeshare I never intended to visit.

Excellent points as always Jim. And your point around the non-WDW resorts is something that anyone looking at buying HHI or VB to use at WDW should really think about as I was tempted to "save" a little cashola and buy HHI instead of SSR. Then I thought, what if I couldn't find anything (unlikely but possible) on-site at 7 months. How silly would I feel owning DVC points but having to pay for my lodging on a trip to WDW ?

That .000001% chance (and an abundance of reallly cheap SSR resale contracts) quickly got HHI and VB out of my mind. Nothing against either one, and if MAY be an option if you actually wanted to go there, but if you have no intention of doing so you'll save yourself a lot of stress buying SOMEWHERE onsite.

Chris

 

[wdrl]

Remember that we are really only guaranteed that we can use our points at our home resort. Yes, we're allowed to use them anywhere, and always have been. And yes, the ability to use your points at a variety of resorts is a major selling point of DVC. No, I can't think of any reason why DVC would change that. But they could, and I wouldn't want to be stuck owning a timeshare I never intended to visit.

There are a couple of other items in the fine print of the Bay Lake Tower Declaration of Condominium that could impact a small contract user: Disney retains the right to suspend the banking and borrowing of points; and Disney can require a minimum length stay, but not to exceed 5 days. Before we bought, I asked my Guide if Disney had ever suspended banking and borrowing. He said the only time this issue came up was right after 9/11 when Disney was afraid a lot of reservations would be cancelled. However, the cancellation rate was not high for DVCers, and DVCers kept making new reservations. Thus, our Guide said there was no need to suspend that right.

I think its highly unlikely that Disney would take away any of these features we now enjoy. In fact, I think others things will happen (like free dining for DVC stays) before any of these features are removed. But hey, I'm an optimist: I'll be 108 years old when my BLT contract reverts to Disney.

 

[Kmango]

We have three buy-where-we-want-to-stay home resorts (BLT, AKV, and BCV) and then 200 points at SSR, which we like well enough, but we think of those points as being "miscellaneous" and therefore will use them wherever.

 

[Cajun28]

Remember that we are really only guaranteed that we can use our points at our home resort. Yes, we're allowed to use them anywhere, and always have been. And yes, the ability to use your points at a variety of resorts is a major selling point of DVC. No, I can't think of any reason why DVC would change that. But they could, and I wouldn't want to be stuck owning a timeshare I never intended to visit.

Very good point, Jim. Even if there's only a very small chance that DVC would change this, I would not want to take a chance with the amount of money involved to buy.

 

[Golden Rose]

We currently own at two resorts that we bought in order to stay there... at least for the time being. We have BWV that we intend to use for the F & W festival most years. We bought AKV because DS is a complete animal nut, so savannah view is like a view of heaven for him. We also thought that once he was a little older, we might want to try club level, and we thought owning was our best/only shot. So our first two contracts weren't play points, but another one might be.

I'm really starting to wish we had more points, and I'm very tempted to go with SSR resale points. My DM and DSF absolutely loved SSR when we stayed there on developer points, and have been campaigning for me to use our AKV points to book them a golf vacation at SSR with their friends. I like SSR fine, but if I were really adding on where I wanted to stay, I'd add on at BLT or BCV. I find the combination of price and family-love for SSR enough to make me seriously consider SSR as play points. We seem to book one or two trips at the 11 month mark, then slip in a last minute trip from time to time. If this continues to be our pattern, we definitely need some play points.

Of course, we're not adding on any time soon. (Adoption expenses are considerable!) We're waiting to see what Disney does with Ko'Olina. Our family loves Hawaii - we have family who own several acres on the Big Island and my DM's been considering buying a timeshare or condo there for years. I know those won't be cheap points, but we're definitely waiting to see how they compare to other timeshares in the islands. And if we don't go every three years, those points will definitely become play points.

 

[1pirate1princess]

We are waiting on Disney's ROFR on a SSR resale we are hoping to get.....Without intentions of staying at SSR.
Not that I dislike it, but we like VWL and typically vacation in January - So we hope we'll get there at 7 months......If not, we'll try out some of the others

 

[kaffinito]

I like the term "play points" as well.

We only have one contract at BLT so far, and we don't really need more points, but if I do an add on (which I will next year) it will probably be at either VB, HHI, or OKW. I would like to be able to book at 11 months for those resorts for Spring Break trips, trips with DH, and family getaways. So I don't know if they could be considered "play points" but I would use them if I needed them for bigger accommodations at BLT.

 

[chalee94]

We are waiting on Disney's ROFR on a SSR resale we are hoping to get.....Without intentions of staying at SSR.

lots of people seem to buy at SSR without the intention of staying there. you might be fortunate and that will work out but there's a basic problem with the math if a lot of SSR owners think that way. as long as you're still happy if you get "stuck" at SSR, it's worth the gamble, though. good luck.

 

[Vickis3js]

DH and I are discussing this now actually. We own at AKV and are already talking about an add on without even staying yet LOL. But we both know that we didn't buy enough points so it will be a when we add on rather then an if. We want to try all the DVCs but when we vacation, Christmas time, might make that hard especially since we need a 2 bedroom in most.

So now we are deciding to add on SSR due to its low resale cost or BLT. I would be thrilled with SSR due to the THV and DH really likes BLT. I also like the BCV due to stormalong bay and its location. As far as making reservations at 7 months I am thinking that SSR THV would be the hardest so buying that one wins with price and availabilty.

Why does DVC have to be so darn addicting.

 

[DenLo]

We've been really talking about adding some play points. However, saying that I still think we would only select DVC properties that we would be willing to stay at.

I thought it would be fun having points at VGC, the points per night seem higher as they have longer seasons and they have one less season (no Dream Season). We just won't visit California that often. So if we only get 50 points would we have to bank, use and borrow in order to stay there? That would defeat the "play" purpose of the points.

We like Epcot and DHS and hope when we go the Food and Wine Festival in 2010 that it will become a tradition for us to go to it. However, when looking the BWV and BCV I'm really surprised at how high the MF's are. I have to research that out? Also small contracts at reasonable prices don't come available at those very often.

Then there is SSR--we like being able to go to DTD so easily. Both of thought the resort is attractive, and now they have the Treehouse villas and we do have a family of 11 that have been known to get together for gatherings at WDW.

Wow so much to think about. It's a shame we can't afford to buy 50 points at each resort!

 

[GoofItUp]

lots of people seem to buy at SSR without the intention of staying there. you might be fortunate and that will work out but there's a basic problem with the math if a lot of SSR owners think that way. as long as you're still happy if you get "stuck" at SSR, it's worth the gamble, though. good luck.

You bring up a good point, but I don't think it's just people who bought at SSR who hope to stay elsewhere. I think there's lots of people who like to try out different places no matter where they bought. And there are certain resorts that are just more popular than others. For example, I think BCV and BLT would be the two most sought after resorts right now (IMO). So, you've got people who own points all over the place that would be trying to get into those two resorts. Not just people who own SSR. That makes the math even a little worse and brings home the fact that if you want to stay there for sure, you need to own there. But these "play" points (which does sound nicer than "trash" points ) would still be useful (again IMO) if you are flexible on when you can go and might have a list of 3 or 4 or even 5 different places you'd be happy trying out. I would think at the 7-month mark you'd be willing to get SOMETHING on your list of 3 to 5 resorts.

I think this thread highlights the fact that people vacation differently and have different things they're looking for with DVC. And yet somehow it works for all of us!

 

[toniosmom]

I have all of my points at AKV, but hope to experience some of the other resorts in the coming years. My son is entering kindergarten in 2010, so we will be bound by the school calendar when he hits 1st grade in 2011-12. If I find that I can't get ressies 7 months out during the times we need to travel, I will likely consider a resale contract at another resort. For now, I'm sticking with what I have. I'm fiercely resisting addon-itis (after adding on two 50 point contracts to my original buy-in.)