Using points to go on ABD

[bonnielynn]

Has anyone ever done this with their DVC points?

 

[Poppins2000]

We used our DVC points for our 5/08 Ireland trip....

 

[eva]

We used points for our upcoming Viva Italia trip in September 08. It is just DH and me. With early booking it was 764 points for the two of us.

 

[bonnielynn]

I have to wait to the 09 points chart comes out.. to see if we figure out if we can swing it, but I am hoping.. fingers crossed.

 

[cindy18]

We used points for half of our Southwest Splendors trip. We first booked the reservation as soon as the 2008 dates were released, using cash for the deposit. Once we had the confirmed reservation, we called DVC. They said that we could transfer as many of the four of us over to points as we wanted, at any time up to when we had to pay in full for the vacation, and the cash deposit we had put down for those people would transfer over to the ones still being paid for in cash. We wound up actually doing the transfer several months later, and it worked perfectly. We did have 2 different reservations, one for me and DD 10 and one for DH and DD 12, but that never seemed relevant because the reservations were linked. Made the trip feel like a bargain! We will definitely use points for ABD again.

 

[eva]

We used points for half of our Southwest Splendors trip. We first booked the reservation as soon as the 2008 dates were released, using cash for the deposit. Once we had the confirmed reservation, we called DVC. They said that we could transfer as many of the four of us over to points as we wanted, at any time up to when we had to pay in full for the vacation, and the cash deposit we had put down for those people would transfer over to the ones still being paid for in cash. We wound up actually doing the transfer several months later, and it worked perfectly. We did have 2 different reservations, one for me and DD 10 and one for DH and DD 12, but that never seemed relevant because the reservations were linked. Made the trip feel like a bargain! We will definitely use points for ABD again.

This is smart. Because the points last year didn't come out the same day as the dates were released by ABD. By the time that the points came out the Viva Italia on September 11th had no more early booking available. So we moved our date to the 14th. Will they refund your entire deposit if you transfer everyone to points?

 

[cindy18]

I don't know how it works on the deposit if everyone goes on points. Depending on your head count, it would take A LOT of points to do that, so we didn't even think about it. Good question, though.

 

[bonnielynn]

How much do you put down on ABD?

 

[cindy18]

You mean how much on deposit? Can't remember for sure, I think either $100 or $200 per person. This was about a year ago, so I could be wrong, but I think once you got the contract (which was after pricing came out. Pricing came out after date info), you had 2 weeks to accept or get your money back.

 

[grumpy-1]

We thought about using our points for our upcommimng Viva Italia trip. We were going to use points for one of us and pay for the other. If you do it that way DVC wants the cash portion of the trip right away when you book. We decided against that. What we ended up doing was selling our points to a family whom we contacted here on the Dis Boards. We sold 323 points at $10 a point, which covered more than half the cost of the trip. Is that something you might want to consider?

 

[cindy18]

That's right, I had forgotten that you have to pay for the remaining cash balance when you use points for a portion of the people on the tour. But what we did was wait to switch half of us to points until right before the due date for paying in full for the tour anyway. There's no rush since nothing changes in terms of point costs or cash costs. So it wound up being irrelevant that we had to pay off the cash portion because even if we hadn't used points we would have paid off the cash portion at the same time anyway. Does that make sense?

 

[krdisneybound]

I did the same thing for the Backstage Magic for 9/1. It worked out great. Also have extra $$'s left over for other thngs.

We thought about using our points for our upcommimng Viva Italia trip. We were going to use points for one of us and pay for the other. If you do it that way DVC wants the cash portion of the trip right away when you book. We decided against that. What we ended up doing was selling our points to a family whom we contacted here on the Dis Boards. We sold 323 points at $10 a point, which covered more than half the cost of the trip. Is that something you might want to consider?

 

[bonnielynn]

I am just in the absorbing stage of what is the possibilities out there with my DVC points... we have and are going to disney... we have done 2 cruises with Disney.. so I was thinking next step could possibly be the ABD... so just in the learning stage..

 

[eva]

Most people recommend renting out the points and paying cash. I guess I just have a problem with renting to people that I don't know. I have heard some horror stories about people not paying or constantly trying to change dates and/or resorts. Plus I always wonder how easy it is to coordinate renting 600 points and getting the money before having to pay ABD. Since over half the points for this trip were banked from 2007, I was a bit nervous about making sure those were booked and used in time. Another wrinkle in the plan is that I utilized points from 4 different resorts for the trip, with 200 points coming from Vero. This would make booking at the 11 month window tougher. Not sure if that makes sense. But it just sounded like a huge hassle to me.

 

[bonnielynn]

my fear with renting points is that I am so green at this..I have only owned for a couple months.. I have read about renting points, but wonder how that would work out before you have to book a trip with ABD...

I also with that ABD would have trips more than a year ahead.. would make it easier to plan, especially with how much they cost..

To bad I can't be wealthy and not worry about any of it!!

 

[pillow]

my fear with renting points is that I am so green at this..I have only owned for a couple months.. I have read about renting points, but wonder how that would work out before you have to book a trip with ABD...

I also with that ABD would have trips more than a year ahead.. would make it easier to plan, especially with how much they cost..

To bad I can't be wealthy and not worry about any of it!!

I'm stalking you from the other thread

Just book your ABD with cash (or credit card if you don't have the cash). Then rent/trade your points and pay yourself back. Just saw a post on the other thread from someone who has done it before - think she said it was "as easy as falling off a log!!"

You should check out the rent/trade thread. You could always start a thread and see how much response you get. I'm just a cheapo - always looking for ways to save money!!

Jodie

 

[bonnielynn]

I'm stalking you from the other thread

Just book your ABD with cash (or credit card if you don't have the cash). Then rent/trade your points and pay yourself back. Just saw a post on the other thread from someone who has done it before - think she said it was "as easy as falling off a log!!"

You should check out the rent/trade thread. You could always start a thread and see how much response you get. I'm just a cheapo - always looking for ways to save money!!

Jodie

At the moment I only have 133 points and as of June 09 270 more and so on.. would take me 2 more years to rent them... Course I guess I can wait it out.. or borrow them.. who knows., being green sucks just a bit.. but I am learning!

 

[pillow]

At the moment I only have 133 points and as of June 09 270 more and so on.. would take me 2 more years to rent them... Course I guess I can wait it out.. or borrow them.. who knows., being green sucks just a bit.. but I am learning!

Can you borrow from June 09 so that they 270 are in the current use year. Then you could rent the entire 403? Does that work? Not sure.

Jodie

 

[eva]

Can you borrow from June 09 so that they 270 are in the current use year. Then you could rent the entire 403? Does that work? Not sure.

Jodie

Sure she can borrow points and rent them out. With $10-12 a point, she could possibly make $4030 to $4,836. That would be a good amount towards an ABD trip. But if she schedules a trip after June 1st of 2009, she will not need to borrow those points. Instead she will need to bank her 133 points from 2008 into 2009. If she wanted she could then borrow her 2010 points for a grand total of 673 points. But I would think twice about doing this. That leaves no points to use other than the ABD trip until 2011. I know that it can seem complicated. But it doesn't take long to get the hang of it. The DVC boards here at the DIS are great at explaining things.

bonnielynn, if you decide to rent your points. Go to the DVC boards and read up on it as much as possible first.

 

[bonnielynn]

I wasn't planning an ABD trip until the first of 2010 anyway, so that gives me time to rent the points and to rent them... We shall see.. thanks for all the information..