We did it! FW purchase at RIV

[intamin]

Dumb question but if you've got a contract with a FW how easy is it to change plans if you cannot make the trip then? How locked into that week are you?

You're not locked in at all. You can cancel the fixed week and use the points just like regular points. There really isn't a downside to having a fixed week other than the number of points in your contract will likely be not an even number.

I own a fixed week and don't really intend to use it for that week regularly because if I really wanted a week I would just walk it and not pay the extra 10% in points that a fixed week uses, but having a fixed week increases a contracts resale value. I usually just book a room preemptively and it stops the cast member from being able to book my fixed week for me.

 

[Tatebeck]

Dumb question but if you've got a contract with a FW how easy is it to change plans if you cannot make the trip then? How locked into that week are you?

You aren't locked in at all. It's really just an option you have to use the fixed week each time or not. You can book something else before your fixed week comes up to book, and then they can see that you have already booked and nothing happens. If you want to cancel your fixed week after it was booked you can (with the normal holding rules if cancelled within 30 days of the stay), and you get all the points back in your account to book something else. If you never choose to use a fixed week it functions as a normal contract. You just might have to buy 10% more points than you originally were looking at to be able to stay for a specific week, and that 10% of extra points will be used up whenever you use the fixed/favorite week. You can get around this 10% rule a bit by choosing specific weeks like we have talked about that are a bit of a better value based on when the fixed week chart was made

That's why you see a lot of us doing it with RIV right now. It increases resale value since there aren't many fixed weeks being sold resale, you get guaranteed reservations in a hard to book room type/time period, with all of the flexibility of having normal points.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Dumb question but if you've got a contract with a FW how easy is it to change plans if you cannot make the trip then? How locked into that week are you?

You can cancel the FW and the full # of points are returned to use for normal bookings

 

[davidhr]

I’m entertaining a FW if the next round of incentives is attractive.

Quick question. Do the modifications work the same for FW? If you have banked points and go to modify the booked FW, will it switch and use the banked points first? Or do you need to cancel and rebook?

 

[intamin]

I’m entertaining a FW if the next round of incentives is attractive.

Quick question. Do the modifications work the same for FW? If you have banked points and go to modify the booked FW, will it switch and use the banked points first? Or do you need to cancel and rebook?

You must cancel and rebook. Fixed week is all or nothing.

 

[Tatebeck]

Yeah no modifying. You take the fixed week using 100% of the contract's current years points for the reservation or cancel and rebook whatever you want

 

[Sandisw]

Woohoo! Its a wonderful resort and you will enjoy it!!!

 

[mistysue]

Just to clarify, I think I know the answer - but right now week 7 is 153 points for a FW, but if I just booked it it would cost me 155 points. They do rebalance them every so often though- so 10 years from now you might have a FW 153 week7, but just booking week 7 might only cost 120 points? So rating how good of a deal it is is not a perfect prediction, right?

 

[intamin]

Just to clarify, I think I know the answer - but right now week 7 is 153 points for a FW, but if I just booked it it would cost me 155 points. They do rebalance them every so often though- so 10 years from now you might have a FW 153 week7, but just booking week 7 might only cost 120 points? So rating how good of a deal it is is not a perfect prediction, right?

Your cost for the fixed week will always be whatever you agreed upon when you bought it. Whether they increase or decrease the number of points to stay on the point chart will not affect you. Although obviously if your fixed week now costs significantly more than just booking it like normal you probably would not want to utilize your fixed week option.

Awhile ago we saw a VGF grand villa fixed week for the middle of July and that was before they decreased the number of points so that owner if he/she were to use their fixed week would be significantly overpaying by a couple hundred points but again you can just cancel the week and use the points like normal.

 

[Sandisw]

Just to clarify, I think I know the answer - but right now week 7 is 153 points for a FW, but if I just booked it it would cost me 155 points. They do rebalance them every so often though- so 10 years from now you might have a FW 153 week7, but just booking week 7 might only cost 120 points? So rating how good of a deal it is is not a perfect prediction, right?

The point charts can be adjusted, but they can only go up or down a maximum of 20% each year, and it is still based on demand and usage.

If you look at the historic trends of DVC and the previous movement of point charts, the winter months have never been super high demand out side of race weekend, etc. That week falls around President's day too and is a winter break for northern schools. so demand is pretty steady.

So, while it may not be a perfect predictor, its pretty good indication when buying. Summer weeks would be the ones that I would say have the greatest chance of going down, and fall/early December weeks the once that have a chance of going up.

 

[mistysue]

The point charts can be adjusted, but they can only go up or down a maximum of 20% each year, and it is still based on demand and usage.

If you look at the historic trends of DVC and the previous movement of point charts, the winter months have never been super high demand out side of race weekend, etc. That week falls around President's day too and is a winter break for northern schools. so demand is pretty steady.

So, while it may not be a perfect predictor, its pretty good indication when buying. Summer weeks would be the ones that I would say have the greatest chance of going down, and fall/early December weeks the once that have a chance of going up.

That February one hovers around my birthday, we watch every year because sometimes it's a crazy week to go, and sometimes (like for my 40th) it's perfect. I keep seeing "week 7" and shaking my fist that everyone wants my week.
But yes, I meant they can adjust the chart, so buying for the exclusive reason that it's a "good deal" today might not be true 10, 20 or 30 years from now, the same as the ones that are a "bad deal" by being way more points than the room is currently worth on the chart. (I get that we can watch for context clues, but schools are also moving toward year round with different breaks, so who knows what craziness will be happening in future years)

 

[Tatebeck]

The point charts can be adjusted, but they can only go up or down a maximum of 20% each year, and it is still based on demand and usage.

If you look at the historic trends of DVC and the previous movement of point charts, the winter months have never been super high demand out side of race weekend, etc. That week falls around President's day too and is a winter break for northern schools. so demand is pretty steady.

So, while it may not be a perfect predictor, its pretty good indication when buying. Summer weeks would be the ones that I would say have the greatest chance of going down, and fall/early December weeks the once that have a chance of going up.

Exactly my thoughts which is why I did weeks 39 and 50. Good values now, and may even be better values in the future!

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Woohoo! Its a wonderful resort and you will enjoy it!!!

We stayed there for Springtime Surprise race weekend this year and while we weren't the biggest fans of the Tower studio we were in, the resort overall was lovely My husband, who is not super into Disney, was smitten enough to want to do DVC for it, which I never would have predicted in a million years.

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

We stayed there for Springtime Surprise race weekend this year and while we weren't the biggest fans of the Tower studio we were in, the resort overall was lovely My husband, who is not super into Disney, was smitten enough to want to do DVC for it, which I never would have predicted in a million years.

If you liked it enough to buy in even after staying in a Tower studio, it really only gets better from there! The 1bdrm is but even the studios are excellent. Welcome home!

 

[SugarSweetLee]

If you liked it enough to buy in even after staying in a Tower studio, it really only gets better from there! The 1bdrm is but even the studios are excellent. Welcome home!

We probably won't have enough points for a 1 bedroom but the normal studios looked lovely during the tour That 1 bed champagne tub sure was dreamy though...

 

[CastAStone]

Interesting they told you not to sign closing documents until Tuesday and that the 10 day rescission applies.

So I think there’s 2 different legally required things in play here.

The first is that your guide is required to give you 7 days to consider any offer they put in front of you. It can never be “TODAY ONLY”. So if yesterday was the first time SugarSweetLee was officially given the current incentives, they are valid for SugarSweetLee until Friday, even though they expire for everyone else Monday.

Then the second is the rescission period. But I don’t think that’s what’s driving the timing here.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Sooo after a lot of discussion and debate, we decided that adding 50 more points now is probably cheaper than at any other point in the future (assuming direct and not part of a larger purchase), so we emailed our guide to switch to 300 points, split between FW 49 for 135, and then two smaller at 85 and 80. Good gracious but the deadline today is, uh...inspiring lol.

Why did we switch FW? Honestly, while Week 7 is soo good on paper, I don't know that we'd personally really use it. Even if we go for Princess race weekends, that's more likely to be a Tuesday-Tuesday trip or shorter, especially at that time of year when the points chart is higher.

I've always enjoyed the holiday decorations at Disney, and hubs' birthday is in mid-December, which is another reason to take vacations around then. FW 50 would have been more optimal to coincide with his birthday, but we picked 49 for hopefully lighter crowds and missing the Sorcerer pass block out dates.

3 slightly smaller contracts seems like it might be advantageous if we ever decide to sell any/all, and even though we won't have one single contract with the "magic 150" on it, we'll have a few different options for combining and deciding how many points to keep down the road.

Would love some reassurance this is a good move though...what do you think?

 

[Tatebeck]

Sooo after a lot of discussion and debate, we decided that adding 50 more points now is probably cheaper than at any other point in the future (assuming direct and not part of a larger purchase), so we emailed our guide to switch to 300 points, split between FW 49 for 135, and then two smaller at 85 and 80. Good gracious but the deadline today is, uh...inspiring lol.

Why did we switch FW? Honestly, while Week 7 is soo good on paper, I don't know that we'd personally really use it. Even if we go for Princess race weekends, that's more likely to be a Tuesday-Tuesday trip or shorter, especially at that time of year when the points chart is higher.

I've always enjoyed the holiday decorations at Disney, and hubs' birthday is in mid-December, which is another reason to take vacations around then. FW 50 would have been more optimal to coincide with his birthday, but we picked 49 for hopefully lighter crowds and missing the Sorcerer pass block out dates.

3 slightly smaller contracts seems like it might be advantageous if we ever decide to sell any/all, and even though we won't have one single contract with the "magic 150" on it, we'll have a few different options for combining and deciding how many points to keep down the road.

Would love some reassurance this is a good move though...what do you think?

We went for 300 as well, for the same reason. The 50 points from 250 to 300 are only 148/pt I think after the 250 points at 164/pt. Most likely cheaper than any points for any new resorts will be in the future, unless you are buying another very large contract in the future.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

We went for 300 as well, for the same reason. The 50 points from 250 to 300 are only 148/pt I think after the 250 points at 164/pt. Most likely cheaper than any points for any new resorts will be in the future, unless you are buying another very large contract in the future.

I think those last 50 come out to $152 ea (first 250 at $168) for us as brand new members, but still, same idea. This will probably be our only big purchase (never say never lol) so might as well get while the getting's good, eh?

 

[Tatebeck]

Oh, yeah, my pricing was current member add-on. Still pretty good for brand new members too though!