Well by sheer dumb luck one of my mother's friends was interested in getting out of their DVC contract. They paid it off years ago and haven't used it in some time so pretty much just wanted someone to take over the dues and pay for the transfer fees.(oh to have $$$) I basically stumbled into a gratuitous transfer of a 160 point contract at SSR. Got notified a few days ago from the title company that everything went through and received my copy of the deed in the mail today. What is next? They told me I would receive a welcome letter from Disney in the next 30 days. What do I need to know, tell me all the tips and tricks. I have been reading up but still feel a little clueless. TIA
What do I need to know about DVC?
- Thread starter RN jld
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2008
- Messages
- 45,035
Once you get the letter and figure out your account you can do as much or as little as you like to enjoy your points.
Some folks seem hyper...trading and renting and staying multiple places each visit. Sounds like work to me
. We are more laid back ....book 1 BR for hubby and I a couple of times a year and 3BR for us, kids, grands every few years. We've used a significant portion of our points on cruises....a use folks on here will tell you is NOT worth it but we don't care. We've also used points on the concierge collection and RCI when weddings, football games, etc. have us somewhere else.
The points needed for DVC stays depend on (1) size of unit, (2) location, (3) season and the variations can be significant. Studios, the cheapest stay, are often hard to come by.
Basically, YOU can book at SSR 11 months out, all others 7 months out - possible exception of Riviera which has new rules. The 11 and 7 months include the starting date of a reservation up to 7 days so on say June 1 you can book May 1-7. If you want to book at a high time, you need to be online as early as possible. Also, for trips that need higher points, you can skip a year and "bank" those points forward and can also borrow points from the following year. (This is currently capped at 50%). So your 166 points could become 166+166+83= 415 for a bigger stay or 498 once the cap is removed. There are banking deadlines (4 months) so pay attention to that so you don't lose points you can't use in a given year.
If you want to use points on anything other than DVC you unfortunately have to call which has become difficult and time consuming.
Enjoy...we are early purchasers and with our children and now grands have enjoyed every point!
Some folks seem hyper...trading and renting and staying multiple places each visit. Sounds like work to me
. We are more laid back ....book 1 BR for hubby and I a couple of times a year and 3BR for us, kids, grands every few years. We've used a significant portion of our points on cruises....a use folks on here will tell you is NOT worth it but we don't care. We've also used points on the concierge collection and RCI when weddings, football games, etc. have us somewhere else. The points needed for DVC stays depend on (1) size of unit, (2) location, (3) season and the variations can be significant. Studios, the cheapest stay, are often hard to come by.
Basically, YOU can book at SSR 11 months out, all others 7 months out - possible exception of Riviera which has new rules. The 11 and 7 months include the starting date of a reservation up to 7 days so on say June 1 you can book May 1-7. If you want to book at a high time, you need to be online as early as possible. Also, for trips that need higher points, you can skip a year and "bank" those points forward and can also borrow points from the following year. (This is currently capped at 50%). So your 166 points could become 166+166+83= 415 for a bigger stay or 498 once the cap is removed. There are banking deadlines (4 months) so pay attention to that so you don't lose points you can't use in a given year.
If you want to use points on anything other than DVC you unfortunately have to call which has become difficult and time consuming.
Enjoy...we are early purchasers and with our children and now grands have enjoyed every point!
sndral
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2008
- Messages
- 5,521
Once you have set up your account you can spend some time exploring the DVC website to become familiar with how it works. Typically you will use the website to book your vacation, when you enter your desired vacation dates/resorts in the plan a vacation tab a calendar will load showing what is available for booking - on the disboards we call this the RAT (resort availability tool.)
As mentioned, you can book your home resort -SSR in your case- 11 months before your planned vacation. If you fancy a stay elsewhere (like say, the Poly or VGF) you can book wherever else you want to stay 7 months before your planned vacation. Many people book their home resort (SSR for you) at 11 months then switch to their desired resort at 7 months, that way they have a place to stay if everything is booked elsewhere. SSR is relatively easy to book compared to some other resorts. Because of all the canceled vacations last year it will be harder than usual to get reservations, especially at 7 months for popular times and resorts, in the next year or two because all of those extra points that need to work through the system.
What is your use year? Your use year month is when your points ‘reload.’ Use year does not effect when you can book and has nothing to do w/ the 11/7 month booking window. It does effect which points can be used for a particular vacation. For example, I have a December use year, my current use year points are 2020 points and can be used for vacations occurring between 12/1/20 and 11/30/21. If I had a February use year my current use year points would be 2021 points which could be used on vacations occurring between 2/1/21 and 1/31/22.
If you have a year where you aren’t going to use all of that year’s points you can ‘bank’ them to be used for a vacation in the following use year. The important thing is that if you plan to bank, you must do so in the first 8 months of your use year. For my Dec. use year that’s by the end of July, for a Feb. use year that’s by the end of Sept.. In my case, I booked a trip for Dec. 2021 right at 11 months (January of this year) and banked the points & immediately used those just banked 2020 points for that trip.
If you want a vacation that ‘costs’ more points than current use year points + any banked points saved from last year, then you can borrow from next year’s points. In the past you could borrow all of next years points if needed, right now you can borrow 1/2 of next years points.
You have the option of setting up a monthly payment plan to pay your maintenance fees, many prefer that as it can be a bit of a financial hit to pay those dues all at once right after the holidays (they’re late if not paid by Feb.).
I think that since your contract is a gratuitous transfer and the original owners were probably blue card members you probably will be as well, which entitles you to DVC discounts, entry in members events, use of the lounges, and booking the Riviera - hopefully someone else will confirm this.
Oh, and if you’re a big Disney fan, what a wonderful gift, I hope you enjoy many great vacations in the future.
As mentioned, you can book your home resort -SSR in your case- 11 months before your planned vacation. If you fancy a stay elsewhere (like say, the Poly or VGF) you can book wherever else you want to stay 7 months before your planned vacation. Many people book their home resort (SSR for you) at 11 months then switch to their desired resort at 7 months, that way they have a place to stay if everything is booked elsewhere. SSR is relatively easy to book compared to some other resorts. Because of all the canceled vacations last year it will be harder than usual to get reservations, especially at 7 months for popular times and resorts, in the next year or two because all of those extra points that need to work through the system.
What is your use year? Your use year month is when your points ‘reload.’ Use year does not effect when you can book and has nothing to do w/ the 11/7 month booking window. It does effect which points can be used for a particular vacation. For example, I have a December use year, my current use year points are 2020 points and can be used for vacations occurring between 12/1/20 and 11/30/21. If I had a February use year my current use year points would be 2021 points which could be used on vacations occurring between 2/1/21 and 1/31/22.
If you have a year where you aren’t going to use all of that year’s points you can ‘bank’ them to be used for a vacation in the following use year. The important thing is that if you plan to bank, you must do so in the first 8 months of your use year. For my Dec. use year that’s by the end of July, for a Feb. use year that’s by the end of Sept.. In my case, I booked a trip for Dec. 2021 right at 11 months (January of this year) and banked the points & immediately used those just banked 2020 points for that trip.
If you want a vacation that ‘costs’ more points than current use year points + any banked points saved from last year, then you can borrow from next year’s points. In the past you could borrow all of next years points if needed, right now you can borrow 1/2 of next years points.
You have the option of setting up a monthly payment plan to pay your maintenance fees, many prefer that as it can be a bit of a financial hit to pay those dues all at once right after the holidays (they’re late if not paid by Feb.).
I think that since your contract is a gratuitous transfer and the original owners were probably blue card members you probably will be as well, which entitles you to DVC discounts, entry in members events, use of the lounges, and booking the Riviera - hopefully someone else will confirm this.
Oh, and if you’re a big Disney fan, what a wonderful gift, I hope you enjoy many great vacations in the future.
princesscinderella
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 27, 2011
- Messages
- 4,825
When it’s a gratuitous transfer the contract retains all it’s original direct benefits so you should be able to book Riviera and be a blue card holder as long as the contract was purchased before 2016.
4luv2cdisney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,400
WOW! Congrats to you!! Curious, did they know they could sell it for like $16K?!?!?!?
They said they thought about selling it but felt like they got their money out of it, we always spent hours talking about disney and how much my boys loved it.
4luv2cdisney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,400
That is truly awesome! So happy for you!
MonaMN
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2014
- Messages
- 1,158
Why don’t I know anyone like that? I talk about how much I love Disney all the time!!
The Jackal
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2017
- Messages
- 3,091
Congratulations and Welcome home. SSR just got refurbished and the rooms are really nice. Start saving $$ and pray Add-on-itis doesn’t set in.
RoseGold
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2020
- Messages
- 8,062
If you don't plan on using it, you need to rent out the points way earlier than you would expect. A lot of bookings require 7 month booking to keep their value, and that requires work on your part as an owner. It's not exactly complicated, but it will take some work and learning curve, and you need to know how to do it. Renting points out last minute is doable, but it will be worth less to you as an owner, and availability will be tough.
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