What is the new buyer's "Welcome Home" package? what should we do? Will OKW DVVC work for us? many questions...

[Babsy]

So, DH and I are finally intent on purchasing DVC. We are seniors and have looked at this many times, but never felt that it fit our travel priorities until now. I prefer to purchase direct, but we live in NL, Canada and can only purchase direct if we are in Florida. The prices to book WDW resorts now are ridiculously high! (Especially if you insist on having a balcony, like my DH!) So, I booked a trip next November and started looking at renting points or booking hotels. Looks like about $2500 - $5000 for the week at hotels - money that I would prefer to put into the DVC contract!

Apparently, you can purchase resale from NL, Canada. I don't understand how that works....but, hey, it's something.
So I took a look and just came across OKW for $80 per point with a UY in February. Feb is NOT a good use year for us. We travel between Nov and Jan, maybe Feb. So, I gather that we need a use year of October - December?
OKW may be an OK place to stay, but we typically like staying the the MK or Epcot areas.

On the positive side: The price is good and we can buy 100 points to use for the Nov trip when we buy VGF direct. But then we will be DVC already and will lose out on a Welcome Home package that Disney offers new DVC? I don't know what that is or how much value it has.

I don't know if I should buy this OKW DVC now? or if I should let it go, stay at an inexpensive WDW resort or the Swan/Dolphin in Nov and buy VGF or the Poly as a brand new DVC member. Also, I want to buy the 150 points direct to be full members.

At the same time, we are nearly 70 and may not have many years left travelling......so many things to consider and I need to decide today if getting OKW for $80 pp.

what should we do?

 

[DonMacGregor]

So, DH and I are finally intent on purchasing DVC. We are seniors and have looked at this many times, but never felt that it fit our travel priorities until now. I prefer to purchase direct, but we live in NL, Canada and can only purchase direct if we are in Florida. The prices to book WDW resorts now are ridiculously high! (Especially if you insist on having a balcony, like my DH!) So, I booked a trip next November and started looking at renting points or booking hotels. Looks like about $2500 - $5000 for the week at hotels - money that I would prefer to put into the DVC contract!

Apparently, you can purchase resale from NL, Canada. I don't understand how that works....but, hey, it's something.
So I took a look and just came across OKW for $80 per point with a UY in February. Feb is NOT a good use year for us. We travel between Nov and Jan, maybe Feb. So, I gather that we need a use year of October - December?
OKW may be an OK place to stay, but we typically like staying the the MK or Epcot areas.

On the positive side: The price is good and we can buy 100 points to use for the Nov trip when we buy VGF direct. But then we will be DVC already and will lose out on a Welcome Home package that Disney offers new DVC? I don't know what that is or how much value it has.

I don't know if I should buy this OKW DVC now? or if I should let it go, stay at an inexpensive WDW resort or the Swan/Dolphin in Nov and buy VGF or the Poly as a brand new DVC member. Also, I want to buy the 150 points direct to be full members.

At the same time, we are nearly 70 and may not have many years left travelling......so many things to consider and I need to decide today if getting OKW for $80 pp.

what should we do?

The “Welcome Home” trip is simply DVC helping a new owner book their first trip on points. Many times people will spend thousands and thousands on a DVC contract, only to realize that, depending on time of year and resort, there may be nothing available to book as far out as 6 or 7 months. In order to help get that first trip booked, DVC will try to use their own inventory to book at the new owners home resort, or will look at other resorts to try to find a room. And they’ll only do it for the very first trip for a brand new direct owner.

That’s all it is.

 

[Minniemoo15]

Hi from NB! We purchased resale from here and it all went smoothly. We are planning on adding on direct points in the future but not quite yet. We have been really happy with our purchase. My parents bought alongside us and were in their 60's. They had since added on a few times via resale.

$80s for OKW is a great price (especially if you aren't concerned with the 2042 expiration). Depending on when you travel and how flexible you are, you will likely be able to trade into something at the 7 month mark. Poly has good availability of studios most of the year. We are Poly owners and usually stay there, but we have also stayed at BCV, AKV, SSR and Vero Beach on our points.

One thing to keep in mind is that the resale process takes a couple of months. By then the availability for your November trip may be limited. Again, if you are flexible and willing to watch the website/waitlist - you will have better luck.

 

[RoseGold]

Before I bought a property interest in another country, I'd talk to your local estate lawyer. There a lot of ways to buy DVC, including as a company or a trust, or even in your heir's name, something like that, which might make more sense as an international buyer. It's easier to deal with these issues on the buy, than have to correct them later.

 

[I Run Long]

Hi from the other island on the west coast: Vancouver Island. We bought resale at the end of December 2020 with a December UY and did our first DVC trip Sept 2022. It was a very smooth process once we were able to pass ROFR. We tried 3 times with SSR, all 3 times Disney exercised ROFR. So we changed course and got a 180 pt AKV contract at $100/pt. We typically travel ever other year for 2 weeks and always stay in a 1 bdrm even though it is just me and DH. Now I know December isn't the best UY for when we typically travel but honestly unless you plan to cancel (we would have to be dead to do that), we didn't really worry about UY as much as finding the right contract at the right price. Incidentally we are both retired - I'm 60 and my DH is 70 - so a bit similar to your position. When you're retired you can pretty much travel when you like. I'll be banking my 2022 pts this year into 2023 and we'll be travelling Sept 2024. Also, when we went down last September we added 25 pts direct while on a Wish cruise just to give us a little more room - we love the savanna view. All this is to say, resale though it takes longer than direct, is not a problem when purchasing from Canada. You can't beat the price savings over direct. Given how the Cdn dollar is against the US dollar, not to mention the lack of real benefits of direct, I would only go resale. You have to look at direct and add about 35 to 40% to see what you as a Cdn would be paying. We only did direct for a small add-on since those are typically quite hard to find - especially for the size we got. Just google all the DVC resale sites and go hunting. There will be the perfect contract for you somewhere. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Redheadprincess]

So, DH and I are finally intent on purchasing DVC. We are seniors and have looked at this many times, but never felt that it fit our travel priorities until now. I prefer to purchase direct, but we live in NL, Canada and can only purchase direct if we are in Florida. The prices to book WDW resorts now are ridiculously high! (Especially if you insist on having a balcony, like my DH!) So, I booked a trip next November and started looking at renting points or booking hotels. Looks like about $2500 - $5000 for the week at hotels - money that I would prefer to put into the DVC contract!

Apparently, you can purchase resale from NL, Canada. I don't understand how that works....but, hey, it's something.
So I took a look and just came across OKW for $80 per point with a UY in February. Feb is NOT a good use year for us. We travel between Nov and Jan, maybe Feb. So, I gather that we need a use year of October - December?
OKW may be an OK place to stay, but we typically like staying the the MK or Epcot areas.

On the positive side: The price is good and we can buy 100 points to use for the Nov trip when we buy VGF direct. But then we will be DVC already and will lose out on a Welcome Home package that Disney offers new DVC? I don't know what that is or how much value it has.

I don't know if I should buy this OKW DVC now? or if I should let it go, stay at an inexpensive WDW resort or the Swan/Dolphin in Nov and buy VGF or the Poly as a brand new DVC member. Also, I want to buy the 150 points direct to be full members.

At the same time, we are nearly 70 and may not have many years left travelling......so many things to consider and I need to decide today if getting OKW for $80 pp.

what should we do?

Just my opinion, but unless you are passing this onto kids, stick with resale. The savings of up to 50% of are worth it. The "full members" you want to be are actually very little perks of value. The 10% dining and 20% merch discount might save you $100 per trip. The Epcot lounge is not that exciting. Moonlight Magic only happens a few times a year and not during your travel months. A meetn greet or Top of the world lounge again, not worth savings of thousands of dollars. The last benefit is exchanging into other vactions like Disney cruise line or Interval international. Those are not the best use of points.

 

[Babsy]

The “Welcome Home” trip is simply DVC helping a new owner book their first trip on points. Many times people will spend thousands and thousands on a DVC contract, only to realize that, depending on time of year and resort, there may be nothing available to book as far out as 6 or 7 months. In order to help get that first trip booked, DVC will try to use their own inventory to book at the new owners home resort, or will look at other resorts to try to find a room. And they’ll only do it for the very first trip for a brand new direct owner.

That’s all it is.

This is very good to know. I thought that it might be extra points for a vacation or something really beneficial. This is something that we may not even need. Thank you!

 

[Babsy]

Hi from NB! We purchased resale from here and it all went smoothly. We are planning on adding on direct points in the future but not quite yet. We have been really happy with our purchase. My parents bought alongside us and were in their 60's. They had since added on a few times via resale.

$80s for OKW is a great price (especially if you aren't concerned with the 2042 expiration). Depending on when you travel and how flexible you are, you will likely be able to trade into something at the 7 month mark. Poly has good availability of studios most of the year. We are Poly owners and usually stay there, but we have also stayed at BCV, AKV, SSR and Vero Beach on our points.

One thing to keep in mind is that the resale process takes a couple of months. By then the availability for your November trip may be limited. Again, if you are flexible and willing to watch the website/waitlist - you will have better luck.

Hi! from NL! it is good to know that it has worked out well for you. I am so unsure of this and the cost seems really high when you factor in all the expenses. We really don't know OKW well, so maybe we will rent points to try a stay before buying there.

thanks for sharing your insights!

 

[Babsy]

Before I bought a property interest in another country, I'd talk to your local estate lawyer. There a lot of ways to buy DVC, including as a company or a trust, or even in your heir's name, something like that, which might make more sense as an international buyer. It's easier to deal with these issues on the buy, than have to correct them later.

Really good advice. Thank you!

 

[Babsy]

Hi from the other island on the west coast: Vancouver Island. We bought resale at the end of December 2020 with a December UY and did our first DVC trip Sept 2022. It was a very smooth process once we were able to pass ROFR. We tried 3 times with SSR, all 3 times Disney exercised ROFR. So we changed course and got a 180 pt AKV contract at $100/pt. We typically travel ever other year for 2 weeks and always stay in a 1 bdrm even though it is just me and DH. Now I know December isn't the best UY for when we typically travel but honestly unless you plan to cancel (we would have to be dead to do that), we didn't really worry about UY as much as finding the right contract at the right price. Incidentally we are both retired - I'm 60 and my DH is 70 - so a bit similar to your position. When you're retired you can pretty much travel when you like. I'll be banking my 2022 pts this year into 2023 and we'll be travelling Sept 2024. Also, when we went down last September we added 25 pts direct while on a Wish cruise just to give us a little more room - we love the savanna view. All this is to say, resale though it takes longer than direct, is not a problem when purchasing from Canada. You can't beat the price savings over direct. Given how the Cdn dollar is against the US dollar, not to mention the lack of real benefits of direct, I would only go resale. You have to look at direct and add about 35 to 40% to see what you as a Cdn would be paying. We only did direct for a small add-on since those are typically quite hard to find - especially for the size we got. Just google all the DVC resale sites and go hunting. There will be the perfect contract for you somewhere. Good luck with your decision.

You are so right about the Can $ vs the USD right now! We are trying to be wise with how we choose to spend our vacation dollars. WDW is so expensive, but it's our happy place and a wonderful escape from dreary, dark NL winters! thank you so much for sharing your experiences. It is really helpful hearing from people in a similar situation to ours.

 

[Babsy]

Just my opinion, but unless you are passing this onto kids, stick with resale. The savings of up to 50% of are worth it. The "full members" you want to be are actually very little perks of value. The 10% dining and 20% merch discount might save you $100 per trip. The Epcot lounge is not that exciting. Moonlight Magic only happens a few times a year and not during your travel months. A meetn greet or Top of the world lounge again, not worth savings of thousands of dollars. The last benefit is exchanging into other vactions like Disney cruise line or Interval international. Those are not the best use of points.

You are certainly right that resale is probably the best economical way to go. Perhaps it will be the best way forward for us. There is so much to consider! Unless they bring annual passes and DVC discounts, then I think that you are probably right about buying resale over direct! Thank you so much for your input!

 

[smrice95]

We also love being next to MK or Epcot. Back in 2016, we rented points from some friends last minute and stayed at OKW. (DVC owners now! Once you do DVC you don't turn back! OLK the rooms are huge and it really is a great resort. It is spread out though and has many bus stops. You can book by hospitality house if you want to be close to main pool and Olivia's. There is also a boat that takes you to Disney Springs which is nice if you are not going into the parks everyday. I would look to see what is 7 months out every few weeks too so you have an idea of where else you can stay that typically has availability. Poly usually is a yes. Studios are harder to get than one bedrooms.

 

[Cfabar1]

My understanding was that resale CAN exchange into Interval international…. Is this not the case?

 

[Counting Stars]

Lots of good advice above. I also endorse skipping direct and just purchase resale. Buy where you want to stay. OKW is a beautiful resort and we stay there every two years or so... I love the Key West vibe and the easy access to Disney Springs. But if an Epcot or MK resort is your preference, wait for a contract in your price range to come available and put in an offer. Something will come along that suits your needs... There is no need to feel rushed or pressured. Its a "makes me happy" purchase, not an investment, so take your time and make sure you feel good about your selection. And I would pursue RoseGolds' suggestion as well.

 

[TCRAIG]

Just an FYI - OKW only has 3 buildings with elevators which are request only and not guaranteed. While it is absolutely one of my favorite resorts, I just can’t do stairs anymore…

 

[RoseGold]

Just an FYI - OKW only has 3 buildings with elevators which are request only and not guaranteed.

The workaround for this is to book the "accessible" category of rooms. But, it will put you on the first floor. And yea, ridiculous for a deluxe hotel to have no elevator.

 

[Sandisw]

My understanding was that resale CAN exchange into Interval international…. Is this not the case?

Yes, they can.

 

[TCRAIG]

The workaround for this is to book the "accessible" category of rooms. But, it will put you on the first floor. And yea, ridiculous for a deluxe hotel to have no elevator.

Accessibility rooms can also give your roll in showers and other accommodations that aren’t necessarily convenient for non-disabled…and I’m not a fan of ground floor…

 

[RoseGold]

Accessibility rooms can also give your roll in showers and other accommodations that aren’t necessarily convenient for non-disabled…and I’m not a fan of ground floor…

Well, it's an option if you can't do the stairs. You can also request accessible in the notes. I have done this before and gotten it. People who don't want accessible rooms would prefer not to have them, so this is a request that probably will get filled if they have it.

 

[Babsy]

Hello all! thanks for all the tips and great advice! We decided to let the OKW contract slide. It was an excellent price, but not quite what we wanted.....the UY will be important to us so we are looking for October UY. Also, the lack of elevators is an excellent point. I can do the stairs now, but who knows for how long? The accessible rooms is a good tip, but I think that I would prefer to just have a home resort where I don't have that concern.


There are some nice 100 point VGF contracts available with October UY, which is what I REALLY want. I think that I may just buy resale for now and buy direct later either more at VGF or maybe at the new Poly tower. Hopefully they will know if they will have any one or two bedrooms at the poly by November. In any case, owning at VGF or BCV is the dream so I am going wait until the right one of those two comes along. (and it may be here right now!)

Thank you so much everyone!!!!1