What SAP to buy?

[KalamityJane]

Help me figure out where to buy?

We will be booking 1-2bdr (or possibly 2 studios). We are in Idaho but have family in Orlando and will stay at WDW, DLR and AUL. Down the line I’m looking to buy VGC if it’s not too crazy but obviously that’s not happening right now.

We’d like to go to DLR in Jan potentially (and if I can’t get a 2bdr at 7mo at VGC, will head to AUL or WDW).

I am thinking resale sub dues AUL or SSR for right now while waiting to see how VGC turns out?

We could buy VDH direct, but I’m not in love with the restrictions and TOT and potential drop in resale value. Also, I’d prefer to have 2022 points to work with, and VDH will only have 2023 points. If we buy a different resort direct, we could do better, just not sure which we should buy at.

We have rented for over a decade but haven’t bought yet, so can’t buy VDH until 5/30 anyway. Worth buying direct or go for the SAP resale? If buying direct, which resort holds its value in resale decently?

What would you all say we should do? TIA!


(So far we’ve stayed at VGC, DLH, BWV, BCV, AKV, BLT, SSR, Fort Wilderness, visited I think all of the deluxes, favs are Fort Wilderness, VGC and AKV).

 

[Ashlotte]

Subsidized Aulani points are the best SAP, especially if you actually want to go to Aulani from time to time.

 

[intamin]

Don't count on using SAP at DL which it doesn't seem like you are since you're going to be getting VGC down the line. SSR is always a solid choice for SAP just from a price per point perspective. I opted for subsidized Aulani personally because I do plan to go regularly to Hawai'i as I am from the west coast and don't mind using these points as SAP at WDW. I would also consider BLT/CCV as solid SAP options, they both have a long time left on their contracts and will maintain their value being MK resorts. Plus their home booking window is also valuable for both of them. I'd own BLT/CCV likely if I weren't planning to buy Poly 2.

 

[perchy]

GFV are my SAP, believe it or not. They are easing me into direct points, and dues are low. So if you need direct points, this would be my recommendation. There are no restrictions on GFV! I can use them at RIV. I have yet to use them at GFV. lol.

 

[Nursemanit]

SAP is a thing of the past. - pick your favorite and buy direct if you can afford it. If not, VGF / Poly / CC resale. (Unless you are currently in your 60s) if you buy at SSR you will be staying at SSR in as short as 10 years.

 

[intamin]

As @Nursemanit above me stated something to consider is that as more and more resorts are introduced those points will make it harder for resale owners to stay anywhere but their home resort as it introduces more people who are switching into other resorts but not allowing you to switch into theirs at 7 months. At the end of the day you can still buy SAP, but make sure those points are somewhere you don't mind staying at until the end of the deed expiration. This is why I bought RIV, AKV and Aulani (sub). With me also planning to own poly either resale direct if necessary for poly 2, I'm guaranteeing I have a home resort in each area of WDW and at Aulani. Will likely end up getting some VGC down the line as well but if I'm only able to stay at these resorts it doesn't bother me because I love all of them.

 

[KalamityJane]

SAP is a thing of the past. - pick your favorite and buy direct if you can afford it. If not, VGF / Poly / CC resale. (Unless you are currently in your 60s) if you buy at SSR you will be staying at SSR in as short as 10 years.

This is a very good point!

 

[KalamityJane]

As @Nursemanit above me stated something to consider is that as more and more resorts are introduced those points will make it harder for resale owners to stay anywhere but their home resort as it introduces more people who are switching into other resorts but not allowing you to switch into theirs at 7 months. At the end of the day you can still buy SAP, but make sure those points are somewhere you don't mind staying at until the end of the deed expiration. This is why I bought RIV, AKV and Aulani (sub). With me also planning to own poly either resale direct if necessary for poly 2, I'm guaranteeing I have a home resort in each area of WDW and at Aulani. Will likely end up getting some VGC down the line as well but if I'm only able to stay at these resorts it doesn't bother me because I love all of them.

We have very similar taste in resorts

 

[KeithSS]

SAP is a thing of the past. - pick your favorite and buy direct if you can afford it. If not, VGF / Poly / CC resale. (Unless you are currently in your 60s) if you buy at SSR you will be staying at SSR in as short as 10 years.

I agree with this as well, pretty soon your resort options if you own resale will be cut dramatically, you wont be able to use resale points at RIV, VDH, Poly2(prob), CFW, and in 2042 BCV, BWV and BRV. Hoenstly its the biggest reason to either buy resale where you want to stay every time, or buy direct so you dont have to worry about it. The upfront $$ difference is real $$ for sure, but you arent getting the same product for the $$ either. Its apple to oranges IMO. As an added bonus you can save $$ on AP's being direct as well. Obviously do the math and depending on how many points you are talking about it can be a deal breaker or not. Anything under 100 points isnt worth resale IMO. Ive been wrestling with the same thing myself..I can get 100 poijts resale for what 50 will cost me direct. But all my other contracts are direct and im worried about all of those points I listed above. Im also worried that it will be a PITA to deal with some points of 1 product and some points of another, because at this point I think we can all agree they arent the same thing (resale vs direct) and its only going to get more divided as the years go on. Restrictions arent going away now, and I would be shocked is Poly was part of the same association at this point.

 

[Nursemanit]

I agree with this as well, pretty soon your resort options if you own resale will be cut dramatically, you wont be able to use resale points at RIV, VDH, Poly2(prob), CFW, and in 2042 BCV, BWV and BRV. Hoenstly it’s the biggest reason to either buy resale where you want to stay every time, or buy direct so you dont have to worry about it. The upfront $$ difference is real $$ for sure, but you arent getting the same product for the $$ either. It’s apple to oranges IMO. As an added bonus you can save $$ on AP's being direct as well. Obviously do the math and depending on how many points you are talking about it can be a deal breaker or not. Anything under 100 points isnt worth resale IMO. Ive been wrestling with the same thing myself..I can get 100 poijts resale for what 50 will cost me direct. But all my other contracts are direct and im worried about all of those points I listed above. Im also worried that it will be a PITA to deal with some points of 1 product and some points of another, because at this point I think we can all agree they arent the same thing (resale vs direct) and its only going to get more divided as the years go on. Restrictions arent going away now, and I would be shocked is Poly was part of the same association at this point.

Agree - I have 100 resale BWV and 100 Poly resale - with 250 direct RR. While the BWV points are fine as they are used exclusively for 1 week a year in Sept, the resale poly SAP are annoying since I can’t combine them with the RR. Once you go restricted you really only benefit from direct points.

 

[Cyberc1978]

SAP is a thing of the past.

We have to agree to disagree.

I just recently went into ROFR with a SSR contract at $81 pp, with all 2023 points and approx half of 2022 banked into 2023. I'm gonna use them as SAP, together with my other SSR and VGF points.

Basically all of my points except for AKV, CCV and BWV are my SAP points. I got them cheap and use them at other resorts than their home resort.

If you can purchase the points at a cheap enough price I would use them as SAP. I know you also have the annual dues and of course they also play a role regarding using the points as SAP or not, but both SSR and VGF have dues that are in the lower end compared to others. That's also why I wouldn't use VB or HHI as SAP - heck I don't want to own them because of the high dues.

In the current market there are good options to purchase a new contract and potentially use them as SAP.

 

[Nursemanit]

We have to agree to disagree.

I just recently went into ROFR with a SSR contract at $81 pp, with all 2023 points and approx half of 2022 banked into 2023. I'm gonna use them as SAP, together with my other SSR and VGF points.

Basically all of my points except for AKV, CCV and BWV are my SAP points. I got them cheap and use them at other resorts than their home resort.

If you can purchase the points at a cheap enough price I would use them as SAP. I know you also have the annual dues and of course they also play a role regarding using the points as SAP or not, but both SSR and VGF have dues that are in the lower end compared to others. That's also why I wouldn't use VB or HHI as SAP - heck I don't want to own them because of the high dues.

In the current market there are good options to purchase a new contract and potentially use them as SAP.

Already this year December would have you piecing together single nights - in 10 years it will be all but August

My point is 7 month availability is dwindling not that you can’t get them for cheap.

 

[Cyberc1978]

Already this year December would have you piecing together single nights - in 10 years it will be all but August

My point is 7 month availability is dwindling not that you can’t get them for cheap.

Well this year and next BWV have the refurb and that is limit it the availability.

With that said the availability is always limited during fall because everyone wants to go.

However for 2023 I have been able to book BWV for December and CCV for Oct all within the 7 months window.

For future bookings I hope to be able get BCV.

 

[Sandisw]

Well this year and next BWV have the refurb and that is limit it the availability.

With that said the availability is always limited during fall because everyone wants to go.

However for 2023 I have been able to book BWV for December and CCV for Oct all within the 7 months window.

For future bookings I hope to be able get BCV.

I don't think anything has ever been impossible. But, at this point, with the restrictions, things of the past are changing and will change and getting those near park resorts at 7 months will be increasingly harder.

Anyone buying now should at least realize that and if debating where to buy, pick one that you would not mind staying at if you can't trade out at 7 months to something that works for you.

While still about 18 1/2 years away, BWV and BCV are really popular places that people want to trade into and losing those is going to change the landscape for options for resale owners, regardless of whether those resorts come back as DVC or not.

 

[RoseGold]

If you're buying enough points for a 2BR at DL, this is a 300 point discussion. You can either pay $30K for SSR resale points or $60K for direct DL points. You won't be able to use either at VGC, especially a 2BR. Maybe you get lucky and can book a 1BR.

The question is if you are focused on California or Florida, because these are completely different strategies. And they don't overlap unless you want to pony up and extra 30K and have 60K lying around. That's a lot of money for hotel rooms at Disneyland.

If SSR points will mostly work for what you want to do (WDW not peak), it's very hard IMO to justify spending an extra 30K on this. But if you are California focused, DL direct is this is the only entry point.

And sure, in 10-15 years, SSR points will have a lot less options. That's a long time from now, and I never planned to hold that long. If you don't either, then I don't see why you would even consider direct.

I'm opposed to Aulani in general, for reasons beaten to death in other threads, and especially if you aren't focused on actually staying at Aulani. I would take SSR/CCV/BLT resale over Aulani, and DLT/VGF direct over Aulani. I'm not sure why anyone would buy Aulani direct right now with the resale delta.

 

[RoseGold]

My point is 7 month availability is dwindling not that you can’t get them for cheap.

I agree generally in principle in many years, and if DVC keeps pumping millions of points into the system, but I don't see that happening right now at all. I planned both of my summer trips at 4ish months, and I'm BC, BW, GF, and Poly. I was able to get exactly what I wanted. Heck, I booked a 1BR BW for FL spring break without BW points.

I think 2BRs are among the most difficult to predict in availability because there aren't many of them and they are so point heavy.

 

[PBandJFamwich]

We are doing AUL subsidized resale (160) for SAP and will possibly add on small direct contracts at VDH (50-75?) and FW (75-100)…if VDH is still on sale when we are ready to purchase. We will likely do AUL trips every 3-5 years so having 2 nights at DL would be nice as a long layover before Hawaii in addition to an occasional DL only trip. I also think the cabins at FW would make such fun trips; we’ve liked the idea of “camping” there but don’t have an RV and tent camping in Florida sounds awful.

 

[Nursemanit]

I agree generally in principle in many years, and if DVC keeps pumping millions of points into the system, but I don't see that happening right now at all. I planned both of my summer trips at 4ish months, and I'm BC, BW, GF, and Poly. I was able to get exactly what I wanted. Heck, I booked a 1BR BW for FL spring break without BW points.

I think 2BRs are among the most difficult to predict in availability because there aren't many of them and they are so point heavy.

I could not swap my Dec for any resort but SSR at 7 months

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

Again with the hand wringing about BCV and BWV no longer contributing their, what, 10-20 rooms per night at 7 months? in 18 years. At the same time that most of the owners of the second largest SAP resort lose their points.

I can’t stress enough how much one should not worry about that.

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

I could not swap my Dec for any resort but SSR at 7 months

That’s been true in December for approximately since BWV opened in 1996.