What would you do?

[intamin]

Looking for some advice from the hive mind.

We currently own 335 direct points at Riviera in an April UY, 200 resale points at Aulani and 125 resale points at AKV in a March UY totaling 660 points.

I want us to own a MK home resort. The ship has sailed on VGF direct and we chose that because if we were going to pay that many points for a MK resort it'd be Poly. I essentially want us to own enough to grab at least 3 nights in a 2BR at an MK resort.

We don't really have the funds to buy right now but probably in a few years I will. Currently funds are depleted from planning a Disney wedding and then going to have to buy a house a couple years after that which obviously takes priority

Which leads me to my question, would you do resale at Poly? Would you do direct? Would you do resale BLT? And if so, which use year would you put it in? It's awfully tempting to sell AKV and just keep Aulani by itself and then have April be my WDW use year. Also how many points would you purchase? I like BLT but part of me feels like I don't need to own there because lake view is so easily available. Kind of wanting direct just so I can combine with Riviera at 7 months at resale restricted resorts and these will probably be my last set of points. Any thoughts on how you would approach this is appreciated as always

 

[Sandisw]

While I have 3 UYs, it works because I like to do split stays and we stay several times a year so use them at different times.

I am not a fan of restricted resale because I love RIV so it leaves that out, unless it’s more resale RIV.

So, I’d go direct with Poly. Since you already are thinking about selling AKV, I’d put them in April UY, so if you do ever decide to do that, PVB isn’t alone with AUL.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

My vote is direct @ POLY with April UY…and I’d probably sell AKV as well. I am in a similar situation except that I own VGF resale but already finding it frustrating that I can’t combine with my 300 RIV direct at 7 months.

I already sold one of my VGF, which pains me bc I do prefer VGF over POLY…the desire to combine is stronger.

As for how many points, that is a little tougher. I am selling 200 and will probably end up buying a single FW @ POLY (~150 pts) to use when not combining…so maybe something similar?

 

[Cfabar1]

I'd sell AKV as well, if only to end up in the same use year... You could rebuy it in another UY it's not exactly a hard resort to come by....

Then I'd suggest buying the Poly points to line up with your RIV UY... You already have a healthy amount of RIV points which you can use at RIV or Future resorts, so I'd take the cost savings and buy resale for Poly... Remember you can bank and borrow those points should you really need them for lakeshore lodge or whatever comes next...

especially in a year or two I would expect prices to continue to plummet on resale Poly...

 

[Chili327]

While I have 3 UYs, it works because I like to do split stays and we stay several times a year so use them at different times.

I am not a fan of restricted resale because I love RIV so it leaves that out, unless it’s more resale RIV.

So, I’d go direct with Poly. Since you already are thinking about selling AKV, I’d put them in April UY, so if you do ever decide to do that, PVB isn’t alone with AUL.

Yes, exactly this.!!
Don’t sell AKV unless you need to in order to purchase this new contract. But direct Poly in April seems like the best idea.
Sell AKV later if needed, and it will leave Aulani on its own.

 

[sethschroeder]

This is really broken down in to separate areas for me.

• Which resort
  • BLT - Love the points chart, short walk to MK but dislike the room/resort look, trip to Epcot
  • POLY - Love the resort look, getting to Epcot is much easier but dislike the points chart, trip to MK
• Month
  • April - like that its tied to RIV long term
  • March - likely selling all these resorts off if it were me personally

I would do BLT with April UY. I choose this because it matches the RIV contract which would be long term the contract I hold along with POLY (selling the others or they expire sooner). I would also choose BLT because of the easier walk to MK (since you already have RIV it sounds like for split stays) and you will be saving plenty of points over the years on the 2BR (plus who knows how hard it will be to get a 2BR at POLY).

 

[sethschroeder]

Doing some very rough math I am showing that BLT would save me around $250/night in the summer?

498 for a week at POLY in P level in summer vs $351 for a week at BLT in P level in summer for a 147 point difference or 21 points per night.

21 points with roughly $12/yr cost per point is $252/night in extra cost at POLY in a 2-Bedroom.

Unlike for Epcot where the lower priced resorts expire in 2042 the BLT contract expires in approximately the same amount of time as POLY.

 

[Brian Noble]

We don't really have the funds to buy right now but probably in a few years I will.

[...]

Any thoughts on how you would approach this is appreciated as always

Do nothing.

You can't act on any decision you make right now. In two years, a lot may have changed---the resale market might be very different, PVB may or may not still be available direct, and Lakeshore will probably be in play.

 

[intamin]

Do nothing.

You can't act on any decision you make right now. In two years, a lot may have changed---the resale market might be very different, PVB may or may not still be available direct, and Lakeshore will probably be in play.

That's true, regardless it'd be financially irresponsible for me to buy right now so I'm not going to do anything regardless of the advice given here and if I did this would probably be the last post I ever write on these boards because my wife would murder me. LSL is intriguing but unless they build a water park there I don't really imagine us wanting to own there tbh. I'm just trying to get an idea of how people would approach my situation

 

[intamin]

While I have 3 UYs, it works because I like to do split stays and we stay several times a year so use them at different times.

I am not a fan of restricted resale because I love RIV so it leaves that out, unless it’s more resale RIV.

So, I’d go direct with Poly. Since you already are thinking about selling AKV, I’d put them in April UY, so if you do ever decide to do that, PVB isn’t alone with AUL.

I think this is ultimately what I'm leaning toward but I can't help but think damn, I would get so much more bang for my buck at BLT and we really did enjoy our stay there. Walking back to BLT at the end of the night after July 4th or NYE fireworks is the dream. For the cost of 200 points of PVB direct, I could buy 300 points at BLT resale or simply buy 200 points of BLT resale and save approximately 14k. But at the same time like you said, being able to pair those points up with RIV would be really nice especially for booking a GV occasionally at 7 months which aren't that hard to get at RIV because of the charts.

 

[atthebeachclub]

Do 1 use year with BLT/RIV and you can bank and borrow and make it work, I imagine! I thought hard about buying Poly…but the location is just not as good as BLT. VGF, if priced appropriately, could give me pause though.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Sell AK, buy Poly resale unless they start to offer some real incentives.

 

[Brian Noble]

I'm just trying to get an idea of how people would approach my situation

I should probably try to explain; I wasn't being tongue in cheek.

Indeed, I think you'd be better off not making any decisions about preferences now. That's because if you do tell yourself you have a preference, it's more likely that you will stick with it, even if you might prefer a different decision if you approached the question with a blank slate in a few years. This is a form of anchoring. I've learned this the hard way over the last few years.

So I guess to put it another way: If I were in your exact position, I'd work to try to avoid making any decisions about preferences now, because I know there is a lot I don't (and can't) know.

 

[intamin]

I should probably try to explain; I wasn't being tongue in cheek.

Indeed, I think you'd be better off not making any decisions about preferences now. That's because if you do tell yourself you have a preference, it's more likely that you will stick with it, even if you might prefer a different decision if you approached the question with a blank slate in a few years. This is a form of anchoring. I've learned this the hard way over the last few years.

So I guess to put it another way: If I were in your exact position, I'd work to try to avoid making any decisions about preferences now, because I know there is a lot I don't (and can't) know.

Your post made me reflect, and I was like I want access to the tower and I want direct points, but I also want the value of resale BLT and those points charts are nice, I can't make a decision now..

So now I want both LOL. I don't feel like I MUST stay in the tower every year so it's probably better for me to do a bank and alternate strategy with direct Poly and resale BLT. Buy with what I can afford for a smaller amount of direct Poly and makes the most sense for us financially and then down the line consider resale BLT and since I can buy resale whenever, I don't have to push for it to happen immediately. I don't know if this was your intention but thank you for broadening my thought process LOL.

 

[Chili327]

Your post made me reflect, and I was like I want access to the tower and I want direct points, but I also want the value of resale BLT and those points charts are nice, I can't make a decision now..

So now I want both LOL. I don't feel like I MUST stay in the tower every year so it's probably better for me to do a bank/borrow strategy with direct Poly and resale BLT. Buy with what I can afford for a smaller amount of direct Poly and makes the most sense for us financially and then down the line consider resale BLT and since I can buy resale whenever, I don't have to push for it to happen immediately. I don't this was your intention but thank you for broadening my thought process LOL

That is my plan as well, add some resale to my BLT & a small direct (CCV or Poly)

 

[intamin]

That is my plan as well, add some resale to my BLT & a small direct (CCV or Poly)

View attachment 940489

Yeah I'm thinking of alternating every other year 150 at Poly direct and then 100-150 resale BLT. Then with that it guarantees 3 nights at Poly in a 2BR TPV aside from holiday season and then also guarantees multiple nights at BLT in a TPV 2BR. Obviously more nights if I do resort view. Originally the plan was the to do 200 to 250 direct Poly, but I actually really liked BLT when we did our staycation a couple Christmases ago and I wouldn't want to pay for rooms at BLT with expensive direct Poly points. This would also give me access to BLT during hard to book time periods like NYE, MNSSHP days, July 4th, etc.

 

[Chili327]

Yeah I'm thinking of alternating every other year 150 at Poly direct and then 100-150 resale BLT. Then with that it guarantees 3 nights at Poly in a 2BR TPV aside from holiday season and then also guarantees multiple nights at BLT in a TPV 2BR. Obviously more nights if I do resort view. Originally the plan was the to do 200 to 250 direct Poly, but I actually really liked BLT when we did our staycation a couple Christmases ago and I wouldn't want to pay for rooms at BLT with expensive direct Poly points. This would also give me access to BLT during hard to book time periods like NYE, MNSSHP days, July 4th, etc.

Funny, I do plan similarly, but instead of shifting the view I shift the Travel Period from 5 (Oct) to 2 (Jan), but not sure I will ever feel good about paying for TP view. lol

 

[intamin]

Funny, I do plan similarly, but instead of shifting the view I shift the Travel Period from 5 (Oct) to 2 (Jan), but not sure I will ever feel good about paying for TP view. lol

That's true, I always plan for more expensive views but somehow just end up doing more nights at WDW with a dumpster view

 

[marmentrout85]

The best answer is always BOTH!

This may or may not be a helpful exercise but ask yourself this:

If you already had those theoretical points at BLT would you still want points at Poly?

And on the flip side, if you already had points at Poly right now would you still feel the need to get points at BLT?

Depending on what your answer is to those questions it very well might be that both resale might be the best way to go.

I did, however, vote for Poly resale (April) in the poll. I like the overall cost savings compared to direct, like the paired UY with RIV, and also like that the dues are now (at least for the time being) cheaper than BLT and you get 6 more years on the deed. Plus I feel that having an 11 month advantage is more important to have at Poly for the tower compared to BLT. But that's just my $.02