Whats the best way to start?

[TheDisneyDaddy526]

My wife and I want 2 home resorts, we were thinking of splitting 100 points directly from Disney so 50 at one resort and 50 at the other. This will let us have the 100 total needed for the membership and perks. After that we were going to buy resale. Is this a good plan to become a DVC member or is there a better way?

 

[EAHajd]

For us, the best way we started was to decide our home and then find out how many points we would need to book the amount of time we wanted. If you split between 2 resorts, you can use one set of points at 11 months and the other at 7 and vice versa. Then you can use both sets wherever you want at 7 months out.

I hope that makes sense. We purchased 100 points Resale so that at 11 months I can book the 6 nights that we wanted at our home resort. Hope this helps a little.

If this is wrong, please let me know! Still learning here but this is how it was described to me.

 

[TheDisneyDaddy526]

For us, the best way we started was to decide our home and then find out how many points we would need to book the amount of time we wanted. If you split between 2 resorts, you can use one set of points at 11 months and the other at 7 and vice versa. Then you can use both sets wherever you want at 7 months out.

I hope that makes sense. We purchased 100 points Resale so that at 11 months I can book the 6 nights that we wanted at our home resort. Hope this helps a little.

If this is wrong, please let me know! Still learning here but this is how it was described to me.

The salesman at DVC told us with splitting the 100 points with them gives us 2 home resorts and that will let us be able to book 11 months out for both resorts.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The salesman at DVC told us with splitting the 100 points with them gives us 2 home resorts and that will let us be able to book 11 months out for both resorts.

But only with the 50 points of that resort. Cannot combine until 7.

You can bank and borrow. But not combine.

 

[siren0119]

But only with the 50 points of that resort. Cannot combine until 7.

You can bank and borrow. But not combine.

This.

You will be able to use 50 points at each of your home resorts at 11 months, but will not be able to use the combined 100 points until the 7 month mark. It's workable if you plan on splitting your stay between the two resorts (and provided 50 points gets you the amount of time you want at the individual resort), or if you bank/borrow as PP mentioned and don't vacation every year.

 

[kboo]

What are the 2 resorts you're considering? And is your plan to upsize later if if you find out you like DVC?

 

[Sandisw]

50 points, depending on home resort, isn’t going to get you a lot at 11 months, unless you use banking or borrowing to give you more.

Some people will do this and just alternate a yearly trip. Book resort A using 50 and borrowing 50 in year one, and then book resort B in year 2 using banking.

Since your plan it so add on resale later, I might pick which resort I want to start with, buy 100 there, and then add on at the other.

With 2 home resorts, if you booking at 11 months, if you didn’t want to have to borrow, would require a split stay as you’d have to book each resort.

Just some thoughts to think about with contracts that small.

 

[TheDisneyDaddy526]

What are the 2 resorts you're considering? And is your plan to upsize later if if you find out you like DVC?

We are thinking copper creek and boardwalk. We are looking 100 contracts for those resorts giving us 150 total. How far does 150 go at copper creek and boardwalk around January?

 

[siren0119]

We are thinking copper creek and boardwalk. We are looking 100 contracts for those resorts giving us 150 total. How far does 150 go at copper creek and boardwalk around January?

You can actually look online at 2020 point charts to see how many points are needed at various times of the year. It's all publicly available.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

You can actually look online at 2020 point charts to see how many points are needed at various times of the year. It's all publicly available.

I'd add that Copper Creek's studio availability is not much from what I've read.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Nor is BWV Standard, so I'd not guesstimate too hard based on Standard booking.

 

[ELMC]

My wife and I want 2 home resorts, we were thinking of splitting 100 points directly from Disney so 50 at one resort and 50 at the other. This will let us have the 100 total needed for the membership and perks. After that we were going to buy resale. Is this a good plan to become a DVC member or is there a better way?

We are thinking copper creek and boardwalk. We are looking 100 contracts for those resorts giving us 150 total. How far does 150 go at copper creek and boardwalk around January?

I think you are skipping a few steps. First I would perform a cost/benefit analysis of DVC vs. your other options to determine what resorts and at what costs would make sense for you. You'll need to come to this conclusion on your own but I would suggest that at $200 per point for only 22 years of membership left, buying BWV direct is not going to work out mathematically. Then you should analyze direct vs. resale at the various resorts and what the cost of those perks would actually be. There I would suggest that at $220 per point, the difference between direct CCV and resale would also not be worth it.

If after performing this analysis you decide that you want to go direct, I would advise that you look at a more reasonably priced home resort. I would also advise against splitting 100 points over two contracts. It will be a challenge to manage, especially if you are unable to find a standard studio and need to book a more expensive room category. Also, booking standard studios at BWV or studios of any kind at CCV typically require walking a reservation, and with only 50 points you will not have enough purchasing power to do this effectively. Finally, if you still decide that direct is for you, I would suggest buying resale first and then buy the direct points because it will be easier to match UY buying direct than it will be trying to find a resale contract that matches your direct UY.

It sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you if you want to do this thoughtfully. Good luck!

 

[TheDisneyDaddy526]

I think you are skipping a few steps. First I would perform a cost/benefit analysis of DVC vs. your other options to determine what resorts and at what costs would make sense for you. You'll need to come to this conclusion on your own but I would suggest that at $200 per point for only 22 years of membership left, buying BWV direct is not going to work out mathematically. Then you should analyze direct vs. resale at the various resorts and what the cost of those perks would actually be. There I would suggest that at $220 per point, the difference between direct CCV and resale would also not be worth it.

If after performing this analysis you decide that you want to go direct, I would advise that you look at a more reasonably priced home resort. I would also advise against splitting 100 points over two contracts. It will be a challenge to manage, especially if you are unable to find a standard studio and need to book a more expensive room category. Also, booking standard studios at BWV or studios of any kind at CCV typically require walking a reservation, and with only 50 points you will not have enough purchasing power to do this effectively. Finally, if you still decide that direct is for you, I would suggest buying resale first and then buy the direct points because it will be easier to match UY buying direct than it will be trying to find a resale contract that matches your direct UY.

It sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you if you want to do this thoughtfully. Good luck!

We are going to buy where we want to stay. Is it smart to buy vero beach or Hilton head points and using it at 7 months for other resorts? Is it really difficult to book at 7 months? The time of the year does not really matter for us.

 

[Sandisw]

We are going to buy where we want to stay. Is it smart to buy vero beach or Hilton head points and using it at 7 months for other resorts? Is it really difficult to book at 7 months? The time of the year does not really matter for us.

If your plan is not to use them there ever, then I say no, You can buy SSR for less, when you consider buy in and MFs and longer contract life is you just want points to try and change to some place different at 7 months.

I own 500 SSR points as part of my ownership for this reason. if I can stay elsewhere with these points for my trips, wonderful. if not, then I’m at SSR and saving points for another trip. I also own BWV for stays of Food and Wine and now RIV for stays with family and stays with friends where walking to the parks is not an option for them.

I have had good luck in changing out at 7 months but things are getting harder and I have had to do some work in getting things where I want them..meaning using wait lists but also stalking of the website.

Buy where you want yo stay but also don’t buy a place you would not be happy with,,,for whatever reason,,if that is all you could get.

DVC is way to expensive to buy something that might prove frustrating down the road.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

If you want studios, 7 month booking will be q beast. If you ever want BWV or CCV, you can assume little availability of either at 7.

"Membership" is marketing talk. It is a timeshare. What perks do you think you want or need?

 

[TheDisneyDaddy526]

If you want studios, 7 month booking will be q beast. If you ever want BWV or CCV, you can assume little availability of either at 7.

"Membership" is marketing talk. It is a timeshare. What perks do you think you want or need?

I would like the discounts on food, moonlight events, and do some Disney cruises. Are you asking because you think all resale points is the way to go?

 

[EAHajd]

I would like the discounts on food, moonlight events, and do some Disney cruises. Are you asking because you think all resale points is the way to go?

For us, the discounts on the food and the special events did not make up for what we saved buying Resale (Thousands of dollars). It all depends on how many trips per year you would like to make.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

I would like the discounts on food, moonlight events, and do some Disney cruises. Are you asking because you think all resale points is the way to go?

1) The cost of "upgrading" from resale to direct is in general a lot more money than the savings you will see on food. In general, the food savings are about 10%. In general there is about a $60 spread between resale and direct. On 100 point contract, that means a direct purchase is $6,000 more than a resale purchase. In order to save $6,000 on food at 10%, you need to spend $60,000 on food. Plus, if you have an annual pass, you generally get that discount anyways. So really you need to save $60,000 on food going once per year.

2) Moonlight magic events are only available to direct buyers as you mentioned. But again, you can get into a lot of paid after hours events for $6,000. Plus there are only about 10 to 15 moonlight magic events per year. They may not even line up with your dates.

3) Your mathematically better off renting your points and taking the cash to use on a cruise. The direct conversion rate is not very good. Plus, you will need a LOT more than 100 points to be able to take a cruise on points.

In my opinion, there are really only two "perks" that may be worth the increased price of direct, depending on travel habits, family size, and preferences.

1) Annual pass discount. For those outside of Florida, you can get an annual pass for about $400 less. The way we intend on travelling is to travel 51 weeks apart so that one annual pass can cover two trips. For a family of 4, this is about a $1600 savings every two years.

2) Ability to use points at "new" resorts. Call it FOMO if you want, but for us personally, we did not like the idea of spending all this money and committing to DVC for the long haul with the inability to stay at any new resorts that they may or may not build. We personally bought 75 points so that with the powers of borrowing and banking we can stay at a "new" resort once every 3 years. During the other years, we would use our resale points.

Of course, other than the "new" resort "perk", all of this can be taken away at any time.

 

[kboo]

I did a post last week I think, on what "value" I got from buying direct. I will look for it and add here ...

I first bought direct when the buy in was only 25 points, and then it was a decent option when factoring in everything, but largely the annual pass discounts. It is not likely to be worth the thousands more dollars you will spend to buy direct, especially at resorts that are >$200 per point. Also thought we'd like to be direct (at 25 points direct) to have access to Moonlight magic special events and maybe member cruises. Years later, we have gone on exactly ZERO member cruises and been to ZERO MM events.

In order to save $6,000 on food at 10%, you need to spend $60,000 on food. Plus, if you have an annual pass, you generally get that discount anyways. So really you need to save $60,000 on food going once per year.

Also if you have an AP you can buy Tables in Wonderland which also gets you 20% discounts on sit down restaurants. You don't need DVC for that.

Edited: Here is the post I was talking about - note that this was using 25 points at $185 pp, and the first bullet point, "Plat+ AP for the price of Gold" deal has not been seen since 2017:

Blue Card Direct Perks I have used (only a 25-pt member until Riviera and the Most Expensive Backpack Ever):

• That Plat+ Pass for the price of gold AP hit at the perfect time for us. We bought 2 years' worth for 3 people: (6 x $550 = difference between gold price and nondiscounted PPAP = $3300)
• 1 discounted PPAP for the 3yo = ($220)
• 3 PPAP renewals ($900 - we'd actually missed the renewal date and they made a 1x exception for us)
• 1 Epcot Lounge visit ($10?)
• DVC discount on MNSSHP for 3 ($75?)
• DVC discount on HS After Hours ($50?)

Total savings (estimated) ~ $4500
$4625 for our 25 direct points

 

[Sandisw]

I would like the discounts on food, moonlight events, and do some Disney cruises. Are you asking because you think all resale points is the way to go?

I think the piece of resale vs. direct that I consider more of a consideration for a new buyer is the new resorts. Resale points are only eligible for the L14 so Rivera and any future resorts. How important will that be?

if you own both direct and resale points, some of what you own will be eligible. if you go all resale, none will.

In terms of cruises, the value is not really there and you can rent points and pay cash for less, Although, you Have to be willing to do that.

In terms of perks, the AP discount is the one that really makes a possible direct purchase worth buying those 100 points because one can always buy a regularly priced AP get Food and merchandise discounts.