When is enough points truly enough

[Kevin Hayes]

As a "newbie", I am purchasing a 175 SSR contract. I am already wondering if I purchased enough. I have a family that includes 5 adults. Other than banking and going every other year I am trying to develop a plan. It appears I would be better off in betting two Studios rather than one two bedroom. Any ideas?

 

[mickeyman]

If you can get value studios at animal kingdom or standard view at board walk you could stretch those points pretty far. Or even OKW studios

 

[Deb & Bill]

As a "newbie", I am purchasing a 175 SSR contract. I am already wondering if I purchased enough. I have a family that includes 5 adults. Other than banking and going every other year I am trying to develop a plan. It appears I would be better off in betting two Studios rather than one two bedroom. Any ideas?

Are your adults truly adults (18 or older) or the Disney guest aged 10+? If you can put at least one of the family who is at least 18 in one studio, then you can do two studios. If only two of you are 18 or older, you would have to split up to book two studios.

We're a family of three (and now our third has graduated from college and working full time at Disney) so we always got/get one bedroom villas since they work the best for us. But if your family is really adults, you might want either a two bedroom or two studios. But you give up stuff with two studios (I posted on your other thread). We had 500 points and sold two contracts so we now have 325 and that is a good number for us. We sold the two contracts because I hated giving so much of our money to Disney with member fees, park admission and everything else that goes along with a DVC trip. We don't do as much dining at Disney so we save money there. We bought extra passes a few years ago, so we aren't buying tickets. And, if our son's friends don't use all his guest passes, we might be able to use them for F&W and F&G for a few days. Plus we didn't pay Disney's current going rate for points either. Those are outrageous.

 

[Kevin Hayes]

Thanks for your replies. I could not afford to buy from Disney. I bought resale at $86 with some points banked. I hope I made a wise decision.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Thanks for your replies. I could not afford to buy from Disney. I bought resale at $86 with some points banked. I hope I made a wise decision.

Sounds like you got a fairly good deal.

 

[Dean]

As a "newbie", I am purchasing a 175 SSR contract. I am already wondering if I purchased enough. I have a family that includes 5 adults. Other than banking and going every other year I am trying to develop a plan. It appears I would be better off in betting two Studios rather than one two bedroom. Any ideas?

There are always options to stretch points including transferred points, renting, cash options to try other things, skipping a year, etc. I'm not sure the age of the "adult children" but it's unlikely all will be able to go every trip going forward and not unlikely you can't go as a family at times due to their commitments. Depending on ages and genders, a 1 BR that sleeps 5 might work for trips for now. OKW (requesting a building with outside BA access) and AKV standard Kidani (2 BA) might be the best options to do this and conserve points. BWV standard and AKV value are unlikely to be available though there no harm in checking. For trips when everyone can't go, a studio might work OK. I'd suggest you not plan so much for years down the road and use your points for now as you want within reason. If that means you're borrowed ahead and eventually forced out a year in a few, I think you're still better off using the points as you need them. Then if you see you truly do need more points, you'll have time to save and have enough knowledge and experience to make a better decision than one could make up front, maybe a second home resort.

 

[Judique]

Stick with your plan.

Disney can be an addiction for some.

I have friends who have 1100-1200 points. It almost seems like Disney is their life sometimes. For them, nothing else seems to measure up to Disney.

Use the 175 points to get what you want. Deb and Bill and Dean posted good answers, so I won't repeat.

For awhile I was tempted to go often - 2, 3, 4 times a year because that was what my friends were doing. Don't get me wrong - I love it there and can afford it. I just don't want to go that often any more.

But now, I also like other things and like my life to be more varied. So, the amount of points that get me a studio or a one bedroom are enough. A studio works for Food and Wine Festival - eating out more. A one bedroom works in January when parks close early and we cook dinner in the room some nights. My next trip won't be until 2017, although we will use some points at Hilton Head this summer.

 

[dvcmom14]

We are a family of four and currently have 260 points. We started with 100 points (bought direct) and have just closed on our resale contract for 160. We are kind of "trading" our points in. Now that we've closed on our 160 point contract, we're selling out 100 point contract. We haven't had any trouble going a few times a year with the points we have. We go during school breaks (usually) and don't mind staying in studios.

 

[girli565]

This is the exact question I am struggling with right now. We dipped our toes in with a 120pt resale at SSR and I'm already wondering if we should have bought more. I'd probably like another 80-100 points to be able to guarantee at least 5 trips a year (long weekends for flower & garden/star wars weekends/food & wine/xmas and one 5-6 night summer trip). But my husband has already told me that this is going to have to suffice for now lol. I'll see if I can convince him to add on next year.

 

[Minniesgal]

We are a family of 5 and we stopped at 430 points. We wanted to stay in 2 bedrooms and for 10-12 nights every other year and its perfect for us.

Once we are empty nester we will be able to go for about a month in 1 bedrooms.

The only way to figure out how many points you need is to work out when you want to go for a few years, where you want to stay and how many points that takes.

 

[disneynutz]

Start small and use the points to experience the DVC. Decide which resort(s) are your favorite, what size and category of room you enjoy. After the honeymoon is over you can adjust, sell and buy to guarantee booking at 11 months.

Bill

 

[Dean]

We are a family of 5 and we stopped at 430 points. We wanted to stay in 2 bedrooms and for 10-12 nights every other year and its perfect for us.

Once we are empty nester we will be able to go for about a month in 1 bedrooms.

The only way to figure out how many points you need is to work out when you want to go for a few years, where you want to stay and how many points that takes.

IMO new buyers or fairly new owners make some of their biggest mistakes on the fringes. They either go too small or too big. Frequently the too big is in the form of add ons too early in the process for them to know what's the best choices for them and while they're still wrapped up in the emotion of new ownership. Too small and they pay more per point overall and they end up having to find the right add on. Overall I think it best that those who are looking small to go up a little and those who are looking large to go down some. If one is looking 125 or less, it's frequently best to end up buying 150-170 or so. And for most looking at 300 or greater to cut it down somewhat.

 

[disneynutz]

IMO new buyers or fairly new owners make some of their biggest mistakes on the fringes. They either go too small or too big. Frequently the too big is in the form of add ons too early in the process for them to know what's the best choices for them and while they're still wrapped up in the emotion of new ownership. Too small and they pay more per point overall and they end up having to find the right add on. Overall I think it best that those who are looking small to go up a little and those who are looking large to go down some. If one is looking 125 or less, it's frequently best to end up buying 150-170 or so. And for most looking at 300 or greater to cut it down somewhat.

Exactly what we did, after buying 6 resorts we are happy with BWV, VWL, and VGF and didn't need the others.

Bill

 

[calypso726]

We started at 180 points which was enough to get a 2 bdrm for about a week at SSR with our friends once a year. We have no kids but our travel habits have changed over the years. We no longer go for a full week and instead go for weekend getaways. We are only 3 hours away so last minute trips are feasible. We added on several times over the years and have 1300 points now. We tend to bring family for extended weekends once a year and enjoy being able to treat the nieces and nephews. Our longer vacations are usually with Adventures by Disney but we still don't use our points for those. The value isn't there so I'd sooner rent them out and have the cash. Despite the fact we don't for extended time periods to Disney World anymore we still get a lot of value from our weekend escapes there. I don't see us selling any of our contracts anytime soon.