Who all has added on a 25 point contract direct with Disney and with what resort?

[SL6827]

Just wondering how many have done this just to get the direct member status. And with what resort did you do it? Do you regret it or was it a great decision looking back?

 

[skippytx]

Just added on 25 BLT points today. Did it for direct member status, and we can easily use the extra 25 points. Less than 2 hours after I hung up the phone the points were in my account, the online member ID card changed color, and I was able to see all the DVC member benefits I couldn't see before.

Worth it/Good decision? Too early to tell.

What influenced my decision to buy 25 points direct:
- wanted to get direct status while buy in is only 25 points. I can see them upping it to 50 points in the near future for folks that don't already have direct membership.
- wanted to get the current price, I think there's a price increase coming in the near future for BLT and VGF
- really could use the extra 25 points, gives us more flexibility in room selection
- To be honest I hate feeling like a second class citizen in situations. I may never go into the Epcot lounge or take advantage of any other perk, but by golly it would bother the heck out of me knowing that I couldn't. I know that sounds odd, but I'm being honest

What didn't
- Discounts, unfortunately we don't go often enough (famous last words right?) to take advantage of the AP discount.

 

[brookmey]

We bought SSR resale and a couple months later bought 25 direct for SSR. We wanted to add-on a small contract and those are very difficult to find in our UY through resale. We have no regrets. Like the PP, we may never use the perks of a direct member, but it's nice to know that we can.

 

[Dean1953]

I bought 30 BLT points 2 weeks ago. I could have bought 25 but, with 30 points, I can reserve two 15 point rooms when available. I bought for the perks and have a trip planned to WDW starting on December 17 and wanted to use the Epcot lounge, the top of the world lounge and upgrade my unused tickets to DVC AP's while there. I also got the 2017 points, as it is a December UY.

 

[The Jackal]

I bought 25 points at SSR, home resort, after I bought resale. No regrets. It was was quick to get points in our account.

 

[huskerfanatic7]

25 Points at BLT last August for an August UY

 

[CraigInPA]

I bought 30 at BLT, but not for the perks. I just needed 30 more points to add to my current points to allow us to have a 10 night stay every year. Mine is a December use year, purchased in November 2017, with 2016 use year points that they banked for me.

 

[kboo]

As others on this board have advised, I did it at the same resort as part of my overall plan, at BLT. We have 2 kids, one of whom will be 3 next year, and figured over the years could make the discount on APs work for us. Added bonus was the platinum plus pass at the gold pass rate (so no blockout dates and water parks are included). we will get 2 years of that due to timing of our trips, will use them for a total of at least 5 trips, for a total of about 27-28 days, split evenly across the 2 trips. The 25pt add on added 50 points to our 2018 trips (we banked 2017 points), which is enabling us to go 2x in 2018.

 

[SL6827]

I was thinking about doing this at Hilton Head, if possible of course. But I have to first pass ROFR and get into the system. By then, Disney could up the point requirement to 50 points and if that happened I would be out. Or I could not pass ROFR and then I would have to start all over again. It was just a thought.

 

[CraigInPA]

I was thinking about doing this at Hilton Head, if possible of course. But I have to first pass ROFR and get into the system. By then, Disney could up the point requirement to 50 points and if that happened I would be out. Or I could not pass ROFR and then I would have to start all over again. It was just a thought.

VB has the highest maintenance fees. They're about $3.50 per point higher than SSR and $2.70 higher than OKW. If you're interested in using those 25 points at VB, that's likely not a consideration. But, if you're just buying VB to buy cheap points to use at 7 months and the direct purchase benefits, you may want to consider SSR or OKW instead. The $30 delta between Vb and the other two resorts at the time of purchase will be eaten up by the maintenance fees in 9 years. VB expires in 2042, whereas SSR expires in 2054 and direct OKW expires in 2057.

If you are getting an OKW contract resale, I'd suggest getting your direct points at OKW as well. You'll want the same use year. It will make things a lot easier than trying to juggle multiple contracts with different home resorts and potentially different use years.

 

[SL6827]

I wouldn't mind going to Hilton Head every other year or so for 2-3 nights in June or July. We only live like 5.5 hours away.

 

[Wakey]

SSR, a month ago. I just needed 50 more points every other year, should have bought a bigger contract initially. The small contracts I could find were as expensive as direct taking into account current year’s points and closing which is only about 100.

 

[stevevm]

Already owned AKL 100 Point December Use Year bought resale.
Just last night bought 25 points OKW direct for only $145 a night, but got all the benefits.

Very excited, bought Platinum Plus Annual Pass for the price of gold today and saved $220/each ticket total of 4

 

[unveilmyeyes]

[QUOTE="Dean1953”]... the top of the world lounge and upgrade my unused tickets to DVC AP's while there. I also got the 2017 points, as it is a December UY.[/QUOTE]

Top of the world is available to resale also and I think you meant 2016 points as that would have been current year as it was before Dec 2017?

 

[Dtw002]

25 at BCV. Going to have this for 25 years and who knows what perks will be down the road. Also the discount on AP was significant. It is inevitable that the 25 point min will be raised (soon?) as so many people are doing this add on loophole.

 

[SL6827]

If the 25 point loophole holds out and I were able to get 25 direct at Hilton Head say early next year, will I get the 2017 points from Disney as well? If so, that use year would be from September 1, 2017-August 31, 2018 and could be banked by April 30, 2018 to be used in the 2018 use year? Right?

 

[D-Trick]

If the 25 point loophole holds out and I were able to get 25 direct at Hilton Head say early next year, will I get the 2017 points from Disney as well? If so, that use year would be from September 1, 2017-August 31, 2018 and could be banked by April 30, 2018 to be used in the 2018 use year? Right?

You get the current UY points for whenever your purchase date is. So any direct purchase made between now and August 31st, 2018 will give you the 2017 points.

In regarded to a banking deadline for newly purchased direct points-- don't worry about that. DVD will allow you to bank those points into the next UY as a courtesy (usage rules still apply).

 

[cw62803]

I added 25 direct SSR points in 2016. Very glad I did. The discounted annual passes are a great perk.






i

 

[Dean]

Just wondering how many have done this just to get the direct member status. And with what resort did you do it? Do you regret it or was it a great decision looking back?

It's likely too early to know if it was a great long term decision for most people. IMO it's insurance against other losses as a minimum depending on how much benefit one gets from the pass discounts.

 

[ldo]

I wouldn't mind going to Hilton Head every other year or so for 2-3 nights in June or July. We only live like 5.5 hours away.
For HHI in the summer, you really need to own there to get reservations. We added on 35 points to get a studio every other year, not even to get direct status. But, certainly works for direct status. Annual fees are higher, but on such a small contract, it's not that much.