Why Would You Buy Direct Anymore?

[CLE2WDW]

Not trying to be snide but I’m struggling to find the cost/value proposition of buying direct DVC? With APs seemingly becoming a thing of the past what tangible benefit does a “Blue Card” membership offer to offset the thousands of dollars of cost difference versus secondary market?

 

[MICKIMINI]

It sure is hard to justify! I would not want to be a sales guide at this time!

 

[chalee94]

well, there's moonlight magic...

...ok, I see what you mean...

 

[Lorana]

The biggest benefit at present is the ability to use the points at Riviera, and also at any future resort Disney may build (DL Tower seems to still be moving forward, but Reflections is on indefinite hold).

You do get other discounts, of course, but those don't really justify the direct price, and whether Riviera and future resorts matter to you is based on your personal preference and how long you plan to hold your contract (post 2042, in particular).

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

We are planning to buy this year. For us, not having the ability to book at Riviera AND future resorts would be a deal breaker. So, direct it is.

 

[davedray]

We are planning to buy this year. For us, not having the ability to book at Riviera AND future resorts would be a deal breaker. So, direct it is.

Me and my DW are in the same position. We will probably be buying Stars and Stripes tickets anyway. My main question is do I go 125 direct and then get another contract resale, or just get everything at once. We are leaning at AKV or RR. We are also considering splitting the contracts between the 2 resorts, but i feel like that just makes it more complicated to make the reservations.

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

We recently bought resale and we couldn't justify buying direct even when the perks were still around!
What would it take for us to add on direct? 2 out of the 3 of the following... plus no resale restrictions.
1. Lower the minimum for blue card benefits down to the 50-75 point range.
2. Disney would need to build at least 2 new dvc resorts with compelling enough amenities to get us to own direct. Im talking if they built another MK or Epcot area hotel like the one planned Asian/Persian/Venetian on the monorail loop or close to Epcot/ DHS or a tower at the Poly... Riviera just doesn't quite fit the bill when I can stay at Boardwalk/ Beach Club/ BLT/ Poly with my points. Same story with Reflections, especially when 2 similarly themed dvc resorts are next door.
3. Some sort of substantial direct owner ticket benefit. Im talking like they had in the early days of DVC... heavily discounted AP's... or a set of half price regular tickets for the family

Lastly, no resale restrictions for if we ever have to sell. Why would I buy something that loses utility if I sell it? I wouldn't buy a car that can't drive out of state if I sell it nor would I buy such a car. (not a perfect analogy but similar) Owning resale is like buying a car that isn't legal in Utah, I can still visit all the other states if I want.

 

[RanDIZ]

At this point, there really is no perk benefit in buying direct. You’re basically buying for the future in hopes to be able to stay at new resorts. If you need to sell it down the road I’d say good luck. I don’t see any value in RIV resale since the contract is restricted to only RIV.

 

[Matty B13]

Me and my DW are in the same position. We will probably be buying Stars and Stripes tickets anyway. My main question is do I go 125 direct and then get another contract resale, or just get everything at once. We are leaning at AKV or RR. We are also considering splitting the contracts between the 2 resorts, but i feel like that just makes it more complicated to make the reservations.

Just remember resale points can not be used at RR or any later resorts that DVC builds. So just make sure your know where your planning on staying. With the current resale pricing it might be better to go all direct, but you didn't state what resorts your looking at.

 

[BillPA]

Buy resale first, it is very easy to buy direct to match the UY, not so easy to find the right resale contract to match up with a direct purchase.

 

[havoc315]

Not trying to be snide but I’m struggling to find the cost/value proposition of buying direct DVC? With APs seemingly becoming a thing of the past what tangible benefit does a “Blue Card” membership offer to offset the thousands of dollars of cost difference versus secondary market?

1. APs are almost certainly coming back to WDW -- They are taking renewals. DL is a very different situation because a huge portion of their attendance is AP. Therefore, it would be hard for them to honor APs during limited capacity.

2. When they run decent incentives, Riviera isn't that much more expensive than placing like GFV/PV on re-sale. Worth paying a little extra to get the additional years, perks and no restrictions on point use.

3. Speaking of restrictions on resale points.... If you want to stay at Riviera, you better buy direct. That might not be a huge loss right now, just 1 resort you're locked out of. But those restrictions will get worse over time with more locked out resorts.

 

[Minniemoo15]

We have 250 resale (post 1/19) points and are looking to add on a bit more. I told my DH the other day I wish they’d lower the blue card minimum to 25-50 and I would buy that in a heartbeat. He asked me why I would want to ... and I couldn’t think of a compelling reason. We only go once a year so APs don’t benefit us. Who knows if Moonlight Magic is coming back. Even the ability to stay at RIV doesnt entice me... booking a RIV studio at 7 months would almost guarantee we would have to get preferred view. And those are way overpriced points-wise IMO. My DH is a pure numbers guy so doesn’t see the benefit at all. I mostly agree and only have a smidge of blue card fomo!

 

[Sandisw]

DVC is for long term so in terms of current loss of blue card perks, be sure to think about it in that light,

Yes, Disney has suspended new AP sales but it has to do with Covid and not DVC. The fact that they continue to allow new ones to be sold or renewed to certain people is a good sign it will be back at WDW.

Right now, RIV would be the big plus for direct, If staying there isn’t wanted at all, then it may not make sense at this time, especially with no real new resorts on the horizon other than DL.

But, will you want the discounts if the do come back? Will you have regrets being locked out of new resorts? Are you planning more purchases down the road that can lead you to direct then?

I agree that today it is a little hard to justify...I won’t go with resale again because I realize I like being able to use my points when and where I want and regret the restricted points I now have...but I love RIV..so that impacts my opinion. And, we have APs that can be renewed too...

 

[davedray]

Just remember resale points can not be used at RR or any later resorts that DVC builds. So just make sure your know where your planning on staying. With the current resale pricing it might be better to go all direct, but you didn't state what resorts your looking at

Thanks! The Main 2 resorts we are looking at are Riviera and Animial Kingdom Lodge. Riv would be direct for sure, AKL could go either way. They always say buy where you want to stay, these are the 2 places we want to stay.

 

[Sunnyore]

I initially bought resale but almost immediately bought my 125 direct with 2 more contracts as soon as my resale points were added to my membership. For me I know I want to stay at Riviera at some point and Disneyland Towers, and wherever else they build in the future. The blue card requirement had gone up rapidly and I didn’t want to get completely priced out (tho 125 was a hard pill to swallow) but I’m happy with my decision. I wasn’t planning on it as a perk as I had premier pass but now they took it away so now I actually can buy myself a DVC gold pass for WDW. I was planning on long term goals as I don’t want to buy and sell, so I want to make sure I wouldn’t have any regrets come 2042 when 6 resorts disappear off the legacy list. I will say I wouldn’t have bought direct if I had to finance though.

 

[Sunnyore]

Me and my DW are in the same position. We will probably be buying Stars and Stripes tickets anyway. My main question is do I go 125 direct and then get another contract resale, or just get everything at once. We are leaning at AKV or RR. We are also considering splitting the contracts between the 2 resorts, but i feel like that just makes it more complicated to make the reservations.

if you want to buy into 2 resort with possibly one resale, I would buy your AKL resale first to get the best deal without limiting use years, then add on your 125 Riviera direct points with same use years. That way at 7 months you have all your points together to use anywhere (except Riviera). That’s what I ended up doing and it’s nice to just have 1 membership number even though I have 3 contracts now.

 

[kanerf]

I was able to renew my AP and they added extra months for the shutdown, taking it to April of 2022. I feel certain that the AP or something similar will return this year at some point. I also believe that the dining plan or similar will return as well.

 

[havoc315]

Thanks! The Main 2 resorts we are looking at are Riviera and Animial Kingdom Lodge. Riv would be direct for sure, AKL could go either way. They always say buy where you want to stay, these are the 2 places we want to stay.

AKL re-sale would indeed be much cheaper than RIV.

But a key point about buying where you want to stay:

AKL is a huge resort. You can almost always get rooms at the 7 month mark -- EXCEPT -- concierge and value rooms. So if you want concierge or value rooms, you should buy AKL. But if you are happy with regular rooms at AKL, you can usually do it without AKL points.

RIV -- 1 bedroom/preferred will usually be available at 7 months. But almost all standard view rooms (especially studio and 2br) will be gone ahead of 7 months. Even preferred studios can be hard to get at 7 months.

So with Riviera direct, you could still typically get good rooms at AKL, but not value or concierge.

 

[RoseGold]

We are planning to buy this year. For us, not having the ability to book at Riviera AND future resorts would be a deal breaker. So, direct it is.

If this is your dealbreaker, then maybe think long and hard. There's no guarantee that future resorts have to play nicely. Even in existing DVC rules, they can change a non-home resort fee (20% non-VGF surcharge), they can take resorts out of the system. There's no reason the next resort has to be in this system at all. Sure, maybe it will technically work, but doesn't mean it has to be 1:1 like all the other resorts have been.

RIV has shown that DVC is willing to change the rules.

 

[havoc315]

RIV has shown that DVC is willing to change the rules.

Shows they are willing to change the rules to make re-sale less attractive. They wouldn't want to make direct purchasing less attractive. Not to mention, it's much harder contractually to change the rules for a direct purchase.

Yes, future resorts *might* not play by the same rules. But it's in Disney's best interest to keep them playing by the same rules. Because switching rules undermines new direct sales. (why should I buy new if I can't trust Disney? If I'm buying in 2024, and they just betrayed all the pre-2024 purchasers, then how do I know they won't do the same to me?)

25 years of reliability is the big selling point of DVC... It's certainly possible they mess with it. But if they do, it will create both contractual problems and major marketing problems.