First-timer considering buying VDH

[shosh1530]

Hello! I've been casually looking at buying DVC for a few years now. We are in Arizona, so it never made much sense before as we frequent Disneyland way more than WDW. But we just returned from a quick New Year's trip where we stayed at the DLH for the first time and got a tour of the new VDH properties...

So now I'm debating buying 150 points direct at VDH. We basically have until tomorrow to do so if we want to get the $1000 Welcome Home credit and the current $600 incentive.

I'm feeling overwhelmed by it all!

A little bit about my family:
-Just three of us, two parents in our early 50s, one child age 12
-We taken several disney trips since the pandemic and really enjoy staying on property/deluxe (3 times GCH, 1 Paradise Pier, 1 DLH, 1 Poly/Boardwalk split stay).
-We strongly prefer rooms with 3 sleeping surfaces when we all travel together. I've also taken 3 trips now with just the 12 year old and myself where studios with 2 beds would be just fine)
-We absolutely love the Grand Californian, but know that it is difficult to get even if you buy there (resale) and are booking 12 months out
-We haven't been to Hawaii as a family yet, but I can see doing that (and staying Aulani) in the next few years
-We are about an 8 hour drive from DLR so I see us continuing to go there the most. We often do 2-4 night stays and sometimes combine with other activities (e.g. beach trip)
-Given my son's age we usually book during school breaks and the summer and this will continue for the next several years
-We will probably do at least one more FL trip (haven't been to Universal Orlando yet), but don't anticipate annual week long WDW trips. I could see us doing a few cruises out of Port Canaveral though and doing a few shorter stays around those.
-We are interested in visiting Disneyland Paris and Tokyo at some point (and I wonder if I should save for that rather than buying DVC)

Some questions:
-Do you have to buy direct to book at VDH? Or can those that buy resale still book there?
-Do points on point charts rise every year or are they fixed?
-Are there any calculators/spreadsheets out there to help me figure out how much DVC over time costs compared to booking cash?
-I believe the guide said if we buy now we would have an August UY. Are there any drawbacks to that?
-If we bought resale, can we then buy a smaller amount of points at VDH and still use all the points to book there or GCH (if avail)? Or does each contract have their own restrictions?
-Is now a good time to buy? Should we wait for better incentives?
-Should we be looking at resale instead of direct?

Appreciate any info or thoughts!

 

[intamin]

1. You must own either resale VDH (which there isn't much inventory since it's a pretty new resort and also if you bought resale VDH you would ONLY be able to use the points there), OR you must have bought points directly from Disney in order to book VDH. Could also book there with grandfathered points resale but that doesn't apply to you.

2. Point charts can change; however, the total amount of points at a resort does not increase. If they increase the cost of rooms during the winter, they'll have to decrease it during some other time.

3. There are plenty of google spreadsheets to help you calculate your break-even. Generally don't expect to break even until you're 8-10 years into this thing, maybe a few years longer but after that the contract has basically paid for itself.

4. Regarding use year it really depends on what time you want to go to travel most frequently. If you like going during the summer, then August is a terrible use year. In general you want your use year to start a month or two before when you most commonly travel, not after.

5. So it's important to remember, it's not the membership that has the ability to book VDH, it's the points. If you buy 100 points directly from Disney and buy 500 resale points at somewhere other than VDH, only the 100 that you bought from Disney will be able to be used at VDH. Grand Californian is not resale restricted so unless you bought resale Riviera or VDH, you would be able to book there with resale points.

6. Incentives change over time. You can try and time your purchase to be a month before your use year starts so that way you get double points without paying for dues but in the grand scheme of things, you're saving probably 1,000 dollars on a purchase that will cost you hundreds of thousands over it's lifetime.

7. If you want to stay at VDH, you pretty much need to buy direct. The problem with owning resale VDH is you can only use those points at VDH for the remaining 50 years so if you were to buy VDH I'd recommend only buying it directly from Disney. The only way I'd consider resale for you is if you were thinking of buying a resale VGC contract which is personally what I would buy but that's just me.

I hope this is helpful but please do more research. Watch youtube videos from DVC Fan and Magic in the Music. This is a large commitment. Don't rush into this thing.

 

[shosh1530]

Thanks so much for the reply! You are right, I don't want to rush into such a big financial decision.

I would like to do a lot more research (thanks for the video tips) and also learn more about VGC resale. We enjoyed our DLH stay, but also kept wishing we were over Grand Californian.

If we bought resale we could book everywhere except VDH and Riveria? Could we then add on a small direct VDH down the line to be able to book that and have direct membership benefits?

 

[intamin]

Thanks so much for the reply! You are right, I don't want to rush into such a big financial decision.

I would like to do a lot more research (thanks for the video tips) and also learn more about VGC resale. We enjoyed our DLH stay, but also kept wishing we were over Grand Californian.

If we bought resale we could book everywhere except VDH and Riveria? Could we then add on a small direct VDH down the line to be able to book that and have direct membership benefits?

Yep you definitely can do that! Many people buy resale first and then buy direct later. You won't qualify for membership benefits though unless you own at least 150 points that were bought directly from Disney.

If you want to stay at Grand Cal though, the only way to reliably do that is to own at VGC. I personally wouldn't settle if VGC is where you truly want to be.

Something else to keep in mind is that when you stay at VDH, an additional transient tax of 2.78 per point is assessed when checking in. This is not the case with Grand Californian because the transient taxes are already a part of your normal dues so you won't be paying anything additional upon check in. So if you were to spend 100 points at VDH, you will also have to pay 278 dollars in addition to your annual maintenance fees and the buy in cost. If you use the VDH points anywhere but VDH you won't have to pay this transient tax.

 

[Hubalorian]

Take your time do your research. If you end up wanting to buy direct, check out the referral thread on this site for someone to refer you. You’d save an extra $500 which isn’t a ton but every little bit helps!

 

[tidefan]

Another thing to think about would be to purchase points at Aulani. I think that you will be able to get into VDH often at 7 months as long as you don't need to go at the most popular times (NYE, etc.). Purchasing at Aulani would also give you 11 month access to book studios (if that is what you are going for - I recommend at least a 1-bedroom at Aulani) for June, which is highly competitive due to the lower points charts.

Also, the Aulani points, if you had to sell them, would still be able to book at all of the O14 resorts, so any resale would most likely be higher.

 

[intamin]

Another thing to think about would be to purchase points at Aulani. I think that you will be able to get into VDH often at 7 months as long as you don't need to go at the most popular times (NYE, etc.). Purchasing at Aulani would also give you 11 month access to book studios (if that is what you are going for - I recommend at least a 1-bedroom at Aulani) for June, which is highly competitive due to the lower points charts.

Also, the Aulani points, if you had to sell them, would still be able to book at all of the O14 resorts, so any resale would most likely be higher.

I'm not sure if that's really the case with regard to resale value between VDH and AUL. The thing that matters the most is the difference between resale and direct cost. Assuming Aulani is going for like 150 dollars per point and resale is 80 dollars per point that's a delta of 70. VDH may only be able to book one resort when resold, but that resort is one of only two DVC resorts on Disneyland property. I'm not familiar with the current incentives for VDH but I don't see it going for less than what resale RIV is going for which is around 130. Assuming VDH costs 180-190 after incentives still only looking at a 50 dollar per point difference. VDH has high dues but so does Aulani. I'd probably consider resale Aulani and maybe direct VDH

 

[NorCalFanatic]

We’re over 50 with small kids and love VDH. We do Disneyland 20+ days a year spread over 2-3 trips. My advice, buy where you want to stay. Keep in mind there is an anti VDH sentiment with a number of people here…..so do your own research. GCV is a beautiful hotel, but man the rooms need a refresh. We own at VDH and Aulani (direct and resale) and are very happy with both.

 

[tidefan]

I'm not sure if that's really the case with regard to resale value between VDH and AUL. The thing that matters the most is the difference between resale and direct cost. Assuming Aulani is going for like 150 dollars per point and resale is 80 dollars per point that's a delta of 70. VDH may only be able to book one resort when resold, but that resort is one of only two DVC resorts on Disneyland property. I'm not familiar with the current incentives for VDH but I don't see it going for less than what resale RIV is going for which is around 130. Assuming VDH costs 180-190 after incentives still only looking at a 50 dollar per point difference. VDH has high dues but so does Aulani. I'd probably consider resale Aulani and maybe direct VDH

I agree resale Aulani is better, but it won’t get you into VDH at 7 months. Direct Aulani will.

However, if you had to sell, resale Aulani is a much more desirable sell than resale VDH, IMHO, because of how much more flexible it would be.

 

[PolyRob]

Another thing to think about would be to purchase points at Aulani. I think that you will be able to get into VDH often at 7 months as long as you don't need to go at the most popular times (NYE, etc.). Purchasing at Aulani would also give you 11 month access to book studios (if that is what you are going for - I recommend at least a 1-bedroom at Aulani) for June, which is highly competitive due to the lower points charts.

Also, the Aulani points, if you had to sell them, would still be able to book at all of the O14 resorts, so any resale would most likely be higher.

I'd be very hesitant to purchase Aulani direct in hopes of securing DLH in the 7-month window, especially if a majority of trips will be taken at DL rather than Hawaii. @shosh1530 there are a few threads here on the DIS about the new DVC Trust that has been established for the Fort Wilderness Cabins at WDW. There is speculation parts of the DLH DVC Tower could be added to the DVC Trust. If that's the case I imagine 7-month availability will be difficult. There are so many WDW DVC options compared to DL and tons of people want to trade into DL at the 7-month window.

 

[NorCalFanatic]

We own at Aulani and VDH. We have a ton of Aulani points and have looked at using them at 7 months for 1 and 2 BR suites at VDH and haven’t been able to find anything. Could be the dates we’re looking at and the number of days (usually at least 4) but for us there’s little availability at 7 months. No problems (so far) getting the 1 or 2 BR at 11 months though.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Don’t feel rushed. You are likely a great candidate for Disney Vacation Club, but it will be worth you time to dig into the details before making a final decision.

You are most likely going to want to get enough points to stay in one bedroom villas if you prefer 3 sleeping surfaces.

FWIW, since you may travel for Spring Break, Summer Break, Fall Break, or Christmas/New Years… there isn’t going to be a perfect Use Year for you. I’d venture that February or March would be good.

Grand Cal is an amazing location, but there isn’t a lot of inventory and it seems that many of the sellers think their points are dipped in gold at the moment….

Buying into VDH will most likely save you a lot of $$$ vs cash rates at Disney over time.

Good luck in your journey!

Personal preference: VGC > VDH

 

[PiratesOfTheSea]

I'd also echo the sentiment to not rush into buying for the current pricing and incentives unless you are absolutely sure.

We are in our 40s with a younger child in Northern California that go to DLH 1-2 times a year. We have been able to stay onsite with discounted rates but with our child starting school this year we decided to take the DVC plunge. While there are quite a few things that we love about DLH and VDH more than VGC, we ultimately decided to buy into VGC resale over VDH because of location and value. There's also a hard refurb starting at VGC later this year.

With the current incentives, the cost of each VDH point is about equivalent to VGC resale at about $300pp, and the VGC resale market has cooled back down to about $250ish right now for 150+ point contracts. The TOT was a deal breaker for me, not so much because we have to pay at checkout but the fact it's about $2.78pp ($2.87pp in 2025) at VDH while the VGC TOTs included in the dues supposed to be somewhere between $0.50-0.60pp. You can probably find some spreadsheets here that would also you calculate value but you would likely have to input the TOT yourself to get the true value.

Since we are primarily DLR-based the direct incentives aren't as much of a draw for us. I would love to be able to use the lounge but it wasn't a deal breaker. The flexibility to book VDH and RIV would have been nice, but in reality the points for both VGC and VDH are both so expensive that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to use at WDW or elsewhere. We'd be better off renting out our points at our home resort and renting points to book elsewhere.

We weren't interested in August UYs because it basically means we can't cancel any trips from April through July. I'd say March or April would probably be the best but we settled for June.

FYI There are a couple of VDH contracts that have been sitting in the resale market at ~$180 for 30+ days. If short-term resale value is a consideration then the VDH restrictions are not going to be good for it.

That said I don't think you could go "wrong" whichever you decide. Even though we are going with VGC, part of me still wishes we could stay at VDH at some point!

 

[NorCalFanatic]

Sunrise from the top floor of VDH! The dedicated 2 BR are amazing, and the three full baths are nice!

 

[shosh1530]

This is all so helpful. Thank you. A few questions...

I'd also echo the sentiment to not rush into buying for the current pricing and incentives unless you are absolutely sure.

With the current incentives, the cost of each VDH point is about equivalent to VGC resale at about $300pp, and the VGC resale market has cooled back down to about $250ish right now for 150+ point contracts. The TOT was a deal breaker for me, not so much because we have to pay at checkout but the fact it's about $2.78pp ($2.87pp in 2025) at VDH while the VGC TOTs included in the dues supposed to be somewhere between $0.50-0.60pp. You can probably find some spreadsheets here that would also you calculate value but you would likely have to input the TOT yourself to get the true value.

When you say each point at VDH is equivalent to VGC resale, is that because of the TOT and dues? My brain is still having trouble with the math.

Since we are primarily DLR-based the direct incentives aren't as much of a draw for us. I would love to be able to use the lounge but it wasn't a deal breaker. The flexibility to book VDH and RIV would have been nice, but in reality the points for both VGC and VDH are both so expensive that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to use at WDW or elsewhere. We'd be better off renting out our points at our home resort and renting points to book elsewhere.

I hadn't thought about the cost of points as a factor for booking at resorts elsewhere. How hard is it to rent out your points?

I've considered renting points on our past WDW trips, but have felt nervous about losing money if we had a last minute cancellation. Are those risks the same if you are a DVC owner?

We weren't interested in August UYs because it basically means we can't cancel any trips from April through July. I'd say March or April would probably be the best but we settled for June.

When you say you can't cancel any trips April-July with an August UY, is that because your points would expire?

If we wanted a March/April UY what time would we need to buy if going direct? I suppose with resale you can just look for the contracts with the UY you want?

 

[intamin]

This is all so helpful. Thank you. A few questions...



When you say each point at VDH is equivalent to VGC resale, is that because of the TOT and dues? My brain is still having trouble with the math.



I hadn't thought about the cost of points as a factor for booking at resorts elsewhere. How hard is it to rent out your points?

I've considered renting points on our past WDW trips, but have felt nervous about losing money if we had a last minute cancellation. Are those risks the same if you are a DVC owner?

When you say you can't cancel any trips April-July with an August UY, is that because your points would expire?

If we wanted a March/April UY what time would we need to buy if going direct? I suppose with resale you can just look for the contracts with the UY you want?

1. Yes, they’re roughly about the same because of the higher taxes. The transient taxes will continue to increase every year as well.

2. Should be easy to rent out VDH/VGC points at a premium. VDH I’d be okay with using at WDW because you aren’t charged the transient tax elsewhere. VGC I would not. Even though VGC isn’t resale restricted, from a value perspective they are. Those points should not be used anywhere than VGC.

3. Yes, if you have an August UY, if you cancel a trip in May-July, you will be past the banking window and must use the points by August 1st. April should still be okay because presumably you would’ve cancelled 31 days out to avoid your points going into holding which would be in March.

As a DVC owner, you have more flexibility than renting. Yes if you cancel within the last months, you still risk losing those points, but you also are able to try and book another resort instead or if you’re before the banking window you can bank those points to the next use year if you’re not going on a trip anymore. So yes, it’s still limited in the sense that last minute availability won’t be great, but you have more options than just losing your points.

4. If you buy resale first, you can choose your UY. If you buy direct you can still try to tell them you prefer a March/April UY but its not guaranteed. If you travel during all seasons of the year then it really doesn’t matter what use year you have. We said to ourselves we like traveling in May through the holiday season which makes April a good use year to own. Some people may be snowbirds and instead like traveling predominantly from November through spring in which case October would be a good fit. But again, if you really travel during all seasons and thats what you’re going to do for the foreseeable future then use year doesn’t matter.

 

[starry_solo]

The first thing that struck me from your post is that you said you want three sleeping surfaces.... a

 

[NorCalFanatic]

This is a misconception that transient taxes will increase every year, it’s not entirely true. The transient tax you pay as dvc at VDH is less than the 15% you pay if you were booking the same room for cash ( I think it’s 8-9% if you were comparing points to cash). Yes it can increase but once it hits that 15% it can’t increase unless the city of Anaheim increases it.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Lots of places have March Spring Breaks…. I’m not sure why the recommendation for an April Use Year…

 

[shosh1530]

Lots of places have March Spring Breaks…. I’m not sure why the recommendation for an April Use Year…

It's true that our spring break is typically mid-March (never April). We went to WDW last year during this week, but have not done DLR during March yet (other than a planned/cancelled March 2020 trip).

Since 2021 our trips have been:

Jan - 2 trips DLR
March - 1 trip WDW
June - 2 trips DLR
Aug/Sept - 1 trip WDW
October - 1 trip DLR

A lot of future DL travel will probably be timed with special events/new rides opening, etc. I could see us doing OBB again on a future October break and we are considering Star Wars nights this spring. I was also ready to book NYE again after our recent trip since we had so much fun (although I know that is a lot of points!).