How would you buy in?

[Pickles516]

Vibe value is strong!!

Like…I get the naysayers, I really do. Nothing about Disney makes sense on paper. I could take my family to most of the actual countries represented in the world showcase for the same price or less than a Disney trip. I get it. But *the vibes*. I’m usually very practical and don’t buy things on emotion, but family vacations are kinda all emotion, y’know?

I can’t save a vacation, or get good gas mileage on a vacation, or get 7% compounded interest on my vacation. I get my lovely but jaded New Yorker wife saying, “this is magical as #%<! “ as she sees the castle for the first time. I get my kids giggling and laughing and playing in Typhoon Lagoon’s wave pool for like four hours straight. I get to take a break from being the responsible dad, the “not until your homework is done”, “you need to eat a vegetable every once in awhile”, “not on a school night”, “that’s too expensive” dad and be the “yes” dad. Yes, we can go night swimming. Yes we can get the Tonga toast. Yes we can do alien swirling saucers again even though it’s like thirty seconds long and is pretty much just the teacups because it makes you happy dad.

I get to have my tween daughter, who’s so aloof and cool these days, break down in happy tears because she wasn’t expecting to watch the fireworks from Ohana and we can cry those happy tears together and nobody around us bats an eye because they get it. Who cares if it makes sense?

(And for posterity, the aforementioned Ohana cry-fest)

 

[Tatebeck]

Like…I get the naysayers, I really do. Nothing about Disney makes sense on paper. I could take my family to most of the actual countries represented in the world showcase for the same price or less than a Disney trip. I get it. But *the vibes*. I’m usually very practical and don’t buy things on emotion, but family vacations are kinda all emotion, y’know?

I can’t save a vacation, or get good gas mileage on a vacation, or get 7% compounded interest on my vacation. I get my lovely but jaded New Yorker wife saying, “this is magical as #%<! “ as she sees the castle for the first time. I get my kids giggling and laughing and playing in Typhoon Lagoon’s wave pool for like four hours straight. I get to take a break from being the responsible dad, the “not until your homework is done”, “you need to eat a vegetable every once in awhile”, “not on a school night”, “that’s too expensive” dad and be the “yes” dad. Yes, we can go night swimming. Yes we can get the Tonga toast. Yes we can do alien swirling saucers again even though it’s like thirty seconds long and is pretty much just the teacups because it makes you happy dad.

I get to have my tween daughter, who’s so aloof and cool these days, break down in happy tears because she wasn’t expecting to watch the fireworks from Ohana and we can cry those happy tears together and nobody around us bats an eye because they get it. Who cares if it makes sense?

Well said! Ignore the trolls.

The reason DVC costs more and holds value more is because it IS Disney. If we wanted to have to rent a car, drive to the parks every day, and stay at a more boring hotel to save a few bucks, we would! But we don't want to. It just feels different to stay in the bubble where everything is taken care of. Not exactly like an all-inclusive, but similar in a way. You know you don't have to worry and you can lay back and let your guard down and just stop worrying for a while. I get it. Once you do it, you can just tell. Hope to see you as a member soon!

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

Like…I get the naysayers, I really do. Nothing about Disney makes sense on paper. I could take my family to most of the actual countries represented in the world showcase for the same price or less than a Disney trip. I get it. But *the vibes*. I’m usually very practical and don’t buy things on emotion, but family vacations are kinda all emotion, y’know?

I can’t save a vacation, or get good gas mileage on a vacation, or get 7% compounded interest on my vacation. I get my lovely but jaded New Yorker wife saying, “this is magical as #%<! “ as she sees the castle for the first time. I get my kids giggling and laughing and playing in Typhoon Lagoon’s wave pool for like four hours straight. I get to take a break from being the responsible dad, the “not until your homework is done”, “you need to eat a vegetable every once in awhile”, “not on a school night”, “that’s too expensive” dad and be the “yes” dad. Yes, we can go night swimming. Yes we can get the Tonga toast. Yes we can do alien swirling saucers again even though it’s like thirty seconds long and is pretty much just the teacups because it makes you happy dad.

I get to have my tween daughter, who’s so aloof and cool these days, break down in happy tears because she wasn’t expecting to watch the fireworks from Ohana and we can cry those happy tears together and nobody around us bats an eye because they get it. Who cares if it makes sense?

(And for posterity, the aforementioned Ohana cry-fest)
View attachment 818476

Sometimes I feel like I’m a little crazy for loving Disney so much, like I’ve deluded myself into loving something more than I actually do. And then I read stories like yours and so many others, and I know I’m not. From one jaded NYer to another, Disney really is magical as #%<! And to be surrounded in that bubble of magic on Disney property? You can’t put a price on that.

 

[Mikey15]

Perhaps one of the reasons why we own the resorts we do. Three of them have extra bathrooms in the larger units.

Even the separate “shower and sink” room some like Poly have is so handy. Two connecting Poly studios might not have a King, but two Queens, two Queen murphy beds, two kid beds, two full baths, and two additional showers is almost more practical than some two bedrooms!

 

[Chili327]

Like…I get the naysayers, I really do. Nothing about Disney makes sense on paper. I could take my family to most of the actual countries represented in the world showcase for the same price or less than a Disney trip. I get it. But *the vibes*. I’m usually very practical and don’t buy things on emotion, but family vacations are kinda all emotion, y’know?

I can’t save a vacation, or get good gas mileage on a vacation, or get 7% compounded interest on my vacation. I get my lovely but jaded New Yorker wife saying, “this is magical as #%<! “ as she sees the castle for the first time. I get my kids giggling and laughing and playing in Typhoon Lagoon’s wave pool for like four hours straight. I get to take a break from being the responsible dad, the “not until your homework is done”, “you need to eat a vegetable every once in awhile”, “not on a school night”, “that’s too expensive” dad and be the “yes” dad. Yes, we can go night swimming. Yes we can get the Tonga toast. Yes we can do alien swirling saucers again even though it’s like thirty seconds long and is pretty much just the teacups because it makes you happy dad.

I get to have my tween daughter, who’s so aloof and cool these days, break down in happy tears because she wasn’t expecting to watch the fireworks from Ohana and we can cry those happy tears together and nobody around us bats an eye because they get it. Who cares if it makes sense?

(And for posterity, the aforementioned Ohana cry-fest)
View attachment 818476

Absofreakinlutely!!!

*edit*
Technically I’ve never been to WDW, I’m a Disneylander, but Disney just hits different than any other theme park.

 

[pinkxray]

Personally, I like having a mix of resale and direct. We started with SSR resale and later added on VGF to get the blue card. Very happy with our choices.

If was just starting, had $50,000, and a large family I would start with a resale contract for around 150pts. Probably CCV or BLT. BLT has some great deals right now and the rooms should be amazing whenever the refurb is started and done(2025?) CCV are also beautiful and the points cost in both resorts are much lower than new resort for a 2 bedroom. I guess Poly resale is fine too, especially if you plan on getting direct points eventually. Start with 150 or so resale Poly and add on direct when it opens.

After getting our first resale contract I’d probably wait for Poly 2 to go on sale and buy at least 150 points to get the direct benefits. If you don’t care about ever having direct I’d probably go with smaller CCV or BLT resale contracts, not all the points in one contract. You might be able to get a better price on a 300 pt contract but I really like having the flexibility of being able to downsize if needed at some point. Maybe as the kids age you find you don’t travel as much but still want to hold on to some points. Much easier to sell small contracts when needed.

I did see mentions of getting tons of SSR points as SAP. We started with 100 SSR resale points and it has worked well. Have used those points to stay at everywhere. It’s not a horrible idea but I would definitely only consider this if you don’t mind having to stay at SSR once in awhile. 2 bedrooms can be a little tougher to grab at 7 months than the one bedrooms we always grab. I don’t know if I missed your age but the expiration date for SSR vs something like CCV might make a difference for you. Im hoping I’m still healthy enough in my 60’s and 70’s to share my dvc points with my kids and there kids, and hope to spend long periods of time at WDW when I retire. So for me, I don’t want all my points expiring right as I retire. If it ends end buying that I don’t make it that far at least I still have a few years left on my VGF contracts for my kids to use or sell.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

I just don't understand why people pay so much to buy into DVC. Just got back from a trip. We stayed at the Marriott Cypress Harbor in a 2 bedroom timeshare for $200 a night. We aren't even an owner. You can just book them directly on the Marriott website. The drive to the Magic Kingdom parking lot takes less time than the tram andmonorail to the front gate. Plus the 2 bedroom Marriott timeshares there are much nicer than most DVC 2 bedrooms.

It’s different staying on property.

When you have to drive on and off the property, it becomes very hard to take a mid day pool break.

Or an am park, and pool break, then dinner and a pm park…

I’m titanium at Marriott, I can tell you. I don’t care how nice the room is being remote is just not the same

 

[MillauFr]

It’s different staying on property.

When you have to drive on and off the property, it becomes very hard to take a mid day pool break.

Or an am park, and pool break, then dinner and a pm park…

I’m titanium at Marriott, I can tell you. I don’t care how nice the room is being remote is just not the same

I guess the only DVC property I consider onsite is the Grand Californian. The others require a long walk or worse.

 

[RuntheMouse]

It’s different staying on property.

When you have to drive on and off the property, it becomes very hard to take a mid day pool break.

Or an am park, and pool break, then dinner and a pm park…

I’m titanium at Marriott, I can tell you. I don’t care how nice the room is being remote is just not the same

It’s the bubble effect and it’s strong!

We also have Marriott titanium status and I still won’t even stay at Swolphin anymore, it just wasn’t the same!

 

[Robbie Cottam]

It’s the bubble effect and it’s strong!

We also have Marriott titanium status and I still won’t even stay at Swolphin anymore, it just wasn’t the same!

Now that it’s more than GF its hard to pay cash and stay there,
‘but yes close, nice, but not the same….
i gave up on the LBV palace for the same reason

 

[Robbie Cottam]

I guess the only DVC property I consider onsite is the Grand Californian. The others require a long walk or worse.

you need to broaden your horizons…
‘and if walking is not you thing, maybe the Disney central parking lot is not for you?

I think (I have never done it) the walk from the parking lot to the TTC is longer than the walk from Bay Lake to the magic kingdom, but like I said I have never had to do it

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Admittedly we are extremely fortunate but I hate studios, especially with kids. I like having a place to sit which isn’t on a bed. I like having a kitchen so my teenager can make himself a sandwich (or 3) if he hasn’t eaten in the past 10 minutes, or my extremely picky daughter can make herself an egg. I like having space to spread out. And I’m pretty sure I did 6 loads of laundry over the past week.

As far as where to buy in, I know it’s tempting to go for the “cheaper” option (I’m struggling with that a bit w/r/t Riviera resale vs direct) but we really appreciate knowing that we’ll be able to stay where we want with our (direct) 11 month points. Does that mean I’d necessarily pay for BC direct at this point at $10k/point or whatever they are charging…probably not…but I’m so grateful that we have our BC points. Also a mix of 2042 and longer points might not be the end of the world if you think there will be a time when your kids are out of the house and you may not want to come down as often. You can let those points roll off and then enjoy what you have left.

Bottom line - buy where you want. If it happens to be in active sale, great. If not, then look for a resale contract that works for you/your family.

 

[jason423]

What we had done and this worked out well for us was initially buying resale. My goal was to find a loaded contract (there are usually more of those this time of year from sellers no longer really using the contract trying to get out before the next set of dues payments) just to get the initial purchase into DVC. Doing that gave us a hair over 400 points to work with for our first year and allowed us to carry over, so basically getting a contract for 300 pts per year for the first two years.

We looked into adding resale again but when Disney ran the AKV promotion we thought strongly about adding there but thought that was too many points since I think that promotion maxed out adding 250 points. But our thought was that disney would run another promotion at some point so we set our sites on either waiting for that or getting a real low priced resale. Once VGF went on deep discount it was a pretty easy decision to add 150 there. Since we had over a year resale we would qualify for their best discounted rates and were able to time it so we could use their magic beginnings promotion on the 2022 rather than 2023 points (Aug use year and we closed in mid July IIRC). To me that actually ended up a big benefit of going resale first and waiting for the right direct membership.

We take a few trips a year and having the direct now gives us access to the lower cost annual pass on years we are not going during Christmas, and the savings between the two passes is pretty close to the annual dues we pay on the direct contract. So for us this type of buying pattern worked out pretty well.

 

[MillauFr]

you need to broaden your horizons…
‘and if walking is not you thing, maybe the Disney central parking lot is not for you?

I think (I have never done it) the walk from the parking lot to the TTC is longer than the walk from Bay Lake to the magic kingdom, but like I said I have never had to do it

Agreed. Disneyland is more for us where we can stay offsite and walk to the front gate faster than you can from the Grand Floridian. I just appreciate the convenance.

 

[NorCalFanatic]

I guess the only DVC property I consider onsite is the Grand Californian. The others require a long walk or worse.

That 6 min walk from from the VDH tower to the Pixar pier gate of DCA is soooo loonnngggg. And the 10-12 min walk to the Disneyland front gate is even worse. Luckily though it’s only about 5 min walk (depending on security) to the monorail station.

 

[fumanchu2488]

A few other things to consider with a new direct purchase:

They usually will give you last years points as well. Obviously depending on timing and your next vacation. But that is a pretty big advantage when it comes to direct vs. resale. It could buy you another year before buying the next 'bunch' of points. So you could start with 175 (which will give you access to 350 or even 525 points depending on how you look at banking and borrowing) and then next year buy another 50 or 75 and then another 50 or 75 the year after.

Depending on the age of the kids, Riviera tower studios are a great 'economical' way to stay. A regular studio and tower studio is much cheaper than a 1 BR or two regular studios. And it gives you and your wife a completely separate place to stay. The nice thing about Riviera is that since everything is under 1 roof, as long as you are on the same side of the resort everything is really easy to get to and nobody has to go outside.

Blue card benefits for a family of 6 will add up quick. Especially if you can be the once a year vacation family that does the 51 week trip. So if you do a week vacation 51 weeks apart with the DVC pass, you would be saving about $600/person per year or around $3,600 per year for your family of 6.

Most everything else with resale issues and Riviera have been explained.

 

[Pickles516]

A few other things to consider with a new direct purchase:

They usually will give you last years points as well. Obviously depending on timing and your next vacation. But that is a pretty big advantage when it comes to direct vs. resale. It could buy you another year before buying the next 'bunch' of points. So you could start with 175 (which will give you access to 350 or even 525 points depending on how you look at banking and borrowing) and then next year buy another 50 or 75 and then another 50 or 75 the year after.

Depending on the age of the kids, Riviera tower studios are a great 'economical' way to stay. A regular studio and tower studio is much cheaper than a 1 BR or two regular studios. And it gives you and your wife a completely separate place to stay. The nice thing about Riviera is that since everything is under 1 roof, as long as you are on the same side of the resort everything is really easy to get to and nobody has to go outside.

Blue card benefits for a family of 6 will add up quick. Especially if you can be the once a year vacation family that does the 51 week trip. So if you do a week vacation 51 weeks apart with the DVC pass, you would be saving about $600/person per year or around $3,600 per year for your family of 6.

Most everything else with resale issues and Riviera have been explained.

Could you possibly explain the “last years points” part a little more? I’m not going to be able to make the purchase before 2024. If I were to buy 150 points in June of 2024 for example, they’d give me 300 points for that year? That’s a big incentive.

 

[jason423]

Could you possibly explain the “last years points” part a little more? I’m not going to be able to make the purchase before 2024. If I were to buy 150 points in June of 2024 for example, they’d give me 300 points for that year? That’s a big incentive.

This is where you get into the concept of the use year. The June use year for 2023 runs from June 1 of 2023 to May 31 of 2024. On June 1 of 2024 the 2024 June use year kicks in which then runs from June of 2024 to the end of May in 2025. So basically as long as you buy a June use year before June 1 of 2024 they should give you the points for 2023 and then you will also get the points for 2024.

 

[fumanchu2488]

Could you possibly explain the “last years points” part a little more? I’m not going to be able to make the purchase before 2024. If I were to buy 150 points in June of 2024 for example, they’d give me 300 points for that year? That’s a big incentive.

Yes. I originally bought 100 points with a December UY during original sale for Riviera. I received 100 points in December of 2020 as that was the first year of points ever.

In June of 2022 I bought another 50 points at Riviera. They gave me my December 2022 UY points as well as the December 2021 UY points, which were not used. So my first 'Account Activity' statement on the closing date is 'New Contract - Annual Points Allocation +50 points' and then the second was 'Bank points from use year 2021 to 2022'.

So on June 2022 I had 100 points to use after December 1, 2022.

I have no idea what UY is still available, but this principle would be used for any amount of points. If you bought 150 points in June 2024 for a December UY, you would receive 150 points from December 2023 as well as the 150 points coming in December 2024 and could book a February 2025 vacation using 300 points without 'borrowing' from 2025.

 

[Pickles516]

Yes. I originally bought 100 points with a December UY during original sale for Riviera. I received 100 points in December of 2020 as that was the first year of points ever.

In June of 2022 I bought another 50 points at Riviera. They gave me my December 2022 UY points as well as the December 2021 UY points, which were not used. So my first 'Account Activity' statement on the closing date is 'New Contract - Annual Points Allocation +50 points' and then the second was 'Bank points from use year 2021 to 2022'.

So on June 2022 I had 100 points to use after December 1, 2022.

I have no idea what UY is still available, but this principle would be used for any amount of points. If you bought 150 points in June 2024 for a December UY, you would receive 150 points from December 2023 as well as the 150 points coming in December 2024 and could book a February 2025 vacation using 300 points without 'borrowing' from 2025.

That’s pretty huge! Do you pay dues for 2023 in that scenario?