Purchasing 1st DVC Contract

DadDVC

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Hello all: This is my first post on this board after reading and studying the board for over a month.

Our story: I am married with three daughters; 7, 4, and a newborn. We have vacationed at WDW the last three years and our family loves it; kids and adults. First year was in a 2-bedroom villa at Copper Creek, second was a 1-bedroom villa at BLT, third was a deluxe studio at Polynesian. We have decided that this will be our yearly or every other year vacation over Spring Break week, middle March, while the kids are school age. Our trips will range from 5-7 night stays and consist of staying at BLT (1 or 2 BR villa) and Polynesian; close to Magic Kingdom, on the monorail, and kids loved Polynesian.

I recently received notification that I have an accepted offer on 160 points at BLT with a February Use Year. My question, how would you structure your points and contracts based on the information I provided? I would like to have enough points to cover a yearly trip at either resort, borrowing a few if needed, while renting out any remaining points. While I do not look at this as an income producing investment, I do like the idea of being able to rent points to cover my maintenance fees and putting some money away to cover some of our other expenses associated with the trips.

I have gone back and forth on if I should purchase enough points to cover the length of stay at either resort, using the 11 month window. Which would mean anywhere from 240 - 300+ pts at BLT, and roughly 150 at Poly. Whichever resort we did not stay at that year would be rented. This choice requires a much larger initial buy-in cost, but gives us the almost guarantee of getting what we want at 11 months. The other option would be to purchase half the points required at each resort, banking every other year, and using those points when booking our stay.

Anyone and everyone please advise on what you would do and why. For simplicity, please assume this would be a yearly trip for us. Thank you!
 
If there are two places you want to stay I highly recommend buying at both so you get the 11 month window. That has worked for me. I bought 150 at Poly and 200 between Riviera and boardwalk for the Epcot area. Personally I like the concept of banking every other year and it's worked for me, but I think renting would work too.
 
...
I recently received notification that I have an accepted offer on 160 points at BLT with a February Use Year. My question, how would you structure your points and contracts based on the information I provided? I would like to have enough points to cover a yearly trip at either resort, borrowing a few if needed,...
I’m a little confused by your reference to an ‘accepted offer’ it sounds like you are currently buying 160 resale BLT points?
Depending on how many banked points that contract comes with that should cover next years trip and possibly the year after, so you have time to search for a second contract w/ a February use year at either the Poly or BLT.
Some thoughts about your Poly choice - how long are the 5 of you going to be comfortable in a Poly studio, down the road it might become a little cramped and the option to get a BLT 2 br. at 11 months might be more appealing.
I own at 2 resorts & alternate stays, so obviously went the 2 resort route, however, I’m not sure I’d go with 2 MK resorts.
 
Correct, I am buying 160pts and I just received notification that the seller accepted my offer and signed the contract yesterday. I am waiting on the next steps. With me putting in the offer, my initial plan is to bank the first years points and book our trip for 2021 at the 11 month window. So you are correct, I do have a few years to search for another contract that suits my needs.
 


Correct, I am buying 160pts and I just received notification that the seller accepted my offer and signed the contract yesterday. I am waiting on the next steps. With me putting in the offer, my initial plan is to bank the first years points and book our trip for 2021 at the 11 month window. So you are correct, I do have a few years to search for another contract that suits my needs.
If you enjoy Epcot/HS or think you will as your kids grow up I'd consider your second contract in that area.
 
Good luck passing ROFR with your BLT purchase! We've been members since 1996 and have stayed at or toured every resort at WDW (HH and VB too) except Riviera...a few thoughts:

Poly is lovely, but a studio for two adults and three growing children yikes! You really have to factor a 2 BR if you are to buy there. AKL (Jambo House IMO - we're not crazy about Kidani) is a stunning resort and your kids may be happy hanging out at the pool and savannah area for a few "resort days" and points required are reasonable, though values are extremely competitive. EPCOT resorts BWV and BCV have a 2042 expiration so maybe consider a smaller contract there for a short, alternate stay? Our son was captivated by EPCOT at three years old and developed a life long love of geography and travel and the International Gate makes it easy to come and go several times a day. We always looked for a way to weave education into trips in a fun way and this meets that goal.

I would keep an open mind and certainly visit other resorts on your next trip before you buy another contract. Plan to wander around and have a meal and check it out. All have pros and cons but everybody seems to have strong feelings for their "home" resort(s) for every reason under the sun...you will know when you feel that "at home" feeling...good luck!
 


I would keep a lookout for a Polynesian contract. Sounds like you love it there, too.
You already have a family of five. Should your family increase to one more, you either book a bungalow (and use points for many years) or book two studios at the PVB. There are no two bedroom villas there. I'd stick with resorts that have two bedroom villas because your three children won't like sleeping in the living room forever. We have one son and he doesn't live with us anymore (he's in grad school), so he doesn't go with us much any more. With just the two of us, we can book an OKW studio (the only studio we book) or a one bedroom villa somewhere. You have a long way to go before you get to our situation.
 
You can always resell your Poly resale contract if your kids get tired of sleeping on the pullout sofa and the small Murphy bed.

Personally, the chance to stay at the Polly trumps comfort in the room, but I am use to cramming 4 adults into a hotel room to save money. Obviously your mileage may very. :)
 
You can always resell your Poly resale contract if your kids get tired of sleeping on the pullout sofa and the small Murphy bed.

Personally, the chance to stay at the Polly trumps comfort in the room, but I am use to cramming 4 adults into a hotel room to save money. Obviously your mileage may very. :)

I was just at Poly by myself, but pulled down to just try the trundle bed, it is definitely something that will suit children for a long time..
 
I love Poly and own Poly, but I wouldn't cram a family of five in there. I mean, it's brilliant with the baby in the extra bathroom, which is like an extra bedroom for the crib, but once you outgrow that pack n play, it will be tight.

You have to decide whether you want to do this yearly or every other year, that's a huge point difference. Good news is, you don't have to make that decision now. The 160 contract should cover the first trip.

Spring break can be one of the busiest times. It isn't for everyone, it's certainly not for me.

I would not buy points planning to rent them out. If you're going to be that far off with what you own and need, then just rent points.
 
Polynesian has the largest square footage studios offered via DVC. If a person has been renting a hotel room at Polynesian that sleeps a family of five on a regular basis, I can see where owning some Polynesian points would be attractive to them.

But, if you would have to rent out the points on the off year, I would just buy less points to avoid having to rent.
 
I'd just buy all the points at BLT and be done with it. It is the best way to go currently with the 2060 expiration. Could also consider GF with 2064. You will get the highest premium for any points you rent with these two. You can always get in at BWV if you want to be near EPCOT, but you may have to do a split reservation. RIV is a cluster when the Skyliner goes down. AKV is way out there but nice.
 
Thank you all for your input. You all have very valid points on where to stay and how to go about adding on to our DVC membership. I think what I plan to do is simply add on to my BLT holdings due to several reasons:
-Proximity to MK for our three young girls
-On monorail
-Longer contract, price per point, and maintenance fee's
-Easy to rent should we not use the points
-We can book 2BR villas to accommodate our growing family and our extended families who enjoy Disney vacations
-Will have plenty of points to book elsewhere should be decide to at the 7mo mark
-We are totally content taking transportation to Epcot, AK, HS.
 
I think you made a good choice and it is similar to the one we made. We have a young family with a 6 and 4 year old and even with that we realized we really wanted 1 bedrooms. We just stayed at the Polynesian and it was incredible. But we ultimately chose bay lake tower. Originally we were looking at grand Floridian but not only was bay lake cheaper to buy, the point costs are lower as well. Watching some walkthroughs and reviews changed our minds.
 

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