The Switch

[jb.brooks]

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF IT IS POSSIBLE TO SWITHCH YOUR HOME RESORT? LIKE FROM YOUR PRESENT RESORT TO THE NEW ANIMAL KINGDOM VILLAS OR WOULD I HAVE TO CONTACT DVC TO ANSWER THIS?

 

[Knotty]

You are unable to just "switch".

To have a resort as your home, you must own it. You would be able to buy into another resort of you want, to have it as your home. You could either sell your current home, or continue to own it, which would give you two home resorts, each having 11 mth booking advantages at their respective resorts.

Good Luck

 

[Disney Fanatic]

I was wondering this too if Disney would buy back your current contract and allow you to upgrade to the new AKL or do you have no choice but to go through a reseller?

I am sure I know the answer to this but just want to double check.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Disney does not "buy back" contracts. You would need to go through a resale broker, let them take their 12% off the sale price, pass ROFR, and then re-purchase AKV from Disney. We actually considered this last week, but when we discovered how much additional it would cost us for the same number of points, and how much we would lose doing it that way, we have decided to just make an add-on at AKV and hold on to our 2 OKW contracts for a few more years. When we are ready to downsize the number of points we hold, then we will likely sell one OKW contract and buy more AKV points. For now we will just be happy with adding on at AKV and hoping to use our OKW points there at the 7 month window sometimes.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

I was wondering this too if Disney would buy back your current contract and allow you to upgrade to the new AKL or do you have no choice but to go through a reseller?

In order for Disney to buy back your contract they would have to exercise their ROFR. Meaning that you would have already had to sell it to someone. DVC won't just buy your contract and allow you to "upgrade". You can sell a contract on your own but going through a re-seller is the choice of most people. Good luck.

HBC

 

[dianeschlicht]

LOL, HBC and I must have been typing at the same time!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

LOL, HBC and I must have been typing at the same time!

Seems to be happening a lot lately. From now on I'll just type "whatever Diane said."

HBC

 

[Geezer]

I agree with both Diane and Birthday Cat.

 

[CarolMN]

My understanding is that Disney will buy back a contract. However, the price offered is very low - I've heard $55/point. You would be much better off economically if you hired a broker to sell the contract.

FWIW, unless your heart is absolutely set on getting one of the DVC concierge rooms in the main lodge, I reallly do not think you are going to need to own AKV to stay there on a regular basis. My advice is not to make a hasty decision and lose money - wait and see how hard it is to get what you want at the 7 month mark.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I agree, Carol. We looked into it and decided it was too great a loss.

 

[Simba's Mom]

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF IT IS POSSIBLE TO SWITHCH YOUR HOME RESORT? LIKE FROM YOUR PRESENT RESORT TO THE NEW ANIMAL KINGDOM VILLAS OR WOULD I HAVE TO CONTACT DVC TO ANSWER THIS?

We seriosly looked into this a few years ago-I called our guide to see if it were possible. Sorry! So we did the buy/sell thing, because DH REALLY wanted to own at OKW (we owned at VWL at the time). Since VWL is more popular and dues are more expensive there, we didn't do too badly, actually we ended up with about 35 more points when all was done, but I agree-generally it's not the best decision financially. It was just that it was something DH REALLY wanted-and since he rarely wants anything vacation-related and I was ending up with more points, we did it.

 

[AKVCRVDVC]

My understanding is that Disney will buy back a contract. However, the price offered is very low - I've heard $55/point. You would be much better off economically if you hired a broker to sell the contract.

FWIW, unless your heart is absolutely set on getting one of the DVC concierge rooms in the main lodge, I reallly do not think you are going to need to own AKV to stay there on a regular basis. My advice is not to make a hasty decision and lose money - wait and see how hard it is to get what you want at the 7 month mark.

I agree, we wanted a room in the main lodge so we took the dive and got it. I've heard that there will only be a grand total of 5 units on the concierge level -- which was another reason for us to go ahead and buy. Good luck with making your decision!

 

[Caskbill]

Just to clarify:

You can't just 'switch'. These are real estate properties that you own. It'd be like saying you want to switch your house with one of your neighbors. There are legal issues, taxes, state records, all of which have to be switched.

DVC does buy back directly so you don't have to go to a broker and sell, and go through ROFR and all that. However DVC only offers lower amounts, somewhere around $55/point as mentioned.

Broker fees vary. I think TTS is at 10%. A place like GMAC is higher because they kick back part of the fee to Disney so Disney will list them as the only 'approved' broker, or something like that.

If one does all the calculations, and wanted to 'switch' 100 points from a current resort to AKV, the cost, including all fees, would be several thousand dollars.

 

[AKVCRVDVC]

If one does all the calculations, and wanted to 'switch' 100 points from a current resort to AKV, the cost, including all fees, would be several thousand dollars.

 

[CptnJack]

...since he rarely wants anything vacation-related and I was ending up with more points, we did it.

It's so funny to see how it really is! Always the case, rarely mentioned. I chuckled out loud when I read this.

We have our points at SSR and I see no reason to switch. We haven't stayed there yet but I have booked all of our trips there, then tried to switch at the 7 month window. If nothing is available, so be it. We haven't had the joy of a day by day booking yet and I don't think I would want that stress. I haven't seen a DVC resort yet that I wouldn't want to stay at. I certainly wouldn't spend the several thousand to switch. Sorry I meandered off the topic a bit, as many have said regarding the OP's question; "no, it's not possible to simply switch."

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

Disney does not "buy back" contracts. You would need to go through a resale broker, let them take their 12% off the sale price, pass ROFR, and then re-purchase AKV from Disney.

I've read a lot of Diane's posts and think she wasn't as clear as she wanted to be here when she said "pass ROFR". For the seller, the passing of ROFR is not an issue at all, you'll still get the same $$$ either way - from the person wanting to purchase or from Disney. For the seller though, the ROFR process can take up to 30 days which means more time waiting to close the sale and for you to get your money.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Don't do it -- you'll probably end up losing money and will find that once the resort is completed (it will be huge!), there should be good availabilty for non-owners as well. So just try to be patient or possibly take that extra money you would have spent to make the trade and buy a small add-on with it instead.

 

[JodyTG]

I'm also of the opinion to wait and see. That's what we did before we purchased an add-on at BWV and saw that although we could usually get what we could live with using our SSR points, we couldn't always get what we wanted. So, we did an add-on to switch out each year between the two resorts.

You may find that you'll be able to book what you want at AKV using your existing points and won't need to buy in to the more expensive villas.

 

[dianeschlicht]

(snip)
If one does all the calculations, and wanted to 'switch' 100 points from a current resort to AKV, the cost, including all fees, would be several thousand dollars.

That's absolutely correct, Bill. We actually did run the figures around, and it would have cost us more to resell one OKW contract and end up with the same size contract at AKV, then it was to add-on 60+ points straight out at AKV.

 

[byoung]

My understanding is that Disney will buy back a contract. However, the price offered is very low - I've heard $55/point. You would be much better off economically if you hired a broker to sell the contract.

FWIW, unless your heart is absolutely set on getting one of the DVC concierge rooms in the main lodge, I reallly do not think you are going to need to own AKV to stay there on a regular basis. My advice is not to make a hasty decision and lose money - wait and see how hard it is to get what you want at the 7 month mark.

$55 is a low value for someone's points.