Thinking about purchasing a DVC contract. Around 100Pts or so. I have a few questions to start and was hoping to get some input from fellow DVC owners.
Here’s a little about us…we generally book last minute (within 30-60 days). We like to take 2-3 long weekend trips annually vs. weeklong trips. it’s usually just DW & I (but I suspect we’ll be bringing our DGD more often) so Studios are perfectly fine for us. We honestly don’t care where we stay. We’ve stayed at most of the DVC resorts by renting points. We’re just as happy at OKW or SSR @ 10-15pts. per night vs. Poly or GFV @ 30. Parks are not always in our plans. We enjoy resort only time. If we go down for a long weekend we’ll sometimes grab an after 5pm convention ticket and enjoy Epcot festivals and catch the fireworks but that’s about it.
Here’s a couple of questions:
Resale vs. Direct?
Can/should we (DW & I ) add our grown children to the contract?
If not, can a resale contract be passed down to our children after our death?
Does usage year or which resort we choose matter that much considering we are fine with OKW or SSR and most likely will travel for short stays during off peak times?
Thanks, I’m sure I’ll have more questions as I go but these are a few that will help make the decision easier.
If you are looking for less than 150 points it must be resale these days. In your case I would definitely say resale.
Yes, my son is on my contracts but it is also an assets that can be left for your children.
Use year matters if you always travel at the same time of year. If you always traveled in the fall you might want a Use Year at that time of year so that if you have to cancel you have plenty of time to bank or re-book your points.
I think for many months you do need at least 4 months to find something to book. Some times it is impossible at 8 months (early December for example can be crazy). If you can’t book a few weekends far out, it might not work for you.
That being said, stretching points is a great idea and I love my DVC.
For your purposes, resale all the way and the least expensive option you can find. You don’t need home resort advantage (11mos booking) so don’t pay for it
Use year also doesn’t matter for your purposes.
Also while studios are fine I would encourage you to consider getting enough points for a 1BR at the resorts most likely to have availability at 30 days (OKW, SSR) because it would stink to be locked out of a stay for lack of points. Studios go first and once sold out can be hard to find open nights. 1BR are available longer. Plus with the DGD it might be nice to have the privacy once in a while
But mostly if you’re booking more than a few months out
Although I suppose if you know you’re going to mostly travel in February (for example) a December use year would give you the most time to rebook those points or bank them if you didn’t go in February as planned.
If you normally book 30-60 days out it’s going to be very hard, if not impossible, to find somewhere at the weekends between October and mid January.
Also, 60 days out, any unbooked rooms can be taken by Disney to sell. So availability is going to be difficult at any time. In general I wouldn’t recommend DVC to someone who can’t book at least 4 months ahead.
That said, I have been able to book a random night or two at short notice for renters. So perhaps if you’re willing to be flexible over dates and resorts it might work.
As for adding adult children to the deeds. It will then become their asset, with all the implications that entails. Unless you want them to be able to use the points themselves I would just leave it to them. DVC allows a gratuitous transfer and will not ROFR it under those circumstances.
If you really do want to book truly last minute, then I think like other have mentioned you might be better off continuing to rent dedicated reservations that are on sale. Another option might be to hedge your bets a little and book a weekend or two at 6 months and then move it out into the future if that particular weekend doesn’t end up working. Then you do want to pay attention to use-year. If you are interested in festivals I would look at an August use-year.
While you haven’t asked about which resort, it sounds like SSR is the best for you, or an OKW with an extended contract. I would not buy an OKW with the original experation date because it is a poor value.
I know tou have calculated your points needs, but I wish I had taken the advice to calculate what you need and get 20% more. I got 120 points and it turns out 150 would have been perfect. If you can swing it, I suggest a 120. If not, then get what you can afford!
Agree with everyone’s discussion about booking window. For my Christmas AKL, it was necessary to book between 8-11 months. I just booked a spring break stay at VGC and had to hit all the buttons exactly right at 8:00am, 7 months out to score it. On the other hand, I rented Poly points from someone here and she got it through waitlist at 40 days.
It sounds like DVC would be a good choice for you and I love @melcort10 suggestion of booking just in case. If you think you will do that, use year will make a difference because of that banking window. Basically you don’t wany the last 4 months to fall when you travle most often. Good luck!
Thanks for all insight. I’ve been checking out the DVC availability calendar and it looks like the days of availability 30-60 days out is a thing of the past. Over the Covid era I would check and could always find something, even if it was piecing 3-4 nights together with split stays. Now it looks like even 4 months out is a gamble.
A few more questions…
With so many last minute and dedicated reservations out there… Is it just that people are booking and not going? Are brokers buying up points and making these reservations for profit? (Seems risky) Can you book more reservations than you have points available and just drop what you won’t need?
I’m seeing this too, but SSR seems to have things Also, don’t forget about waitlisting. It really came through for us when we needed to add a night on our last trip.
I’ve heard that at least one of the main brokers prefer people to book reservations that they can then sell as confirmed reservations, rather than the more traditional way. My guess is that they can get away with a higher price per point that way by rounding it up.
There may also be an element of people booking trips “just in case” and then deciding to try and sell them as is, rather than having to cancel and rebook.
We may still be in a period of readjustment post Covid.
I think that 30-60 day availability will come back eventually. I think we are still seeing people spend pent up points. Especially because they just lifted the borrowing limit recently. Also, this is a high season for DVC because of festival and historical low crowd levels. I’d keep looking to see if it loosens up before coming to that final conclusion
To clarify for the OP, “points you have” equals points you will have at the time of your stay. There is often a lot of confusion about this. So if you have a September use year you can book an Ocotber stay in July based on the points you will have.
Interesting. I’m learning more and more. Thanks everyone. I truly appreciate it. I’m going to keep asking questions until you are all sick of me. Haha. Now, how does booking work? Is there a website online? An App? Do you have to call? Is it the same for waitlisting? How about cancellations? If I pick a couple of long weekends 4- 6 months out and I find out I can’t travel those dates can I cancel and rebook other dates? And up til when can I cancel?
If you cancel 31 days or more ahead, your points will return to the current use year. (Banked and borrowed points cannot be returned to their original use year).
If you cancel within 31 days all points go into “holding”. They expire at the end of your use year but you can only use them to book a reservation that is within 60 days of when you book.
For example, trip starts 20th Nov. You cancel on the 15th Oct
all points returned to current use year.
But if you cancel on 1st Nov the points go into holding. You can rebook for a trip starting before 31st Dec now. Or you can wait and on the 27th Nov you book a short trip away starting 16th Jan.
I think DVC call line explained to me that points in holding have to be used by end of Use Year. but I’m not experienced enough to feel confident in that knowledge
They do expire at the end of the use year. But you can only book using them within 60 days. Just not sure if that trip completed, as per the use year rule, or trip started.
Also, don’t forget about waitlisting. It really came through for us when we needed to add a night on our last trip.
