DVC Every 3 Years

[HBDad]

We’re a family of 5 with kids between 9-13 in California and plan to visit Aulani or WDW every 3 years. The non Disney/Hawaii years would be more focused on visiting new places. We’re next to Disneyland but had a great time at WDW recently and have been to Hawaii.

I’m planning to purchase a 120 pt resale for Animal Kingdom with a Sept/Oct Use Year. Every 3 years, I plan to use 360 points.. 120 banked, 120 current and 120 borrowed. I’m hoping the 50% borrowing restriction will end in the next year or two. 360 points should be enough for a 1BR SV at AKL for 9 days or 2 BR SV for 7 days.. if we did Aulani, it would be sufficient for a 1 BR for 7 days.

We like to travel during November, May and sometimes end of August during non-peak seasons when flights are cheaper. I planned out the next 3 trips and it looks good… but after the kids are grown up, I’m curious how vacations will go.

I wanted to see if anyone else did this and get any feedback.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Aulani resale would be a better value, especially if you can find a contract with subsidized dues.

That said, I wouldn't go into DVC counting on any plan that will require banking and borrowing. As you've already seen, the 50% borrowing restriction pretty much torpedoes the whole plan.

 

[chalee94]

Agree with Cap - for an every three years plan, it's just too risky and not worth it.

Rent points if that works for you. If you can commit to every other year, maybe it's worth buying in if you re-do the math and it works for you.

Edited to add: beyond the current borrowing restriction, it is still a high risk plan.

Banking and borrowing are FINAL transactions. For an every third year trip, you would be using banked and borrowed pts that would be stuck in that current UY if you had to cancel the trip, which could mean losing three years worth of pts in the wrong circumstances. Not. Worth. It.

 

[HBDad]

Solid point on being high risk. Traveling in the past few years and with kids has been unpredictable. I book everything for flexibile cancellations and this strategy would circumvent that. Even if we rescheduled for a few months, I would expect availability to be a big issue.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Every other year is doable, but every three years is a big financial risk to take IMO. Borrowing at 50% could end, continue or end and then something else upsets the apple cart and it's back again. Who knows?

If you alternate WDW and AUL with banking and borrowing every other year, that would be your best bet IMO. OCT is your best UY, but August trips will be risky. Buying DVC is a big lifestyle decision and though it looks straightforward 20K for a 120 point contract and $$ for MF's that is just the beginning.

IMO the lowest risk option (not necessarily the cheapest) would be to buy two contracts: one spring and one fall, one WDW and one AUL and alternate, renting points when you aren't using them. You have to pay income taxes on your rental, so it's not profitable but it will cover your MF's with a bit left over. You'll have two memberships which gives you the option to transfer points between memberships and the option to buy OTU points up to 24/year currently $19 PP. If one doesn't work out, with a bit of luck you can sell it and break even or make a profit, but you can't count on that.

I have three memberships, ten contracts and two UY's and it does get a bit complicated and I've been DVC since 1996. There is a lot to consider. Good luck!

 

[ctl]

We’re a family of 5 with kids between 9-13 in California and plan to visit Aulani or WDW every 3 years. The non Disney/Hawaii years would be more focused on visiting new places. We’re next to Disneyland but had a great time at WDW recently and have been to Hawaii.

I’m planning to purchase a 120 pt resale for Animal Kingdom with a Sept/Oct Use Year. Every 3 years, I plan to use 360 points.. 120 banked, 120 current and 120 borrowed. I’m hoping the 50% borrowing restriction will end in the next year or two. 360 points should be enough for a 1BR SV at AKL for 9 days or 2 BR SV for 7 days.. if we did Aulani, it would be sufficient for a 1 BR for 7 days.

We like to travel during November, May and sometimes end of August during non-peak seasons when flights are cheaper. I planned out the next 3 trips and it looks good… but after the kids are grown up, I’m curious how vacations will go.

I wanted to see if anyone else did this and get any feedback.

I would be wary of thinking that the point charges will remain stable for the next 3 years. They have increased for November and October every year for the past 3 years. I went ahead and bought another 25 points last year in the hopes it would cover me, but its gone up anther 5 points in the 2023 charts. not trying to put a damper on your plans, but just letting you know what happened to me.

 

[redboat45]

Don't do it. If you can buy a bit more points so you don't have to count on the borrowing. Several years ago we bought a 25 point contract at BWV and planned on doing the banking/borrowing thing which would give us a good week in a standard studio at the time of year we traveled. Now we can't do that. With a 13 year old you really only have like 2 more trips with going every 3 years. So you have to think about that too.

 

[RoseGold]

I wouldn't do this for every three years. I would just rent points. Depending on what and when you are booking Aulani, you might even be able to do it last minute by DVC standards, that is with a few months notice, and use distressed rented points.

Holding DVC is risk. Just looking at all of the threads on these boards about Disney policy changes shows this product is subject to not only its own rule change (banking/borrowing rules) but also the general Disney policy changes. IMO, almost all of them in recent years have been against the interests of DVC owners, even before Covid.

This sounds like a lot of work and risk for two-three trips before your kids have their own lives.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Agree with others - banking and borrowing never goes to plan as you think it will. It's a sure way to lose points. It would be nearly impossible to buy the exact points you would need in this scenario as the point charts do readjust every year - could go up a little leaving you with not enough points, could go down a little leaving you with not quite enough. Also, I think if you map it out on a spreadsheet, you will find that it takes longer to break even, as you are not planning on as many cash stays for comparison.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Also worth noting that October is high season at WDW for DVC, and a definite 11-month window kind of season. At AKV for a 1BR you're fine just using home resort wiih variable expectations of 7-month window options. but if you cx within 7 months availability is going to be stalking/sucking territory.

 

[HBDad]

Also worth noting that October is high season at WDW for DVC, and a definite 11-month window kind of season. At AKV for a 1BR you're fine just using home resort wiih variable expectations of 7-month window options. but if you cx within 7 months availability is going to be stalking/sucking territory.

I have a 1/3 probability of cancelling at < 7 month window. I would probably book vacations in Nov / Early December so it gives me flexibility if I cancel. Cancelling means I would need to rebook for March or May. With a every 3 year travel plan, the lack of flexibility, time involved in renting points, and stress might not be worth committing to DVC.

 

[RoseGold]

It still might be worth renting DVC for Aulani. People do have points that need to get used, and WDW DVC is difficult to book last minute, or within a few months. There are wide open seasons of Aulani, especially 1BR. This might be a sweet spot to get a good DVC value, because it's so hard to use those points.

There are plenty of less restrictive WDW options. Just book at Swolphin and call it a day.

 

[RamblinWreck]

I have a 1/3 probability of cancelling at < 7 month window. I would probably book vacations in Nov / Early December so it gives me flexibility if I cancel. Cancelling means I would need to rebook for March or May. With a every 3 year travel plan, the lack of flexibility, time involved in renting points, and stress might not be worth committing to DVC.

Another factor that I don't think I've seen mentioned yet is that the every 3 year plan basically guarantees that you will waste points.

Unless that number of points you combine from your 3 use years equals EXACTLY the number of points that it takes to book the room you want (or you're just short enough for an extra night that you can benefit from one-time-use-points), there's no way for you to use your remaining points while traveling every 3 years.

Once every 2 years is really the minimum that makes sense for DVC.

But if you like both WDW and Aulani, you could do each one of those once every 4 years and still be using points every other year.

 

[HBDad]

It still might be worth renting DVC for Aulani. People do have points that need to get used, and WDW DVC is difficult to book last minute, or within a few months. There are wide open seasons of Aulani, especially 1BR. This might be a sweet spot to get a good DVC value, because it's so hard to use those points.

There are plenty of less restrictive WDW options. Just book at Swolphin and call it a day.

Swolphin looks great since we’re Platinum for Marriott. I wonder if there are any additional benefits there.

We stayed at Yacht Club recently and swolphin was right there!

 

[RoseGold]

Swolphin looks great since we’re Platinum for Marriott. I wonder if there are any additional benefits there.

In the old system, Swolphin were Good Neighbor resorts for fast pass. In the new system, it's only Swolphin and Shades of Green + deluxe for the late after hours. Not even Waldorf or Ritz.

The Extended Evening Hours are the best on site perk I've ever experienced.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/extended-evening/
Also, Swolphin have some things you wouldn't expect at a normal Marriott, but that are useful in a theme park, like coin laundry.

 

[HBDad]

Once every 2 years is really the minimum that makes sense for DVC.

But if you like both WDW and Aulani, you could do each one of those once every 4 years and still be using points every other year.

Thank you! Another possibility is to get a 160/180 contract.. take 2 trips over 4 years and rent out the 3rd trip. But this takes more time to rent out as well.

 

[Her Dotness]

I would be wary of thinking that the point charges will remain stable for the next 3 years. They have increased for November and October every year for the past 3 years. I went ahead and bought another 25 points last year in the hopes it would cover me, but its gone up anther 5 points in the 2023 charts. not trying to put a damper on your plans, but just letting you know what happened to me.

Yes, this is a bigger concern than you may realize.

We thought we'd have enough points with banking and borrowing for a 1br every other year, also adding 25 for a a safety net, we thought.

Three years as owners and we couldn't even manage an annual studio, what we'd thought would be our fallback.

Points needed can shift that much.

Wait till you can buy at least 50 points more than your desired 1br would cost annually to be pretty secure, because banking and borrowing becomes tedious even if feasible.

 

[Sandisw]

Given how the borrowing rule has changed, I would no longer buy with the notion it will be 100%. It really can be anything they want it to be if they believe it’s is needed to keep the system in balance.

It may not be the right product for you if you know you only want every 3 years.

 

[RamblinWreck]

Yes, this is a bigger concern than you may realize.

We thought we'd have enough points with banking and borrowing for a 1br every other year, also adding 25 for a a safety net, we thought.

Three years as owners and we couldn't even manage an annual studio, what we'd thought would be our fallback.

Points needed can shift that much.

Wait till you can buy at least 50 points more than your desired 1br would cost annually to be pretty secure, because banking and borrowing becomes tedious even if feasible.

That is a bummer.

My wife and I have been celebrating every year as our June trips keep getting more and more attractive, but I feel for the people who bought in planning on being able to book certain dates/lengths of trips at other times of the year who now can't.

That's another risk to add to the list when buying DVC!

 

[MICKIMINI]

A crazy option might be to buy a low priced small contract (80-100) at VBR. Yes, you'll pay more in MF's and no guarantees on 7 months, but if you are going to book at 7 months anyway, just run out the clock on 2042. Anything under 80-100 now doesn't make much sense due to closing costs (about $550-600).

I just bought a VBR 95 point for $75 with 2020, 2021 (seller paid MF's), 2022 and 2023. I'm renting 2020/2021 points and we'll bank 2022 into 2023. It was a way to add on for very little for our upcoming retirement trips. I paid $8900 and minus 3K for rentals it was only $5900. We don't care that the MF's are higher and will likely flip the contract in 8-10 years and take whatever is left or our kids can have it. We already have a subsidized VBR with the same UY (and we like Vero).

If you can find a contract like that, you can have a boat load of points right off. Timing will be important if you go this route. We are adding to our OCT UY and have time to book before 2020 points expire 9/30 as we should have our points any day now. The contract popped up and everything about it was right for us...