How important are future resorts to you?

[byurick]

For my family yes future resorts matter and I see us at least trying them out from time to time so it made sense to have a set of unrestricted points to use. It's not like direct is gonna get any cheaper. For the record we are hybrid members.

 

[atthebeachclub]

For my family yes future resorts matter and I see us at least trying them out from time to time so it made sense to have a set of unrestricted points to use. It's not like direct is gonna get any cheaper. For the record we are hybrid members.

Which direct resort did you choose?

 

[byurick]

Which direct resort did you choose?

Bought 150 at SSR during the last round of incentives. For our situation the home resort didn't matter so I went with cheaper direct points. We also have 100 BCV and 25 BRV resale (I don't really see us buying more points as we can't really go more than 2x a year).

 

[atthebeachclub]

Bought 150 at SSR during the last round of incentives. For our situation the home resort didn't matter so I went with cheaper direct points. We also have 100 BCV and 25 BRV resale (I don't really see us buying more points as we can't really go more than 2x a year).

I like your choices! Good call on buying during the last incentive period.

 

[Mr_Woodchuck]

i'm not too worried. If we ever really wanted to stay at Riviera (which we can't direct since we own resale), I could just rent my CCV points or confirmed reservation, take that money and rent a Riviera stay.

 

[byurick]

i'm not too worried. If we ever really wanted to stay at Riviera (which we can't direct since we own resale), I could just rent my CCV points or confirmed reservation, take that money and rent a Riviera stay.

I considered that as well only originally having resale points at first, and I think for lots of people that's great and works for them. But for me that's a hassle. With my direct points I can just book what I want, plus it's more fun using the reservation system with your own points

 

[Frugal Fairy Tales]

One pro to direct points is if the biggest cost over the length of the contract is all the dues you pay, then I don’t want to pay all those dues on points that don’t let me stay wherever I want.

 

[Frugal Fairy Tales]

i'm not too worried. If we ever really wanted to stay at Riviera (which we can't direct since we own resale), I could just rent my CCV points or confirmed reservation, take that money and rent a Riviera stay.

Good for you that you have a strategy that works for you. For me this is too much of a hassle. That’s why I own instead of renting points. I am too busy working and raising my family. I need my DVC to be easy to enjoy.

 

[mort1331]

As a points mizer,,,the new shiny buildings are nice to try,,,but those point charts for us make it a hard no for extended times and trips. We splurge sometimes, like the Riveria last year,,but more to try out and we had spare points to burn. We are more than happy with our SSR and OKW and the points are great. And that is coming from someone with no restrictions on our resale points

 

[SugarSweetLee]

One pro to direct points is if the biggest cost over the length of the contract is all the dues you pay, then I don’t want to pay all those dues on points that don’t let me stay wherever I want.

This is our reasoning too. For less than $300 per year more I can use my points however and wherever I want (assuming I'm on top of planning and not trying to get super long trips at the hardest to book places, lol!)

 

[Chili327]

True, flexibility is different for each. Split stays may not be as easy for some so I can see where the 7month window isn’t as easy to book some resorts, also restricted ones obviously don’t work for resale, so it will be different for each, no wrong way to do it… except using VGC points at SSR, that’s just wrong. lol

What keeps it low on my end is the AULs at $7.34/pt and BLT and VGF are also below my average. They're 3 out of my 7 resorts, but represent about 2/3 of the total points. AKV does sting but it's such a unique resort that it's worth it, especially since we usually try to stay Club and couldn't do it otherwise.

Do you get down into the weeds to figure out the avg? Like per point or just xx divided by 7 resorts?

I tend to lean heavily to both sides of the argument. It’s important to me that I am financially literate (as one can be with a timeshare) and making the best choices as to where my dollars go. It makes sense to me that several people are saying they can revisit a direct purchase if a need ever arises, but for me the largest benefit to DVC is being able to buy and pay this off now while I’m single with no children so that in the future my only concern will be the dues. The prepaid vacation idea is solely what drew me to DVC in the first place. Thus, I do feel I add a time element to the decision. I want to know that I can pay this off ASAP. I’m not sure I’ll have the extra cash in the future to keep buying. I know I have it now. Anyone else have these weird thoughts?

The price will definitely be better if you buy direct now, compared to in 20 years so that is the biggest difference in waiting to see, but I think there will be plenty more option in 18 years than just the new restricted resorts. So as they come online is when decisions will get made. As opposed to now or later being 18 years, when many people who don’t find direct appealing now may find multiple options between now and then.

 

[Mr_Woodchuck]

Good for you that you have a strategy that works for you. For me this is too much of a hassle. That’s why I own instead of renting points. I am too busy working and raising my family. I need my DVC to be easy to enjoy.

we're new owners, but it certainly doesn't seem very easy. Lots and lots of planning involved either way.

 

[teamsamant]

There isn't a single new resort worth staying at. They haven't built an iconic resort since the Eisner era. All of the add-ons at the iconic resorts are not restricted. So I have no FOMO to stay at or buy at point heavy resorts with over priced dues that they currently build that have less access to parks or don't include awesome unamed benefits like water pageant, walking to a park or two, fireworks from your room at night (BWV,VGF,POLY), easy transportation access (monorail,boat), Skyliner doesn't count you can hop on that at BCV or BWV or a value resort! golf course on site (SSR,OKW).

 

[DanCali]

Do you get down into the weeds to figure out the avg? Like per point or just xx divided by 7 resorts?

I calculate it per point, but I just set it up in a spreadsheet where once a year I plug in the dues per point for each resort and it tells me the total dues amounts I should be paying and the average dues per point. That way, I can also see how much each resort is costing me every year (I do it by resort, not by contract)

It also helps with budgeting purposes because by the summer I forget the total I paid in January, and if I want to know how much to budget for DVC dues next year, it's easy to open it up and see what I paid in the prior year.

 

[MyDogTink]

There isn't a single new resort worth staying at. They haven't built an iconic resort since the Eisner era. All of the add-ons at the iconic resorts are not restricted. So I have no FOMO to stay at or buy at point heavy resorts with over priced dues that they currently build that have less access to parks or don't include awesome unamed benefits like water pageant, walking to a park or two, fireworks from your room at night (BWV,VGF,POLY), easy transportation access (monorail,boat), Skyliner doesn't count you can hop on that at BCV or BWV or a value resort! golf course on site (SSR,OKW).

I think what ruined Riviera for me was (a) preferred room looks out to CBR and (b) skyliner is shared by a moderate resort and a value resort. Those features diminish the deluxe feel to me. I am by no means a snob. I’ve stayed at value and moderates growing up and in early adulthood but deluxe shouldn’t be commingled with non-deluxe.

 

[Mr_Woodchuck]

I considered that as well only originally having resale points at first, and I think for lots of people that's great and works for them. But for me that's a hassle. With my direct points I can just book what I want, plus it's more fun using the reservation system with your own points

I doubt we ever do it, because we don't like any of the new restricted resorts. But it makes me feel better that there's a way to do it economically, just a few more hurdles to add -- if they ever do build a place we want to stay at before CCV expires. That's a very long ways away though.

 

[Cfabar1]

I am a direct and resale owner. Bought Direct at VGF because that was the resort we wanted, and at the time direct was on par with resale pricing. I wish we had bought more at the time. Rest of our points are resale.

Here's what I would say:
- buying direct is easier
- if I were financing a contract, I'd be more comfortable financing w Disney
- I have bought where I want to stay. The other resorts I like are not restricted.
- Sometimes direct is worth the premium - right now small Poly contracts are going for around $190-200 a point. Direct being an extra $25 is well worth the premium to me. But paying a huge markup would not be worth it to me.

 

[D-Trick]

All great points have been made, but I think the primary question for this thread should evolve into:

How often are you using your unrestricted points (direct/grandfathered) at a restricted non home resort?

FOMO is obviously a thing, but I'm curious as to the actual real life usage of RIV, VDH, and CFW non-home resort stays, particularly from the longer tenured owners from before RIV. We can then establish the general consensus of future resort importance from the more established population.

Buying direct for DVC-Y should be a separate topic.

 

[Brian Noble]

skyliner is shared by a moderate resort and a value resort. Those features diminish the deluxe feel to me. I am by no means a snob.

I'm trying to figure out how all three of those sentences can be true at the same time.

How do you navigate your DVC decisions and how important is access future resorts for you?

I am ordinarily Team Resale all the way. But, I am also reminded of some very good advice I read on TUG:

It's a TOY. You are buying a TOY. Treat it like a TOY.

So, the question is really: Do I want to spend more for this toy, or less for that toy? Another way to put it: Do I have the money to buy the more expensive toy? If not, will I be happy that I bought the less expensive toy?

On that note, I am going to celebrate a life milestone by buying a toy sometime in the next six months. Maybe that's a sporty car with a manual transmission. Maybe it's a DVC contract. Maybe it is something else. If it is DVC, there's a decent chance that I will buy direct, because it's a toy and I won't miss the extra money.

And that brings me to another piece of advice that I often give: Money is for spending.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

We have a nice diversified portfolio of direct and resale. Have the option of staying at restricted resorts with the lower cost of our resale contracts. It was more important for us to have the 11 month advantage at our favorite resorts.