The Official VILLAS at DISNEYLAND HOTEL (Discovery Tower) Owners and Fans Info Thread

[ehh]

Question for the collective group:

What’s the better move on 160ish points?

1) Fixed Week that you might not ever use
2) Small contracts for higher resale residual with extra $400 closing cost per contract
3) Going up to 200 for more incentives
4) Other

For VDH specifically?

1) I wouldn't put much hope in FW value bumps in resale in the future, a week is currently an abnormally long time to visit DL for most visitors. On top of that, in this point range you're looking at a Studio that is likely easy to book for an owner, with the room balance at VDH.
2) I wouldn't put much value in higher resale residual today considering you're looking at 160ish. 160ish is already reasonably sized and time value of money and all that.
2b) I would consider breaking into smaller pieces so you have point-shedding flexibility in the future (e.g., if you only need 120 in the future, buying a 120 and a 60 today means you can right-size fairly well)
3) As you've posted immediately above, incentives at 200 aren't that much better, so increasing for value won't result in much value gain
4) You should probably buy 10+% more points than you thing you need today, as who knows what future points charts will morph into. Even more than 10% if you're buying for a holiday-variable time of year or immediately adjacent to a higher season.

 

[AstroBlasters]

For VDH specifically?

1) I wouldn't put much hope in FW value bumps in resale in the future, a week is currently an abnormally long time to visit DL for most visitors. On top of that, in this point range you're looking at a Studio that is likely easy to book for an owner, with the room balance at VDH.
2) I wouldn't put much value in higher resale residual today considering you're looking at 160ish. 160ish is already reasonably sized and time value of money and all that.
2b) I would consider breaking into smaller pieces so you have point-shedding flexibility in the future (e.g., if you only need 120 in the future, buying a 120 and a 60 today means you can right-size fairly well)
3) As you've posted immediately above, incentives at 200 aren't that much better, so increasing for value won't result in much value gain
4) You should probably buy 10+% more points than you thing you need today, as who knows what future points charts will morph into. Even more than 10% if you're buying for a holiday-variable time of year or immediately adjacent to a higher season.

I wish they had fixed half-weeks or something like that for the villas…. alas….

 

[tx911]

I wish they had fixed half-weeks or something like that for the villas…. alas….

It'd be cool if you could do a fixed split stay, like at Poly tower and RIV

 

[AstroBlasters]

It'd be cool if you could do a fixed split stay, like at Poly tower and RIV

Disney IT would break.

 

[VGCgroupie]

It doesn’t look like the incentives are that much better at 150 vs 200.

Oh… Welcome Home goes from 2500 to 5000

We felt 150 to 200 was worth the jump but not 200 to 250.

 

[VGCgroupie]

For VDH specifically?

1) I wouldn't put much hope in FW value bumps in resale in the future, a week is currently an abnormally long time to visit DL for most visitors. On top of that, in this point range you're looking at a Studio that is likely easy to book for an owner, with the room balance at VDH.
2) I wouldn't put much value in higher resale residual today considering you're looking at 160ish. 160ish is already reasonably sized and time value of money and all that.
2b) I would consider breaking into smaller pieces so you have point-shedding flexibility in the future (e.g., if you only need 120 in the future, buying a 120 and a 60 today means you can right-size fairly well)
3) As you've posted immediately above, incentives at 200 aren't that much better, so increasing for value won't result in much value gain
4) You should probably buy 10+% more points than you thing you need today, as who knows what future points charts will morph into. Even more than 10% if you're buying for a holiday-variable time of year or immediately adjacent to a higher season.

We were banking on maybe in the future DL forward would make the park more than a 3 day trip. But even if that doesn’t happen since there was no real financial downside to a fixed week we decided to just do it. We did choose a week that our family *might* use in the future rather than the ones that were the best value.

Right now I have 2 dates I want to book VDH and it’s sold out both times

 

[ehh]

I wish they had fixed half-weeks or something like that for the villas…. alas….

Considering I bought in at VDH to stay a specific Wed-Sun every year in a hard-to-book 1BR, absoutely would have done this.

We were banking on maybe in the future DL forward would make the park more than a 3 day trip. But even if that doesn’t happen since there was no real financial downside to a fixed week we decided to just do it. We did choose a week that our family *might* use in the future rather than the ones that were the best value.

Right now I have 2 dates I want to book VDH and it’s sold out both times

Yeah, there's no downside to it (there was a major downside years ago--FW were not eligible for incentives), but I'm not sure there's much upside at VDH, either.

 

[AstroBlasters]

We were banking on maybe in the future DL forward would make the park more than a 3 day trip. But even if that doesn’t happen since there was no real financial downside to a fixed week we decided to just do it. We did choose a week that our family *might* use in the future rather than the ones that were the best value.

Right now I have 2 dates I want to book VDH and it’s sold out both times

Oh no! Are you within 8-11m? What room type?

 

[VGCgroupie]

Oh no! Are you within 8-11m? What room type?

Both under 7 months. Studio. Well anything but all sold out for all rooms. So I guess that doesn’t make my point for a FW though does it

 

[AstroBlasters]

Both under 7 months. Studio. Well anything but all sold out for all rooms. So I guess that doesn’t make my point for a FW though does it

That’s what would scare the begigeous out of me from buying VDH resale. What do you do within 7m…. availability is awful.

At least with VGC resale (also terrible 7m availability) and VDH direct you can use them as SAP points….

 

[VGCgroupie]

That’s what would scare the begigeous out of me from buying VDH resale. What do you do within 7m…. availability is awful.

At least with VGC resale (also terrible 7m availability) and VDH direct you can use them as SAP points….

I knew VGC has low availability but I honestly thought studio's would be easy to come by at VDH. For me its not that I cant plan 8-11 months out. It's rooms for special events that tend to not be announced that far in advance. I was able to get 1 night at VGC for OBB, but 2 nights would've been better.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I knew VGC has low availability but I honestly thought studio's would be easy to come by at VDH. For me it’s not that I cant plan 8-11 months out. It's rooms for special events that tend to not be announced that far in advance. I was able to get 1 night at VGC for OBB, but 2 nights would've been better.

I agree. It’s that <insert airline of choice> is having a sale on flights over the next 4m and you have a Magic Key and would make the trip if you didn’t have to bite the bullet for a hotel room…. Like, you know… Walt Disney World!

I do wonder if magical beginnings is making the availability issue worse at the moment….

 

[VGCgroupie]

I agree. It’s that <insert airline of choice> is having a sale on flights over the next 4m and you have a Magic Key and would make the trip if you didn’t have to bite the bullet for a hotel room…. Like, you know… Walt Disney World!

I do wonder if magical beginnings is making the availability issue worse at the moment….

Ohh yes the airline issue too. I have a flight deal subscription and I always see last minute deals that wouldn't be doable.

 

[VGCgroupie]

@AstroBlasters With all this said if the incentives go up Oct 1 I might modify my contract from 200 to 300 points

 

[AstroBlasters]

@AstroBlasters With all this said if the incentives go up Oct 1 I might modify my contract from 200 to 300 points

Explain to me why

 

[VGCgroupie]

Explain to me why

The resale process is brutally slow.
We need (want) more points.
After all is said and done the overall cost of direct can be reduced greatly with creative financing.
I was considering a stay at CFW but couldn't give up the 200 points we have at VDH to stay there because we need those for VDH.
Part of our DVC goal was renting points for 3rd party cruise swapping and they give $4 more pp for VDH and VGC than anything else in the portfolio, so that is an upside in that aspect.

 

[AstroBlasters]

The resale process is brutally slow.
We need (want) more points.
After all is said and done the overall cost of direct can be reduced greatly with creative financing.
I was considering a stay at CFW but couldn't give up the 200 points we have at VDH to stay there because we need those for VDH.
Part of our DVC goal was renting points for 3rd party cruise swapping and they give $4 more pp for VDH and VGC than anything else in the portfolio, so that is an upside in that aspect.

Ah…. isn’t the cruise swap thing more of a nice escape hatch rather than a primary objective?

 

[VGCgroupie]

Ah…. isn’t the cruise swap thing more of a nice escape hatch rather than a primary objective?

We wanted to cruise every 1.5 - 2 years.

 

[VGCgroupie]

The resale process is brutally slow.
We need (want) more points.
After all is said and done the overall cost of direct can be reduced greatly with creative financing.
I was considering a stay at CFW but couldn't give up the 200 points we have at VDH to stay there because we need those for VDH.
Part of our DVC goal was renting points for 3rd party cruise swapping and they give $4 more pp for VDH and VGC than anything else in the portfolio, so that is an upside in that aspect.

@AstroBlasters also, since we need VDH due to we travel to CA more, adding more on to VDH is cheaper than going direct at another resort. But if incentives aren't better then we will likely just go for more resale.

 

[AstroBlasters]

@AstroBlasters also, since we need VDH due to we travel to CA more, adding more on to VDH is cheaper than going direct at another resort. But if incentives aren't better then we will likely just go for more resale.

I get it. It’s to give you more flexibility and since you are already committed at 200 points you are past the # of points threshold where the ppp curve has been bent.