Clean Slate - What Would You Do?

[Jack Kerouac]

My wife and I are in the process of selling our PVB resale contract. We owned it for a year and a half and will have gotten three trips out of it across 22 days. Even after the commission, we were able to make money.

Our decision to sell was to either buy 150 points direct and 100-150 points resale, or just buy 300 points resale across 2-3 contracts and possibly pocket some cash.

After our WDW vacation later this month, we won’t be back until 2026.

We like the idea of direct so we aren’t locked out of the RIV, VDH or the new PVB tower. But it’s more expensive even when doing magical beginnings.

We loved our stays at SSR, OKW, and AKV-K. We will soon know if we love BRV but we won’t consider a 2042 contract, and my wife doesn’t want to own at AKV due to the MFs. My only concern with SSR is going from 2066 to 2054.

We have three boys, aged 9, 6, and 4. We also plan to invite friends from time to time. So 2BRs or multiple studios or 1BRs are in our plans.

What are your thoughts if you were starting fresh with DVC?

 

[WDWfantasy]

The OKW current promo would get you 300 points at $115 pp direct after Magical Beginnings. That’s what I would do. Especially if that’s a place you’re happy to stay.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

The OKW current promo would get you 300 points at $115 pp direct after Magical Beginnings. That’s what I would do. Especially if that’s a place you’re happy to stay.

I just texted my wife about that promotion.

We generally used or borrowed points, rather than banking them. If we went with this purchase, is the strategy to rent the 2024 points and bank the 2025 points so we have 600 to use for 2026? We plan on inviting friends in 2026, so it would be great to have the additional 300 points.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I just texted my wife about that promotion.

We generally used or borrowed points, rather than banking them. If we went with this purchase, is the strategy to rent the 2024 points and bank the 2025 points so we have 600 to use for 2026? We plan on inviting friends in 2026, so it would be great to have the additional 300 points.

That's what I would do - seems like a win all around esp. since you know you already love OKW.

 

[WDWfantasy]

Not sure what use year you prefer but if you got a June-December use year you would technically be giving up 2023 points with Magical Beginnings. If you’re not going until 2026 you could rent out the 2024 points and bank your 2025 points for the 2026 trip. That would bring your per point cost down to possibly under $100pp after Magical Beginnings and renting the 2024 points. I would also pay a bit extra in closing and get either (2) 150 point contracts or do three contracts…150/100/50.

 

[WDWfantasy]

My above suggestion works depending when you travel. If you travel January-May you’d need a Feb-April use year in order to have the necessary points to do the 2026 trip with points from 2025 and 2026. In this case you’d be giving up 2024 points with Magical Beginnings and not renting out any additional points. This gives you the $115pp cost I originally mentioned.

 

[Genie+]

With the cushion in your timeline…

For direct the closer you buy just prior to your UY the better. If you can a great round of incentives in the months just before you UY, it really sweetens the deal. You’ll get in right before the previous year’s points are no longer included, but then also not pay dues that whole year. Improves the overall math.

Like generally it’s not good to buy Dec UY in Jan - best would’ve been buying in Nov.

That 2 months is the difference between an extra year of points with very little dues paid against them.

OKW dues are very painful trading out.

 

[Jason&Michael]

The OKW current promo would get you 300 points at $115 pp direct after Magical Beginnings. That’s what I would do. Especially if that’s a place you’re happy to stay.

This would have been a great plan! Sadly, they had to discontinue the OKW promotion above 249 points due to so much interest that they were running out of points.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

With the cushion in your timeline…

For direct the closer you buy just prior to your UY the better. If you can a great round of incentives in the months just before you UY, it really sweetens the deal. You’ll get in right before the previous year’s points are no longer included, but then also not pay dues that whole year. Improves the overall math.

Like generally it’s not good to buy Dec UY in Jan - best would’ve been buying in Nov.

That 2 months is the difference between an extra year of points with very little dues paid against them.

OKW dues are very painful trading out.

So if I had a June UY and purchased this week, that would be ideal? I was under the impression I’d still have to pay half the year of dues (for 2024 points) - if I’m understanding correctly that’s not true?

 

[marmentrout85]

My wife and I are in the process of selling our 220 point PVB resale contract. We owned it for a year and a half and will have gotten three trips out of it across 22 days. Even after the commission, we were able to make money.

Our decision to sell was to either buy 150 points direct and 100-150 points resale, or just buy 300 points resale across 2-3 contracts and possibly pocket some cash.

After our WDW vacation later this month, we won’t be back until 2026.

We like the idea of direct so we aren’t locked out of the RIV, VDH or the new PVB tower. But it’s more expensive even when doing magical beginnings.

We loved our stays at SSR, OKW, and AKV-K. We will soon know if we love BRV but we won’t consider a 2042 contract, and my wife doesn’t want to own at AKV due to the MFs. My only concern with SSR is going from 2066 to 2054.

We have three boys, aged 9, 6, and 4. We also plan to invite friends from time to time. So 2BRs or multiple studios or 1BRs are in our plans.

What are your thoughts if you were starting fresh with DVC?

I'm a big proponent of buy where you love. We recently just started fresh and that's what we did; all resale thus far. We're also on the fence on whether or not buying direct makes sense for us (specifically for Poly and any future resort FOMO we may have). My view is the longer we wait, the prices will keep going up. But I'm still unsure it's even necessary in the first place.

We also didn't want to be locked out of RIV so we found a small 50pt contract at a very reasonable price IMO that we were ok with only using to stay there.

Also, on the point about the AKV maintenance fees, is the concern that they may end up higher than OKW? Only asking since OKW currently has the higher dues so I wouldn't necessarily rule out AKV if that's a place you love. Plus by the time your 2026 trip rolls around, AKV should have some nice new refurbished rooms.

 

[Genie+]

So if I had a June UY and purchased this week, that would be ideal? I was under the impression I’d still have to pay half the year of dues (for 2024 points) - if I’m understanding correctly that’s not true?

Yes that would be ideal!

You start paying dues the month of purchase. Dues get prorated. You’d not have to pay Jan-April 2024 dues (for May purchase).

Think of it this way - if you bought in July, you’d pay 2 less months of dues, but lose a whole year of points.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

This would have been a great plan! Sadly, they had to discontinue the OKW promotion above 249 points due to so much interest that they were running out of points.

I found this out today when I did a quick chat with a CM. Our situation is a bit tricky. We have to purchase before our current Poly contract closes in order to get the add-on discount. So 150 points at OKW comes to around $150 after adding in the closing costs.

My wife has wanted direct benefits and access to all of the resorts, specifically the Riv, but I won't buy a Riv resale contract.

I know $135pp is a lot for OKW, but it's still a lot cheaper than the other current offerings.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

I'm a big proponent of buy where you love. We recently just started fresh and that's what we did; all resale thus far. We're also on the fence on whether or not buying direct makes sense for us (specifically for Poly and any future resort FOMO we may have). My view is the longer we wait, the prices will keep going up. But I'm still unsure it's even necessary in the first place.

We also didn't want to be locked out of RIV so we found a small 50pt contract at a very reasonable price IMO that we were ok with only using to stay there.

Also, on the point about the AKV maintenance fees, is the concern that they may end up higher than OKW? Only asking since OKW currently has the higher dues so I wouldn't necessarily rule out AKV if that's a place you love. Plus by the time your 2026 trip rolls around, AKV should have some nice new refurbished rooms.

We loved our stay at AKV-K between the pool, Saana, and the savannas. Bt it just seemed far away from everything besides AK. We were on the fifth floor and it was quite a walk from our room to the elevator. It could have just been our room, but my wife just said she felt like it was a lot of walking to get anywhere with the kiddos.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

Not sure what use year you prefer but if you got a June-December use year you would technically be giving up 2023 points with Magical Beginnings. If you’re not going until 2026 you could rent out the 2024 points and bank your 2025 points for the 2026 trip. That would bring your per point cost down to possibly under $100pp after Magical Beginnings and renting the 2024 points. I would also pay a bit extra in closing and get either (2) 150 point contracts or do three contracts…150/100/50.

We would have to keep our August use year in order to get the add-on discount. We mainly plan on traveling from late May through the middle of August since we have younger kids and most of our friends have kids around the same age. Once the kids are older, and if I'm not dead, then we would become more flexible with dates.

 

[Genie+]

We loved our stay at AKV-K between the pool, Saana, and the savannas. Bt it just seemed far away from everything besides AK. We were on the fifth floor and it was quite a walk from our room to the elevator. It could have just been our room, but my wife just said she felt like it was a lot of walking to get anywhere with the kiddos.

We loved our Kidani stay.

Recently we tried Jambo house and it was so much easier. Mara, the pool, the lobby, Boma, Jiko… very convenient.

I’d do Kidani again but only if I couldn’t get Jambo. Guess why it usually fills first

 

[intamin]

My wife and I are in the process of selling our 220 point PVB resale contract. We owned it for a year and a half and will have gotten three trips out of it across 22 days. Even after the commission, we were able to make money.

Our decision to sell was to either buy 150 points direct and 100-150 points resale, or just buy 300 points resale across 2-3 contracts and possibly pocket some cash.

After our WDW vacation later this month, we won’t be back until 2026.

We like the idea of direct so we aren’t locked out of the RIV, VDH or the new PVB tower. But it’s more expensive even when doing magical beginnings.

We loved our stays at SSR, OKW, and AKV-K. We will soon know if we love BRV but we won’t consider a 2042 contract, and my wife doesn’t want to own at AKV due to the MFs. My only concern with SSR is going from 2066 to 2054.

We have three boys, aged 9, 6, and 4. We also plan to invite friends from time to time. So 2BRs or multiple studios or 1BRs are in our plans.

What are your thoughts if you were starting fresh with DVC?

If I were redoing everything, I would’ve been far more aggressive on my Aulani contract and bought resale first.

Then turn around and buy two fixed week contracts at Riviera and top that off to 350 points.

Then during the sale last year, buy 200 AKV points direct.

Then buy Poly direct and add another 2-300 which I’m currently planning to do.

I guess it’s a good thing I still am choosing the same home resorts, but definitely would ended up better off if I had more direct points and saved money from being a current member on my first direct purchase and being more aggressive on my resale Aulani purchase. Also would’ve been able to put all of my WDW resorts together under the same use year.

 

[TCRAIG]

I would hold out for the new Poly Tower - but that’s probably because I’m not a big RIV fan…and then buy some SSR resale…

 

[CarolynFH]

So if I had a June UY and purchased this week, that would be ideal? I was under the impression I’d still have to pay half the year of dues (for 2024 points) - if I’m understanding correctly that’s not true?

While resale brokers like to link dues to UY of points, in reality dues are based on calendar years, not UY. So when buying direct, you pay dues prorated from the date you sign the contract. It doesn’t matter what the UY is. Someone who buys a February UY direct today will pay the exact same amount of dues as someone who buys a December UY direct today, even though one is in their 2024 UY and the other is in their 2023 UY. It’s one of the biggest differences between buying direct and buying resale.

 

[BuzzLightyr]

I'd look for some SSR resale and then wait for July incentives. Maybe AKV will be the next direct sale? Maybe the OKW incentives would come back at 300 once they restocked. You could probably buy poly tower direct too. I think with rofr coming back resale prices will start to creep up.

I would feed the addonitis by adding more total points. As the kids get older, bus transportation is more doable and more space is desirable. Splurge for the 2bd at Saratoga or traditional sap and add some direct points for a direct stay and the nice and Shiney new resort.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

We are selling our PVB contract due to our concerns over the new tower just adding too many guests to the transportation system and our absolute desire for more space. The Poly already felt a bit overwhelmed in August, especially at the bus stop in the morning, Capt. Cook's, the beach during HEA, and the Lava pool.

We decided to buy 150 direct at OKW today with the the intention of adding on another 100+ contract resale after we close the sale on the PVB contract. We chose to do Magical Beginnings for the 2023 points and now we need to decide what to do with the 2024 points. We had to act relatively fast to get the add-on benefit before our PVB sale closed and thus not eligible to add-on. Our 2024 trip is already taken care of from our 2024 PVB contract points. We may travel in 2025 for a couple of nights before our Disney cruise and then we want to do a week plus in a larger room or a couple of rooms and invite friends. If we travel prior to August 1st in 2026 (likely June or July), is it best to bank the 2024 points and then use those points and the 2025 points for the 2026 trip that occurs prior to August 1st? Or am I playing with fire if the trip gets cancelled for some reason?

The end result is we will end up with more points than our Poly contract, direct benefits to all resorts rather than 14 and possibly just 8-9 in 2042, and two contracts at 150 points or less rather than a 220 point contract.

We fell in love with SSR in February; beautiful grounds, great pools, and the busses are not as bad as many believe. So that is one resort we will strongly consider for our resale contract. It seems like we have more resale resorts we won't consider, mainly because of their expiry date or the restrictions. But we have time to practice patience with the resale contract.