All About Fixed Weeks (RIV/CCV/AUL/VGF/POLY Charts)

[Sandisw]

So I'm having a similar dilemma - would love everyone's thoughts.

Right now we travel pretty exclusively in December and August (what can I say - I love the heat!) My first/primary UY was June and worked well for both dates given Jan 31st banking deadline. Then I stumbled upon a resale December FW and jumped - it has a Dec use year but that was not an issue since I do intend to use it exclusively for that FW.

Now I'm looking into buying a second FW - direct this time - for Jan. And while down the road I will use it for that week, that won't be for awhile. I should also add that both FW (along with my other points) are at 3 separate resorts.

Scenario 1: FW 1 | June UY | Will initially use points in August | Banking Deadline Jan 31 (Ideal scenario now but if I ever had to sell, seems like an odd pairing though you'd still have 3 weeks to bank if trip fell through)

Scenario 2: FW 1 | Dec UY | Will initially use points in August | Banking Deadline July 31st (Not a great scenario now, but ideal for later/if I had to sell)

Help!!

If your plan is to use for different trips, then the different UYs are much less a hassle.

Because of the holding penalty that kicks in for canceling less than 31 days, your August trips are sort of protected because you’d be canceling in July to avoid that…which means you can still bank.

The drawback is any already banked or borrowed points would need to be used by November 30th.

Sounds like both UYs are doable with what and when you want to travel.

 

[emchen]

Hrmm maybe I'll do a FW 48 or 49 at Poly..? Or maybe I should diversify since I already have a FW 50.. July 4th maybe? NYE and Christmas week are too expensive of a week.. don't really care to buy it around runDisney events.. hrm.. decisions decisions..

Ya know all of October is very popular due to MNSSHP....FW43 to consider?

Yes. I have a Sept UY but my FW is in Dec week 49. If I cancel the week, all the points go back into my Sept UY.

Ugh...talk of UY makes my brain hurt! Please someone talk about Dec UY for Dec FW49,50, and 52. Pros and cons? My thinking based on above posts is that if I cancel > 31 days before FW49 (as an example), the points will go back to my DEC UY (of the previous year). And I would not be able to bank them. Is this correct thinking?

 

[FFMickey]

Ugh...talk of UY makes my brain hurt! Please someone talk about Dec UY for Dec FW49,50, and 52. Pros and cons? My thinking based on above posts is that if I cancel > 31 days before FW49 (as an example), the points will go back to my DEC UY (of the previous year). And I would not be able to bank them. Is this correct thinking?

I believe it will go to the current Dec UY. My understanding is if you cancel FW for 2024, you'll have until 11/30/2025 to use or bank by the deadline for Dec UYs.

 

[intamin]

Ya know all of October is very popular due to MNSSHP....FW43 to consider?

Ugh...talk of UY makes my brain hurt! Please someone talk about Dec UY for Dec FW49,50, and 52. Pros and cons? My thinking based on above posts is that if I cancel > 31 days before FW49 (as an example), the points will go back to my DEC UY (of the previous year). And I would not be able to bank them. Is this correct thinking?

Why would it go back to the previous UY? You didn’t borrow anything. You’d have til the end of November of next year to use them still or bank them later.

 

[Sandisw]

Ya know all of October is very popular due to MNSSHP....FW43 to consider?

Ugh...talk of UY makes my brain hurt! Please someone talk about Dec UY for Dec FW49,50, and 52. Pros and cons? My thinking based on above posts is that if I cancel > 31 days before FW49 (as an example), the points will go back to my DEC UY (of the previous year). And I would not be able to bank them. Is this correct thinking?

No. If you have FW 49 booked now in your Dec 2024 UY and cancel it, those points because your 2024 UY points.

If you cancel less than 31 days, they go into holding. Outside of 31 you can use them during the 2024 UY or bank them by July 31st, 2025.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

If your plan is to use for different trips, then the different UYs are much less a hassle.

Because of the holding penalty that kicks in for canceling less than 31 days, your August trips are sort of protected because you’d be canceling in July to avoid that…which means you can still bank.

The drawback is any already banked or borrowed points would need to be used by November 30th.

Sounds like both UYs are doable with what and when you want to travel.

Thank you! It's super helpful to have someone more experienced think through my logic - appreciate you!

 

[emchen]

bank them by July 31st, 2025.

Thanks! This helps.

 

[Jmla32]

Scenario 1: FW 1 | June UY | Will initially use points in August | Banking Deadline Jan 31 (Ideal scenario now but if I ever had to sell, seems like an odd pairing though you'd still have 3 weeks to bank if trip fell through)

Scenario 2: FW 1 | Dec UY | Will initially use points in August | Banking Deadline July 31st (Not a great scenario now, but ideal for later/if I had to sell)

Help!!

I would go with #1 if that works best for you.

Either scenario, if you cancel 31+ days out, you would be within your banking window. Otherwise the points would go into holding and not able to bank either way.

 

[SpicyMcHaggis]

With the current incentives I’m considering buying a fixed week at RIV. The problem is that the week I would like most is 135 points, and a minimum contract of 50 points means that for that week I either have to buy more points than I want or need to get up to the 150 threshold (185 total) or basically overpay another 15 points for that week (they write the contract for 150 points for the fixed week rather than 135 to get the incentives.)

Neither really feels great, so we are also considering taking a week that isn’t our ideal week but better matches the number of points we are wanting to buy.
Obviously we could also just buy a normal contract and skip the fixed week altogether.

Have any of you dealt with this, and if so, what direction did you go?

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I posed this exact question to my guide and he said he could do 25 pts vs 50 - still takes me a little above 150 but not by much. I know that others have received different info and I haven’t purchased yet so am not 100% but that was the intel I’ve been operating with…

My plan was to buy two separate contracts: FW + 25 pt.

 

[SpicyMcHaggis]

I posed this exact question to my guide and he said he could do 25 pts vs 50 - still takes me a little above 150 but not by much. I know that others have received different info and I haven’t purchased yet so am not 100% but that was the intel I’ve been operating with…

My plan was to buy two separate contracts: FW + 25 pt.

I asked as well and was told 50 is the minimum to add on. 160 points is a lot closer to what I’d want than 185 is though for sure so I’ll follow up.

 

[intamin]

With the current incentives I’m considering buying a fixed week at RIV. The problem is that the week I would like most is 135 points, and a minimum contract of 50 points means that for that week I either have to buy more points than I want or need to get up to the 150 threshold (185 total) or basically overpay another 15 points for that week (they write the contract for 150 points for the fixed week rather than 135 to get the incentives.)

Neither really feels great, so we are also considering taking a week that isn’t our ideal week but better matches the number of points we are wanting to buy.
Obviously we could also just buy a normal contract and skip the fixed week altogether.

Have any of you dealt with this, and if so, what direction did you go?

I did the 135+50, the incentives at the time that I bought didn’t make that much more sense to increase it up to 135+65. However, I already owned 150 RIV points so it was a matter of me wanting 335 vs 350 at RIV. Ultimately I opted for 335. Sometimes I wish I had gone for 350, but I also know I wanted a teensy bit of money for my future Poly 2 contract.

Edit: Pulled this up from when I bought because I had my guide run a couple scenarios back in October

***THESE FIGURES ARE NOT FROM THE CURRENT INCENTIVES***

After incentives without closing costs 35000/185= 189 before MB

38000/200= 190 before MB

36494/185= 197

39091/200 = 195.45

If going based on the difference after closing 39091-36454= 2637

2637/15= 175.8



So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ if I really needed more RIV, I probably would’ve gotten it but like you, 185 was already more than what I wanted as only half-2/3 of our stay was supposed to be coming from RIV and 185 brought our total to 335. I know @emchen bought 135+65 if I’m not mistaken.

 

[PolyRob]

With the current incentives I’m considering buying a fixed week at RIV. The problem is that the week I would like most is 135 points, and a minimum contract of 50 points means that for that week I either have to buy more points than I want or need to get up to the 150 threshold (185 total) or basically overpay another 15 points for that week (they write the contract for 150 points for the fixed week rather than 135 to get the incentives.)

Neither really feels great, so we are also considering taking a week that isn’t our ideal week but better matches the number of points we are wanting to buy.
Obviously we could also just buy a normal contract and skip the fixed week altogether.

Have any of you dealt with this, and if so, what direction did you go?

Are you going to actually use the Favorite Week? Or do you just want it as an insurance policy if/when you sell?

If you plan on booking the week yourself anyway with something like banked points I would just lump it together (135 + 15) and get the 150. It won't matter how many points are stuck in the contract if you don't plan on using it regularly.

135 points would be weeks 21 - 23 or 49 - 50. 49 and 50 will definitely be popular. Would you even consider upgrading the view type and going for Preferred? That would be 167 points. IDK if this negates the Favorite Week since Standard is harder to book.

 

[SpicyMcHaggis]

Are you going to actually use the Favorite Week? Or do you just want it as an insurance policy if/when you sell?

If you plan on booking the week yourself anyway with something like banked points I would just lump it together (135 + 15) and get the 150. It won't matter how many points are stuck in the contract if you don't plan on using it regularly.

135 points would be weeks 21 - 23 or 49 - 50. 49 and 50 will definitely be popular. Would you even consider upgrading the view type and going for Preferred? That would be 167 points. IDK if this negates the Favorite Week since Standard is harder to book.

I was planning on 49, partially to use and partially if ever needing to sell as I’m sure that with resale at RIV coming with higher risk due to not being able to flex and the popular week it would likely sell at a premium. Initially planned on actually using it about every other year.

However, I think we are just going to hold off for now.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I asked as well and was told 50 is the minimum to add on. 160 points is a lot closer to what I’d want than 185 is though for sure so I’ll follow up.

Closing the loop on this - I talked w/ my guide this morning and he confirmed that he misspoke - even with the Fixed Week, minimum RIV is 50 points. Boo for me!

 

[intamin]

Closing the loop on this - I talked w/ my guide this morning and he confirmed that he misspoke - even with the Fixed Week, minimum RIV is 50 points. Boo for me!

Yeup. Exactly why I went with 135+50.

 

[Tatebeck]

I'm thinking of doing a fixed week if I buy into RIV direct. I understand that they make you buy more points (around 10%) than the week normally costs booking points. If you cancel the reservation, do you get back the full amount of points you purchased? Or minus the 10%?

For example, If you bought a theoretical week that normally books for 100 points, but they made you buy and use 110 for the week. If you cancel do you get all 110 or just the 100?

Trying to decide if there is there any downside to buying a fixed week just in case, even if you end up cancelling it and going a different time every year. If you were already going to buy more points than required, there doesn't seem to be much downside, unless you lose those 10% of points every year no matter what

 

[PolyRob]

I'm thinking of doing a fixed week if I buy into RIV direct. I understand that they make you buy more points (around 10%) than the week normally costs booking points. If you cancel the reservation, do you get back the full amount of points you purchased? Or minus the 10%?

For example, If you bought a theoretical week that normally books for 100 points, but they made you buy and use 110 for the week. If you cancel do you get all 110 or just the 100?

Trying to decide if there is there any downside to buying a fixed week just in case, even if you end up cancelling it and going a different time every year. If you were already going to buy more points than required, there doesn't seem to be much downside, unless you lose those 10% of points every year no matter what

You get the full value of the contract purchased (110 points in your example) if you cancel the Favorite Week. You can also just use the points BEFORE the Favorite Week is booked by MS and you will see the entire contract (110 points again) in your dashboard.

Many don't understand how the Favorite Weeks work thinking it's like other timeshares, but it's really flexible and almost like a built in insurance policy, especially for highly desired times at a restricted resort.

 

[Tatebeck]

You get the full value of the contract purchased (110 points in your example) if you cancel the Favorite Week. You can also just use the points BEFORE the Favorite Week is booked by MS and you will see the entire contract (110 points again) in your dashboard.

Many don't understand how the Favorite Weeks work thinking it's like other timeshares, but it's really flexible and almost like a built in insurance policy, especially for highly desired times at a restricted resort.

That's amazing! I really see no downside to getting a fixed week then, unless you really wanted a precise number of points and don't want to buy the extra 10% of points

 

[intamin]

That's amazing! I really see no downside to getting a fixed week then, unless you really wanted a precise number of points and don't want to buy the extra 10% of points

Yeah the only downside is you may end up buying more points than you originally intended like myself. Wanted to have 300 direct RIV points, ended up buying 335 and was tempted to go up to 350. Other than that it has no downside, just increases your resale value down the line and is extra insurance if you're too lazy to walk your reservations. Potential other non-issue downside is you will have a weird number of points on your contracts