DVC buying ?s-combining points

Beani7146

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 8, 2018
Hi Everyone, My husband and I are interested in DVC. We go to Disney every year during off-peak times, usually book around 6-7 months ahead of time and prefer to stay at Deluxe resorts. We are looking into a 1 BR Villa (we have a 2 year old). After meeting with a DVC rep, we came up with a point average of 250-270. My question is, can we buy 100 points at Riviera or The Grand (our favorite) and then buy the remaining points either at another resort or through resale and combine them? We don't mind buying a DVC that's not The Grand because we book our visits way less than a year in advance (eg. booked end of April in Jan).
I definitely want the perks of buying through Disney so purchasing entirely through resale is out of the question.

Has anyone tried this? I like the promo for Riviera right now and would want to take advantage only if it made sense.
 
Hi Everyone, My husband and I are interested in DVC. We go to Disney every year during off-peak times, usually book around 6-7 months ahead of time and prefer to stay at Deluxe resorts. We are looking into a 1 BR Villa (we have a 2 year old). After meeting with a DVC rep, we came up with a point average of 250-270. My question is, can we buy 100 points at Riviera or The Grand (our favorite) and then buy the remaining points either at another resort or through resale and combine them? We don't mind buying a DVC that's not The Grand because we book our visits way less than a year in advance (eg. booked end of April in Jan).
I definitely want the perks of buying through Disney so purchasing entirely through resale is out of the question.

Has anyone tried this? I like the promo for Riviera right now and would want to take advantage only if it made sense.

The points maintain their home resort priority. You can combine all points at 7 months and not before. You would need to use all Riviera or VGF points during the home resort booking period.
 
Hi Everyone, My husband and I are interested in DVC. We go to Disney every year during off-peak times, usually book around 6-7 months ahead of time and prefer to stay at Deluxe resorts. We are looking into a 1 BR Villa (we have a 2 year old). After meeting with a DVC rep, we came up with a point average of 250-270. My question is, can we buy 100 points at Riviera or The Grand (our favorite) and then buy the remaining points either at another resort or through resale and combine them? We don't mind buying a DVC that's not The Grand because we book our visits way less than a year in advance (eg. booked end of April in Jan).
I definitely want the perks of buying through Disney so purchasing entirely through resale is out of the question.

Has anyone tried this? I like the promo for Riviera right now and would want to take advantage only if it made sense.
If you’re going to routinely wait to book until 6-7 months prior to staying, it makes no sense to spend the large per point cost to buy in at VGF or RIV. You lose your home resort advantage at 7 months when any owner can book at any resort. Buy the most economical resort, if you buy at all.

Also, be aware that Disney off-peak times are not the same as DVC off-peak times. The DVC high demand period runs from mid-Sept. thru Marathon Weekend in January. When you book at 7 months for that time frame, you’re picking up what other owners have not booked using their home resort advantage at 11-7 months.

But to answer your question about combining points - You can combine points from different resorts at 7 months to book at any resort. Prior to 7 months, you can only use points at their home resort.
 
Thank you! My husband and I are planning to continue the tradition of what my parents did and go to Disney right after Labor Day (Adventure Season). I always missed the first couple days of school. I'm sure there will be times when we want to go during Dream Season or Magic Season but will buy more points or take a chance of a 'late booking'.
 


Thank you! My husband and I are planning to continue the tradition of what my parents did and go to Disney right after Labor Day (Adventure Season). I always missed the first couple days of school. I'm sure there will be times when we want to go during Dream Season or Magic Season but will buy more points or take a chance of a 'late booking'.
You may want to bookmark this thread. Anyone who thinks that they’re going to book inside the 7-month window will benefit from the legwork that @skier_pete and @Bing Showei did.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...-studios-1-bedrooms-june-2018-update.3689931/
 
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If you buy partial points at RIV and the rest on resale (not riviera) you won’t be able to combine them to stay at RIV. You would have to use them elsewhere and it would then make no sense to buy RIV points direct because you wouldn’t need the home resort advantage.
 
Has anyone tried this? I like the promo for Riviera right now and would want to take advantage only if it made sense.

Doing it right now...

Purchased the minimum amount of 75 points direct at Riviera (DRR) this July. Then early August, entered into two other contracts: 200 pts SSR (right-of-first-refusal will be waived cuz international seller) and 160 pts VGC (ROFR will also be waived because VGC).

If I were you and I got to start from the beginning, I would get a great deal on 175+ VGF resale (because it is your favorite and you can save up to 100$/pt), with AUG use year (because you always go in September), and wait until ROFR is waived. Then buy direct 75 points at DRR with the same UY as your VGF contract.

BTW, I was able to book 5 nights in a deluxe standard studio (occupancy 5) at DRR during Spring Break (Premier Season) by banking.
 
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If I were you and I got to start from the beginning, I would get a great deal on 175+ VGF resale (because it is your favorite and you can save up to 100$/pt), with DEC use year (because you always go in September)

Mind if I ask what the thought process is wanting a use year immedietely after the common travel dates? I believe it should be the exact opposite, if you travel in September, get a use year immedietely prior. With a December use year, if they need to cancel prior to their September trip, but still 30+ days out, they could be past their banking window. Then they would be force to book a trip during fall madness, less then 3 months out, or lose the points. With a use year of August, they could cancel their September trip 30 days out, and still be able to have almost 11 months to use them, and about 6 months until the banking deadline.
 
If I were you and I got to start from the beginning, I would get a great deal on 175+ VGF resale (because it is your favorite and you can save up to 100$/pt), with DEC use year (because you always go in September), and wait until ROFR is waived.
I'm sorry, but I think you may be missing something regarding how UY works.
Like th PP wrote, the best strategy is to have a UY that starts immediately before the usual travel dates. So for the OP September or August work very well, June is not too bad.
When the UY starts has nothing to do to when you can book. If one owns a September UY, for example, and they want to book a stay in September 2020, they can book in October 2019 (11 months out) using their 2020 points. In October 2019 they would be within the 2019 UY, but that doesn't matter, the 2020 points would be already in their account, ready to be used for booking between September 2020 and August 2021.

For the OP: the first two weeks of September have been traditionally a very slow time for DVC. This may change, but most resorts are open at this time of the year. Smaller resorts like VGF can still be difficult, but I've had good success booking different resorts even difficult categories. So it might be worth considering buying a cheaper resort you like and then try to switch at 7 months. But if you cannot book at least 7 months in advance, just forget DVC, you'd be very disappointed.
 
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If RR is anything like CCV, booking at studio at 11 months out may be tough because the high number of points required at RR and the high cost of points. People buy fewer points planning on booking a studio and you have a run on studios at 11 months out. Then the other issue is you can't use new resale points at RR.
...If I were you and I got to start from the beginning, I would get a great deal on 175+ VGF resale (because it is your favorite and you can save up to 100$/pt), with DEC use year (because you always go in September), and wait until ROFR is waived. ...
I'm wondering if you are mixing up UY with when you can book?
 
If RR is anything like CCV, booking at studio at 11 months out may be tough because the high number of points required at RR and the high cost of points. People buy fewer points planning on booking a studio and you have a run on studios at 11 months out. Then the other issue is you can't use new resale points at RR.

I'm wondering if you are mixing up UY with when you can book?
I'm sorry, but I think you may be missing something regarding how UY works.
Like th PP wrote, the best strategy is to have a UY that starts immediately before the usual travel dates. So for the OP September or August work very well, June is not too bad.
When the UY starts has nothing to do to when you can book. If one owns a September UY, for example, and they want to book a stay in September 2020, they can book in October 2019 (11 months out) using their 2020 points. In October 2019 they would be within the 2019 UY, but that doesn't matter, the 2020 points would be already in their account, ready to be used for booking between September 2020 and August 2021.

You are absolutely correct! I think I put Dec cuz that is one of my UYs...brain-glitch...thinking August, wrote down December. ;-( So sorry!
 
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