If you purchased resale, foregoing direct benefits...

[ClosetDisMom]

All resale here...
Do I wish I had a direct contract? Yep. Do I miss the "perks"? Yep. Would I buy resale again? Yep... In fact, just made it through ROFR on a small (30 point) contract at BCV. Why? Here are a few reasons:

• We won't plan our vacations around Moonlight Magic. I plan 11 months out - that's why DVC is awesome for us. Moonlight Magic isn't necessarily announced in the 11 month window.
• I really want to go to the Epcot lounge, but not $7000 worth (the total we saved with our largest contract). So, I deal with it. I buy more of the Cava Tequila margaritas with my savings, happily.
• The AP discount REALLY looks nice. But, this next trip is the 1st time it makes sense for our family, and it really makes the most sense for only 1 of us to get one (for the photo pass, really; otherwise it is still cheaper to buy daily tickets for as often as we go). However, the Gold Pass looks really nice from where I sit.
• I REALLY wanted to get direct this last contract for the ease - pay and the points magically appear. But, when it came down to it, I wanted a "unicorn" - BCV small contract - which means that I would have had to wait anyway. I found it on resale and Disney waived ROFR in 2.5 weeks...
• I should have bought 25 points before the last restrictions. But, I pay cash because this is a luxury purchase and that's just how we roll (#DaveRamsey). So, it wasn't in the cards until now.

But, I do miss the "perks" - just not enough to pay the extra $ to DVC. I will save that money to give to the parks and restaurants at WDW.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

All resale here...
Do I wish I had a direct contract? Yep. Do I miss the "perks"? Yep. Would I buy resale again? Yep... In fact, just made it through ROFR on a small (30 point) contract at BCV. Why? Here are a few reasons:

• We won't plan our vacations around Moonlight Magic. I plan 11 months out - that's why DVC is awesome for us. Moonlight Magic isn't necessarily announced in the 11 month window.
• I really want to go to the Epcot lounge, but not $7000 worth (the total we saved with our largest contract). So, I deal with it. I buy more of the Cava Tequila margaritas with my savings, happily.
• The AP discount REALLY looks nice. But, this next trip is the 1st time it makes sense for our family, and it really makes the most sense for only 1 of us to get one (for the photo pass, really; otherwise it is still cheaper to buy daily tickets for as often as we go). However, the Gold Pass looks really nice from where I sit.
• I REALLY wanted to get direct this last contract for the ease - pay and the points magically appear. But, when it came down to it, I wanted a "unicorn" - BCV small contract - which means that I would have had to wait anyway. I found it on resale and Disney waived ROFR in 2.5 weeks...
• I should have bought 25 points before the last restrictions. But, I pay cash because this is a luxury purchase and that's just how we roll (#DaveRamsey). So, it wasn't in the cards until now.

But, I do miss the "perks" - just not enough to pay the extra $ to DVC. I will save that money to give to the parks and restaurants at WDW.

I love your post! We love Dave Ramsey too and eyed dvc for 15-20 years before going big and buying a lot of points resale this last year. We were finally in a position to pay cash and saved over 20k when we bought resale.

 

[ClosetDisMom]

I love your post! We love Dave Ramsey too and eyed dvc for 15-20 years before going big and buying a lot of points resale this last year. We were finally in a position to pay cash and saved over 20k when we bought resale.

Love your post, too! DR rants about timeshares so often, but one time I listened and he made an exception for one (and only one) timeshare: DVC. But of course, he said “pay cash.” So, when we looked into it after our first on park stay in 2015, I was hesitant but it just made sense... if we paid cash... and I could get SO MANY MORE POINTS with my cash buying resale. So now we have lived like no one else, so we are living like no one else (with a DVC).

Happy to see a fellow DR follower on here.

 

[Katie L]

Love your post, too! DR rants about timeshares so often, but one time I listened and he made an exception for one (and only one) timeshare: DVC. But of course, he said “pay cash.” So, when we looked into it after our first on park stay in 2015, I was hesitant but it just made sense... if we paid cash... and I could get SO MANY MORE POINTS with my cash buying resale. So now we have lived like no one else, so we are living like no one else (with a DVC).

Happy to see a fellow DR follower on here.

Dave junky here too!

 

[jodifla]

Not a Dave fan. I financed 23 years ago and only paid $63 a point. Paid off loan quickly and we have all the direct points with ALL the perks, which we use constantly. Annual passes, Moonlight Magic (bringing friends!), TIW, shopping and dining discounts, Disney cruises and concierge collection. We don't take money out of savings for luxury purchases. We let it sit and grow in the market.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Not a Dave fan. I financed 23 years ago and only paid $63 a point. Paid off loan quickly and we have all the direct points with ALL the perks, which we use constantly. Annual passes, Moonlight Magic (bringing friends!), TIW, shopping and dining discounts, Disney cruises and concierge collection. We don't take money out of savings for luxury purchases. We let it sit and grow in the market.

Our only regret is that we did not know about resale earlier. We probably would have purchased some points a couple of years ago. We were budgeting for around 200-250 direct. Ugh. So when we found out about resale we thought we had hit the jackpot and bought double the points we were intending to buy. Thank you disboards. Lol.

 

[stuartsong]

In all our years as owners, we have only used the perks few times. I just cannot justify the cost difference between direct versus resale for the member benefits. We are not concerned as we purchase more resale.

 

[vint43]

This is a very resale heavy group so you often read about the virtues of buying resale. They are true.

However, it is also a group that freaks out every time Disney changes the rules about resale.

The largest benefit of buying direct, to me, is you can always be sure you will have the largest set of benefits no matter how Disney decides to change.

Resale has always been treated fairly in that they have, to date, always made the rule changes apply only to future sales. However, you never know if this policy might change.

Lastly, resale does not always save you lots of money. We purchased direct at VGF at opening for $150 per point. People buying resale at VGF are now paying more with fewer benefits. In fact, they cannot even stay at the Riviera from this point forward.

Resale is going to be highly restricted going forward. So the best deals are probably resale points on the newest original 14 resorts. Just know - from this point forward - those points will never work at a new DVC resort. Also, the original 14 become the original 9 in 22 years. At that point, there will probably be more resorts you can’t use then you can use with resale contracts purchased from this point forward.

The future of resale is not getting brighter. It was great. It will be far less great over time.

 

[GoofyCoaster]

Hypothetically, how much extra are you willing to pay for direct vs resale?

We’re looking for a second contract and keep running the numbers since we are resale owners with no perks and who are limited to the 14. At a price differential of 8 or 10K, it is a solid no for us. But it becomes more interesting when the price difference for direct narrows substantially.

There are some posters who regret not buying the 25 point direct add-on two years ago when it conferred all the benefits. Wonder if it might be the same down the line for people who buy 75 points resale now but could have purchased direct for just a little more ....

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Lastly, resale does not always save you lots of money. We purchased direct at VGF at opening for $150 per point. People buying resale at VGF are now paying more with fewer benefits. In fact, they cannot even stay at the Riviera from this point forward.

You're talking inception prices vs. current prices, though, which is not a fair comparison. If someone is in market right this second, the savings for resale vs. VGF direct is quite significant. We are typically discussing resale vs. direct for someone buying right now, not an OKW buyer who got in at $40 per point in 1992.

 

[vint43]

You're talking inception prices vs. current prices, though, which is not a fair comparison. If someone is in market right this second, the savings for resale vs. VGF direct is quite significant. We are typically discussing resale vs. direct for someone buying right now, not an OKW buyer who got in at $40 per point in 1992.

Understood. However, my point was even more worthless than you pointed out!

My real point was that buying direct at the opening of a new resort use to be a great way of getting the max value for your DVC purchase (you got the max perks, the best duration of contract, and it usually had really solid retained value in resale over time). Frankly, I thought it outperformed those that purchased resale in older resorts for overall value. Thus, "direct is not always the worst financial/value option" was the point I was trying to make.

However, with the recent resale changes, that might not actually be the case anymore.

Frankly, both direct purchasers and resale purchasers are headed into unknown waters with these recent changes.

So all this talk of "how it worked in the past" for both prior resale buyers and direct buyers is really not relevant - my experience included!

So, my point was worthless on several fronts

 

[Bambi19]

I would probably never buy any older resort direct... (maybe AK if Riviera falls through)
Riviera though, I’m planning on buying a relatively small contract in the next few days/weeks.
I will get the same longterm price per point of about $12 as my resale BCV contract I bought last year, and I like Rivieras point chart, location, and the interior style of the resort. Plus I’m diggging the tower studio option for my husband and myself when our kids are older.
I would use the annual pass perk on at least one person in the family (me ) since it makes the memory maker free, and you get 20% off all merchandise.
And I’d use it for all of us on years that we all go enough for it to make sense.

And I’m not going to lie, moonlight magic is something I’ll be really excited for if we get in and it falls on our trips!

 

[kniquy]

would you do it again? Do you feel like you miss out on perks and wish you had bought enough minimum direct to get the perks?

Interesting question. So we bought resale in 2015, so only excluded from the cruises, ABD etc. No losses there. We are in the market for an add on contract which obviously will only have the benefit of staying at the 14 DVC resorts, but are keeping our previous resale just for perks.

We have benefited from the perks - mostly AP, TiW and shopping discounts. Would we miss them? Well I would probably reconsider some of my purchases - maybe i wouldn't have bought that T-shirt if I had to pay full price. Or we wouldn't have booked another trip and bought AP just to cover that second trip. Or maybe we wouldn't have booked so many TS meals because we had TiW. So these perks are probably actually costing me more money when i look back at my buying decisions.

If I was going into this as a brand new purchaser - just looking at buying Poly (which is where i am adding on) I can buy resale for ~$145 per point, so for my 100 pt contract $14500 (+CC). If I were to go direct, just to get perks- that 100 pt contract will be $235pp so total $23500 = $9000 more. So I can comfortable say that I would buy resale without perks vs going direct just to get perks. You can still save by being creative with your ways - you can have one person if your party to buy and AP - then you get dining and shopping discounts and you can still get TiW. The only thing you might be missing out on would be the member parties but chances are you wouldn't be there when a party is being held. You can't go into the Epcot lounge but really all you are missing out on are a few snacks and some free soda. Still not sure about top of the world lounge access, but still you could go up to the Cal grill lounge and get the same view.

All in all I think when you put it down on paper, you end up making out better buying resale without perks. I think the time where it will be a crunch will be as the older resorts start expiring and you have less options to book, but that is still over 20 years away.

Now buying resale at Riviera will be a different ball game, but purchasing any of the other 14 older resorts resale is still a very smart decision

 

[BlueRibbon]

I think it all depends on how you feel about owning direct. It doesn't make sense financially as there are many examples out there of "how many shirts you'd have to buy for that 20% to cover the direct/resale delta." However, there is something very big to be said about knowing you're a direct owner. Speaking for myself, I bought 125 points resale, but recently purchased 75 points direct so I could have that blue card.

Dave Ramsey would take me out to the woodshed for buying that 75pts direct, but its a choice my wife and I made to get those perks.

As others have said: If you are a hard numbers person, it's resale all the way. If you start getting that nagging feeling that you want to be "part of the club," that's when Disney's got you...

 

[motherof5]

... would you do it again? Do you feel like you miss out on perks and wish you had bought enough minimum direct to get the perks?

I wish I bought earlier when I could have bought resale and got direct perks. I did finally buy in 2018 and did both direct and resale as I wanted the direct benefits. I have a large family and the savings on the annual pass, having the benefit to go to the moonlight magic and relaxing in the lounge are great benefits. I do know that they can be taking away at any time, but in the meantime I will enjoy them.

 

[Minniesgal]

We own direct points, don't use many of the perks. the 10% is nice but it will never add up to the difference between direct and resale now. We don't buy AP as we don't do much more than 6 park days.

 

[Duck_Duck_Duck]

And I've absolutely said on other posts: If you want to stay at BWV or BCV, buy them. But note that I also said direct pricing. It's a lot worse. BCV is $225 per point direct. That is bananas. Boardwalk is $190.

Makes $140 for a resale contract quite a bargain by compare.

Definitely still not a contract to buy to "try all the resorts!" or have network points. But I can't advocate for BCV or BWV direct unless you are buying a very small contract, and even then, I'd ask if you're counting on BWV Standard with the small contract and suggest rethinking.

What do you mean by a contract with BWV or BCV not being a resort to "try all the resorts" or have network points?

 

[kboo]

Hypothetically, how much extra are you willing to pay for direct vs resale?

We’re looking for a second contract and keep running the numbers since we are resale owners with no perks and who are limited to the 14. At a price differential of 8 or 10K, it is a solid no for us. But it becomes more interesting when the price difference for direct narrows substantially.

There are some posters who regret not buying the 25 point direct add-on two years ago when it conferred all the benefits. Wonder if it might be the same down the line for people who buy 75 points resale now but could have purchased direct for just a little more ....

We did a 25 point direct add on for about $4700 when they were also having the Platinum AP for the price of gold deal going on. It saved us about $400 per pass. We bought 6 passes for a savings of $2400. Would we have bought the PAP instead of Gold? In 2019 we are going over Easter and Xmas, so it's become a bit of a chicken and egg issue. But even if we count maximum savings, that means we are still $2300 "in the hole." (Probably a lot less than that, because of savings in the gift shops, but we probably also wouldn't have spent that much on stuff...)

Going forward, we will probably save about $300 per pass (or $1200 per set of passes for our family of 4) so long as they don't do that special again. Which is really only about 2 more sets of passes, or 3-4 years depending on how frequently we go. So we'd break even cost wise at 5-6 years for a 25 point add on. Now, even keeping price per point the same, with a 75-point direct minimum, you've now tripled the amount of time it takes to break even on the AP savings, which IMO is the only savings/discount worth much of anything.*

*We did get a tote bag and a magnet. Ooooh. Also - we do consider it to be of *some* value that we can book a member cruise (and pay cash), even though we haven't done it yet. That said, unless it's really amazing, a member cruise may be a one and done for us.

I wish I bought earlier when I could have bought resale and got direct perks. I did finally buy in 2018 and did both direct and resale as I wanted the direct benefits. I have a large family and the savings on the annual pass, having the benefit to go to the moonlight magic and relaxing in the lounge are great benefits. I do know that they can be taking away at any time, but in the meantime I will enjoy them.

Given your screen name, your AP savings would be significant!! Plus, you'd be looking at booking 2BR on points v. paying cash for multiple hotel rooms. That adds up.

 

[Rush]

We did a 25 point direct add on for about $4700 when they were also having the Platinum AP for the price of gold deal going on. It saved us about $400 per pass. We bought 6 passes for a savings of $2400. Would we have bought the PAP instead of Gold? In 2019 we are going over Easter and Xmas, so it's become a bit of a chicken and egg issue. But even if we count maximum savings, that means we are still $2300 "in the hole." (Probably a lot less than that, because of savings in the gift shops, but we probably also wouldn't have spent that much on stuff...)

Going forward, we will probably save about $300 per pass (or $1200 per set of passes for our family of 4) so long as they don't do that special again. Which is really only about 2 more sets of passes, or 3-4 years depending on how frequently we go. So we'd break even cost wise at 5-6 years for a 25 point add on. Now, even keeping price per point the same, with a 75-point direct minimum, you've now tripled the amount of time it takes to break even on the AP savings, which IMO is the only savings/discount worth much of anything.*

*We did get a tote bag and a magnet. Ooooh. Also - we do consider it to be of *some* value that we can book a member cruise (and pay cash), even though we haven't done it yet. That said, unless it's really amazing, a member cruise may be a one and done for us.



Given your screen name, your AP savings would be significant!! Plus, you'd be looking at booking 2BR on points v. paying cash for multiple hotel rooms. That adds up.

We are in the same situation, and went for direct for the exact same math you stated. The only thing I’d possibly contest in your post is the time to break even with a 75 point purchase. We bought 75 direct points at SSR at $160 pp. Considering SSR resale points go for roughly $100 pp (what we paid for 175 more resale), it’s still only $4500 to break even, not the 3 times as long as you mentioned. But you did say at the same price per point, so I do get why you said 3 times as long. I only mention it to say there still are cheaper options if price is the only concern, and of course that time to break even will totally depend on where you buy direct and the current resale prices on that property.

Cue those that will say the benefits could go away, AP included. I get it, it staying around for 3 or more years was a gamble I was willing to take.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

What do you mean by a contract with BWV or BCV not being a resort to "try all the resorts" or have network points?

I mean that either resort should be purchased with intent to stay at the home resort nearly all of the time. Their RTU is January 2042, so you are looking at 22 years of possible use right now. Meanwhile, the direct pricing is $190pp for BWV, and $225pp for BCV. Resale, you should be expecting $130-150 for a BCV contract, and $120-140 for a BWV contract. When you factor in that 22 year lifespan, they are a terrible value unless you are placing almost exclusive priority on being able to book them as home for 22 years.

If you want DVC to "try all the resorts!" and try to play the field at 7 months, you should not be paying the premium of BCV or BWV points to do it with, rationally speaking. There are far better values for resale cost, dues and RTU date. There are better values direct, because at least with CCV direct you're getting 48 years (heinous dues, tho), and Saratoga direct is wildly overpriced but not to the same extent as any of the monorail resorts, BWV or BCV.