Just bought into Rivera DVC, thinking of cancelling and buying non-direct.

steviekm3

Earning My Ears
Joined
Oct 22, 2017
On a cruise got caught up into buying into DVC for 250 points at Riviera. Just got home and after doing some research most likely will cancel and look into buying non direct.

We have unique situation as well. We like to go to Disney every couple of years, BUT we live close to Galveston so the Disney cruise out of there is very convenient ( no airfare ). We like to cruise but maybe every 4 years or so.

Reasons being:
- Was not told of the restrictions on the buyers if I sell the timeshare the new buyer cannot use points for original 14.
- Would prefer more central home resort ( thinking of Grand Floridian or Polynesian ).

Couple of questions:
- What is easiest resort for transportation to all of Disney properties ?
- What are best resorts that have villas with kitchens that are priced the best, and have easy transportation ? If there are reasonably priced villas with kitchen and easy transportation ( and hopefully nice pool ) I will consider those.
- Should I just cancel or see if Disney can work to get me into another resort at good price, or not even bother and just head to secondary market ?
 
- Should I just cancel or see if Disney can work to get me into another resort at good price, or not even bother and just head to secondary market ?
Riviera may be a good fit for you, but it may serve you well to rescind, take a few days and do more research. The incentives you received are good until Dec 16.

Maybe take at least until that date to figure out if Riviera works for your family after learning more about the new Disney timeshare product, as this product is markedly different than its predecessors. You can always buy in again before then for the same price you paid.

You have 10 days from signing to rescind.
 
It sounds like you want a 1 or 2 bedroom with a kitchen so Poly is out. You would have to define what you consider easy transportation? I suppose the easiest would be the one with the best transport to the park you prefer to go to.
 
With WDW resorts, it's difficult to say which one has the most convenient transportation.

For example, the Poly has the monorail to MK, and you can walk to the ticket and transportation center to catch a monorail to Epcot. Bay Lake Tower has a walk to MK, and a monorail to MK, and a monorail to a monorail to Epcot. Grand Floridian will have a walking path to MK in the near future, and monorail to MK, and monorail to monorail to Epcot. All of these have buses to other parks and Disney Springs.

Compare that to Boardwalk and Beach Club: easy walk to Epcot, and a slightly longer walk to Hollywood Studios, with buses everywhere else.

Or CCV and BRV: Boat to MK, buses everywhere else.

Or AK, buses everywhere, but the shortest bus time to most parks.

Riv has skyliner to 2 parks, buses everywhere else.

SSR and OKW have a boat to Disney Springs, and buses eleswhere.

All DVC units have a kitchen. Studios have a rather small one with a microwave while the others have something akin to one found in a house with a real stove and dishwasher. One/Two/Three bedroom units also have a clothes washer and dryer.

All DVC resorts have pools. Some, like Stormalong Bay and the Poly pool, are better than others.

If you aren't sure that Riv is right for you, rescind now. You're on a 10 day clock. You'll be able to buy it again later if you later decide it is the best choice for your family.

Note that a "go one year, skip a year" plan means you aren't likely to buy annual passes. In addition, the exchange for cruises is a poor one (you're better off renting your points out and then taking that money and buying the cruise with cash). So, you may want to consider resale instead of a direct purchase and save yourself about 40%.
 


On a cruise got caught up into buying into DVC for 250 points at Riviera. Just got home and after doing some research most likely will cancel and look into buying non direct.

We have unique situation as well. We like to go to Disney every couple of years, BUT we live close to Galveston so the Disney cruise out of there is very convenient ( no airfare ). We like to cruise but maybe every 4 years or so.

Reasons being:
- Was not told of the restrictions on the buyers if I sell the timeshare the new buyer cannot use points for original 14.
- Would prefer more central home resort ( thinking of Grand Floridian or Polynesian ).

Couple of questions:
- What is easiest resort for transportation to all of Disney properties ?
- What are best resorts that have villas with kitchens that are priced the best, and have easy transportation ? If there are reasonably priced villas with kitchen and easy transportation ( and hopefully nice pool ) I will consider those.
- Should I just cancel or see if Disney can work to get me into another resort at good price, or not even bother and just head to secondary market ?
Unless you have your heart set on staying at RIV buy resale at one of the resorts that are at WDW. You will save thousands on a 250 point contract. You just will not get direct membership perks and cannot use the points for ABD, cruises (bad use of points anyway) or stay at RIV or any new resorts yet to be built. I did not mention the resale restrictions because if this really matters to you then a DVC purchase may not be right for you if you are concerned about resale value. The economy could tank again and the values will plummet like they did around 2009.
 
- What is easiest resort for transportation to all of Disney properties ?
Ask 4 people and you’ll get five different answers. I’ve been let down by every mass transit option. Monorail (especially to VGF) after fireworks is a **** show. Lightening has kicked me off the boats at a stop that wasn’t mine (good luck to ya’). The buses lie to me incessantly me with their ETAs that change from 8 minutes to 10 minutes five minutes after I arrived. I have yet to ride it, but imagine the Skyliner will keep in that tradition of being a distant, distant second to being able to walk into and out of a park.
- What are best resorts that have villas with kitchens that are priced the best, and have easy transportation ? If there are reasonably priced villas with kitchen and easy transportation ( and hopefully nice pool ) I will consider those.
The only rooms that don’t have full kitchens are studios. “Priced best” is subjective. If buying direct, right now, Riviera is priced best, but that’s only one small part of the equation. Some could reasonably argue that buying BWV resale with only 22 years left is “priced best” if that serves their travel needs.

Taking a step back, your questions suggest you could use a little time to better understand what the Disney timeshare product is, what it’s not (e.g., it’s not the equivalent of a deluxe cash stay), and how well it functions as a means of pre-paying for accommodations over the life of your contract. These boards are a good resource for that kind of information.

Again, the price you paid on the cruise is good until Dec 16. Learn about UYs, RTU, ADs, BVTC, POSs. Until those acronyms make sense, buying a Disney timeshare probably doesn’t.
 
If you are seeing the resale restriction as enough of a negative to impact your decision, then I would cancel. While you were not told about it, it is in the documents and pretty obvious for a buyer...ie: not in the fine print...so you would have gotten that information when you got The official documents.

In terms of buying resale, you have to be sure that what you buy will make sense for trips to Disney and decide number of points based on that.And, remember, you will not be able to use resale at Rivera or beyond

No one resort will be good for easy transportation to all the parks, but some will give you better options than others, BWV and BCV will give you easy transportation to Epcot and HS.

BLT, VGF and CCV.BRV will give you easy access to MK..by monorail for some and boat for the other...I left out Poly because they don’t have kitchens..

Rivera will give you easy access to Epcot or HS, but will not be a place you can stay with resale.

The rest will require buses. Now, one option, if you do like Rivera, is to reduce the number of points you buy there to 100, and then add on the rest via resale. Gives you some points for Rivera for the times you might want to stay there, and then the rest for stays at other places.

Good luck!
 


If in any doubt, cancel first, think later.
While the current incentives end in mid December, new incentives will replace them. They might be a bit higher or lower, but there will be some. Don't risk that the ink dries (after 10 days) and you're stuck with something doesn't convince you 100% you can still buy later the same exact contract.

Which unit size are you looking for? If it's 1BR (the smallest unit with a full kitchen), then buying a cheap resort you don't mind and switch at 7 months can be a good strategy. 1BR are the last room type to go at all resorts (SSR may differ, but that's an anomaly due to RCI exchanges) and people reports being successful switching.

The best resort for transportation is a split stay, something I like to do.
4 days at a MK resort, 4 Days at an Epcot resort, 4 days at AKV (SSR or OKW work as well, with easy access to DS). If you don't mind being room--less during the day twice in your vacation, it's a great strategy to minimize transportation.
Time of the year when you travel impacts a lot the feasibility of this plan.
 
Very sensible if you ask me. And I don’t think it’s a ‘blow me away” / new Grand Floridian resort at all having seen the walkthroughs on YouTube, but I need to see in person for a full assessment.
Zavandor is correct on the 1 beds, I always go 1 beds and no problem switching, like to try all the resorts.
Re the restrictions, I believe it wouldn’t have been obvious- it would be to us, but to an uneducated buyer with no experience of DVC- they wouldn’t realise, they often will not have a clue what a restriction even means. DVD should be explaining what this means in plain English and how it could impact on a buyer’s resale value, when they purchase.
 
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The best price per point per remaining year deal with a kitchen and multiple transportation options is currently Bay Lake Tower.
 
On a cruise got caught up into buying into DVC for 250 points at Riviera. Just got home and after doing some research most likely will cancel and look into buying non direct.

We have unique situation as well. We like to go to Disney every couple of years, BUT we live close to Galveston so the Disney cruise out of there is very convenient ( no airfare ). We like to cruise but maybe every 4 years or so.

Reasons being:
- Was not told of the restrictions on the buyers if I sell the timeshare the new buyer cannot use points for original 14.
- Would prefer more central home resort ( thinking of Grand Floridian or Polynesian ).

Couple of questions:
- What is easiest resort for transportation to all of Disney properties ?
- What are best resorts that have villas with kitchens that are priced the best, and have easy transportation ? If there are reasonably priced villas with kitchen and easy transportation ( and hopefully nice pool ) I will consider those.
- Should I just cancel or see if Disney can work to get me into another resort at good price, or not even bother and just head to secondary market ?

With doubt then definitely go ahead and rescind. DVC will always be there happy to sell you points even the same day you rescind or if it's months from now. Take your time to figure out what really will meet your needs and if DVC itself even is right for you.

It does sound like resale will work just fine for you and can save you thousands of dollars especially if you're looking at 250 points. If you go every year this is 500 points you'd be working with each trip and is quite a lot depending on the resort, time you go and size of the villa you plan on getting.

Where have you normally stayed at Disney when you've gone?

All the 1BR's, 2BR's GV's and Treehouse villas have kitchens. Studios have kitchenettes. BLT's it a bit unique as it's a galley style kitchenette so more storage and room but it's the same amenities - toaster, microwave and small studio fridge. And the space devoted to the kitchenette takes away from living area. The larger villas there and at AKV-Kidani are the best overall I think as they are the ones that have 2 full baths in the 1BR's and 3 full baths in the 2BR's.

Every resort has trade offs for transporation. If you can walk to a park then you bus to all the others and it's probably a shared bus. If it's all buses for the resort then it will mean at least 1 stop at a different building (AKV) or 4 or so stops around the resort (OKW, SSR).
 
Very sensible if you ask me. And I don’t think it’s a ‘blow me away” / new Grand Floridian resort at all having seen the walkthroughs on YouTube, but I need to see in person for a full assessment.
Zavandor is correct on the 1 beds, I always go 1 beds and no problem switching, like to try all the resorts.
Re the restrictions, I believe it wouldn’t have been obvious- it would be to us, but to an uneducated buyer with no experience of DVC- they wouldn’t realise, they often will not have a clue what a restriction even means. DVD should be explaining what this means in plain English and how it could impact on a buyer’s resale value, when they purchase.

The documents do do that, in bold letters, and pretty straightforward. iMO, if someone buys and doesn‘t understand that or doesn’t question what it means, that is on them

Like I have shared, I do not remember any other direct contract I bought having language about resale value and not buying expecting that one will have any.
 
Riviera may be a good fit for you, but it may serve you well to rescind, take a few days and do more research. The incentives you received are good until Dec 16.

Maybe take at least until that date to figure out if Riviera works for your family after learning more about the new Disney timeshare product, as this product is markedly different than its predecessors. You can always buy in again before then for the same price you paid.

You have 10 days from signing to rescind.

Yes I agree taking time with a purchase is the best. I work in finance and one rule of thumb is to not purchase anything until you know what you could sell it for the next day if you had to. I haven't seen any Riviera resales so it is hard to gauge if the price is a "fair" price.
 
It sounds like you want a 1 or 2 bedroom with a kitchen so Poly is out. You would have to define what you consider easy transportation? I suppose the easiest would be the one with the best transport to the park you prefer to go to.

One thing we don't like are the buses, we do like monorail or boat. Personally I like the boat because it is enjoyable trip on a boat.
 
If in any doubt, cancel first, think later.
While the current incentives end in mid December, new incentives will replace them. They might be a bit higher or lower, but there will be some. Don't risk that the ink dries (after 10 days) and you're stuck with something doesn't convince you 100% you can still buy later the same exact contract.

Which unit size are you looking for? If it's 1BR (the smallest unit with a full kitchen), then buying a cheap resort you don't mind and switch at 7 months can be a good strategy. 1BR are the last room type to go at all resorts (SSR may differ, but that's an anomaly due to RCI exchanges) and people reports being successful switching.

The best resort for transportation is a split stay, something I like to do.
4 days at a MK resort, 4 Days at an Epcot resort, 4 days at AKV (SSR or OKW work as well, with easy access to DS). If you don't mind being room--less during the day twice in your vacation, it's a great strategy to minimize transportation.
Time of the year when you travel impacts a lot the feasibility of this plan.

I never even thought of that option of splitting accommodation across different resorts. Something to definitely consider.
 
Yes I agree taking time with a purchase is the best. I work in finance and one rule of thumb is to not purchase anything until you know what you could sell it for the next day if you had to. I haven't seen any Riviera resales so it is hard to gauge if the price is a "fair" price.

There have been 3-4 known resales of Riviera already and all I can say is if you had to sell tomorrow you'd take quite a hit. It would sell but it wouldn't be pretty.
 
Honestly, I'd rescind and spend some time soul searching and looking at online secondary market listings. Riviera will be there tomorrow or next month or next year. Personally, I think monorail resorts are the best though we own OKW. Think it through as though money is no object - where you would love to stay, in what size villa, and when and then work backwards from there. I do it the old fashioned way with paper and pencil on the dining room table and then we talk it through. We have bought direct and secondary and sold and bought again. We've more than got our money's worth and feel good about it. You have to feel good about it, whatever "it" is to you and not have buyer's remorse. Time is on your side so take a deep breath.
 
Personally I would rescind and really take a look at all the other DVC resort to really find out what you want. Also, you can save so much money buying resale. DH and I bought our first contract direct and knew we would eventually we would add one, which we have done in spades this year . . . (I think his add-on-itis is worse than mine) but they have all been resale. We have discussed many time Riveria and really to us the restrictions means we won't but direct there, unless they decide to lift those. We have no plans to sell our DVC, but should we ever NEED to, I know it will bring the value down. If we want to stay there, we have our direct points to do so, otherwise we are content to stay around at other places. So after all that, I say rescind now, take some time to research it a little more and then make your decision.
 
So one of your initial questions, Disney will not get you into another resort for a “good price.” Disney’s main focus is selling the new resort. They will sell older resorts and they have a set price per point for all of those resorts. They won’t offer incentives on those points and they jack the prices up at the old resorts.

It seems like you’re very new to dvc. I would 100% recend and do some research. When do you usually travel? What use year did you end up with? That can be important. If you know you want to go every October and got a December use year that’s not ideal. If you travel at all different times of the year it’s not as big of a deal.

The prices on the resale market are decent right now. Take a look at this thread to see how resale has been going. https://www.disboards.com/threads/r...ost-for-instructions-formatting-tool.3772943/
One important thing to note is that you can attempt to negotiate a resale contract just like a housing purchase. Not everyone realizes that. Also keep in mind that the resort contracts don’t all end at the same time. Boardwalk, beach club, old key west, boulder ridge (if I forgot one sorry) all expire in 2042. So depending on age unless you’re in love with those resorts they may not be your best choices.
 
One important thing to note is that you can attempt to negotiate a resale contract just like a housing purchase.

But not a direct contract, to reiterate the earlier part of SG131's posting. Direct pricing is what it is. Wou can't negotiate with the Mouse. If you want VGF or BLT, you save literally a bajillion bucks going resale.
 

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