Poly/BLT or Riviera

Hei_Hei

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 1, 2019
Hello, all! My wife and I were seriously considering purchasing direct for Poly or BLT until our sales rep called from Disney with what seems like a great offer from Riviera. The current promotion is additional points added to your contract for however long you own. We were thinking of buying 200-230 points direct. With Riviera we would get an additional 15 points “free” from Disney (you still have to pay maintenance fees on the “free” points). Riviera is 188 a point. Poly was 235 and BLT was 225. That’s a significant savings of almost 10k if we go with Riviera. We both liked Riviera and would be happy there. We wanted a monorail resort initially, but we can always buy resale later on if needed. We are aware of the current restrictions with resale on Riviera. If we do not plan on selling Riviera in 15-20 years (if at all), is this the better buy??

Really enjoy this site and all the information available. You all have been extremely helpful, thank you!!

Scott
 
Very few people plan on selling. Life happens without that intent, however. You need to view any money spent on Riviera as sunk cost.

Riviera is only a better buy if that is where you want to stay. Even then, no one knows how the booking pattern will look, or how the restrictions will influence the 11 month window. There are a lot of risks there.
 
Any timeshare purchase, including ALL DVC resorts should be viewed as a "sunk cost" and purchased with money one can afford to lose. We've been fortunate so far in that currently, there is a robust resale market. That's not a future guarantee and there are many people who had to sell at a big loss 10-12 years ago. If the economy takes a downturn, there will be more who suffer the same fate. This is why so many do not recommend financing a luxury purchase.

All that said, IMO, the Riviera will turn out to be a very good buy for those who would be happy staying there. Personally, I'd choose the skyliner over the monorail, no contest. (But all else equal, I'd choose a reasonable walking distance over any mode of transportation, so if MK is where you want to be, that's a powerful incentive for BLT. Poly only has studios and the ultra expensive bungalows, so that would be off the table for me).

Good luck with your decision.
 
Why would you not consider buying resale for Poly or BLT? If you are worried about perks you can buy a smaller resale contract, then add on at least 75 from Disney.
With Disney now having the ability to move points between use years, this should be easier than ever.

That being said, buy where you want to stay. I have trouble with the Riviera because i have no idea as to its feel as a resort yet.

Anyway, if you do buy direct, I would at least consider breaking up a 200+ point contract into 2 or 3 smaller contracts, just in case you do need to sell or downsize later. Smaller contracts sell for more, and as AB said, most people don't PLAN on selling, but life does happen.
 


I agree with previous purchasers about if you do decide to buy direct, then break up the purchase into smaller contracts.

The best advice I’ve seen is to buy some resale BLT to save $$$ and some direct Riviera for benefits. Resale is a major PITA, but the cost savings are significant. However, if you don’t feel like dealing with the resale hassle, then that has value too.

We own at VGF, BLT, BWV, RIV, and VGC (all resale except RIV). We’re very biased towards our home resorts since we bought the resorts we love (or think we’ll love since RIV isn’t open yet). It’s always good to own more than one resort. Since we own points at a handful of resorts, we don’t really have to worry about switching at 7 months. We can switch up where we stay and book at 11 months with little to no issues.
 
It sounds like you are looking to purchase and hold onto your contracts which is indeed the best frame of mind to be in. Yet as the previous posters have stated life has a funny way of going in a different direction than what we have planned or expected. Keeping that in mind you should look for flexibility so splitting up your contracts would be a good option. Do you anticipate outgrowing a studio, if so I would eliminate Poly. Having both a resale and direct contract may be the most flexible and cost savings option. If transportation is a factor and you are looking to minimize bus travel I would split my contracts between RIV and BLT / VGF. Obviously you have not stayed at RIV but have you stayed or visited the other resorts? Have you seen the mock RIV rooms? You will find lots of good information and advice here. Work all the numbers and scenarios and then pick the best outcome that suits your family's needs.
 


At this time, RIV is a big unknown. No one has actually stayed there yet, and the skyliner isn't open for business yet. Would you buy the new Family Truckster SUV based upon some vague marketing hype and some drawings, or would you want to take a test drive first? Of course, it looks like a great resort on paper, but I'm personally cautious when making $35k purchases.

I don't understand why you wouldn't just buy 200 points at BLT resale? $28k versus $35k for direct RIV points. Both have restrictions. BLT resale points won't get you into RIV, and won't save you $200 per annual pass per year, but that $7k you save would go a long way to paying for the perks you're missing. RIV's restrictions come when you sell it. It's unknown how much the restrictions will affect RIV prices. In addition, RIV has some seriously high maintenance fees compared to everything else you are considering. Those higher maintenance fees really add up over 50 years...
 
I agree with a PP who mentioned buying 1/2 the needed points at Riviera and then buying a resale at Poly or BLT. The would give you the best of all worlds. You will have points a Riviera, you will also have the monorail resort that you desire. The decision would be -- for the monorail resort do you only want/need studios the Poly would be fine. But if you need 1 or 2 BR then BLT would be your choice. Having 11 month booking advantage at 2 resorts can be a great thing.

The unknown resale value of Riviera would be a hold back for me. And there would be no way i would buy Poly direct at $235 per point. I just bought a PVB resale for $145 per point @ 100 points = $14500. If I went direct it would have been $23500 -- no way do any direct perks justify paying $9000 more. So work out numbers so that you are getting the best possible deal and access to the resorts that you want.
 
As a BLT owner, monorail access is overrated. The main draw is the easy walk to MK. The monorail lines can be long, the cars get packed. It's capacity isn't that much really. We only use it to go to Epcot. We might ride it back if there's no line or we don't feel like walking for some reason. You never take it to MK though, it's almost a 20 minute trip as it goes clockwise around the MK area.

The Skyliner will move so many more people faster than the monorail. Don't get me wrong, I love the monorail, it's quintessentially Disney, but it doesn't factor into where to stay much for me.

Aside from the resale restrictions, my main issue with RIV is the high dues and point chart. I would need to use at least 20 more points at RIV for a week long studio stay vs BLT, and the dues are 2 bucks more a point (for now). They're not that bad compared to some of the newer resorts though. In a couple years when everyone elses dues are fully raised due to labor costs, it might be a pretty good deal. I was originally really down on RIV, but if I wasn't worried about eventually selling I could see buying there. I'm going to do a split stay next Feb during our trip and spend a night or two there and check it out.
 
Hello, all! My wife and I were seriously considering purchasing direct for Poly or BLT until our sales rep called from Disney with what seems like a great offer from Riviera. The current promotion is additional points added to your contract for however long you own. We were thinking of buying 200-230 points direct. With Riviera we would get an additional 15 points “free” from Disney (you still have to pay maintenance fees on the “free” points). Riviera is 188 a point. Poly was 235 and BLT was 225. That’s a significant savings of almost 10k if we go with Riviera. We both liked Riviera and would be happy there. We wanted a monorail resort initially, but we can always buy resale later on if needed. We8. are aware of the current restrictions with resale on Riviera. If we do not plan on selling Riviera in 15-20 years (if at all), is this the better buy??

Really enjoy this site and all the information available. You all have been extremely helpful, thank you!!

Scott

As mentioned it only takes 75 direct points to get member benefits. You're looking at a large amount of points and I'm guessing that you were considering Poly or BLT because you like those resorts. The "free" points is one of the ways DVC markets their discounts off of resorts they are currently selling. Just using the numbers you provided vs looking at what incentivese are now it means you're paying approx $174/pt for 200 points vs purchasing PVB resale for $140-$145/pt or BLT for a similar $140-$145/pt. Long term the annual dues become the large component of owning DVC. Currently MF's are: BLT - $6.40/pt, PVB - $6.76/pt and Riviera - $8.31/pt. The guess is that Riviera will not change for 2020 (although they could) and that other resorts will see a little higher than normal increase due to required wage increases let's say it's a high 8% then BLT would be +/- $6.91, PVB +/- $7.30 vs Riviera $8.31. If you look at resale contracts you'll pay less up front for either of the other resorts and less MF's and those "free" Riviera points are not quite so free anymore. If DVC makes sense for you and you really like BLT and PVB then you can get them for similar or less than Riviera should you wish.
 
I agree with the above posters to buy both resale and direct...with the majority of the purchase being resale. If you go the route of BLT, one of my home resorts, 200 points resale AND 75 points direct is only about $1,000 more that buying 200 points direct... $45,875 vs $45,000 assuming $145 resale price. That doesn't include any purchase fees but assuming those are similar. Fidelity has multiple resale contracts at that size for $135 so I'm sure OP could do better if they keep an eye on all resale sites.

I like the idea of 200 points at one resort and then 75 direct at DRR in theory. But the only caution I would have is I don't think I'd add on that small a contract at Riviera until I saw how the competition for studios is. 75 points doesn't go that far at DRR with their studio costs....even with banking/borrowing.

Either way they are all great resorts so good luck.
 
Have you done the actual math? Like how much your stays including points, maintenance, and point requirements would be? Not to mention check out the year 10 and year 20 costs based on an annual 4% increase to maintenance.

Riviera gives you extra points but you need them because rooms are more. Which in turn means higher due because it's more points and a higher rate per point.
 
This is slightly off topic, but does have to do with actual cost.
I bought the Grand Floridian directly from Disney in 2013. For my "typical" 8 day mid September trip, it is 145 points (studio - standard view) at 150$ per point, which is what I paid, that is 21,750$ - adjust for inflation is 23,860$
Same stay in a standard view studio at the Riviera is 126 points is 23,688.

Disney's "Flagship" resort was basically the same price as the Riviera, and by the way, Dues are 2$ less per point per year at the VGF.
 
"significant savings of almost $10,000" if you go with Riviera...

What do the other resorts have to do with your willingness to spend the asking price on the actual product as it relates to Riviera? Price anchoring works on everybody, including me (classical example: the best way to sell a $2,000 watch is to place it next to a $10,000 watch).

The other way to think of it is that the other resorts are overpriced, and that Riviera is what they're actually expecting / trying to sell
 
I’m someone who was considering adding on 200 BLT points resale and ended up adding RIV points direct instead. (But we already owned BLT and love the resort)

If you’re just dipping your toe into DVC, I would suggest starting with a smaller BLT resale, see how it’s working for you, and then decide whether you’d want to add on at RIV direct or get more BLT points resale. BLT resale will always be significantly less than what they’re selling direct. Yes they are slightly different products now with the newer resale restrictions, but BLT resale is a solid and fairly unique product that is quite versatile. RIV direct will be around for a few years, and there will still be incentives. True they may change, but they’re not going to change so much that you’re going to wish you’d saved $2000 two years ago.
 
Have you done the actual math? Like how much your stays including points, maintenance, and point requirements would be? Not to mention check out the year 10 and year 20 costs based on an annual 4% increase to maintenance.

Riviera gives you extra points but you need them because rooms are more. Which in turn means higher due because it's more points and a higher rate per point.

I just did the math based on BLT Lake View 1BR vs. Riviera Premium View 1BR, for the magic season. If you were to buy enough points to stay for 1 week, it would cost you $68k for BLT, and about $73k for Riviera, assuming a cost of $188 per point.
Those "cheaper" points aren't worth as much when you look at how pricey the rooms are at Riviera.
 

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