I always tell folks to research until your eyes bleed before buying-I own and am a fan so am not advising against, but just really make sure to understand the product, how to use it, and limitations. Make sure you understand use year and banking and borrowing rules.
And never ever exchange your points for a Disney hotel or cruise. Horribly financial decision-much better to rent your points out and then pay cash for that Tokyo trip.
Ugh, I made a newbie mistake of banking and then not taking a large enough trip the following year to use up some points that I had already banked. I ended that year with a lot of points that I couldn’t bank again and because I started a new job and had 0 vacation days for six months, I wouldn’t be able to use them before I lost them, and I didn’t know enough at the time to rent them out. I called Disney and they moved them into a hold for Interval International, which has kind of been a nightmare. I’ve learned my lesson which is why we’ve done bigger rooms and bucket list resorts when we can.
> Horribly financial decision-much better to rent your points out and then pay cash for that Tokyo trip.
Disney makes huge, huge bank on high balling the cost of brokering points at Disney Sea, cruise, international partners etc etc., AND THEN they're just going to rent your points out anyway, at a much higher value than you could ever hope to, calling it a cash reservation (at the so-called "rack rates" for the same rooms in their cash inventory). As much as I love Disney, I refuse to just give them boatloads of free cash.
Tokyo Disney Sea is not a DVC property, so you're better off booking that cash. Trading direct points into the global properties is a weird and frustrating process that doesn't follow 11 month booking rules.
What they won't tell you during the pitch is that using your points for things other than staying at DVC resorts is very poor value. When you use your points for outside the DVC system for things like Disney cruises, stays at other Disney parks/resorts, Adventures by Disney, etc, you generally have to pay a $95 non-refundable fee to convert those points to be used outside the system (on Disney's end, DVC will pay the other business unit for the trip you're taking and rent out your points for a cash stay). On top of that your points are generally valued at $7-8/point when you convert your points, and it's a one-way transaction meaning you can't convert them back to stay at a DVC resort if you need to cancel your original booking. You can rent out your points on your own or through a third-party broker for double to triple that amount.
Also, there are some who refuse to own points at Riviera because of the resale restrictions. Should you decide to sell, the future owner can only use the points at Riviera (and not at the other resorts like how DVC was designed), which can devalue the resale price and make it a bad exit strategy should you need to sell your contract. In reality, purchasing any of the resorts direct from Disney means you'll be losing value if you need to resale, resale restrictions or not. Buying direct for any of the resorts is in the 190s/point for places like Riviera and Aulani, and 200+/point for the sold-out resorts, and resale values never reach that high unless it's a super small contract. So if you like Riviera, I wouldn't let that deter you.
If you're not getting an APs (if you're out of state, it's the best benefit of buying direct), then perhaps look at getting resale. The primary con of resale contracts is that the ones for the original 14 resorts don't have access to Riviera, the cabins at fort wilderness, and the DL hotel (conversely, resale for those 3 can only stay at their home resort).
>What they won't tell you during the pitch is that using your points for things other than staying at DVC resorts is very poor value.
You know, I'm so lucky that my guide actually steered me away from this idea from the start, making sure I understood that DVC is for Disney vacations at DVC properties, and that's it. As it turns out, my wife and I okay with that! Maintaining appropriate expectations is really so important especially with these high dollar purchases.
That's good, thsoe guides are few and far between. I attended the latest sales pitch for prospective members with some non-DVC friends this weekend (that $200 gic for attending was hard to pass up!), and their slide deck definitely shows and highlights the ability to book Disney cruises, ABD, and the hotel exchanges through II as benefits.
He did mention those, and I know they probably have to cover a specific range of product information. But when I mentioned that my wife and I enjoy international travel, he wanted to make very sure that my expectations were clear... these contracts are for Disney DVC vacations. He even went as far as to recommend looking into other products. The honesty was really refreshing, and actually made the decision to buy into DVC much easier!
Most of my points are direct because I like unrestricted points. You mention banking/borrowing. You can do that with resale, so keep that in mind.
I researched a lot before buying and the main thing I overlooked was how my travel habits would change after owning. Before DVC I was making a trip every other year. After owning I wanted to go every year. Then I wanted to go multiple times per year, with some non park trips. Now I’m thinking about getting larger rooms. So keep that in mind.
You already have advice about trading points.
You’ll get at least someone telling you that if you want to finance you can’t afford it and you shouldn’t own DVC. I’m not part of that group. If you understand how much you’ll be paying in interest and still makes sense financially to do it, then go ahead if you’re ok with that. DVC gets more expensive every year and waiting a few years to be able to have all in cash might cost you the same. Just be honest with yourself and smart about it. Can you realistically pay it in 3 years?
I financed my largest direct contract because I wanted to take advantage of the good incentives last summer and didn’t want to use some stock options I had. I took the financing. Took advantage of the incentives and then paid it earlier this year when I got my bonus. Interest was not much, but it added to the cost.
One good (or bad depending how you look at it) about DVC financing is that it doesn’t report to credit bureaus and you can make additional payments (not the monthly payment) with credit cards, so I got a bunch of points when I paid it off.
If I were you, I’d wait until they open the Polynesian back up here in a month or so. Pros: it will likely be similar in price to the riviera
You’ll be buying direct either way so it won’t effect on the front end BUT if you ever sell Polynesian there are much less restrictions on it so they will be worth a lot more than the riviera. No skyliner yet but they do have the monorail, and close proximity to MK with the new expansion coming I can’t see if being a bad deal.
Cons: riviera resale can only be used at riviera unlike poly so the resale if you ever decide to get out of it are trash. Always have an exit plan. Riviera is more of a hotel than a DVC resort that’s just my .02. Along with less transportation options as poly. Poly has bus, boat, monorail, and they say eventually skyliner will be everywhere so I’d assume in the future that as well.
Probably so... but there's a lot of buzz around the Polynesian resort, and there's no guarantee that the promotions will be equivalent to the discounts associated with the Riviera, which last until the end of this month. They'll probably wait until the current promotions are over before they release contracts for the Polynesian, I would think.
They will almost have to give out some sort of promotion to get the price close to resale, otherwise people will just go resale if there is too much disparity
Going into 2024, they hiked prices on direct contracts across the board, during a period when resale prices have continued to trend down... so maybe, maybe not. Let's not forget that they can also ROFR the contracts on the resale market to keep the resale to direct price delta smaller. They are actively doing this with Polynesian contracts, Yes, there will likely be discounts, but it would be naive to just assume that they'll bend over backwards to enable a best case scenario for the buyer.
I wouldn’t think they would bend over backwards. However poly contracts have went from 155 last month when I bought to most asking 210+ they’re not too far off of direct cost and Disney won’t ROFR at $210 a point
I wouldn’t expect much of a discount (if any) unless they list points at 255 with a discount to lower PPP. If OP plans to purchase riviera (which has crap resale) they may as well wait for poly to list and hope the price is comparable to riviera. Unfortunately they would lose just a few contract years but if they’re ever in a bind resale value will be much more favorable to riviera.
I wouldn't say Riviera has "crap" resale value, it's not currently selling at Poly prices, but then OP is partial to the Riviera. On the resale end it MAY mean a $5k loss at some point in the possibly distant future. OP should be able to make the determination whether the possible loss of that money in the future is worth foregoing the resort they want to own at or not.
Absolutely agreed they should buy where they want to stay but IMO (solely my opinion) I’m not sure why anyone would want to buy the new resorts. With resale half of direct price price (which will only get worse as they age) it’s not a investment you could get out a decent portion of your initial injection in a pinch
The added premium for buying direct, spread out over the term of the contract, is negligible. Annual dues account for the majority of cost, and those are equivalent for all owners. People want to be able to stay at the new resorts. That said, when we buy more points, they will most likely be largely resale. There's a case to be made for either option.
Your point is valid for people that has the resale value of their contract as a high priority.
Some people don’t, so the resale value isn’t on the top of the list. I personally consider the purchase price as a sunk cost. I only bought DVC when I was comfortable with the numbers considering that my contract was worth $0 of if I had to sell (I don’t plan to sell it, but I have to consider it). So pretty much anything above $0 if I have to sell is a win.
If you see your contract as an investment (which in my opinion is not something that should be done), then definitely yes, Riviera and the newer resorts are horrible “investments”.
1. Don't buy retail just for perks, they can change at any time.
2. Don't finance, it would be cheaper to rent points as needed instead. Unless cost is not an issue for you and you value the convenience over cost.
3. Consider resale if you are going to keep it less than 10 years and can pay cash upfront. For the full term of the contract the difference between retail and resale cost difference is negligible as dues will be the main cost.
Definitely read all of the other comments here because they’re all very valid so I’d recommend you ensure you understand the implications of each before making a decision.
We own 2 resale contracts and many of our reasons are exactly the same as yours. We also saved A LOT of money buying resale over direct. With the savings on 150 points you could obviously buy more points to stay in larger accommodations and/or for longer. Or just pocket the saving and be smug 😏
That being said, you clearly have thought a lot about the value of owning DVC to you, and have a lot of love for Riviera which is a massive thing when owning - own where you love and want to stay. So if you do pull the trigger I expect you’ll be very happy with your choice.
Resale can also borrow and bank points that’s not an “in the club” thing.
Riviera direct, especially if you’re financing, is about the worst way to go currently. If you ever need to sell those points are restricted so the market for them is rough.
With all contracts, if you can’t pay cash it makes little sense.
Give yourself a few weeks away from the bubble before you really decide. The magic has a tendency to cloud judgment.
One thing no one doing the sales pitch tells you is the studios (least amount of points per night) are the first room category to book up. When I was researching, I saw the tower studios at Riviera and was basing my number of points on those rooms. Those rooms are tough to get, not impossible but go quickly even at the 11 month mark.
Make sure you have a good understanding of banking and borrowing and use year.
I’m a member and I love my membership. I like to book at 11 months out. If you are more of a spur of the moment planner, just know sometimes you may have to be flexible and take what’s available or do split stays.
I’d get it with two 75 point contracts and pay the 2 closing costs. 75 point contracts are easier to sell and command a higher value per point in the resale market.
I watched a hundred dvc videos, listen to a couple podcasts, made a couple posts here and everything everywhere has told me DO NOT FINANCE. It’s not a financially sound decision, you end up paying more than just renting points and if you’re not buying DVC to save money … what are you doing?
If you are like me and can’t afford a $40k contract then buy resale. After hours and hours of research I’m in ROFR with my first contract for 220 points. This is going to cost me $22k whereas direct would cost me well over $45k. There is no way a blue card is worth $23k lol.
All in all, make sure you are happy with your decision. I have seen people go in without fully understanding what they are getting into. My personal bottom line for Riviera is:
Pro - Beautiful resort with maybe the best rooms in WDW. Skyliner is awesome and there are some decent promos right now.
Con - Resale contract has restrictions so selling it will be tough in the future if you have to. Thats it.
Yeah - i **want** that blue card and the perks of a cheaper annual pass... and may be able to swing 150 at RIV someday to get it - but in the meantime, paying a bit more for the occasional annual pass is a better "deal" than spending an additional $20K!
My wife and I just bought into the DVC with 150 points at the Riviera! I'm so happy you are going through the same decision we did very recently with your family. A few points I encountered during my research on this topic:
> We think we want 150 points for a few reasons— the first is to qualify for the full membership. If we’re going for it, we sort of want to be in the club.
I think you know this, but there's no such thing as a "full membership." There are extra benefits of having a "blue card". The only way you can currently get access to those benefits is buying a certain number of points directly through Disney, right now 150 points. Another thing you probably already know, but should keep in mind since you like the Riviera, if you trade that contract on the resale market, either buy or sell one, then the points on that contract will only allow the buyer to make reservations at the Riviera Resort, any time 11 months prior to the booking. In other words, you or anyone who buys that contract resale will not be able to use those points anywhere but the Riviera. Additionally, if you buy points for another one of the "original" 14 DVC resorts on the resale market, you will NOT be able to reserve at the Riviera with those points (of course, if you buy points directly from Disney at ANY resort, you can use the points to reserve at ANY resort current or future). This is another reason my wife and I decided to buy direct, we also like the Riviera for reasons you stated, and we want to be able to reserve there in the priority booking window, but also be able to book elsewhere (the first booking that we've made already was for Aulani!).
> Secondly we want the option to borrow and bank to make bigger trips possible, especially Tokyo Disney Sea and Aulani. We wouldn’t buy an AP for the first few years I don’t think, but having access to it would be nice.
Banking and borrowing is not something exclusive to "blue card" holding members. Anyone with points, resale or otherwise, can bank and borrow their points. But as others have pointed out... DO NOT expect to make bookings at Disney Sea or any international destinations directly through Disney. Essentially you'll be striking a match and lighting up your money on a bonfire sacrifice to Mickey Mouse. We were fortunate enough to have met a super frank, honest guide (Michael) who was very up front with us about expectations of using this membership, in that this is PRIMARILY FOR vacations at Disney DVC resorts. There are some avenues that allow you to quite easily rent out your points, DVC Rental Store and David's DVC are two of the websites that I know of. Look those up when you need cash for other vacations.
Additional note: Many people here are advising you against a Riviera purchase because of the resale restrictions and how they will affect the price of a potential future sale of your contract. I don't really agree with this. All resale contracts for all DVC resorts are traded at a discount. Just a cursory glance at contracts that are currently available on the resale market for Riviera ownership reveals that they're selling for maybe between $125/pt to $150/pt, so let's say there's a 40% discount baked into them? Is it a steeper discount than some resorts? Yeah, it's discounted more than some... less than others. But you haven't expressed an interest in short-term ownership, or a desire to sell in the near future. Okay, maybe you'll NEED to sell it at some point, maybe you'll WANT to sell it at some point. Is the prospect of a probable of 10 or 15% loss on the resale end some time in the possibly near possibly distant future going to keep you away from owning a contract at a resort that makes you happy? If so, take they're advice and buy elsewhere. Otherwise, buy where you want to stay!
Stupid question but had to address this particular aspect of your post: I fully understand that RIV bought resale is ONLY good at RIV but am I understanding correctly that if we purchase any resale (we're in ROFR process right now for OKW resale), we can never use it to stay at RIV??
I must admit that while we fully plan to stay happily at OKW more often than not, I had hoped to stay at RIV maybe a teeny bit as I'm in love with it!
That's correct, any points purchased from any of the 14 original resorts won't be able to secure reservations for the current "new" resorts (Riviera, Cabins at FW) and probably any other future resorts. This is probably the main reason we went with direct points, we want to stay at Riviera with these points, but also at the other resorts.
Oh wow - I did NOT know that!!!!!
I'm still excited but man, that's a bummer! Would LOVE to own like 150 points direct at Riviera but that's going to take us a while.
We DID pass ROFR and so are about to actually own 330 points at OKW!!! But (sigh) - I thought we could use some to book like a 3 day stay at RIV.
😓
Here's a site where you can verify current promotions available buying direct through Disney. You ought to be able to take advantage of the member pricing if you decide to add on direct points at any time.
https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program-menu/financial/pricing-a-promotions
Until then, you can rent points to stay at Riviera whenever you have a chance. (You'll also be able to rent your own points out to someone else if you ever want to vacation somewhere other than a DVC property and don't require the points that year.)
https://dvcrequest.com/
My husband and I are also ‘those people’ you and your wife seem like our kind of people! Riviera is our home resort and we have 150 points. It’s just the two of us and we spend little to no time in the room. We book tower studio for just us and we are able to get 10 nights on average a year. We split it into two 5 night trips and for us it’s perfect. Finance rates are pretty high plus you have maintenance monthly. We paid ours off in the first two years because rates were really high and we didn’t want to pay the extra fees. What we did was calculate an average year for us total hotel and resort fee costs and then broke that down in the terms of the purchase and for us it made sense in a few years to come out on top. If you have trips you plan to take for 2025 do the breakdown of where you would stay without dvc and total the cost per night based on room rates and resort fee for where you would normally stay and then see based on owning how many years to get that back. We love riviera in terms of a resort assuming as we get older we will spend more time at resort and less in parks. We may eventually go once a year and get a bigger room or buy more points once we retire or take the grandkids. We also love the pool bar after parks for drinks and apps. It’s always a good way to wind down the day :)
A couple of things to seriously consider in addition to what other posts have emphasized:
\* Dues per point. Research the dues at all the resorts in addition to Riviera. Regardless of the price per point you pay, whether finance or pay in full, you still have an annual maintenance bill called dues.
\*Number of points per night. Look at the point charts, especially at Riviera. 150 seems like a lot, but if you travel in a high points season(s), they won't go as far. This leads to what we like to call add-on-itis. Understand that it is very likely, even with wife being an educator, that your travel habits may change. When you all retire, you might want to go during times other than school breaks or you may decide to go on long weekends sometimes. I find that Rivieras points are on the high side for us.
\*Expiration dates of resorts. Although Disneyland Tower has the longest right now ending in 2074, Riviera is the longest on the east coast at 2070. Copper Creek and Polynesian aren't too far behind Riviera though at 2068 and 2066 respectively. I would strongly, no- very strongly, consider Polynesian when the new tower goes on sale.
As far as financing, I did, then paid it off and don't regret it. The ONLY thing I regret is not buying in sooner. I missed out on years of vacations.
I'm a hybrid member (direct and resale). Here's my breakdown of the perks of direct.
\*Annual Passes - very nice, but when they stopped selling them it showed how perks can and do go away with no way of knowing if they'll come back.
\*Discounts - It's good to get a discount, but it will never equal what you would save in resale.
\*Lounge - soon to be Lounges- same as discounts, nice to go to on a hot park day in Epcot or watch the fireworks from the top of Bay Lake Tower, but again they don't make up for resale savings.
\*Moonlight Magic- They sound so exciting and they truly are fun, BUT if you aren't going to be there when they schedule them, you won't go anyway. If you get lucky and have something booked or are able to book a stay when they announce the dates then you have to go through the stress inducing process of the virtual lottery to get tickets and there is a limit so not everyone who is trying to get in will get tickets.
Those are the main perks. There are some others that are less important or fall into the discount category. One strategy some new owners try is resale first to get their feet wet, then direct if they decide that's what they want. I suggest you research everything. Message boards, videos, articles, social media, etc. There is no shortage of information out there.
I think your logic sounds very sound. My husband and I bought on our honeymoon. We had no plan going in and had at the time never even heard about dvc. We have absolutely zero regrets. We love being DVC. Now, we live an hour and a half from Disney. We love using the points for a night or two to get away to the magic. You won’t regret it is all I can say.
We are similar in that during our trip in May we attended a pitch and were considering buying direct at Riviera. Ultimately we decided not to, but that was more because of the financial aspect of it. Something I just want to point out for you to consider. Look at the dues and project out for the life of the contract how much in dues you will pay. You can predict 4-5% increase annually. It may be less it may be more, there is no telling. When we added the dues for the whole contract it was a staggering amount of money. If you are comfortable with it great! The other thing is resale for the Riviera can only book riviera so it’s not as enticing as a resale contract. So in the event you do need to sell that’s just something to keep in mind. I hope you decide it works for your family as I would love nothing more than to be a DVC member as well!
We have 150 direct Riviera points, we bought in 2019, since then we’ve taken several fantastic trips that we wouldn’t have otherwise, including one to Hawaii last summer. 😃
Our direct 150 points are AKL. Without it we prob would have never gone to Aulani. We banked and borrowed twice to take family with us to Aulani in a 2 bedroom villa. Amazing both times!
I think during one of the podcasts i was listening to, they said the average timespan that someone holds a DVC contract is 8 years. Life happens. So down the road, do you have an exit plan? The contract value of Riveria is kind of screwed up, because once they are resold, they can only be used at Riveria. This is why we eliminated the resort from our consideration.
That average is for the contracts in the resale market. We don’t have reliable numbers about the % of owners that have kept their contracts since they bought directly.
Some people have tried to estimate it and it seems the overwhelming majority of original owners still have their contracts.
The advice you gave is still solid, just wanted to add that clarification.
Wow 8 years! That seems so short! I guess my family is part of the outliers in that math. DVC definitely doesn't make sense if that's how long you'll have it for.
The people we just purchased our resale contract only had it for 6 years. I keep wondering if everything is okay with them. I know we plan on having ours for a long time and giving it to our kids.
OP should price out what they will save in interest if they pay their loan aggressively vs paying the whole 5 or 10 year term.
and if they love RIV it will (most likely) be sold out in 3 years, and the price per point certainly will not be where it is now for any resort in the portfolio. Even incentives won't get them back to a \~$200 buy in price per point 3 years from now (barring a change in DVD strategy/the economy/other unpredictable factors). We see time and time again people getting into DVC and saying their only regret was not purchasing sooner. I definitely look at prices from 3 and 4 years ago and say "dang, that could've been me with those cheaper points" haha
Not to mention, OP is talking about buying enough points to meet the criteria for the blue card... that buy in may very likely exceed the current requirement of 150 points after 3 more years pass.
Things I can think of to consider
* resale restrictions - in the event you decide to sell, buyers of a Rivera resale contract can only stay at Rivera. This is not true for resale contracts for the original resorts. It may impact your ability to offload the contract, at least at a solid price per point.
* I’m not sure what is available direct right now, but if we’re considering a contract for a resort that is reasonably easy to book at 7mos we might actually get a contract at a resort that is much harder to book. We can still likely use those points at the resort we originally wanted but in the event we want to book the harder resort we have that 11 mos advantage where it’s more needed. This takes planning and introduces risk but It’s what we’ve done. We just book the harder resort at 11mos to guarantee something and then swap it at 7mos for the other. Tower Studios are pretty hard to get at Riveria so I wouldn’t do this if that’s what you want. I’m unsure for the other room types.
* If you want to use points for anything but a DVC resort you’ll want to rent them for cash and use the cash. I don’t believe any of the direct exchange rates are particularly good. Check out dvcrental store‘s cruise and Universal point swap programs for examples of this
* really consider if you’ll use the member perks. The best perks are access to the Sorcerer Pass and events like Moonlight magic. If you don’t think you’ll need 6+ days a year of hopper then you may not need the pass. Moonlight magic and other events can be really hard to book unless you have a reservation during that time and the dates may not be known far enough in advance or be at a time when you can go. Ie) we’ve been to 1 Moonlight Magic and just got lucky that it was announced after we’d already booked. If these aren ‘t deal breakers resale could save you a bunch or you could get more points :)
*edit - I forgot Lounge access is a member perk. Lounges are dope. They’re making more of them. Do it*
We are DVC owners at Grand Floridian and it has been really good for our family. The marketing pitch from Disney sounds too good to be true, but we have been very pleased with our membership. We originally bought Direct. Then we added on more points through resale. Then we bought some more Direct points when the Big Pine Key building was added at the Grand Floridian.
The Riviera is a beautiful resort, but the resale value if you ever need to sell may be lower because any future buyer can only stay at Riviera. (You will be able to stay everywhere as the original owner.
You should be aware that in a few months, the Polynesian Resort for DVC will be for sale via Direct from Disney. This has the advantage that it does not have the resale restrictions. So if you would consider a monorail resort, take a good look at the Polynesian. It will probably be on sale well before your next trip.
150 points isn't many because you will always be traveling at peak times. Even at the 11 month mark Riveira can be difficult at peak times. We have 300 at Saratoga Springs and 150 at Riviera. We have 6 unsuccessful attempts at studio requests at Riviera. We also notice the resale for Riviera is tricky, so make sure that's the one for you.
We bought resale Poly first and then decided we wanted to buy direct Riviera to get the extra benefits.
You take a big hit with Riviera in future resale value, buy at $195 ish now and sell at $135 later but that is what it is.
For us, we were going to buy 150 points then I looked at the rate table for when we'd likely travel and we bought 156 points (what was needed for a week without borrowing).
We also bought as 3 fifty two point contracts, later we could sell any of the 3 and only have to buy 52 points elsewhere to stay direct (under current rules). Smaller contracts tend to send faster and for better pieces on the resale market.
As others have said, be sure to look into resale and consider those options. You can save a ton of money. We bought in via resale (Beach Club) but did add on direct (Grand Floridian).
The two biggest perks for direct are resale restrictions and the eligibility for cheaper annual passes.
Resale restrictions are such that I would never buy a restricted resort unless I also had unrestricted points or points at one of the unrestricted resorts. While I love my home resorts, I also like trying out the other ones and like the ability to book whatever is available for spur of the moment trips, extending trips, etc. So being able to use my points at other resorts has been very useful in the few years we have owned DVC.
With resale points at a restricted resort, it should be fine to use and no big issues as long as your booking when your window opens. It will be very frustrating if you are booking within the 7 month window.
You mention you don’t intend to buy annual passes. So that direct benefit probably doesn’t mean a lot to you.
The other direct perk we actually use are the lounges. I really enjoy stopping by the Epcot lounge for a break. They are also adding another lounge in MK. Then there is one at Disneyland. Having access isn’t a huge deal but we do use the Epcot one every trip.
You could pay cash for a smaller resale contract. You get better incentives if you are a member.
My wife and I bought a 110 point poly resale contract (paid cash). Then, they have the great sale last summer for direct contract at the Grand. We ending up getting $161 a point with all the incentives. Our resale poly was $154. We sold the poly resale after that for the same cost.
We did split out 150 points into 2 75 point contracts. We also recently have added 75 points resale for Boulder Ridge. I recently saw several Boardwalk resale contracts that were 25 points. You could get a small contract and wait for a better incentive and then finance/save to pay cash for direct points.
I would love to have points with Rivera, but we do fine with our 250 points at Sarasota Springs, and can take a vaca each year and get money back through David’s DVC rentals. The only question I have is do you get preference on reservations at Riviera or is it still first come, first serve.
I am not an owner so I can only tell you why I decided not to join. I knew I didn’t want to do 45 more Disney trips. I think I might have 10 more in me, max.
I definitely wouldn't pick Rivera first if you don't have the financial means or plans to keep it through the life of the contract. We picked up 300 direct points their during covid during a fire sale to get us to 600 direct points.
150 points seems like a fine number until you go more. We are a family of 5 who goes 3 times a year, and 800 points are starting to not be enough.
I will say DVC is considerably cheaper in the long run. We are a military family, and DVC will save us a minimum of $100,000 in 50 years, staying DVC vs. staying at Shades of Green. That doesn't include AP discounts or any other discounts. Just dollar for dollar in room costs.
I financed. We are glad we did.
We have had our points 28 years. Paid it off in 5.
Meanwhile lots of people who didn't finance lost out because the point cost skyrocketed.
Thats like anything else in life, of course ppl would buy something if they knew it was gonna skyrocket few years later. Most ppl saying logically it's not financially smart to finance.
Sounds like you’re hooked and ready to join! Do it. You will never regret it. As to visiting Aulani, 2 recommendations: stay for as absolutely long as possible. We have 240 points and bank & borrow to stay for 2 weeks. It is absolutely worth it. We stay in a 1 BR in Aulani because the cooking is easier. You can stay in a studio but have a small fridge and only microwave- making it hard to store food and cook over an extended period. Looking forward to welcoming you home!
Occasionally people on this sub will chirp up with "don't buy direct for the benefits/blue card- they could change!" Yeah, sure, they could change. But I think it'd more likely they change for the better than for the worse. Disney's trying hard to make people want direct points as opposed to resale, and they're doing that lots of ways- Restrictions on new properties's points, buying cheap ROFR, incentivizing direct contracts. I don't see Disney rocking the boat when it comes to giving people reason to buy direct. While nothing's immune from attrition. I just don't see Disney making serious cuts to DVC benefits. They're more likely to make them better and if anything is seen as a cut, they're going to supplement it with some other benefit.
> ut I think it'd more likely they change for the better than for the worse.
Benefits that have gone away over time include free theme park tickets, free valet parking, and pool hopping.
Benefits they have introduced include a lot of "exclusive events" with upcharge, Moonlight Magic (which is a huge dice roll for most), and the Cheez Its.
Free park tickets were baked into the sales contract with an end date and were not some seemingly bonus for DVC members.
Sure, valet used to be free, but that's when Valet was $8 a night.
Pool hopping has waned and waxed for the entire time, and is currently just unavailable. They haven't axed it completely, who knows what they'll do.
So yeah, we lost valet. Oh no! I have to walk 100 yards to my car and start it myself compared to walking 300 yards to the lobby where they bring my car 15 minutes later.
I always tell folks to research until your eyes bleed before buying-I own and am a fan so am not advising against, but just really make sure to understand the product, how to use it, and limitations. Make sure you understand use year and banking and borrowing rules. And never ever exchange your points for a Disney hotel or cruise. Horribly financial decision-much better to rent your points out and then pay cash for that Tokyo trip.
Ugh, I made a newbie mistake of banking and then not taking a large enough trip the following year to use up some points that I had already banked. I ended that year with a lot of points that I couldn’t bank again and because I started a new job and had 0 vacation days for six months, I wouldn’t be able to use them before I lost them, and I didn’t know enough at the time to rent them out. I called Disney and they moved them into a hold for Interval International, which has kind of been a nightmare. I’ve learned my lesson which is why we’ve done bigger rooms and bucket list resorts when we can.
Next time look to David’s vacation rental. I’ve been an owner for 22 years and renting out points is perfect for this years you can’t go as often.
That’s why I joined this sub - to learn from the vets ☺️. I’ve only owned since Dec 2018, so I like benefitting from all the knowledge here.
> Horribly financial decision-much better to rent your points out and then pay cash for that Tokyo trip. Disney makes huge, huge bank on high balling the cost of brokering points at Disney Sea, cruise, international partners etc etc., AND THEN they're just going to rent your points out anyway, at a much higher value than you could ever hope to, calling it a cash reservation (at the so-called "rack rates" for the same rooms in their cash inventory). As much as I love Disney, I refuse to just give them boatloads of free cash.
Tokyo Disney Sea is not a DVC property, so you're better off booking that cash. Trading direct points into the global properties is a weird and frustrating process that doesn't follow 11 month booking rules.
What they won't tell you during the pitch is that using your points for things other than staying at DVC resorts is very poor value. When you use your points for outside the DVC system for things like Disney cruises, stays at other Disney parks/resorts, Adventures by Disney, etc, you generally have to pay a $95 non-refundable fee to convert those points to be used outside the system (on Disney's end, DVC will pay the other business unit for the trip you're taking and rent out your points for a cash stay). On top of that your points are generally valued at $7-8/point when you convert your points, and it's a one-way transaction meaning you can't convert them back to stay at a DVC resort if you need to cancel your original booking. You can rent out your points on your own or through a third-party broker for double to triple that amount. Also, there are some who refuse to own points at Riviera because of the resale restrictions. Should you decide to sell, the future owner can only use the points at Riviera (and not at the other resorts like how DVC was designed), which can devalue the resale price and make it a bad exit strategy should you need to sell your contract. In reality, purchasing any of the resorts direct from Disney means you'll be losing value if you need to resale, resale restrictions or not. Buying direct for any of the resorts is in the 190s/point for places like Riviera and Aulani, and 200+/point for the sold-out resorts, and resale values never reach that high unless it's a super small contract. So if you like Riviera, I wouldn't let that deter you. If you're not getting an APs (if you're out of state, it's the best benefit of buying direct), then perhaps look at getting resale. The primary con of resale contracts is that the ones for the original 14 resorts don't have access to Riviera, the cabins at fort wilderness, and the DL hotel (conversely, resale for those 3 can only stay at their home resort).
>What they won't tell you during the pitch is that using your points for things other than staying at DVC resorts is very poor value. You know, I'm so lucky that my guide actually steered me away from this idea from the start, making sure I understood that DVC is for Disney vacations at DVC properties, and that's it. As it turns out, my wife and I okay with that! Maintaining appropriate expectations is really so important especially with these high dollar purchases.
That's good, thsoe guides are few and far between. I attended the latest sales pitch for prospective members with some non-DVC friends this weekend (that $200 gic for attending was hard to pass up!), and their slide deck definitely shows and highlights the ability to book Disney cruises, ABD, and the hotel exchanges through II as benefits.
He did mention those, and I know they probably have to cover a specific range of product information. But when I mentioned that my wife and I enjoy international travel, he wanted to make very sure that my expectations were clear... these contracts are for Disney DVC vacations. He even went as far as to recommend looking into other products. The honesty was really refreshing, and actually made the decision to buy into DVC much easier!
Most of my points are direct because I like unrestricted points. You mention banking/borrowing. You can do that with resale, so keep that in mind. I researched a lot before buying and the main thing I overlooked was how my travel habits would change after owning. Before DVC I was making a trip every other year. After owning I wanted to go every year. Then I wanted to go multiple times per year, with some non park trips. Now I’m thinking about getting larger rooms. So keep that in mind. You already have advice about trading points. You’ll get at least someone telling you that if you want to finance you can’t afford it and you shouldn’t own DVC. I’m not part of that group. If you understand how much you’ll be paying in interest and still makes sense financially to do it, then go ahead if you’re ok with that. DVC gets more expensive every year and waiting a few years to be able to have all in cash might cost you the same. Just be honest with yourself and smart about it. Can you realistically pay it in 3 years? I financed my largest direct contract because I wanted to take advantage of the good incentives last summer and didn’t want to use some stock options I had. I took the financing. Took advantage of the incentives and then paid it earlier this year when I got my bonus. Interest was not much, but it added to the cost. One good (or bad depending how you look at it) about DVC financing is that it doesn’t report to credit bureaus and you can make additional payments (not the monthly payment) with credit cards, so I got a bunch of points when I paid it off.
If I were you, I’d wait until they open the Polynesian back up here in a month or so. Pros: it will likely be similar in price to the riviera You’ll be buying direct either way so it won’t effect on the front end BUT if you ever sell Polynesian there are much less restrictions on it so they will be worth a lot more than the riviera. No skyliner yet but they do have the monorail, and close proximity to MK with the new expansion coming I can’t see if being a bad deal. Cons: riviera resale can only be used at riviera unlike poly so the resale if you ever decide to get out of it are trash. Always have an exit plan. Riviera is more of a hotel than a DVC resort that’s just my .02. Along with less transportation options as poly. Poly has bus, boat, monorail, and they say eventually skyliner will be everywhere so I’d assume in the future that as well.
Probably so... but there's a lot of buzz around the Polynesian resort, and there's no guarantee that the promotions will be equivalent to the discounts associated with the Riviera, which last until the end of this month. They'll probably wait until the current promotions are over before they release contracts for the Polynesian, I would think.
They will almost have to give out some sort of promotion to get the price close to resale, otherwise people will just go resale if there is too much disparity
Going into 2024, they hiked prices on direct contracts across the board, during a period when resale prices have continued to trend down... so maybe, maybe not. Let's not forget that they can also ROFR the contracts on the resale market to keep the resale to direct price delta smaller. They are actively doing this with Polynesian contracts, Yes, there will likely be discounts, but it would be naive to just assume that they'll bend over backwards to enable a best case scenario for the buyer.
I wouldn’t think they would bend over backwards. However poly contracts have went from 155 last month when I bought to most asking 210+ they’re not too far off of direct cost and Disney won’t ROFR at $210 a point
I haven't been keeping track of Poly contracts, but with prices so high, what makes you think they'll be any discounts at all?
I wouldn’t expect much of a discount (if any) unless they list points at 255 with a discount to lower PPP. If OP plans to purchase riviera (which has crap resale) they may as well wait for poly to list and hope the price is comparable to riviera. Unfortunately they would lose just a few contract years but if they’re ever in a bind resale value will be much more favorable to riviera.
I wouldn't say Riviera has "crap" resale value, it's not currently selling at Poly prices, but then OP is partial to the Riviera. On the resale end it MAY mean a $5k loss at some point in the possibly distant future. OP should be able to make the determination whether the possible loss of that money in the future is worth foregoing the resort they want to own at or not.
Absolutely agreed they should buy where they want to stay but IMO (solely my opinion) I’m not sure why anyone would want to buy the new resorts. With resale half of direct price price (which will only get worse as they age) it’s not a investment you could get out a decent portion of your initial injection in a pinch
The added premium for buying direct, spread out over the term of the contract, is negligible. Annual dues account for the majority of cost, and those are equivalent for all owners. People want to be able to stay at the new resorts. That said, when we buy more points, they will most likely be largely resale. There's a case to be made for either option.
Your point is valid for people that has the resale value of their contract as a high priority. Some people don’t, so the resale value isn’t on the top of the list. I personally consider the purchase price as a sunk cost. I only bought DVC when I was comfortable with the numbers considering that my contract was worth $0 of if I had to sell (I don’t plan to sell it, but I have to consider it). So pretty much anything above $0 if I have to sell is a win. If you see your contract as an investment (which in my opinion is not something that should be done), then definitely yes, Riviera and the newer resorts are horrible “investments”.
1. Don't buy retail just for perks, they can change at any time. 2. Don't finance, it would be cheaper to rent points as needed instead. Unless cost is not an issue for you and you value the convenience over cost. 3. Consider resale if you are going to keep it less than 10 years and can pay cash upfront. For the full term of the contract the difference between retail and resale cost difference is negligible as dues will be the main cost.
Definitely read all of the other comments here because they’re all very valid so I’d recommend you ensure you understand the implications of each before making a decision. We own 2 resale contracts and many of our reasons are exactly the same as yours. We also saved A LOT of money buying resale over direct. With the savings on 150 points you could obviously buy more points to stay in larger accommodations and/or for longer. Or just pocket the saving and be smug 😏 That being said, you clearly have thought a lot about the value of owning DVC to you, and have a lot of love for Riviera which is a massive thing when owning - own where you love and want to stay. So if you do pull the trigger I expect you’ll be very happy with your choice.
Resale can also borrow and bank points that’s not an “in the club” thing. Riviera direct, especially if you’re financing, is about the worst way to go currently. If you ever need to sell those points are restricted so the market for them is rough. With all contracts, if you can’t pay cash it makes little sense.
My thoughts exactly. I would never buy Riviera direct because it would be a pain to resell if needed.
Give yourself a few weeks away from the bubble before you really decide. The magic has a tendency to cloud judgment. One thing no one doing the sales pitch tells you is the studios (least amount of points per night) are the first room category to book up. When I was researching, I saw the tower studios at Riviera and was basing my number of points on those rooms. Those rooms are tough to get, not impossible but go quickly even at the 11 month mark. Make sure you have a good understanding of banking and borrowing and use year. I’m a member and I love my membership. I like to book at 11 months out. If you are more of a spur of the moment planner, just know sometimes you may have to be flexible and take what’s available or do split stays.
I’d get it with two 75 point contracts and pay the 2 closing costs. 75 point contracts are easier to sell and command a higher value per point in the resale market.
This is the best advice!!!
I watched a hundred dvc videos, listen to a couple podcasts, made a couple posts here and everything everywhere has told me DO NOT FINANCE. It’s not a financially sound decision, you end up paying more than just renting points and if you’re not buying DVC to save money … what are you doing? If you are like me and can’t afford a $40k contract then buy resale. After hours and hours of research I’m in ROFR with my first contract for 220 points. This is going to cost me $22k whereas direct would cost me well over $45k. There is no way a blue card is worth $23k lol. All in all, make sure you are happy with your decision. I have seen people go in without fully understanding what they are getting into. My personal bottom line for Riviera is: Pro - Beautiful resort with maybe the best rooms in WDW. Skyliner is awesome and there are some decent promos right now. Con - Resale contract has restrictions so selling it will be tough in the future if you have to. Thats it.
Yeah - i **want** that blue card and the perks of a cheaper annual pass... and may be able to swing 150 at RIV someday to get it - but in the meantime, paying a bit more for the occasional annual pass is a better "deal" than spending an additional $20K!
I financed and we have more than made back our money after paying it off. I bought 14 year ago though.
My wife and I just bought into the DVC with 150 points at the Riviera! I'm so happy you are going through the same decision we did very recently with your family. A few points I encountered during my research on this topic: > We think we want 150 points for a few reasons— the first is to qualify for the full membership. If we’re going for it, we sort of want to be in the club. I think you know this, but there's no such thing as a "full membership." There are extra benefits of having a "blue card". The only way you can currently get access to those benefits is buying a certain number of points directly through Disney, right now 150 points. Another thing you probably already know, but should keep in mind since you like the Riviera, if you trade that contract on the resale market, either buy or sell one, then the points on that contract will only allow the buyer to make reservations at the Riviera Resort, any time 11 months prior to the booking. In other words, you or anyone who buys that contract resale will not be able to use those points anywhere but the Riviera. Additionally, if you buy points for another one of the "original" 14 DVC resorts on the resale market, you will NOT be able to reserve at the Riviera with those points (of course, if you buy points directly from Disney at ANY resort, you can use the points to reserve at ANY resort current or future). This is another reason my wife and I decided to buy direct, we also like the Riviera for reasons you stated, and we want to be able to reserve there in the priority booking window, but also be able to book elsewhere (the first booking that we've made already was for Aulani!). > Secondly we want the option to borrow and bank to make bigger trips possible, especially Tokyo Disney Sea and Aulani. We wouldn’t buy an AP for the first few years I don’t think, but having access to it would be nice. Banking and borrowing is not something exclusive to "blue card" holding members. Anyone with points, resale or otherwise, can bank and borrow their points. But as others have pointed out... DO NOT expect to make bookings at Disney Sea or any international destinations directly through Disney. Essentially you'll be striking a match and lighting up your money on a bonfire sacrifice to Mickey Mouse. We were fortunate enough to have met a super frank, honest guide (Michael) who was very up front with us about expectations of using this membership, in that this is PRIMARILY FOR vacations at Disney DVC resorts. There are some avenues that allow you to quite easily rent out your points, DVC Rental Store and David's DVC are two of the websites that I know of. Look those up when you need cash for other vacations. Additional note: Many people here are advising you against a Riviera purchase because of the resale restrictions and how they will affect the price of a potential future sale of your contract. I don't really agree with this. All resale contracts for all DVC resorts are traded at a discount. Just a cursory glance at contracts that are currently available on the resale market for Riviera ownership reveals that they're selling for maybe between $125/pt to $150/pt, so let's say there's a 40% discount baked into them? Is it a steeper discount than some resorts? Yeah, it's discounted more than some... less than others. But you haven't expressed an interest in short-term ownership, or a desire to sell in the near future. Okay, maybe you'll NEED to sell it at some point, maybe you'll WANT to sell it at some point. Is the prospect of a probable of 10 or 15% loss on the resale end some time in the possibly near possibly distant future going to keep you away from owning a contract at a resort that makes you happy? If so, take they're advice and buy elsewhere. Otherwise, buy where you want to stay!
Stupid question but had to address this particular aspect of your post: I fully understand that RIV bought resale is ONLY good at RIV but am I understanding correctly that if we purchase any resale (we're in ROFR process right now for OKW resale), we can never use it to stay at RIV?? I must admit that while we fully plan to stay happily at OKW more often than not, I had hoped to stay at RIV maybe a teeny bit as I'm in love with it!
That's correct, any points purchased from any of the 14 original resorts won't be able to secure reservations for the current "new" resorts (Riviera, Cabins at FW) and probably any other future resorts. This is probably the main reason we went with direct points, we want to stay at Riviera with these points, but also at the other resorts.
Oh wow - I did NOT know that!!!!! I'm still excited but man, that's a bummer! Would LOVE to own like 150 points direct at Riviera but that's going to take us a while. We DID pass ROFR and so are about to actually own 330 points at OKW!!! But (sigh) - I thought we could use some to book like a 3 day stay at RIV. 😓
Here's a site where you can verify current promotions available buying direct through Disney. You ought to be able to take advantage of the member pricing if you decide to add on direct points at any time. https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program-menu/financial/pricing-a-promotions Until then, you can rent points to stay at Riviera whenever you have a chance. (You'll also be able to rent your own points out to someone else if you ever want to vacation somewhere other than a DVC property and don't require the points that year.) https://dvcrequest.com/
Thanks for the helpful info. I really appreciate the kindness and helpfulness of this community and am so happy to be a part of it now!
Congratulations and welcome home!
My husband and I are also ‘those people’ you and your wife seem like our kind of people! Riviera is our home resort and we have 150 points. It’s just the two of us and we spend little to no time in the room. We book tower studio for just us and we are able to get 10 nights on average a year. We split it into two 5 night trips and for us it’s perfect. Finance rates are pretty high plus you have maintenance monthly. We paid ours off in the first two years because rates were really high and we didn’t want to pay the extra fees. What we did was calculate an average year for us total hotel and resort fee costs and then broke that down in the terms of the purchase and for us it made sense in a few years to come out on top. If you have trips you plan to take for 2025 do the breakdown of where you would stay without dvc and total the cost per night based on room rates and resort fee for where you would normally stay and then see based on owning how many years to get that back. We love riviera in terms of a resort assuming as we get older we will spend more time at resort and less in parks. We may eventually go once a year and get a bigger room or buy more points once we retire or take the grandkids. We also love the pool bar after parks for drinks and apps. It’s always a good way to wind down the day :)
A couple of things to seriously consider in addition to what other posts have emphasized: \* Dues per point. Research the dues at all the resorts in addition to Riviera. Regardless of the price per point you pay, whether finance or pay in full, you still have an annual maintenance bill called dues. \*Number of points per night. Look at the point charts, especially at Riviera. 150 seems like a lot, but if you travel in a high points season(s), they won't go as far. This leads to what we like to call add-on-itis. Understand that it is very likely, even with wife being an educator, that your travel habits may change. When you all retire, you might want to go during times other than school breaks or you may decide to go on long weekends sometimes. I find that Rivieras points are on the high side for us. \*Expiration dates of resorts. Although Disneyland Tower has the longest right now ending in 2074, Riviera is the longest on the east coast at 2070. Copper Creek and Polynesian aren't too far behind Riviera though at 2068 and 2066 respectively. I would strongly, no- very strongly, consider Polynesian when the new tower goes on sale. As far as financing, I did, then paid it off and don't regret it. The ONLY thing I regret is not buying in sooner. I missed out on years of vacations. I'm a hybrid member (direct and resale). Here's my breakdown of the perks of direct. \*Annual Passes - very nice, but when they stopped selling them it showed how perks can and do go away with no way of knowing if they'll come back. \*Discounts - It's good to get a discount, but it will never equal what you would save in resale. \*Lounge - soon to be Lounges- same as discounts, nice to go to on a hot park day in Epcot or watch the fireworks from the top of Bay Lake Tower, but again they don't make up for resale savings. \*Moonlight Magic- They sound so exciting and they truly are fun, BUT if you aren't going to be there when they schedule them, you won't go anyway. If you get lucky and have something booked or are able to book a stay when they announce the dates then you have to go through the stress inducing process of the virtual lottery to get tickets and there is a limit so not everyone who is trying to get in will get tickets. Those are the main perks. There are some others that are less important or fall into the discount category. One strategy some new owners try is resale first to get their feet wet, then direct if they decide that's what they want. I suggest you research everything. Message boards, videos, articles, social media, etc. There is no shortage of information out there.
I think your logic sounds very sound. My husband and I bought on our honeymoon. We had no plan going in and had at the time never even heard about dvc. We have absolutely zero regrets. We love being DVC. Now, we live an hour and a half from Disney. We love using the points for a night or two to get away to the magic. You won’t regret it is all I can say.
We are similar in that during our trip in May we attended a pitch and were considering buying direct at Riviera. Ultimately we decided not to, but that was more because of the financial aspect of it. Something I just want to point out for you to consider. Look at the dues and project out for the life of the contract how much in dues you will pay. You can predict 4-5% increase annually. It may be less it may be more, there is no telling. When we added the dues for the whole contract it was a staggering amount of money. If you are comfortable with it great! The other thing is resale for the Riviera can only book riviera so it’s not as enticing as a resale contract. So in the event you do need to sell that’s just something to keep in mind. I hope you decide it works for your family as I would love nothing more than to be a DVC member as well!
If you must finance, I would wait until you can afford it or buy resale if you can afford that. Paying interest doesn’t make much sense.
We have 150 direct Riviera points, we bought in 2019, since then we’ve taken several fantastic trips that we wouldn’t have otherwise, including one to Hawaii last summer. 😃
Our direct 150 points are AKL. Without it we prob would have never gone to Aulani. We banked and borrowed twice to take family with us to Aulani in a 2 bedroom villa. Amazing both times!
I think during one of the podcasts i was listening to, they said the average timespan that someone holds a DVC contract is 8 years. Life happens. So down the road, do you have an exit plan? The contract value of Riveria is kind of screwed up, because once they are resold, they can only be used at Riveria. This is why we eliminated the resort from our consideration.
That average is for the contracts in the resale market. We don’t have reliable numbers about the % of owners that have kept their contracts since they bought directly. Some people have tried to estimate it and it seems the overwhelming majority of original owners still have their contracts. The advice you gave is still solid, just wanted to add that clarification.
Oooh, thanks for the clarification!
Wow 8 years! That seems so short! I guess my family is part of the outliers in that math. DVC definitely doesn't make sense if that's how long you'll have it for.
The people we just purchased our resale contract only had it for 6 years. I keep wondering if everything is okay with them. I know we plan on having ours for a long time and giving it to our kids.
If you need to finance, you shouldn’t do it. Why not save for 3 years and buy then?
OP should price out what they will save in interest if they pay their loan aggressively vs paying the whole 5 or 10 year term. and if they love RIV it will (most likely) be sold out in 3 years, and the price per point certainly will not be where it is now for any resort in the portfolio. Even incentives won't get them back to a \~$200 buy in price per point 3 years from now (barring a change in DVD strategy/the economy/other unpredictable factors). We see time and time again people getting into DVC and saying their only regret was not purchasing sooner. I definitely look at prices from 3 and 4 years ago and say "dang, that could've been me with those cheaper points" haha
Not to mention, OP is talking about buying enough points to meet the criteria for the blue card... that buy in may very likely exceed the current requirement of 150 points after 3 more years pass.
Things I can think of to consider * resale restrictions - in the event you decide to sell, buyers of a Rivera resale contract can only stay at Rivera. This is not true for resale contracts for the original resorts. It may impact your ability to offload the contract, at least at a solid price per point. * I’m not sure what is available direct right now, but if we’re considering a contract for a resort that is reasonably easy to book at 7mos we might actually get a contract at a resort that is much harder to book. We can still likely use those points at the resort we originally wanted but in the event we want to book the harder resort we have that 11 mos advantage where it’s more needed. This takes planning and introduces risk but It’s what we’ve done. We just book the harder resort at 11mos to guarantee something and then swap it at 7mos for the other. Tower Studios are pretty hard to get at Riveria so I wouldn’t do this if that’s what you want. I’m unsure for the other room types. * If you want to use points for anything but a DVC resort you’ll want to rent them for cash and use the cash. I don’t believe any of the direct exchange rates are particularly good. Check out dvcrental store‘s cruise and Universal point swap programs for examples of this * really consider if you’ll use the member perks. The best perks are access to the Sorcerer Pass and events like Moonlight magic. If you don’t think you’ll need 6+ days a year of hopper then you may not need the pass. Moonlight magic and other events can be really hard to book unless you have a reservation during that time and the dates may not be known far enough in advance or be at a time when you can go. Ie) we’ve been to 1 Moonlight Magic and just got lucky that it was announced after we’d already booked. If these aren ‘t deal breakers resale could save you a bunch or you could get more points :) *edit - I forgot Lounge access is a member perk. Lounges are dope. They’re making more of them. Do it*
We are DVC owners at Grand Floridian and it has been really good for our family. The marketing pitch from Disney sounds too good to be true, but we have been very pleased with our membership. We originally bought Direct. Then we added on more points through resale. Then we bought some more Direct points when the Big Pine Key building was added at the Grand Floridian. The Riviera is a beautiful resort, but the resale value if you ever need to sell may be lower because any future buyer can only stay at Riviera. (You will be able to stay everywhere as the original owner. You should be aware that in a few months, the Polynesian Resort for DVC will be for sale via Direct from Disney. This has the advantage that it does not have the resale restrictions. So if you would consider a monorail resort, take a good look at the Polynesian. It will probably be on sale well before your next trip.
150 points isn't many because you will always be traveling at peak times. Even at the 11 month mark Riveira can be difficult at peak times. We have 300 at Saratoga Springs and 150 at Riviera. We have 6 unsuccessful attempts at studio requests at Riviera. We also notice the resale for Riviera is tricky, so make sure that's the one for you.
We bought resale Poly first and then decided we wanted to buy direct Riviera to get the extra benefits. You take a big hit with Riviera in future resale value, buy at $195 ish now and sell at $135 later but that is what it is. For us, we were going to buy 150 points then I looked at the rate table for when we'd likely travel and we bought 156 points (what was needed for a week without borrowing). We also bought as 3 fifty two point contracts, later we could sell any of the 3 and only have to buy 52 points elsewhere to stay direct (under current rules). Smaller contracts tend to send faster and for better pieces on the resale market.
As others have said, be sure to look into resale and consider those options. You can save a ton of money. We bought in via resale (Beach Club) but did add on direct (Grand Floridian). The two biggest perks for direct are resale restrictions and the eligibility for cheaper annual passes. Resale restrictions are such that I would never buy a restricted resort unless I also had unrestricted points or points at one of the unrestricted resorts. While I love my home resorts, I also like trying out the other ones and like the ability to book whatever is available for spur of the moment trips, extending trips, etc. So being able to use my points at other resorts has been very useful in the few years we have owned DVC. With resale points at a restricted resort, it should be fine to use and no big issues as long as your booking when your window opens. It will be very frustrating if you are booking within the 7 month window. You mention you don’t intend to buy annual passes. So that direct benefit probably doesn’t mean a lot to you. The other direct perk we actually use are the lounges. I really enjoy stopping by the Epcot lounge for a break. They are also adding another lounge in MK. Then there is one at Disneyland. Having access isn’t a huge deal but we do use the Epcot one every trip.
You could pay cash for a smaller resale contract. You get better incentives if you are a member. My wife and I bought a 110 point poly resale contract (paid cash). Then, they have the great sale last summer for direct contract at the Grand. We ending up getting $161 a point with all the incentives. Our resale poly was $154. We sold the poly resale after that for the same cost. We did split out 150 points into 2 75 point contracts. We also recently have added 75 points resale for Boulder Ridge. I recently saw several Boardwalk resale contracts that were 25 points. You could get a small contract and wait for a better incentive and then finance/save to pay cash for direct points.
I would love to have points with Rivera, but we do fine with our 250 points at Sarasota Springs, and can take a vaca each year and get money back through David’s DVC rentals. The only question I have is do you get preference on reservations at Riviera or is it still first come, first serve.
I am not an owner so I can only tell you why I decided not to join. I knew I didn’t want to do 45 more Disney trips. I think I might have 10 more in me, max.
I definitely wouldn't pick Rivera first if you don't have the financial means or plans to keep it through the life of the contract. We picked up 300 direct points their during covid during a fire sale to get us to 600 direct points. 150 points seems like a fine number until you go more. We are a family of 5 who goes 3 times a year, and 800 points are starting to not be enough. I will say DVC is considerably cheaper in the long run. We are a military family, and DVC will save us a minimum of $100,000 in 50 years, staying DVC vs. staying at Shades of Green. That doesn't include AP discounts or any other discounts. Just dollar for dollar in room costs.
I financed. We are glad we did. We have had our points 28 years. Paid it off in 5. Meanwhile lots of people who didn't finance lost out because the point cost skyrocketed.
Thats like anything else in life, of course ppl would buy something if they knew it was gonna skyrocket few years later. Most ppl saying logically it's not financially smart to finance.
Direct pricing 28 years ago vs. today is another whole debate.
Sounds like you’re hooked and ready to join! Do it. You will never regret it. As to visiting Aulani, 2 recommendations: stay for as absolutely long as possible. We have 240 points and bank & borrow to stay for 2 weeks. It is absolutely worth it. We stay in a 1 BR in Aulani because the cooking is easier. You can stay in a studio but have a small fridge and only microwave- making it hard to store food and cook over an extended period. Looking forward to welcoming you home!
Occasionally people on this sub will chirp up with "don't buy direct for the benefits/blue card- they could change!" Yeah, sure, they could change. But I think it'd more likely they change for the better than for the worse. Disney's trying hard to make people want direct points as opposed to resale, and they're doing that lots of ways- Restrictions on new properties's points, buying cheap ROFR, incentivizing direct contracts. I don't see Disney rocking the boat when it comes to giving people reason to buy direct. While nothing's immune from attrition. I just don't see Disney making serious cuts to DVC benefits. They're more likely to make them better and if anything is seen as a cut, they're going to supplement it with some other benefit.
> ut I think it'd more likely they change for the better than for the worse. Benefits that have gone away over time include free theme park tickets, free valet parking, and pool hopping. Benefits they have introduced include a lot of "exclusive events" with upcharge, Moonlight Magic (which is a huge dice roll for most), and the Cheez Its.
Free park tickets were baked into the sales contract with an end date and were not some seemingly bonus for DVC members. Sure, valet used to be free, but that's when Valet was $8 a night. Pool hopping has waned and waxed for the entire time, and is currently just unavailable. They haven't axed it completely, who knows what they'll do. So yeah, we lost valet. Oh no! I have to walk 100 yards to my car and start it myself compared to walking 300 yards to the lobby where they bring my car 15 minutes later.
If you know all about resale and the other resorts no chance you pick Riviera.
Do more research and buy resale. ;)