DVC Points Question

[Dukeblue1016]

Hi,

First off, I apologize, I don't really know much at all about DVC; but I'm not looking for a ton of info (I most likely don't see myself doing it within the next two years...) but I just have a couple of pretty simple questions I was hoping someone could answer for me. Thanks so much in advance.

1) I'm lookin gon this website; The Timeshare Store, and see the resales. Let's just say for the purpose of conversation I was interested in this Animal Kingdom Lodge timeshare. The cost says $5,200 and then $104/pt.

So here's my question... If I were to buy that, I get 50 points already to use... and then it says points to come. Do you just get points every year or do I have to buy those 50 "points to come" for another $5,200???

I understand they are yearly costs... but do you have to always buy your "points to come."

Also, if points are $104 a point... say I had like $20,000 sitting around (I DO NOT), could I just buy like... 200 points for the heck of it?

Basically, well I'm not gonna buy this one, but let's just say I did... what am I looking at for costs; future costs? What are the basic yearly costs?


and 2) How long do you have these for? Do you have them forever?


Thanks!

 

[slappy magoo]

It just means 50 points for sale at $104 a point, which equals $5200. And every year, you'll have 50 points to use, at any of the DVC resorts. It's just that, in THIS scenario, Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas is considered your "home" resort.

The points are yours for a finite time. AKL Villas, being the newest, would be roughly 50 years, the older the resort, the sooner your points would go back to Disney. There are annual dues on your points, just like any other timeshare, which are used for upkeep and maintenance. The cost of those dues will vary depending on which resort you buy into, but it's certainly not 5200 every year. Not even close (though with THIS economy, who knows )

While the points are deeded to you, you can do with them what you wish. Rent them if you need to (though DVC frowns on people who do it all the time to generate income), loan them to friends or family, put them i your will. Or, you know, use them. Just don't forget to keep paying your annual dues.

To say any more would probably result in you having more questions. Aside from other paces on this site, allearsnet.com, in their accomodations section, has a nice primer on the ins ans outs of the Disney Vacation Club. When you're ready, give em a look.

 

[brkgnews]

Generally speaking, for resales I think the points "ready to use" mean points not yet used this USE YEAR (see below) -- they haven't already been burned on vacation for the past year. Maybe somebody has 200 points, and they already burned 150 on vacation, there are 50 left to use right away this year, but you won't get the full 200 until next year.

The buy-in cost is a one-time deal. After that you pay a yearly "maintenance fee" of a few dollars per point. Analogy: you buy a car once, then you buy gas every so often to keep using the car you bought.

USE YEAR - your points are alloted yearly to you in a "use year." Think of it like a "fiscal year." It's still a 12-month period, it just might start in August instead of January.

As for how long all this lasts... on average 50 years, but some resorts are slightly lower.

 

[Dukeblue1016]

Great guys, thanks a lot, i appreciate that!!!

Just ONE other quick question; I'm sure I can figure this out with a little bit of research but you guys are certainly are helpful enough;

say I bought that then for $5,200 and get the 50 points... say the use year is august. if it says "50 points due in august 08 and 50 points due in august 09" does that mean I'm only getting 50 points a year... so, regardless maintenance (I like your buy a car then buy gas thereafter analogy) so regardless the gas though; if it says points due are 50... does that mean I'm just going to get 50 a year? And... at a cost of $5,200... this would now be MY timeshare?

Thanks so much, I will look into allearsnet... i use it for everything else; never thought of using it for DVC... THANKS!

 

[OKW1993]

The 50 points you are referring to are points that were bought as an addition to somebodies original purchase. DVC has a minimum of 160 points to purchase.

Some people will sell additional points through TSS. That doesn't mean you have to buy 160 from TSS. That only means Disney requires you to purchase a minimum through DVC.

You can accumulate your points however you can. Most people buy at least 160, and then make additional purchases into other resorts. They are usually in 50 point increments thought. For every purchase thats makes those points your home resort. It allows you to plan you stay 11 mo in advance, compare to 7 mo if it is not you home resort.

I myself have points in only one resort, so I am not sure if you can pool all the the points for one vacation stay IE: 50 in OKW 100 in SSR, 50 AKL. If your staying in AKL and book 11 mos, and book the other 150 11 mos in advance, or does it put them in a hold status until 7 mos.

There are posters that are very well versed in this instance.

Hope this helps.

 

[DVC Mike]

For the 50 point AKV contract you saw on TSS, you would pay a one-time fee of $5,200 ($104/pt) plus closing costs. Be aware that you can get AKV direct from Disney for $96/pt, but you must purchase at least 160 points from Disney.

You will pay about $4.71/pt for 2008 annual dues at AKV, or about $235.50 for this 50-point contract, and you will pay about this much every year (dues go up 3-5% a year).

Every August (since that is the UY on this contract), you will get another 50 points to use. This will happen every year until 2057, when your contract at AKV will expire.

Your Use Year marks the time each year when you receive a new allotment of vacation points. It affects when you can bank and borrow vacation points, and sets the deadline for certain vacation decisions.

Use Year month has nothing to do with when you can travel or even make a reservation. You can always reserve 11 months ahead of travel for your home resort. The reservation date determines which Use Year the points are deducted from.

 

[DVC Mike]

I myself have points in only one resort, so I am not sure if you can pool all the the points for one vacation stay IE: 50 in OKW 100 in SSR, 50 AKL. If your staying in AKL and book 11 mos, and book the other 150 11 mos in advance, or does it put them in a hold status until 7 mos.

You can only book at the 11-month window using just the points you own at that particular resort. You can combine your points and book at any resort at the 7-mo window.

 

[Dukeblue1016]

Ok great, thanks again guys.

Now, 50 points a year though; that's not really much is it per year???

And, one last time because I'm still slightly confused (I'm sorry I'm not usually this slow...)

I understand the one time $5,200 (for the 50 points now at cost) plus closing costs are all up front one timers... then the annual $235... so the 50 points I get every august (if thats my use month) are... basically, in essence, free right? As in... every august I'm not paying $5,200 for those 50?

I just want to try to make that clear... i'm sorry if I'm being slow, its the middle of the week


but most importantly, can I really do anything with 50 points?


Oh and I did research a bit on allearsnet and other places; these two questions I just asked I wasn't really sure about after that research... on TSS the points chart confused me... going off "value season" basically, it said like Sun-Thursday Savana Vie 11 points; then it said Fri-Sat i think 23 points (somewhere close to that); and then weekly was something like 130 points...

i tried to find detail info on that... can some please give me a bit of insight into what that means... why is sun-thursday 11 points???

 

[Dukeblue1016]

oh, and once again, thanks so much guys for your help, can't express enough how much i appreciate it!

 

[KevGuy]

It means that the cost per room is 11pts per night sun-thu and 23pts per night fri/sat (11x5(sun-thu-11ea.)=55pts+46pts(fri/sat-23ea.)=101pts total for the room for a week. Perhaps you were looking at something else that was 130 for the week. With a small point amount like that you would probably be better off to go every other year and bank your points so you would have double (100) to use every other year. For instance I think the cheapest at SSR where I am an owner you could do a studio for like 95pts for a week. If you wanted to you could also borrow from the year ahead in that scenario and get up to 150pts to use also. Granted the next year you would have no points though. If you do smaller trips than a week and can go sun-thurs it can work out quite well. Oh and yes you would not be paying the $5200 every year, that is the one time cost to buy in, then you get the points every year for like 50 years as long as you stay current with the maintenance fees.

 

[OKW1993]

Fri and Sat are premium days. When DVC first started all days were same points. People who live close to WDW were booking all the weekends, so people who live further away could not get any weekend days. So they made weekend days cost more points, and hense made weekends available, for booking week long vacations.

If you buy 50 points it would be 5200, period, one time, plus annual maint 4-5 dollars a point, depending on resort. Every year for the remainder of the contract you get 50 points, on your use year month. If you don't need them one year you can bank them, and vice versa can borrow. You can bank and or borrow one years worth of points.

Restrictions apply to banking and borrowing.

 

[slappy magoo]

Ok great, thanks again guys.

Now, 50 points a year though; that's not really much is it per year???

And, one last time because I'm still slightly confused (I'm sorry I'm not usually this slow...)

I understand the one time $5,200 (for the 50 points now at cost) plus closing costs are all up front one timers... then the annual $235... so the 50 points I get every august (if thats my use month) are... basically, in essence, free right? As in... every august I'm not paying $5,200 for those 50?

I just want to try to make that clear... i'm sorry if I'm being slow, its the middle of the week


but most importantly, can I really do anything with 50 points?
-snip-

Once you pay the up-front cost of $5200, that allots you 50 points each year for the length of the AKV contract. If August is the use year, then you get 50 points every year starting in August. Aside from the annual dues for maintenance, there's no additional fee for DVC membership (though bear in mind, maintenance fees can, and eventually will, increase).

Yeah, 50 points is not a lot. The Timeshare Store's site should have Points charts that will show you how many points it will cost you to stay in each resort, based on the time of year, weeknights versus weekends, and type of room (studio, 1br, 2br or Grand villa). Most people don't just buy 50 points. In fact, when you buy directly from Disney, I think 160 is the minimal amount of points you can buy at first, and then you can add on points if you need to or want to. Whoever's selling 50 points already had DVC membership, and bought additional points that they either
a: now realize they can't afford, or
b: are trying to sell at a profit.

A DVC rep will explain this to you again when/if you're ever ready to buy, but a DVC member can bank points from one year to use the next year (but they can only bank them for one year, after that they become null and void). They can ALSO borrow points from the following year (but ONLY one year in advance, no fair borrowing 20 years' worth of points for a big of a blowout).

What this means is, if you bought those 50 points from the timeshare store, then you could bank your points one year, then the following year you can take the banked points, the points alloted for that year AND borrow the points from the next year, and have 150 points for a nicer length of stay. That'll get you more than a week at the Animal Kingdom Villas in a Savannah or Concierge level studio room, at all but the busiest times of the year, every 3 years. Check it out:

http://www.dvc-resales.com/Animal-Kingdom/index.htm

And then, you can just keep doing that every 3 years. Point values will vary depending on which resort, what time of year, what size room and how many days. If you intend to go more than 7-9 nights a trip every 3 years, OR if you need a bigger room than a studio, you'll need more points. But if a trip every 3 years will satisfy you, you could be OK.