Thoughts on purchasing poly as home resort!

We are looking into purchasing a resale contract. If we decide down the road that we would like to have more points, is there a way we can pay to add more points to our contract or do we have to buy a second contract? If that’s the case, and you chose a second resort, you’d have to pay 2 yearly maintenance fees?

I am on a few facebook groups where owners advertise their points for sale and it seems like people jump on it and have them secure reservations for them. How do the buyers that are doing this ensure that the owner is actually securing them a reservation and not canceling it? Are they sending them money before they actually stay? And if not, how does the owner know they will get their money after the stay? What are the risks to buying and renting on your own? Obviously I know that I wouldn't screw someone over, but is the buyer just trusting that a stranger will book for them and not cancel it?

Does anyone know if DVC direct incentives have been historically better throughout any specific time of the year or is it just random? I know people have told me if I like something it's better to buy right away and I agree, but we are waiting for our resale to close before buying direct and I was just wondering if anybody noticed a pattern of when incentives are the best.

Has anybody ever used Davids or DVC rental store for a cruise swap? (I believe DVC resale market said they could do this too) How did it go and is it the same value as renting the points out thru them and booking the cruise on your own? Is this recommended or a waste of points? I know it isn't worth it thru DVC direct to swap for a cruise. TIA

Greetings! I'm a newcomer considering buying 150 points, with Polynesian as my home resort. Do you have any suggestions? Is there room for negotiation on the current price of $225 per point? Are there any upcoming offers to look out for in 2025, or is the current deal that expires on 2/9/25 the best available?

I recently closed on a DVC contract for 370 points. March use year, fully loaded 2025.

I am in the ROFR process with another contract for 245 points, fully loaded 2025, so realistically another couple months before that closes.

We are taking an extended trip in July. I’ll be using 620 points for that trip. I’m inclined to go ahead and book the trip now, borrowing from 2026 on my 370 contract. Once my 245 contract processes, I’ll jugs bank those points to 2026. The other option is partially book my trip now and wait for the 245 to close to finish booking to limit borrowing / banking.

Is there a downside I’m not considering on the strategy to borrow and bank? I’m new to DVC, so just want to make sure I’m not missing anything. I’m not worried about not being able to bank points from 2026 to 2027, that need to be used in 2026.

Question to anyone that does this?

• do you find it cost competitive with a Lyft or Uber?
• how long do you wait at WDW Car Rental for them to drive you back to your hotel?
• any TIPS on what works, which rental agent etc.

I just got matched with a member from DVC Rental Store and rented points for an upcoming stay at Riviera to settle my internal debate of owning at Akl VS Riviera once and for all! I thought some would find this refund policy as funny as I did.

1. "Guest understands and agrees that all funds paid by Guest are NON-REFUNDABLE at all times and under all circumstances, including, but not limited to, hurricanes, pandemics, natural disasters, meteors and alien invasions."

In other words, unless I'm dying, see you in Florida in September!! 👽

I am looking to purchase discounted Disney Gift Cards to then redeem for theme park tickets. Where are the current deals and how much can you put on each card? TIA

I'm sure I am driving many people insane with my posts (my favorite was someone saying I need to start my own overthinking thread of deep dvc thoughts with girlstar30 🤣🤣) but if so feel free to hit the block button because I've gotten so much info here I'm not stopping just yet 🤣🤣

So now for my millionth thought of the day, I am thinking about what if we just buy everything resale. Obviously we would be blocked out of some current and future builds, but if I had over 300 points resale and just rented some out and then bought rental points from Davids or DVC Rental Store to stay a few days in RIV or Fort Wilderness in the years we decide we want to go there, would I still be making out? Or is the savings from owning long term direct going to outweigh the cheaper cost now? For reference, we are very flexible on our travel dates and don't mind going whenever there is availability vs a set time each year. I know nobody could correctly answer this without knowing how often we're going to stay at newer resorts, but is my line of thinking here somewhat smart or is renting points every few years from someone else probably going to be a lot more than sucking it up and just buying direct? TIA 😊

We are DVC members and took a little break when the kids got older but last fall took our 2 and 3 year old granddaughters and now back in the Disney groove. We own at SSR and love the resort, we've also stayed at OKW and AK. While all of the DVC resorts are beautiful I've always wondered why there isn't a resort that's over the top Disney themed?

We've been to New Orleans, we've been to the Caribbean, Key West, and seen the Boardwalk. If I want to experience those places I'll visit them. When we are at Disney I want everything Disney 😀.

Why do you think DVC is buying more AKV resale? Is there going to be some kind of extension or reason for them wanting these contracts? We noticed our guide was trying to sell us on the newer resorts of course, but he also mentioned AK at $210 a point which i thought was surprising at the time seeing that it is an older resort 🤔

What does everyone think the new incentives will be for buying direct after these upcoming February ones expire? Im not too impressed with $7 off per point for 150 point Riv contract they have going on now, but i have nothing to compare it too as I just started looking this year. I know the more points you buy, the better, but I will have enough points with 160 max. I guess I'm just speculating do you think the incentives will be worse or better as the months go by? I know RIV is over 70% sold out, do incentives tend to be better in the beginning of a new resort or closer to selling out? My vacation guide seemed to be implying that the price will go up, but he is a sales person after all. I met some Canadians the last trip and they said when they bought a looongg time ago Disney gave them like 200 free points for purchasing, ah good ol' days!

The DVC Field Guide Resale Index, which provides a snapshot of resale listings from three leading resellers, showed a decrease of 1.1% compared to last month. In December, the average price per point in the resale market was $117.20, which dropped to $115.94 in January. A year ago, the resale price index was $121.11, marking a 4.3% decrease. Two years prior, the index stood at $134.97, reflecting a 14.1% decline. Please note the overall resale membership cost per point for each period is calculated using the same resort contract mix as the current month. 

Despite the year-over-year price drops, resale pricing can still offer DVC members substantial savings compared to Disney's direct pricing. The average direct pricing is $217.91, while resale savings range from $53 to $142 per point. The resorts that provide the greatest savings include Beach Club, Bay Lake Tower, Aulani and Boardwalk.

For more comparisons, please visit https://www.dvcfieldguide.com/dvcfieldguideindex/december-2025-dvc-field-guide-resale-index

https://preview.redd.it/zme82w10sbge1.png?width=2893&format=png&auto=webp&s=9e27996e8938c8a3c52245f189a8ac5b6392b2cd

We just put an offer in for a resale contract at AK. 135 points starting in 2026 for $13,000 (we just took a trip so we’re ok with no points in 25). We have 2 small boys who love giraffes and lion king! I teach so we can travel any weeks we have off (fall break, spring break, summer, etc.) Would love to hear opinions on this contract?

What is your favorite website to rent your points out? I have only rented points from members. I rented from David's for a trip this month and I found the customer service and process to be fantastic as a customer. I love that they have a chat feature and they booked my reservation immediately with me on the phone. I am now trying to book Riviera from DVC rental store. The price is the same as David's, everything is through email and no chat feature, and I have no clue how long it will take to snag a reservation or even get one even though they took deposit already. The reason i went with them is because David's said they have no availability for the room type I wanted and DVC rental store said they do. Just wanted to hear everyone's thought on who they like to go through.

So I finally worked up the courage and pulled the trigger today! I snagged a BWV 100 point contract for $108pp, with 200 points/2025, 100 points/2026. It was through fidelity and the title company is dvc title and escrow.

I've read people having issues with fidelity but I just signed the contracts after reading through it all and didn't see any problems, but I'm still kind of scared because how good of a deal this is?! Like it's too good to be true.

I've been looking through ROFR threads and studying the market but this contract seems like a rare unicorn. This is a big girl purchase for me so I want to make sure it's all legitimate and not a scam. I mean it can't be a scam right? I don't know if it's just nerves or what, but I'm hoping someone can tell me that it's normal lol

Obviously still have a long way to go before closing. So anything can happen, but I put my deposit down and now have to pass ROFR... so scared 😱

Hi all,

So I have a question I’ve been unable to get a clear answer on. So my hubs and I goto Disney frequently and we were there this past weekend celebrating our 26th anniversary. That being said we were resort hopping and was talking to one of the DVC reps on the lobby. We were chatting and making small talk and we asked about a way to access DVC benefits such as annual passes etc since we come all the time and currently do not have an annual pass.

The kicker to all this is that we stay exclusively at Fort Wilderness in our Class A motorhome as we travel with our 200lb Neapolitan Mastiff, and DVC does not work at the Fort. So the DVC rep said that the only way they could see us being able to benefit would be to “be added to a contract as an add on”

Could anyone here help explain what they were talking about?

I've never done it before but are we able to charge things through a Magic Band to our rooms? If so, would those charges show up as a charge from the hotel or would it show up as a different charge since it's a DVC resort? I'm trying to take advantage of credit card points which would receive a higher earn rate for "travel" charges(ie: hotels). If I charge things at the parks or restaurants directly to my card I'd most likely end up with fewer points.

Just had to share! I received a lot of great input from this group and I made a resale offer today that was accepted within 20 minutes.

Fingers crossed we get through ROFR 😬🤞🏻

So after closing on a 160 point resale contract for BLT, we are discussing what our next move will be. 160 points won't get us the 2 weeks of travel we like to do per year with the room types we like. We are currently undecided between buying direct or more resale. Our biggest priority is to have access to the new hotel rooms that will be built in the future. But I'm wondering if we should buy more resale and rent out the points and pay cash when we want to stay at Riv or Fort Wilderness or if were better off just buying direct because buying resale points and renting them then buying someone elses points often will be more expensive in the long run than buying direct now? For context, we are fine with split stays and wouldn't mind adding a smaller 75 point contract to stay 3 or 4 days in these newer hotels. But we don't need the membership discounts as we have discounts thru visa and pixie dust pass and i don't foresee us caring to go to moonlight madness. It would be cool to access the lounges, especially since we're going to own at BLT, but is it worth going direct or are there more advantages to consider? What would you do? I'm kind of doubting that Disney will get more generous with these membership perks...

im trying to book a last minute trip to disney presidents day weekend. ive been checking the website multiple times and so far ive gotten feb 14th, and feb 17th, but im trying to get feb 15th and 16th as well. ive been checking every dvc resort but cant find anything. is it unlikely i will be able to find something? has anyone had any luck with something similar?

My spouse and I are in the process of buying resale and once that closes we are looking into possibly buying some points direct. I love the Riviera, but my wife is not too sold on it. Her argument is that the resale value will plummet as the years go by because of the restrictions and we already going to own an "inddor hotel" with BLT and she loves nature and animals and wants something more naturey. I told her RIV is holding up the same as other resale hotels as of late. She loves Animal Kingdom and that's where she wants to call home. I love Animal Kingdom as well, however, she and I only wish to stay in Savannah View rooms when we stay there. We do not care about the hard to get value rooms or club. I told her that I believed SV is easy to get into at the 7 month mark, but that Riviera is not so easy and she would be blocking me out of Riviera just to get her way with Animal Kingdom and she is being selfish. Am I right for saying this? I know that this is total first world problems and probably an eyeroll for some, but it is a large purchase and I want her to feel comfortable knowing she can get into Animal Kingdom even though we have RIV. We usually travel in September, October and May. Could anyone with experience tell me if AK SV is pretty open and if I'm on the right track with my thinking?

Has anyone used their points to book travel for hotels other than DVC hotels? I heard it's "not worth it" to do this and better off to rent your points, but I'm wondering if there's any value or savings to it? Is there somewhere i can look to see what they offer and how many points? We haven't closed yet so I don't have access to the member portal yet, but we love to travel and would like to go to Europe and other destinations!

Does anyone rent their some or all of their dvc points? Is it easy to do? It seems the booking can be restrictive at times due to availability and when you want to travel. I know you can bank points but that only lasts til the next year and there may be years we cant vacation/vacation elsewhere. From experience with HICV, there is a lot more flexibility in using points, so we havent gotten stuck with any. Im just curious from others of they rent their points or if they let family use them or just always end up using them. Has anyone rented from others if they needed more points if they used up what they had? Prospective member, looking at a few resale options, not really sure which one wed want to buy at yet. So just gathering info, thanks for any you can provide!

Recently married, and we're planning a honeymoon at Aulani in September for about a week (flexible). A rack-rate ocean-view room runs around $6K-7K or so before discounts, so I'm considering taking that plus more toward a 150-pt Poly contract @ $33,150 (~$10K down, financing the rest) instead, given that we visit Disney 2-3 times a year and have family in Florida.

Additionally, I'd like to take some family for a couple of days this year in May to really prove the value to myself, could be any available resort. The Aulani trip will use around 175 points, leaving me with 125 points (150 from '24 and 150 from '25) to use elsewhere. (Sidenote: Is the Ocean View room in Aulani worth points in comparison to Island or Poolside?)

I know DVC benefits aren’t a huge factor for many, but I’d definitely have FOMO on perks like booking the newer resorts, PH discounts, Moonlight Magic, DVC cruise, etc.

On the resale side, I found a 200-pt AK contract (with double points @ 400), for $25K all-in. I know resale can take months and doesn’t include the same perks, but is the long-term savings worth it? Would love input from experienced owners!

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I just learned about the option I have to add on the Membership Magic Beyond for 2025 and see it began 1/12/25 but have not seen information online about guest experiences with it. Have any of you had a chance to use this benefit, and if so what are your thoughts about it? I’m trying to decide if I want to purchase or not. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Hi so I’m considering going in on DVC but debating on my home resort. Since we live in CA it would make the most sense to buy at the Villas at the Disneyland Hotel. Currently 150pt comes out to be about $204/pt after all the promos. The HOA fee is about $9.83 per point though

The other thought is buy in at the Polynesian which is about $207/pt so slightly higher but the HOA is $7.92 per point so that’s substantially cheaper.

Just doing the math on a constant 5% increases every year, it seems like it would be a better cost saving to buy into the Polynesian in the long run.

However if Im more likely to visit Disneyland how likely would it be to get a room at the 7mo mark at either Villas at Disneyland Hotel or Grand Californian (when my open window allows me to book there)?

Also as I understand it there is a TOT tax (2.53 or something) when you stay at the Villas at Disneyland Hotel but this is only incurred when anyone stays there right, it’s not charged on top of the $9.83 annual fee right? So my dues are 9.83 per point and not 12.36 (9.83+2.53)?

As a family we probably would still visit WDW, but that might be more likely once a decade vs various trips every other year or so to disneyland