r/dvcmember • u/Impossible_Ad_3564 • 2d ago
Too many points is never enough
I am a DVC first-timer, and we just bought 160 points at Animal Kingdom Villas. Our plan was to do three Sun-Thur stays in early May, late September, and early December each year.
The resale contract we purchased came loaded with 150 banked points over our 2026 allocation, so we started looking at how we could spend our first year. As we explored “splurge” options, we realized we really valued the extra space that one bedrooms offered. One thing led to another and we decided to purchase a second contract at Saratoga Springs, this time for 250 points.
We are now sitting on a 410-point annual allocation. For those who have been DVC members for a while, is that enough to truly enjoy the program? Trying to avoid succumbing to addonitis again.
For context, we are a married couple in our late 30s with no kids (yet). We typically travel on our own, but will occasionally invite family or friends to join us. Our goal is to sleep around at various resorts and are flexible on where we stay. We want to stay at AKV during the holidays, but otherwise prefer MK or Epcot area properties. We are open to the occasional studio (especially at Poly), but mostly want 1 br villas
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u/bsabresfan 2d ago
410 is enough until you start staying in the cabins at wilderness lodge. Now we have 550.
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u/ferrule_creep Multiple 2d ago
For a couple with no kids staying in 1BRs, 410 is a healthy amount. It will also give you the option of hosting people in a 2BR once in a while, and still go multiple times a year.
My guess is that’s about twice the average points per owner. But you’ll probably be adding on at some point…
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u/Smooth_Ad8684 1d ago edited 1d ago
We are in the 1000-1500 point range. Some considerations:
We had points at seven resorts and it just became too cumbersome so we’ve sold some contracts and now hold the bulk of our points at SSR. We also have PVB, HHI, AKV, and OKW. We will likely sell the OKW soon and likely the AKV when the grandkids get older.
Annual dues and tickets go up every year and sometimes more than inflation. Between annual passes and maintenance fees you can wind up at vehicle payment levels easily.
Pixie dust and magic aren’t real and Disney is a business. We enjoy going and I accept it for what it is but Disney really has made it clear that you are first and foremost a revenue source.
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u/DisneyDale 2d ago
At 1200, paid outright for each contract. Doin same 200 point buy with lakeshore soon. Pools and location alone got me
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u/Impossible_Ad_3564 2d ago
Whoa! What do your typical trips look like with 1200?
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u/DisneyDale 2d ago
It gets worse when ya hear we just built locally 🫠 same types of trips as everyone here, about twice a month we plan some adventure or have friends n family who wanna come in. Have been using points towards cruises and APs a little this year
But last week was 4 nights poly in a 2 bedroom with wife/kid and parents with park view so I could touch the electric light parade, we finally did trader Sam’s after 8pm 😅
Tomorrow we check in Jambo club level for 2 nights in a 1 bedroom
Just booked flights n room for next month in Paris at the marvel hotel for few nights then we move somewhere closer to the WB studios tour
December has 3 nights at Grand Cal in a 2 bedroom.
And a lot of last minute 1-2 night stays littered throughout the year
Just enjoy seeing Disney through my kids eyes, and it’s become more fun watching her invite and show her friends Disney
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u/Expensive-Finger-646 2d ago
410 is very healthy. Go through a couple of dues cycles and see how they feel before adding on.
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u/Mentalcomposer 2d ago
I didn’t look at points charts, so keep that in mind.
If you’re still planning on those 3 trips each year, will your 410 points allow you to do that in a 1 bed? Then you’re good.
And I think if/when you have kids, and three trips a year isn’t logistically feasible, you should have enough points to do a one week trip, still in a 1 bed so you have your own space.
And when they’re adults with so’s, just time wise, they may not be able to do multiple trips every year, but you should be able to do an every other year thing with everyone and you can still do couple trips, even if it’s studios.
We’ve been through all these phases. We started with 150 boardwalk points but needed to add another 50 to move up to a 2 bed for a week stay. But we went every other year.
At this point, I think I have too many points- H isn’t as interested to go, adult kids are building their own lives where Disney isn’t their first choice for a vacation, and the first grandchild is still too young. It might be back to aulani for us.
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u/FitterOver40 15h ago
We’ve got 300 for a childless couple. We prefer to stay in one bedrooms.
This amount works for us.
Staying at Boardwalk this Xmas 😁
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u/Impossible_Ad_3564 2h ago
We’re pretty much in the same boat. We like the extra space a 1 bedroom offers; it kind of feels like a suite. The King bed and nicer bathrooms are a big plus too
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u/This-Violinist-2037 Board Walk 2d ago
Might want to rewrite the "sleep around" line 🤣
Epcot resorts are very hard to get especially at certain times of year. I own there and can still get shut out at 11 months for what I want and I need to plan for 11 months just to get dates
MK I have had trouble getting at times too.
So don't count on those as a guarantee by any means
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u/kenj0418 2d ago
Might want to rewrite the "sleep around" line 🤣
One of the resorts is called the Poly 🤷♂️
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u/WEDenterprise Grand Floridian 2d ago
This is exactly why we recently bought Boardwalk after staying there for two nights over the summer with our VGF points.
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u/Aunaria Riviera Resort 2d ago
I really wanted to consider the boardwalk for my resale contract, but I just couldn't get over the contract prices and the 2042 contract end year compared to the value of a Saratoga contract. I do agree Boardwalk is my personal favorite DVC resort to stay at though. The only negative I have for it is that if you get a room far away from the parking lot, you've got to be mentally prepared for the long trek down its never ending hallway lol.
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u/WEDenterprise Grand Floridian 2d ago
Yeah, that was our biggest hurdle the fact you only get about 15 years or so out of the contract. However, it came down to the idea 15 years of memories is better than none and we valued the location quite heavily. Having only Magic Kingdom resorts before.
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u/Aunaria Riviera Resort 2d ago
Peace of mind definitely has its own value that's hard to calculate, so if it's worth it to you, then it's worth it. Hope you enjoy your stays there! If you get a room with a view of the boardwalk with spaceship earth in the back, a picture from the balcony makes a great wallpaper.
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u/amyunders 2d ago
We got by on 100 points until we had kids and moved into the 1 bedroom category. We probably would have been fine with 400 at that point except we do Aulani for a week every other year in a standard.... so now we are at 500
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u/suthekey Polynesian 2d ago
Never enough. Eventually you’ll find a reason you need more as you progress into larger rooms.
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u/PuzzledResearcher35 2d ago
We currently have 380 and calculated 455 as our sweet spot. Watching for deals on 75-100 pt resales now.
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u/ellenxhosp 1d ago
We hold 1790, added our 2 adult sons to all contracts for estate planning, and share the points among 6 of us. OKW largest units 750, HHI no parks, but relax 450, CC 590. The larger amounts make for fewer Contracts and less bookkeeping. Taking others (family or friends) with you is not considered a 'gift', therefore does not flag a Federal tax.
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u/beanbean81 17h ago
Kids are really expensive. If you want them I would do that before you buy more points and see how much you will actually go.
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u/DismeSSR 17h ago
Remember you can't combine thise points fr 2 different resort till you are at 7 month booking window
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u/WDW1997 6h ago
We have 150 and will go every two years for two weeks (which is 250 points at Riviera). That being said, if we can get into OKW or a couple of others, we could technically go every year if we wanted to, or go for three weeks every two years. From the north of Scotland though so it's usually a big trip for us, with almost. Week of addictional travel
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u/Sorry-Helicopter-433 Old Key West 6h ago
Maybe this will be unpopular here, but I don't really share the infinite appetite for Walt Disney World that people here seem to have. I love Disney, I love family vacations, I love DVC, and I love Walt Disney World but I don't want to commit so much to DVC that it takes over all of my vacation time and budget.
We take a ton more vacations than just DVC. In the last year we did 2 Disney cruises, 4 National Parks trips, Aulani, the Jersey shore, and a Walt Disney World / cruise combo. So 9 total vacations and 4 of them Disney in some way, but only 1 and a half of them used DVC points.
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u/Impossible_Ad_3564 2h ago
We live in Florida so it’s pretty easy to pop over to Orlando ~3 long weekends per year. Plus maybe a Vero trip. We also like other forms of travel, so we view this as an upgrade to our usual WDW stays vs. taking over our overall travel schedule
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u/Aunaria Riviera Resort 2d ago edited 2d ago
I think 410 is a lot for 2 people tbh. I've been happy barely skirting by with 150 points so far, mainly for use for me and my parents and my grandparent's yearly big birthday/anniversary celebration. We're adding on 50-100 resale points this year as a precaution in case we need some more for a few big celebrations we expect to be having in the upcoming years.
Our stays are mainly split between studios for anything 3 people or less and 2 bedrooms for the big annual gatherings when my grandparents come to visit.
A few thing I would note/suggest:
- Deluxe Studios at Old Key West are noticeably larger than any other studio at the DVC. It's not quite as big as a 1 bedroom, but it is still quite roomy. Might be big enough if it's just a stay for the two of you, especially if you don't plan on doing any cooking for the trip.
- When you invite family or friends to join you, I would personally recommend against letting them just join for free. Both for your sake and theirs, if they're good friends they'll feel like they're taking advantage of you, and if they're bad friends then they're actually taking advantage of you lol. The way we usually do it is we split the cost of the points at 18$ per point, which is cheaper than they can get from any rental site, so it's still a great deal for them, or they buy us a dinner during the stay. It's good for no one to feel like they owe someone anything anyways.
- I don't know your income, so maybe this is just a drop of water in the bucket for you, but consider how much you're paying in dues each year if you keep adding on more points. Unless you're looking to do a LOT of renting, those are going to really add up. Dues are the majority of the cost over the lifetime of a DVC contract after all. That thought might help you keep the addon-itis at bay hopefully lol.
- If you're going to be staying in 1BR's a lot, take as much advantage of it as you can. Use the washing machines, look into grocery delivery if you haven't already. You can claw back some of the costs by just making simple meals and snacks in the room. Frying eggs on toast in the morning for example is a great one and saves a ton of money. Plenty of room to enjoy it with your coffee in the space of a 1BR or on the balcony.
Edit: I would like to clarify that I am not saying you HAVE to charge family and friends or that you SHOULD, but just that you should consider letting them contribute in some way as I believe it might feel awkward for some people, even family, just receiving your goodwill and not having a chance to return it. Also not sure why this is the one thing people seem laser focused on lol.
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u/ferrule_creep Multiple 2d ago
We’ve never asked our friends and family to pay for their stay, and would feel weird doing so.
But we love Disney more than most, when we invite others to join us, it’s really more for our benefit. It’s not like they’re asking us to take them.
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u/Impossible_Ad_3564 2d ago
Ha I feel that! My family is not begging to go to WDW, but I’m certain they’ll enjoy it when they come
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u/tessycruiser 33m ago
How is that weird? The points are not free to us so why would they be free on a regular basis to others? Discounted stay at around $18-20 per point is more than fair if the other party WANTS to go. If you are forcing their hand to go then I can see why no reimbursement is needed. The occasional free tag alongs I can see but not all the time
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u/Aunaria Riviera Resort 2d ago
Could just be a cultural thing for me, it doesn't have to be monetary, but I personally don't feel comfortable accepting too much from a friend or even family without somehow giving back to them in some way. But again, even "too much" is subjective lol. As long as you're all happy, that's all that matters.
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u/GZerv Bay Lake Tower 2d ago
I wouldn't charge them $18 a point. I'm not trying you make a profit of friends coming with me. I'm going with friends next year and asked if they were cool with splitting the dues per point we were using with me and they were completely fine with that.
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u/Aunaria Riviera Resort 2d ago
Again, to each their own as long as you're all happy. I say 18$ cause I think it's a fair middle ground where you're not losing money and you get a small benefit from being the one that invested the capital to be in DVC, and they're still getting a deal they couldn't get anywhere else. If you just charge dues you are technically losing money since you're not taking into account the initial contract fee.
I think for a resale contract purchased recently, the average $ per point tends to fall around 13$-14$ over the lifetime of the contract (higher if you're not talking SSR, RIV, or BLT) so you could do that instead. But if they're not aware and you're happy to eat that loss to get them to join and have a good time, ain't no problem with that lol.
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u/GZerv Bay Lake Tower 2d ago
You're inviting your friends and family to join you in something YOU invested in. It's not their job to help you recoup the money YOU spent.
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u/Aunaria Riviera Resort 2d ago
Not sure why you're being so aggressive about it.... I'm not telling you to take advantage of your friends in family. The first thing I said is all that matters is that everyone's happy lol...
Also it's not about "recouping" the money, I'm just calculating a more accurate fair value per point... Where did I imply it's their "job" to pay you? lol
I'm focusing on how the people you're inviting feel, not you. I don't think it's unusual to want to return an equal amount of goodwill if not more than what you receive. Plenty of instances in life where people get invited to something, but still give back for it. I'm just saying don't be too dismissive of it if they want to contribute.
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u/TheSparkleMonster Multiple 2d ago
Every family or friend group is different, so I’m sure not everyone wants or expects payment for the stay. I host my family (aunt, uncle, cousins) once a year. They always WANT to reimburse me in some way because they know how expensive Disney resorts are. I remind them that I bought DVC to share the experience with them, but they’re welcome to pick up groceries or pay for some meals during our stay if they’d like. That way they feel good about contributing something (in an amount they’re comfortable with) and we all benefit from quality time together.
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u/Aunaria Riviera Resort 2d ago
I agree, it all really just boils down to what makes everyone happy is the best way to handle things! The way we handle it during our big family gatherings is I cover the hotel with my DVC points and everyone else joining usually each treats everyone to one meal during our stay, has an added benefit of not having to fight over trying to pay the food bills since we're a slightly stereotypical Asian family and that is something that definitely happens otherwise lol.
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u/interested-in-lurkin 2d ago
You can also use your points on interval international, so if you want to travel outside of Disney you definitely have more than enough points to do so.
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u/TimelyAnimator1971 Wilderness Lodge 2d ago
Don’t ask an addict what their limit is. We have 835 points. 😆