Direct Add-on - Home Resort or new resort?

TheMick424

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Debating adding on 75 direct points. Currently own at AKV and debating whether it is better to add at my current home resort or a different one. Thought of waiting for Riviera but there are so many unknowns at this point in terms of rooms, amenities, point chart and direct prices. At this point, we had planned trips every other year with our current points (220) but an add on would give us more flexibility. For those of you who have added on, how did you decide?
 
If you add on at a different resort, then you can only use those 75 points at its home resort at 11 months. If you want to use at AKL or any other resort, you can only use them at 7 months.

I added on at my home resort for ease in use.
 
Debating adding on 75 direct points. Currently own at AKV and debating whether it is better to add at my current home resort or a different one. Thought of waiting for Riviera but there are so many unknowns at this point in terms of rooms, amenities, point chart and direct prices. At this point, we had planned trips every other year with our current points (220) but an add on would give us more flexibility. For those of you who have added on, how did you decide?


When we added on we wanted the extra variety in terms of options to book another resort 11 months out. If you travel during late September to mid January you need to own where you want to stay.

If you don’t care where you stay then go with the cheapest option (ssr) then you can try and switch at 7 months.

Another thing to think about, is adding on the 75 points direct. Is it really worth it to you? I mean the direct prices are high and the only real perk is the discount on the AP.

Maybe resale is the better option?
 
My advice, for what it worth, buy where you don't mind staying. Switching at 7 mo is getting very difficult, as many are just buying the lowest cost, with no plans of ever staying there. So at 7 mo it's a frenzy of unhappy member trying to get a resort they like.
? Is it really saving money if you hate staying there?
 


When we added on we wanted the extra variety in terms of options to book another resort 11 months out. If you travel during late September to mid January you need to own where you want to stay.

If you don’t care where you stay then go with the cheapest option (ssr) then you can try and switch at 7 months.

Another thing to think about, is adding on the 75 points direct. Is it really worth it to you? I mean the direct prices are high and the only real perk is the discount on the AP.

Maybe resale is the better option?
Our family trips are typically around school breaks in February or April, but I would also like the option of shorter long weekend trips in the fall with just my DH. As for the benefit of the perks, I struggle with this one a bit. At first I didn't think I would care, as I wasn't necessarily in the market for APs. But, I also think that based on the trends we are seeing now and the introduction of Galaxy's Edge, I worry that resale buyers are going to be out of luck with future perks that may be more valuable than the AP discount. I don't know...
 
Our family trips are typically around school breaks in February or April, but I would also like the option of shorter long weekend trips in the fall with just my DH. As for the benefit of the perks, I struggle with this one a bit. At first I didn't think I would care, as I wasn't necessarily in the market for APs. But, I also think that based on the trends we are seeing now and the introduction of Galaxy's Edge, I worry that resale buyers are going to be out of luck with future perks that may be more valuable than the AP discount. I don't know...


I don’t know if we will ever get any perks more valuable than the AP discount. Using the past as a guideline I don’t think we will.

Going in February and April should not be a problem switching at the 7 month mark, well maybe except during princesses marathon and Easter but outside those I don’t think it will be a problem.

But again I don’t know how things will look like 5-10 years down the road.

If you want to be sure you need to buy where you want to stay.
 
I'd wait and see what Riviera ends up looking like but I'd add a different resort. If not Riviera maybe VGF, Poly or CCV depending on availability.
 


We own at AKV and BCV (both resale), but just added on @ CCV direct. We'd thought about adding at AKV (we love BCV, but cost relative to length of contract makes that it undesirable to add onto, not to mention the waiting!), but when CCV is only $11 more pp - effectively $1 per year of extra vacations - we loved the idea of the added flexibility, like @Cyberc1978. ETA: We were thinking about waiting for Rivera as well, but with price increases happening everywhere and seemingly greater frequency (I'm looking at you, OTU points!!!), we didn't want to see what direct prices were going to be when released.

Those weekend trips in fall would be easily done with a small direct contract, especially with banking and borrowing, and I also doubt perks will get any more lucrative for members. Maybe more free events/things that require you to already be on property, but not much more than that.

For us, a direct add on made more sense - the AP discount, while not guaranteed to last, will benefit us as our kiddos grow, and the length of a CCV contract will get us into our twilight years of just me and DW making solo trips.

We weighed:
  • The length of contract on the smaller add-on - wanted a longer contract than our existing one
  • Availability of points - we wanted an easy process that didn't have to go through all the ups and downs of resale (been there, done that!)
  • Immediate benefits - AP's and with the new price structure, SWGE, etc. we figured we would be making trips more frequently. We'd also like to have access to Moonlight Magic events
  • Membership cruise - at some point in the (near future) we want to do a membership cruise!
  • Dues - while we did weigh it, since the contract size was on the smaller end, we didn't futz over a hundred dollars a year. Inflation and increases may make us change our tune later, but I doubt it.
Hope your process isn't too agonizing!
 
I will be interested to see what the price increase is this year. Disney is on a tear this month with price increases across the spectrum as annual passes were just increased. I am sure all resorts will go up except possibly Aulani and CCV. If we see a large increase in CCV, then it will be Disney’s final push to sell it out similar to PVB and the increase of that resort to $220.
 
We own at AKV and BCV (both resale), but just added on @ CCV direct. We'd thought about adding at AKV (we love BCV, but cost relative to length of contract makes that it undesirable to add onto, not to mention the waiting!), but when CCV is only $11 more pp - effectively $1 per year of extra vacations - we loved the idea of the added flexibility, like @Cyberc1978. ETA: We were thinking about waiting for Rivera as well, but with price increases happening everywhere and seemingly greater frequency (I'm looking at you, OTU points!!!), we didn't want to see what direct prices were going to be when released.

Those weekend trips in fall would be easily done with a small direct contract, especially with banking and borrowing, and I also doubt perks will get any more lucrative for members. Maybe more free events/things that require you to already be on property, but not much more than that.

For us, a direct add on made more sense - the AP discount, while not guaranteed to last, will benefit us as our kiddos grow, and the length of a CCV contract will get us into our twilight years of just me and DW making solo trips.

We weighed:
  • The length of contract on the smaller add-on - wanted a longer contract than our existing one
  • Availability of points - we wanted an easy process that didn't have to go through all the ups and downs of resale (been there, done that!)
  • Immediate benefits - AP's and with the new price structure, SWGE, etc. we figured we would be making trips more frequently. We'd also like to have access to Moonlight Magic events
  • Membership cruise - at some point in the (near future) we want to do a membership cruise!
  • Dues - while we did weigh it, since the contract size was on the smaller end, we didn't futz over a hundred dollars a year. Inflation and increases may make us change our tune later, but I doubt it.
Hope your process isn't too agonizing!
Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective. We are in a similar boat and it is good to hear that others are weighing the same factors. Honestly, I wish I had bought in earlier when my kids were a bit younger. Hindsight is always 20-20.
 
I added at BCV many years ago. I wanted access to Stormalong Bay. Only bought 56 points, but combing years gives me what I need.
 
I am contemplating the same thing. I am thinking of adding on direct. Wishing we bought when you could buy direct 50 points. We have 210 and it's not enough. We will wait to see what Rivera brings. I do feel that buying direct for a small contract is worth the perks.
 
We own at 4 resorts....OKW, BWV, HHI and CCV. We had AKV at one point as well. I am a big fan of buying multiple resorts so as to get multiple 11 month window priorities. The CCV we just added and it's only 70 points. We will use banking and/or borrowing to get a decent stay every 2-3 years. And I hope to add some more CCV points down the line. We only have 125 at HHI and we do the same there, bank or borrow to get a decent stay.

If you are interested in 3-4 day fall trips sans kids, maybe go with an Epcot area resort like BWV, BCV or even one of the monorail resorts. You will have to go on a waitlist for those and it may take a couple months. If you bought CCV, you could get those now. CCV to Epcot isn't awful as you can boat over to TTC (I do believe). And it's nice to own CCV or BRV if you ever wanted to stay there in Dec.

I do recommend you stay with same UY. We have 2 UY and that has been a pain quite often. It's not impossible to have 2 but if I could switch to just 1 UY, I would.

Also, the Disney Chase Visa can be used to pay for direct points and then you get the rewards dollars. We have the premium Chase and get 2% in rewards plus they give you something like 6 months zero interest.
 
I am contemplating the same thing. I am thinking of adding on direct. Wishing we bought when you could buy direct 50 points. We have 210 and it's not enough. We will wait to see what Rivera brings. I do feel that buying direct for a small contract is worth the perks.
Current owners can add 25 points on up. It's only new owners who have to start at 75 points. Oh wait...do you have to have 75 direct to get perks??
 
I am contemplating the same thing. I am thinking of adding on direct. Wishing we bought when you could buy direct 50 points. We have 210 and it's not enough. We will wait to see what Rivera brings. I do feel that buying direct for a small contract is worth the perks.

If you are already an owner you can buy as little as 25 points still, though it will not get you direct owners benefits unless you buy 75.
 
If you are already an owner you can buy as little as 25 points still, though it will not get you direct owners benefits unless you buy 75.
Current owners can add 25 points on up. It's only new owners who have to start at 75 points. Oh wait...do you have to have 75 direct to get perks??
Yes I bought resale for BRV, before they pit high restrictions on resale, so I'm fine but only till 2042, I would like some points direct for when that happens.
 
Well the 75 point direct to get perks may be going up to 100 as they increased the new buyers minimum to 100. So, best to buy those direct points sooner rather than later. But 2042 is a long way off to be thinking about having a back up now.
 
As an international visitor, small contracts at different resorts are not much use to me. I often come 10-14 days at a time, and need to make the 11 month booking in busy periods (Sept to Jan) albeit I go for 1 beds so will still have choice at 7 months, I’d prefer to get it booked and switch.
If I had say 70 points at a different resort, yes I could bank and borrow, but I’d prefer those points pooled in with my others.
 

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