Just bought RIV direct!

[jasonplusliz]

This is our first purchase into DVC and we are so excited to be back! It’s been a few years since our last visit - we rented points from a friend most recently in 2017 - and have been thinking about joining ever since.

Well now it’s official and we are heading back in August to enjoy a week in the Riviera. I am a long time lurker here and once poster (disboards helped me save almost $1000 seven years ago on our first family trip to WDW!) and just wanted to say thanks!

Since it’s been so long and COVID has changed so much I’m curious what I should be aware of as a first time DVC owner and what it’s like in the parks this year. We noticed that availability is extremely limited right now, is that a factor of covid or is this normal? I am also learning a lot on how to rent our points as I imagine we will have some left over at the end of the year.

 

[Sandisw]

Woohoo! Welcome home! We just love it and I can’t wait for the next trip for a few nights in June!

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

Welcome Home!!! Riviera is awesome - so excited for you .

 

[princesscinderella]

Congratulations!! Just make sure you get your dining reservations 60 days out and your park reservations as soon as you have your tickets linked to your account.

 

[RoseGold]

Availability is always tight last minute. This is a product that requires months of planning for some room types, many 11 months to the day or longer (walking).

RIV has already shown tight studio bookings, and it’s not even half sold and doesn’t have the future locked-down resale buyers. No one knows what RIV availability will be in the future.

If you haven’t studied availability and how to book within DVC, well, you might still be in your FLdecision window. This is important, especially buying in direct and RIV in particular.

 

[Turn the Page]

Welcome home!!! We also just purchased RIV direct and are going in August. We are SO excited.

 

[LSchrow]

WELCOME HOME!!!!
Riviera is a stunning resort - we bought without seeing it in person, then were entirely WOWED once we stayed!!!
Tips:
- book as close to your 11 month mark as possible. Riviera is VERY popular, & Tower & Standard Studios book quickly
- try to book for early in your Use Year (see Banking Guidelines on the Member Dashboard)
- Play around on the Member website - lots of good info is there
- Studios are always the first to go at any resort
- Always have your DVC card available - there are many places that offer a discount
- when APs come back, the AP discount is substantial - try to "wrap" your vacations to get at least 2 trips out of one (e.g., go late August 2021 & early August 2022)
- Check out the Community Halls at many DVC resorts
- Relax & enjoy owning DVC (it can be the difference between vacationing, & being a tourist)

While availability is often tight at 7 months, the year has been even more affected by covid (points from when people couldn't/wouldn't travel) & the 50th anniversary on Oct 1.

And the warning that should come with every DVC contract: this is extremely unlikely to be your last contract. We quickly discovered that more points meant more wonderful stays, even more meant longer stays, & even MORE means longer AND more vacations in larger rooms

 

[jasonplusliz]

Availability is always tight last minute. This is a product that requires months of planning for some room types, many 11 months to the day or longer (walking).

RIV has already shown tight studio bookings, and it’s not even half sold and doesn’t have the future locked-down resale buyers. No one knows what RIV availability will be in the future.

If you haven’t studied availability and how to book within DVC, well, you might still be in your FLdecision window. This is important, especially buying in direct and RIV in particular.

We have been looking into this for over five years now and had interviewed several of our friends who have purchased in Saratoga springs and beach club for example who generally never stay at their home resort. Generally we are never going to stay in studios as we have a larger family (5) and like the extra space in the 1br. My understanding is that under normal circumstances there is reasonable availability in our favorite resorts at the seven month window (and we are certainly willing and able to get up early to jump on it when necessary)

We look forward to staying at the Riviera. We are also excited about staying at the other hotels too- we have in the past stayed at wilderness lodge (hotel not dvc) and poly (dvc). The flexibility is what drove us ultimately to purchasing dvc and doing it direct rather than resale. We wanted to make sure we could stay at Riviera as well as the existing resorts and have no intention of ever selling. I hope that’s not me being naive.

 

[Sandisw]

We have been looking into this for over five years now and had interviewed several of our friends who have purchased in Saratoga springs and beach club for example who generally never stay at their home resort. Generally we are never going to stay in studios as we have a larger family (5) and like the extra space in the 1br. My understanding is that under normal circumstances there is reasonable availability in our favorite resorts at the seven month window (and we are certainly willing and able to get up early to jump on it when necessary)

We look forward to staying at the Riviera. We are also excited about staying at the other hotels too- we have in the past stayed at wilderness lodge (hotel not dvc) and poly (dvc). The flexibility is what drove us ultimately to purchasing dvc and doing it direct rather than resale. We wanted to make sure we could stay at Riviera as well as the existing resorts and have no intention of ever selling. I hope that’s not me being naive.

As someone who has been booking RIV since I bought, the tight booking is really tower and SV studios. PV studios and 1 bedrooms have not been an issue at 11 months, just in case you ever do want to do a trip with just adults!

Since you won’t be doing studios, I think you will be fine in getting your bookings! I have yet to be locked out, even with SV studios...but I will say I did decide to do a little bit of walking for an early December one last year!

 

[AnnaS]

Congratulations and Welcome Home!!!

 

[jasonplusliz]

As someone who has been booking RIV since I bought, the tight booking is really tower and SV studios. PV studios and 1 bedrooms have not been an issue at 11 months, just in case you ever do want to do a trip with just adults!

Since you won’t be doing studios, I think you will be fine in getting your bookings! I have yet to be locked out, even with SV studios...but I will say I did decide to do a little bit of walking for an early December one last year!

What I’ve noticed in the short time we’ve been owners (about 3 days now) is that I think Disney is holding back a lot of rooms to “provide” to new owners, further reducing the visible inventory. Our dvc guide was big into getting us to pre book a trip before closing (she could “hold” a reservation but only before we signed on the contract). Not sure but it seems awfully coincidental that we got the last 1br available for that week?

 

[ElizabethG]

What I’ve noticed in the short time we’ve been owners (about 3 days now) is that I think Disney is holding back a lot of rooms to “provide” to new owners, further reducing the visible inventory. Our dvc guide was big into getting us to pre book a trip before closing (she could “hold” a reservation but only before we signed on the contract). Not sure but it seems awfully coincidental that we got the last 1br available for that week?

They can't hold back rooms from DVC members. However, Disney is required to maintain ownership of a certain percentage of points. So, sometimes member services is allowed to pull from that inventory to book a 'Welcome Home' visit. I have not heard of a member having to book it before closing. That is weird.

 

[ElizabethG]

Since it’s been so long and COVID has changed so much I’m curious what I should be aware of as a first time DVC owner and what it’s like in the parks this year. We noticed that availability is extremely limited right now, is that a factor of covid or is this normal? I am also learning a lot on how to rent our points as I imagine we will have some left over at the end of the year.

Congratulations!
I have read several posts lately (here and FB) about people forgetting to bank their points. So, my advise is to keep that date in mind! That is what we do with 'extra' points. I have used every point, without difficulty, in my 12 years as member.

 

[jasonplusliz]

They can't hold back rooms from DVC members. However, Disney is required to maintain ownership of a certain percentage of points. So, sometimes member services is allowed to pull from that inventory to book a 'Welcome Home' visit. I have not heard of a member having to book it before closing. That is weird.

Interesting. Could be I am just using the wrong terminology- we didn’t have to pay for the reservation ahead of time, perhaps it was just a sales tactic to encourage us to sign up since we already had a “scheduled” trip

Do you think if we wanted to swap our room for a 2br lock off (which is currently unavailable according to the dvc booking site), that MS might be able to find inventory since it’s our ‘welcome home’ visit?

 

[Sandisw]

Interesting. Could be I am just using the wrong terminology- we didn’t have to pay for the reservation ahead of time, perhaps it was just a sales tactic to encourage us to sign up since we already had a “scheduled” trip

Do you think if we wanted to swap our room for a 2br lock off (which is currently unavailable according to the dvc booking site), that MS might be able to find inventory since it’s our ‘welcome home’ visit?

The number of rooms available for booking are based on how many are declared for sale. Right now, DVD has declared about 45% of the resort. That means that 45% of rooms are bookable for DVC owners,

However, not all the points that go with that 45% are sold yet. Any points unsold give DVD the ability to get you a room that may not show becuase they get to book rooms just like the rest of the owners,

They also own the other 55% of the resort and of course, can find a way to give you one of those. That is how they can “find” a room for new buyers,

So, I do think that you may get lucky to get your room of choice as your Welcome Home visit!

 

[mastersenton]

Interesting. Could be I am just using the wrong terminology- we didn’t have to pay for the reservation ahead of time, perhaps it was just a sales tactic to encourage us to sign up since we already had a “scheduled” trip

Do you think if we wanted to swap our room for a 2br lock off (which is currently unavailable according to the dvc booking site), that MS might be able to find inventory since it’s our ‘welcome home’ visit?

If you already have a room reserved they most likely will not do anything for your welcome home stay. They did nothing for me.

 

[bobbiwoz]

This is our first purchase into DVC and we are so excited to be back! It’s been a few years since our last visit - we rented points from a friend most recently in 2017 - and have been thinking about joining ever since.

Well now it’s official and we are heading back in August to enjoy a week in the Riviera. I am a long time lurker here and once poster (disboards helped me save almost $1000 seven years ago on our first family trip to WDW!) and just wanted to say thanks!

Since it’s been so long and COVID has changed so much I’m curious what I should be aware of as a first time DVC owner and what it’s like in the parks this year. We noticed that availability is extremely limited right now, is that a factor of covid or is this normal? I am also learning a lot on how to rent our points as I imagine we will have some left over at the end of the year.

Welcome Home!
I wish you many happy years of DVC Membership!

 

[starfrenzy]

Congratulations and Welcome Home!

 

[DisneyMomof4_86]

This is our first purchase into DVC and we are so excited to be back! It’s been a few years since our last visit - we rented points from a friend most recently in 2017 - and have been thinking about joining ever since.

Well now it’s official and we are heading back in August to enjoy a week in the Riviera. I am a long time lurker here and once poster (disboards helped me save almost $1000 seven years ago on our first family trip to WDW!) and just wanted to say thanks!

Since it’s been so long and COVID has changed so much I’m curious what I should be aware of as a first time DVC owner and what it’s like in the parks this year. We noticed that availability is extremely limited right now, is that a factor of covid or is this normal? I am also learning a lot on how to rent our points as I imagine we will have some left over at the end of the year.

Congrats ! Us too !! We are super excited ! If you call member services they can book your first welcome home visit and sometimes there is inventory you don’t see online - they did that for us ! Our first trip is June 27th - July 4th!!

 

[purpliequeen]

Huge congrats & welcome home! You will not be disappointed. We just got back from a stay at our home resort. Some of the party had park tix, some did not. The DVC resorts are so fabulous with so many things to do, it makes visiting with or without tix so easy. I'm already having withdrawals and want to plan my next trip to the World. As others mentioned, point distributions are a little nutty right now. Lots of people are sitting on oodles of points trying to figure out how & when to spend them before they lose them. 2022 + 2023 should even the pile of pts out.