Questions about Direct vs Resale Purchase at Either BW or BC

[TinkAgainU]

You mentioned you were able to use your GF points to stay at RIV. I thought RIV was a closed DVC resort to RIV owners only. How did you accomplish this?

Direct puchased points can be used at any of the resorts, including Riviera and Disneyland Hotel, for example - although they are still subject to that 7 month vs the 11 month Home Resort priority.

Another option with Resale is to sell your points, and then book thru a broker for the points at the other resort - honestly, I've seen people do this with Direct points too - when they wanted to be certain to get a special date (in their case a big anniversary) at a non-Home resort.

P.S. When we looked at availability for either Disneyland Hotel or Grand Californian - both are Very marginal at 7 months. Would want to consider Direct at those resorts if you plan to stay there. In WDW you have so many resorts, there is usually Someplace to stay if you are flexible, but in California there are a lot of people vying for only two options at 7 months out.

 

[TinkAgainU]

...I wonder if we could still use the grounds at the Grand Californian while owning at the Disneyland Hotel.

I don't know if pool hoping is allowed, but both resorts in California have nice patio-outdoor restaurants (with bars) adjacent to the pools, so you can enjoy that even if not staying at that resort.

 

[TCRAIG]

There can be some advantages for DVC Ninjas who do lots of renting/transferring/wait listing/etc…. but the overwhelming majority (not all) of members would tell you to try to have as few as possible, with 1 being the optimal number.

OR - those of us who like to go multiple times a year and don’t want to worry about using points after the banking deadline…
For me - April UY is for May trips, June is for fall and Oct is for December- my other 2 UY are Hilton Head only - 1 for spring/summer and 1 for fall/winter trips…

 

[TinkAgainU]

OR - those of us who like to go multiple times a year and don’t want to worry about using points after the banking deadline…
For me - April UY is for May trips, June is for fall and Oct is for December- my other 2 UY are Hilton Head only - 1 for spring/summer and 1 for fall/winter trips…

Just thinking about all that planning wore me out, now I need a resort day to recover lol.

 

[PiratesOfTheSea]

I don't know if pool hoping is allowed, but both resorts in California have nice patio-outdoor restaurants (with bars) adjacent to the pools, so you can enjoy that even if not staying at that resort.

Pool hopping is usually not allowed unless the pool is closed at your hotel, and it's probably not worth the PITA of going through DTD security just to pool hop from DLH to GCH. Other than that though most of the hotel grounds are open to anyone that wants to access the courtyard, dining, etc.

 

[CastAStone]

I wonder if we could still use the grounds at the Grand Californian while owning at the Disneyland Hotel.

I don't know if pool hoping is allowed, but both resorts in California have nice patio-outdoor restaurants (with bars) adjacent to the pools, so you can enjoy that even if not staying at that resort.

People can and do loiter at the Grand Cal all day. The restaurants are fair game. The lobby gets crowded with randos looking to hang out.

Disneyland does not allow pool hopping, generally speaking. They weren’t checking wristbands when I went this January (the pool was quite frankly kinda cold; it wasn’t busy) but they had them in boxes by the entrance; I assume they get used on busy days?

Disneyland Hotel has the more interesting pools anyway IMHO.

 

[TinkAgainU]

They weren’t checking wristbands when I went this January (the pool was quite frankly kinda cold; it wasn’t busy) but they had them in boxes by the entrance; I assume they get used on busy days?

Disneyland Hotel has the more interesting pools anyway IMHO.

We were at the main (not DVC) Disneyland Hotel pool in March and although they made sure we used room keys to enter, they did not check wristbands. There were only about five kids in the entire pool for the three hours we were there so they saw each kid came in with adults holding room keys ...