When do you decide you have enough DVC points?

We joined DVC post kids and are holding at 345, which is enough for us to enjoy Florida 3 times a year for 4 to 6 night stays in studios or 1Br. I do find us locked into 2 of our home resorts at 11 months, but only because I like to book the value or standard villas. The lack of spontaneity can be annoying.
 
I have 400 points, 250 at BLT and 150 at BCV (all purchased in 2020). This is enough for me. Did one trip on my points and planning another one in October. With these 2 trips, the BCV contract is paid. I had a pretty good price. The cash price Disney is asking is insane.
 


I've been thinking I need (WANT) more BCV points, and will keep close watch on BCV resale prices into 2023.
That said, I had my first cause for pause this year, when the MF increases were posted at a whopping 9% increase for me!
I hope that's an anomaly for, if it continues to increase by that large of a percentage going forward, then I might be at my maximum point level.
OK - So I changed my position and made an "on-the-fly" adjustment to this approach. We recently completed our 3rd consecutive year of "snow-birding DVC style", spending 16N in AKV & 34N in SSR, all in studios. While there, we visited the Boardwalk area frequently, alternating our parking between BWV & BCV, as available. We reserved DVC tours and/or made an online food purchase, so as to secure the parking access. (We were only turned away once at BWV, as the lot was full due to a conference). I tracked our steps and average travel times from both resorts to both parks (EPCOT & DHS), and the differences were negligible. So then the analysis paralysis took over, and I started creating hand-written spreadsheets to evaluate the pros and cons. I won't bore you with all the + & -, but biggest factors for me were the SAB Pool, and the BWV-Standard Availability. Even at 11 Months, the standard view studios at BWV can be illusive (nearly as hard as getting AKV-Value Studios). However, the Boardwalk Views at BWV are the same point requirement as the Standard View at BCV so, coupled with the cheaper price-per-point, it gives BWV the big advantage when they can be acquired (subject to STD availability). I know MFs are higher at BWV, but over the 19 year life-span remaining, it too is negligible.
Now I find myself in a position where I'm considering selling the SSR contract that I picked up cheap during COVID, to offset the new purchase. I may, however, wait to see if resale prices rebound again this spring/summer, so as to maximize the profit on that turn over. Oh yeah, I also added 25 points DIRECT at AKV! (I know - you're thinking I'm crazy, but only needed 20-25 points, and its so hard to find the exact size contract and use year via resale, plus I got the points same day, and I got all the points from 2022 banked the next day). :earboy2:
All tolled - I'm currently at 920 Points, and I always do a Total Purchase Price divided by Total Points to get an average cost per point of $110
(Please don't even bother educating me on NPV, or cost of money,etc. - I think those things have way too many intangible variables)
Sorry for the lengthy post.......
 
We have 250 points. Started off with 150 points at Poly, then added another 50 points at Poly, then another 50 at BW. I do think we are good now. I was dang close to adding on another 50 to 100 points a few weeks ago, but honestly it isn't the cost of DVC - it is the cost to fly my family of five to Orlando from Boston more than twice a year that would break the bank for me. I will likely add on 50 more at some point - but don't see us going above 300 in total.

I felt the need to revisit this....I added 50 points at SSR HAHAHAHA....the resale market was too juicy not to jump in....so...now I'm at 300.....now let's see if in a year my statement of "don't see us going above 300 in total" HOLDS!
 
150 direct and 50 resale at CCV. Wanted enough for a 2 bedroom for 7 nights every other year. Started with 150 and realized feb/April vacation while our kids are young are BIG points so upped it to have 400 every other year to use those weeks. Will rent out the extra in future years when they are older or go more with DW.

We purposely only did enough for every other year to force ourselves to do other things in the off years (cruises, Caribbean etc).

Can always go to a 1 bedroom if we wanted as well. we like the space of the 2BR.
 
Last edited:


150 direct and 50 resale at CCV. Wanted enough for a 2 bedroom for 7 nights every other year. Started with 150 and realized feb/April vacation while our kids are young are BIG points so upped it to have 400 every other year to use those weeks. Will rent out the extra in future years when they are older or go more with DW.

We purposely only did enough for every other year to force ourselves to do other things in the off years (cruises, Caribbean etc).

Can always go to a 1 bedroom if we wanted as well. we like the space of the 2BR.
We are thinking the same but we own at BWV and the point chart is a little more forgiving. We bought 150 hoping to get 6-7 days every other year in a 2-bedroom. We also are tied to school vacation schedules. I’m hoping 150 is enough with banking and/or borrowing. I may need 50 more haha.
 
We just slid across the 1400 pt line, spread out mostly evenly between PVB, CCV, BLT, OKW and AKV with 2 UY, all resale. I'm fortunate to have effectively free plane tix thanks to business spending on Delta Amex and Southwest Visa cards and we kept renewing our APs so trips are "cheap" for us. We rent between 300 and 400 pts per year to friends and family and that offsets a lot of the dues for us. Our kids are 12, 14 and 19 so we take a mix of trips in 1BR and 2BR with the occasional short adult only trip in a studio. I think we've hit the upper limit of points for our family since we have enough to cover several good trips per year for us and our closest friends. Just ask me if that's still true in a couple of months as we resist making offers on these resale contracts with prices dropping!
 
Last edited:
We just slid across the 1400 pt line, spread out mostly evenly between PVB, CCV, BLT, OKW and AKV with 2 UY, all resale. I'm fortunate to have effectively free plane tix thanks to business spending on Delta Amex and Southwest Visa cards and we kept renewing our APs so trips are "cheap" for us. We rent between 300 and 400 pts per year to friends and family and that offsets a lot of the dues for us. Our kids are 12, 14 and 19 so we take a mix of trips in 1BR and 2BR with the occasional short adult only trip in a studio. I think we've hit the upper limit of points for our family since we have enough to cover several good trips per year for us and our closest friends. Just ask me if that's still true in a couple of months as we resist making offers on these resale contracts with prices dropping!
This is where you buy more to rent more to support the APs. :)
 
ok revisiting this thread.... I am feeling a lot of guilt so just looking for feedback if this is insane or not.
Currently have 300 VGC, 125 Aulani, 100 VGF, and thinking of buying 300 VDH (this is keeping me up at night)

I live in North Cal and this is my plan:

Driving Trips:
5: 3 night Disneyland trips a year in a studio with my wife and child
1: 3 night Disneyland trip every year also taking my parents and sister's family

Flying Trips:
1 either Aulani or Disneyworld trip each year for 6 nights


My Spouse is ok with whatever I want, but she is too nice about things... I am worried it's too many trips and isn't enough variety (non Disney) trips each year... Do you all feel guilty about not taking the family on non Disney Trips?

I'm also worried that while my Daughter loves the trips now (she is 8), is she going to hate them when she is a teenager?
- have you all regretted getting too many dvc points.
 
ok revisiting this thread.... I am feeling a lot of guilt so just looking for feedback if this is insane or not.
Currently have 300 VGC, 125 Aulani, 100 VGF, and thinking of buying 300 VDH (this is keeping me up at night)

I live in North Cal and this is my plan:

Driving Trips:
5: 3 night Disneyland trips a year in a studio with my wife and child
1: 3 night Disneyland trip every year also taking my parents and sister's family

Flying Trips:
1 either Aulani or Disneyworld trip each year for 6 nights


My Spouse is ok with whatever I want, but she is too nice about things... I am worried it's too many trips and isn't enough variety (non Disney) trips each year... Do you all feel guilty about not taking the family on non Disney Trips?

I'm also worried that while my Daughter loves the trips now (she is 8), is she going to hate them when she is a teenager?
- have you all regretted getting too many dvc points.
You're feeling guilt for a reason. The emotion of guilt occurs as a mechanism to inform us that we have either wronged, or erred in some way. Listen to your emotional response, its processing both conscious and subconscious cognitions. If you said everything above without specifying the guilt, my response would be different. Guilt = pull the brakes for a time. VDH may be more challenging to sell in the future with restrictions (but may not, we don't know). Three hundred points it a large swag though. If it's keeping you up, I'd consider taking a breather. Come back to it in six months. See if you feel the same.

You've got Disney covered. If you're desperate for extra trips, stay offsite. You'll have greater flexibility and you are completely in charge of how much Disney you want.

I don't regret my DVC points but we're a couple with no children and have flexibility in that regard. I also value non-Disney experiences. For example, we are taking a Disney Cruise to see Spain this year with a stopover at Disneyland Paris. It's Disney but also 'The World'.
 
You're feeling guilt for a reason. The emotion of guilt occurs as a mechanism to inform us that we have either wronged, or erred in some way. Listen to your emotional response, its processing both conscious and subconscious cognitions. If you said everything above without specifying the guilt, my response would be different. Guilt = pull the brakes for a time. VDH may be more challenging to sell in the future with restrictions (but may not, we don't know). Three hundred points it a large swag though. If it's keeping you up, I'd consider taking a breather. Come back to it in six months. See if you feel the same.

You've got Disney covered. If you're desperate for extra trips, stay offsite. You'll have greater flexibility and you are completely in charge of how much Disney you want.

I don't regret my DVC points but we're a couple with no children and have flexibility in that regard. I also value non-Disney experiences. For example, we are taking a Disney Cruise to see Spain this year with a stopover at Disneyland Paris. It's Disney but also 'The World'.
yeah, I think you may be right, it just feels like it might be too much...I might just add 200, as a compromise
 
Neveh! I just closed and got the points on a RIV resale contract and I look every week at other contracts I might want. I have 708 points spread across two accounts and 11 contracts at 6 different resorts.
Why two accounts?
 
I felt the need to revisit this....I added 50 points at SSR HAHAHAHA....the resale market was too juicy not to jump in....so...now I'm at 300.....now let's see if in a year my statement of "don't see us going above 300 in total" HOLDS!

"but honestly it isn't the cost of DVC - it is the cost to fly my family of five to Orlando from Boston more than twice a year that would break the bank for me." <-- This! It's the same for us - 5x airfare from Houston plus APs and you're talking some serious cash! Far exceeds the cost of the annual dues, meaning air plus tickets eventually is the bulk of the cost of owning for us.

And yet, we are in the process of adding 200 at SSR (resale) to our 250 AKV (direct). I think we're done after that - surely we're done after that, right? We needed more because we want to start doing Aulani maybe once every 4-5 years, without having to skip years at Disney world to do it. Also thinking the SSR points will serve us well as the kids get older and are interested in Universal - youngest is a big Mario fan and the older two love thrill rides, so we will likely be putting in more time at Uni Studios in the future past 2025 once Nintendo World arrives.
 
Last edited:
Driving Trips:
5: 3 night Disneyland trips a year in a studio with my wife and child
1: 3 night Disneyland trip every year also taking my parents and sister's family

Flying Trips:
1 either Aulani or Disneyworld trip each year for 6 nights

everyone is different but i can't personally see myself thinking that 7 disney trips per year isn't enough disney. there is a whole world out there i want to see (some of).
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!













facebook twitter
Top