Direct purchase with new restrictions
We are looking to buy our first DVC contract. My husband and I are thinking we will eventually be hybrid members owning resale and direct but will most likely start with resale due to the savings. We are in the research stage and just trying to have our tentative game plan for the next few years and my question really applies to direct with the new resale restrictions (riviera, Disneyland hotel, cabins, and soon to be lakeshore lodge). Because of these restrictions, I understand the limitations for resale if that time comes down the road. We’ve been asking this though- would buying Polynesian direct be the better purchase because it’s a part of the original association? Therefore, I can still use my points while a direct member to stay at lakeshore lodge, riviera, etc (as long as there is availability at the 7 month mark of course) but if the time comes to resell, you’d still hold that value because the buyer can stay at the original 14 resorts still. Whereas, if I buy lakeshore lodge direct, the resell value decreases as we’ve seen with riviera. We did not buy before 2019 (if only we all had a time machine haha!) so if we do not own direct then we don’t have the capability of staying at the new and future resorts. However, we also are worried about buying riviera or lakeshore (or any of the future dvc resorts) due to the resale restriction structure. Does buying Polynesian direct alleviate these obstacles to a degree?
Yes - buying Poly direct does provide flexibility to potential future resale buyers to stay at any of the original 14 resorts. You also have a contract end date of 2066, which itself is a long runway and not far behind the Riviera at 2070. As we've seen, these newer resorts incur a significant penalty on the resale market, largely due to those resort restrictions.
As for whether purchasing the Poly direct is a "better purchase" or not, that's ultimately a subjective, multi-faceted decision in which opinions will differ. If you'd enjoy having Poly as your home resort (I certainly do!) and place a high value on retaining a strong resale market, then it's likely to be a good decision for you. But, if you love one of the other newer resorts that come with those resale restrictions, it could still make sense to purchase there instead of the Poly. Buying direct at the Riv, for example, still affords you all the flexibility that buying direct at the Poly does as a direct owner. And it can be difficult to project a future hypothetical sale of your DVC contract. For those reasons, I wouldn't buy direct at the Poly if the primary reason was resale flexibility. For a luxury purchase like DVC, I think it's important to really factor in which resort you'd most like to have as your home resort.
🏰 DVC Member since 2022 | Home Resorts: 🌺 Poly, 🫖 GF, and 🎠 BWV | 🚢 DCL 🥇
I think if you want a WDW contract and like Polynesian at least as much as the other WDW locations, it's the very best choice for direct. Others have different opinions, but in 2026, I do believe Polynesian has the most going for it as a direct WDW contract, as long as you like the Polynesian. But if you don't like Polynesian, or prefer another resort more, it may not be a good buy even if it is the "sensible" purchase.
We bought resale first at Copper Creek, just added some direct points at Poly. We anticipated Poly might be last “new” resort without resale restrictions and figured points aren’t going to get cheaper.
I wouldn't buy Poly direct solely on account of the resale restrictions. And, I wouldn't buy direct points at any resort unless I planned to keep them a long time such that potential resale value is far enough away as to be fairly unpredictable. No one can predict with any certainty what resale prices will look like in, say, 20 years.
I'd ask yourself why you're buying the direct points. I wouldn't buy Poly points if where you actually want to stay is Riviera - you'd probably be better off buying Riviera points and getting benefit out of home resort priority and using less points for resort view rooms there. Similarly, if you think LSL is where you're really going to want to stay much of the time, I also wouldn't buy Poly points - I'd wait for LSL to see what things look like there.
Now, if you love Poly and see yourself wanting to stay there regularly, but also value the ability to switch out at 7 months on occasion, and want the new resorts to be an option at 7-months, Poly is a fantastic choice.
There could be some other considerations depending on what room type and what time of year you see yourself using your points. For example, if you're just buying enough points for a week in a studio, and you want to travel during a time like early December, well, just buy where you want to stay because there won't be many options at 7-months anyways (and be ready to encounter other difficulties booking that time of year).