On the fence about DVC resale...

Buy where you love… and the sooner the better. ;)

Heartily agreeing with Chili327 on buying where you love now if at all possible.

You could start with an affordable resale contract and later add on enough direct points to meet the required minimum (currently 150 points) at either that resort or when Lakeshore goes on sale. Lakeshore is likely to have restrictions common to the most recent new resorts. (Boooo! Hiss!) All the more reason to buy in at an older resort now (direct if you can) and enjoy that immediately.

The reason to think seriously about buying direct is that the perks offer more than merely merch or restaurant discounts. Consider how much you might enjoy Moonlight Magic and similar special events, exclusively for direct buy members who’ve bought the required minimum. If you think you may add to your initial direct contract later (via direct or resale), buying the minimum points required keeps you eligible as long as you own that contract. MM is tremendous fun, we think. We walked onto Toy Story our first time doing MM, nearly did on Rise of the Resistance. Try that trick during regular hours. Ain’t gonna happen.

Given what fate can toss at us unexpectedly, we think it wisest to buy smaller contracts after buying in at the minimum unless you’ve a serious case of addonitis. That way, you can sell one/some of those and still have the perks. 50-75 point contracts go speedily at primo prices to those writhing in the throes of addonitis. ;-) We definitely know that!

Thank you for the insight, Dotness. Hate to be a naysayer but if I spend that amount of money on a direct contract I would really like guaranteed MM access. The fact that I hear stories of people online clicking with the fastest fingers while the website crashes in hope of maybe getting MM tickets does not sound very magical. I also feel I missed the ship whenever the direct buy-in minimum was much lower. The barrier to entry right now feels quite high at 150 points although I know it will only go up from here. Your advice about multiple smaller contracts makes a lot of sense regardless of direct or resale. At the end of the day I ask myself if $15K-$20K extra justifies the extra perks.

It’s not just the extra perks. It’s access to any current and future DVC resort that they build. This could be important post 2042. The food and merch discounts add up as well.

I also think we need to be careful about the hype of any unfinished resort. DLL is going be a massive resort that’ll probably be easy to trade into at 7m because of its size and we have no idea what the pricing, dues, or point chart will be.

Have you considered CCV?

WelcomeHomeKenny remarked: The fact that I hear stories of people online clicking with the fastest fingers while the website crashes in hope of maybe getting MM tickets does not sound very magical.

I certainly understand your objections to MM. Yeah, “MM slots” doesn’t seem magical, I agree.

Admittedly, I’m biased because I got in so quickly my head spun the first time we went to MM. Hubby kept texting me from work asking was I in the queue and where in line. I couldn’t answer for checking to make sure I was entering everything accurately. Hubby was going nuts wondering what was happening. This time, he got in right away.

So, ya never know what the magic might do.

P.S. Thought I ought to clarify about getting the required minimum in case someone reading what I said above thinks you can get there by buying enough small direct contracts to total 150 points. You can’t, unfortunately.

I wouldn't recommend buying Direct for Moonlight Magic perks. You could use the money you saved to go to 1 paid After Hours event each year and get a similar experience and probably save money, Moonlight Magic is also never guaranteed and it is a lottery on whether you get in or not.

The one direct perk that imho makes sense to buy direct is the Sorcerer Annual Pass. For $919 (renewal rate) + tax, you are getting access to WDW almost for the entire year (only blackouts are Thanksgiving weekend and the dates leading up to and between Christmas and New Year).

Compared to buying an Incredipass you're saving $450 per person, so for a family of 4, you're saving $1800/year. Depending on the difference between direct and resale, you could make up that difference in just a few years.

If you don't plan to buy an Annual Pass or need one then the other big miss from buying resale is the resale restrictions which only allow you to stay at either the original 14 resorts or your own home resort if you're buying into one of the newer associations. That could be an issue if you want to stay somewhere other than your home resort.

The other perks of direct membership are just gravy imho but remember any of the direct benefits, including the Sorcerer pass could go away at any time and you shouldn't buy direct with the expectation that those benefits will always be there.

Of course, I do wonder how many free soda's I've drank from the lounge and if its enough to have justified buying direct sometimes 🤣

It seems very possible Lakeshore Lodge may have similar resale restrictions as Riv, though I can understand why this is catching your interest.

In looking at resale contracts, options at 7 months, and the frequency we want to visit - we have bought resale twice. If a resort comes online we’d hate to miss, I’ll rent points there for a stay sometime. To us, the major savings is worth the limitations of not owning direct.

That could be a lot of renting to be anywhere close to EPCOT post-Jan 2042.

That may not be important in your specific situation…. but it will be here closer than we think…..

So reasonable for sure! I won’t feel like I’m missing out not staying on Crescent Lake, but I’m sure many would. We’ll happily stay at AKL, Poly, GF, etc. and who knows, when our BRV expires, we’ll see what’s happening in the market at that time.

I think that’s why I like the “hybrid” member approach. You get all of the savings of resale and the ability to book at the O14 resorts + the discounts and a bucket of points that can be used at the new resorts.

I really appreciate this response, Ryan. In my mind I was making the same comparison to paid After Hours events so MM didn't mean too much to me. We are a family of 3 so the Sorcerer Pass would take longer to offset the cost of buying direct. You make a very important point that the current benefits direct members enjoy are never guaranteed to persist. Buying resale at one of the original 14 resorts seems to best fit our situation and matches my risk tolerance for potential risk of losing more perks in the future as a direct member. I completely understand everyone's situation is different and can appreciate why others go direct.

You could always start resale too and if you enjoy DVC enough decide to buy direct in the future.

Like AstroBlasters said, hybrid is where its at! :)

We bought a 150 point resale contract at Saratoga in 2025 to “test” out the resorts across DVC. So far we’ve been to Saratoga Springs and Aulani. This weekend we are heading to the Poly. We also have reservations at the Boardwalk and Grand Floridian later this year.

We haven’t been members for a long time, but I completely agree with others on “buy where you love” / “buy where you want to stay”. I love Saratoga and the contract was very reasonably priced, however, we already know that we want to buy another contract in the EPCOT resorts bracket because we loooove EPCOT. The thought of having home resort advantage at an EPCOT resort puts me in the feels. Hope this helps.

Do what makes YOU happy!

We've been to 6 Moonlight Magics since joining in 2022. As someone with fast fingers and well versed in technology compared to most users though, I'm glad the system is randomized. I'm also glad they limit the number of people that can go. Let's be real, if they let everyone in to Moonlight Magic, it loses some of the desirability of Moonlight Magic because lines will be long for rides and I'm not sure if they would even give out the free ice cream and etc. like they currently do.

That being said, that's not the reason you should buy direct. I don't even think the sorcerer passes should necessarily be thee reason you buy direct although it's a better reason to buy direct than Moonlight Magic. The most important reason why you should buy direct is if you care about staying at new resorts built after 2019 like RIV, LSL, CFW, VDH and etc. and can live with that decision until the end of your contract. Honestly the best way to go is a combination of both so you have the direct perks and some of the savings of resale. Nothing is saying you can't do both. However, if you have to pick one, my decision would be direct just because I'd have FOMO but of course I know that's a very personal decision.

I agree that is the most compelling reason. That being said, I really appreciate the ability to use The DVC Rental Store to stay at any DVC resort including those built after 2019. On a cost per point comparison (including factoring in annual dues) it's more expensive than buying a resale contract to rent points but I suspect considerably less than buying direct given the current prices/pt. Thank you for your insight!

True, if you think it's just a one time thing or something that you'll want to try a new resort you probably are better off renting the one time.

This can’t be overstated… the big resorts tend to be easy to trade into…

Plus let’s wait and see it finished and see if it is truly worth the subpar transportation, find out the points charts, and better learn about the resort…

My personal belief, and biggest thing in resale’s favor, is, at the moment, I do not think we are likely to see Deluxe resorts built with the uniqueness and convenience of the resale resorts anytime soon… plus, you know what the lid on the points charts will be..

I find Riviera’s points chart genuinely shocking… if LSL is a premium on top of that for boat transportation and bus only… idk…

Another thought… we bought direct at VGF a few months after we bought our resale VGF… The direct 150 point contract was cheaper per point than our 60 point resale contract…

I don’t think I could ever buy anything more than a “top off” contract (probably no more than 40 points) direct at the current prices… at most resorts… Especially if you can be patient…

It’s why I find this BLT sale so funny… I’d love BLT direct, but not at those prices!

Same with PVT’s point chart…. those Theme Park View Rooms…

If you think you will want to stay at LSL in the future- or Riviera or VDH or CFW-- then direct becomes very compelling. I have both resale and direct. One of my biggest reasons for purchasing direct was to have the option to stay at any resort. However, that said, there are so many awesome resorts to stay at if you purchase a resale contract that will allow you to stay at the unrestricted resorts. Your question was to buy another resort or wait for LSL to be on the resale market.... and that will probably take a couple years. They aren't even selling direct contracts now and then you'd have to wait for someone to decide to offer it for resale. It can take quite a while for the the new resorts to hit the resale market. Your best choice would be to buy resale at a resort you love now or wait for direct at LSL. Or do both!

My biggest concern with LSL is the point chart. Hopefully they keep it at a similar level to CCV and BRV.

I guess I would simply say that buying direct will always be an option, and either way, LL is not finished yet. We bought resale first, then bought direct later. It allowed us to start staying at DVC sooner, rather than later. We got what I was willing to accept as a reasonable deal on direct just over a year later (VGF incentives with Big Pine Key opening). FOMO is real, but also, I can’t say I come anywhere close to getting my direct-money’s worth if we hadn’t snagged the really good incentives at the time in 2023.

Whatever you do,, enjoy what you get. Take care.

I cannot see buying direct making sense as we don't feel the direct perks are strong enough.

@WelcomeHomeKenny I agree that direct perks are not a strong enough incentive to buy direct. Disney changes the perks all of the time, so depending on them to be the same year after year is a fool's errand!

For example, I started getting into DVC during the pandemic. At that time, the Annual Pass perk had been suspended, which made some sense. However, Disney didn't reinstate it for three years. There were a lot of members who bought direct because they depended on those savings. The online discourse on the DVCFan Facebook page was wild - everyone was so angry, for so long! Obviously it didn't deter me from buying DVC, but it sure did leave a sour taste in mouth about ever buying direct!!! Other examples of defunct perks include free valet parking, pool hopping, and even free park tickets in the 90s!

Do you recommend we hunt for a deal now through the resale market for a home resort we know we already love or hold out until Lakeshore hits the resale market?

...

My biggest fear is that much like the Riviera or Disneyland Hotel we would feel trapped in having no flexibility to use our points at other resorts with modern restrictions.

My advice is almost always to buy where you want to stay. However, it is 99% guaranteed that Lakeshore Lodge will have the same restrictions as the other "new" resorts. As others have said, it will also take some time for a resale contract to hit the market - likely at least a year after the property goes on sale. The wait alone may be a deterant for your family.

So your choices are: 1. Purchase your favorite resale resort now, with no ability to stay at Lakeshore Lodge in the future, OR 2. Purchase resale Lakeshore Lodge in 2-3 years, and only stay at Lakeshore Lodge.

Regardless of which you choose, the easiest workaround would be to rent out your points for cash, or exchange them through a reputable site like DVC Rental Store. Obviously this is an extra step, and potentially a hassle. But it would free up cash to stay at whichever resort(s) you are locked out of.

Hope this helps, and let us know what you guys decide!

Wow. I was unaware of any of those defunct perks you mentioned. Would be such a bummer to lose them if you had them. As others had mentioned I can definitely see how a hybrid situation would be great if your financial situation allows. Thanks, Steff.

I agree that you should buy now where you want to stay. Personally i will never buy at the restricted resorts like cabins at fort wilderness or riviera or Disneyland. If you buy direct they lose half their value if you ever need to sell and if you buy resale you can only stay at that resort. I like the freedom to stay at different resorts; and love my poly as most versatile. Easy to sell, easy to rent at best price but mostly 11 month window to reserve a great villa at a beautiful resort. Last trip we used our Boardwalk points to get Savanna view at Kidani . I love my 2042 resorts and would buy them again in an instant.

Unfortunately I don't see that happening at all. Being a BRV owner, I love those low point charts, but LSL looks to have features over and above the Wilderness Lodge resorts so I expect the points to reflect that. Additionally, it's a new build so the points will likely reflect that. BRV was built long ago and CCV was a remodel of the existing hotel rooms with existing infastructure, so it's too hard to compare them to LSL. I'm expecting point charts between Riviera and Polynesian.

If you want to buy LL resale, it'll take awhile for those contracts to hit the market. If you think you'll enjoy it so much that only staying there won't bother you, resale is the way to go! There's no harm in waiting to buy a different resale contract, unless its at a 2042 hotel. The clock is ticking there.

Buying the minimum direct points to get all perks is what i did. I get the sorcerer pass for whole family every year. You need a family member from each household to get most oo AP deal. You can use those points at any current or future resorts. Buy resale for additional points (same use year) at another favorite resort from original 14 with less restrictions.

Too much stress on purchase price- i think the biggest costs for dvc are the annual dues

@WelcomeHomeKenny hybrid is definitely out of my price range! But a girl can dream!!!

Also I want to thank you for spelling my name right on the first try - I get a lot of Steph and Stef! 🩵

Putting yourself in financial stress is never worth it for a vacation, if resale is what you can do comfortably, then for sure go resale. It's not like direct won't be waiting for you if finances and life allows.

Direct all the way! Why go used when you can get shiny and brand new. It’s always more magical to lay more for the same thing.

Oh, "Bob"...I think you have us convinced! Meeting with a direct guide next month! I made my master spreadsheet and to get the same number of points we will be paying a $15,000 upfront premium or about $500/year for the life of our contract at AKL. We do find real value in the Sorcerer Pass (which I hope will stick around), ability to be flexible with our points including at those resorts built after 2019, the other perks that could go away on a whim are just gravy. I think a hybrid membership will be our longer term plan but at this moment we are leaning the direct route for our first purchase.

Lounges are nice

When we bought, we knew we wanted to buy where we wanted to stay, which was VGF

Incentives with direct made it within say $10/pt of resale… generously… it was arguably cheaper to buy direct at that time than resale because closing cost were cheaper, you could pay prorated dues, etc. etc.

The current inventory DVC is selling in active sales right now doesn’t appeal to me to own. (RIV, Poly, Cabins, AUL, Disneyland Hotel). So, there’s no way i would pay a direct markup to buy somewhere i don’t care about the 11 month window…

But, let’s say I had to buy one of those four resorts… in the case of RIV and Aulani, I would buy resale points not direct. In the case of Polynesian I’d buy Direct knowing the markup isn’t that bad, and that i would be able to sell access to more than Polynesian…. Cabins… i think you’d have to buy direct since they’ve sold so few you are unlikely to even find a cabins contract…

Any of the other resorts right now I’d go resale with the possible exception of a small contract at VGF where the cost might outweigh convenience and availability needs… VGC same thing… I’d buy direct if I wanted to own there and could buy in… Of course I’d demand they fix their room first….

This is the correct answer, IMO. Is direct better, yup, but you pay for it. Resale still gets you access to the same rooms, same point charts same 11 month booking window. I'd still stay away from anything Riviera and newer with regards to resale. You can always have both direct and resale points, so resale today and direct in the future if you want/can afford it.

Our current thoughts are of taking the opposite approach. Similar to what we've seen with the newest resorts, I think direct membership is going to become more and more prohibitively expensive and restrictive. We have a window of an opportunity we can lock in now direct at one of the legacy resorts to start enjoying extra benefits and can always add on resale later if we choose. Before we land on our decision we are going to meet with a direct guide on property then have a serious discussion with the DVC Resale Market team. We have lost our opportunity to buy in at less than 150 direct points in the past but we were not ready financially before. As attractive as a resale contract is I find it hard to forfeit our opportunity to use our points at Riviera or the up and coming Lakeshore Lodge, etc.

We would be taking a bit of a leap in that we would be buying a 150-175 point direct contract at AKL. AKL is a resort we enjoy that we can comfortably afford the direct membership with a cash purchase. Any other resort we would need to look into financing as the same number of points on a monorail resort does not stretch nearly as far.

All that to say, we can still be swayed either way but we do assign real value to direct membership perks.

Getting that 150 point level today before they inevitably increase it for Member benefits is not a bad idea for sure if it’s something that is important to you. (we’ve certainly made use of ours)

I personally only have direct contracts because the FOMO is real, including recently, picking up a poly contract for similar reasons.

That’s not to say there aren’t countless of DVC members that are perfectly happy and should be with their resale contracts :)

Thanks, @Lotheron . We've already been going back and forth a lot. We appreciate the DVCFan community being here to help us make an informed decision.

I would strongly suggest considering Poly or RIV for a direct point purchase over AKL. AKL direct is $215/point. Poly and RIV both start at $243/point, but current incentives on 150 points can get that down to about $207/point for RIV and $217/point for Poly - you can't get any incentives on AKL outside of occasional flash sales, and those are typically only offered to existing DVC members. The dues are lower at both Poly and RIV and you will get more years on the contract (which even if you don't plan to keep them until expiration means more residual value in the contract if and when you decide to sell it). Home resort priority does not matter a lot at AKL outside of December - it does at RIV and Poly. A lot of people worry about the drive off the lot drop in value with RIV, but you'd have an even bigger drop in value purchasing AKL direct. Poly would likely retain its resale value much better.

Just remember that if you have to sell RIV, any perspective buyer can only use those points at RIV. If you never plan on selling, that’s wouldn’t be an issue but just know that if you have to get rid of the contract for one reason another that will be the case.

Poly doesn’t have the same restriction.

I thought Poly was attractive at first but the points charts are so hard to swallow! If I ever want to splurge for a week in a 2 bedroom at peak season I can do this with 175 points (x2 =350 pts) at AKL banked or borrowed. 2 bedroom preferred at Poly at Spring Break is 795 points 🫤

We bought Poly specifically because it’s the longest lasting on sale resort that doesn’t have restrictions. I actually don’t know how often we will actually stay there, maybe once here or there, but we’ll probably never need the 11th month window :(

I can appreciate this angle. We are fully accustomed to booking our vacations a year out now. The 11-month booking window sounds attractive to us today but may not matter as much in the future.

When I was comparing our options I was comparing completing the same length vacation at AKL vs. Poly vs. BLT and since the other two resorts (understandably) suck up so many more points than AKL I had to compare 150 points at AKL vs nearly 300 points Poly and that gets very expensive.

Tell me about it :). It’s worse when you realize that I’m using those “very expensive” points for Old Key West this summer….

As a person who came into this like you (longtime cash stay guest through Disney), I would strongly suggest you rent points through the rental store for a stay before you take the plunge.

A DVC stay has some key differences from a cash stay. You don’t get daily (or every other day) housekeeping. Except for Old Key West there are no standard rooms with two beds. Studios have a bed and a Murphy and Tower Studios just have a Murphy. So in a studio (or 1br) someone in the family could inevitably feel like they drew the short straw. In a Tower you or both or you drew the short straw guaranteed lol. Check in is an hour later than cash guests.

And I get it, there are many people who say this stuff is no big deal (I’m one of them). But to others it is a big deal and makes the whole thing feel less luxurious.

Lastly, as a cash guest you can shop around for a deal. Disney cash rates/promos fluctuate based upon demand. You can sometimes really get a great deal. With DVC, there are never reduced points stays and dues consistently go in one direction only. It can be frustrating to see a deluxe room booking under $500/nt because that throws of the whole “look how much you saved”!” breakeven math.

IMO if you have your eye on AKL, as a longtime cash guest I’d go Jambo. Kidani is nice but it unquestionably feels like a timeshare facility. Jambo feels like AKL through and through.

Good points! We have several years of renting under our belts including AKL, Copper Creek, Beach Club. We also just had a wonderful stay at Art of Animation using a bounceback offer and the Skyliner access in a preferred room was top notch. It is easy to put on the rose-colored glasses when looking at DVC. Overall, our vacations always involve Disney at least once a year but our overall trend has been towards Deluxe accommodations.

I hear you on the Poly points chart. It is steep. But I could just never bring myself to buy AKL direct when resale AKL can be had for over $100/point less. There is no amount of direct benefits that could justify that IMO.

Another thing about AKL if you think that’s where you’d want to stay a lot. It can often be very easy to get rooms there at the 7-month mark with points from other resorts. Check out dvcfieldguide.com. There are availability tables that can give you a very good sense of how easy it is to get rooms.

Some other strategies to think about. Buy 150 Poly points for the direct benefits and then supplement with resale - again, because AKL is so easy to get at the 7-month mark, you could look at SSR resale too.

Or, buy a small resale contract now at AKL or SSR and wait for them to have a flash sale on a “sold out” resort that you’d rather own. They seem to be putting one on sale every incentive period. AKL was on sale last year, CCV was earlier this year, and SSR and BLT are both on sale right now.

Just some thoughts.

It's interesting you mention the flash sales. I'm unfamiliar with these. We have a few trips already booked that we don't intend to change so our urgency to buy now is only driven by our FOMO of direct membership and by that I mean they may decide to increase the direct minimum above 150 points at any time. We will check out that field guide as this is new to us too. Thanks!

Yeah, Disney seems to pretty consistently put “sold out” resorts like AKL on a “flash sale” periodically. For example, CCV is normally $255/point, but you could get it for $224/point earlier this year. SSR is normally $215/point, but you can get it for as low as $170/point right now. The catch is, you have to be an existing DVC member (direct or resale) to be eligible for the flash sale prices.

Also, FWIW, I think Disney is less likely to raise the 150 point minimum and more likely to introduce a tiered direct benefits system where you get more benefits the more direct points you own. That is what other timeshare developers have done and Disney appears to be slowly adopting all the strategies of other timeshare companies. Membership Magic Beyond is already a small version of this where you pay $99 for extra direct benefits.

I would not personally rush a decision on direct points, especially if you’re not really in love with any of the current actively selling resorts.

AKL was placed on sale just last summer with up to $20/point off of the $215/point sold out price.

https://dvcfan.com/purchasing-dvc/new-summer-2025-dvc-incentives-revealed/

And again, the year before that: https://dvcfan.com/general-dvc/discover-summer-2024-dvc-direct-sales-incentives/

Flash sales can be a great way to get a good deal. We bought two 150 point OKW contracts a couple Of years ago at a great point cost.

The only downside is these tend to be older resorts so the usable life is less and you have to take that into account.