The Disneyland DVC Conundrum - what to buy?

Disneyland Hotel direct points can be used at Grand Cal, but Grand Cal resale points cannot be used at a Disneyland Hotel.

Yep, direct VDH addon might be the way to go! (or VGC resale if you love VGC or don’t like VDH)

The VDH daily tourism charge is scary but resale GC might be hard to find.

Does DVC ever have add on sales for small contracts?

You can ask your direct guide to put you on a list for a small VGC contract. I was put on a list around a year or 2 ago and got called 3 months later when they got some points to sell. Not sure how long the wait is overall or how often they get points to sell, but it may be worth asking.

I didn’t end up buying direct and found a great 80 point resale contract.

I recommend VDH direct. You can use the points anywhere and you get the 11 month advantage for Disneyland. You can still wait list VGC if you want to. There are times when the point charts between the 2 resorts is significant. You'll appreciate having points that work at both resorts.

Notably I don't think I can be waitlisted for GC - due to being Canadian DVC has to be specially license to be able to sell to me here. Well I'm on vacation I can buy anything I want, but when I am back at home they are only allowed to contact me about certain resorts.

I'm definitely leaning to Disneyland direct. Maybe I'm just looking for the Mob mentality to convince me to accept $240+40% exchange rate per point

If you want to maximize your options, Direct VDH is the way to go.

Of course, incentives start at 100 points on that property…. so I’d be darn sure you won’t ever want 100 points there.

If you're wanting to stay anywhere but VGC then VDH is the way to go. You don't get that flexibility with resale VGC like you do with direct VDH.

This is something I have pondered quite a bit living in the west. I really wanted to purchase VDH and was anticipating it going on sale greatly! Then when details were released, I was deterred by the price per point on top of the transient tax to stay there. It’s a beautiful resort but I struggle to even click to reserve a room because of the tax. Depending on time of year and room type, it can be pretty steep. We did stay one night in a Duo Studio before a cruise and it was great! We did it because we wanted to experience a stay there and the tax/points were minimal. We purchased VGC and don’t regret it at all! In fact, we love it!

What is your priority? More years on a contract, staying at Rivera and after resorts, or great mostly great Disneyland stays?

The price difference between VGC and VDH is not too much so if you are thinking to use it for mostly Disneyland, I would go VGC. You can use those points for resorts before Riviera and still have a PRIME Disneyland location and resort. If you want more years on a contract, want the ability to use points at all resorts, don’t mind the transient tax, and really have your heart set on VDH then go VDH direct.

It’s such a personal decision… VGC is my happy place!

If I had to do it all over again, I would buy VGC direct. I bought a VGC resale contract but I didn't really save that much over the direct price.

VGC is where I want to stay, but it'd be nice to have the flexibility to stay at VDH with those VGC points. I can still stay at VDH using my other direct points though.

Another hot take - there are so many good neighbor hotels that are actually closer to the park entrance than VDH or even VGC in some cases that you might want to consider not buying either and using your existing points to try at the 7 month mark for a Disneyland resort (if you're able to) but book a cancellable good neighbor hotel as well and if you get in at 7 months - awesome. If not, you have the good neighbor hotel as a backup.

The JW Marriott and Westin are both walking distance to Disneyland and are pretty nice hotels if the really close ones across the street from Disneyland aren't your cup of tea.

I've stayed at good neighbor hotels a few times for last minute Disneyland trips and it was fine. With Disneyland getting rid of pretty much all perks for staying onsite, there isn't as much of an incentive to staying onsite as well. One Lightning Lane per stay doesn't really matter to me.

I would recommend looking at the point charts between VDH and VGC to help you decide. As Astro said, there are times that are high for one resort and lower for the other. So if you have a plan to stay during a certain time of year, the point chart could really matter. You mentioned getting 30-50 points. That many points won't go very far. Are you thinking of going to Disneyland every 2-3 years and save up points for that? Will you plan to stay in studios? They have tons of studios, so that has the best availability.

I've been using my direct Poly points to make reservations at VDH and have had good success at 7 months for studios. Availability is really low at 6 months. I've been thinking of getting a small VDH contract myself, probably in the 60-75 point range so I can have a short stay once a year. Our very first stay there will be in July!

Hey! I’ve been contemplating this same thing!! I’m a mom to 3 boys ages 1, 6 & 7… I have like 1,100 DVC points 🫣😅 but I use them all over with interval & extremely often at WDW this past year. 800 I bought direct before I knew more about resale & then 300 I bought as a BLT resale contract with same use year. I’m not sure how many points you have right now, but personally, I am considering trying to find 25 points or so resale… that way I can go to Disneyland once every three years and I would then accept they could only be used there. For me already having so many direct points I think I’d be okay only using those at DL (or if something came up, renting them out). I really think it comes down how many points you already have direct and how much flexibility you want. Questions to ask yourself: Do you feel you have enough direct points to receive all the benefits? Is getting the same use year important to you? Are you willing to wait until the right resale contract comes along? Or do you really want that cute Chip & Dale tote bag you get if you buy 25 direct points at DL hotel (idk grand cal price as I’m only considering DL hotel) which costs approximately $6,500 right now & 25 points from the right sales person (like on the Disney Wish I was just on) it comes with a Chip & Dale tote bag….

Personally I left The Wish without buying another contract because while the bag is cute I know I already have 800 direct points so I’m going to wait it out & see if the right contract comes along. But I am not giving you that advice just letting you know my thoughts. At the end of the day I would say to you to pray about it or if you’re not a prayer trust your own intuition & weigh the options maybe with a visual chart if need be.

Best wishes & have a magical day,

-Haunani

If financing isn’t a concern, you can buy as little as 25 points direct at Disneyland Hotel now. Perhaps start with that then stalk the resale sites for a small Grand Cal contract.

I really wanted to buy a 50 point direct contract at Grand Cal last year, but my guide wouldn’t even put me on a waitlist. So, I ended up buying a 50 point resale contract for Grand Cal instead. That’s 100 points every other year. I really like the Disneyland Hotel too and mulled it over for months, but decided I couldn’t justify owning two Disneyland resorts when we were trying to optimize the 11 month advantage at as many of our recurring resort stays as possible.

I have had good luck booking Disneyland Hotel less than 7 months out though. It’s got way more studio inventory than Grand Cal does. So there is that to consider as well.

I think I counted 28 out of 1037 historical listings and sold contracts at Grand Californian at 40 points or less. Even more difficult if you are going to try and match use year. Price will also be high. It expands it up to near 10% going up to 50 points. Disneyland studios seem very possible to get most of the year when you want if you book it at exactly 7 months. Grand Californian studios you are highly unlikely to get.

A concern I would have is that using a VGC contract you need to make your reservation between 11-7 months. If later your plans change, even by a day. You have very little opportunity to snag another reservation. However at VDH for studios you have a better chance of being able to adjust your reservation.

If I wanted to own points at a DLR DVC property, I would buy direct VDH points, hands down. Resale VDH doesn't get enough of a discount (yet) to give up the flexibility that comes with direct points. VGC, whether direct or resale, is just too expensive and I would feel like those points have to be used at VGC - using them anywhere else would feel like a total waste. So, I'd do VDH direct.

I faced the same choice and went with VDH direct earlier this month for all the reasons listed so far. VGC too hard to book to count on, not enough gap between resale and points restricted, ability to book new resorts, direct benefits, etc. I was very happy with the incentives they stacked up and it helped drop the price down for us.

Oh gosh, I love the give mind. I think the answer is direct VGC but I need all the stars to align so they can sell them too me while I'm on vacation. Watch me end up with Disneyland Hotel instead.

We'll see. I could get a small contract resale if be totally happy, but we'll see what I find in the next year.